The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 may be less astronomically expensive than we expected

Anticipation is mounting for a rumoured January release of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090. The next-gen GPU is expected to supersede Nvidia's current RTX 4090 as the best graphics card for gaming and indeed the best graphics card full stop.

Other the question of performance, the one thing we're all wondering about is naturally the cost. The latest rumour is that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 price may be lower than we initially expected, although it will still be eye-wateringly expensive.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 is rumoured to have 680 tensor cores, 32 GB of GDDR7 memory (up from 24GB in the 4090) and a base frequency of 2,235 MHz. The new Blackwell architecture means the GPU is set to be driven by AI, with DLSS and Frame Generation expected to play a bigger part.

It was previously rumored that the base price would be $2,000 or even $2,500. That would be a rise from the already very expensive RTX 4090, which now starts at $1,599 (although it more often costs around $1,800 when packed by the likes of Asus or Gigabyte).

Bits And Chips now claims that the price will be around €1,800 ($1,890) for the base configuration of the GPU. That's according to "several Chinese and Japanese journalists." It's not a difference that's likely to change your mind about whether you can afford it, but it seems very reasonable if it does pack the specs we're expecting, and it may sway your decision about whether to wait for it.

Also, if the 5090 does launch at a price that's more similar to that of the 4090, there's more of a chance that we'll see bigger discounts come up on the current top-of-the-range GPU, which has proved to be stubbornly resistant to deals so far (see the best current graphics card deals below). Note that there's no official confirmation from Nvidia on any RTX 5000 GPU nor specifications or pricing.