The GeForce RTX 30 series is a line of graphics cards from Nvidia, succeeding the RTX 20 series and built on the Ampere architecture with second-generation ray tracing cores and third-generation Tensor Cores. Launched on September 17, 2020, with models ranging from the entry-level RTX 3050 to the enthusiast-class RTX 3090 Ti, it was designed to compete with AMD's Radeon RX 6000 series and was the last Nvidia generation to support Windows 7. The initial release of the RTX 3070, 3080, and 3090 was marred by the 2020–2023 global chip shortage, leading to severe stock shortages, scalping via bots, and long lines at physical stores—prompting Nvidia to delay the RTX 3070 and temporarily sell Founder's Edition cards exclusively through Best Buy in the US. Shortages persisted into 2022 due to Samsung wafer and GDDR6 memory shortages, as well as demand from cryptocurrency miners, which led Nvidia to introduce Limited Hash Rate (LHR) versions of the RTX 3060, 3070, 3080, and Ti models to limit Ethereum mining performance. The RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti were released in June 2021 with built-in hash rate limiters, while companies like EVGA implemented queue systems to manage overwhelming demand. The series was eventually succeeded by the GeForce RTX 40 series (Ada Lovelace architecture) in 2022, marking the end of the RTX 30's troubled but highly anticipated lifecycle.