Nvidia puts a hold on RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Founders Edition sales from its webstore

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia has announced RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Founders Edition availability through Best Buy, as it works on improving its webstore. Following a turbulent launch for both graphics cards, in which its own store was hit by a wave of bots, Nvidia has promised to update its online store in order to better deliver its graphics cards to PC builders, and it has now seemingly seen fit to shut down RTX 30-series sales through its own store and offer them elsewhere as it goes about revamping its operation.

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The availability of Founders Edition cards was announced over on the GeForce forum. The post states that Nvidia is "working to improve the experience" on its webstore, in line with user feedback, and that in the meantime Founders Edition cards will be available in the US over at Best Buy.

In Europe, however, there is no confirmed alternative to the Nvidia's store. "In Europe, we continue to review Founders Edition fulfillment options," the forum post states. We've asked for clarification from Nvidia as to whether this means Founders Edition sales are temporarily on hold across the continent.

Both Nvidia's US and UK webstores now redirect exclusively to external retailers' websites.

Here is the forum post in full:

"We have heard your feedback regarding the NVIDIA online store and are working to improve the experience. In the meantime, we will be selling our GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Founders Edition through other partners. In the US, you can shop for Founders Edition at Best Buy - GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090. In Europe, we continue to review Founders Edition fulfillment options.

"Founders Edition units are limited, and more will be available in the coming weeks alongside an increasing supply of boards from our global board partners."

There's no word as to when the store will be operational again, but that likely depends on whether any stock will be available to purchase when it's ready.

RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 graphics cards continue to be in short supply worldwide. Nvidia and its partners are working to get more cards out as soon as possible, but it's not looking rosy for potential PC builders. Even Nvidia's CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, expects low stock levels to continue until 2021.

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Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog, before graduating into breaking things professionally at PCGamesN. Now he's managing editor of the hardware team at PC Gamer, and you'll usually find him testing the latest components or building a gaming PC.