Nvidia RTX 3000 Founders Edition GPUs might be getting discontinued in Europe

Getting your hands on the latest Nvidia RTX 3000 graphics cards is proving to be almost impossible for many folks, as low stock and high demand have resulted in some sites relying on lottery systems to fairly distribute the GPUs.

Things aren’t looking good for European PC gamers either, with the Founder Edition GeForce RTX 30 series cards being silently removed from online stores. 

Pay more to play more

No announcement was made to explain the Ampered-powered GPUs being delisted from the Nvidia website, though the current speculation is that the removal is due to the extremely limited supply, and that they could return when stock quantity has increased.

Nvidia doesn’t sell the GPUs directly via its website in all EU countries, with some regions directing the sales to trusted third-party vendors. The Founders Edition cards are no longer listed on any other European website, with external links instead being provided in its place. Currently, only the Polish Nvidia site still lists an RTX 3090 Founders Edition, but this is marked as ‘sold out’.

A large selling point of the Founders Edition RTX graphics cards is the lower MSRP (or manufacturers recommended selling price), with Nvidia listing the GPUs for sale on its own site at the prices announced at launch. 

Many third-party retailers can increase the price as they see fit (which during stock shortages can get pretty eye-watering), and manufacturers creating their own reference cards based on the ampere hardware can set their own prices.

With the Founders Edition cards no longer being available directly through Nvidia, European customers will have to pay more to experience the latest ray tracing hardware. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this isn’t the start of discontinuation and the GPUs will return to the Nvidia website.