HEXUS already has three extensive GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card reviews published for enthusiasts and gamers to digest, and to weigh up whether this new green team flagship is for them. After months of Nvidia leaks, teasing, and anticipation, people have been patiently waiting to be able to make reasoned buying decisions with regard to this class-leading $699 GPU that we found capable of 4K60 gaming with RT/DLSS turned on. Unfortunately, Nvidia has let itself and consumers down by underestimating GeForce RTX 3080 demand, it admits in a recently published GeForce RTX 3080 Launch Q&A.
Nvidia isn't alone in the underestimation of demand for the RTX 3080. It says that its partners weren't ready either - so perhaps it wasn't pushed to supply more components than it offered AIBs. However, on launch day, Nvidia reports that its website received 4x the unique visitors compared to the previous gen launch, as well as "10 times the peak web requests per second, and more than 15 times the out clicks to partner pages". With this said, Nvidia doesn't shrink from directly apologising for not being prepared for consumer demand.
Nvidia partners and retailers experienced a similar swell of web traffic in the wake of the RTX 3080 launch. Many experienced "record traffic to their sites, in many cases exceeding Black Friday," says Nvidia.
Production capacity and swatting bots
Trying to reassure those unfulfilled consumers somewhat, Nvidia asserts that "the GeForce RTX 3080 is in full production." It has been increasing GPU supply to partner's week on week, and partners are thus able to ramp up their production. As well as working on the supply side, Nvidia says both its own retail department and partners are looking at better bot/scalper protection when stock becomes available. Apparently, Nvidia has already "cancelled hundreds of orders manually," after checking whether they were ordered by bots/scripts, making sure more products get directly into the hands of genuine customers.
A section of eBay auctions for GeForce RTX 3080 cards
I've noticed a similar story coming from EVGA in recent hours. On Twitter the firm said "We are hand reviewing all EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 orders, any orders that are taken from 'bots' will be rejected." Jacob Freeman, Global Product Management Director at EVGA, added an apology of sorts, stating that "Obviously the site did not run as smooth as we would like. There are some server updates and upgrades we will be making to further improve it."
