While most of us are desperately hoping for even the chance to buy a flash new consumer grade GPU, others walk a different, higher path. Half the PC gaming community is scrambling to even save the cash it takes to get something like an overpriced RTX 5080, while the rest who have the money can't necessarily find a retailer stocking them. This has led to some people finding their own solutions, like going to Japan to buy cards, or just buying something much, MUCH more powerful.
Nvidia's new RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs have finally become available with the first batches already making their way to customers. These pro units aren't in the same tier as our typical gaming cards, instead made for things like intense rendering and the creation of huge models. They're absolute beasts, packing 96GB of VRAM. These are pro cards for actual professionals, not just pro gamer skills.
But that doesn't mean it's not a pro gamer move to try and score one.
VideoCardz spotted listings for the new Blackwell GPUs at retailers, as well as a Reddit post where one lucky poster got their hands on one such card. The cards are listing at around $9,000 USD with VAT included, which it likely would be given these are a professional tier card. That's a huge price hike over even the inflated costs of very fancy gaming equipment, but it gets a little bit more reasonable when you hear more of this redditor's story.
Scrolling through the thread, more than a few people were curious as to how Redditor Recurrents came across the card. A bit of digging through the replies reveals they lucked out getting an allocation someone else had wanted from the first batch. This also included a grant from Nvidia providing a $5,000 discount on the card. This means the RTX Pro 6000 likely put Recurrents back by about $3000-$4000 USD.
$4,000 is a huge amount of dollerydoos to throw at a GPU, but after some mild rationalisation it doesn't sound too insane. Nvidia's RTX 5090's MSRP is around $2,000 anyway, and with shortages, taxes, and general demand it hasn't been uncommon to see listings charging even more for them. $4,000 on a card about three times as powerful suddenly isn't looking too shabby, assuming your PC could even run it.
Unfortunately it looks like that grant is a difficult one to get. If it's the same as what's listed on the Nvidia website you likely need to be a "full-time faculty member at an accredited academic institution that awards research degrees to PhD students." I've reached out to Nvidia to clarify, just incase there's a more accessible option.
In the meantime, if we do hear of any ways to get a sweet deal on an ultra powerful card, we'll let you now. For now you can check out Recurrent's test stream of the Blackwell powerhouse, while browsing this list of cards we'd actually recommend you buy if you absolutely have to.
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