Facebook user Lok LOK has snapped various photographs of shipping boxes with MSI graphics cards that are reportedly heading to the U.S. One of the boxes seemingly contains MSI's unreleased GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Ventus 3X 12G OC, lending credence to the rumors of GeForce RTX 3080 Ti's arrival in May.
However, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti isn't the only SKU that MSI is sending to Los Angeles. Nvidia's flagship GeForce RTX 3090 is also part of the shipment although we couldn't see the exact model of the graphics card. The other photographs also showed a few boxes of MSI's Radeon RX 580 Armor 8G OC and GT 710 2GD3 LP. Both graphics cards are outdated by today's standards, but given the ongoing shortage, anything is better than nothing. Furthermore, the Radeon RX 580 is still the one of the best mining GPUs that money can buy.
There is strong but unverified information that Nvidia is reworking its Ampere silicon to put a halt to Ethereum mining. If that's the case, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which is reportedly based on the GA102 die, will debut with Nvidia's reveamped silicon with improved anti-mining mechanisms. Word around town is that once mining activity is detected, the algorithm slashes the hash rate down to 50%.
While Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 can go toe-to-toe with AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT, the Ampere offering also costs $500 more. Nvidia has a respectable Ampere lineup, but the chipmaker doesn't have anything that competes in the $1,000 bracket. The reason for the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti's existence is to face Radeon RX 6900 XT at the $999 price mark.
If you've been hunting for a high-end Ampere graphics card, we encourage you to keep your eyes peeled in the upcoming weeks. We don't know just how many units are en route to the U.S. but they'll likely sell out fast. The reality of the matter is that the graphics card shortage doesn't look like it'll improve anytime soon. What little of the graphics cards that make their way to U.S. retailers will in all probability sell out quickly.
