If you're drooling over upcoming GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or the beastly RTX 3090, you might want to keep that credit card handy and your hands on the keyboard and mouse. Those sweet new cards are likely going to be in very short supply, which means snagging one (or two, even) could be difficult for the foreseeable future.
TweakTown reports that Nvidia's new Ampere GPUs could very well be hard to snag until at least 2021, as industry sources allegedly indicate that stock will be "extremely low" after the cards launch throughout the end of the year and possibly beyond. In fact, the same sources indicated that the first wave of cards could be "the smallest launch in many years." That’s bad news for anyone who’s been waiting patiently to pick up one of these new releases, especially with graphics-intensive games coming down the line later this year.
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TweakTown reports that Nvidia's new Ampere GPUs could very well be hard to snag until at least 2021, as industry sources allegedly indicate that stock will be "extremely low" after the cards launch throughout the end of the year and possibly beyond. In fact, the same sources indicated that the first wave of cards could be "the smallest launch in many years." That’s bad news for anyone who’s been waiting patiently to pick up one of these new releases, especially with graphics-intensive games coming down the line later this year.
Why will the new GPUs be in short supply? It's all about the yield in terms of Samsung's 8nm process, which Nvidia supposedly wants to maximize. Until then, the company is looking to reduce the number of cards in production until a palatable goal is reached. There's also the matter of AMD's upcoming RDNA 2 debut. Nvidia is wanting to observe how the upcoming Big Navi GPUs will end up competing against the current line of Ampere cards.
Even if the cards weren't already going to be released in lower quantities due to the reasons outlined above, the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 are very affordable and desirable GPUs in terms of pricing. Even the $499 RTX 3070 blows the current RTX 2080 Ti out of the water. Upgrading to the RTX 3080 for only a couple hundred more gets you even more power.
It's a massive jump in price for the RTX 3090, but it's worth it, too. With CUDA cores numbering over 10,000 and a whopping 24GB of GDDR6X memory, the 3090 is going to be something seriously special in terms of performance, though you're certainly going to pay for it, as well. It’s going to go for $1499, but it also promises to deliver smooth 60 frames-per-second gameplay at a whopping 8K resolution for those who want that kind of overkill.
Time is quickly ticking down until the new line of cards arrives. The RTX 3080 is set to debut on September 17, and you can expect the big boy RTX 3090 on September 24. The RTX 3070 is a bit further out, expected in October. Right now, it's looking like you may just have to be the fastest draw on the internet if you want to make one of these cards yours, as preorders aren't yet available – and it's unclear if they will be. Your best bet is to sign up via the official Nvidia website to be notified via email when they're available to lock in.
