The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti could be so expensive that even cryptominers avoid it

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
(Image credit: Future)

The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has been making various appearances over social media platforms ahead of its official announcement, with it currently expected to be unveiled by Nvidia on May 31 with a launch to follow on June 2.

The MSRP has been allegedly set at $999 (about £780/AU$1,400), though previous pricing leaks indicate that retailers may be wildly inflating the listed price before the product has even hit the shelves. Twitter user I_leak_VN has also added additional weight to these concerns after posting a lineup of alarmingly high prices from an unspecified Vietnamese retailer.

See more

Let's state the obvious here before we go any further – we don't have any way to substantiate the source of these claims so this is all speculation so far. If the image does have any shred of truth to it though, the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti could come with an eyewatering price tag in certain regions.

When converted from Vietnamese Dong the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti SUPRIM X converts to around $3,200 / £2,300 / AU$4,100 , with the MSI Gaming X Trio following at $3,050 / £2,500 / AU$4,000 and the entry-level MSI Ventus 3X OC finishing up at $2,900 / £2,100 / AU$3,700.

It was also previously reported that a local retailer in Abu Dhabi that's already made an MSI Suprim X version of the GPU available for purchase for an estimated $3500/£2500/AU$4500, so the prices we're seeing aren't an isolated claim.

See more

Ti-wateringly high prices

Given the RTX 3080 Ti is supposed to bridge the gap between the previous RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 GPUs (providing not far off the gaming performance of a 3090 for a more affordable budget), the prices we're seeing here would still make Nvidia's latest flagship an unaffordable option for many.

This could also mean that cryptominers will be dissuaded from buying up the available stock, however, especially as both the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti should be getting Nvidia's updated hash rate limiter. The GeForce RTX 3090 hasn't been as big a target for miners given the large upfront cost, making them an inefficient investment for mining rigs.

As with all rumors, take all this with a pinch of salt. We won't know the state of things until the GPU officially hits the shelves and an announcement is made regarding Nvidia's recommended pricing.

We've contacted Nvidia for comment.

Via WCCFTech

Jess Weatherbed

Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.