NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 & 4070 GPU Inventory Expected To Run Out of Stock As Early As December

NVIDIA's AIB partners are now focusing are reducing their inventories of GeForce RTX 4080 & RTX 4070 GPUs as the "SUPER" launch approaches.

Last week, it was reported that NVIDIA had ended the production of its GeForce RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 series GPUs to make room for the upcoming "SUPER" series launch. Now, there are additional reports from Chinese Board Channels that suggest that the last supplies were delivered to AIC partners at the beginning of this quarter (Q4), and the inventory for these GPUs is expected to run out of stock as soon as next month.

According to the report, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 and both cards within the RTX 4070 series will be facing shortages starting next month as they reach their production lifecycle end. Although the report doesn't explicitly mention GeForce RTX 4070 (Non-Ti) GPUs, we have confirmed with a few AICs that the 4070 is going through a similar cut-off phase though the GPU had a larger stock dedicated to it than the rest of the two high-end offerings. As such, it will have a longer shelf-life but will also be eventually phased out as vendors focus on the new 4070 SUPER offerings.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPUs already shipped in lower supplies since the card wasn't met with a very positive outlook based on its poor price-to-performance value which made the RTX 4090 look like a more worthwhile choice.

Meanwhile, the RTX 4070 Ti was a so-so contender against AMD's RX 7900 XT but both graphics cards weren't that great value either. That is despite the $100 US drop in the price of the 4070 Ti which was originally going to cost $899 US before the green team decided to "unlaunch" what was supposed to be the 4080 12 GB. Following is the specific quote from Board Channels as quoted by Videocardz:

Report #1:

RTX 4080 - NVIDIA did not allocate a significant quantity of GPUs in the Q4 quarter. Consequently, the inventory levels at various AIC manufacturers are very low. It is anticipated that by November, the inventories of graphics card brands will be depleted and cleared.

RTX 4070 Ti - The last batch of shipments from NVIDIA in the Q4 quarter was not substantial. Based on the current inventory situation of AIC brand manufacturers, it is expected that clearing the inventory will be swift, with a possibility of completion as early as November and at the latest by December. The primary factors influencing the timeline are the factory’s inventory clearance speed and rhythm control.

Report #2:

RTX 4080 - Will replace the RTX 4080 series, indicating the discontinuation of the RTX 4080 series.

RTX 4070 Ti - Will replace the RTX 4070 Ti series, signifying the discontinuation of the RTX 4070 Ti series.

RTX 4070 - Will not entirely replace the RTX 4070 series; instead, it will coexist with the RTX 4070 series for an extended period. However, the focus will primarily be on the sales of the RTX 4070 SUPER series.

What all of this means is that you will see a month or two where retailers either jack up the prices of both NVIDIA RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 series cards owing to low supply or price-cut them further down to push as much inventory out. Whatever may the case be, it is better to just wait a month or two for the RTX 40 "SUPER" series as that would definitely make retailers drop prices on these RTX Non-SUPER variants.

The US, UK, and EU markets will be least affected by these changes but for the China markets and regions associated with them, the recent bans on the RTX 4090 would mean that they will have the RTX 4080 SUPER as the fastest GPU solution for them for a while. Now once again, the RTX 4090 ban in China isn't what it seems to be and what many might be suggesting as it still falls in the NAC eligibility list which means that after getting approval from the US, the GPU can still be exported to China and other regions where the card has been "restricted", more on that here.

The major question is that with the RTX 4080 & RTX 4070 GPUs running out of stock soon, should the RTX 4080 & 4070 SUPER series come at similar price points or lower than the existing MSRPs? It would be awesome if we get lower prices than existing cards as that would essentially increase the perf/$ ratings of these cards and offer more competitiveness against AMD's offerings.