On Thursday, Nvidia opened up preorders for the GeForce RTX 3070, the least-expensive of the three Ampere-powered graphics cards Nvidia announced during its September event. It’s a very good card. But if you’ve been following the RTX 30 series the last couple of months, you will know it’s also been very difficult to get your hands on one, and it will likely remain difficult well into next year.
I knew I wanted to upgrade my graphics card this year, and I was dead set on buying the RTX 3080, but it literally sold out as soon as preorders went up. (Damn bots.) So I decided I’d be okay with a 3070; It’s not like I have a 4K monitor yet anyway. This morning, I decided to shoot my shot.
I fired up two monitors with 20 different tabs spread across four Google Chrome windows, plus an extension that would automatically refresh those tabs to make sure I wouldn’t miss.
Newegg went out of stock instantly. Micro Center, too. On my screens, they went straight from not having opened preorders to being completely sold out.
I bet it all on Best Buy, focusing my attention on the one retailer that claimed I might still have a shot at the card. It didn’t hurt that the Founder’s Edition (exclusive to Best Buy and Micro Center) was my first choice anyhow, and my Best Buy credit card meant I wouldn’t have to spend $499 all at once. And I decided to live blog my whole experience in The Verge’s Slack so my colleagues could enjoy my suffering.
Now you can, too. Here’s how it went:
9:00AM: OK, 9am and still not open yet for RTX preorders
9:01AM: Out of stock already at Newegg
Best Buy has not opened preorders yet, it seems
Does not look like they ever opened at Amazon either
9:02AM: Micro Center has run out of stock
Not sure if they are open at B&H, just says “Coming Soon.”
I GOT ONE [at Best Buy]
9:03AM: Shoot it’s gone. It took it out
Best Buy has not opened the Founder’s Edition yet
9:04AM: Best Buy is releasing more inventory every few minutes
9:05AM: Prebuilts with the GPU are sold out at Best Buy
GPU inventory still going in and out of stock
9:06AM: Lol, I have 3 RTX 3070s in my cart???
9:07AM: LET ME BUIYYYYYYYY
9:08AM: Gigabyte is sold out
I have the Founder’s Edition in the cart
9:11AM: I am on pickup info
Waiting to get to payment
JUST LET ME BUY IT BEST BUY
9:12AM: I am in the checkout but waiting to get to payment now
9:13AM: oh wtf
Now it won’t let me do curbside
but I keep trying to get it shipped
9:18AM: I do not think God wants me to buy this GPU today…
9:19AM: I think I am about to give up
9:20AM: All things considered, Best Buy had the only decent type of moderation of buying one
They were releasing certain units in stock every few minutes
I mean, it was still hell to get one in the cart, but it was a lot easier compared to Amazon and B&H, which sold out in a split second
Best Buy website crashed
9:21AM: FE is restocked now
I have it in my cart on web and mobile
What the heck
9:25AM: Okay, so it will not let me ship or do curbside pickup, yet somehow I still have a unit??
9:26AM: What gives Best Buy
9:27AM: I think the bots broke Best Buy
9:28AM: NOOOO IT TOOK OUT OF MY CART
At this point, I was ready to give up, but Tom would not allow that. He flagged that Micro Center had one model in stock, and it was the Founder’s Edition. So I quickly went back to my Micro Center tab and…
10:13AM: Heading over there NOW
It looks like I might be able to have a happy ending to my blog
Ahhh, the page will not loaddddd
10:14AM: I think we are getting somewhere
LET ME IN
LET ME INNNNN
10:15AM: Loaded on my phone
10:16AM: Loaded on my desktop
HOLY shit, I think I got one?
10:17AM: Come on, let me finish the transaction
10:18AM: Come on Micro Center pleaseeee
10:19AM: Ughhhh
10:23AM: I am still stuck
OH SHIT
10:24AM: YES. I WANT TO PURCHASE NOW MICRO CENTER
10:25AM: Come Micro Center mamma needs you to do your magic
10:27AM: OK, I have five Micro Center pages open, and two of them show my cart
10:31AM: HOLD UP. I AM AT ORDER SUMMARY
10:32AM: I am at the final stretch!!!
10:34AM: AHHHHHHHH
10:36AM: OMG
DID IT JUST GO THROUGH
10:36AM: I THINK IT WENT THROUGH???
10:38AM: OMG, I THINK IT WORK
I am checking my Micro Center account and my banking app
10:49AM: It does not show up in my order history…
I cannot finalize this blog (both in Slack and Chorus) until Micro Center tells me so
10:51AM: OMG. IT WENT THROUGH
I GOT THE EMAIL
11:55AM: FML. THEY CANCELED MY ORDER
THEY CANCELED IT
I AM SCREAMING LIKE A MAD WOMAN