Question Nvidia's Best Buy GPU drop results in brawls and crowd control measures.

[moonbogg]

My only shock is that this didn't happen during the previous drop which I commented on at the time. I questioned what was stopping someone from simply cutting in line and forcing the people who've been waiting in line for days to either give up their place in line or literally fight for it. Well, it looks like they chose to literally fight for it.
Also, techradar reports that only 2 out of 75 people in line are buying the GPU to actually use it. Literally the entire line of people are scalpers. I just don't see where gamers fit in anymore in this market. GPUs are money printers and technological paraphernalia for reselling to miners. That's it. They definitely aren't gaming products anymore.

Brawl:

Scalper ratio:

Best Buy’s Nvidia RTX 3080 restock has 75 people in line. Only two aren’t resellers

And the person who wants the RTX 3080 for AI research says he went from No. 3 in line to No. 10 due to resellers showing up

www.techradar.com

 

[Rifter]

Hate to say it after loving PC gaming since the days of Doom, Myst, Quake, Warcraft, Diablo, and so on, but AAA PC gaming is for suckers these days. When I can get a console for $500 that can play games at 60 fps and look nearly as good as native 4k no way I'm interested in dropping 3x that for equivalent performance on PC. About the only way I could be interested in AAA PC gaming today is if I still played a lot of first person shooters since mouse and keyboard crush controllers for them. But that's the only thing I can understand these days when it comes to AAA PC gaming.

Yeah Consoles are the way to go for sure, you can get a whole console for the cost of a GPU alone nowadays with insanity pricing going on.

 

[CP5670]

I know I say this from a point of privilege, but all that mess to maybe get $1,000 in your pocket after you re-sell it seems like way too much hassle to me. But I guess if you’re the sort of person who has the time to camp out there to pick up a GPU to scalp, $1,000 is a lot.

Yeah, a minimum wage job will give this in two weeks, and seems like less work than following the drop dates and camping at the store for days. These people can only scalp one card and won't be able to do it again, and ebay takes 13-15% of the cut. There are much better ways to make money than this.

 

[nosurprises]

Yeah, a minimum wage job will give this in two weeks, and seems like less work than following the drop dates and camping at the store for days.

It seems to me that scalping GPU is much less work than a min wage job. And while waiting, scalpers just be on the phone.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Down voted for that comment. I like you, but that is a unnecessarily inflammatory ad hom.

And hook me up with this $500 console. I have not seen a series X in stock anywhere, for anything close to that price. If you have an in on where to get it for that price, link me up, thanks. I have zero interest in Sony, as a few exclusives are a yawn worthy selling point for me now. At least with MS, I have xbox and 360 games the series X can emulate, I can play the new titles on PC too, and it has a great bluray player.

And for PC gamers that have never embraced console, what about their huge games collections? Just supposed to leave that all behind? What happens if their present card dies, if prices still stink? Buy a scalped console instead of a scalped GPU? It makes no sense.

When my son switched from console to PC, I had been on console for 7yrs? I double dipped a ton of games I had on xbox and 360. But they were dirt cheap thanks to Steam sales. I then revisited them with much higher res, settings, and frames, which was more than worthwhile.

As a former console gamer, ain't no way I'd ever go console first again. Particularly since the last pro it had over my PC is gone. And that was comfy living room gaming. I want a series X, but not until I can buy it at MSRP. You know, exactly like the problem with GPUs right now.

Good points and I say to all. There is no need to have a current gen card to enjoy PC gaming. Last few years worth of cards should work fine on all but dlss or ultra.
People panic over small things far too often.
Having a video card die right now would suck, having to replace it with a $150 1050 or 1030 would suck but that certainly doesn’t mean you can no longer game. Far too much drama in that statement.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Hate to say it after loving PC gaming since the days of Doom, Myst, Quake, Warcraft, Diablo, and so on, but AAA PC gaming is for suckers these days. When I can get a console for $500 that can play games at 60 fps and look nearly as good as native 4k no way I'm interested in dropping 3x that for equivalent performance on PC. About the only way I could be interested in AAA PC gaming today is if I still played a lot of first person shooters since mouse and keyboard crush controllers for them. But that's the only thing I can understand these days when it comes to AAA PC gaming.