If you didn't grab one of the early batch of RTX 3080 and 3090 graphics from Nvidia (and let's be frank, you probably didn't) then you may be unable to buy one until well into 2021. Despite Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang claiming that there is no supply issue with the new cards, he suggested that due to unprecedented demand that the cards would likely not be regularly in stock until well into the new year.
Got that? It's not a supply issue, it's a supple issue.
He's not wrong that demand for the new-generation graphics cards has been high, with the RTX 3080 and 3090 showing impressive performance gains over last generation flagships like the RTX 2080 Super and 2080 Ti. But that doesn't matter much if you can't buy the cards and since the very first moment of the cards going on sale, they've been out of stock just about everywhere.
Scalpers were a major problem with these cards, but general gamers are incredibly interested in their capabilities too. That is only likely to be the case with the RTX 3070 too, which has had its launch pushed back a couple of weeks to better prepare stock.
All of this could give AMD an incredible advantage when it comes to the launch of its new RDNA2 graphics cards towards the end of this year. Set to debut at the end of October, they promise similar performance to the new Nvidia graphics cards, but if AMD can leverage its partnership with TSMC to provide greater stock levels, it could draw in a lot of the new-GPU buying crowd who want more power right now and aren't willing to wait for Nvidia to get its cards in stock.