Chinese gamers have once again been denied the chance to buy Nvidia’s fastest gaming card, the RTX 4090, directly from the manufacturer. This is due to the US export ban on selling very powerful components to China.
Import refused – price doubled
The RTX 4090 is the fastest gaming card on the market, and with 24GB of RAM it can handle heavy tasks. It is therefore understandable that the United States would be concerned that the card could be used for military or other sensitive purposes. Strangely enough, the RTX 6000 Ada, a professional card with 48GB of RAM, is still on sale in China. This may be because professional cards are regulated differently than gaming cards.
The ban on the RTX 4090 means the availability of the card has been halted in China. This has once again led to a doubling of prices.
Fortunately, the price in Norway remains unchanged
In Norway, the price of the RTX 4090 is still around NOK 20,000. This is roughly the same price as it was when the card was launched 13 months ago.
Nvidia is expected to unveil the RTX 4070 Super and 4080 Super on January 8. These cards will likely not be subject to the export ban, so they will likely be available in China.
Banning the RTX 4090 has several consequences:
- Chinese players have to pay twice as much for the card.
- Card availability is worse.
- Chinese game developers may have problems developing games that require powerful graphics.
It is unclear how long the ban will last. The United States could lift the ban if China takes measures to ensure that the cards are not used for military purposes.
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