If you want to buy an RTX 4090, now might be your last chance

By Jacob Roach Published October 4, 2024

There’s no disputing that the RTX 4090 is one of the best graphics cards you can buy, but now might be your last chance to buy it. According to members of the Board Channels forum (via VideoCardz), Nvidia has discontinued the graphics card and will stop fulfilling new orders this month.

We saw this coming. Last month, members of the Board Channels forums signaled that Nvidia was getting ready to discontinue the RTX 4090 to make way for next-gen RTX 50-series GPUs. Nvidia hasn’t said it’s discontinuing the card, and it likely won’t, but some regions are already experiencing shortages and increased prices. The German outlet PC Games Hardware writes: “It is now becoming increasingly clear that the GeForce RTX 4090 … will soon have reached its end of lifetime,” following high prices and “increasingly poor availability” in the region.

The situation isn’t quite as dire in the U.S. You can still find the RTX 4090 in stock at retailers, though only above list price. The Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC, for example, is available at Newegg for $1,800 . Other models at the retailer mostly sit above $2,000. On Amazon, you can find the Asus RTX 4090 Tuf Gaming OC for $1,820 .

Given that the RTX 4090 is only selling above list price, and that rumors point to the RTX 5090 launching soon, now is definitely not a good time to buy the RTX 4090. However, it might be the last time we’ll see it available at current prices if the discontinuation discussion holds any weight. Given that Nvidia is clearly winding down this generation, it would make sense for the company to stop supplying the RTX 4090, but it’s tough to say with certainty if that’s happening now or later in the year.

Outside of the flagship, the Board Channels members say the RTX 4080 Super will be discontinued next month. If you recall, Nvidia replaced the original RTX 4080 with the Super refresh. The two GPUs are basically identical, but the Super refresh released for $1,000 — $200 less than the original design, which almost felt like an apology to gamers for that card’s high pricing. Despite the lower list price, limited stock of the original RTX 4080 meant that the Super refresh rarely sold for its list price.

Although Nvidia will likely discontinue both models soon, if it hasn’t already, it’ll take a while for that to show up through retailers. Add-in board partners (AIBs) have likely placed their final orders and will continue to supply retailers with new units — however, over the course of a few months, there’s a good chance the RTX 4090 will start to disappear from store shelves.