This is undoubtedly the most surprising launch in the GeForce RTX 50 series range, which has already seen some great ones.
Only a week ago, NVIDIA took everyone by surprise when it announced the latest addition to its new generation of graphics cards. The GeForce RTX 5050 was already the seventh RTX 50 series model since the release of the top-of-the-range GeForce RTX 5080/RTX 5090 duo on January 30. But what's most surprising is not the fact that NVIDIA is returning to an xx50 model when the previous generation didn't get the same treatment. Rather, it's the timing, with NVIDIA taking the opportunity to indicate that the release would take place in a few days' time, from the second half of July.
All GeForce RTX 5050 specifications © NVIDIA
Well, as it turns out, we weren't quite at the end of our surprises. In fact, the GeForce RTX 5050 was not released from mid-July as NVIDIA had indicated... but from July 1. We've seen launches postponed for various technical, commercial or logistical reasons, but rarely an early release. However, we were still a long way off the mark when it came to astonishment: while all the major French resellers rushed to the page to indicate the release of the various GeForce RTX 5050 models for July 1 at 3 p.m., when the time came... nothing. Nada.
We knew about the short-lived GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 stocks at the end of January. We'd also calmed our nerves as supplies of RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 had unpredictable ups and downs. Now we're treated to the phantom launch. Yes, "phantom", because we're not talking about ultra-rapid stock-outs and the rare cards available being sold out in the space of a few minutes. Resellers in France - and no doubt just about everywhere else in the world - have not received a single card. The GeForce RTX 5050 was therefore officially released on July 1, 2025 at 3 p.m., but we're still waiting for actual availability.
