We've reached out to Nvidia for comment on whether it has any plans to stabilize inventory. We'll update this story when we hear back.
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Jake Roach Social Links Navigation Senior Analyst, CPUs Jake Roach is the Senior CPU Analyst at Tom’s Hardware, writing reviews, news, and features about the latest consumer and workstation processors.
Tanakoi Once again reality shows you can't circumvent the laws of economics. If a manufacturer doesn't raise prices to equalize demand with supply, the shelves will run bare, and black-market / grey-market scalpers will do it for them. Reply
TheyStoppedit I have a 4080S. You can probably get one for $800. Why is the 5090 50% better performance than the 4080S, yet 700% higher price? The logic ain't logicing. Reply
Tanakoi TheyStoppedit said: I have a 4080S. You can probably get one for $800. Why is the 5090 50% better performance than the 4080S, yet 700% higher price? The logic ain't logicing. A $20M Rolls Royce Boattail is only 10% faster than my car, yet costs 200X as much. And you can add integrated graphics to a CPU for about $15, and get a substantial portion of the performance of your 4080. Whoever said the price-performance curve must be linear? Reply
PEnns TheyStoppedit said: I have a 4080S. You can probably get one for $800. Why is the 5090 50% better performance than the 4080S, yet 700% higher price? The logic ain't logicing. Not in the US. The cheapest one of those babies demands $1500 or a kidney, whichever is more expensive. Reply
TheyStoppedit Tanakoi said: A $20M Rolls Royce Boattail is only 10% faster than my car, yet costs 200X as much. And you can add integrated graphics to a CPU for about $15, and get a substantial portion of the performance of your 4080. Whoever said the price-performance curve must be linear? That's a misanalogy. The Rolls Royce, you're paying for the status symbol, not the product. The price differential is status, which really is a special kind of stupid. But that's a conversation for another day. In the case of the 4080S/5090, you're paying for the product in both cases. I get that the price-performance curve isn't linear. But If it was 50% better performance for an 120% higher price, that would be different. 50% better performance for 700% higher price. The math logic aint logicing Reply
TheyStoppedit PEnns said: Not in the US. The cheapest one of those babies demands $1500 or a kidney, whichever is more expensive. I live in Canada. I can get a 4080S here probably for $1200 CAD, I converted to american dollars Reply
thently I was looking on Amazon a few min ago and there are 2 models of RTX 4090 for 1799. While less ram and slightly slower I am surprised either way. Reply
Tanakoi TheyStoppedit said: That's a misanalogy. The Rolls Royce, you're paying for the status symbol, not the product. I'd argue that most 5090 buyers are paying for status as well. In any case, the integrated graphic – 4080S comparison is certainly apt. I'll also note that, if you compare MSRPs, the 5090 is only 100% higher than the 4080s. Which reinforces my point: no amount of online grousing can circumvent the laws of economics. When there are more buyers than sellers, the price is going to rise. That logic is indeed ineluctable. Reply
TheyStoppedit Tanakoi said: I'd argue that most 5090 buyers are paying for status as well. In any case, the integrated graphic – 4080S comparison is certainly apt. I'll also note that, if you compare MSRPs, the 5090 is only 100% higher than the 4080s. Which reinforces my point: no amount of online grousing can circumvent the laws of economics. When there are more buyers than sellers, the price is going to rise. That logic is indeed ineluctable. I don't disagree with your point about economics at all, but MSRP to MSRP comparisons are pointless because neither one is at MSRP. Obviously the prices are as high are they are because people are willing to pay that. What I just can't understand is why someone is willing to pay 700% more price for a 50% better performance. I guess if you have more money than god and rock solid fire inusrance on your house, go ahead, but I can't imagine that this is the masses of people buying a 5090. I also don't think most of them are purchased for status. None of this makes any sense Reply
Tanakoi TheyStoppedit said: I don't disagree with your point about economics at all…What I just can't understand is why someone is willing to pay 700% more price for a 50% better performance…. I can't imagine that this is the masses of people buying a 5090. I also don't think most of them are purchased for status. None of this makes any sense Phrased that way, your question indeed makes sense, but the answer is simple. Most of the 5090 buyers are looking for AI usage, not video games, where the doubling of memory (and near tripling of memory bandwidth) is what counts the most. Reply
Key considerations
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/nvidias-rtx-5090-vanishes-from-online-retail-in-the-us-third-party-sellers-now-demand-as-much-as-usd9-500-for-nvidias-fastest-gpu#main
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.