What a world we live in. Most folk would agree that £1,679 for a graphics card would be deemed a lot of money at the best of times, let alone during a period of soaring costs and rampant inflation, and yet wouldn’t you know it, GeForce RTX 4090 is sold out everywhere.
Nvidia’s humdinger of a GPU offers plenty of attraction – performance exceeds expectations in just about every way – and perhaps inevitably, stock disappeared from store shelves just hours after launch.
We hope enthusiast gamers have managed to nab one, but the reality is that scalpers are back in action. High-profile launches have been plagued with such unscrupulous activity in recent years, and there’s seemingly no way back to normal. Despite many retailers limiting purchases to one per household, RTX 4090s have vanished from retailers only to reappear on Ebay.
Cards carrying a buy-it-now price in excess of £2,500 are managing to sell, with eager gamers evidently willing and able to pay premiums of 50 per cent or more.
Responding to a growing chorus of frustration, Nvidia has announced plans for a ‘priority access’ program designed to help gamers obtain a card at the correct price point. Applicable only to the Founders Edition model, the trial program will see select users of GeForce Experience receive an in-app invitation to purchase a board in select regions.
How exactly Nvidia will go about picking users remains a mystery, and the program is of little use to those who favour a driver-only setup. What’s clear is something needs to be done to help get products in the hands of actual gamers.
