Why is the RTX 3090 so expensive?

The GeForce RTX 3090 is so pricey because it is one of the best-rated GPUs in the world right now. It is, after all, Nvidia's flagship GPU until 2020. It's for this reason that it's so pricey.In this GPU from Nvidia, performance is all about price.

I'm this article you'll learn:

Introduction

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090, which is both powerful and expensive, will go on sale today at 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m PT and 2 p.m. BST). Despite its $1,499 price tag, it's expected to sell out soon, similar to the GeForce RTX 3080. So much so that Nvidia has apologised in advance for the RTX 3090's "restricted supply."

The GeForce RTX 3090 is primarily geared at creative professionals and researchers, as well as hardcore gamers who want to play at 8K resolutions, according to Nvidia in a blog post. As a result, it isn't a graphics card that will be mass-produced in large quantities.

"Since the GeForce RTX 3090, like the Titan RTX before it, was designed for a certain group of customers, we want to apologise ahead of time that supply will be limited on launch day," Nvidia added. "We understand how irritating this is, and we're working with our partners to enhance supplies in the coming weeks."

That's all well and good, but the RTX 3080 is exceedingly hard to come by, given how rapidly it sold when it was released last week. Furthermore, the RTX 3080 is being sold on eBay for absurdly low costs, putting it in direct competition with the RTX 3090.

Despite Nvidia's claim that the RTX 3090 isn't for the ordinary PC gamer, we expect a lot of people to rush to the RTX 3090 after missing out on the RTX 3080.

Massive price tags for third-party RTX 3090

The prices for third-party versions of the RTX 3090 been leaked, and some of them are astronomically expensive. A Reddit post spotted by our friends at Tom's Hardware explained how the EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming and the Asus ROG Strix RTX 3090 OC Edition graphics cards ended up costing $1,800.

The identical issue exists in the United Kingdom, with the aforementioned Asus RTX 3090 fetching £1,649.99. You can acquire one of our top-rated gaming PCs for that amount of money.

We have a strange hunch that the RTX 3090 will be scooped up soon and resold at even higher costs by scalpers trying to make a quick buck, given these prices. Nvidia claims it has learned from the RTX 3080's difficult launch and has put protections in place to prevent anyone from trying to take advantage of the limited supply of its high-end GPUs.

We only have a few hours until we find out how rapidly the RTX 3090 sells. AMD will undoubtedly be watching from the sidelines, as the company's Big Navi and Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards are slated to be unveiled in their entirety on October 28.

You thought the RTX 3090 was already expensive? Try this one for $3,500

The best graphics cards for PCs are seldom inexpensive, but Galax's GeForce RTX 3090 HOF GPU series takes it to the next level. The strong graphics cards have a starting price of AUD 3,899 (approximately $3,014) on MWave's website. The most costly card (through Tom's Hardware) costs AUD 4,499 (approximately $3,478).

These pricing do not reflect the precise cost of the GPUs in the United States because they are for an Australian shop. Aside from the fact that conversion rates fluctuate over time, electronics rarely cost the precise conversion of a price when transferring across countries. Even if the GPUs are less expensive than the converted costs, they will still be among the most expensive graphics cards available.

On MWave's website, there are three models of the Galax GeForce RTX 3090 HOF GPU. The HOF Standard Edition, HOF Limited Edition, and HOF Premium are the three versions available. The boost frequencies on the standard and Premium HOF models are 1815 MHz, while the boost clock speed on the Limited Edition is 1875 MHz.

You don't only get the RTX 3090, which is an exceptionally powerful GPU, for the exorbitant costs of the cards. RGB lighting, a bespoke 12-layer PCB, and a 14+8+4-phase power supply system are also included.

Depending on the model, you'll also get a 4.3-inch TFT LCD panel that displays the graphics card's vitals.

Where to buy RTX 3090: stock and availability on the big ferocious GPU

We've seen some of the lowest rates on RTX 3090 stock throughout April, which is likely owing in part to the debut of the RTX 3090 Ti earlier this month.

Since the launch of 2022, RTX 3090 costs have been progressively falling, with availability appearing to be improving in both the US and the UK. We're seeing RTX 3090 units available at significantly more reasonable prices than we've seen when the BFGPU released.

US RTX 3090 stock most likely at: | Amazon | Newegg | Best Buy | Walmart

The RTX 3090 is one of the best graphics cards for gaming money can buy, with a price tag to match. Billed for its 8K performance and 4K prowess, it's no secret that the RTX 3090 is one of the best graphics cards for gaming money can buy, with a price tag to match. Its specifications are really outstanding, and any computer that it is installed in will be future-proofed for many years.

However, we should point out that buying a prebuilt computer is currently the best way to get your hands on an RTX 3090 graphics card. As long-time PC gamers and builders, we understand that it isn't perfect for everyone, but we're seeing RTX 3090 PC bargains that are competitive with standalone GPU listings in certain circumstances.

If you're looking for the greatest cheap gaming PC offers right now, we recommend checking out our article on the best cheap gaming PC bargains. If you're looking for mobile versions of other RTX 30 series video cards, we've rounded together the finest inexpensive gaming laptop bargains available.

Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti price is leaked – but surely the GPU won’t be this expensive?

There's been a lot of discussion about how high Nvidia would go with the price tag on the RTX 3090 Ti graphics card, which is supposed to arrive at the end of March – and a new leak alludes to a worst-case scenario.

Early product listings from a Canadian shop show a price of little over $4,000 (US) when currency conversions are made (that's roughly £3,100, or AU$5,500), according to @momomo us, a well-known hardware leaker on Twitter.

That's for an Asus ROG Strix model, with a TUF variant costing approximately 10% less but still carrying a hefty price tag. Both are ominous signs, but nothing more — they could be retailer placeholder pricing, and may not be anything near the recommended price Nvidia wants to put on this graphics card.

Remember that the RTX 3090 has an MSRP of $1,500 (£1,399, or roughly AU$2,000), so charging more than double for a graphics card that isn't going to blow the existing 3090 away sounds like a pretty ludicrous situation.

Analysis: This does line up with previous leaks – and that’s a touch concerning

So, while this kind of cost sounds incredibly implausible, it's worth noting that this isn't the first time we've heard huge price tags connected to the upcoming RTX 3090 Ti. Previous reported pricing from European stores revealed asking costs of roughly $3,500 to $4,500 (after currency conversions), which is quite consistent with this leak.

Even if that were the case, we wouldn't put too much stock in it. However, the price that Nvidia recommends and the price that the 3090 Ti actually sells for could be very different. For a long time, major inflation has been a feature of real-world GPU costs, but the good news is that this scenario appears to be cooling down recently.

Still, the RTX 3090 Ti will put a strain on the wallet in one way or another, and for the improvement it offers over the vanilla 3090, it seems a little late in the day to be splashing that much money on a top-end GPU when Nvidia's next-gen isn't that far away, as we've discussed before. And, according to rumours, the RTX 4090 (if that's what it'll be called) will be significantly more powerful than the Ampere flagship or its Ti counterpart, so it'll be well worth the wait.