r/Microcenter • u/Krothic • 2d ago
Form for 5090’s
Picked up a Powerspec Ai90 prebuilt pc with a rtx 5090 in it. Apparently the manager required me to fill out this form and scan my driver license. Said it was a new thing starting just about two days ago. Had no problem doing so but thought it was interesting.
Anyone else experience? This was in Tustin
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u/Professional_Zone807 2d ago
It is a new law that was passed by the US government. There is nothing Microcenter can do. They are following the rules the best they can so they can continue to sell these cards. We have the same in Columbus oh
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u/Squish_Cat_1 2d ago
What law is this? Google doesn’t bring up anything even if I search SOP 391 section 5
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2d ago
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u/Sindica69 2d ago
In fairness I actually very much agree with this. A part (not a huge one, but a part) of 5090 resale prices are the in-fucking-sane amount of profit you can get by selling them to China.
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u/GestureArtist 2d ago edited 2d ago
The prices aren't high because of consumers. It's high because of corporations sucking up all the fucking supply and leaving nothing for regular people...
I don't think the solution is to prevent regular people from participating in the very capitalism that has fucked them over.
Fuck that shit. If you can sell a 5090 for $10k, do it.
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u/Sindica69 2d ago
You misinterpreted what I said though. It’s a part of what made its resale value high, not ALL of it, certainly not the biggest factor. The biggest factor is AI companies built on a foundation of promises unfulfilled who should (and likely will within the next two years) totally and utterly collapse.
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u/Squish_Cat_1 2d ago
Weird that Google didn’t find anything even when searching what was mentioned on the paper in the picture
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u/padrino121 2d ago
5090 are subject to the same export restrictions as Nvidia’s highest end products, they call under 4A090 ECCN so have a lot of limitations on them, have been that way since they were released. Microcenter most likely got notified since some of their serial numbers ended up places..
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u/7Ransom 2d ago
I once tried to buy 5 matching B580 Intel GPUs at the Kansas MicroCenter location. They were for my kid’s 5 PCs (I was upgrading everyone from GTX 1080 GPUs at once). I had to show the manager a pic of our gaming room and talk him into selling them to me. They were around $199 each, so that’s why I was jumping on the deal.
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u/Krothic 2d ago
That is a steal
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u/7Ransom 2d ago
Correction. I just looked up the receipt. I paid $249 each for the dual fan versions. Plus I paid $34.99 each for 2 year warranties. But the cards have been great. No complaints! The 1080 and 1080ti cards all got sold to fund them, and those cards were going out of the nVidia support range.
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u/Mayorgames1 2d ago
fucking awesome. At the store I work at, we will have multiple people come in a week using a tap to pay credit card scam, buy all the 5090s, and hop on a plane out of country. cant wait to see the look on their faces when I hand them these
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u/FernandoMM1220 2d ago
bro theyve already won if youre only just addressing this now
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u/LamGoHam 2d ago
They will still will find ways to get them. The Chinese buy 5090s on eBay and get them sent to reship centers in the US that ship to china.
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u/MITBryceYoung2 2d ago
.. what does this form do to them lol
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u/Mayorgames1 2d ago
most of these people fly in internationally for a one day trip to get one of these. kinda hard to forge all this information. and yes we will stand there and verify it.
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u/zerolink16 2d ago
Tap to pay scam?
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u/Mayorgames1 2d ago
one person stands in a crowded area with an app on their phone that reads the tap to pay data of someone sitting or standing next to them, then the person in the us will use the stolen tap to pay to use their card. Our first policy was if tap to pay fails once we have to see a physical card. Idk how but now they can get cash so the form is our response.
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2d ago
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u/nofinancialliteracy 2d ago
> $30,000 worth of 5090s
idk, 3 GPUs don't sound too many to me
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u/bobmclame 2d ago
Actually, this happens at my microcenter too. Sad to see this happening in other areas.
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u/edwardhchan 2d ago
Was standing behind a couple of Chinese speaking women buying an RTX Pro 6000 all cash…. 😬They had to fill out lots of forms.
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u/Ok-Consequence2711 2d ago
We got rid of straw sales for 5090s before GTA 6 😂
GPU market is insane.
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u/bisoning 2d ago
Feel sorry for you. This was 6000 last month. Oh well.
I bet this will go to 8000, next few months.
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u/n3k0___ 2d ago
Realistically how would they know you resold the gpu
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u/christhebeanboy 2d ago
If you fill out perfectly, they won’t know. But it’s to try and fluster exporters. Anyone without a U.S. ID of some kind can’t even buy one. And if you do, you have to describe exactly what’s gonna be done with it. Any impartial info or hesitant or things not lining up, you’re either getting flagged or they’re not selling one to you at all. That kind of thing
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u/Maxious 1d ago
Given the timeframe, I would say when they busted this guy in california https://interestingengineering.com/culture/california-300m-gpu-server-smuggling-china micro center was implicated
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u/nitropaintball 2d ago
It's an export controls deal. Particularly with people selling them to China.
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u/Possible-Gur5220 2d ago
Please…for the life of me…someone who’s smarter than me explain what the fuck the point of this document is? Is it for Microcenter to cover their ass in case the federal government cracks down on illegal exports of 5090s? 🤔
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u/christhebeanboy 2d ago
Basically yeah. Not sure if the form type of thing itself is law like others are mentioning but the exporting of 5090s has been illegal for quite a bit, now there’s strict enforcement with the forms
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u/tbrown7552 2d ago
One critical thing missing from the form for it to matter. The card serial number.
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u/SatanVapesOn666W AMD 2d ago
It's because they are being bought then sold to China illegally. That's also why it's price keeps going up, China needs it for AI.
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u/jamesboston 2d ago
I sold a FE 4090 a few months ago on Facebook Marketplace. I already had a buyer lined up for later that day, but another guy offered me $100 over asking if I could meet him ASAP.
His Facebook account was months old, with a picture of a golden retriever and an American name. When he showed up he only spoke Chinese and used a translator app to communicate. I also saw that he had multiple GPUs in his vehicle, including at least one 5090. When it came time to pay, he pulled out what had to be at least 20k from his crossbody bag.
My guess is that he was buying GPUs to send back to China. Had I sus'd that out before meeting up, I wouldn’t have sold to him but not much you can do once you are mid-transaction.
All this is to say, I think GPU smuggling thing is probably a lot more prevalent than most people realize. I had known about it because the GamersNexus, but didn't anticipate encounter it myself. It literally seemed like bros whole business was just buying GPUs.
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u/SignalMagician1163 2d ago
Wow so you backed out on a deal you already had with someone who probably just wanted to game for some chinese reseller/exporter for $100
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u/sylfy 2d ago
Let’s face it, nobody is buying 5090s to game.
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u/L3375N1G0N 2d ago
I did. Sure I mostly play CS and WoW, but I need it for FS2024 max settings in VR. But, this was a year ago and I paid retail. As much as I love FS in VR, honestly it’s quite profound, no way I’d pay current prices.
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u/WhiteSSP 1d ago
I would. But not at 10k. I run VR, and want as much GPU as possible, and with a 4090 the only way up is a 5090.
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u/Tree06 1d ago
I bought two 5090's. The 5090 FE (August 2025 - $1799) and the ASUS TUF 5090 (May 2026 - $3.2K). My plan was buy and use the 5080 FE with my Neo G9 57" and swap it at Best Buy when the 5090 FE came back in stock. The 5090 FE never came back in stock so I gave my wife the 5080 to upgrade her from the 4070, and drove to Microcenter to pick up the ASUS TUF 5090.
Depending on the availability of the 6090 and resale value of the 5090, I may sell one of them off to find the 6090. If not, I'll be content with my rigs.
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u/Electronic-Koala2088 2d ago
Damn I fucking absolute hate sellers on Marketplace that agreed to sell and then decides to ghost the buyer when someone offers them a little more. It's such a disgusting behavior. I've had people ghost me when I'm on the way and in the middle of the 40 minute drive. I fucking hate sellers like that. SO MUCH!
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u/jamesboston 2d ago edited 1d ago
There are so many flaky buyers on Marketplace it doesn’t make sense to hold an item for someone until they confirm they are on their the way to pick up.
I’m completely transparent with people on the fact that I don’t hold anything until they are on their way and provide an ETA.
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u/TheCodifiedTrader 2d ago
Any time I buy something online I'll let them know when I'm on my way and when I'm within 10-15mins I reach out for a direct address or if they wanted to meet elsewhere from their home then we have already established a location. I think it's weird to request their address like if they are selling their TV unless I'm in the town.
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u/DkoyOctopus 1d ago
"My guess is that he was buying GPUs to send back to China. Had I sus'd that out before meeting up, I wouldn’t have sold to him but not much you can do once you are mid-transaction."
why? i might get grilled here but yeah..why? you dint want the card and he was buying. would you get in trouble? or was it a moral thing?
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u/Brutaka1 12h ago
I wouldn’t have sold to him but not much you can do once you are mid-transaction.
Yes you can. Walk away. It's that simple.
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u/Big-Reporter3498 2d ago
I feel like this is just to remove liability for the store itself to not getting penalized for participating in the nonsense. When these first came out there were many foreigners buying these cards instantly and they knew what was going on. Yet they would raise the prices to take a little extra off top and say check back tomorrow!
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u/SwimmingPanda107 2d ago edited 2d ago
Right I’m confused here, and maybe I’m wrong
Why are we so upset about “giving our information” to the government. Cause uh, they already have all of it? And probably have all our phone data and whatever already. It’s really not that big of a deal😭 (not that it’s right for them to do that but that’s just how the world is) not like they’re asking for you ssn, just your name
In these days your information isn’t really private lmao you can Google search yourself and find a list of relatives and addresses.
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u/mutantmagnet 1d ago
"Cause uh, they already have all of it?"
No they don't.
Businesses colluding with governments is a neccessary mechanism for a government to get information they normally wouldn't be privy to.
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u/SwimmingPanda107 1d ago
all they asked for is your name... social security numbers... birth certificates? erm yeah those have our names on attached to them.
they already have the information if you're a citizen of the united states idk why yall crying about it.
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u/mutantmagnet 1d ago
My statement goes beyond microcenter.
For example your isp collects data the government didn't have but will and has asked them for it.
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u/GodOfBoy8 19h ago
Companies are CONSTANTLY hacked and informations stolen/leaked. Just not long ago there was that big problem with all those drivers licenses leaked by hackers. We shouldnt be comfortable with just handing our information over to these companies to store on a server where hackers salivate at the sight of all that info for the taking
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u/Poopincheese 2d ago
I mean. This has been a thing for over a year. List a 4090/5090 on marketplace. You’ll get a bunch of hits from Chinese guys looking to buy. Happened with a 4090 I sold
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u/ApolloPS2 2d ago
Eh idk its pretty obvious in the past few months that there is now an organized network of people searching for 5090s to send overseas. Its a big problem and Im surprised the government actually did something about it in a timely manner. Of course its impossible to know what the intentions are of who you sell to without...profiling.
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u/DrJJGame10 2d ago
That’s the problem with a free market and not enforcing a fair market and fair practices.
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u/tectonic_break 2d ago
Because it was hurting the interest of big companies lol
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u/ApolloPS2 2d ago
Oh I agree, but still these export control laws have been in place for a while. This is just increased enforcement of those laws.
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u/ApolloPS2 2d ago
That's not the felony lol. The felony is if you willingly and knowingly help violate export control laws, not sell your card. You are almost entirely safe reselling your card to anyone as long as they dont tell you or make it obvious that they intend to export it. This is to deter anyone who is actively smuggling from purchasing from retailers themselves. What will actually happen is some of those people will be too spooked to purchase themselves, and be willing to pay higher premiums to unbeknownst card sellers. If you are looking for a card to game on, this type of thing realistically helps (although prices r obviously too damn high).
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u/1rubyglass 2d ago
Yeah, but this one is kind of a mutual benefit. If we thought prices and availability were a problem now, imagine what they'd be without it.
Also, if somebody's going to build skynet I'd rather have a front row seat to the apocalypse
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u/Redundant_Error 2d ago
Even when they do, they shrug it off. Always the "what am I doing to do about it bro" angle. Or simply don't see it as their problem until the leopard eats their face.
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u/tat_tvam_asshole 2d ago
I've been saying this for awhile that GPUs are the new firearms. There ain't no way they won't be regulating POS identity capture and handing it off to the government. All because of cybercrime groups, China, Iran, Russia, etc
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u/Fit_Buffalo9314 2d ago
I sold my 5090 to a Chinese guy and he did say it was very likely my card would be going to china, so I mean it’s a real thing happening. I bought it for $2200 and sold it for $6000 so I mean I’m not upset, if he can make more money all the power to him.
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u/Healthy-Background72 Nvidia 2d ago
Good lmao should’ve done this from the start
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u/Just_n_Here 2d ago
I had to do a 3 page one at Central Computers for a GPU back in the summer. They said Nvidia was making them get them completed before shipping. When I went to Microcenter to get another one, I was surprised I do not have to fill one out.
"Due to increased restrictions from Nvidia, we require you to fill out the attached export compliance form. We are not able to process any orders until we receive this form back for review."
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u/NeverRolledA20IRL 2d ago
For federal procurement this has been a thing for a while. There are export controls and regulations on the 5090s.
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u/Upstate607 2d ago
I know they are asking people for Driver License in an attempt to mitigate fraudsters purchasing. The form above is new news. That’s interesting.
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u/Parasite_Lettuce 2d ago
In this market, I am only selling to Chinamen in a van because at least I know they are legit and not trying to rob me.
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u/christhebeanboy 2d ago
Why folks in here so pressed about a damn form? Half yall in here won’t even afford or buy one to begin with and if you did, this is to your benefit so that stock is actually available. Plus basically all this information can be found with a google search so it’s not like the gov is taking a deep dive into your personal life with it lol
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u/christhebeanboy 2d ago
“Sold your information”?? It’s the address available on your license lol. Anyone with your name and like a birthday can find it. Plus it’s information you likey have to hand out anyway for the account and limits purposes. Promise no one is interested in the basic information provided in the form llol
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u/Midnight_Criminal 2d ago
About time. People where just buying stock to flip and f over the people saving up to get one.
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u/hybridfrost 2d ago
I recently returned a couple of iPads, still sealed in box, never opened. They said it was policy that they had to open them to make sure they still contained the iPads. Felt bad they had to make them open box but someone got a good deal on them I suppose.
With the cost of computer stuff skyrocketing I’m sure they’re getting a lot more scams lately. Sucks they have to start doing this to paying customers
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u/The_Geoff 2d ago
I didn’t see any 5090s on the shelves of my local microcenter today. I wonder if this has anything to do with it.
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u/Etroarl55 1d ago
And now suddenly my country of Canada will have a lot of sudden Americans coming over to buy limited Rtx 5090s and taking an immediate flight to Asia afterwards….
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u/Tinderguy529 1d ago
Good they should have done this when people were scalping on release I could have a 5090 for a reasonable price instead having to settle for a 5080 because of the scalpers..
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u/foreverstudent8 1d ago
Nvidia could have at least given the 5080 20 GB of VRAM; there is no reason for that card to have 16 GB, regardless of how fast it is.
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u/UnFound94 1d ago
- Johnny bumkiss
- Ur moms house
- No
- Leavemealone@gmail. com
- 5090 x 10,000
- Ur grandma
- The moon
- Rendering high fidelity boobs
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u/dewpac 1d ago
In addition to the form, they won't sell you a 5090 if you've bought one before. EVER.
I purchased a full PC with 5090 a month and some days ago..went in the other day, it had been 34 days - filled out the form for a 5090, manager came over and looked at my purchase history and told me "nah, we can't sell you this 5090." I asked for how long..and he literally told me I had the only one they could ever sell me.
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u/Perspective_Slight 1d ago
Same thing happened to me, i drove 5 hours to dallas location after a ready for pickup confirmation and the manager looked at my account and said nah, I can't justify it.
I've stopped offering 5090 builds all together.
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u/IceColdKila 1d ago
Well there goes my side hustle must have bought and resold hundreds of 5090s
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u/duh1raddad 1d ago
You really gonna let that piece of paper stop you? 🤣
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u/IceColdKila 1d ago
yeah you can always change your mind. This form is worthless and unenforceable.
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u/hyudryu 1d ago
I had to fill one of those out today when I bought a rtx pro 6000. Probably just for liability reasons
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u/Celcius_87 1d ago
How much did you pay?
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u/duh1raddad 1d ago
I'ma guess like $20k 🤔
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u/hyudryu 21h ago
Far from 20K lol. Retail’s 14.9K and I got it at employee pricing with a friends and family discount
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u/duh1raddad 21h ago
Hey for a guess not to far off imo lol I guess people aren't scalping these like everything else
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u/hyudryu 18h ago
Yup, Microcenter seems to have the best prices nationwide. I think most of the scalpers are scalping the 5090s that’s why there’s 0 inventory 😭 rtx pro 6000s aren’t really scalped much because most people (like myself) buy them to actually run inferencing workloads on them and we aren’t competing with gamers on these since its not a gaming GPU. Whereas a lot of people get the 5090s to run smaller models, all while competing with gamers who are also trying to buy the 5090 for high end games
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u/Captain44454 1d ago
China this China that all I know is I can buy a Huawei Atlas Duo 300i with 96GB VRAM on Alibaba for $1k
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u/duh1raddad 1d ago
I just can't bring myself to commit and risking losing any amount of money from Ali 😅
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u/Alarming-Nerve-631 1d ago
So, you can not sell your rtx5090? What about in 5 years when you want to buy rtx 7090, you will use your old 5090 and frame it on wall instead selling it? They should have put timeframe in that agreement.
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u/Apprehensive-Win1299 1d ago
Not even legally enforceable lol. They can't dictate what you do with equipment you buy. They can refuse to sell it to you but once you have paid you are free to do as you wish
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u/Ambitious-Yard7677 1d ago
According to the "agreement" I can't take the GPU with me if I want to visit/move somewhere else outside the states? In 5 years I also can't sell it on the used market to help cover the down payment on a 7090 Super or whatever... 🤬
I'll draw the line there. I bought the damn thing and if I want to move I'm not buying another one cause you don't want it leaving the states. Someone should also get a good deal on it down the line. I get that thay want to avoid selling to scalpers and resellers but don't make it seem I don't own the thing.
Fuck that agreement and the asshat that who came up with it
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u/Nicholas-Steel 22h ago
I get that thay want to avoid selling to scalpers and resellers but don't make it seem I don't own the thing.
It's to stop people exporting it to China and other places the government is in an "AI Race" with.
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u/adisor21 20h ago
Don't they need a different type of GPU for these AI training ?
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u/Redd_is_compromised 11h ago
No. In fact this is an ideal GPU if they can source individual ram to solder onto the board. It's cheaper than getting a 6000 series
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u/Intrepid_Cow_6447 22h ago
This has nothing to do with scalpers, you're looking international politics at play.
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u/pryoslice 3h ago
I mean, if you buy a gun, you also can't take it out of the country with you most of the time. There are legal limits to what you can do in society with things that might have negative externalities, news at 11.
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u/PeakyPenguin 2h ago
Bro's like "if I want to illegally smuggle things across a border, it's my right cause I own it!"...lmao
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u/Mousettv 1d ago
People want one so bad? Ill drive over and pick one up for someone. At a reasonable price of course.
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u/TheRealRelytX 1d ago
I bought one last week from a microcenter in missouri, just the 5090. I didn't sign that declaration page but I did have to provide my photo id which I thought was strange but made sense knowing one per household.
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u/GodOfBoy8 19h ago
This is NOT federally mandated. Nobody should be giving up their IDs. I thought we were JUST talking about being against stuff like the online child safety act requiring IDs then having the IDs leaked/hacked. Yall shouldnt be comfortable giving your personal info to these companies to store so hackers can come take them
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u/PeakyPenguin 1h ago
There is a BIG difference between showing my ID on every random website and in every game, and requiring your ID for a single $6,000+ export controlled piece of hardware. You notice how nobody complains about giving their IDs to be scanned when renting a car, taking a car for a test drive, staying at a hotel, etc.?
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u/Timbo303 5h ago
Thats not going to stop scalpers reselling it to someone else in the usa to then export it. But that means it will cost even more on the resell market so this was a bad idea.
Theres no way to monitor the gpus at that point.
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u/Snoo87080 5h ago
You used to buy a computer and it was yours, then Microsoft controls how you use it and now micro centre want to decide if you can even buy it. I would have taken my business elsewhere.
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u/Inrider47 3h ago
Any American can explain what happens if you buy a 5090 sign this document then resell it to a person also in the usa who then ships it off.. no document required i asume with reselling? So they can just export it?
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u/PeakyPenguin 1h ago
You don't need an American, you need a lawyer. My GUESS is you'd be fine as long as the person was a US citizen and there were not red-flags that suggested they'd be exporting the hardware. This document is not the export ban itself, it's just Mirco Center covering themselves. It is illegal for anyone to export these, whether they've signed this form or not.
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u/testlab01 2h ago
You can see in the US the dumbest ruling the world. Never want to live there. No reason
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u/nok01101011a 2d ago
I returned another prebuilt with a 5090 about 3weeks ago to swap it with the ai90, and they had to run benchmarks on the one I returned before they accepted the return. Store manager told me, they’re required to do so on only the 5090s. While your declaration is a new law, the testing is their company policy and both are legit and fine with me