Tips on actually getting a 4090?

RedShark

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 8, 2003
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Availability is, let's say, not great.

Suggestions on how to buy one at something close to MSRP? Do you need to sit on some discord channel or something and wait for an in-stock notification? What does it take?
 
Snagged mine the Tuesday before Christmas from Best Buy using this (I kept it to the forefront, since tabbing away may cause the chat to need to catch up, taking too long - and I never got to check out with any Newegg links for the 4090)

 
BestBuy.com semi regularly gets various models. AIB models show up at least someplace almost daily. Try a stock watch discord.
 
There used to be falcodrin twitch stream as well. Was a ton of fun hunting 3080s/3090s back then. I think he still has it online at times. Lots of funny comments in chat as well. Good thing was he had official AIB stores also on there. Not sure about the above posted stream, maybe it has those as well.

I never had issues landing cards using these methods. However, sometimes at 3 AM when alarm used to go off, it was funny and sad at the same time. :LOL:
 
Use Distill extention and have it monitor the webpages of the card(s) that you want. I have a high success rate using that method. It helped me acquire RTX 3090 and 4090.
 
I used this method to snag my 4090 Founders from a Best Buy store in November, it's a re-post but should still work;

1. Search for "4090" on the BB app. Not "RTX 4090", or anything else.

2. After the results show up, click the "In store at (your store location)" tab on the upper left.

3. You will either see "No products found" (the vast majority of the time obviously), or a card will show. It will be labeled as "Sold Out". However, this indicates the item is physically at the location.

4. At this point, go to the store that shows the item. Get there early and try to speak to an employee, preferably a manager. The card should be there, however it MAY not be in their store inventory. If they can't find it on the computer, have the manager look for the box. It could still be on the truck. Be firm and hodl the line, as some have reported shady behavior from BB employees who want to hide the card. I had no issues personally.

Good luck!
 
I used this method to snag my 4090 Founders from a Best Buy store in November, it's a re-post but should still work;

1. Search for "4090" on the BB app. Not "RTX 4090", or anything else.

2. After the results show up, click the "In store at (your store location)" tab on the upper left.

3. You will either see "No products found" (the vast majority of the time obviously), or a card will show. It will be labeled as "Sold Out". However, this indicates the item is physically at the location.

4. At this point, go to the store that shows the item. Get there early and try to speak to an employee, preferably a manager. The card should be there, however it MAY not be in their store inventory. If they can't find it on the computer, have the manager look for the box. It could still be on the truck. Be firm and hodl the line, as some have reported shady behavior from BB employees who want to hide the card. I had no issues personally.

Good luck!

This is exactly how I got my FE model. Just check the app once everyday in the morning for it, it's not something you have to consistently monitor throughout the entire day.
 
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Thanks a lot for the tips everyone - more-or-less what I figured, but good to confirm. And I'd not seen that youtube link before, so that might be worth a go.
 
What gets me, if everyone is buying the 4090 over the 4080, why doesn't Nvidia ramp up production on the 4090's to sell more product and make more profit?
 
What gets me, if everyone is buying the 4090 over the 4080, why doesn't Nvidia ramp up production on the 4090's to sell more product and make more profit?
AD102 is a much bigger die than AD103 and NV has yields and high TSMC 4nm prices to contend with.
 
What gets me, if everyone is buying the 4090 over the 4080, why doesn't Nvidia ramp up production on the 4090's to sell more product and make more profit?
It should be obvious that Nvidia's game is to make just enough 4090s to meet some demand while hoping most just give up waiting and get the 4080 where they are making a massive margin on.
 
Yeah I used the falcodrin twitch channel. Heard him say bestbuy was dropping one of the AIB 4090's, so I thought maybe the FE is in stock too. Refreshed the page it wasn't in stack. Hung around for a minute then he said the FE was dropping too. Add to Cart button came up (yes!). Clicked that, it went to the popup box and said out of stock. waited another minute, tried again, It added to cart. Order placed.

I did have to pick up in store, but no big deal for me its just a few miles away.

When ordering from BB online, have some 10% off codes handy to enter during checkout. 10% off a 4090 is $160 and will cover taxes.
 
Not sure if stock is improving but newegg canada has 2 models of 4090 at 2400 cdn which is technically the msrp+aib markup price ie sold by newegg non scalper price. I saw those cards (gigabyte windforce and a zotac) yesterday and they are still up today. A few other models can be had in combos.
 
Step 1 locate nearest Canadian city to you with a canada computers. Go to said city, get 4090 aib. Go home and game.
 
Step 1 locate nearest Canadian city to you with a canada computers. Go to said city, get 4090 aib. Go home and game.

You don't need a Canadian computer with a Nord VPN subscription. It can tunnel your connection and make it actually appear you are in Canada.
 
Lol I had a PNY 4090 I posted several times here for cost (and it was a msrp card too), knew this was gonna happen once I returned it.
 
Are the Founders cards pretty much gone forever or do those pop back into stock on occasion? Just curious if it's even worth trying for one.
 
Are the Founders cards pretty much gone forever or do those pop back into stock on occasion? Just curious if it's even worth trying for one.

They pop up occasionally, but of all the channels and models they are the most scoped out by bots, so near impossible to get.
 
Are the Founders cards pretty much gone forever or do those pop back into stock on occasion? Just curious if it's even worth trying for one.
They are hard to get. I was lucky on Dec 27 to get one and use this code q4fy23save10 You have to have a BB card though, not the BB Visa, the store card and works as of today. It will also work on the 4080

Screen Shot 2023-01-09 at 1.49.40 PM.png
 
They are hard to get. I was lucky on Dec 27 to get one and use this code q4fy23save10 You have to have a BB card though, not the BB Visa, the store card and works as of today. It will also work on the 4080

View attachment 540499

BB card as in a rewards account or is it something you have to pay extra for? I have a rewards account.
 
BB card as in a rewards account or is it something you have to pay extra for? I have a rewards account.
Best Buy store credit card. They have 2 kinds. One that is only for use in store and one that is a BB Visa you can use everywhere. You get special financing, etc with the BB store card. I got one last year when we bought an 85' tv. Just paid it off, and put a 4090 on it...lol...
 
Best Buy store credit card. They have 2 kinds. One that is only for use in store and one that is a BB Visa you can use everywhere. You get special financing, etc with the BB store card. I got one last year when we bought an 85' tv. Just paid it off, and put a 4090 on it...lol...

Ah, gotcha. I have enough credit cards. Guess I'll have to pass and either snag an OEM one or wait on a TI model. Luckily it's in no way urgent, I was just curious.
 
I got a 4090 using the paid version of HotStock a month ago. I tried getting one on the unpaid version and did not have any success.
 
Hmmmm, I guess maybe I'll give it a go casually. I've had pretty decent luck (got a launch 3090's and 4 different PS5's in 2020), but this is for a build I'm not 100% when I'll actually begin.
 
I bought a pre-built so I was able to order the upgrade from them but my honest advice is to just hit eBay and pay the scalper price. I’m not joking that’s if you really want one and you don’t wanna wait six months or possibly never be able to get one
 
I used NowInStock for about 2 months and finally got lucky. I was selective on the exact model I wanted and had the phone in my hand when the alert went off. Nvidia said stock should improve this quarter and per that website it seems to be largely true. I should get mine tomorrow.
 
I didn't bother with stock trackers, the other day I just randomly checked microcenter and they had 6 in stock. I drove over before they opened and got in line but I was #7, I walked around the store a bit and then they came and found me and said they had 20 more in just then so I ended up with one. Just luck.
 
You don't need a Canadian computer with a Nord VPN subscription. It can tunnel your connection and make it actually appear you are in Canada.
This is what he meant:

1673404121598.png

It's a Canadian shop and during the shortage they went pickup only. Surprised they are shipping 4090's but I guess they are sitting on shelves here now. I don't think they ship to US, they barely ever ship to my province.

Edit. Looks like they did sell some of the Gigabyte because it was shipping earlier today and is pickup only now.
 
I have a few friends playing Destiny 2 that went over to BC from Washington state to get some 4090s. Saves a ton of hassle waiting on stock updates and BB camping.
 
Since I'm new to the 4090 hunt, I take it that when one does pop up in stock that they show up at around $1600-1700? I'm seeing some available, but they're all marked up by like $500.
With the 3080's and 3090's there was basically nothing outside of eBay. With these, they're around via normal retail...but just marked up?
 
Since I'm new to the 4090 hunt, I take it that when one does pop up in stock that they show up at around $1600-1700? I'm seeing some available, but they're all marked up by like $500.
With the 3080's and 3090's there was basically nothing outside of eBay. With these, they're around via normal retail...but just marked up?
You are seeing scalpers that use bots to buy up retail cards at msrp. The hunt is to find and beat the scalpers. Typically cards are only instock for less than 5 minutes.
 
1600$ is the MSRP of a 4090. What are you referring to?

4090's. I'm seeing stock ready to buy on Amazon and NewEgg right this second but they're between $2100 and $2300. I wasn't sure if people were happy to buy 'em at that price or if they occasionally showed up at $1600.
 
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