Update: MSI contacted us to confirm that its RTX 3090s with blower coolers have been “removed for the moment”.
Original story follows...
Nvidia RTX 3090 graphics cards with a blower-style cooler are reportedly in the process of being discontinued, after these models were only introduced a few months ago in some cases.
This development was outlined in a report by VideoCardz, which noted that various RTX 3090 models were disappearing from third-party card manufacturer websites.
All these cards come with blower-style coolers, which rather than multiple fans, use a single fan to push the hot air generated by the GPU out of the back of the card (and outside the case).
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That can be good in the right scenario – like a small form-factor PC case, where you can’t afford to have that hot air swirling around internally, or heavyweight multiple-GPU builds – but they aren't as good at keeping the GPU cooler, and the graphics card is noisier with a blower solution.
Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and Galax have now yanked down their respective web pages for their RTX 3090 blower models, and apparently this is only the case for blower-type flagship cards – other Ampere GPUs are not affected, save for the mentioned exception of one Galax 3080.
According to VideoCardz, Galax has confirmed directly that its GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Classic and RTX 3080 Classic blower models have now been canceled.
Furthermore, Asus has removed its RTX 3090 24GB Turbo blower-style card, and Gigabyte has done the same with its RTX 3090 24GB Turbo model too, with the MSI RTX 3090 24GB Aero also performing a vanishing act.
Blowing in the wind
Why is this happening? Arguably, given the power demands (and heat) of the beefy 3090 GPU, it was surprising to see blower-style coolers employed in the first place, as VideoCardz observes in its report.
The reason for their removal could be tied up in Nvidia’s recent announcement of crypto-mining GPUs, or Cryptocurrency Mining Processors (CMPs), dedicated mining cards which in some cases could be using these type of blower coolers – meaning supply issues of the cooling solution may be involved.
Ultimately we can only guess as to what’s going on behind the scenes, but bear in mind that nothing is actually confirmed here, save for on the Galax front. That said, the vanishing of the cards can be confirmed easily enough just by looking at the manufacturer websites.
We’ve contacted the mentioned graphics card makers – Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte (with Galax already having made that reported statement) – and also Nvidia itself to see if they can shed any light on the situation, and whether these blower models are indeed reaching the end of the line full-stop.
If we hear back from any of those companies, we’ll of course be sure to update this story with their comments or reasons for why this is seemingly happening.
Meanwhile, if you’re on the hunt for an RTX 3090 graphics card, then check out our where to buy the RTX 3090 roundup which keeps a close eye on the latest stock levels.
