NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Discussion Thread

I wasn't able to buy a 3060 today despite Microcenter in MD having plenty in stock. I was told they gave out vouchers and that folks had all day to claim them. If the customer haven't picked them up by 6pm they should have sold them to people ready to pay. I won't shop at Microcenter for a while!

Stop sounding like an everything is rosey shuckster. This GPU shortage is painful and there is nothing enjoyable about an item where demand so far outweighs supply, you might as well not even try to buy one. I went and stood in a ridiculous line this morning, knowing full well I had ZERO chance of getting one of these things. Once my obvious failure came to its fulfillment, I went and returned all the parts for my PC build. It isn't worth having parts when it's useless without a GPU.

It feels like the damned Hunger Games...

You're selling to obvious Scalpers despite what you claim. Those of us with jobs and lives can't afford to camp out for hours in front of your stores every single morning till you randomly get stock in and we can be first. The only ones who can do that do not have jobs or are making their money off of scalping, tech reviewing (youtube), or make a full time living live streaming (twitch). I myself bought a 3070 from an obvious Scalper after 6 wasted trips in terrible snow and icey roads racing to my local Micro Center putting myself in danger to try to "get there first" only to be told each and every time that the ones still showing in inventory and physically on the shelves were "claimed". I couldn't even get the model I wanted so it looks insanely out of place in my all black/silver build with my now all WHITE gpu. The Scalper did provide a copy of the receipt for RMA purposes with his personal info excluded. The receipt is literally from the Sharonville Microcenter where I shop and was even dated on the last day I tried to race up there to get one, when I was told that despite 17 different branded 3070's showing in stock, I was not allowed to purchase one of them. It costed me $200 extra and disgusts me every time I look at the build now, because of what I went through, and because it does not match. I will ALWAYS feel that Microcenter should 1: Swap my GPU with the model I wanted (mine is even valued higher than the one I wanted) and 2: should be required to give me $200 in store credit for my terrible experience and for me proving that despite everything you claimed, you still sold to scalpers. I also feel that inventory should be added the night BEFORE the store opens (not upon delivery but the next day) so that EVERYONE, including those of us with jobs and responsibilities have a fair chance to camp out in front of the store KNOWING there will be stock and that if we made it early enough, camping out that day isn't a waste of our time.

Jeez, some of you are a rather entitled bunch. If you don't like how microcenter is doing business, tell them then take your business elsewhere. They aren't obligated to give you the model you want or give you $200 to subsidize your decision to buy from a scalper. I will 100% agree with those of you arguing that their inventory system is almost archaic at best, but their anti-scalping system (for GPUs) is actually fairly good at least. You also certainly don't need to get there before they open to get a GPU. It is more about luck than anything. My friend got a 3070 at about 30 minutes before close when we just stumbled across it while going there for a 5600x. There was also a 3090 in stock at the time too. This was notably at the Sharonville Microcenter since that one was explicitly mentioned as being impossible to get cards. So yea... sucks you had a bad experience, but they have improved their system greatly, and it is almost delusional to think otherwise. The voucher system is an extremely welcome change from earlier systems especially with covid still being around.

Can Microcenter provide an online reservation system, similar to how video game companies offer?

I also can't spend time outside a store, time is money.... specially during these unprecedented times.

I wouldn't say I am an online troll. I am a Microcenter customer who waited in line for over 12 hours at the original 3080 release with my friend (the one that recently got the 3070), and he was 1 person away from getting a card. At the time, there was no voucher system. No way to keep track of anything. Everyone just lined up outside the building in cold ass weather and not really caring about general covid care. From that point, Microcenter has improved their policies for this GREATLY in a way that is actually meaningful. I comment that it is delusional because at this point, it is essentially out of Microcenter's hands. They have implemented a system where you can only buy graphics cards once every 3 months enforced by requiring a valid form of identification along with a voucher system that limits covid exposure (when people actually realize how the system works) and requiring in-store purchase only. There is very little more they can do without starting to axe legitimate customers that would like to purchase cards. Microcenter has no way of knowing people's intentions with cards after purchase, and it would be ridiculous to even try to do so. With all of those points combined... yea, it definitely makes you seem entitled to make demands of them for not fixing(?) a situation that they have essentially done as much as they can do resolve. If you would like to blame someone, blame Nvidia, but realistically they aren't at fault either. They are producing GPUs much faster than they did for the 20 series which is likely where projected sales came from. In all actuality, the blame lies with mostly covid causing a massive silicon shortage, an ever increasing crypto currency price, and an increased interest in home office components and expendable income (also caused by covid).

There isn't unfortunately, we don't have anything like that in place. My understanding of the general process for a store receiving a shipment for these cards is that the turnover is extremely fast, they're not really getting advanced warning. It's basically a "we'll get some product in and we'll hope there's cards too." At the very least, we can't see from our end here what the stores might be getting in advance, the best way to get the most current or accurate information would be to visit your store if at all possible.

You could also check our thread here, there may be some customers who have been at your local store recently who can give you an idea of what to expect:

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/4542/rtx-3000-series-micro-center-discussion-faq#latest

Any shot of getting a GPU anytime soon? Doesn't look like it...

yep.. happened to me on launch too, site said there were at least 20 rtx 3060s at my local store, which is an hour away, and the stock stayed pretty consistent for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Decided to take off from work, drove over, and the first thing the employee tells me is don't ever trust the online inventory, it's never right. They had sold out within the first minute because enough people lined up to wait. If there was only a way to contact the store to ask about stock.. would've saved me the trip.

Is there a "community" list that's implemented at the Tustin location? Last I heard from the community there is that we have to show up before 6 am and "check-in". If you don't get a card that day, you have to come back at 9 pm later that night and " check-in" again and again at 6 am. Is this still happening? is it no longer a first-come-first-serve situation? Also, are people that are banned from getting vouchers still allowed to hire someone from TaskRabbit, or any other way, and have them purchase a card as well? I'm just trying to make sure I know what I'm looking at in order to purchase a card for my kid.

Quick question saw a few GPU available around 8am at the Cambridge store at around 9am said sold out. Store doesn't open until 10. Does it mean it was sold to whoever got a ticket/stayed in line? or just a mistake on the website?

what day is a regular day you guys get inventory trucks i was told Tuesday's is that the only days? trying to take another day off to try to grab a card.

yeah I went Tuesday morning waited in line from around 5am to 8am then worker came out and said truck had mechanical issues and wouldn't make it in so I missed out that day but didn't get a chance to ask what days trucks come.