RTX 3000 Series Micro Center Discussion & FAQ!

JerseyXS97

Sounds about right. Do we know anything about which AIBs will be in stock on launch?

ChefFN57

Maybe some info on past Nvidia card launches would give us some kinda idea how this is gonna pan out.I live 4 hours away and have never camped out for a GPU but i'm willing for this series.Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?With insight on past releases it may help people make a decision on what time there gonna want to start waiting in line.Also im curious on average how many GPU'S microcenter normally gets for a big release like this.

JerseyXS97

ChefFN57 said:

Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?

Not entirely sure myself, but I do plan on swinging by my local store for the 3080 launch so I can get a general idea regarding what the 3090 launch will be the following week.

Swansons_Mustache_9

ChefFN57 said:

Maybe some info on past Nvidia card launches would give us some kinda idea how this is gonna pan out.I live 4 hours away and have never camped out for a GPU but i'm willing for this series.Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?With insight on past releases it may help people make a decision on what time there gonna want to start waiting in line.Also im curious on average how many GPU'S microcenter normally gets for a big release like this.

The last time this was comparable was with pascal or the gtx 970 launch; however, its important to point out how much more popular PC gaming has become recently..

knope

Swansons_Mustache_9 said:

ChefFN57 said:

Maybe some info on past Nvidia card launches would give us some kinda idea how this is gonna pan out.I live 4 hours away and have never camped out for a GPU but i'm willing for this series.Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?With insight on past releases it may help people make a decision on what time there gonna want to start waiting in line.Also im curious on average how many GPU'S microcenter normally gets for a big release like this.

The last time this was comparable was with pascal or the gtx 970 launch; however, its important to point out how much more popular PC gaming has become recently..

nonsense... the 780ti was still viable until the 10series..

Firedup

For the 3080 can I just walk-in at 10am and goto the gpu section and pick something out? Should I line up early or is it going to be like Black Friday and need to drop kick an old man and stiff arm a little kid to make sure I get one?

JerseyXS97

Firedup said:

For the 3080 can I just walk-in at 10am and goto the gpu section and pick something out? Should I line up early or is it going to be like Black Friday and need to drop kick an old man and stiff arm a little kid to make sure I get one?

If it's the latter, please be sure to record it xD

PowerSpec_MichaelB

knope said:

Swansons_Mustache_9 said:

ChefFN57 said:

Maybe some info on past Nvidia card launches would give us some kinda idea how this is gonna pan out.I live 4 hours away and have never camped out for a GPU but i'm willing for this series.Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?With insight on past releases it may help people make a decision on what time there gonna want to start waiting in line.Also im curious on average how many GPU'S microcenter normally gets for a big release like this.

The last time this was comparable was with pascal or the gtx 970 launch; however, its important to point out how much more popular PC gaming has become recently..

nonsense... the 780ti was still viable until the 10series..

Depends entirely on the resolution honestly. Kepler really started showing it's age when pushing 1440P at high refresh rates, but for 1080P, GK110 was a real powerhouse. It's also important to remember that Kepler was the last generation that a standard x80 card used the full die (GK110 for the GTX 780, 780 Ti and Titan series) with Maxwell, Pascal and Turing all having different dies for their high-end gaming cards and Titan flagships. I will say, it was very interesting seeing Kepler hold its own against Maxwell in games that took advantage of Kepler's hardware scheduler, something Nvidia did away with during the launch of the 900 series, but it didn't take too long for game developers to take advantage of Maxwell's efficiency.

ChefFN57 said:

Maybe some info on past Nvidia card launches would give us some kinda idea how this is gonna pan out.I live 4 hours away and have never camped out for a GPU but i'm willing for this series.Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?With insight on past releases it may help people make a decision on what time there gonna want to start waiting in line.Also im curious on average how many GPU'S microcenter normally gets for a big release like this.

This might be a little difficult, as past GPU availability was heavily impacted by the extreme uptick in cryptocurrency mining as that was around when BTC was hitting its peak values. I know during the middle of the GTX 1000 series (Pascal) we had heavy restrictions in-place, limiting the cards to one per customer and I believe reservations were disabled to prevent people from attempting to automate the reservation process or abuse it by having their friends reserve several cards at once, making it unavailable for those that wanted a legitimate chance at having a GPU. You all would have likely remembered this time, as GPU pricing was pretty crazy ($700 for GTX 1070's, $900 for GTX 1080's, etc) First come, first serve kept everything fair at that time. When the RTX 2000 series launched, most of that mining craze came to an end, but there were definitely some supply hiccups that made it difficult for everyone to get their hands on the cards around the launch date. The exact reason behind this was never really disclosed, but I would imagine it had a bit to do with the new technologies that were introduced, coupled with a lot of people that were unable to find a GPU during the high-priced mining craze that finally found a proper time to upgrade.

We don't really have any real metrics to go on for this launch as it's also pretty unprecedented. This is the first time we've seen Samsung's 8nm (based on 10nm, non-EUV) process in a large scale production, so we don't really know the yield rates of the dies and whether that will be impacting Nvidia's ability to maintain a solid supply. This launch also marks the first "real" entry into raytraced gaming, as the RTX 2000 series was a bit of a demonstration of the technology, and wasn't really designed to take full advantage of it just yet. Most consumers are hesitant to jump headfirst into brand new technologies and often wait for the second, more mature iteration, which will likely cause a higher demand in the 3000 series.

While I wish I had the information to provide regarding our stock/product availability as well as what brands/models we will have, that information simply isn't available to us, and likely won't be until the products actually arrive to the local Micro Center stores and are on the website. The best advice that we can give will always be to keep an eye on our website and to utilize the tools that are offered to improve your chances at getting a product. If the product page allows you to place a reservation, then do so as soon as you can. If you are not subscribed for email ads, do so, as they may release information leading up to the official sale date that can improve your chances of getting your hands on a new GPU. Lastly, be mindful of your local Micro Center's store hours and visit as soon as you are able to do so. I want nothing more than to see everyone get what they want here, and I'll gladly do anything in my power to help with that, but beyond that, we are all going to be navigating the same uncharted waters here. If you don't get a card on the first go around, use it to your advantage by keeping an eye out for first-hand reviews and narrow down which particular version of the product you want. Stuff to look out for, would be:

• PCB power limitations
• Cooler performance (thermals & acoustics)
• Die revisions & impact on performance (RTX 2080 Ti being an example, the TU102-300-K1-A1 had a smaller power limit compared to the TU102-300A-K1-A1 die)
• Memory manufacturer type (Samsung vs Micron vs SK Hynix), as different manufacturers often allow for different overclocking limitations

If we get any additional details for this launch, I promise you that we'll communicate it as soon as we can. In the meantime, please continue to ask any questions you may have, and we will continue to pass those along to the appropriate parties to get the most accurate answers we can.

ChefFN57

Wow thanks for all the info man!Looks like my safest bet is to post up outside the store before it opens.I had to put my 2080ti on ebay before the value drops anymore than it has in the last week.Gonna ship it out monday morning and have to go 4 days at least without my PC...painful i know.Already taking a massive loss on what I paid for it and its only a little over a year old.Flip side is ill be able to almost cover the cost of the 3080 with the sale.Really want a 3090 but its more than twice the price of the 3080 and unless im gaming at 8k Im guessing im not gonna get twice the performance at 3440x1440.Found an absolutely hilarious video on youtube that describes how most people feel that purchased the 2080ti.Just not sure if its cool to post videos here im new.

ChefFN57

Warning: While posting for humor, video may be found offensive to others.
[EDIT] Content removed as it goes against our Code of Conduct for NSFW content[/EDIT]
Thought this was fitting and hilarious.I wouldn't imagine this would violate any policies.My apologies if it does and wont do it again.

PowerSpec_MichaelB

ChefFN57 said:

Warning: While posting for humor, video may be found offensive to others.

[EDIT]Removed[/EDIT]

Thought this was fitting and hilarious.I wouldn't imagine this would violate any policies.My apologies if it does and wont do it again.

No worries, thank you for being considerate. I went ahead and added a little warning to the post, and used the spoiler tag to hide the initial sight of the video. I cannot speak for the other admins or moderators, but I didn't find the content to be intentionally offensive or malicious in intent. 

As a heads up, if anyone ever wants to hide content from automatically being viewed, you can highlight the text or link you wish to hide, click the Format icon, and select "spoiler". Works well for this sort of thing.

ChefFN57

Right on..thx for not banning me

PowerSpec_MichaelB

ChefFN57 said:

Right on..thx for not banning me

Hey, the only power we "go mad with" here is the power of the all new RTX 3000 series, coming to a Micro Center near you! 

NoahRaine

I am in the houston area. I plan to be at the Microcenter at launch day. Returning my 2080 super this weekend, and then I will be there an hour before it opens. Do you think that will work?

JerseyXS97

I'm putting my 2080Ti in my HTPC, not worth selling at this point really. I'll have an extra 1080Ti if I go this route but I'm sure I'll find somewhere to put it.

ChefFN57

knope said:

Swansons_Mustache_9 said:

ChefFN57 said:

Maybe some info on past Nvidia card launches would give us some kinda idea how this is gonna pan out.I live 4 hours away and have never camped out for a GPU but i'm willing for this series.Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?With insight on past releases it may help people make a decision on what time there gonna want to start waiting in line.Also im curious on average how many GPU'S microcenter normally gets for a big release like this.

The last time this was comparable was with pascal or the gtx 970 launch; however, its important to point out how much more popular PC gaming has become recently..

nonsense... the 780ti was still viable until the 10series..

With the pandemic also there is no telling.I was fishing for info that would help me make a decision on what time i need to get in line.If i drive 4 hours and leave empty handed i'm not gonna be happy.Especially since my 2080ti is on ebay at the moment. 

Waffler

TSMichaelB said:

ChefFN57 said:

Right on..thx for not banning me

Hey, the only power we "go mad with" here is the power of the all new RTX 3000 series, coming to a Micro Center near you! 

Give this man a raise!

TSTonyV

NoahRaine said:

I am in the houston area. I plan to be at the Microcenter at launch day. Returning my 2080 super this weekend, and then I will be there an hour before it opens. Do you think that will work?

Well... it depends on how many other people ALSO do the same thing, and how many cards we have. We just don't know yet what availability will be like. For all we know, manufacturers might only send us 10 cards per store or we might get 200. I know it doesn't feel good to hear, but we just don't have those details yet. We might not know full availability until the day of. 

ChefFN57 said:

knope said:

Swansons_Mustache_9 said:

ChefFN57 said:

Maybe some info on past Nvidia card launches would give us some kinda idea how this is gonna pan out.I live 4 hours away and have never camped out for a GPU but i'm willing for this series.Were there crazy lines hours before opening with the 20XX series or 10XX series?With insight on past releases it may help people make a decision on what time there gonna want to start waiting in line.Also im curious on average how many GPU'S microcenter normally gets for a big release like this.

The last time this was comparable was with pascal or the gtx 970 launch; however, its important to point out how much more popular PC gaming has become recently..

nonsense... the 780ti was still viable until the 10series..

With the pandemic also there is no telling.I was fishing for info that would help me make a decision on what time i need to get in line.If i drive 4 hours and leave empty handed i'm not gonna be happy.Especially since my 2080ti is on ebay at the moment. 

I'll be honest, if I had to drive THAT far, I personally wouldn't take the chance. I have no doubts in my mind we will sell out of these cards very quickly on day one. The question is only how many we'll have and how many people will get them. I'd much rather wait for availability to stabilize before driving that far and wasting an 8-hour trip. And based on past experience, reservations will most likely not be available on initial launch (this may still change, but that's how launches of this type have gone previously)

TSTonyV

Update for everybody in this thread, no Founders Edition cards unfortunately. 

https://twitter.com/microcenter/status/1304475301100105729

Swansons_Mustache_9

TSTonyV said:

Update for everybody in this thread, no Founders Edition cards unfortunately. 

https://twitter.com/microcenter/status/1304475301100105729

That makes me a saaaad panda 

Enamelized

Has anything come up with regards to certain CPU's not really working well in conjunction with the New 30 Series cards or bottlenecking so to speak. I thought I saw somewhere that like the 9th Gen i7-9700K would have an issue with a 3080. For the life of me I can't remember where I saw/read it though (problem with late night research/browsing lol)

Stitchless

There is a good chance this can't be answered right now, but if it can I would like to know if there is at least a guarantee that at least some after market 3080 cards will be at in-store locations?

Also something that I have been seeing is all the main retail carriers seem to not be posting high end 3080's such as the ASUS Strixs, ZOTAC AMP Extreme, Gigabyte Extreme, Ext...   So I have a theory that first day will only carry mostly base model video cards.  This would make sense given the COVID supply chain disruption.  A lot of higher end overclocked video cards are binned, but if the base number of cards is lower then by nature the chances of well binned cards is even lower.

JeffW

Any word on when PowerSpec brand would be releasing models that contain the new gpu’s? I know it’s best to just build yourself but love the PowerSpec brand.

TSTonyV

Enamelized said:

Has anything come up with regards to certain CPU's not really working well in conjunction with the New 30 Series cards or bottlenecking so to speak. I thought I saw somewhere that like the 9th Gen i7-9700K would have an issue with a 3080. For the life of me I can't remember where I saw/read it though (problem with late night research/browsing lol)

Depends on what your definition of bottleneck is and what resolution you're playing at/what games you're playing. I also think people fixate too much on the idea of bottlenecking. The only thing that happens is you're just not taking full advantage of some piece of hardware on your system. Yeah you might not be getting absolute maximum overdrive turbo performance... but is it that big of a deal?

There's always some kind of "bottleneck." Something on your system won't be fully utilized, but there's just too many factors that go into it to just arbitrarily say "this one piece of hardware is my bottleneck and is a bad pairing." It even varies depending on the games you're playing and what resolution you're playing. If you're playing at 4k, even low and mid-range processors are plenty capable and comparable in performance to the higher end CPUs, because as resolution goes up you become more and more GPU bound. But if you're playing light competitive titles at 1080p and are targeting really high refresh rate, then your CPU speed is very important. It all depends. I could be "CPU bottlenecked" in one game then switch to another and be "GPU bottlenecked." 

Bottlenecking is usually only a real problem if you're on extreme ends of the spectrum, e.g. a 9100F paired with a 2080ti/3080 or some other similar disparity. The 9700k is still one of the best gaming CPUs you can have right now.

Stitchless said:

There is a good chance this can't be answered right now, but if it can I would like to know if there is at least a guarantee that at least some after market 3080 cards will be at in-store locations?

Also something that I have been seeing is all the main retail carriers seem to not be posting high end 3080's such as the ASUS Strixs, ZOTAC AMP Extreme, Gigabyte Extreme, Ext...   So I have a theory that first day will only carry mostly base model video cards.  This would make sense given the COVID supply chain disruption.  A lot of higher end overclocked video cards are binned, but if the base number of cards is lower then by nature the chances of well binned cards is even lower.

We will only have aftermarket AIB cards. We tend to carry the major lines like the Strix and FTW3 tiers of the cards so I would expect to see some of those, but we don't know what full availability is going to look like yet. 

JeffW said:

Any word on when PowerSpec brand would be releasing models that contain the new gpu’s? I know it’s best to just build yourself but love the PowerSpec brand.

No word on this yet, but hopefully it won't take too long!

Call_Me_Q

Just to double check and make sure before I look like an idiot waiting outside microcenter on the 24th.     Microcenter is planning on having the RTX 3080 on  SEPTEMBER  17th and the RTX 3090 on SEPTEMBER  24th Correct?   Im planning on being at microcenter day 1 first in line for the RTX 3090.   It would suck if they  release the 3090 early or along side the 3080 and i miss out.     Ive taken the 24th off work to prepare to stand in line and i am wanting this card BAD lol.    

TSTonyV

OS_SonicfanQ said:

Just to double check and make sure before I look like an idiot waiting outside microcenter on the 24th.     Microcenter is planning on having the RTX 3080 on  SEPTEMBER  17th and the RTX 3090 on SEPTEMBER  24th Correct?   Im planning on being at microcenter day 1 first in line for the RTX 3090.   It would suck if they  release the 3090 early or along side the 3080 and i miss out.     Ive taken the 24th off work to prepare to stand in line and i am wanting this card BAD lol.    

Correct. We will NOT be releasing these cards early, they will be releasing on the official release day just like every other retailer. 

Call_Me_Q

TSTonyV said:

OS_SonicfanQ said:

Just to double check and make sure before I look like an idiot waiting outside microcenter on the 24th.     Microcenter is planning on having the RTX 3080 on  SEPTEMBER  17th and the RTX 3090 on SEPTEMBER  24th Correct?   Im planning on being at microcenter day 1 first in line for the RTX 3090.   It would suck if they  release the 3090 early or along side the 3080 and i miss out.     Ive taken the 24th off work to prepare to stand in line and i am wanting this card BAD lol.    

Correct. We will NOT be releasing these cards early, they will be releasing on the official release day just like every other retailer. 

Thank you for your quick reply.   I will be at microcenter on the 24th.    Wish me luck!

gsmithfcd

The voucher system from the FAQ has me worried...
Hypothetically speaking...what if a line builds up around midnight and all the vouchers are given out then everyone goes home.  Then around 6am more people show up thinking they are at the beginning of the line and then wait there until 10am when the store opens only to find out they don't get one because all the vouchers have already been given out?

That would be a huge bummer.  

TSTonyV

gsmithfcd said:

The voucher system from the FAQ has me worried...
Hypothetically speaking...what if a line builds up around midnight and all the vouchers are given out then everyone goes home.  Then around 6am more people show up thinking they are at the beginning of the line and then wait there until 10am when the store opens only to find out they don't get one because all the vouchers have already been given out?

That would be a huge bummer.  

I'll see if I can get clarification on this and update the FAQ if I do. 

Brad_Isnard

Now no FE cards? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have zero intention of paying $200+ over FE for a 2% overclock and ugly cooler. This is really disappointing.