How to Get Your Hands on One of Nvidia’s New Graphics Cards
Shortly after Nvidia’s new RTX 5080 and 5090 gaming GPUs went on sale last week, they sold out quite quickly, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s tried to buy one of its graphics cards before.
According to PC parts retailer Newegg , the company’s stock sold out “in minutes,” and none of the big-name retailers I checked today had the cards in stock. While this may seem like a success on Nvidia’s part, consumers and reviewers alike are reacting with fury to the shortage, blaming Nvidia for “paper release” – a term that refers to a situation where a company produces enough units to say a product is on schedule without being released. making it accessible.
Starting at $999 for the 5080, these products have always been aimed at the premium market, but buying them now could mean turning to resellers , which could cost you twice as much and mean supporting the same scalpers that make the stock so hard to find on sale. first place.
Luckily, there are still a few steps you can take to get your new Nvidia graphics card through official means, although it will require some trial and error. But with enough diligence, you can be sure to get in line for a new card as soon as stock opens.
Subscribe to notifications
I know it’s boring, but major retailers including Newegg , Best Buy , Amazon and B&H offer the ability to sign up for stock alerts when an item is in limited supply. (You’ll usually see this on the right-hand side or under the gray Buy button on a product page.) They’re often included in a wishlist, so you can quickly check and track all the products you want. of these – useful if you have a specific PC build in mind.
Try visiting your local microcenter.
Microcenter is a popular electronics store that is distinguished by the fact that it offers most of its products only in the store. Its stock is currently as sold out as everyone else’s, although a large banner at the top of the store’s website states that it is working hard to restock as soon as possible.
Shopping at a local micro-center dramatically reduces your competition: instead of competing with the entire world, you only have to compete with your local community. What’s more, you can still search online to make sure the item is in stock before heading to the store. Simply visit the product page, enter your store (assuming cookies don’t tell you your location), and you’ll know before you visit whether your visit will be a good one. Some products will also allow you to reserve a device for in-store pickup prior to arrival, although Microcenter will likely stick to a first-come, first-serve policy for new GPUs.
Follow the right social media accounts
Getting notified when a product goes into stock is great, but ideally you should be ready to click the “buy” button long before it becomes available. This is where industry insiders take note.
These are social media users who sometimes find out when sales are happening through secure sources before they even start. There are entire publications and newsletters devoted to this, although sometimes you have to use common sense to know who to believe.
Personally, my favorite account for this purpose is @Wario64 on X and Bluesky . Practical, with a good (but not intrusive) sense of humor, they have not let me down yet. In-Stock-Alerts-US has also proven to be reliable in the past, as has journalist Matt Swider . Unfortunately, many accounts that were useful in the past have since stopped being updated.
Additionally, you can also use an inventory tracking website like NowInStock.net or TrackaLacker to track inventory across different storefronts.
Avoid resellers whenever possible
Going through the above process may seem annoying, but trust me, buying through a reseller will only make the situation worse for everyone. Yes, eBay is where you’ll find the most stock, but it will also cost you a lot more than going to official sources, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll end up with the real deal or a GPU that hasn’t been used.
However, when it comes to GPUs, Amazon can be as bad as eBay. There are many third-party sellers out there, and it can be easy to confuse a legitimate seller with a more shady one. If you want to use Amazon, be sure to check the “Sold Out” tag under the “Buy” button before adding anything to your cart. This will tell you who you are actually buying the product from.
Just buy a ready-made computer
For the avid PC builder, this may seem sacrilege, but if you want to get your hands on a new GPU as soon as possible, it might be easier to bite the bullet and go with an off-the-shelf model. This is because manufacturers like Maingear and Cyberpower often have special stock for them, and since their PCs are customizable, they’re more expensive than the GPU alone, and much harder to stockpile somewhere, making them less attractive for scalpers. .
You’ll still pay more for this option, but you’ll get the whole computer, along with the GPU, and you’ll also save on construction labor costs. And if you price it right, you can still save money compared to what you would have paid for a resold card.