Getting GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 at extremely high prices are the new norm in the market

For gamers and PC builders looking for a high-end GeForce RTX 30 series card at a fair price, it's been a difficult year. Throughout 2021, prices for cards like the…

By Nivedita Bangari

January 1, 2022

2 min read

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For gamers and PC builders looking for a high-end GeForce RTX 30 series card at a fair price, it’s been a difficult year. Throughout 2021, prices for cards like the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 have skyrocketed, and even the much newer RTX 3080 Ti (released in June 2021) has not been immune to the market’s turmoil.

The controversial response to Redditor u/question NepomukYoutube’s concerning the price tags for GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 cards (Asus and MSI models) was “it’s not cheap.”

While the original poster’s encounter with a grumpy employee may have been a one-time occurrence, publishing the statement together with a photo of shelves crammed with goodies from both Nvidia and AMD has caused quite a stir among fellow gamers and would-be GPU shoppers.

Although some have joked that the OP was simply profiled as not having enough money to buy one of the cards, the fact remains that such a judgmental comment by the cashier would almost certainly be overheard in a store selling obscenely expensive designer clothes or diamond-studded necklaces, but not in a store selling computer hardware.

Several Redditors including the OP have even provided some of the asking prices for various graphics cards that they have seen. A GeForce RTX 3080 card would cost around €1,300 (around US$1,471; launch price was US$699), according to one posting, while a GeForce RTX 3090 board would cost around AUD 4,200 (roughly US$3,046), according to another.

A Redditor paid AUD$2,800 (US$2,031; launch price US$1,199) for an RTX 3080 Ti, while another paid US$1,050 (launch price US$599) for an RTX 3070 Ti. Charging double or treble the original amount for these cards is the new normal.

The incendiary dialogue is lacking in context, and it’s unclear whether the boxes in the accompanying photo (see below) contain anything within them or not.

However, the incident demonstrates that expensive graphics cards from either the Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 or AMD Radeon RX 6000 series have now joined Rolex watches and Hermès bags as luxury items that shop workers will inspect Pretty Woman-style before offering to help with a purchase.