Luke and Leo Get Technical (Ep7) – AMD & Nvidia Supply Problems

Leo is loving life with his AMD RX 6800 XT graphics card to go alongside his liquid cooled Nvidia RTX 3080. Is he the luckiest graphics card enthusiast around by having managed to bag both cards? And what is exactly is going on with supply? Let's have a discussion…

Video Timestamps:

• 00:00 Video Start
• 00:13 Introduction
• 00:57 Leo shows off to annoy people
• 01:24 Paper launches – or are they?!
• 02:40 Leo buys GPUs and public hate him for it – so do most of the KitGuru team
• 03:49 e-tailers talk to KitGuru about pricing and stock issues – Nvidia shop crashes
• 06:14 Why can’t Nvidia website handle big traffic anyway?
• 08:00 KitGuru staff get some cards after 10 weeks waiting
• 09:09 Is it really a paper launch? Why is supply so limited?
• 11:00 TSMC and processes
• 12:35 Everyone is impressed with AMD… but
• 14:43 Luke and Leo discuss stock, demand and problems
• 18:43 Closing thoughts

Video Points:

Leo is loving life with his AMD and Nvidia Cards

• Leo is one of the lucky few who managed to get his hands on the RX 6800 XT at launch
  • He did have to ask a favour to get his card reserved, though!
• Leo also has the RTX 3080 which he bought from a contact at a non-scalper price
• Is Leo the luckiest geek in the UK with access to both of these monster graphics cards?

The Stock Situation Seems Dire!

• Stock issues Galore!
• Was this a paper launch for Nvidia and AMD?
• E-tailers have had a tough time getting stock too
  • They are getting a very small fraction of the units that they have ordered
• It has been tough for consumers to even buy with the websites crashing regularly
  • Drastic measures have been taken by some e-tailers to address these issues
  • Many anti-scalper measures too
• KitGuru’s James finally got his RTX 3080 that he ordered himself on launch day
• Never mind which AIB card do you buy; you just buy whatever you can get your hands on!

Why Is the Supply So Constrained?

• Why is supply so limited, even accounting for the huge demand?
• Is TSMC’s fabs being under such high demand playing a part?
• What about Nvidia’s cards that are fabbed by Samsung but are still out of stock in many places?

Credit to AMD For Finally Delivering a Competitive Flagship… With TSMC's Assistance

• Stock issues aside, AMD has done a great job alongside TSMC, especially with these new Big Navi graphics cards…
• But they have also had some luck along the way!

And More on Supply Constraints!

• Are cardboard boxes to blame… probably not!
• Perhaps the global issues have played a bigger part in the supply challenges than we realise
• Fingers crossed TSMC’s new US fab will help ease supply pressures in the future
• When do you think you will be able to buy an Ampere or Big Navi graphics card?

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Have you been lucky enough to get your hands on one of the new graphics cards? Are you still waiting for your pre-order? Or have you been completely dissuaded on a purchase by the launch problems?

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