Rumor has it that Nvidia’s Blackwell inventory levels are unstable again RTX 5090 launch stock may be very thin RTX 5080 should be better, but it may still be hard to find early yeah
If new rumors are correct, there could be a shortage of Nvidia’s RTX 5000 graphics cards when these next-generation GPUs first arrive. And this isn’t the first time we’ve heard chatter from grapevines along these directions.
This time it’s from regular YouTube rumor mill Moore’s Law Is Dead (MLID), who discussed the topic of Blackwell stock in his latest video.
The most important summary is that the RTX 5090 certainly looks very unstable for the amount of its launch stock, and this news is not all that good for the RTX 5080.
My original source for MLID, which is a nice adjustment of all of this, is that I work for a distributor in the US, and the organization only has about 20 boards for the RTX 5080, and the flagship one. I said not at all. Yes, RTX 5090 is out of stock at zero, but it sure looks worrying.
The theoretical allocation for the RTX 5080 graphics card is around 20 for the first month of sale (meaning February), and for comparison with the previous generation, this reseller expects it to be around 20 when it launches in 2022. I had hundreds of RTX 4080s. RTX 5080 stock could be a tenth of that.
The second source is a graphics card manufacturer (presumably in the US) who said that they have the same amount of RTX 5090 boards as RTX 3090s. And if you recall, the RTX 3090 is almost out of stock. As for the RTX 5080, apparently the supply is “a fraction of” that of the RTX 4080, but this source doesn’t estimate it to be 10x worse. RTX4080.
Another source at a graphics card manufacturer (within the EU) said the RTX 5090 is likely to be “very rare,” but the RTX 5080 appears to have “fair” stock levels for an early release of a graphics card. I said that. .
Note that these are all rumors about third-party Blackwell graphics cards, so they don’t apply to Nvidia’s own Founders Edition RTX 5090 and 5080 cards.
MLID spoke with an Nvidia representative who said he was not involved in discussions related to supply, but Team Green told staff that the RTX available from Nvidia I observed that the 5090 Founders Edition warned that there aren’t many. Employee store at launch. They pointed out that with the RTX 4090, it’s very easy to get the GPU (at a deep discount) from their internal store.
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Analysis: Caveats and signs of more optimism
Obviously, all of this comes with a major caveat. Even if multiple insiders have reported here, it is still only a minority source. And that’s just one reseller in the US (although other resellers could probably do better, especially when it comes to the RTX 5080).
In fact, there’s a lot of chatter about the RTX 5080 here, and some signs that stock levels are stronger, including mentions of stocks being one-third to half that of the RTX 4080. Other estimates can be found here, but as MLID points out, RTX 4080 supply wasn’t all that great. Another reason for the stagnant supply was that this GPU was not very popular. The RTX 5080 is likely to be in even higher demand, so it could sell out relatively quickly.
Of course, we don’t know how much we can trust this assumption. Founders editions may also vary. These models lack solid evidence. But it certainly makes sense that Nvidia wouldn’t want to prioritize RTX 5090 inventory specifically for its own boards or third-party graphics cards. First, because AMD RDNA 4 won’t even remotely compete with Nvidia’s new flagship, and second, because Team Green definitely wants to use the top Blackwell chips for AI, not the 5090. . Because that’s where all the big benefits lie.
All of this doesn’t leave me feeling confident about the overall picture for RTX 5000 stocks. I have to say that, especially since last week’s report pretty much lines up with the claims here, suggesting it could be a battle for one of Nvidia’s shares . Next generation GPU at the time of release.
