Where Are All the GeForce GTX 480’s?

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 480 was officially released last week, and since then, trying to buy one has been about as difficult as scaling Mount Everest (alright, maybe one is harder). As it stands at this very moment, no e-tailer I could find has a single brand’s model in stock, with the largest e-tailers in both US and Canada offering little more than pre-orders.

I contacted NVIDIA last week, and the fact that the company shipped out “tens of thousands” of cards was reiterated to me. If that’s true, then the quasi-negative reviews the card received is having very little effect on actual sales. As soon as a card is in stock, it’s out of stock. From asking around, if a brand’s card is en route, it typically takes a couple of days to fulfill your order. Your best bet if you want one? Keep an eye on the lesser-desired brands.

In talking to a friend earlier today, one who purchased a GTX 480, he mentioned that the lesser-known brands are likely the ones to get to you the quickest, because not surprisingly, the EVGA backlog is enormous. I assume the situation has been similar for sites like Newegg as well, although even though I’ve checked multiple times, I’ve never managed to actually see a card in stock.

The situation for the GTX 470 is completely different, though, with supply found at every e-tailer I’ve looked at. Another friend even had one that he purchased early last week, so if you’re looking for that model, there’s really little you have to worry about. As for when GTX 480 supply will ramp up, I’m not sure, and NVIDIA’s not too clear, but hopefully it’s sooner than later.

On a related note, one of the major complaints I had in our launch article for the GTX 480 was of course heat, and it seems that EVGA wasted no time in getting a model out the door that’s not only pre-overclocked, but comes equipped with a waterblock. I’d be interested to see just how effective it is, because even with water, that’s one hot GPU to cool. Oh, and it of course carries a bit of a premium… a $150 one, to be exact.

And if you still haven’t read our GTX 480 launch article, I’ve linked to it below so you can see all that’s new and notable.

We’ve learned a lot about NVIDIA’s GF100 (Fermi) architecture over the past year, and after what seemed like an eternal wait, the company has officially announced the first two cards as part of the series; the GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480. To start, we’re taking a look at the latter, so read on to see if it GF100 was worth the wait.