The eternal GPU hunger games continue—and this time, even Amazon is stepping in with a gated-access twist.
Vendors like Sapphire, XFX, and ASUS are now reserving AMD’s upcoming RX 9070 XT and NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 GPUs exclusively for Amazon Prime members, adding yet another hoop for gamers to jump through. The goal? Supposedly, to combat scalpers and ensure real players get their hands on the cards. The result? A paywall for access to stock that still barely exists.
Scalpers vs. Prime: Who Wins?
Let’s be honest: availability is still sketchy. While it’s improved slightly in recent weeks, you’re still unlikely to spot an RTX 50 series or RX 9070 XT GPU at MSRP—if at all. And when restocks happen? Poof, gone. This has led vendors to introduce a new policy: Prime-only listings.
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Sapphire’s Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming
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XFX’s RX 9070 XT Mercury OC Edition
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ASUS’s TUF RTX 5070
All locked behind a Prime badge, and therefore behind a $14.99/month or $139/year subscription (unless you’re riding the free trial wave). In theory, it’s a smart move—slowing down scalpers with an extra step—but it’s hardly a full stop. Let’s not pretend scalpers aren’t willing to shell out $15 to flip a card for $400 profit.
A Half-Solution That Misses the Real Problem
If you were hoping to snag a $600 GPU, prepare to fork out over $1000 in some cases—yes, even with this “scalper-reducing” strategy. That’s not just inflation or demand pricing—that’s price creep baked in by vendors who know desperation sells.
This new “Prime Club” might slow the bots and buy-resell gangs a bit, but it doesn’t solve the core issue: supply. AMD and NVIDIA need to produce more GPUs, period. Until then, vendors can dress up these exclusive listings all they want, but to many gamers, it’ll just feel like being scalped… by the store itself.
