Nvidia RTX 3080 just got more difficult to buy — here's why

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Nvidia has stopped selling the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics cards on its own site

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
(Image credit: Nvidia)

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is hard enough to buy as it is. But getting the Founders Edition of the graphics card has just got a bit more challenging. 

That’s because Nvidia itself has decided to stop selling the RTX 3080 Founders Edition and the GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition on its own site. Instead, those graphics cards will now be found over on Best Buy. 

It would appear that Nvidia is struggling to keep up with demand and has basically shifted the focus over to Best Buy. One less place to order the latest and greatest Nvidia graphics cards could make it even more challenging to find an RTX 3080 or RTX 3090. 

“We have heard your feedback regarding the Nvidia online store and are working to improve the experience,” Nvidia said in an online statement. “In the meantime, we will be selling our GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Founders Edition through other partners. In the US, you can shop for Founders Edition at Best Buy – GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090. In Europe, we continue to review Founders Edition fulfillment options.”

The last bit is bad news for Nvidia fans in Europe, as it would seemingly mean the Founders Editions of its top-end graphics cards aren’t going to be sold on the continent. 

“Founders Edition units are limited, and more will be available in the coming weeks alongside an increasing supply of boards from our global board partners,” Nvidia said, which doesn't give us a great deal of clarity into whether Founders Editions cards will come back in stock in Europe. 

There are of course partner RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 cards created by the likes of Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and others. But these have been selling out rather quickly and are also tricky to find - check out our where to buy guide to see some retailers that might have the RTX 3080 in stock. It looks like people after an RTX 3080 or RTX 3090 will need to have a degree of patience, though we appreciate that can be frustration for some PC fans. 

But with AMD Big Navi coming October 28, alongside other graphics cards in the new Radeon RX 6000 series, there could be viable alternatives to the Nvidia GPUs. If AMD manages to nail the performance to price ration and undercuts Nvidia, then it could have some serious competition to bring to bear on the graphics card arena. 

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.