RTX 5090 release date, pre order, & where to buy

Nvidia finally unveiled its RTX 50-series GPUs, the next generation of graphics. It is hard to get overly excited about new launches until we see some real-world benchmarking but if the numbers are even close to the ones we saw in Mr Huang’s presentation, we are in for a treat. The RTX 5090 release date is set for January 30th, launching alongside the 5080. We were told the entire family would offer double the performance of their predecessors, with the main caveat being that DLSS 4 is required. While these comparisons can’t be taken too seriously, in another video we saw the RTX 5090 hitting around a 30-40% performance increase in Cyberpunk 2077 (path tracing in native 4K with DLSS 4 off).

The main takeaway is that this is yet another decent step forward for gamers, with high resolution and high refresh rate gaming getting a major boost. And if those prices stick at launch, it isn’t a bad deal.

RTX 5090 vs RTX 4090 specs

	RTX 5090	RTX 4090
NVIDIA Architecture	Blackwell	Ada Lovelace
DLSS	DLSS 4	DLSS 3
AI TOPS	3352	1321
Tensor Cores	5th Gen	4th Gen
Ray Tracing Cores	4th Gen (318 TFLOPS)	3rd Gen
NVIDIA Encoder (NVENC)	3x 9th Gen	2x 8th Gen
NVIDIA Decoder (NVDEC)	2x 6th Gen	1x 5th Gen
Memory Configuration	32 GB GDDR7	24 GB GDDR6X
Memory Bandwidth	1792 GB/sec	1008 GB/sec
Launch MSRP	$1,999	$1,599

RTX 5090 release date & time

The RTX 5090 release date is confirmed for January 30th, 2025. The new flagship will launch alongside the RTX 5080, with the 5070 Ti and 5070 following at an undisclosed date in February. While unconfirmed, the release time will no doubt be 9 am ET, 8 am CT, 6 am PT, 2 pm GMT. This is based on previous GPU and CPU launches across the board.

There will be limited Founders Edition models available from launch, which is common, these are like gold dust. Additionally, we will see most of the usual suspects for AIB, such as ASUS, Colorful, Gainward, GALAX, GIGABYTE, INNO3D, KFA2, MSI, Palit, PNY and ZOTAC.

RTX 5090 review embargo

Traditionally we see review embargos lift the day before launch, however, there have been some rumors suggesting we could get testing data as early as the 24th of January for the flagship. The rumors state the RTX 5080 is still set for the 29th.

RTX 5090 pre order & price

Expectations around this launch are extremely high and guaranteeing one for the listed MSRP is going to be quite the challenge. Scalpers and greedy third-party sellers often crash Nvidia parties, so pre-ordering may be the better option. Overclockers UK stated that 5090 pre orders will begin on January 30th, however, this isn’t the same for every retailer.

The RTX 5090 is listed for $1,999 (approx $2,699 CAD), $400 more than the RTX 4090’s launch price. Retailers haven’t listed GPU models just yet but they will soon begin to appear, some of which may have pre order options. If you are lucky enough to live near a hardware store, they are probably worth a call to see if reservations can be made.

Where to buy RTX 5090 – all available models

Some retailers are already listing the RTX 5090 in the US and UK. Unfortunately, they are just placeholder pages so you cannot buy or even pre-order them at this stage. You can, however, ask specific retailers to notify you when a card becomes available to buy.

RTX 5090 US retailers

RTX 5090 UK retailers

RTX 5090 Canada retailers

RTX 5090 performance benchmarks

The top line from Nvidia was “twice the performance of the 4090” but we have very little performance data at the moment. Most of the data show DLSS 4 in action but there are educated guesses to be made based on the specifications.

Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and Black Myth: Wukong all boasted over 2x performance with DLSS and full RT. This shows that select games are going to be playable in max settings, in 4K with 144Hz / 240Hz refresh rate monitors. The new card is rated for a 4K at 480Hz or 8K at 120Hz with DSC (maximum) and the comparisons shown obviously paint the best possible picture for Nvidia’s marketing. However, an early demo video (see below) shows the RTX 5090 hitting 30 FPS with full RT on and DLSS off – highly impressive.

How to get an RTX 5090 Founders Edition

The elusive founder’s edition cards tend to sell out the fastest, with limited stock in each region. To get your hands on one you are going to need to work fast and browse the few retailers that appear to stock it. The best way to pick one up is directly through Nvidia. The Nvidia website may then redirect you to one of its partners, where you can complete the purchase.

In the run-up to the RTX 5090 release date, you can select “notify me” on the RTX 5090 web page. This should give you the heads-up at launch.