If you're going to throw $700 at a brand new Nvidia RTX 3080, it should be less than optimistic to assume that it will arrive in the right package. Sadly, for early adopters of the EVGA 3080, that simple assumption seems to be a leap too far.

Over the past few days, there have been numerous posts on Reddit indicating that EVGA 3080 GPUs purchased via Newegg arrived without retail packaging, protected only by an anti-static sleeve.

With no added layer of protection, some RTX 3080s appear to be a bit degraded. One user said, "I can't even insert it into the card slot to use it."

Fortunately, this seems to be some isolated incident; EVGA's Jacob Freeman sent in an official response: "It appears that a very small number of cards have shipped from Newegg in bulk.

Bulk orders, for those who don't know, are hardware shipped without retail packaging specifically for companies that want to use the product directly; companies like Newegg don't care how nice the box is, and suppliers don't care about the extra packaging and shipping It costs extra to package and ship.

Unfortunately, however, in this case, some units slipped through the net and reached the customer without proper cushioning, probably due to a mistake at the warehouse.

"They [Newegg] are aware and will help if you call them," Freeman continued.

Pre-orders for Nvidia's RTX 3080 GPUs are as confusing as the PS5 and Xbox Series X pre-order debacle, and getting them in stock is ridiculously difficult right now. So while Newegg may send us a replacement RTX 3080, we can't guarantee when it will arrive. If you can get the card to work with the shoddy packaging, it might be best to hold off on buying a boxed unit as-is and try to negotiate a discount on a future order, rather than holding out for a boxed unit.

One thing we can say with confidence is that the RTX 3080 GPU is worth the extra hassle; Nvidia claims the card is up to twice as fast as the previous RTX 2080 model, and benchmarks back this up.