Nvidia RTX 3000 Founders Edition GPUs might be getting discontinued in Europe
Floundering Founders Edition
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Update:Nvidiahas since reached out to us to confirm that the removal of the GPUs was down to a caching error. You can still purchase the Founders Edition RTX 3000 series on the Nvidia website throughout Europe.Getting your hands on the latestNvidia RTX 3000graphics cards is proving to be almost impossible for many folks, as low stock and high demand have resulted in some sites relying onlottery systemsto fairly distribute the GPUs.Things aren’t looking good for European PC gamers either, with the Founder Edition GeForce RTX 30 series cards being silently removed from online stores.
Pay more to play more
No announcement was made to explain the Ampered-powered GPUs being delisted from the Nvidia website, though the current speculation is that the removal is due to the extremely limited supply, and that they could return when stock quantity has increased.Nvidia doesn’t sell the GPUs directly via its website in all EU countries, with some regions directing the sales to trusted third-party vendors. The Founders Edition cards are no longer listed on any other European website, with external links instead being provided in its place. Currently, only the Polish Nvidia site still lists an RTX 3090 Founders Edition, but this is marked as ‘sold out’.A large selling point of the Founders Edition RTX graphics cards is the lower MSRP (or manufacturers recommended selling price), with Nvidia listing the GPUs for sale on its own site at the prices announced at launch.
Many third-party retailers can increase the price as they see fit (which during stock shortages can get pretty eye-watering), and manufacturers creating their own reference cards based on the ampere hardware can set their own prices.
With the Founders Edition cards no longer being available directly through Nvidia, European customers will have to pay more to experience the latest ray tracing hardware. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this isn’t the start of discontinuation and the GPUs will return to the Nvidia website.
In the meantime, if you’re on the hunt for an Nvidia graphics card, we’ve got some handy where to buy guides for theRTX 3060 Ti,RTX 3070andRTX 3080, articles that are worth keeping an eye on as we regularly update them to flag up when stock arrives. Similarly, on theAMDfront, keep tabs on our guides for buying theRX 6800,RX 6800 XT, andRX 6900 XT.
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Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.
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