Buying an RTX 5090? You Need to Promise You Won't Export It First

Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card on a red desk.

Credit: Joseph Maldonado for PCMag

When you buy an RTX 5090, you don't just need $5,000—you also need to sign a form declaring you don't intend to ship the card overseas. This follows the card's price skyrocketing in recent weeks, with many reports claiming Chinese data center builders are buying up the cards in large quantities and shipping them back home.

The RTX 5090 was always a Titan-tier graphics card. At twice the price of the RTX 5080 and with more VRAM than gamers can use, it was clearly a prosumer card from the start, and its $2,000 price at the time reflected that. But in the world of AI data centers and scarce enterprise GPU supply, this top-tier gaming card has become the next best solution, and it's made it completely unaffordable for gamers.

Now, with prices that can reach $12,000 in extreme cases and $5,000+ for even stock versions of the card, Micro Center is requiring anyone who buys one to confirm they won't export the card. They also need to show ID, tying their purchase to their identity, so if they get caught breaching very real export law, it'll be easier to track them down.

Reddit

It applies to system builds, too. One Reddit user was forced to sign a declaration when picking up their PowerSpec Ai90 pre-built PC with an RTX 5090 inside. They were also required to provide their driver's license for scanning. They were told it was a new store policy, so expect the same at other Micro Center locations.

A growing number of lawsuits relate to GPU smuggling to China, some involving major companies like Super Micro and even Nvidia employees. Micro Center is likely trying to avoid getting caught up in legal action. It could also just be trying to comply with turbulent US export laws that frequently change with little notice, at the White House's whim.

Either way, getting an RTX 5090 is even more difficult now than it was. But with the cards priced as high as they are, very few legitimate buyers are likely to be affected.

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