Before EVGA dropped out of the graphics card game (opens in new tab) forever, the company was hard at work on prototyping its next-gen GPUs for Nvidia’s RTX 40-series. One of these prototypes, a working RTX 4090 (opens in new tab), is currently up for grabs on the EVGA forum (opens in new tab), with users bidding upwards of $9,000 to secure a piece of graphics card history.
Named simply ‘Next Gen Graphics’, a title which it bears on its side, this GPU isn’t all that much to look at. There’s no other designation or model code, however, it bears some resemblance to EVGA’s FTW3 model graphics cards with its offset triple-fan cooler and massive heatsink. It was likely once destined to be the blueprint for that model of card, though it’s lacking some of the pizazz you might expect from the shipping version.
Instead due to its rarity—this is possibly the last graphics card EVGA will ever design—this most limited of limited edition GPUs is currently selling for $9,500 (opens in new tab).
The card is likely to sell for much more when the auction comes to an end on December 16 at 11:59 AM PT. EVGA had previously listed the card multiple times on eBay, prior to running the forum on its auction, which saw the price soar up to $13,200 (via Tom’s Hardware (opens in new tab)) before these listings were taken down. That was due to EVGA’s new account status on the marketplace, hence the company turning to its own forum for the actual auction.
It’s all for a good cause. EVGA isn’t pocketing any of the cash itself, it’s donating all of the money to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (opens in new tab), based out of Memphis Tennessee.
This is one graphics card we don’t mind overpaying for.
EVGA has confirmed the card is fully functional, hasn’t been overclocked, and comes with a max power limit of 600W on a secondary BIOS. There’s no warranty included on the card, however, and no refunds.