Where to buy NVIDIA RTX 30-series graphics cards: ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, PNY, Zotac. How to get a 3080

To test the RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti, I used the Nvidia RTX 3080 Founders Edition and the Zotac GeForce RTX 3080 Ti AMP Holo which I used in my RTX 3080 Ti test. I ran both cards at the default clock frequencies, and for this particular benchmark, I turned off ray tracing and DLSS.

5 Important Reasons Graphics Cards Are Going to Be Easier to Buy

If you’ve been delaying completing your new computer, the market may tip in your favor.

Ever since NVIDIA launched its Ampere-based RTX 3000 series GPUs, consumers have struggled to get one. Now, in July 2021, almost a year has passed since their launch, and the market situation until recently was quite bad.

More and more people are reporting that it is now easier to buy a GPU compared to previous months. Prices are still well above the suggested retail price, but are likely to decline soon.

So what’s causing things to suddenly get better with the graphics card? Why are graphics card prices finally falling?

Crypto Market Isn’t Bullish Anymore, and Mining Profits Are Down

Shortly after the release of the GPU, the cryptocurrency market began to gain popularity, and the market was bullish during the first half of 2021. In other words, cryptocurrency prices were at their highest ever. So you ask, how does this relate to the availability and pricing of graphics cards?

Well, when cryptocurrency prices are high, it is very likely that cryptocurrency mining is also profitable. Therefore, miners will gladly take advantage of this situation to quickly stock up on dozens or hundreds of graphics cards.

Suddenly, there is a shortage of graphics processors on the market.

You know what happens next, right? The classic question of supply and demand. The increase in demand and the lack of supply are causing GPU prices to soar.

Fortunately, the cryptocurrency boom has come to an end. The prices of these virtual currencies have dropped significantly over the past month, as a result of which mining profits have also fallen. So miners are no longer too keen on grabbing all the GPUs available at exorbitant prices.

“I liked it too,” said DeCambra, although the bags under his eyes told a different story. “Everyone here was similarly interested or enthusiastic about games. It was fun caring for people, making sure they had a blanket, water and were fed.”

Where to buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

source: NVIDIA

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti was announced at Computex 2021 along with the RTX 3070 Ti. It is advertised as twice as fast as the GTX 1080 Ti in terms of rasterization performance, and should outperform the RTX 3080 with an additional 2GB of VRAM, more CUDA cores, more RT cores, more Tensor cores, and higher TDP. It is also about $ 500 more than the RTX 3080 before any common scalping and gouging.

If you managed to get one of these cards on your first day, you undoubtedly had quick reflexes. If you only see the “Unavailable” badges now, you’ll have to do a little more manual work. You can always check the availability of the RTX 3080 Ti on the NVIDIA website, but you should also see purchase opportunities from major retailers.

Best Buy currently has card auctions from NVIDIA (FE), EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASUS, although none are available at the time of writing. Amazon has a few cards on the list, although they all have prices well above the reasonable prices. B&H and Newegg are also retailers where you can find goods.

Keep in mind that Newegg often provides a “Shuffle” feature to help people get their gear. The event allows you to choose the product you are interested in from a predefined list, after which the draw is made to determine who can buy the product. Shuffling is done regularly so check back often.

Almost a 3090

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

NVIDIA has improved some key RTX 3080 specs for the Ti version, making it a more powerful alternative at a much higher price point.

Where to buy the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

source: Harish Jonnalagadda / Windows Central

The NVIDIA RTX 3080 graphics processor was the first 30 series card that could be downloaded from NVIDIA. It’s now officially released at around $ 700, although it’s already sold out pretty much everywhere. If you haven’t managed to get your hands on the first wave of cards, don’t worry. You can check availability on the NVIDIA website or go to individual resellers.

Best Buy currently has RTX 3080 options from NVIDIA (Founders Edition), ASUS, EVGA, MSI, PNY, and Gigabyte, although the stocks have been wiped out.

Amazon has plenty of RTX 3080 offerings from PNY, Zotac, MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte, and ASUS, although the stocks here are either sold out or much higher than they should be at the time of writing. You can register for notifications by clicking on the individual GPU pages.

Walmart has a lot of RTX 3080 GPUs coming in and out of the auction, although all of them are at elevated prices, if available at all.

If you shop at Newegg and can’t find standalone GPUs, it’s because most of them have been ported to Newegg “Shuffle”. This event allows you to select the products that interest you, ending with hopefully you will be attracted to purchase the product in question. Shuffling is done on a regular basis, so be sure to check back often.

The NVIDIA RTX 3080 is positioned as an option for PC enthusiasts looking for a consistent frame rate at 4K resolution. Our tests on the 1440p show that the RTX 3080 provides approximately a 15% to 70% increase in performance compared to the RTX 2080. In 4K, performance is almost twice as high in some games as compared to the RTX 2080.

the 3080 has 8074 CUDA cores and 10 GB of GDDR6X VRAM. This is a card to come by if you plan on playing 4K or 1440p. Check out our NVIDIA RTX 3090 vs. RTX 3080 vs. RTX 3070 to find out how these GPUs stack up. And be sure to check out our in-depth NVIDIA RTX 3080 review for a lot more information.

4K Or 1440p Gaming

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

Want to enjoy 4K at a steady 60fps or top-quality 1440p gaming? The NVIDIA RTX 3080 is the GPU for you with DLSS and ray tracing capabilities.

“This causes him a lot of sadness and stress because he doesn’t want to pay such high prices,” said Hurst of his friend who is trying to build his dream computer. “I think it just kicked up to the point we’re so desperate that we’re ready to set up camp.”

Wait, Am I Going to Die Out Here Tonight?

Of course, waiting all night to buy a graphics card for your PC is both ridiculous and taxing. For example, sitting outside for so long caused me to get sunburned.

But you know what’s crazier? Freeze to death to buy a GPU.

At first, the day passed pleasantly. People chatted, told jokes and played on their smartphones and Nintendo switches. But when night came, I endured the most physical pain I’ve felt in years. It was cold outside the Best Buy store – almost unbearable. My smartphone recorded a temperature of 55 degrees, but the wind from the San Francisco Bay Area brought it closer to 40, even though summer is in full swing.

Unfortunately, none of us could leave the queue for too long. Earlier that day, a Best Buy employee told us that doing so would disqualify us from purchasing a graphics card. “Tomorrow, when I come to the store, I’ll watch the tape (security),” she said.

So when night came, I realized that I was coming unprepared for this event. Although I did bring a folding chair, I did come without any blankets. For a moment I wondered if I was going to die tonight trying to get a graphics card.

Luckily, James Hurst gave me some spare blankets. But still, from midnight to six in the morning, I trembled beneath them, mostly awake. The cold wind and loud noise of cars and street cleaners made it almost impossible to sleep. So instead I was staring at the Best Buy parking lot in total shame.

“Oh my God. All I want is my card,” Singh said after just two hours of sleep on the sidewalk.

Others, like Long Ngyuen, a high school graduate who tried to buy a GPU for his desktop computer, couldn’t sleep at all. “My eyes are so tired,” he said. “I just can’t wait for this day to be over.”

Recommended by Our Editors

Meanwhile, the line grew all night long. At 4:40, about 140 people waited outside at the store. By 6am, the crowd had grown to 185. The line had grown so long that it eventually wrapped around the store, drawing well over 200 people.

Line at 4:48 am Tuesday morning. People begin to stretch further around the building. (Photo: Michael Kan)

To keep order, Matt DeCambra, a Best Buy customer who waited in line, did a thankless job keeping a list of all the consumers lined up and in what order. To do this, he stayed up all night adding newcomers to a google doc on his phone. Aside from arguing with a few consumers who had left the line for a few hours, “everyone was nice,” he said.

“I liked it too,” said DeCambra, although the bags under his eyes told a different story. “Everyone here was similarly interested or enthusiastic about games. It was fun caring for people, making sure they had a blanket, water and were fed.”

The only problem is, will everyone in the queue get a graphics card?

No Pain, No Gain (Unless You’re Lucky)

The moment of truth: Best Buy is getting ready to distribute tickets to customers guaranteed to receive a graphics card on Tuesday morning. (Photo: Michael Kan)

Best Buy declined to provide inventory amounts for a store in San Francisco. However, on Tuesday morning, it was revealed that the vendor had enough GPUs on hand to serve around 200 customers. This is much more than the 64 cards Best Buy made available in select stores for the launch of the RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition last month.

Despite the considerable inventory, not everyone came out with a graphics card on Tuesday morning. One customer who just crossed the border said he arrived at 6:45, only to say there would be no more stocks.

I, on the other hand, got some early dibs. There were 29 Nvidia RTX 3080 Founders Edition cards at Best Buy on Tuesday – and I managed to snatch it.

But was it all worth it?

“It was worth it. But it should never have come to that, ”said Singh, who had vowed never to bivouac on a graphics card again.

“It just feels like I’m on an international flight to London,” said Hurst, who was wrapped in a large blanket. “Even so, I’m excited to get his card. It will all pay off soon.”

Indeed, today we beat bots and now have arguably the most coveted graphics card on the market. Nevertheless, I can’t help but feel stupid (or maybe jealous) after meeting a high school girl named Amead Eshpari, who secured one of the last guaranteed seats in the line for an RTX 3000 graphics card.

Unlike me, he didn’t really wait in the store. Instead, he arrived at Best Buy on Tuesday morning at 8:15. He came at the perfect time. By then, the backs of the lines had dispersed and more customers had jumped off the ship when he learned that the remaining GPU stock was only RTX 3090 cards – coincidentally the same graphics card he was hoping to buy.

“I was lucky,” said Eshpari, who rode his bike to the store. “It’s crazy lucky to be here.”

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“This causes him a lot of sadness and stress because he doesn’t want to pay such high prices,” said Hurst of his friend who is trying to build his dream computer. “I think it just kicked up to the point we’re so desperate that we’re ready to set up camp.”

3080 Stock Update

Since the launch of the RTX 30 series at the end of 2020, stocks have been virtually nonexistent, and even new cards like the 3060 and 3060ti sell out within minutes and then hard to find.

This is largely because scalpers buy them in bulk to sell online, buyers regularly pay over 50% more than the retail price to buy these cards online.

New graphics cards hit the market every day, but usually it’s a single-digit number of cards, not enough to keep up with demand.

This is partly due to demand, but also to a shortage of silicon needed to make cards, as well as many other products, such as electronics in vehicles.

Where To Buy An RTX 3080

Well, you can hardly buy it at the moment.

Shares hit the market almost daily, but are so small that if you’re not very lucky you won’t get any.

I ended up spending a week glued to my phone for stock updates trying to get 3080 and finally got a 3070, it’s still a nice card but I always go hunting for 3080 without paying a stupid amount, no way I’m paying £ 1500 for 3080, when the suggested retail price is £ 650-800, luckily I got the 3070 FE for £ 469 in Feb 2021 so it’s possible.

Even if stocks were available right now, by the time I finish writing this, they will likely be gone no matter when you find this article.

Instead, I will list a lot of trusted sellers (there are many scam sites they make money) as well as a few key social media accounts you can track for stock updates so you can try to get the latest RTX card.

Second in line was college student Christian Singh, who loves to play. He also came to the store to buy an RTX 3080 Founders Edition card for a friend who lives in the “middle of nowhere” in Oklahoma and is stuck with an old graphics card. Singh plans to send a card to his friend so they can play PC games together.

ZOTAC RTX 3080 Trinity

Best price-performance ratio

The Pros:

• Low fan noise
• Temperature control
• Good dollar performance

The Cons:

• Slow clock speed
• Inferior quality to third-party cards

About The Card

First, we have the RTX 3080 graphics processor from Zotac. Unlike the RTX 2080 version, this one is almost identical to the Founders Edition RTX 3080 version.

In terms of size, it is not as big as other AIB cards, but still cannot be called small. It will still have the already known sag in ATX cases.

This is not the only way it differs from the rest of the RTX 3080 cards. It only has two 8-pin power connectors, while the Founders Edition includes NVIDIA’s new 12-pin standard.

Still, the Trinity is very similar to the Founders Edition, both in terms of price and power requirements.

Like the FE (and some other RTX 3080 cards), the Trinity has three DisplayPort 1.4a and one HDMI 2.1 socket. Some of the more expensive cards will have two HDMI 2.1 slots, but one from the Trinity will work well at the suggested retail price.

Zotac used its IceStorm 2.0 cooling card for this card, and this is probably the reason its version performs better in the cooling department. The design with three fans together with the new arrangement of heat pipes has surpassed the FE card. Considering how NVIDIA has advertised its new fan design, this is a huge win for Zotac.

Our Thoughts

This is a card suggested by MSRP, which means NVIDIA’s suggested $ 699 price will be respected. It has kept NVIDIA’s default clock, so this card won’t outperform OC variants. However, considering the performance gains on these cards and their price tag, the Trinity is more than a good option at its default price.

Mainly thanks to the IceStorm 2.0 cooler from Zotac, the Trinity is one of the best in terms of temperature.

Remember when we said Trinity is similar to the Founders Edition? True, for the most part, but where it counts most, in terms of performance, the Trinity outperforms NVIDIA’s card, if only by a small margin. Of course, it’s still a bit below some of the more expensive RTX 3080 cards, but it’s still a good card.

However, benchmark results differ not only from other hardware components, but also from a benchmarking tool, so take them with a grain of salt.

The temperature indicator is clearer. Trinity outperforms FE, but both still lag behind cards like MSI’s Gaming X Trio and ASUS’s TUF Gaming. Another area where the Trinity impresses is sound, or rather the lack of it. Compared to the FE or TUF, it is noticeably quieter.

However, the coolest part of this tab is suitably cooler. Zotac boasts of being able to control three fans individually, but if you really don’t want to control airflow, it won’t do much for you. Still, it’s fun to have this option, and it can come in handy when trying to overclock it.

ASUS RTX 3080 ROG Strix OC

The Pros:

• Perfect performance
• Lots of overclocking space
• a great cooling solution

The Cons:

About The Card

As expected, ASUS has released the ROG Strix variant as well as the OC version which we’ll cover here. It’s been a staple of AIB cards for quite some time, and for good reason. The performance of the clock itself is enough to make any potential professional gamer drool, but is it worth the extra cost?

The first thing you’ll notice about the RTX 3080 ROG Strix OC is its size. It’s absolutely chunky and can easily be mistaken for the RTX 3090. There is a typical three-fan design as well as a physical BIOS switch on the card itself, with ‘Performance’ and ‘Quiet’ modes available. It’s worth saying that there isn’t much of a difference between the two modes in terms of performance, but the different sound levels will be much more noticeable.

The card has two HDMI 2.1 ports and three DisplayPorts, which is probably also expected.

Compared to the previous generation ROG Strix, which was quite large in itself, this model is much larger. This was to be expected due to the huge performance improvement of the RTX 3080. Needless to say, it’s larger than the Founders Edition, but it’s worth pointing out that while it technically only needs two slots, it’s a 3-slot card.

As you might assume, this card also has three 8-pin power connectors which are necessary for the amount of power required to properly overclock this card.

Our Thoughts

If you’re looking for the best RTX 3080 graphics card, it’s probably a card to look out for. The ASUS ROG Strix version has always been high in the AIB rankings and this generation edition is no different. However, there are some disadvantages.

First of all, we need to talk about the price. As there are not many RTX 3080 cards in general right now, it is only a matter of time before the current overvalued price drops. Even if that happens, the ROG Strix OC is likely to remain expensive, with some speculating that the price premium will be as high as $ 150.

In terms of performance, it is the best graphics card available, aside from the RTX 3090 space. The 1935 MHz clock is almost 200 MHz higher than the base RTX 3080 FE and other MSRP cards. That alone should be a good indicator of his ability.

a great cooling solution leaves plenty of room for overclocking, which is highly recommended if you want the best for your money.

The downside to this 4K 60FPS experience is fan noise. Fans can get really loud when overclocking, but for now you have to accept that as the price of performance.

Moreover, the driver problems have also been resolved to some extent. Right now, purchasing the RTX 3080 is probably the best gaming choice you can make. Yes, that includes getting a next-gen console.

RTX 3080 vs 3080 Ti: 1440p benchmarks

As I said before, the RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti aren’t really designed to play games at 2560×1440 – they’re too strong for that – but I figured it would still be interesting to see them stack up to Nvidia’s next GPU down the RTX 3070 (which is their big 1440p GPU).

On Ultra / Max settings, the RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti are clearly able to hit 60fps at this resolution, often reaching averages between 90-100fps. Even some of today’s toughest games, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, are doing well in the 70s on these two cards – although as you can see, the difference between the RTX 3080 and the RTX 3080 Ti is much smaller than you might expect sometimes from 4 to 6 fps. Similarly, in the case of Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 3080 turned out to be the faster card, not the RTX 3080 Ti.

However, the difference you get with the RTX 3070 is much bigger, increasing performance by around 20fps in many cases. As always, there are a few games that are much closer, such as Final Fantasy XV and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but overall you get much better performance at that resolution with one of the RTX 3080 cards. This could make the RTX 3080 more enticing for those who have 1440p high-refresh gaming monitors (which are on the rise right now), but if you’re not that concerned about playing games at maximum settings then the RTX 3070 will do you good.

RTX 3080 vs 3080 Ti: which is best?

As I summed up in my RTX 3080 Ti review, Nvidia’s new flagship GPU can technically offer the fastest speeds this side of their Titan-grade RTX 3090, but you really don’t lose much by picking up the standard version, either in 4K or 1440p. As such, the RTX 3080 remains my top recommendation for those after the best 4K graphics card.

Of course, due to the ongoing shortage of graphics cards, no GPU is currently available for purchase, and any RTX 3080 that comes up for sale will often cost significantly more than the recommended starting price of £ 649 / $ 699. Indeed, you’ll likely find that many of them are just as expensive as the RTX 3080 Ti’s asking price of £ 1,049 / $ 1,199, which is frankly just crazy money if you ask me to. As such, I would strongly advise against buying a new GPU if you can help it right now as you will likely be paying for it en masse. Unfortunately, the graphics card shortage is unlikely to be resolved by next year, so sometimes you have to. I would still suggest choosing the RTX 3080 if you can find it.

However, in an ideal world, the RTX 3080 would be a better choice for 4K gaming as I just can’t believe the Ti’s performance justifies its higher price.

On Monday at 2:15 pm, 15 people gathered in the store. Some were high school and college students on vacation. Others took the day off or worked remotely, giving them flexibility to take extreme measures and camp early.

If you absolutely need a GPU now:

If you built the platform in preparation for the RTX 3080, but weren’t able to get your desired GPU, we can understand your frustration in this situation. However, there are a few options: First, we encourage you to look at the market being used. If you buy wisely, it is quite possible to get an excellent GPU and waste very little money on it when it’s time to sell it. The launch of any new GPU causes a sale of older cards that are still excellent, and because owners are nervous about being able to sell them, prices are often at their lowest these days. Right now, the RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2080 Super, and even the RTX 2080 Ti are available for far less than half the new price.

If the idea of ​​buying used is not for you, you might consider the EVGA step up program. This program allows people in the US, Canada, or EU who purchase last-generation EVGA GPUs to sign up and then get new versions when stocks are available. You have to pay the difference and return the old GPU. The program works on every model, so RTX 2070 moves to RTX 3070, 2080> 3080, and so on. They also decide which models you can switch to. While this program is unique among retailers and is a lifeline for people who buy at the wrong time, we shouldn’t buy a new GPU while waiting for it to “go up” down the hill. This should be seen as a nice bonus, not a guaranteed path to the RTX 3080, but it’s definitely worth exploring.The EVGA RTX 2080 Super is still an excellent graphics card that will perform well at 1440p and 1440p ultrawide in the foreseeable future.

If you’re not sure what GPU you want but the RTX 3080 launch has made you think about an upgrade:

In this situation, there has never been a more important time to keep the powder dry and wait to see the landscape evolve. The inventory problems plaguing the RTX 3080 will ease over time, so it will become freely available once the initial spike in demand has passed. But it’s more than the RTX 3080. The RTX 3070 is released on October 15th. Priced from just $ 499, this card supports 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and is expected to be “as fast” as the RTX 2080 Ti. We’ll have to wait for testing to see this is true performance, but it looks like it will be the new 1440p gaming champion. We certainly anticipate that on launch we will see exactly the same supply shortages as we saw with the RTX 3080 and 3090, but don’t be put off, however, deliveries will continue to flow over time.

The overall picture will therefore continue to develop throughout October, while stocks and product availability should improve. During the holiday season, you’ll be able to clearly identify which of these products is directly from you, away from environmental pressures related to your product launch.

Overall, Nvidia’s disappointing rollout on the RTX 3080 – not in terms of performance but availability – gave you time to make a more informed decision. You don’t have to get carried away by the hype and you don’t have to buy the newest and best right away. The market is full of GPUs that are available right now and give you a fantastic gaming experience without the cost of the RTX 3080. Hope this article has opened your eyes to a few options that will allow you to play until you get a GPU you really want you want and also helped you judge which GPU is actually the most suitable for your needs.