The shortage of Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 stock is reportedly so serious in China, that graphics card manufacturers are encouraging retailers to push customers towards older cards instead. We’re not talking about last-gen GPUs here either, but the six-year-old RTX 3060.
According to ChannelGate, a tech insider platform affiliated with Board Channels that concerns graphics card distribution in China, there’s a “severe shortage of the RTX 50 series” (machine translated) in the region, with “extremely limited quantities available.” However, retailers are facing higher pressures than usual due to an increase in demand driven by cryptocurrency mining and recent sales promotions.
This perfect storm has apparently led to graphics card manufacturers suggesting retailers offer a GeForce RTX 3060 to customers instead, both 12GB and 8GB models, as substitutes, alongside the GeForce RTX 3050, as well as AMD GPUs. The 60-class GPU reportedly re-entered production in June 2026, five years after its initial launch, allegedly at the expense of an RTX 5050 9GB.
The RTX 3060 faces the same memory capacity issues as all other graphics cards, but uses older GDDR6 memory modules, rather than the GDDR7 chips used by RTX 50 GPUs, which helps insulate it from market pressures to a degree. This same advantage has benefitted both AMD and Intel with their current-generation stock, though their offerings have still risen in price.
While the regional variables affecting GeForce RTX 50 availability are worth noting, the key concern here is the severity of the shortage in the first place. In the UK, you can still find the majority of Nvidia’s family in stock across retailers but prices continue to trend upwards; at an alarming rate for some models.
It’s unclear whether other regions will face similar shortages in the short and long term, particularly with Black Friday looming. However, given the current trend of GPU prices and continued tightening of memory supply, it’s an entirely possible outcome.
Regardless, we don’t recommend purchasing a GeForce RTX 3060 if you can help it, given this GPU is approaching its sixth anniversary. Unfortunately, with a potential Arc B580 discontinuation on the horizon, builders on tight budgets sadly aren’t left with many compelling options in the market.
If you are looking to buy your next graphics card in this increasingly challenging market, check out our recently refreshed best GPU guide.
