**The state of GPU's and their purchasability** This is a rant post, anyone else agree with me AFTER you read this?

newls1

Supreme [H]ardness
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Sep 8, 2003
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Let me start off by saying im a 38 y/o computer enthusiast who has been in the PC community since 1994 after building my 1st 486 computer, and am just so fed up with how and where this nich community is going.

This a a rant post, if you dont like rant posts, please exit now. What im about to type up is of course my own opinion that i have formed since the release of the era of the 980Ti.

Buying/obtaining/getting your hands on a gpu now that is bleeding edge, or near that placement is damn near impossible. CPU's are now in this category unfortunately. Being able to get our mitts on a fresh hot 2080Ti back 2 1/2 years ago took MONTHS, getting your hands on a 1080Ti 4 years ago took MONTHS, getting your hands on a 3090... well you can forget about this for MONTHS. When AMD dropped the 3900X and 3950X cpus, or when Intel came out with the 9900k/10900K all the above was unobtainable for such long periods of time that it has to be done on purpose by the manufactures. WHY? if you have a potential buyer for a 1600$ GPU or a 800$ CPU, make it obtainable... least you can do for "your" consumer. Im so damn tired of checking newegg, evga, microcenter, etc... everyday for stock. I give up, im completely done... customer lost. The youtube reviewers are gifted any and all gpu's to "pour out performance numbers" and sell the product, then us consumers go into the market to make our very large purchases only to find NOTHING to purchase... God for bid our favorite youtubers want to do an SLi performance vid for a 3090 all they have to do is make a phone call and magically a gpu appears in their hands. If these youtubers are for "US" and show honest results (which most do) and look out for our better 1/2 so we dont buy an expensive POS.... then reviewers should start DECLINING review samples cause what good is it doing....??? THE CARDS AND CPUS CANT BE PURCHASED ANYWHERE. If all our fav reviewers declined samples stating to refuse to test "said" product cause market purchasability is NON EXISTANT... maybe manufactures will produce more and make sure stock is around to actually purchase "said" product. Im so damn aggravated in this niche community cause it seems no one with actual "pulling power" steps up to these big rich corp businesses and refuses a damn thing.... I understand our fav youtubers make a living producing content and showing what top of the line stuff can do, so they wont refuse an opportunity to make money and put food on their tables for their families, and that is why I say to myself all the time, youtube should not be a paid venture... cause no matter how much our reviewers are honest with us, their still only in it for padding their wallets and gaining hardware that is unobtainable.

I know i left out many many many more examples and I know some wont agree with me on this rant (which is crazy if you dont) and thats okay, we"re all entitled to our own opinions of course. Just pissed that nothing is obtainable now for highend hardware and if it is, its GROSSLY OVERPRICED and nothing is ever done about this. Cant blame yet another thing on this damn COVID excuse... so tired of hearing that BS. As a Firefighter/EMT/ and sergant My job is nothing but dealing in the mist of covid BS, and tired of hearing all the excuses that everyone blames their issues on.

Okay, end rant/
 
As a reviewer, I've railed on manufacturers for paper launch shenanigans many times over the years. I've actually had pretty good luck getting cards on launch day up until now. I can believe that the demand for the 3080 and 3090 are higher than they were in the 20 series, but I had an easier time getting a GPU back then at the height of the mining craze than I do getting a 30 series card today.
 
Agree that it's a mess and a complete turn-off to the point that I lost the upgrade bug for now and not seriously looking to upgrade. Agree that they could do something about the bots and scalpers taking up the stock, but don't, with the exception of EVGA. Shame on all others for not providing a solution to their potential customers.

Overall left a bad taste for sure and over it for now.
 
I get you. I'm one of the lucky few relatively and was able to get a 3080 at MSRP. That said, this was the most empty, least joyful major hardware release I can remember (when by all indications I should be ecstatic). Having deep experience in tech marketing and pricing, seeing how nV and AIBs are turning the screws every insidious way they can on loyal consumers has really soured my view of what should be a fun hobby.

On the bright side, in having used an old 780ti after id sold my 2080 (in prep for the 3080), I've refocused my interests at this point to enjoying games for games, not worrying about having the highest IQ and FPS. There are some real gems out there I missed over the past years I'm now having fun with. I honestly think my next card may be *gasp* midrange.
 
Dan D, i know you are a reviewer and have read all your reviews and Brents for jesus.... maybe 10 years or more now. The good ol days of hardOCP.... This industry either needs to meet demand, or not release anything till shit is obtainable... If i remember correctly, several days ago some cold douche bag was trying to sell a 3080/3090 (cant remember which) here in the F/S section for like a 1000$ over msrp... Douches like that should be banned from site and balls cut off. Its like going to hospital, and finding out your health insurance that we pay OOOODLES for every month declines you cause of some reason that you cant control... just pisses me off
 
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Times are changing. Fabs are expensive and slammed. Former 3rd world countries are buying up consumer electronics at an unprecedented rate. Add to the mix the new fascination with "smart" everything, soon you probably won't be able to buy a pencil without 7nm tech inside of it.

I'm sure Intel \ AMD \ Nvidia would all love to move more product.

As for reviews,. If we're honest with ourselves 100 more cards on the market won't help anything. Boycotting new tech won't be any more effective than boycotting EA for releasing trash games too fast or Epic for paying off companies for exclusives. Not enough people care.

Paper launches aren't anything new and are only made worse by gaming being more popular than ever.
 
I'll say what I have said before, this is different. Every prior launch I have been able to buy one on launch day (or darn near to) with a bit of F5'ing and constant checking. This time nothing, nada, no hope (I don't really need one, not desperate but as a PC enthusiast who have more fun building systems I would happily pick one up to put a new pc together).

My local PC retailer had 2, just 2, cards come in of the 3090, and 4 of the 3080, out of several hundred pre-orders. They have unofficially declared this a paper launch. Many other retailers are reporting similar numbers.

Take it for what you will.
 
Times are changing. Fabs are expensive and slammed. Former 3rd world countries are buying up consumer electronics at an unprecedented rate. Add to the mix the new fascination with "smart" everything, soon you probably won't be able to buy a pencil without 7nm tech inside of it.

I'm sure Intel \ AMD \ Nvidia would all love to move more product.

As for reviews,. If we're honest with ourselves 100 more cards on the market won't help anything. Boycotting new tech won't be any more effective than boycotting EA for releasing trash games too fast or Epic for paying off companies for exclusives. Not enough people care.

Paper launches aren't anything new and are only made worse by gaming being more popular than ever.
you are 100000% correct... Cant argue anything you said, and its sad really.... Thanks for the reply tho
 
The solution is to convince yourself the launch dates are 6 months later than the "real" launch date.

You'll be able to look at thorough reviews before you buy, all the launch bugs will be sorted out by the beta testers, you'll know which model is the best purchase for you, and you'll actually be able to buy it.
 
I don't think manufacturers are artificially limiting supply because they'd be losing money by doing so. It sounds like part of the issue this time around is they only manufactured cards for a few weeks before launch, maybe to try and beat AMD to market?

I do agree it's a shitty situation and I've also lost interest in upgrading my GPU. I'll probably wait until after Christmas at this point. Part of me wishes Nvidia and AMD would build up more stock before launch, but I'm not sure that would completely solve the problem.
 
This is done on purpose imho to drive up demands, kids(especially younger) have a large FOMO so they will continue to try and get these, even if they don't need them, or have any clue what to do with them, simply for the reason that they seem unattainable. I don't believe this has anything to do with gaming being more popular. These are either very entrepreneurial young kids look to resell them for a profit(one of my coworkers kids, purchased a bot with a friend to do this for the supreme store) does it piss off other consumers, absolutely. Do I fault the kids for learning how supply and demand works? nope, or they are adults doing the same thing, can't fault them either, it is annoying for us...yep.

I've even had one of my nephews buy one of these(very lucky), and then asked if he could put it in his computer somehow....an older one that wouldn't really work without buying/upgrading various other components to the point were it would be cheaper to build a new computer...now he's looking at how to do that, point is he bought knowing nothing about it, and just heard it would make games play better, that's it.

There is a solution IMHO though, perhaps one even here on HardForum, perhaps one of the members, or even HardForum itself could get a purchasing bot and sale them on the forum, or in a dropstyle type store to members with only a slight markup to cover cost of bot and other incurred cost....is it MSRP prices? No....but it wouldn't be outrageous scalper prices either.
 
Dan D, i know you are a reviewer and have read all your reviews and Brents for jesus.... maybe 10 years or more now. The good ol days of hardOCP.... This industry either needs to meet demand, or not release anything till shit is obtainable... If i remember correctly, several days ago some cold douche bag was trying to sell a 3080/3090 (cant remember which) here in the F/S section for like a 1000$ over msrp... Douches like that should be banned from site and balls cut off. Its like going to hospital, and finding out your health insurance that we pay OOOODLES for every month declines you cause of some reason that you cant control... just pisses me off

I understand the outrage. I have a few choice things to say to anyone who does it. Having said that, it's a consequence and a price for a free market. Something I believe in even when its inconvenient.
 
This is done on purpose imho to drive up demands, kids(especially younger) have a large FOMO so they will continue to try and get these, even if they don't need them, or have any clue what to do with them, simply for the reason that they seem unattainable. I don't believe this has anything to do with gaming being more popular. These are either very entrepreneurial young kids look to resell them for a profit(one of my coworkers kids, purchased a bot with a friend to do this for the supreme store) does it piss off other consumers, absolutely. Do I fault the kids for learning how supply and demand works? nope, or they are adults doing the same thing, can't fault them either, it is annoying for us...yep.

I've even had one of my nephews buy one of these(very lucky), and then asked if he could put it in his computer somehow....an older one that wouldn't really work without buying/upgrading various other components to the point were it would be cheaper to build a new computer...now he's looking at how to do that, point is he bought knowing nothing about it, and just heard it would make games play better, that's it.

There is a solution IMHO though, perhaps one even here on HardForum, perhaps one of the members, or even HardForum itself could get a purchasing bot and sale them on the forum, or in a dropstyle type store to members with only a slight markup to cover cost of bot and other incurred cost....is it MSRP prices? No....but it wouldn't be outrageous scalper prices either.

Damn good idea.
 
This is done on purpose imho to drive up demands, kids(especially younger) have a large FOMO so they will continue to try and get these, even if they don't need them, or have any clue what to do with them, simply for the reason that they seem unattainable. I don't believe this has anything to do with gaming being more popular. These are either very entrepreneurial young kids look to resell them for a profit(one of my coworkers kids, purchased a bot with a friend to do this for the supreme store) does it piss off other consumers, absolutely. Do I fault the kids for learning how supply and demand works? nope, or they are adults doing the same thing, can't fault them either, it is annoying for us...yep.

I've even had one of my nephews buy one of these(very lucky), and then asked if he could put it in his computer somehow....an older one that wouldn't really work without buying/upgrading various other components to the point were it would be cheaper to build a new computer...now he's looking at how to do that, point is he bought knowing nothing about it, and just heard it would make games play better, that's it.

There is a solution IMHO though, perhaps one even here on HardForum, perhaps one of the members, or even HardForum itself could get a purchasing bot and sale them on the forum, or in a dropstyle type store to members with only a slight markup to cover cost of bot and other incurred cost....is it MSRP prices? No....but it wouldn't be outrageous scalper prices either.

Those are just side effects and not the real reason for the shortages. They may seem beneficial to NVIDIA but they don't even come close to offsetting the number they could be selling if they kept up with demand. NVIDIA wants all the hype they can get, but it isn't good for them when 99% of their customers can't buy the product.
 
Those are just side effects and not the real reason for the shortages. They may seem beneficial to NVIDIA but they don't even come close to offsetting the number they could be selling if they kept up with demand. NVIDIA wants all the hype they can get, but it isn't good for them when 99% of their customers can't buy the product.
I'm not sure about that, the 'usual' customers are still going to purchase the product, albeit late, that demand isn't going away. This I think is driving an initial different type of demand that they wouldn't otherwise have, they don't care who they sell them too, as long as they sell them. I think the same number will eventually be sold, because the true PC hobbyist is going to purchase the card eventually, even after months and months of frustration.
 
I'm not sure about that, the 'usual' customers are still going to purchase the product, albeit late, that demand isn't going away. This I think is driving an initial different type of demand that they wouldn't otherwise have, they don't care who they sell them too, as long as they sell them. I think the same number will eventually be sold, because the true PC hobbyist is going to purchase the card eventually, even after months and months of frustration.

But where does Nvidia make more money by doing this, if the same number will eventually be sold? They're not making any more money if a scalper sells a card for $1200 than if a retailer sells it for list price.
 
I'm about to say just fuck it. I was planning a big upgrade but if companies can't get their shit together (Nvidia) and supply the customer with what they want, then I don't see any point in trying to buy anything. Fuck em.
 
Retailers are to blame too, NE, BB and Amazon can easily implement an evga like reservation system (likely better given their resources) and prioritize customers on basis of FIFO and spend levels e.g. if you are a BB Elite member and signed up on Day 1 you get first shot etc...otherwise it's whoever can code the best bot and scalp.NE has been particularly egregious with their system , if it were the same company it was during their golden years (late 90s to 2010) something would have been done. Not to mention I 'made it' twice only to have orders voided for stock and the fuckers can't even send advance notification of sales to people like us with legit orders that were voided...fuck NE...been two years since I last got anything from them anyways.
 
Retailers are to blame too, NE, BB and Amazon can easily implement an evga like reservation system (likely better given their resources) and prioritize customers on basis of FIFO and spend levels e.g. if you are a BB Elite member and signed up on Day 1 you get first shot etc...otherwise it's whoever can code the best bot and scalp.NE has been particularly egregious with their system , if it were the same company it was during their golden years (late 90s to 2010) something would have been done. Not to mention I 'made it' twice only to have orders voided for stock and the fuckers can't even send advance notification of sales to people like us with legit orders that were voided...fuck NE...been two years since I last got anything from them anyways.
yeah, i havent bought from newegg since china bought them... terrible place now
 
Retailers are to blame too, NE, BB and Amazon can easily implement an evga like reservation system (likely better given their resources) and prioritize customers on basis

These companies don't give a shit about that, its all about the bottom line & who can send product out the door fastest, they don't care who buys it, as long as its sold and product is moving.
 
I'm not sure about that, the 'usual' customers are still going to purchase the product, albeit late, that demand isn't going away. This I think is driving an initial different type of demand that they wouldn't otherwise have, they don't care who they sell them too, as long as they sell them. I think the same number will eventually be sold, because the true PC hobbyist is going to purchase the card eventually, even after months and months of frustration.

I'm sure a lot of people will wait it out and still buy, but a lot of the usual customers are frustrated and have given up. They're now eyeing the upcoming AMD release or in the case of many 2000 series owners simply skipping this generation. They're simply losing out on a lot of sales, and it's way more than they're gaining from the hype.

The ideal amount of launch hype is what the consoles launches typically generate. They're hard to get at launch, but not out of reach for the majority of people. There are scalpers the first week but after a week or two everyone that really wants one can get one at a normal retailer. They generate tons of hype and people buy them because of FOMO even though they never end up really using it, but they also sell consoles to the other 99% of their costumers.
 
When AMD dropped the 3900X and 3950X cpus, or when Intel came out with the 9900k/10900K all the above was unobtainable for such long periods of time that it has to be done on purpose by the manufactures. WHY? if you have a potential buyer for a 1600$ GPU or a 800$ CPU, make it obtainable... least you can do for "your" consumer.

We it could made wiht it not being purchasable in mind we can speculate why, a possible reason is those niche product are nice for headline and being perceived has the best (and for your special big customer that you will deliver to them first like the Pixar studio of the world, say maybe company that buy a large amount of workstation like those and reserve long in advance: https://embe.hpc.co.jp/product/paw-300/ has less issue getting their hands on them), for individual enthusiast maybe those sales are a small rather irrelevant market versus the mass one they are making the effort to have actual stock for good reasons. A bit like actual hand made high priced dresses by the Dior/Channel of the world, they are still making them at a lost to keep the brand name but all the money is from the $300 glasses / accessories and perfume they sell to regular people.

On other possible reason, the people for who that type of machine make sense (that work with them) do not tend to get the very latest right away necessarily, it need to be proven in the field and get some reputation of reliability, maybe it changed over time but back in the days there was a bit of that going on.
 
Those are just side effects and not the real reason for the shortages. They may seem beneficial to NVIDIA but they don't even come close to offsetting the number they could be selling if they kept up with demand. NVIDIA wants all the hype they can get, but it isn't good for them when 99% of their customers can't buy the product.
Nvidia doesn’t make money by not selling stuff. Crazy kids.
 
Sad that the makers give dozens if not hundreds of cards away for free to reviewers and influencers who's "job" it is to hype the stuff and make you want to buy it, only for there to be no stock, their affiliate links are worthles now.

Seems they gave away more cards then most countries had for sale, guess that's one way to make money in stead of actually selling the goods.
 
The worst part for me is that 2-3 forum members declined to sell me a card even though I have been here almost 16-17 years now and have perfect heat simply because I am not in the US. Nothing against them but I can’t seem to catch a break to get this card and am still not willing to pay scalper prices. Heck I didn’t purchase 2080 Ti out of principle because thought nvidia really price gouged the shit out of it.
 
I am eager to see if AMD can do better than Nvidia debacle. Hopefully not a repeat or similar. AMD could really get some brownie points here if not only is performance is good, price but if availability is also reasonable.
 
The worst part for me is that 2-3 forum members declined to sell me a card even though I have been here almost 16-17 years now and have perfect heat simply because I am not in the US. Nothing against them but I can’t seem to catch a break to get this card and am still not willing to pay scalper prices. Heck I didn’t purchase 2080 Ti out of principle because thought nvidia really price gouged the shit out of it.

I understand the frustrations, but as an American who's traded over the past 20 years while stationed in France, Romania, and the UK I've basically written off buying or selling anything used from back home. Shipping costs, customs fees, delays, and a tendancy for things to go awry make the risk very much not worth it.
 
I stepped semi-blind into this video card shortage since I’m building my first rig in 8 years after my girlfriend asked if we could game together. I’d heard about shortages but didn’t expect it to be quite like this.

I’ve got a 10700K & MSI MAG Tomahawk Z490 sitting here with no video card to be found anywhere.

I need a card now but I can’t bring myself to pay the asking price for a 5700xt, which is about the only thing I can find in stock, so here I sit with my pile of component boxes.
 
I'm often annoyed at reviewers getting preferential treatment as well. Not just in the hardware circle but in gaming as well. Early access, behind closed doors looks, it makes me feel an unimportant second class citizen who only gets access to stuff after they are done with it. Like I'm fighting for their scraps.

As such my excitement for new hardware releases went to zero. In the late 90s early 2000s, when a new GPU or CPU launched you could go the next day to one of a dozen brick and mortar stores in town and get them if that was your fancy.
Hell, we even had local stores binning CPUs and selling better ones at a markup. While selling less OC-able ones slightly bellow MSRP. At least they provided a service for their scalping.

Now? Most brick and mortar stores left are just pickup locations for stuff you order online in advance. Most have zero inventory on location that you can just walk in and buy. I hate this brave new world. And the fact that you have to wait months to get a product after launch? That's beyond any reason. It's not a launch it's a paper thin launch. And I don't believe the "AH But demand is so high" excuse. You don't launch a product before you build up enough inventory to satisfy the market. They are doing this deliberately. And I don't mean that they are whitholding the supply, I mean they launch products before they are ready.
 
I stepped semi-blind into this video card shortage since I’m building my first rig in 8 years after my girlfriend asked if we could game together. I’d heard about shortages but didn’t expect it to be quite like this.

I’ve got a 10700K & MSI MAG Tomahawk Z490 sitting here with no video card to be found anywhere.

I need a card now but I can’t bring myself to pay the asking price for a 5700xt, which is about the only thing I can find in stock, so here I sit with my pile of component boxes.
yeah, exactly. I bought my powercolor 5700xt on launch day @ MC for 329$.. Damn thing is 450+ now
 
Agree that it's a mess and a complete turn-off to the point that I lost the upgrade bug for now and not seriously looking to upgrade. Agree that they could do something about the bots and scalpers taking up the stock, but don't, with the exception of EVGA. Shame on all others for not providing a solution to their potential customers.

Overall left a bad taste for sure and over it for now.

I’m with you. Just a few months ago, I was excited at the prospect of building a new system this year. I was sure I’d go with a 5950x and a 3080. But my gaming time has effectively been reduced to zero and my current system (8700k overclocked to 5 GHz with a 1080 Ti) is still more than adequate. I’m not playing the F5 mashing game, nor am I paying scalper prices. AMD, nvidia, and others just won’t get my money. I have other hobbies I’ll spend money on instead.
 
Retailers are to blame too, NE, BB and Amazon can easily implement an evga like reservation system (likely better given their resources) and prioritize customers on basis of FIFO and spend levels e.g. if you are a BB Elite member and signed up on Day 1 you get first shot etc...otherwise it's whoever can code the best bot and scalp.NE has been particularly egregious with their system , if it were the same company it was during their golden years (late 90s to 2010) something would have been done. Not to mention I 'made it' twice only to have orders voided for stock and the fuckers can't even send advance notification of sales to people like us with legit orders that were voided...fuck NE...been two years since I last got anything from them anyways.

I used to spend thousands at Newegg every year. When they closed their Indianapolis will call, that was the final straw and was really the only reason I even ordered from them since the Chinese company bought them. Now, they’re just my parts search engine so I can copy and paste part numbers into Amazon or other vendors for my purchase.
 
I used to spend thousands at Newegg every year. When they closed their Indianapolis will call, that was the final straw and was really the only reason I even ordered from them since the Chinese company bought them. Now, they’re just my parts search engine so I can copy and paste part numbers into Amazon or other vendors for my purchase.
Don't even need to do that with PC part picker.
 
I too, have given up trying, for the most part. I dont think there is a solution, either. as someone above mentioned, I can personally reset my timeline, to 6 months post launch.
 
I'm at the point that I may just buy a new freesync monitor along with AMD GPU if it is better than my 1080Ti, IF IT'S AVAILABLE. The NVIDIA shenanigans have left a very bad taste in my mouth.

The great irony is that the new AAA titles (eg: cyberpunk 2077) have no availibility problems but the GPUS need to play them with all graphic options on DO. This makes me NOT want to spend a premium on ANY new AAA title if I can't turn up all the details to max/near max simply because I can't even purchase the GPU to do so. AAA Publishers who wonder why I wait for stuff to fall into the $10 (sometimes $5) or under bin, THIS IS WHY.

Edit: I see these as the 2 options:

Option 1)
Pay $60 for game, support the publisher, turn details down (as I can't get the GPU I want), live through 17 patches to get stuff stable with game

Option 2)
Play AAA games from 3-4 years back with all details up & experience is stable & pay $10 or less for the game.
 
If they were smart, they'd of priced the 3080 on release date at ~$1400 and then dropped the price down $100 per week until it was down to MSRP. Early adopters who were willing to pay scalper price with limited supplies get first dibs with the limited supply, keeps scalpers from being able to make a profit (knowing the price will be going down, not up), allows nvidia and retailers to reap the benefits of inflated prices, lowers demand because people KNOW they can wait a few weeks for prices to come down so those that are going to have to wait for scalping to end and stock to stabilize have a clear path to when that will happen, win-win-win :). Of course then people will be mad because someone with more money could get it first and it's not fair, but this is the alternative... you can't afford one from scalpers and are forced to wait anyways.
 
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