Skip to main content

RTX 5090 GPU shortage could soon end if Nvidia adopts this strategy

The RTX 5090 sitting on a pink background.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Nvidia may be close to resolving some of its delay issues and getting the RTX 5090 GPUs ready for consumers in at least a month, with a fortunate workaround.

Online leakers noted on X that the shortage began due to scalpers over-purchasing components, but it could soon end if Nvidia adopts this strategy.

Recommended Videos

Imagine you are Nvidia and have purchased shit loads of TSMC yields for B200, but now the market doesn’t want that much B200, and RTX40 is retired……The only solution is to make as much RTX50 as possible to cover the unused yield of B200 https://t.co/GFXAAdCzOl

— MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang) February 15, 2025

Leaker @Zed__Wang suggested the component supplier may be able to tackle the challenge it has been having with its RTX 5090 shortage by utilizing Nvidia B200 data center GPUs in the production of its high-end graphics chips. The Nvidia B200 chips have notably dropped in demand and gone into oversupply.

If the reports are accurate, Nvidia would be able to use the excess GB100 dies that are within the B200 GPU and incorporate them into the GB202 architecture for the RTX 5090. This could potentially end the shortage.

Imagine you are Nvidia and have purchased shit loads of TSMC yields for B200, but now the market doesn’t want that much B200, and RTX40 is retired……The only solution is to make as much RTX50 as possible to cover the unused yield of B200 https://t.co/GFXAAdCzOl

— MEGAsizeGPU (@Zed__Wang) February 15, 2025

The RTX 5090 isn’t the only Nvidia GPU that has been facing delays. The RTX 5080, along with the abovementioned graphics card launched in January in extremely limited quantities. As said, overall demand plus scalper inflation led to low availability of the components. Currently, there is no word on whether the RTX 5080 will receive a supply update.

The RTX 50 series, powering laptops and desktops is another notable GPU family that has been delayed until at least March. There have been several unsubstantiated reasons as to why the GPUs may have been delayed, including Nvidia’s focus on AI GPUs and internal miscommunication within the company. Notebookcheck also noted some graphics cards may have been experiencing performance and functionality issues. Nvidia will make the GPU available for pre-order starting February 25, despite it not releasing until sometime later.

The RTX 70 and RTX 60 GPUs are also facing delays until March and April respectively. However, the RTX 5070 Ti will see a prompt launch on February 20.

Fionna Agomuoh
Fionna Agomuoh is a Computing Writer at Digital Trends. She covers a range of topics in the computing space, including…
Nvidia’s RTX 5080 laptop GPU almost makes the flagship obsolete
Upcoming Nvidia RTX 40-series laptops over a black and green background.

Nvidia makes some of the best graphics cards to be found in laptops, but some of these GPUs might be closer in terms of performance than you'd expect. The laptop version of the RTX 5080 has been benchmarked, and it's shockingly close to the RTX 5090. Are the laptops equipped with the RTX 5090 still worth buying?

Notebookcheck was able to compare the RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080 laptop GPUs under ideal circumstances: In two iterations of the same laptop. The cards were both paired with AMD's Ryzen 9 9955HX CPU, which removes a lot of the usual benchmarking discrepancy you'd run into in laptops. When both are installed in similar systems, we can get a good feel of how each card performs without external factors, and that is the case in these benchmarks.

Read more
Would you pay less for a defective GPU?
The RTX 5090 sitting on top of the RTX 4080.

The graphics card market is an absolute mess at the moment. Stock issues persist despite Nvidia's early claims that it would solve early issues with the 50-series, and AMD has promised to get its exceedingly popular RX 9000-series GPUs back in stock as soon as possible. That's meant pricing is even more ridiculous than ever, with top cards going for hundreds or even thousands of dollars more than they should, and last-generation options priced just as crazily.

But there are alternatives. Alongside buying older and second-hand cards, there's a new brand of GPU available at discounted prices for anyone willing to take a loss on maximum performance: Defective GPUs.

Read more
Nvidia’s new rule could help you pick the right gaming laptop. Here’s why
A Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop on a coffee table.

Buying a laptop might seem easy, but if you want the best gaming laptop within your budget, you'll need to dig beyond surface-level information. With that said, every single spec should be readily available so that you know what you're buying, but that has not always been the case.

Fortunately, Nvidia says that it's working with its partners to make sure that one key spec is always listed: The total graphics power (TGP). Here's why it matters.
Why does TGP matter in laptops?

Read more