After a two-year wait, NVIDIA finally released its highly-anticipated GeForce 50 series of GPUs at the beginning of 2025. Engadget reviewed the $2,000 RTX 5090 in January, followed by reviews of the RTX 5070 in March and the RTX 5060 Ti most recently. If you are considering purchasing a 50 series card, you probably already know which one you want. The real question is how to go about buying one. If you are reading this article on or after April 21, the good news is that major retailers like Best Buy and Newegg have started selling the new GPUs.
However, there is also bad news. Similar to the 40 series launch, the demand for NVIDIA’s new GPUs has been high, resulting in limited availability and scalping. Additionally, pricing from NVIDIA’s board partners has been inconsistent, with most non-Founders Edition models priced above their MSRP. For example, on Newegg, you will not find a single RTX 5070 listed at its $549 suggested price, with the cheapest model currently priced at $670.
The GeForce RTX 5090, priced at $2,000, is NVIDIA’s most expensive consumer GPU to date. It boasts 21,760 CUDA cores, 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM, and a potential total power draw of 575W. Along with DLSS 4, the 50 series GPUs can perform multi-frame generation, allowing them to generate up to three additional frames for every frame rendered using traditional techniques. The RTX 5090 can achieve an average of 246 frames per second with full ray tracing in games like Cyberpunk 2077.
If you prefer to purchase from Newegg or Best Buy, they will stock models from third-party OEMs such as ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and Zotac.
The GeForce RTX 5080, priced at $999, features 10,752 CUDA cores, 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, and a memory bandwidth of 960GB/sec. Like the RTX 5090, it supports DLSS 4 multi-frame generation. The total power draw is more moderate at 360W, making it unnecessary to have a 1,000W PSU to power the RTX 5080. Reviews of the RTX 5080 have been mixed, but that hasn’t deterred people from purchasing the high-end card.
Both Newegg and Best Buy will offer third-party options, while NVIDIA and Best Buy are your best bets for a Founders Edition model.
The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is priced at $749 and offers 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM compared to the 12GB on the RTX 5070. The extra VRAM on the 5070 Ti is likely to result in better performance over its lifespan, especially with modern AAA games utilizing a lot of VRAM. Unfortunately, NVIDIA will not offer a Founders Edition version of the 5070 Ti, making it challenging to find one at MSRP. B&H is your best option in this case.
The GeForce RTX 5070, priced at $549, is NVIDIA’s most affordable 50 series GPU. It offers solid performance at 1440p and is suitable for occasional 4K gaming. However, with only 12GB of VRAM, it may need to be replaced sooner than later.
The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, priced at $299, is currently the most affordable 50 series card until the RTX 5060 is released in May. With 16GB of VRAM, the 5060 Ti offers excellent performance at 1080p and 1440p. Finding it at NVIDIA’s suggested retail price of $299 will provide good value for your money.
As of January 29, 2025, it appears that obtaining one of NVIDIA’s new graphics cards may be challenging due to high demand. The company has warned of potential stock-outs for the GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080, with some countries like Korea not expecting shipments until mid-February.
Updates on availability have been provided on January 30, 2025, and April 21, 2025, to keep customers informed.
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