Consumer RTX 5090 stock in the US (and many other countries) seems to be virtually non-existent at the moment, despite Nvidia’s claims that production is still ongoing. So, what’s happening to all those brand new consumer cards?
A leaked video reportedly taken from inside a Chinese factory may have the answer. Posted by HKEPC on X, the footage shows what appears to be a huge number of consumer RTX 5090 cards being dismantled en masse for AI server conversion (via Tom’s Hardware).
【太精彩了吧 😱】近日，社交媒體 X 上流出多段顯示卡改裝工場內部影片，可以看到大量 GeForce RTX 5090 頂級遊戲顯示卡並未流向一般消費級零售市場，而是被整批運往大型改裝工廠。廠內工人在具備完整流水線的作業環境下，進行大規模拆解與改裝，將原本針對電競設計的三風扇散熱架構全數替換為 Dual Slot 渦輪散熱器，以符合 AI 伺服器機箱的高密度排列需求。 https://t.co/2wzPmweU3s從曝光的工廠現場畫面可見，流水線工作枱上堆滿了來自各大廠商的 GeForce RTX 5090 零售彩盒包裝與全新裸卡，甚至連 NVIDIA 自家 GeForce RTX 5090 FE 也有。工人正以熟練的工序，迅速卸除原廠龐大的風扇與散熱鰭片模組，將完整的 PCB 電路板分離出來。隨後，GPU !
Consumer RTX 5090 stock in the US (and many other countries) seems to be virtually non-existent at the moment, despite Nvidia’s claims that production is still ongoing. So, what’s happening to all those brand new consumer cards?
A leaked video reportedly taken from inside a Chinese factory may have the answer. Posted by HKEPC on X, the footage shows what appears to be a huge number of consumer RTX 5090 cards being dismantled en masse for AI server conversion (via Tom’s Hardware).
Workers are shown dismantling the GPUs, removing their three-fan coolers and heatsinks, and stacking the PCBs for conversion to dual-slot cooler configurations suitable for AI server racks. The scale of the operation looks truly vast, with what looks to be hundreds, possibly thousands, of GPUs getting the chop shop treatment.
According to HKEPC, the GPU and VRAM are desoldered and transplanted to a separate PCB ready for cooler transplant. Once converted into an AI server-suitable form factor, the GPUs are then tested on vast arrays of benchmarking rigs, ready to begin their new lives as AI workhorses rather than consumer graphics crunchers.
The horror, the horror, etc. These “grey market” facilities are said to be scattered throughout the country, despite the RTX 5090 not officially being available for sale in China. Nevertheless, this facility looks to be stuffed full of the highly prized GPUs, with skilled technicians pulling them apart for repurposing.
(Image credit: Future)
Reports of this sort of activity are nothing new, but this footage showing the scale of a single operation is still unsettling. If facilities like this are hoovering up GPUs and converting them at this sort of rate, it’s perhaps no surprise that RTX 5090 consumer cards have become so difficult to find elsewhere.
We’ve stopped tracking the GPU in recent months on our GPU price watch page, as the only US listings we can find are from third-party sellers for vastly inflated prices. A gaming GPU for $8,000+ simply makes no sense at all, even if it happens to be Nvidia’s top-level card for this generation.
And to see them being converted for, shock horror, AI crunching instead of good old gaming purposes? Well, chalk up another way AI server demand is making 2026 a year to forget for consumer PC hardware.
