Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU sells out in minutes in US… but UK gamers don’t seem interested
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Nvidia’s RTX 4080 graphics card may 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 hefty price tags attached to some RTX 4080 models — with more expensive third-party cards reaching eye-popping levels and in some cases even approaching the price of the RTX 4090 — graphics cards have disappeared from shelves in the US.
As Tom’s hardware (opens in new tab) reports, the GPUs launched yesterday and sold out in under an hour, and are now completely unavailable at some major US retailers – namely Newegg (opens in new tab)Best Buy (opens in new tab) and BRA (opens in new tab).
In the UK it’s a very different picture as there’s stock of the RTX 4080 on sale. 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 unappealing, with the most affordable Palit GameRock RTX 4080 weighing in at £1,350 at OCUK (opens in new tab)and £1,355 on scan (opens in new tab) – and prices rise from there.
Analysis: Comparison of supply and demand
It’s good to see there’s at least some stock in the UK, but RTX 4080 prices are significantly overpriced here, as noted. While in the US there are some RTX 4080 graphics cards with price tags at the MSRP level (recommended) but they are out of stock at all. In fact, even the more ridiculously expensive models are not available on the shelves. There is currently virtually nothing to be found at the major US retailers.
Could this be a case of sparse supply of GPUs, as opposed to high demand, for the US? That doesn’t seem likely because would the UK really have much more robust inventory levels if that were true? We don’t think so, and it seems there are plenty of gamers in the US who would at least be willing to shell out for the RTX 4080 at launch. Even if it’s uncomfortably close to the price of the RTX 4090 in some cases lies – although part of the problem is that this GPU remains thin in the United States as well.
It could also be that UK gamers are more concerned about the cost of living, and looking at the prices of RTX 4080 cards feel they don’t look like a good proposition when you consider that prices in the US are at the actual MSRP level (at least some anyway).
We’re betting the situation will calm down before too long, and we’d recommend keeping a close eye on our piece if you want a full up-to-date look at the RTX 4080 stock and where you can get the best deals. about where to buy Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4080.
Meanwhile, there’s also the RDNA 3 GPUs on the horizon, with more promising pricing on the table from AMD – in theory at least, assuming there’s a decent launch volume of the RX 7900 XT and XTX graphics cards, which will of course be crucial. It seems that playing a waiting game is a sensible tactic, at least for now…