![Nvidia’s Founders Edition RTX 3090, 3080, 3070 GPUs Won’t Be Sold In Australia [Update: Nvidia Backflips]](https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/04/2020-09-02_022758.jpg?quality=75&w=640&h=360&crop=1)
See this flashy RTX 3080 and its funky new design? Well, too bad, because you won’t get it in Australia.
Nvidia has confirmed to Kotaku Australia that while Australians will still get their regular shipment of RTX 3090, 3080 and 3070 GPUs from third-party vendors, the special front-and-back cooled editions from Nvidia won’t be sold in Australia.
And it’s not just a launch issue — Nvidia confirmed there are no plans currently to sell the Founders Edition GPUs in Australia. That’s a change from the RTX 20-series launch, where Australians could grab the FE cards direct from the Nvidia website.
So in practice, instead of buying a card like this:
You’ll be shopping for cards like this:
I know which card I’d rather have in my PC.
Nvidia has sold some Founders Edition cards like the Titan RTX through third-party retailers before, but this time around Australians will have to stick to the classic brands.
It’s annoying. But it’s not all bad news. Australians will still be able to buy the RTX 30-series models from AIB partners when they go on sale from September 17. Several companies have already announced models available for Australia, including ASUS, MSI, PNY’s XLR8 and ZOTAC. Gigabyte, Galax, Leadtek, Inno3D and EVGA also sell cards in the local market, but I haven’t received any local press releases or information about what their offerings will be.
A small upside is this means Australians won’t have to think about dealing with 12-pin connectors, or any adapters that come with them. All AIB models are going with a double or triple 8-pin power setup, no different to what Aussies will have in their gaming PCs today.
Still, having that new design would have been real cool. A GPU that has a fan on the front and the back does a whole lot of wonders for airflow, if you set everything up correctly. And the AIB RTX 3090, 3080 and 3070 GPUs will still run just fine with a 750W power supply. Provided you haven’t been pushing it too hard for the last couple of years.
Update 8/09: Nvidia’s Australian and New Zealand Facebook page has corroborated our original reporting, telling customers directly that “Founders Edition GPUs are not available in Australia” at this time.
The statement comes after days of confusion, where Nvidia support staff were telling customers that Australians would still be able to buy the RTX Founders Editions in Australia, despite Nvidia’s Australian team confirming directly with Kotaku Australia over email that the RTX FE cards wouldn’t be sold locally.
Update 12/09: Nvidia has formally backflipped, announcing that retailer Mwave (rather than Nvidia direct) will sell some RTX 3080 and 3090 FE cards — but not RTX 3070 at this stage — in Australia. All the details are here.
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