{"id":8055,"date":"2020-09-03T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/should-you-preorder-nvidias-geforce-rtx-30-series-graphics-cards\/"},"modified":"2020-09-03T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T18:00:00","slug":"should-you-preorder-nvidias-geforce-rtx-30-series-graphics-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/should-you-preorder-nvidias-geforce-rtx-30-series-graphics-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"Should you preorder Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Should you preorder Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards?<\/h2>\n

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Should you preorder Nvidia\u2019s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards? If you want a GeForce RTX 3070, 3080, or 3090 in your hands any time near their various launches, I think the answer\u2019s a firm yes, assuming they’re made available.<\/p>\n

Let me add some context to that. I\u2019m the guy who listed all the reasons why you shouldn\u2019t<\/em> preorder last generation\u2019s GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. I\u2019m the guy that pointed to first-gen Ryzen\u2019s disappointing gaming performance vs. a five-year-old Intel PC and said \u201csee, this is why you shouldn\u2019t preorder.\u201d I\u2019m the guy who literally wrote an article called Never Preorder, in which I declared \u201cI have two words for you: Never preorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, this time around you should preorder Nvidia\u2019s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards\u2014if they\u2019re made available early, that is. Nvidia\u2019s announcement didn\u2019t mention preorders whatsoever, and you can\u2019t buy any early yet, days after the reveal.<\/p>\n

\"nvidia<\/a> Nvidia<\/small><\/figure>\n

I still stand by my words, but the world\u2019s in a different place right now. Hopefully Nvidia and its partners have been stockpiling RTX 30-series GPUs for months now, but there\u2019s no guarantee they\u2019ll have enough to meet demand fully in a year ravaged by shutdowns and shipping delays. And there\u2019s a lot<\/em> of pent-up demand for Nvidia\u2019s new graphics cards: This week, we hosted two separate<\/a> 2.5 hour GeForce RTX 30 Q&As<\/a> and found ourselves bombarded with questions from thousands of viewers each time. After the tepid response to the GeForce RTX 20-series\u2019 ho-hum value proposition, it seems as though legions of GTX 1060 and GTX 1080 Ti owners are finally ready to trade up.<\/p>\n

New GeForce graphics cards always sell out at launch. Always<\/em>. Usually, they start popping back up in fits and spurts a couple weeks later. But right now, the world\u2019s being plagued by severe shipping delays caused by the pandemic, and that includes industrial freight. Independent reviews for Nvidia products typically drop the morning those products hit the street. If you wait until after reading those to decide to buy a GeForce RTX 3070, 3070, or 3090, you might be waiting for a very long time before stocks replenish.<\/p>\n

Again: GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards aren\u2019t available yet as I write this, and Nvidia never mentioned preorders in its announcement. But yes, I recommend preordering Nvidia\u2019s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards if<\/em> they\u2019re made available, if<\/em> you know you\u2019ll have to have one if positive reviews land, and if<\/em> you don\u2019t feel like seeing what AMD\u2019s RDNA 2-based \u201cBig Navi\u201d Radeon upgrades bring to the table later this year. Now that ray tracing and DLSS are established technologies and Nvidia\u2019s shown\u00a0the RTX 30-series’ solid performance gains over the 20-series in traditional rasterized games, placing a bet on a preorder feels a lot less like gambling this generation.<\/p>\n

\"geforce<\/a> Nvidia<\/small>
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An Nvidia-supplied comparison of how the GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs compare against the RTX 20-series in a variety of games.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don\u2019t throw caution to the wind, though. Buy at a retailer that lets you cancel preorders before they ship, or better yet, accepts returns of unopened boxes without exorbitant fees. Here in the United States, Amazon has excellent customer-first return policies on electronics<\/a>. B&H Photo also accepts returns on opened items within 30 days<\/a>. Newegg, on the other hand, accepts unopened return for 30 days<\/a>, but says they\u2019re \u201csubject to restocking fees of 15% \u2013 30% of the purchase price and return shipping fees.\u201d That’s a bummer because you can always find a lot of graphics cards on Newegg, but again, independent reviews of Nvidia cards typically publish the morning the cards hit the streets, so you\u2019ll likely have yours in your hand that same day.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to shop early, shop smart. And if preorders never happen, that may mean that stocks of these new-look GPUs are indeed less than ideal, so you\u2019ll want to hop on buying one pronto the moment that GeForce RTX 30-series sales open.<\/p>\n