Current graphics chips are in great demand, but a rare commodity. If you want to get hold of one of the cards from the Nvidia RTX 3000 series, you need a lot of patience and a bit of luck. An overview of dealers and availability.
PC gamers lead a miserable existence in 2021. Many of them long for a new graphics card because the performance leap of the current Nvidia RTX 3000 cards compared to their predecessors is enormous. However, the corona pandemic torpedoed the production of the manufacturers. To make matters worse, the raw materials required for chip production are limited and the competition in the market is increasing due to technological advances. Car manufacturers stir it up because the entertainment and navigation systems in their cars depend on modern chips.
And as if all that weren’t enough, scalpers are up to mischief in the graphics card market. These are retailers who take advantage of the situation of high demand and low availability. They program software that automatically buys graphics chips when they are in stock at a retailer, only to sell them on to end users for a multiple. Manufacturers are powerless against the method. Some online shops therefore limit the order quantity for graphics cards to one or two products of the same chip.
Graphics cards: prices are pointing downwards
After months of chip shortages, the graphics card market seems to be relaxing somewhat. Where the relaxation is relative: While the RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti were offered by all retailers at the market launch in early June far too expensively, the price trend is now pointing downwards, as reported by pcgameshardware.de. That’s why gamers shouldn’t let out cheers just yet: The current price (June 30, 2021) is still well above the recommended retail price communicated by Nvidia.
Nvidia RTX 3000 series: The graphics cards at a glance
If you want to get hold of one of the popular cards, you have to be patient and quick-witted. You should avoid price comparisons like Geizhals or Idealo. Actually they are a great tool to find the best price. However, scalpers take advantage of the sites by making their software cheap
Unfortunately, you cannot be put on a waiting list by retailers, for example if you put an unavailable card in the shopping cart and pay for it. So you have no choice but to go through the dealers manually over and over again. Therefore, this article shows different models and provides a tabular overview per card of which dealers carry the chips.
One thing should be said in advance: As soon as one of the models is available, it is sold out within a few minutes at the normal price – no matter which online shop has the graphics card in stock. So it’s worth keeping an eye on the various shops regularly.
The Nvidia RTX 3060 is the chip manufacturer’s entry-level model. The recommended retail price (RRP) is 330 euros for the version with 16 gigabytes of video memory (VRAM). Curious: The somewhat more powerful Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti “only” comes with 8 gigabytes. Nvidia has already announced that it also wants to launch its RTX 3060 with less memory. In terms of performance, it is at the level of the RTX 2070 – i.e. the next more powerful model of the previous generation. Anyone who wants to play the latest game titles on a monitor with 4K resolution will not be happy with the card. Gamers who rely on Full or UHD, on the other hand, do.
Availability on February 7, 2022: The RTX 3060 is currently available – but greatly overpriced. Notebookscheaper offers the best price.
The RRP of the RTX 3060 Ti is 69 euros higher. It offers around 36 percent more computing units, but only half as much VRAM. But it doesn’t matter as long as the games flicker across the screen in Full HD or UHD. Incidentally, the “Ti” in the name stands for “Titanium” at Nvidia. This is nothing more than marketing talk telling the end customer that a “Ti” chip is slightly faster than the “normal” graphics card.
Availability February 7, 2022: The RTX 3060 Ti may be overpriced, but it’s available.
Most end users should be eyeing the Nvidia RTX 3070 because it offers the most interesting mix of price and performance. The RRP of the graphics card was around 500 euros when it was launched. Buyers are currently shelling out at least 400 euros more for them. Its level of performance is impressive: it is on par with the previous generation’s top-of-the-line model, the RTX 2080Ti. Incidentally, it was launched in the third quarter of 2018 and cost 1250 euros. The RTX 3070 comes with 8 gigabytes of VRAM, three less than the RTX 2080 Ti.
A circumstance that is more than manageable because the new chip still achieves the same performance in games – originally at almost half the price. The Nvidia RTX 3070 also manages to quickly render performance-hungry games in 4K resolution. If you are flirting with the card, you can do the same with a high-resolution monitor. By the way, an RTX 3070 Ti is not yet on the market. But it’s only a matter of time before Nvidia releases them. The chipmaker is rumored to be doubling the Ti version’s VRAM to 16 gigabytes.
Availability on February 7, 2022: The RTX 3070 is available from Amazon for less than 900 euros! Cheaper than all specialist dealers.
The Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti was released on June 10, 2021. Nvidia itself declared the graphics card with a recommended retail price of around 600 euros. But because the chip market is still overheated, only very few interested parties should have gotten one of the coveted graphics cards. After all: If you accept the hefty surcharges on the RRP, you can currently get the RTX 3070 Ti for around 1000 euros. And that’s only marginally more expensive than a new RTX 3070.
Availability February 7, 2022: Specialty retailers like Alternate have the card on sale. In terms of price, it is on par with the RTX 3070.
If you want 4K gaming without compromise, the Nvidia RTX 3080 is the path to take. Compared to its direct predecessor (RTX 2080), it offers up to 50 percent more performance. Such growth between two generations is a rarity in the field of PC hardware. At the market launch, a few lucky buyers got hold of the graphics card for 699 euros. A bargain compared to the current prices, which are around 1600 euros.
Availability on February 7, 2022: The RTX 3080 is currently overpriced. If you still want to strike, Mindfactory has the currently best offer.
On June 3, 2021, the RTX 3080 Ti appeared in stores. Of course, the graphics card suffered a fate similar to that of its predecessors: as soon as it was released, it was sold out immediately and then only available for a hefty surcharge compared to the recommended price. Nvidia announced a price of around 1200 euros for the RTX 3080 Ti. It currently costs a good 500 euros more.
Availability on February 7, 2022: Mindfactory and Amazon deliver the best price. They pay you around 1599 euros for the RTX 3080 Ti.
The RTX 3090 is not suitable for the mass market. With the absolute upper class graphics card, Nvidia is aimed at individual luminaries – at least in the gaming scene. According to the manufacturer, the RTX 3090 is the first 8K graphics card. Only true pixel fanatics with bulging wallets feel the need to build a computer for 8K gaming. The resolution doubles compared to 4K. Means: Either you have a gaming setup with three UHD screens and get 8K that way, or you own a monitor like the Dell UltraSharp UP3218K for the steep price of currently 3740 euros.
If so, don’t be put off by the RRP of around 1500 euros or the current prices of around 2500 euros. In return, you get the currently fastest chip from the manufacturer with 24 gigabytes of VRAM. One thing should be said: With the RTX 3090, Nvidia is of course not only aimed at hobby gamers, but above all at professional users who carry out complex calculations with the card, for example editing extremely high-resolution videos.
Availability on February 7, 2022: The RTX 3090 is in stock and currently a good 900 euros more expensive than the recommended retail price.
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Sources: Golem.de, PC-Magazine.de, Gamestar.de
