Last week was probably one of the most anticipated graphics card launches in recent times – the RTX 3080. However, it didn’t quite go to plan for Nvidia with a sea of angry complaints from frustrated customers who tried to purchase either a Founder’s Edition RTX 3080, or a different variant from a third-party retailer. This was due to most of the stock either being snapped up by bots and scalpers or sites upping the prices of the GPUs after they were placed into respective baskets. Now, with the imminent RTX 3090 release, will it follow the same fate?
Post RTX 3080 launch, alongside the huge number of complaints, was a flurry of apologies from both Nvidia themselves and a number of third-party retailers being sorry for how the day went. Many retailers tried to assure customers that they were doing their utmost to prevent bots and scalpers but clearly, whatever they were doing, it simply wasn’t enough with a large number of graphics cards appearing on auction sites almost instantly. What hasn’t been talked about though are the price changes when sites went down or when buyers added these GPUs to the basket. Many have called for this to be illegal, essentially lying to customers and potentially taking more money off them unsuspectedly. But, with no official rules/regulations in place to prevent this, we expect that this practice will unfortunately continue.
In our eyes, when we think of how the RTX 3090 GPU launch will go, we think it’ll be pretty much the same story as the previous fiasco. We’ll see cards selling out and more than likely, retailers doing some shady practices. Let’s also not forget those bots and scalpers which will, again, be at large and gobble up a lot of stock. The previous launch was just one week ago so even if Nvidia/other retailers had some sort of tech in place to deter these people (which they won’t) it certainly won’t be live in time for the 3090 launch.
One big difference though between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 launches is the actual price of the graphics cards. The RTX 3090 variants will be coming in at $1,399 for the Founder’s Edition and even more for third-party options, essentially meaning that they’ll be a lesser amount of people being able to afford one of these cards thus improving chances of picking one up if you have the money to do so.
Overall, we expect the worst from the RTX 3090 launch. It’s certainly not been a good time for preorders and releases with both the PS5, Xbox Series X, and S consoles not exactly going smoothly and the RTX 3080 launch being so disastrous. However, one saving grace for the RTX 3090 is its higher price point which may actually give those wanting to get their hands on this graphics card more of a chance in doing so.
If you are one of those who will be battling it out to secure an RTX 3090 GPU, give yourself a fighting chance and head over to our where to buy page where we’ll have all the links to any and all retailers stocking them.
