I think the decision to "sell early" was wise. I missed that boat entirely.
I have a 2080 sitting idle in its box, having only been used for about 4 months from new. I looked at selling it to offset buying an RX 6800 XT. But I was so disappointed to find out it was worth less than half original value (barely £300 - and not even selling at that price either), I decided to keep it as a spare. Seems the 2070 Super killed resale value of 2080 long before 30x0 appeared.
So, options:
- if you find a 2080 or similar (2070 super, for instance) for peanuts on ebay, (or at least, less than what you sold yours for) then buy it. You get your missing performance back, and still have some cash in pocket. But it's a gamble the card you get works and hasn't been abused. So look for returns accepted, or assurances the thing works perfectly, etc. Gumtree is a less likely source, but any second hand market might suffice.
You should be able to resell it again for not much less, when the 3080 arrives. So long as you sold for a decent price originally, you should still benefit nicely.
- make do and wait it out. Try flower arranging or something. Or binge watch TV series. Or go gaming at a friend's house. If covid allows it.
Revisit some old classic games from 10 or 20 years ago, that the internal graphics can cope with. GOG has plenty of DRM free old games, often selling at huge discounts - lots to choose from, for under a fiver. Graphics is pretty, but those older games have gameplay...
- consider going team red when their new cards arrive. If you're quick when the pre-orders start (whenever that is) you might get one of the first batches. It is hard to imagine worse availability than the 30x0 series, right?
The first AMD cards are meant to be "released" on November 18. That's just one week away.
But no pre-orders yet? That's a worry.
So, don't cancel any pre-order you have for a 3080, just in case that one comes in first. (You have pre-ordered a 3080, right? You'll definitely be cardless until 2021 if you're not on a waiting list.)
The RX 6800XT is meant to be at least as good as a 3080 - benchmarks seem to confirm that. And if you have an AMD 5xxx cpu, there's extra synergy benefit to be had.
Sorry for the tl;dr.