what's the best way to get rtx 3080 on launch day?

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Burned_Follower

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my current plan is to just go to NVIDIA's website and just order it online because i'm assuming that's how that works. am i right?

would they also be on a computer store's shelf on launch day? i'm going to a microcenter tomorrow to ask, but thought i'd ask here as well because i never got a video card on launch day before.
 
Why would you buy it on launch day? There will be so many unknowns.

What if it's like the 2xxx series where the founders cards are all unreliable garbage that's essentially defective?
 
Your money must be burning through both your pocket and your flesh. Wait like 2 to 3 weeks after actual retail and see if they are lemons. Rtx 2000s came with free Space Invaders due to Micron ram issues.
 
If you're serious about it, Microcenter can probably at least tell you how many they expect and if they're doing pre-buy or first-come/first-served on release day. At the Denver store, they've done a mix of the two and people were there at like 3AM for the 1080 and 2080 cards.

IMO, the best way to get anything in high demand is this site: https://www.nowinstock.net/
Don't bother with their email alerts. By the time that email arrives, they'll be long sold out. Just keep that tab open and refresh it as often as you can. Since Amazon is such a prolific retailer, keep an Amazon tab open, too. Odds are that NowInStock is just going to pull up mostly Amazon links anyway.
 
You could slip the kid a couple of bucks. That always helps
 
pray to rnjesus.. but honestly fk buying a card on launch day.. almost never worth it.
 
I've been an enthusiast since I was about 13 years old or so (as evidenced by my join date to the left). I echo what other's mention here, it's almost never worth it to buy at launch. You'll be right at the forefront of any nitpicky driver issues that come to light and you'll be right back to the forums chatting with others as to what the issues are and how they can be solved. Meanwhile, it may take a few weeks for Nvidia to release a beta driver as a fix. Not only that, but as someone else mentioned the RTX 2080Ti cards famously included a free copy of Space Invaders ;). The RTX 2080 Ti had the WORST RMA rate of any one particular model of GPU, with an RMA rate of 5.35% according to German PC Retailer Mindfactory (think of it similar to our Microcenter)
https://www.techspot.com/news/86236-retailer-data-shows-amd-5000-series-has-almost.html
If you aren't water cooling, you'll also be at the disadvantage of not knowing which GPU is the "best" in terms of cooler design and PCB layout. After spending $1200 you're not going to be happy with a substandard reference card or worse, a poorly performing partner card.

Between the driver issues and the possible hardware failure rates I genuinely would consider sitting this one out until after the first wave of GPUs hit. After you've done about 20 or so GPU launches it just gets tiresome dealing with the initial launch headaches.
If you're still deadset, I'd recommend calling your local Microcenter once the launch date is set and seeing how they will be handling the launch. Some open a little early and that's usually the best way to snag a card since you're not competing with the millions of mouse clickers online.

Goodluck!
 
I realize I never answered your question OP. I would suggest that the best two places to snag a card on opening day is going to be Microcenter but it will only be in store. They will NOT sell you one online. And Newegg, but you have to be like.... stupid fast to snag one from newegg. I am not going to emphasize FAST lightly either. I mean you better be plugged directly into the console of newegg's webserver directly in the data center coordinating with the web developer that just activates the updates of "in stock" kinda fast.
 
tangoseal said:
Your money must be burning through both your pocket and your flesh. Wait like 2 to 3 weeks after actual retail and see if they are lemons. Rtx 2000s came with free Space Invaders due to Micron ram issues.
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no i've just been a welder for 13 years and have fabricated things from river going and sea going barges in a shipyard, to fabricating bulldozers for Caterpillar, and have been smart enough to never get married and to 'wrap it up' while most my fellow welders are broke paying child support and alimony haha. I also live within my means and manage my money properly. I'm also 34 and have zero debt to worry about because i don't borrow money and stay the heck away from credit cards. If you're not lazy, manage your time/money properly, you can pretty much do anything you want in life. ...and before someone calls me privileged, lol, i was sleeping in an alley at 17, and went to job corp to learn how to weld.
 
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thanks guys you just helped me save a ton of money because i thought it was just 'PC video games' to stay away from at launch because of them being having half baked issues. i never got a GPU at launch before and didn't know there were half baked issues. I'll stick with my gtx 1080ti and i'm just gonna wait till six months after launch. hopefully they'll be water blocks for the rtx 3000 series by then so i can water cool it also.
 
Outside of the RTX cards, when has buying a launch day card ever been that much of a risk before? I've bought new cards at/around launch going back a decade or more with no issues. Drivers have worked fine (or at least no differently from other cards) on launch day since the Windows 8 era, too.
I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to scramble to get the latest and greatest, but it's not some huge risk either. In at least a few cases (1080 being one), if you didn't get one early, you didn't get one at all for months.
 
Burned_Follower said:
no i've just been a welder for 13 years and have fabricated things from river going and sea going barges in a shipyard, to fabricating bulldozers for Caterpillar, and have been smart enough to never get married and to 'wrap it up' while most my fellow welders are broke paying child support and alimony haha. I also live within my means and manage my money properly. I'm also 34 and have zero debt to worry about because i don't borrow money and stay the heck away from credit cards. If you're not lazy, manage your time/money properly, you can pretty much do anything you want in life. ...and before someone calls me privileged, lol, i was sleeping in an alley at 17, and went to job corp to learn how to weld.
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Thats a commendable story! Im very happy youre living a great life. I mean it. And im not being sarcastic. It takes a great person with deep motivations and high self esteem to pull themselves out of impoverished conditions to success. However, my comment about money burning a hole had no reference to your socioeconomic state. It was meant to calm your new GPU lust down a few degrees. We have all been there. Lord knows I dropped 1400 on a 3960x TRripper on launch day. However, I have learned to be very patient with GPU launches. They tend to go two ways. Very great or a dumpster fire.
 
tangoseal said:
Thats a commendable story! Im very happy youre living a great life. I mean it. And im not being sarcastic. It takes a great person with deep motivations and high self esteem to pull themselves out of impoverished conditions to success. However, my comment about money burning a hole had no reference to your socioeconomic state. It was meant to calm your new GPU lust down a few degrees. We have all been there. Lord knows I dropped 1400 on a 3960x TRripper on launch day. However, I have learned to be very patient with GPU launches. They tend to go two ways. Very great or a dumpster fire.
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oh ok. nobody can curb mah lust for GPU strength hahaha I'm like Golem and the ring when it comes to experiencing the best graphics possible. This is however the first time i'm amped about getting a brand new GPU because i usually wait till a third party overclocked version of a GPU is out. I'm used to gaming on 8 bit color, 1080p, 60-100hz and i'm finally trying to do 10bit, 4k, hdr, 120hz(i'm getting an lgcx tomorrow). I'm just a little excited about getting ready to experience a jump in graphics quality, gonna know what it's like to have ray tracing, etc.

sorry if i came off all defensive. that wasn't my intention. i just started explaining how i can afford it and was i was like damn that's a lot to brag about ...and clicked 'post reply' without realizing how that would come across. my bad about that. :)
 
Domingo said:
Outside of the RTX cards, when has buying a launch day card ever been that much of a risk before? I've bought new cards at/around launch going back a decade or more with no issues. Drivers have worked fine (or at least no differently from other cards) on launch day since the Windows 8 era, too.
I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to scramble to get the latest and greatest, but it's not some huge risk either. In at least a few cases (1080 being one), if you didn't get one early, you didn't get one at all for months.
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Yea, there's not much risk. Even monetarily if you have buyers remorse good chance you can sell it for more than you bought it for. Plus, it will likely hold it's value really well for quite a while.
 
Burned_Follower said:
my current plan is to just go to NVIDIA's website and just order it online because i'm assuming that's how that works. am i right?

would they also be on a computer store's shelf on launch day? i'm going to a microcenter tomorrow to ask, but thought i'd ask here as well because i never got a video card on launch day before.
Click to expand...

If you want to base it on the launch of the last couple series of Nvidia cards (and pretty much all the recent launches of GPUs and CPUs in general) it can be extremely difficult to find a card for sale at launch.
 
Well if you listen to the advice given then you too would not have an $85 Ryzen 5 1600 AF
 
Domingo said:
Outside of the RTX cards, when has buying a launch day card ever been that much of a risk before? I've bought new cards at/around launch going back a decade or more with no issues. Drivers have worked fine (or at least no differently from other cards) on launch day since the Windows 8 era, too.
I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to scramble to get the latest and greatest, but it's not some huge risk either. In at least a few cases (1080 being one), if you didn't get one early, you didn't get one at all for months.
Click to expand...
These guys must all be AMD owners — because launch AMD product drivers are always a wreck in my personal experience. By contrast Nvidia launch card drivers are usually pretty safe IMO and experience.
 
I am waiting until AMD releases Big Navi, which should be 2-3 months after Ampere. I can bet my wallet that Nvidia will drop prices and rape our wallets with early pricing before AMD releases cards and drop it 2 months later if AMD is competitive and priced lower.
 
I like to wait a bit and with AMD releasing as well, I pray for competition to bring prices down at the high end. I will absolutely be waiting for 3rd party reviews.
 
Don't. wait until the madness and price gouging dies down; Not to mention it gives you time to gauge real world performance of the cards. The real world results typically does not live up to the hype.
 
Burned_Follower said:
thanks guys you just helped me save a ton of money because i thought it was just 'PC video games' to stay away from at launch because of them being having half baked issues. i never got a GPU at launch before and didn't know there were half baked issues. I'll stick with my gtx 1080ti and i'm just gonna wait till six months after launch. hopefully they'll be water blocks for the rtx 3000 series by then so i can water cool it also.
Click to expand...

With the issues cropping up, I bet you are very glad you waited.
https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/g...ely-due-to-poscap-and-mlcc-configuration.html
 
I'm no fan of either green or red (only price, perf, power usage), but if this was AMD would you guys be so willing to swallow this? lol
 
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