What you need to know
- The 4070 Super and other 40 Super series cards are set to launch near their MSRP based on early retailer listings.
- The first of the cards set to launch is the 4070 Super, launching on January 17th.
- There is a good chance there will be sufficient stock for those looking to upgrade, as long as retailers can prevent scalpers from purchasing most of the stock.
NVIDIA's recent announcement of the RTX 40 Series Super GPUs went better than I personally expected. There seems to be a slight increase in performance for the same price or lower than the cards these new Super variants are replacing. Check out our coverage of the NVIDIA Super cards announcement to get a full breakdown of each card announced and the expected performance.
Several retailers such as Best Buy and Newegg have started to list the new Super cards with prices on their sites. Some of the prices listed are giving hope that 3rd party manufacturers aren't trying to price gouge the consumers. The only major obstacle left is to beat the figurative final boss in this retail world we live in, namely scalpers.
How are the RTX Super Series GPU prices looking?
In the image above, we can see the listed MSRP for NVIDIA's full line of RTX 40 series GPUs. In a somewhat pleasant surprise, it seems like 3rd party GPU manufacturers are trying to stay close to the MSRP. If we look over at Best Buy, the results seem pretty promising, even if it is a limited sample size.
First up, let's take a look at the 4070 Super, these are just the ones showing up on Best Buy. If you look at other retailers like Newegg or B&H Photo, more cards are showing up at or near MSRP.
- GIGABYTE - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Windforce OC 12GB - $599
- MSI - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12GB VENTUS 2X OC 12GB - $609
- MSI - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12GB VENTUS 3X OC 12GB - $629
It is likely that the 4070 Super will have the most stock available at launch, since it is the most economic option right now. As it is the first card launching, it will be an important litmus test to see how high the demand is for slightly better cards at roughly the same price point as their predecessors.
Moving onto the 4070 TI Super pricing, so far it looks like we have two 3rd party examples ready, and these two aren't exactly at MSRP, but the markup isn't as crazy as we have seen in previous years.
- GIGABYTE - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070Ti SUPER Gaming OC 16GB - $849
- MSI - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 TI SUPER 16GB VENTUS 3X OC 16GB - $899
$50 to $100 is probably an acceptable markup for these cards, especially if they are overclocked and offering slightly better cooling or performance than the founder's edition cards.
Finally, let's take a look at the 4080 Super prices that are currently listed online.
- NVIDIA - GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER (Founder's Edition) 16GB GDDR6X - $999
- GIGABYTE - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Gaming OC 16GB - $1049
- MSI - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16GB VENTUS 3X OC 16GB - $1099
As we can see from these early listings, the prices seem to be pretty competitive and fair from 3rd party manufacturers like MSI and GIGABYTE. Most of the more expensive cards are overclocked and offer better features than the Founder Edition cards, and will usually be worth the extra $50 to $100.
It is a waiting game to see if more cards come out this competitively priced, or if one 3rd party ruins it for everybody by dropping a price of $200 over MSRP and proving that the cards will still sell that well for everybody.
Will scalpers ruin the RTX 40 Super Series launch?
I would like to think that retailers have figured out a way to stop scalpers at this point. Since 2020, the business of scalping hot commodity items has seemed to take off. It has been nearly impossible to buy a GPU or PS5 for most of the last 4 years, though the issue has somewhat been alleviated. However, it is still very hard to find an RTX 4090 at MSRP.
Best Buy already has the disclaimer on its website, "This item is in high demand...And we want you to get one! We made some updates to our reservation process to improve your odds of getting this item." It seems that they have a queue system ready to go and should be limiting purchases to 1 per individual. Other sites should hopefully follow suit so that the scalpers can hopefully only get 10 to 20 GPUs instead of 50 to 100.
I'm still rocking a 3060 TI FE 8GB, so I'm dying to upgrade. It would be awesome to pick up the 4080 TI at MSRP if possible, but we will see if the stock is sufficient.
Are you planning on trying to pick up a Super Series card? Do you think the scalpers will win out again, or can retailers get the cards in the hands of real customers? Let us know in the comments.
