Nvidia’s RTX 4080 graphics card might be seriously overpriced, as we pointed out in our review – but that hasn’t stopped the GPU from positively flying off the shelves, at least in the US.
Despite the weighty price tags pinned on some RTX 4080 models – with higher-end third-party cards reaching eye-opening levels, and even closing on the price of the RTX 4090 in some cases – the graphics cards have disappeared off shelves in the US.
As Tom’s Hardware reports, the GPUs launched yesterday and sold out within an hour, and now aren’t available at all with some major US retailers – namely Newegg, Best Buy and B&H.
In the UK, it’s a rather different picture, as there is stock of the RTX 4080 to be had. For example Overclockers UK has seven different models in stock, and there are six models at Scan UK.
The downside for the UK is that the price tags look unattractive, with the most affordable Palit GameRock RTX 4080 weighing in at £1,350 at OCUK, and £1,355 at Scan – and prices spiraling up from there.
Analysis: Supply and demand equation
It’s good to see that at least there’s some stock in the UK – but RTX 4080 prices are considerably inflated here as noted. Whereas in the US, there are some RTX 4080 graphics cards with price tags at the MSRP (recommended) level, but they aren’t in stock at all. Indeed, even the more ridiculously expensive models aren’t available on shelves. There’s pretty much nothing at all to be found with the big US retailers right now.
Could this be a case of thin supply of GPUs, as opposed to major demand, for the US? That doesn’t seem likely, as would the UK really have much more robust stock levels if that was true? We don’t think so, and it would appear to be the case that there are a lot of gamers in the US at least willing for fork out for the RTX 4080 on launch. Even if it’s uncomfortably close to the price of the RTX 4090 in some cases – though part of the problem is that this GPU remains thin on the ground in the States, too.
It could also be the case that UK gamers are feeling the pinch of the cost-of-living crisis more, and looking at the pricing of RTX 4080 cards, are feeling that they’re not looking like a good value proposition when you consider those prices in the US at actual MSRP level (at least some of them, anyway).
We’re betting the situation will settle down more before too long, and recommend that if you want a fully up-to-date picture of RTX 4080 stock and where to grab the best deals, be sure to keep a close eye on our piece about where to buy Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4080.
Meantime, there’s also the RDNA 3 GPUs on the horizon, with more promising pricing on the table from AMD – in theory, anyway, assuming there’s a decent launch volume of the RX 7900 XT and XTX graphics cards, which will of course be crucial. It seems playing a waiting game is a sensible tactic, at least for the time being, anyway...
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