The RTX 5080 and 5090 just dropped and instantly vanished. Like, poof gone. Almost suspiciously fast. Feels like Nvidia is pulling a "fake it till you make it" strategy, hyping up demand because, well who's stopping them? AMD sure isn't, with no $2000 card to rival the 5090 or a $1000 card to challenge the 5080.
Not only does this artificial scarcity make Nvidia GPUs seem wildly popular, but it also gives them a golden excuse to crank up prices because, you know, "supply and demand". They could restock quickly but why would they?
Joke's on them, cause I wasn't planning to buy one anyway. We're both getting what we want.
I snipped this screenshot from Gamers Nexus on youtube, and here is a fun little spreadsheet showing just how limited this "high demand" really is. Some stores got a whopping four cards, while Tustin, CA, somehow turned into GPU heaven with 67 RTX 5090s and nearly 200 RTX 5080s. Meanwhile, Chicago and Rockville got a solid zero. So yeah, Nvidia is definitely cooking something, but it's not stock.
Essay Pro