If you’ve been wanting to upgrade your computer, you’ve probably been hesitant to buy a graphics card because component prices are currently insane. It’s no secret that the more powerful a graphics card, the higher its monetary cost, but prices have been rising exponentially in recent times and show no signs of stopping, especially for the most sought-after GPUs.
Last year, Nvidia’s current flagship graphics card, the RTX 5090, launched at a semi-respectable $1,999. Fast forward to the beginning of this month, and the cost of a 5090 had risen to at least $5,000. As of the week of September 13, 2026, stores like Newegg are selling RTX 5090s for around $9,000. Some now even have price tags around $14,000 (I think they were updated as I wrote this article). For comparison, a PlayStation 5 Pro costs $899 through the PlayStation Store.
You might think that since the RTX 5090 is more powerful than the PS5 Pro, it should cost a lot more. That’s true, but the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti and 5070 are also more powerful than this console, and Newegg sells most of these graphics cards between $500 and $900. You can upgrade your gaming PC to outperform a PlayStation 5 Pro for less than the price of a PS5 Digital Edition.
All is not as it seems.
Your first instinct is probably to point an accusing finger at Newegg. However, if you look closely, you may notice that very few of the exorbitantly priced RTX 5090 GPUs featured in Newegg’s storefront are coming from the retailer. Instead, most of these cards are sold through third-party stores that simply use Newegg as a middleman. Some of these sellers are based in Canada, others in the United States, but most appear to be from Hong Kong. On the bright side, all of these purchases offer free shipping, but that’s little comfort given the prices they ask.
All of these facts leave us with one nagging question: why are RTX 5090 prices rising to the point that you need a mortgage? TechRadar theorizes that this could be the result of technical FOMO. Rumors are circulating that AI server makers are buying GPUs by the pallet, complete with images, which is enough justification to buy an RTX 5090 at the price set by sellers. However, as the outlet points out, many of these images appear AI-generated, which could mean that people selling 5090s through Newegg (and other sites) are trying to create the illusion of scarcity to drive up prices. Or maybe someone took the photos as a joke and the sellers held on because they thought they could profit from them. Regardless, we don’t recommend buying RTX 5090s for $9,000 or more. Use your money wisely and buy a cheaper alternative.
