Why is it still so difficult to buy these cards? I would assume they would know that there would be a huge demand just like the last series.

A ongoing global supply shortage that's been going on for quite a while

https://www.reuters.com/article/manufacturing-semiconductors...

Not entirely sure if it's only increased demands or if it's due to other issues

Mining Conflux - one of the Chinese oriented coins.

It’s been known for a while that the algo for it isn’t affected by the restriction

In case TLDR; 1. NVIDIA removed the driver package from their site 2. Windows only 3. "If I use a riser, or there are more than one card, either or both cards won't get the full 48MH/s."