The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs are set to hit the global market in just over a week, but their launch may come with limited stock. According to insider Moore’s Law is Dead, one distributor reportedly won’t receive any RTX 5090 units at launch and will have only a few dozen RTX 5080 cards available for sale during the first few days.
One of the channel’s sources, a North American distributor, confirmed that they won’t have stock of NVIDIA’s flagship RTX 5090 initially. They expect to receive shipments of the top-tier Blackwell GPU by mid-Q2 2025, likely by June.
Meanwhile, one of NVIDIA’s partner manufacturers has suggested that the initial stock of RTX 5090 GPUs will be comparable to what they had during the launch of the RTX 3090. However, this isn’t encouraging, as it suggests availability could be similar or even lower. As for the RTX 5080, the same source revealed that its initial stock will be up to 50% less than what was available for the RTX 4080 when it debuted.
This information indicates that both GPUs may face tight supply at launch, making them harder to get during the initial release phase.
RTX 5090 initial stock may be “very rare”
A third source for Moore’s Law is Dead claims to have connections within NVIDIA. According to this insider, the GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (FE) will be in very limited supply—even for employees shopping at NVIDIA’s internal store. For comparison, they noted that it was “very easy” to get an RTX 4090 FE at its launch in 2022, suggesting a stark difference in availability this time around.
Meanwhile, a European manufacturer cited by the channel described the RTX 5090’s availability as “very rare.” However, the same source shared a more optimistic outlook for the RTX 5080, stating that stock should be “ok” for initial sales.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will be the first two GPUs in the Blackwell series, launching on January 30th. Following these releases, the RTX 5070 and its Ti variant are expected to debut in February, although an exact release date has not yet been disclosed.
