Nvidia's launch of its 30 Series graphics cards has not gone smoothly. Despite broad awareness of when orders for the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card would go live, bot and scalper purchases combined with limited supply made for instant sellouts across retailers. While vocalizing frustrations has been PC enthusiasts' first reaction, provoking an apology from Nvidia, another question remains to be answered. That question being, "When will 3080 cards be restocked?"
That's precisely the question that Gamers Nexus posed to AIB card manufacturers recently, including EVGA and others. EVGA even officially responded to the question, providing the first confirmation as to when restocks for Nvidia's 3080s can be expected. It's even better than expected, as EVGA says that it's restocking "every couple of days." The quantity of these restocks was understandably left unsaid, but the heart of the message is still encouraging. PC enthusiasts will get many more chances to buy a 3080 from EVGA.
Gamers Nexus also makes clear that it posed this same question to other card manufacturers, asking them when they'll be restocking. The response was apparently similar. Unfortunately, Gamers Nexus went ahead with publishing its video before these responses had been approved by the manufacturers' legal and PR teams. As such, they can't be attributed to specific manufacturers. All that can be said is that it isn't just EVGA which will be restocking cards consistently.
Just because manufacturers plan to restock so routinely doesn't mean there will be a reliable way for PC enthusiasts to track restocks. It also doesn't mean that restocks will be made in significant number. There's no guarantee that cards will begin to be readily or consistently available. Considering how frustrating the 3080's launch was, however, pretty much anything would be a vast improvement.
The hope for most PC enthusiasts is that cards will start to become available in significant enough quantity that everyone can get what they want in October at the latest. That's because of the big wave of new game releases coming at the end of October going into November. The newest World of Warcraft expansion and Watch Dogs Legion launch in October, followed by Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the new Destiny 2 expansion, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and last but not least Cyberpunk 2077 in November.
What might also help in the coming weeks is the release of Nvidia's other 30 Series cards. The $1,499 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 launches on September 24 and the $499 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 launches in October. More cards means that demand is better appeased. Hopefully, every PC gamer planning to upgrade gets the card they want over the next month or two.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is available now in limited supply.