After a brief apology last week over the launch of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, Nvidia has now posted a longer explanation of what has gone on behind the scenes during the launch, and how it is dealing with bots and scalpers in an FAQ on its site, as well as a further apology.
The FAQ mentions that Nvidia itself has canceled "hundreds" of orders made by bots. While they may have received confirmation emails, the company claims to have stopped them before they shipped.
Nvidia claims to have "behind-the-scenes security measures" for its store that it found to work fine for previous GPU launches. Now, the company says it has been working to put CAPTCHA in place and will continue to monitor sales manually.
Of course, not all cards were sold directly through Nvidia. The GPU maker wrote that demand was greater than anticipated, and that "We and our partners underestimated it." But the company said it had a typical level of supply for a GPU launch, and is recommending that those who want an RTX 3080 don't buy them from resellers who are "attempting to take advantage of the current situation."
Nvidia recommends that those who want an RTX 3080 use its own product finder to keep tabs on stock at third-party retailers. But as recently as this weekend, some would-be buyers have been open sourcing their own bots to compete with scalpers in an attempt to fight fire with fire.
There's more information about the launch, including record traffic to retailers, the state of CEO Jensen Huang's inbox and issues with its own "Notify Me" emails at the FAQ.
