(PCMag/John Burek)
Nvidia’s upcoming launch of the RTX 5000 series is starting to drive at least a few consumers to camp out and wait for days to buy the graphics cards.
One Reddit user has posted a photo of a couple of tents appearing outside the Micro Center store in Tustin, California, to wait for the new RTX GPUs, which launch on Thursday, January 30th.
“4 days ahead of launch is honestly crazy,” the Reddit user added.
Indeed, it’s not easy to camp out for so long, especially if you have a job. But one of the campers at the Tustin store appears to have responded on Reddit, explaining that they're a college student on a break.
"They (Micro Center) are fine with you going in the store, and there are three porta potties as well. We have lots of snacks and gotten stuff delivered. People will go and pick stuff up also. Lots of battery banks for power," the user wrote.
At the same time, other consumers are also considering lining up at other Micro Center stores in the US, which are expected to carry the RTX 5000 series on launch day.
On Thursday, both the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will go on sale, starting at $1,999 and $999, respectively. But in some bad news, there’s been growing evidence that the supplies will be slim. One UK retailer told customers last week they expect to sell out of their units in seconds or minutes, noting that their current stock of RTX 5090 GPUs spans only “single digits.”
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s GPU partner, MSI, has been spotted telling customers in China about possessing low supplies for RTX 5000 GPUs on launch day. Hence, if you’re truly desperate to own the graphics card on day one, waiting outside at a Micro Center may be your best bet.
Scalpers are also trying to take advantage of the upcoming launch by offering presales for the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 on eBay. The scalpers are betting they’ll snag some unit on launch day, with the promise of shipping the units to customers on the same day. But in return, they’re demanding buyers pay twice or three times the normal price.
Consumers looking to obtain the graphics card on launch day can expect Best Buy, Newegg, and possibly Nvidia itself to begin selling the RTX 5090 and 5080 online at 6 a.m. PST, on launch day. Nvidia has also created a "notify me" button on its site to help alert users about the upcoming sales.