The retail price of Nvidia's RTX 5090 has climbed to roughly $7,000, according to Tom's Hardware, which makes building a high-end PC from parts impractical. The source reports that Dell is selling an Alienware Area-51 desktop with an RTX 5090 and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D for $7,499.99, down from $7,999.50.
That price is less than the combined cost of buying the GPU and CPU separately, with the CPU listed at $690. The system also includes 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 2TB SSD, a 1500W power supply, Wi-Fi 7, and liquid cooling for the CPU. A higher-spec configuration with 64GB of RAM is also on sale.
The source attributes the unusual value proposition to AI-driven demand distorting the PC market, pushing component prices up rapidly. It notes that the RTX 5090's 32GB VRAM makes it the best consumer GPU for 4K gaming, and the 9950X3D dominates multi-threaded benchmarks. The article warns that prices are rising and the window for buying a gaming rig is closing.