Nvidia still says the GeForce RTX 5090 brings “game-changing capabilities to gamers and creators” to this day, but that’s if you can beat AI companies buying them by the pallet. Yes, despite now costing over $5,000, the best graphics card money can buy is more likely to end up in a data center than your rig, and I reckon that means it’s no longer a gaming GPU.

I’m not exactly shocked to see literal pallets full of RTX 5090 GPUs in photos shared by HKECP being used for AI servers (thanks, Videocardz). However, I am disappointed that the industry hasn’t learned anything from the Cryptocurrency situation in 2021, and unlike the Bitcoin-related demand spike, it feels like gaming PC players have no chance of beating companies for stock.

Just to clarify, the graphics cards being used in the photos aren’t Nvidia’s RTX 6000 Pro workstation GPUs. These are the very same MSI and Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5090 cards you’ll find at Newegg for way over their original $1,999 MSRP, and while that inflated price tag absolutely deters even premium rig builders, over $5,000 seems to work just fine for the ravenous AI scene.

That’s largely due to the fact that, compared to an AI workstation GPU, the RTX 5090 is a bargain. Nvidia wants $16,000 for an RTX 6000 Pro, and while the latter packs 96GB of VRAM, many companies scrambling to make servers can make do with 32GB. The kicker is that there’s no disincentive to gobble up what is meant to be a gaming component for AI nonsense, and without intervention, there’s no point calling it a consumer card.

While Nvidia did make some attempt to deter the crypto scene from using RTX 30-series cards by making Lite Hash Rate versions that halve mining speeds, there won’t be an AI-busting equivalent. I’d argue that gaming tech is really now just a side project for the green team, as it has morphed into a self-proclaimed “World Leader in Artificial Intelligence Computing.”

In fact, if we’re going by the main Nvidia page’s metadata on Google, the word gaming is third after AI and HPC (High Performance Computing), so the last thing it’s going to do is hamper performance for either so that RTX 5090 cards are better suited for gaming. The fact that technology like DLSS 5 is now considered a core gaming GPU feature only serves to maintain its abilities outside of loading up Steam games, meaning the top-end cards will remain attractive to data centre builders.

To add salt to the wound, it’s not even just the flagship RTX 5090 that’s now all but reserved for AI servers. Plenty of companies will make do with the GeForce RTX 5080, meaning the only financially viable option for PC players is the RTX 5070 Ti and under. You’re still talking over $1,000 for one of those at Newegg, so it now feels like the premium end of 4K gaming is ringfenced for non-gaming purposes.

It’s for that reason that I’ll no longer be calling the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 a gaming GPU, and it’s tempting to revoke the RTX 5080’s status too. The current situation sets the stage for a future where, rather than owning hardware or even physical discs (thanks, Sony), ownership will become an absolute luxury, and companies will no doubt try to lure people with streaming services like GeForce Now and Xbox Game Pass.

Rather than paying the price or living in the cloud, I’ll be here working on ways to get the most out of your retro consoles. Yes, I’d love to play the latest romps at 4K, but until the industry gets a grip, I reckon we should all look back at how to play PS2 games and enjoy some low-spec, offline classics in protest.

• Graphics cards at Newegg
• Gaming PCs at Amazon

Check out the best RAM for gaming if you’re building or upgrading your rig.