Aren't Step Up Customers going to get their RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra cards "soon" as well?  Was told by EVGA Customer Service that a good proportion of cards was reserved for retail and a good proportion of cards was reserved for Step Up customers 

It’ll take a while. 

i wonder if the line is longer for the 3080, or the 3090. i would have thought less demand for 3090 due to the price

It would be nice to have a rough idea how long of a wait it will be. It would help me make a decision.

I started a post about this a day or two ago, someone said they got their step 2 in a couple of days and already have gotten to the last step where EVGA sent a shipping label to send his 2070 Super in, and should have his 3080 FTW3 next week or the week after.. said he put his request in 15 minutes after launch.. I put mine in 30 minutes after launch, haven't gotten to step 2 yet.  I dunno how believable that is lol

I was considering buying a 2080 super from micro center for 699.99 and doing the step up program. However I keep feeling that once I make the buy another wave of 3080 stock will come in. My newly built PC still doesn’t have a graphics card inside of it. Also the unknown timeline of step up turn around is concerning.

My guess is that most people don't use the forum.. There are probably 20 or 30 people that are getting their step up for every person on here that got theirs.

MGSBigBoss
I was considering buying a 2080 super from micro center for 699.99 and doing the step up program. However I keep feeling that once I make the buy another wave of 3080 stock will come in. My newly built PC still doesn’t have a graphics card inside of it. Also the unknown timeline of step up turn around is concerning.

Just buy the 2080 Super and start the step-up process, it's still a good card, and you will get full retail back towards the 3080.  That way you have a great card, in your desktop, and can actually use it while you wait..

MGSBigBoss
I was considering buying a 2080 super from micro center for 699.99 and doing the step up program. However I keep feeling that once I make the buy another wave of 3080 stock will come in. My newly built PC still doesn’t have a graphics card inside of it. Also the unknown timeline of step up turn around is concerning.

That's the exact boat I'm in. I was going to buy a 2070 Super to hold me over but it could be in to the new year before we actually see 3080's from step up.

WARNING
Anyone currently considering buying a lower end card to get in the step up que needs to fully read and understand the terms:
 
https://www.evga.com/support/stepup/
 
- When I stepped up to a 2080 Ti in mid-2019 it took me about a month to complete the process and have a 2080 Ti in hand.  This was well after the launch in Sept '18.  It took months for some of the people who signed up in '18.
 
- I did it because I wasn't getting enough out of the 2080 I had bought for 4K gaming, 2080 Ti's were generally available at the time from many sources.
 
- You reserve your step-up model at Step 1, so any step-ups started now get the FTW3 card
 
- Supposedly Step-Up cards are from *available inventory* and are normally reference cards.  If vendors are demanding cards and cards are constantly selling out, there will not be cards made available, or maybe they will make just a few available at a time.  Step-ups are last priority for who gets cards.
 
- If reference cards are in lower demand / higher availability, eventually they will be the Step-Up option, this could change any day.
 
- People have been discussing doing step-up on various other forums for the last month or so.  The list is a mile long now and anyone serious about it signed up right when it became live.
 
- The program is to allow people to upgrade who need more performance, not to "pre-order" them.
 
- There is extremely high demand for 3080 step-ups, far more than 2080 Ti's two years ago.
 
- You definitely will be able to buy a card outright in the next month or two, faster than using step-up.
 
- The only way I would step up right now is if I HAD TO ABSOLUTELY get a gpu for my machine RIGHT NOW and was OK with waiting several months, paying full MSRP, and the downtime to step up.  Granted, this does let you spread out the cash outlay.
 
- IMHO, anyone who orders a lower card TODAY and starts a step-up when they get it, will not get a step-up 3080 in hand until some time in 2021.
 

AngryAce
 
 
I would think some cards from each shipment are used for the step-up program but I doubt they would prioritize them over "paying" customers. EVGA is the only company that does this and its a great service. We just have to be patient and hope its sooner than later. I just wish there was a way to see where you were in the queue like the 1080 Ti. At least I think it was the 1080 Ti.......

+1 to AngryAce and kevinc313.   It is kind of like a pre-order because if people decide to outright buy one before step 2 starts, they can leave the step-up at will OR keep their line and get a 2nd card when step 2 starts for them; completely up to them. But yeah, they should know the terms and conditions.
As for the queue, there is an unofficial virtual queue list in the Step-Up thread category.  It obviously won't have everyone in it, but it's a decent representation to give people an idea where they currently are.  
I think Jacob said that every FTW3 shipment gets some cards allocated for Step-Up.  Now just how many?  Yeah, we'll never know that, so people replying back to the virtual queue about their updates gives us some kind of reference.  Very thankful for the OP of that thread.  I'll continue to enjoy my card until my turn is up.  I'm glad I don't to fight bots to buy one; minor delay is a worthwhile compromise. 

ngh5833
It would be nice to have a rough idea how long of a wait it will be. It would help me make a decision.

When I did the step up years ago it took over 6 weeks to see my spot in the queue even move 1 single spot.   It took about 3 months total.  

ShaconBacon
 
So when they say "within 90 days" for the step up program, they just mean that you have to get in line for a step up within 90 days?

 
Yes they just mean you have 90 days from the date of your purchase of your GPU to step up to a better model.  But once you enter the step-up program, the 90 day window is gone, even if it takes 180 days to get your card to you, you will still get it.. you just have 90 days to enter the queue, that's it.