When we start talking about some computer components they can be very expensive lately. And we see that with the RTX 3090 series as well. Graphics cards like the RTX 3090 can go up to really high prices where the graphics card is the majority of the price of your computer.
The main reason they are so expensive is because there is a very small supply of stock, so there are not enough chips and materials needed to make a graphics card. Lately there is a really small supply of chips and materials needed to make graphics cards and other components not only for computers but also for consoles and for phones.
Similar to the Playstation 5, the supply is very small and therefore there are a lot less graphics than in previous years. And therefore also a lot more expensive.
Another factor is demand. Technology is always expanding and so are the people who use it and so demand is growing. It is also almost clear that prices will continue to move like this for a while as the inflation associated with these components is really big.
The RTX 3090 graphics are some of the best on the market, and they're not exactly the easiest to find either. When you want the best of the market it always takes longer and is a lot more expensive than going the middle way.
That being said this is one of the best graphics cards on the market and it is also capable of running 8K and this is Nvidia's very first one to do so. Therefore you can imagine that for such a luxury computer component it is clear that you will pay a lot more.
The most obvious reason for the inflated GPU prices is the really big shortage of silicon and especially cryptocurrency mining. Resellers are using their network to acquire GPU inventory in large volumes to sell at higher prices and so most graphics are immediately bought out within hundreds of dollars. The saddest thing is that normal people don't even look at the new cards because there are programmed bots who buy graphics so fast you cant even order them.
This is also how the big shops then sell the cards at even higher prices as they are in short supply. Resellers make a lot of money if they can sell them. In this regard, there are also a lot of scammers who sell various knockoffs made somewhere else and just relabelled to look like a new RTX 3090.