Ah, NVIDIA. The tech giant that never fails to overpromise and underdeliver. Their latest fiasco? The much-hyped launch of the RTX 5090 GPUs. If you thought the previous GPU shortages were bad, buckle up, because this one is a doozy.
Let’s start with the performance. NVIDIA’s CES 2025 presentation was a masterclass in hyperbole. They claimed the $549 RTX 5070 would be equivalent to the outgoing flagship, the 4090. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. Even the RTX 5080 couldn’t match the 4090 and barely managed to surpass the firm’s 4080 SUPER. So much for those “ridiculous” performance claims.
But wait, there’s more! If you somehow managed to believe the hype and wanted to get your hands on one of these GPUs, good luck. Supplies are so limited that major retailers like Overclockers UK have confirmed it could take up to 16 weeks for the RTX 5090 and up to six weeks for the 5080 to return to shelves. It’s almost as if NVIDIA enjoys watching their customers scramble and suffer.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, enter the Windows support issues. Users who were lucky (or unlucky) enough to snag a 5090 are reporting that Windows fails to recognize the GPU. Even worse, some cards are getting bricked, and there are PCIe 5.0 compatibility problems. Overclocking guru der8auer EN has already discussed these issues in his launch review, noting that the 5090 doesn’t run properly on Windows, even with the right driver. Changing the PCIe version to 4.0 in the BIOS seems to resolve some issues, but not all.
NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 launch is a textbook example of how not to roll out a product. Overhyped performance, limited supplies, and a slew of Windows support issues. It’s almost impressive how many things they managed to get wrong. If you’re in the market for a new GPU, you might want to look elsewhere—or just wait for NVIDIA to get their act together.
