The GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 are back in stock at some retailers (sometimes), such as Newegg. Unfortunately, you can only pick them up as part of bundles, and even at that, not all the bundles are available for purchase.
Update: As of this evening, all of the combo deals were sold out.
The limited stock on Nvidia's GeForce RTX 30-series (codename Ampere) has been an ongoing headache for both retailers and consumers. The situation won't improve any time soon as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has confessed that the shortage will likely plague us until next year.
News broke over in China that some motherboard vendors would leverage the circumstances to boost motherboard sales by pairing them up with Nvidia's Ampere-based graphics cards. It would seem that the practice has made its way over to the U.S. as Newegg is running different bundles with the GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090.
There are currently 10 GeForce RTX 3080 bundles on Newegg. The graphics card is paired with everything imaginable, starting with SSDs, power supplies, motherboards and memory, just to name a few options. Unfortunately, none of the bundles are in stock, so it'll take a bit of patience to actually snag one up. Even those that show they're available end up with a page saying the graphics card is unavailable.
The cheapest bundle comes in at $829.98 and binds the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Gaming with a Crucial BX550 1TB SSD. It boasts a $20 savings, which would be lovely if it were available. At the other end of the spectrum, an ABS Gladiator Battlestation with RTX 3080 and all the bells and whistles is paired with a modest $300 1440p monitor, for a total price of $3779.99 (and $119.99 in savings).
The GeForce RTX 3090 meanwhile stars in nine unique bundles on Newegg. The least expensive one starts at $1,634.98 and includes the EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 XC3 Gaming and the EVGA SuperNova 750 GT power supply, which seems a bit puny for the 350W card if you're using something like a Core i9-10900K, but whatever. At the top of the pricing ladder is an Asus X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) with a Strix 3090 for $2,159.98, a mere $20 discount. Except, it's out of stock as well.
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Over time, the bundling strategy might be an effective at helping clear out other inventory. It may also, to a certain extent, dissuade scalpers from buying up graphics cards that genuine consumers are interested in. The problem is that the bundles don't offer any flexibility at all. The graphics card that you want might not be matched with another piece of hardware that you want or need.
Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
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HyperMatrix For the record...tying purchases of a product to the forced purchase of another product is illegal. Newegg knows people want the 3080/3090. So instead of putting the inventory for sale as it otherwise should, it’s basically saying it’ll only sell it to you if you buy another item from them as well. This is illegal in both the United States and Canada.Reply
Just because you call it “bundling” instead of tied selling doesn’t make it legal, unless there is a legitimate reason for that bundling. For example, selling the card as part of a full computer system or a barebones computer system build would not be tied selling. But bundling the video card with just a computer case or just a motherboard is. You could also make a case for bundles where you get both a video card and a high wattage PSU as that’s a requirement that would make that bundle logical in nature and outside the scope of tied selling.
Newegg in general is trash and I’d recommend people buy from manufacturers or more direct distributors when possible. For example Newegg here in Canada prices the ASUS ROG Strix 3090 at $2499 with $10 shipping while BestBuy sells it for $2379 and free shipping and my local (smaller) computer shop sells it for $2459 with free shipping. -
Loadedaxe Yes it is illegal. But they get away with it because no one reports them.Reply
I haven’t bought from NE in years. There are better alternatives. But as long as people keep buying these bundles, NE will keep doing it. -
darnon Newegg had various bundles with the RTX 3080 nearly since its launch. I'm pretty sure the combos just pull from the same inventory as buying the items individually so you aren't being forced to buy as a bundle to gain access to some special inventory allocation; you just get a little bit of a discount.Reply -
spongiemaster Reply
It's not just Newegg. Bundling is a common practice, especially during big sales like Black Friday with video game consoles. No one is going to waste their time reporting a retailer for something like this.Loadedaxe said:Yes it is illegal. But they get away with it because no one reports them.
I haven’t bought from NE in years. There are better alternatives. But as long as people keep buying these bundles, NE will keep doing it. -
King_V I thought the intent was to discourage scalpers, much like during the crypto-craze when they did similar bundling to discourage cryptocurrency miners.Reply
Why is it suddenly "nefarious" THIS time around? -
Robt111 Tying is illegal is some circumstances:Reply
"For competitive purposes, a monopolist may use forced buying, or "tie-in" sales, to gain sales in other markets where it is not dominant and to make it more difficult for rivals in those markets to obtain sales. This may limit consumer choice for buyers wanting to purchase one ("tying") product by forcing them to also buy a second ("tied") product as well. Typically, the "tied" product may be a less desirable one that the buyer might not purchase unless required to do so, or may prefer to get from a different seller. If the seller offering the tied products has sufficient market power in the "tying" product, these arrangements can violate the antitrust laws."
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/tying-sale-two-products
For it to apply in this situation, Newegg would need to have a monopoly on the video cards. -
ajr1775 ReplyHyperMatrix said:For the record...tying purchases of a product to the forced purchase of another product is illegal. Newegg knows people want the 3080/3090. So instead of putting the inventory for sale as it otherwise should, it’s basically saying it’ll only sell it to you if you buy another item from them as well. This is illegal in both the United States and Canada.
Just because you call it “bundling” instead of tied selling doesn’t make it legal, unless there is a legitimate reason for that bundling. For example, selling the card as part of a full computer system or a barebones computer system build would not be tied selling. But bundling the video card with just a computer case or just a motherboard is. You could also make a case for bundles where you get both a video card and a high wattage PSU as that’s a requirement that would make that bundle logical in nature and outside the scope of tied selling.
Newegg in general is trash and I’d recommend people buy from manufacturers or more direct distributors when possible. For example Newegg here in Canada prices the ASUS ROG Strix 3090 at $2499 with $10 shipping while BestBuy sells it for $2379 and free shipping and my local (smaller) computer shop sells it for $2459 with free shipping.
There is no stock specifically set aside for these bundles. These bundles have been available on their site since day one. -
ajr1775 Replydarnon said:Newegg had various bundles with the RTX 3080 nearly since its launch. I'm pretty sure the combos just pull from the same inventory as buying the items individually so you aren't being forced to buy as a bundle to gain access to some special inventory allocation; you just get a little bit of a discount.
Exactly. There is no stock specifically set aside for these bundles. These bundles have been available on their site since day one.