Dramatic Radeon RX 6800 availability, even worse than RTX 3080 launch

Yesterday the Radeon RX 6800 and 6800 XT have been released. However, availability seems to be an eye-soring drama. Only a handful of people have been able to purchase a reference card.

As it stands, the launch was even more dramatic than RTX 30 series, availability-wise. We did some rounds, and here in the Netherlands, there even wasn't availability whatsoever. Some etailers refused to even put up a pre-order, as they have no idea if and when they will be receiving a single card to sell. AMD's head of marketing, Frank Azor who is very active on social media, now sees his earlier social comments backfire.

It seems In Germany two etailers had some cards, and pretty much the rest of Europe did not get stocked, aside for some in the Nordics and while we're unsure, perhaps UK.

Some cards could be bought directly from the AMD website though, especially the red team members -- but these sold out faster than you can spell 'Guru3D' as the email AMD send around to this select group was posted in public. There was no solid availability in the US either. Retail giants Amazon, Newegg, and Best Buy either did not get stock or simply put up a 'coming soon tag'.

Listing based on EU product searches

On AMD's website, the option to purchase an RX 6800 card has now been removed. System builders such as Origin PC, Cyberpower PC, and Maingear do offer desktops with the new RX 6000 models for widely varying prices, however, availability is a question mark.

Custom designs next week

A second chance to obtain a card will be next week, November 25th AIB partners can sell their custom models. But here as well word out on the street is that there is hardly any inventory.

2020; the year of COVID-19 and shortages ...