Overclockers UK say they have a 'single digit' number of Nvidia's RTX 5090 cards a week before launc

In my calendar, January 30 is circled many times over in sparkly gel pen. For what reason? A birthday? An anniversary? No, two [[link]] hotly anticipated hardware launches of course—specifically from Nvidia's RTX 50-series. However, word from a UK-based retailer suggests I shouldn't get my hopes up of actually getting hold of one.

Amid rumours aplenty, to confirm that stock availability for both the Nvidia GeForce and will be extremely limited upon release. So limited in fact, that Overclockers UK only has a "single digit" amount of the in stock a week before launch (via ).

Purchasing manager Andrew Gibson went on to write, "Initial waves of supply are poor [[link]] and will probably take some time to build up. So the stock we have will be made available from the launch via the webshop but I know what we have is likely to last only seconds, minutes at most."

This is in part due to demand expected to be greater than even the 40-series, and considering the claim that the it's not hard to see why. Gibson also highlights that Overclockers UK will have considerably more of the in stock, though this is still limited to a "few hundred" units.

Stock supply issues are not limited to the UK, either. US-based retailer PowerGPU also , writing, "The launch of the RTX 5090 will be the worst when it comes to availability. Already being told to expect it to be that way for the first 3 months."

And I thought picking up a base PS5 console on launch day was a mission—this makes that look like . So, what's happened to create such a limited supply? Gibson theorises in his forum post that the launch's proximity to Chinese New Year could be one factor. That aligns with what we're hearing regarding some review units of third-party cards. This is a theory also echoed by , which posits that communication issues between Nvidia and card partners based in China and Taiwan have likely been exacerbated by spring festival celebrations (also via ).

Looks like I'll be holding on to my many pennies until sometime after February, then. Though I suppose it doesn't hurt to keep an eye out for stock drops of the RTX 5090 Founders Edition and third-party cards in the meantime—good thing we've collated .