Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 prices surge before release — this is madness

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By Roland Moore-Colyer
published

Nvidia RTX 3060 launch could already be a disaster — here's why

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Getting a new graphics card is a nightmare at the moment, and it’s not looking like it'll be any easier to buy an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 when it arrives later this month. 

That's because prices for the $329 graphics card are apparently shooting up, despite it still being at the pre-order stage. According to VideoCardz, some RTX 3060 cards are listed at up to 50% above the MSRP. European retailer ProShop, for instance, is selling the graphics card for €499, not the MSRP of €329. 

Portuguese retailer PCDiga reportedly hiked up the price of the GeForce RTX 3060 by €100 within a week of its being listed. 

Raising these prices means the RTX 3060 ends up being as expensive as the more powerful GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. But finding where to buy the Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti is hugely difficult, so some frustrated PC gamers could simply swallow the price increase when the RTX 3060 goes on sale. 

In fact, it remains stupidly difficult to find where to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 as well as other RTX 30-series graphics cards. So this profiteering on a lack of supply in the face of vast demand is somewhat expected. 

We’ve seen this with PS5 scalpers snapping up restocks of Sony’s new console then selling them on for wildly inflated prices to desperate PlayStation fans; we really suggest you wait to buy the Xbox Series X and the PS5 to avoid such rampant gouging. 

Unfortunately, Nvidia isn’t the only one suffering from new graphics card shortages, as finding where to buy the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and other RX 6000 series graphics cards is also an exercise in deep frustration. And with materials shortages, it doesn't look like this situation will change anytime soon. 

For annoyed gamers, we’d suggest you sit tight and tough out these stock disasters. After all, every first-party Xbox game for the next two years will be avoidable on older Xbox One hardware. 

If you have an Xbox One X, it should at least keep you gaming for another 12 months or so without running into crippling performance problems; just maybe avoid Cyberpunk 2077 for the time being.  

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.