RTX 3000 Series Micro Center Discussion & FAQ!

Ichthus · September 2020

elcid_777 said:

Ichthus said:

YoshiMoshi said:

10 GB of VRAM is "just enough' at 4k ultra in 2020. This likely will not be the case in 2021. Even in a few months, CyberPunk 2077 may require more than 10 GB of VRAM at 4k ultra. Hence the need for the 20 GB RTX 3080 or the 16 GB RTX 3070. Would you rather have to buy a 3090 now, or a 3080 10 GB now and then a 3080 20 GB in 2021?

I mean this all 100% speculation. We have no idea how much VRAM will be required in the future. Even at 4k max settings there's no game right now that actually needs a full 10GB of VRAM. We're hitting 7-8GB at most at the moment. I think it's unlikely to expect such drastic increases in VRAM requirements for video games for a while.

I think you're overestimating how detrimental 10GB of VRAM would be even if games started to require a little bit more at 4k. All you have to do would be lower a handful of settings and call it a day. You don't have to buy a whole new card. I'd rather buy the 10GB 3080 now because it's more than sufficient and will last for several years before I need to upgrade again even if I'm playing at 4k.

Afterburner is reporting closet to 10gb of vram usage in Horizon Zero Dawn at 4k ultra..

Afterburner doesn't show what's being used, only what's being allocated. This is a common misconception that people get caught up on and is why I think people are way overestimating how much VRAM you actually need.

You could open a game at 1080p at low settings and MSI afterburner could show it "using" 10GB of VRAM because it's allocating for the full amount of VRAM you have, but when you're actually playing it will only use 2GB of the 10GB that is allocated. That 10GB of "use" is just buffer being kept in reserve in case you actually did need that much. Windows does the same thing with your RAM. It will reserve a certain amount but only physically use a portion of that as it needs. The difference is you can easily check that in Windows whereas you can't just check that with a monitoring program like Afterburner or GPU-Z.

AntzC · September 2020

Anyone here interested in getting a 3090 at paterson nj? I went at 12Am for the 3080 launch which was too late but will probably stop by at like 8pm Wednesday hopefully thats not too late as well. If your down hmu need a line partner

YoshiMoshi · September 2020

Lines yet?

PowerSpec_MichaelB · September 2020

Ichthus said:

elcid_777 said:

Ichthus said:

YoshiMoshi said:

10 GB of VRAM is "just enough' at 4k ultra in 2020. This likely will not be the case in 2021. Even in a few months, CyberPunk 2077 may require more than 10 GB of VRAM at 4k ultra. Hence the need for the 20 GB RTX 3080 or the 16 GB RTX 3070. Would you rather have to buy a 3090 now, or a 3080 10 GB now and then a 3080 20 GB in 2021?

I mean this all 100% speculation. We have no idea how much VRAM will be required in the future. Even at 4k max settings there's no game right now that actually needs a full 10GB of VRAM. We're hitting 7-8GB at most at the moment. I think it's unlikely to expect such drastic increases in VRAM requirements for video games for a while.

I think you're overestimating how detrimental 10GB of VRAM would be even if games started to require a little bit more at 4k. All you have to do would be lower a handful of settings and call it a day. You don't have to buy a whole new card. I'd rather buy the 10GB 3080 now because it's more than sufficient and will last for several years before I need to upgrade again even if I'm playing at 4k.

Afterburner is reporting closet to 10gb of vram usage in Horizon Zero Dawn at 4k ultra..

Afterburner doesn't show what's being used, only what's being allocated. This is a common misconception that people get caught up on and is why I think people are way overestimating how much VRAM you actually need.

You could open a game at 1080p at low settings and MSI afterburner could show it "using" 10GB of VRAM because it's allocating for the full amount of VRAM you have, but when you're actually playing it will only use 2GB of the 10GB that is allocated. That 10GB of "use" is just buffer being kept in reserve in case you actually did need that much. Windows does the same thing with your RAM. It will reserve a certain amount but only physically use a portion of that as it needs. The difference is you can easily check that in Windows whereas you can't just check that with a monitoring program like Afterburner or GPU-Z.

Easiest comparison to make would be comparing VRAM allocation to a Page File. Just because you create a 16GB page file, and your system reserves that 16GB of storage specifically for page files, doesn't mean you're actually paging 16GB worth of data.

People often think that because Afterburner or other VRAM monitoring utilities shows that 10GB of their VRAM is in use that the application they are using needs that 10GB, but that's simply not true. The application itself probes the system resources, sees that there is video memory available, and it will reserve as much as it thinks it needs (or as much as it can in some instances) despite only using a fraction of what it requested. This is because on the off chance it does need more VRAM, it doesn't want to swap to system memory or disk as that would be extremely slow and jarring for the end-user. We saw this with the GTX 970 when attempting to use the last .5GB (the SMM kept the memory controller enabled, but disabled a portion of the L2 cache and 8 ROPS). The last .5GB, when accessed, caused a massive dip in performance despite the VRAM itself still being faster than system memory or NVMe SSD's. If that caused a significant dip in performance, imagine swapping to slower memory outside of the PCI bus with the added latency. Definitely not a good time.

If the rumors are true, and we do see larger VRAM capacity 3080's, I wouldn't hold my breath for any tangible increase in performance unless Nvidia is increasing the memory bus width, cache size or ROP/TMU counts to go along with it. Even if you game at high resolutions, you'll find those aforementioned aspects of your GPU core being the real bottleneck before VRAM capacity becomes a factor. After all, an overclocked RTX 2080 Ti could still compete with the RTX Titan despite the massive difference in VRAM capacity and the Titan RTX's SM design advantage: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3419-sli-nvlink-titan-rtx-benchmark-gaming-power-consumption.

Steveishh · September 2020

YoshiMoshi said:

Lines yet?

I plan to be the first one in Cambridge tomorrow (hopefully) I’ll update with the situation

YoshiMoshi · September 2020

Steveishh said:

YoshiMoshi said:

Lines yet?

I plan to be the first one in Cambridge tomorrow (hopefully) I’ll update with the situation

What time you plan on getting there?

Contrast77 · September 2020

Hey if your in Dallas and are planning on waiting in line for the 3090 ... Drop a shout out here... I'll be there early early AM

CrispyBudder · September 2020

Contrast77 said:

Hey if your in Dallas and are planning on waiting in line for the 3090 ... Drop a shout out here... I'll be there early early AM

I’m gonna be there hopefully. What time your plan to get there?

GLuE · September 2020

Don’t waste your money on a 3090

Contrast77 · September 2020

3090 works for me I do more than game lol... Plus w/ OC and later when newer games can leverage and scale better with all the cores it will make more sense. No we don't need 24gb vram for gaming ( yet ) but I wont be upgrading again for a few years...
I'm going to be just fine with a 3090 and I will actually have a card for Cyberpunk 2077 lol

Contrast77 · September 2020

I was going to be there 5am just in case there's like 5 in stock.. I don't know, I'm shooting for a Strix or FTW3

CrispyBudder · September 2020

Contrast77 said:

I was going to be there 5am just in case there's like 5 in stock.. I don't know, I'm shooting for a Strix or FTW3

Your going 5am on Thursday? Because if so I’d recommend you going earlier than that. Cuz last time I asked they started lining up at 3am.

Contrast77 · September 2020

Dang, I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad for the 3090 lol ... I knew the 3080 would be almost impossible to get but I was betting on the 3090 being much lower demand.

Duff2087 · September 2020

Contrast77 said:

Dang, I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad for the 3090 lol ... I knew the 3080 would be almost impossible to get but I was betting on the 3090 being much lower demand.

It will be but to be safe you may want to get there shortly after close.

Contrast77 · September 2020

Do you have any specific intel? Or just a suggestion? lol I feel like I'm going to be trolled ... like dude !! you need to be there tonight at 2am ... X))

Duff2087 · September 2020

Well if they see a line form early enough they'll hand out vouchers. However this only guarantees you get a card, not necessarily the model you prefer. So it pays to be there right at close.

Contrast77 · September 2020

Ahh that is good info... I will do that thank you!

LouL · September 2020

xCREEPINGDEATH said:

LouL said:

xCREEPINGDEATH said:

Anyone camping the westmont IL store the 23rd? Need a bathroom break partner.

I'll be there, I will probably coming very early morning though like around 3:30am. I was there for the 3080 launch, but unfortunately didn't come come early enough.

I am hearing not impressive performance numbers so waiting for reviews. But if i do go it will be probably be 10pmish.

xCREEPINGDEATH said:

LouL said:

xCREEPINGDEATH said:

Anyone camping the westmont IL store the 23rd? Need a bathroom break partner.

I'll be there, I will probably coming very early morning though like around 3:30am. I was there for the 3080 launch, but unfortunately didn't come come early enough.

I am hearing not impressive performance numbers so waiting for reviews. But if i do go it will be probably be 10pmish.

Did you decide if you are still going to the Westmont, IL Microcenter?
I decided I'll come at midnight before launch, hopefully that will be early enough to get an early spot in line.

CrispyBudder · September 2020

Duff2087 said:

Well if they see a line form early enough they'll hand out vouchers. However this only guarantees you get a card, not necessarily the model you prefer. So it pays to be there right at close.

I’m not a 100% sure but I got a picture of the voucher from someone and it said the gpu model on the top of it. I think if your the first ones your are able to choose the one you want.

Bunches · September 2020

CrispyBudder said:

Duff2087 said:

Well if they see a line form early enough they'll hand out vouchers. However this only guarantees you get a card, not necessarily the model you prefer. So it pays to be there right at close.

I’m not a 100% sure but I got a picture of the voucher from someone and it said the gpu model on the top of it. I think if your the first ones your are able to choose the one you want.

Hey so I actually camped overnight at the Cambridge store for the 3080 and was able to score a voucher and an MSI 3080. They had three models available when they handed out vouchers so yes your spot in line gets you a better chance at getting to
choose the card you want. Yes the vouchers have a section up top that shows the model, signature of a manager, the price and model you choose to buy buy. Atleast that’s how it was for their Cambridge store. The manager also told us the night before closing what they expected to have in stock so people showing up late we could let them know their chances are slim. I think they handled the situation very well in cambridge, especially comparatively to what I’m hearing about the other stores mayhem. I honestly had a lot of fun camping out and met some cool people and everyone was respectful and just wanted to game on the 3080 on release day. For reference I got there at about 730 pm the night before and was already #7 in line.

CrispyBudder · September 2020

Bunches said:

CrispyBudder said:

Duff2087 said:

Well if they see a line form early enough they'll hand out vouchers. However this only guarantees you get a card, not necessarily the model you prefer. So it pays to be there right at close.

I’m not a 100% sure but I got a picture of the voucher from someone and it said the gpu model on the top of it. I think if your the first ones your are able to choose the one you want.

Hey so I actually camped overnight at the Cambridge store for the 3080 and got a voucher and a card. They had three models available when they handed out vouchers so yes your spot in line gets you a better chance at getting to
choose the card you want. Yes the vouchers have a section up top that shows the model, signature of a manager and the price of the model your buying. Atleast for our store it was, the manager also told us the night before closing what they expected to have in stock so people showing up late we could let them know their chances are slim, and I think they handled the situation well also comparatively to what I’m hearing about the other stores.

That’s a great info. Thank you

Steveishh · September 2020

YoshiMoshi said:

Steveishh said:

YoshiMoshi said:

Lines yet?

I plan to be the first one in Cambridge tomorrow (hopefully) I’ll update with the situation

What time you plan on getting there?

Most likely early evening once I get out of work

elcid_777 · September 2020

Does anyone from southern california know when the Tustin store is receiving more 3080 shipments?? I have Zotac 3080 Trinity and if you look around reddit, these cards are a joke. RGB goes dead after messing with Firestorm Spectra. Card is gimped intentionally performance wise and is 2-5% behind FE version but costs more. Games crash unless you lower core clock by at least -30. This is so ridiculous and Zotac isnt doing shit. I want to get a refund or exchange the card for another model, i will pay the difference. How is Micro center about exchanges or refunds? I have original reciept and 30 days from purchase.
Stay away from Zotac.

CrispyBudder · September 2020

Hopefully they get asus strix or MSI 3090 in stock. I don’t mind EVGA either but since I’m water cooling it I haven’t seen a water block that is compatible with the EVGA gpu. (If anyone know about water block for gpu 3090) lmk

JohnBRX · September 2020

FYI, I got an email from a friend that says there are people already waiting in line for the 3090 and 3080 at the Tustin(CA) location. Just a heads up.

YoshiMoshi · September 2020

That's high population area, that and NY. I doubt other locations have a line already. Smaller population areas should be fine

Junkie · September 2020

Should I even go tomorrow? I don't think its even worth it at this point...

YoshiMoshi · September 2020

FYI I called my microcenter, and had to click option to speak to repair person to get to a human, and he was kind enough to get up and look outside. No line yet.

Duff2087 · September 2020

Junkie said:

Should I even go tomorrow? I don't think its even worth it at this point...

A luxury of living in California to be able to camp that long overnight for 2 nights lol

Contrast77 · September 2020

From the NG OC stream on the EVGA FTW 3080 the board was very sparse, Steve said the blocks should be pretty easy and straight forward for reference this gen. I expect a good variety. I'll probably stick with EK. Corsair did mention the reference version Strix and MSI Ventus specifically on theirs... For most reference boards I think the EK should work also and will have back plate for the RAM on the back. They list pretty much all the EU brand AIB reference boards in their compatibility chart. But we will find out for sure here very shortly!

RTX 3000 Series Micro Center Discussion & FAQ!

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