Most PC builders know that getting one of the best graphics cards has been close to impossible over the past year. Although the causes behind the shortage are still present, rumors say that the situation might be improving. Supplies have increased quite a bit, and prices in Germany have been reduced by as much as 50%.
But is it possible to buy a brand-new Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series graphics card right now? We did some research to prove whether that theory is true. It seems that while the prices are still high as ever, there is a definite increase in the availability of these graphics cards.
The GPU shortage left the market bare. On the rare occasion that a store would restock some of the latest RTX 30-series cards, they would sell out in seconds. The same applied to new releases. As an example, the recent releases of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti were both a fiasco for many hopeful customers. The cards were snatched up in the blink of an eye, perhaps in part by bots and scalpers.
Now, it seems that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. Both Nvidia and AMD are making improvements and adjustments in order to combat the chip shortage. In addition to that, the current situation in the cryptocurrency market lowers the demand for mining GPUs. That leaves more cards for regular users who just want to build a new PC. The prices are still nowhere close to being back to normal, but there is a chance that we might see a downward trend within the next few months. In any case, the supply of cards has certainly already increased.
It’s definitely possible that the decreasing demand has already started to affect GPU availability. We checked some of the most popular retailers, and while many cards are still out of stock, it seems that there are now RTX 30-series cards readily available for purchase. That, in itself, should make some desperate builders happy. The catch? They’re still very expensive and far above their MSRPs — but at least they’re being sold through legitimate sources and not by scalpers.
Where can you buy an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series card right now?
Let’s start with Newegg. This popular computer hardware store has an MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (on sale right now), Colorful iGame RTX 3060 Advanced OC and ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC available right now. It is priced far above its respective MSRPs, but it’s also better than the basic Founders Edition model from Nvidia.
Amazon also has some offers, such as the EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC, Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 OC Edition, or even the outrageously priced, but powerful Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3090. Best Buy and BH Photo are two retailers that tend to stock RTX cards, however, both are currently sold out. Nvidia’s own online store lists the cards at their intended prices, but all of them are out of stock.
Walmart also seems to have a healthy stock of Nvidia’s high-end GPUs. You can find most models in the online store, including an Asus RTX 3060, EVGA RTX 3090, and MSI RTX 3080. If the budget is not a concern, Walmart even offers a Gigabyte Aorus RTX 3090 Xtreme for the whopping price of $3,999.
It’s definitely refreshing to see that there are graphics cards up for grabs if your wallet can handle it. Unfortunately, the stocks are still limited and that drives up the prices to unreasonable new heights. It remains to be seen whether the prices will drop drastically anytime soon, but this is one of the first hopeful signs in a long time.
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