NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Delayed To Bolster Stock Ahead Of Launch Day

It isn't exactly a secret that NVIDIA's roll out of its new RTX 30-series cards has been rough so far. The RTX 3080 sold out in the blink of an eye, and the RTX 3090 didn't fare a whole lot better despite its much higher price tag. Now, with the launch of the much more affordable RTX 3070 on the horizon, NVIDIA has decided to push it back a little bit to give its manufacturing partners additional time to make more cards.

In a brief blog post on its website today, NVIDIA says that it has decided to push back the release date of the RTX 3070 to Thursday, October 29th. Previously, the card was expected to launch on October 15th, so NVIDIA is delaying the card by exactly two weeks here.

So, this isn't a massive delay, but NVIDIA is hoping that it will mean more cards to sell – and less angry gamers – come launch day. "We know this may be disappointing to those eager to purchase a GeForce RTX 3070 as soon as possible, however this shift will help our global partners get more graphics cards into the hands of gamers on launch day," NVIDIA said.

Indeed, it seems reasonable to assume that if the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 sold out quickly, the RTX 3070 will find the same fate. That's especially true when you consider that at $499, the RTX 3070 is the least expensive of the 30-series cards, making it more accessible to a wider range of PC gamers.

So, hopefully NVIDIA's decision to delay here helps things come launch day. Given how quickly the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 sold out, though, it's still probably best to be ready to buy as quickly as possible on launch day, even with this extra stock.