Nvidia’s RTX 3070 graphics card finally goes on sale later today, and we’ve already heard worrying rumblings about stock levels – and now US retailer Newegg has confirmed the fears of would-be buyers.
Newegg has tweeted that there will be improved levels of stock compared to the RTX 3080 and 3090 launches – as you would hope, given that Nvidia delayed the RTX 3070 to ensure this – but the picture is far from rosy.
🚨PSA: Tomorrow at 6am PT, we'll be releasing the @NVIDIAGeForce RTX 3070 video cards. We will have more inventory than previous 30 series launches, but do anticipate it to sell out in minutes. https://t.co/kV5Wu68JSZ 1/7 pic.twitter.com/VMURWfvl4uOctober 29, 2020
As you can see, the retailer is expecting its stock of the RTX 3070 to sell out in just minutes, so once again it sounds like a case of being right there at launch time and praying that you’re one of the lucky ones (among many hopefuls, no doubt).
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In a further tweet, Newegg clarifies: “3070 inventory is greater than the previous 3080 and 3090 launches, but still far short of the immense demand.”
And the retailer observes: “Bot protection will be at full strength for the release. We stopped tens of millions of bots for the 3080 launch and are planning to do the same, if not more.”
There’s also a limit of one RTX 3070 card per customer within a 48-hour period, and folks who spot scalpers selling GPUs on third-party marketplaces are urged to report them, and Newegg says its legal team will “actively pursue takedown requests”.
Naturally, this is just the situation with one retailer, but Newegg is a major player, and so it’s very likely a pretty accurate reflection of the bigger picture.
Be cautious with that refresh
For those intending to make a purchase with Newegg, some advice was offered: don’t be too keen to hammer that F5 key. The retailer noted: “Tip: Don’t refresh too fast or act like a bot. You may be treated as one.”
Previously, we’ve heard rather mixed indications of potential stock levels around the RTX 3070, although recently some more optimistic noises were made – but it now seems that getting excited about that was jumping the gun.
Even given Newegg’s comments, we can’t judge exactly how the RTX 3070 launch is going to play out, and at least you stand a better chance of getting a GPU than you did with the RTX 3080 (or indeed 3090). But when you consider that Nvidia has already said that stock of the latter graphics cards is going to be problematic at least until 2021, it was never likely that the situation with the RTX 3070 was going to be radically different.
Of course, ensuring supply levels are stronger isn’t Nvidia’s only concern now. AMD’s Big Navi reveal yesterday was seriously impressive, with the Radeon RX 6800 XT in particular looking like a strong proposition – and if stock of that, and the RX 6800, can be brought through in much greater numbers than Nvidia has managed with RTX 3000 cards, there could be a lot of jumping GPU ship going on.
Via Tom’s Hardware
