Skip to main content

Nvidia’s RTX 3080 sold out within minutes — and gamers aren’t happy

Following the disastrous PlayStation 5 pre-order debacle, it was Nvidia’s turn to disappoint gamers around the world.

Across multiple sites, nearly every model of the new GeForce RTX 3080 is out of stock. And those looking to buy are not happy. In fact, pre-orders went so quickly, some online are wondering if they even happened at all?

Many would-be customers reported that Nvidia’s own site never changed from the “notify me” button to “buy now.” It was only after clicking through to purchase a 20 series card that it showed the 3080 among them, with an “out of stock” label attached to it. Nvidia’s “notify me” system was itself slow on the draw, as emails with links for the graphics card arrived nearly an hour after orders went live for people who had signed up.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

As the dust settles after a whirlwind first hour of trying to get pre-orders, the picture isn’t that much clearer. GPU manufacturer EVGA announced that, despite its site only sporadically working, it is completely out of stock and the web traffic for the 3080 was the most in its history.

Sold out now, sorry everyone, I know the site was slow/lagging we are working to improve it, this is the most traffic we have ever seen on EVGA

— Jacob Freeman (@EVGA_JacobF) September 17, 2020

When Digital Trends reached out to Nvidia for a statement, here is what they had to say. “This morning we saw unprecedented demand for the GeForce RTX 3080 at global retailers, including the Nvidia online store. At 6 a.m. pacific we attempted to push the Nvidia store live. Despite preparation, the Nvidia store was inundated with traffic and encountered an error. We were able to resolve the issues and sales began registering normally. To stop bots and scalpers on the Nvidia store, we’re doing everything humanly possible, including manually reviewing orders, to get these cards in the hands of legitimate customers. Over 50 major global retailers had inventory at 6 a.m. pacific. Our Nvidia team and partners are shipping more RTX 3080 cards every day to retailers. We apologize to our customers for this morning’s experience.”

Where to buy a GeForce RTX 3080

For those looking for an RTX 3080, here is a handy tracker that keeps stock of inventory of a large swath of stores where it would be available. As of this writing, they all read out of stock, except for eBay, where scalpers are already selling 3080 pre-orders for multiple times the retail value. One listing topped out at $50,000 after a furious bidding war.

As a reminder, the retail value of a GeForce RTX 3080 is $699.

Some are holding out hope that the pricier and more powerful 3090 cards, which will retail for $1,499, will be more available due to their hefty cost. But Nvidia has already said that that GPU will be the one with the smallest inventory, so those dreams might already be dashed.

While the new consoles and state-of-the-art graphics cards hold the promise of next-generation gaming, it seems like for most, that future is out of reach as retailers struggle to maintain inventory.

It’s Xbox’s turn next week with pre-orders for the Series X and Series S happening on September 22. If the last 24 hours have taught as anything, it’s that if you want one of those, you’ll more than likely have to have your finger hovering over the refresh button.

Editors' Recommendations

Tom Caswell
Professional video producer and writer, gaming enthusiast, and streamer! twitch.tv/greatbritom
RTX 4080 Super vs. RTX 4070 Ti Super vs. RTX 4070 Super: Nvidia’s new GPUs, compared
Nvidia RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4070 Super over a dark background.

Nvidia's RTX 40-series refresh is officially here, serving up three of the best graphics cards we've seen in a while -- the RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and the RTX 4070 Super. The new GPUs, while still belonging to the RTX 40-series, deliver significant changes in specs, making them an interesting choice for PC enthusiasts.

While all three of these cards are on the upper end of the spec and price spectrum, they're not all the same. How do they stack up against each other? Let's find out with a thorough comparison of Nvidia's RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti, and RTX 4070 Super.
Pricing and availability

Read more
How to watch Nvidia’s launch of the RTX 4000 Super today
A rendering of an RTX 40 Super GPU.

Nvidia's RTX 40 Super graphics cards are just around the corner, with Nvidia teasing an unveiling of its mid-generation refresh of its Ada Lovelace GPUs ahead of CES 2024. The cards are expected to update a number of midrange to high-end graphics cards from the RTX 4000-series with increased CUDA core counts, enhanced clock speeds, and potentially more competitive price tags.

But that's all speculation until Nvidia shows us what it's been working on. If you want to be there when the news drops about just how powerful (and maybe affordable?) these cards actually are, here's how to watch the RTX 40 Super launch.
How to watch Nvidia's RTX 40 Super launch
NVIDIA Special Address at CES 2024

Read more
I hope Nvidia never makes an RTX 5090
A hand grabbing MSI's RTX 4090 Suprim X.

For all the controversies around GPU prices, insane power requirements, and massive coolers, Nvidia's RTX 4090 remains one of the best graphics cards you can buy. It's uncompromising in its power, and it's the perfect halo product to sit on top of the current-gen GPUs. I don't think Nvidia should take another swing at this class of GPU, though.

For as powerful as the RTX 4090 is, it's only become more obvious that it's a problematic GPU. Trying to deliver such a high-end GPU in a consumer PC has some unforeseen consequences, all of which we've seen come to light over the past year. It's hard to imagine that Nvidia will skip making an RTX 5090, but I hope it shows some restraint in the next generation.
Melting connectors
The RTX 4090 isn't really built for gaming. It's a monster gaming GPU -- just read our RTX 4090 review -- but I'm talking about its construction. This is a 450-watt graphics card that has up to 600W of power on tap, and a size that commonly occupies three slots and sometimes even more. It's big, it's heavy, and it's crazy powerful.

Read more