Nvidia won’t explain the absence of its RTX 3070 Ti GPU. Nvidia has partnered with Scan Computers in the UK to sell its Founders Edition cards, and with Best Buy in the US. While Scan had a reasonable amount of stock of the RTX 3080 Ti earlier this month, the RTX 3070 Ti was non-existent.
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition card went on sale last week, but buyers looking for the $599 GPU have found it impossible to find. While we’re used to seeing extremely low stock of new GPUs, none of Nvidia’s own RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition models appear to have gone on sale in the US or UK — and Nvidia won’t say why not.
Scan has not responded to a request for comment by The Verge, and the company has been telling people on Twitter that “all Founders Edition cards are released direct through the Nvidia website.” But that website never included a link to a Scan listing of the RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition.
It’s a similar situation in the US. While Best Buy made a big deal about the RTX 3080 Ti being available in 81 stores, the RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition was online-only. Those hoping to purchase the RTX 3070 Ti were met with disappointment when the card instantly went out of stock. Unsurprisingly, Best Buy has also not responded to comment about the situation, and it’s not clear if the company ever actually sold any RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition cards.
The lack of RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition cards is also best illustrated at eBay. I’ve only managed to find two sellers that have listed Nvidia’s own cards over the past week in the US, with none in the UK. That’s incredibly unusual, as all previous RTX cards immediately get listed by scalpers looking to make a profit on order confirmation emails before cards are shipped a couple of days later.
In comparison, there’s a flood of RTX 3080 Ti cards available on eBay, and listings appeared within minutes of the cards going on sale earlier this month. I’ve personally been tracking GPU sales for months, and I never saw the RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition card appear on sale at Scan in the UK. I’ve successfully managed to purchase Founders Edition versions of the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 Ti at launch previously.
Source – TheVerge
