RTX 4080 Too Expensive? Gamers Say Otherwise, as Cards Sell Out Within an Hour

By Zhiye Liu
published

Going faster than hotcakes

GeForce RTX 4080
GeForce RTX 4080 (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4080, which vies for a spot among the best graphics cards, launched today. It's the second fastest card right now, according to our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, but the $1,199 MSRP has caused quite a few complaints. Sadly, despite its premium price tag, the Ada Lovelace graphics card is already sold out at most retailers.

Newegg has listed 19 different custom GeForce RTX 4080 models. However, all of them are out of stock (though we've seen inventory come and go over the past hour). A quick search on Best Buy yielded 11 GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, but none are available for immediate purchase. The GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition, exclusive to Best Buy, is also sold out. Meanwhile, B&H Photo Video has posted up to 24 custom GeForce RTX 4080 SKUs, but like Newegg and Best Buy, it doesn't have any stock.

The GeForce RTX 4090 launch was disappointing as the flagship sold out almost instantly. The GeForce RTX 4080 isn't any different. Scalpers will probably flip the GeForce RTX 4080s on eBay soon enough, but consumers should wait until the retailers restock. Some stores, such as Newegg, sometimes offer the latest commodity as bundled deals. As a result, you may end up with a power supply or some other piece of computer-related hardware you don't need. But, occasionally, it's cheaper than paying the scalper tax.

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GeForce RTX 4080
GeForce RTX 4080 (Image credit: Newegg)

Another often more expensive alternative is to pick up a prebuilt gaming PC. It's not a good option for users who are only looking for a graphics card upgrade. However, it's a feasible choice for consumers in the market for a brand-new system. It shouldn't take long for companies like CyberPowerPC or Maingear to announce their prebuilt offerings with Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card. B&H Photo Video has listed six CyberPowerPC configurations with the GeForce RTX 4080. The machines vary in pricing, spanning from $2,629.99 to $3,109.99.

Despite being a gaming monster, the GeForce RTX 4090 garnered a terrible reputation due to 16-pin power adapter meltdowns, affecting both custom and Founders Edition models. Hopefully, the GeForce RTX 4080 shouldn't run into the same issue since it's a 320W graphics card as opposed to the GeForce RTX 4090's 450W TBP. The GeForce RTX 4080 still uses that dreaded 16-pin power connector, but it doesn't draw nearly as much power as the GeForce RTX 4090.

In our tests with the GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition, we couldn't get the power draw above 330W, even with overclocking. That should mean the GeForce RTX 4080 won't suffer from the 16-pin power adapter meltdowns, unless there's some fundamental flaw with the adapter. Only time will tell.

Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
RAM Reviewer and News Editor

Zhiye Liu is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

52 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Math Geek
    Reply
  • PlaneInTheSky
    Without any insight on how many cards were available, this information is meaningless.

    By writing these articles tech sites support a narrative that the product is so desirable that it immediately sold out, without any actual information about sold units. One could ask if limiting supply on the first day isn't a strategy of tech companies to fuel that narrative.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    The scalpers have much much deeper pockets this time around, thanks to the crypto and pandemic cash-grabs. These aren't just random people buying 5-10 cards in person anymore. Multiple companies have grown to the point they have dozens of employees and proprietary bots/tools that are developed in-house. They can and do buy cards buy the actual shipload, bypass embargos, and sell them on the black/grey market anywhere in the world.

    So, real stores will restock eventually. We just have to wait until the Russian Military has enough gaming GPUs to power their supercomputers, or whatever. Or maybe they won't restock. I don't really care. I wouldn't buy these cards, even if Nvidia cut the price in half.
    Reply
  • elforeign
    PlaneInTheSky said:
    Without any insight on how many cards were available, this information is meaningless.

    By writing these articles tech sites support a narrative that the product is so desirable that it immediately sold out, without any actual information about sold units. One could ask if limiting supply on the first day isn't a strategy of tech companies to fuel that narrative.

    Totally agree with you on this. $1199 or whatever the MSRP on these cards is exorbitant. I got a 3080 12GB for $749.99 and I thought that was an expensive MSRP, not even mentioning the insane prices of the last 2 years where these were also in the thousands of dollars.

    I do not support these prices and will refrain from buying the 40 series. Outside of the 4090, whose position in the stack was always for the more money than sense crowd, the 4080 is at best a 4070 class hardware when looking at how much functionality was cut out of the die in comparison to the 4090 die.
    Reply
  • elforeign
    Giroro said:
    The scalpers have much much deeper pockets this time around, thanks to the crypto and pandemic cash-grabs. These aren't just random people buying 5-10 cards in person anymore. Multiple companies have grown to the point they have dozens of employees and proprietary bots/tools that are developed in-house. They can and do buy cards buy the actual shipload, bypass embargos, and sell them on the black/grey market anywhere in the world.

    So, real stores will restock eventually. We just have to wait until the Russian Military has enough gaming GPUs to power their supercomputers, or whatever. Or maybe they won't restock. I don't really care. I wouldn't buy these cards, even if Nvidia cut the price in half.

    If Nvidia cut the price in half it would actually make the 4080 good value.
    Reply
  • Mandark
    Even if they do restock, I don’t know anyone who can afford them. This is a rich person’s hobby. Nobody I know I would spend this kind of money.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    PlaneInTheSky said:
    Without any insight on how many cards were available, this information is meaningless.

    By writing these articles tech sites support a narrative that the product is so desirable that it immediately sold out, without any actual information about sold units. One could ask if limiting supply on the first day isn't a strategy of tech companies to fuel that narrative.
    And yet... it's still news that they sold out. Obviously we will continue to monitor the situation over the coming weeks. I can only hope AMD's 7900 XTX / XT live up to the hype and outperform the 4080, and that there's better supply. But I strongly doubt Nvidia intentionally limited supply for either the 4090 or 4080 launch. It's cocky enough about the brand recognition and demand that it would want to test the waters and play it straight.

    I'd wager at least twice as many 4080 GPUs were available on launch day as there were 4090 GPUs. And despite me and other reviewers dinging it quite heavily for the price hike, it still sold out. If anyone works at Newegg or Amazon and wants to tell me how many cards actually came and went through a warehouse, though, I'd love to hear it! :)

    But let's be clear: Nvidia has done this rodeo a lot of times. It actually has the sales data! The fact that both 4090 and 4080 have now sold out at launch likely just confirms to Nvidia that it can charge whatever it wants (up to a point) and get away with it. I'm sure there were debates over the 4080 launch price internally at Nvidia. Shenanigans like artificially limiting supply would not back up those that said, "Go higher!" on the price. Which means we can likely count on continued higher pricing for the rest of the 40-series GPUs until or unless they stop selling out.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    elforeign said:
    If Nvidia cut the price in half it would actually make the 4080 good value.
    It could be the best value of all time, but it would still be a $600 GPU that profits madman Jensen.
    Reply
  • BrassmonkE
    Admin said:
    Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards have sold out at most retailers. Apparently there are enough rich gamers that reviewer complaints about high prices didn't matter much.

    RTX 4080 Too Expensive? Gamers Say Otherwise, as Cards Sell Out Within an Hour : Read more

    Please see the October 2nd 2022 Q&A for investors at GTC. Jenson and the CFO, her name escapes me, answered in response to a question on supply of GPUs that they would be undershipping GPUs in Q2 and Q3 and would not begin ramping until late Q4 and/or into Q1 of 2023.
    This is being done in collaboration with their partners to clear inventory of 3 series cards in a, as they describe it, 'soft market'. Supply likely to ramp into Q1 of next year with the likely 'sold out' status drives holiday shoppers towards taking what they can get their hands on into Christmas.
    https://investor.nvidia.com/events-and-presentations/presentations/default.aspx

    Its also amusing that we seem to flip flop on card pricing. Analysts were quoting horrible price cuts to 3 series GPU' last year but the footnotes showed the pricing was taken from EBAY sales numbers, not MSRP. The average sales price on ebay last gen was probably close to what MSRP is now from NVDA but now its too expensive? Why wouldn't they charge as much as they are knowing their consumer is willing to pay. (Discounting the fact that their N4 monolithic die is likely a ton more expensive then Samsung's 8NM used in 3 series.)
    Reply
  • sizzling
    Not sold out in the UK. Just looked at Scan and every model listed is still in stock and they have models from most brands.
    Reply