It’s about damn time: starting tomorrow (as of writing this guide) the Nvidia RTX 3080 will go on sale, and if the reviews are any indication it’s gonna sell out fast. At least the Founder’s Edition will, though I doubt the AIB-partner cards will fare much better. The card did not go up for pre-order, so expect grabbing one of these new powerhouse GPUs to be a bloodbath, and for stock to be limited for a few months after release.
Nvidia RTX 3080 sales go live at 6am PST September 17th.
That said, there’s no harm in trying. It also doesn’t hurt to bookmark a few of these retailers in-case the GPU does sell out in milliseconds: you’ll be able to check back in with each to see when stock inevitably refreshes. Remember this: the Founder’s Edition from Nvidia will retail at $699, and the AIB-partners will be around $20 to $150 more expansive (and even higher when you factor in the turbo-charged versions with watercooling blocks preinstalled). If you start to see Nvidia RTX 3080’s selling for more than $900 you’re likely looking at resellers. I’d advise patience if you can’t find an RTX 3080 around MSRP – with AMD’s Big Navi on the way, and Nvidia’s own 3070 launching this October it’s best not to throw your money into the wind in desperation.
As for retailers, Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg have their pages up for the 3080. If you want a Founder’s Edition you’ll want to look to Best Buy and the Nvidia pages themselves, but each has a selection of AIB-partner boards to choose from if you don’t care for the FE card. Other retailers, like B&H Photo will also have a few cards in stock if you want to keep your options open (though, fans of Fry’s Electronics will want to look elsewhere: they still have the RTX 20-series listed as “Coming Soon”). You can’t reserve any, so you’ll need to be up bright and early (at least on the west coast of the US) if you want to snag one.
My advice: open or check your account with each, and make sure not only your address is correct, but your payment option. The webpages for each will likely be under heavy strain once the doors open, so the less you have to input during checkout the better. Having your information pre-filled could literally be the difference between grabbing a Nvidia RTX 3080 at launch, or having to wait on a resupply. I’m going to be in the trenches with everyone else, so best of luck – we’re gonna need it.
