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Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 Founders Edition graphics cards are no longer sold through the company’s own online store, and these GPUs will be sold by retail partners instead.
In an unprecedented move caused by all the stock issues surrounding these graphics cards, the Founders Edition models are now sold directly through Best Buy in the US, rather than from the Nvidia site.
Nvidia said in a statement: “We have heard your feedback on the Nvidia online store and are working to improve the experience.
“In the meantime, we will sell our GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Founders Edition through other partners. In the US, you can purchase Founders Edition at Best Buy: GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090. In Europe, we continue to review Founders Edition compliance options. “
For the moment, then, the only option for those in the US is Best Buy, and European customers seem out of luck; there is apparently no way to get a Founders Edition card in Europe right now.
Nvidia clarified: “Founders Edition units are limited and more will be available in the coming weeks along with an increasing supply of boards from our global board partners.”
The fact that the stock is still described as ‘limited’, and it clearly is, with bots and resellers plummeting when GPU inventory shows up, doesn’t exactly fill you with hope for the near future. Of course, Nvidia has already admitted that stock issues will persist until 2021.
Tired players
As you can imagine, after this move, much of the online reaction has become even more disappointing and jaded around the launch of the RTX 3000. European bettors are certainly unhappy that they don’t seem to have any choice at the moment to do so with the Founders Edition.
Nvidia’s card is a well-made product and is also popular because third-party graphics card offerings can drive up the price considerably, obviously depending on exactly what model you’re looking at.
For the RTX 3080, there are options at the same price as the Founders Edition in the US (and at least close to that price in the UK, if something like £ 50 more), like the Asus TUF 3080 and the MSI. Ventus. , but most GPUs cost more (and in some cases a lot more).
Unsurprisingly, given that AMD just teased Big Navi, and it looks promising, there are several folks out there who seem to be quite fed up and say they’ll take their custom elsewhere. Particularly if AMD can deliver on its promise of having a substantial amount of stock of its next-gen RX 6000 graphics cards.
And there is little frustration with Nvidia because it has yet to resolve the issues with GPU sales through its site, with some punters targeting EVGA, which, as we’ve seen, has at least made an effort to overcome the problem. Thorny issues around resellers grabbing all the cards (using a queuing system)
Nvidia said in its statement that it is working on improvements to the online store experience, so hopefully we’ll see the payoff soon enough.
Those currently looking for an Ampere GPU may want to head over to our guide on where to buy an Nvidia RTX 3080 for the latest stock updates.
