There wasn’t much in the way of GPU announcements at (or around) CES earlier this year, with the integrated graphics in Panther Lake laptops the only real shocker. But MSI resurrected its top-shelf Lightning brand for the RTX 5090, announcing a bombastic card with water cooling. The price was assumed to be high, since MSI didn’t set one—and now we have at least one source for the approximate cost.
MSI posted a promotional page for the RTX 5090 Lightning on its Taiwanese site, including a lottery with 10 winners for the card. The “Commodity amount” for the prize, according to machine translation, is 165,000 New Taiwan dollars, including sales tax. At today’s exchange rates, that works out to $5,229.85 USD. Assuming that value holds, it would be more than double the MSRP of the standard 5090, and about 10 percent higher than the Asus ROG Matrix Anniversary Edition.
Foundry / Michael Crider
The Lightning has a laundry list of features that MSI is hoping will appeal not just to gamers, but to those hoping to set world overclocking records. By default, it draws 1,000 watts of power (almost double the standard RTX 5090 spec). It can be pushed up to 2.5 kilowatts if you’re willing to fry your warranty and your desktop at the same time. An absolutely enormous copper heat spreader covers the GPU and the surrounding RAM, and an 8-inch screen rests on the water block, positioned so it can be seen from the exterior of the case if you mount it vertically. Dual BIOS options and a control panel accessible from both web and mobile apps will help you keep an eye on things.
MSI says it’s only making 1,300 units of the 5090 Lightning, and frankly even that seems ambitious. Adam Patrick Murray was with me at the announcement at CES and remarked that this card is for the Shaquille O’Neal crowd—the kind of people who want “the best” version of something and don’t even bother to look at the price. (Mr. O’Neal, Razer would like a word.) The card is expected within the first quarter of 2026, and since the lottery for Taiwanese gamers is only open until tomorrow, it seems like the release is imminent.
Strangely, the MSI RTX 5090 Lightning is looking like a better deal, at least in the context of the current market. Amid rumors of slashed chip production from Nvidia (in favor of “AI” industrial output, of course), many high-VRAM cards are almost impossible to find. Here in the US, secondary resellers are slinging 5090 cards for $3,600 to $4,500, making a $5,000+ card with all the trimmings seem almost reasonable.
Paramount Pictures
Such is the reality of high-end gaming during the current RAM crunch. But hey, at least MSI doesn’t have the most expensive RTX 5090. That honor distinction goes to Asus with its $500,000 card made with pounds of actual gold, aimed squarely at Saudi princes who make NBA superstars look like paupers.
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