This morning it became clear that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti launch wasn't going to be simple. As sources like NewEgg noted, inventory did not match traffic. Not by a long shot. As of two hours ago, NewEgg suggested they had RTX 3060 Ti graphics cards available for sale. In well under an hour, they made a statement.
So you're looking for an NVIDIA RTX graphics card here in the year 2020 and you've struck out, time and time again. We've run through the RTX 3080, the RTX 3070, now it's time for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. This card sits below the rest, but retains some key features of this most current (and often far more costly) set of graphics cards.
Apple's first-ever ARM-based Silicon, the M1, will be powering its next generation of Macs and MacBooks, some of which will be used for more than just casual computing tasks. Naturally, there are concerns about its performance versus tried and tested processors from the likes of Intel and AMD. Early CPU benchmarks already proved that the M1 can run circles around MacBooks running on recent Intel chips and now GPU benchmarks are proving Apple's claims of impressive graphics performance.
It may have once been the king of personal computing but Intel is now seeing its kingdom being attacked on almost all fronts. ARM-based laptops are starting to become trendy especially with the introduction of Macs running on Apple's M1 Silicon. Even on the server side, AMD and NVIDIA are closing in on the lucrative market, especially with the latter's GPU-based approach. Intel is now pushing back with its own new discrete GPU platform whose latest incarnation is being put at the service of Android games on the cloud.
Intel may have the lion's share of the PC desktop and laptop CPU market, at least for now, but it has struggled to gain any foothold in the graphics sector of the industry. It has always been touting its Iris graphics technologies and while they have definitely improved over the years, they still mostly fall short compared to those with a discrete graphics card, especially on desktops. Laptops, on the other hand, offer an opportunity for Intel to break through and that is exactly what its new Iris Xe MAX discrete GPUs promise for thin and light laptops.
If you're looking for an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card, they're sold out. To be fair, they're sold out whether you're looking for one or not - but just so it's clear: the NVIDIA RTX 3070 isn't going to be easy to find for sale right this minute. Not at Newegg, not at Best Buy, not direct from NVIDIA.
AMD Big Navi is here with the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, and AMD's got the benchmarks to prove it. Of course we wouldn't want to claim the end-all, be-all accuracy of the company reporting said benchmarks since they've got a LOT to gain from said benchmarks being favorable to their cards... but the results are telling, just the same. Included in the mix today are the AMD Radeon RX 6800, 6800 XT, and 6900 XT, with details on how they stack up VS NVIDIA's RTX 3000 GPU lineup.
Today the AMD Big Navi line of AMD graphics cards were revealed in three sizes, all under the name AMD RX 6000. There's the AMD RX 6800, AMD RX 6800 XT, and AMD RX 6900 XT, all with AMD RDNA 2 architecture. The more tantalizing of these is the 6800 XT, a card that'll do battle directly against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. AMD's Radeon RX 6800 XT will compete with the RTX 3080 with availability in stores AND a starting price for $659 USD right out the gate.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 was released to a wary consumer public in late 2020. Here it was, the least expensive of the RTX 30 graphics cards from NVIDIA, ready to roll with power that out-performed its predecessors in almost every way, available at approximately $500 USD. The "wary" part comes thanks to supply issues with other RTX cards this year, issues that messed with the minds and pocketbooks of potential users that, now, might be relying on the RTX 3070 to fill the void left for them after the hype of the reveal and the subsequent failure to meet demand.
An "individual sales subsidiary working under MSI" was found selling brand new MSI RTX 3080 graphics cards on eBay this week. This is bad news for the individual sales subsidiary and MSI, as these brand new RTX 3080 graphics cards are supposed to be sold by MSI direct to consumers for their original MSRP. This situation is particularly unwelcome at this moment due to the extreme difficulty gamers have had in finding the NVIDIA graphics card hardware available for sale from either NVIDIA or their partner manufacturing brands on the open market.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is a big graphics card. Physically, this card is large - and it's got a new power connector, too. You'll need to to prepare yourself for the possibility that your current rig is too snug a fit for this new, slightly larger card before you buy it. You'll also want to prepare yourself for a jump in performance the likes of which you might never have seen before... but maybe you already have an RTX 2080, and you believe there's no reason to upgrade? Let's take a peek at what's in store here with the latest in biggest, baddest GPU power from NVIDIA.
The days when graphics cards were simple boring slabs of green plastic and pieces of metal are pretty much ancient history now. As more powerful graphics cards become bigger, the opportunity to give them some visual personality and flair has also opened up. More than just cold, hard numbers, the likes of AMD and NVIDIA have taken to selling new cards' design as well. And what better way to do that than to dump the upcoming Radeon RX 6000's design where many gamers are most likely to see it: in Fortnite.