Almost a month has passed since the launch of sales of the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, but both video cards remain in severe shortage, and any new batches are instantly bought up – often by speculators. Nvidia has decided to sell reference versions of these cards under the Verified Priority Access program – only to users registered on its website. In turn, Asus has decided to hold a lottery for the right to buy these video cards.
Image source: ASUS
The idea of holding a lottery for the right to buy a video card is not new – the manufacturers clearly spied it from retailers. Only in this case, the lucky ones will have the opportunity to buy the card directly from the manufacturer and at the recommended price.
In a post on Facebook✴, the official Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) account announced a giveaway exclusive to ROG Elite Rewards members. The good news is that you can sign up for the program without having to purchase either Asus or ROG products first. To participate in the giveaway, users are asked to register on the ROG Elite Rewards website (for free), then head to the giveaway website and select the graphics card model of interest (you can select both).
The lottery includes two models of cards: Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 and Astral GeForce RTX 5080. It is curious that in the case of the RTX 5090, the company is not offering the ROG version of the accelerator, despite the ROG theme of the draw. After registration, users can wait for the selection of winners, to whom Asus will inform details of further actions.
On the one hand, such competitions from manufacturers look like a real mockery towards consumers. Instead of solving the problems with the deficit and significantly increasing the production volumes of video cards, companies hold drawings, where the prize is not even the video card itself, but only the right to buy it. However, given the almost complete absence of these cards in stores, as well as the inflated prices for accelerators, you can be sure that there will be plenty of people willing to take part in the competition. The winners will have the opportunity to buy video cards at the recommended price, without retailers’ and resellers’ markups, and do it right now, and not wait a few months until supplies stabilize.