In yet another sign that the GPU stock crisis is really starting to be resolved, EVGA has begun to shelve its graphics card queuing system which was designed to help the average buyer (read: gamers) to grab a card, rather than say a bot or scalper.
EVGA introduced this system way back in October 2020, in order to ensure a fair shout with its RTX 3000 graphics cards. With no stock around at the time, would-be buyers could sign up to a queue to purchase when inventory came in, and when notified that it was their turn, they had just a short time (eight hours) to complete the order.
At any rate, the graphics card maker no longer sees a need to keep the queue scheme in place, and so is starting to discontinue it – not all at once, mind, but seemingly on a model-by-model basis.
EVGA is starting with its FTW3 models, which have the beefiest stock levels, and as Tom’s Hardware reports, the tech site received a notification that the RTX 3080 FTW3 Gaming would no longer be in the GPU queueing system, as of tomorrow (June 23).
If you receive such a notification via email, of course there’s no need to panic – you can simply head over to EVGA’s store and buy the graphics card you were after, anyway, as the reason for ditching the queue is that the company now has stock on-hand.
It seems a fair assumption that other models will be dropped from the queuing system, although EVGA hasn’t said as much yet – and in the email Tom’s received, the firm noted that the queue scheme would remain in place for “high demand products”.
Analysis: The good news just keeps on coming with GPUs
This is yet another sign that Nvidia RTX 3000 stock is recovering with some speed now, which is obviously good news for gamers looking to pick up an Ampere GPU. Indeed, we’ve heard on the grapevine that Nvidia may even delay announcing its RTX 4000 graphics cards to give RTX 3000 stock a chance to be sold off, potentially anticipating that there could be a surplus of uncleared inventory, which wouldn’t be good if folks start to pause their buying ambitions to wait for next-gen GPUs (after seeing them revealed).
Of course, this is happening in a more broadly brightening picture of GPU availability, with AMD graphics cards growing in numbers on the shelves too. The current crypto crash means miners are also trying to sell off used GPUs (in quite a rush, with second-hand prices positively tumbling on eBay) – and if those cards sell (we’d be extremely wary around buying one, mind, with all the miles it’ll have on the proverbial clock), that will siphon sales away from new GPUs somewhat.
With better availability comes better pricing, of course, or at least not stupidly inflated price tags, and sure enough going by a very recent report, graphics card asking prices (in Europe) are pretty much down to normal levels, meaning the manufacturer’s recommended price (MSRP). In fact, AMD RX 6000 GPUs are now 92% of their MSRP on average, so now a fair chunk lower, but Nvidia’s RTX 3000 offerings are holding out at slightly above MSRP (102%).
Why is Nvidia’s pricing slower to decline? It seems to be a simple matter of greater demand for RTX 3000 GPUs, something you can clearly see when you look at, say, Newegg’s list of best-selling graphics cards, where Team Green’s products populate the entire top 30. The situation has been slanted that way for some time now, although never before to quite this extent…
The real choice gamers must now make is whether to wait longer for pricing to come down further, which seems pretty likely to happen given all the pressures on the market right now, and the proximity of next-gen GPUs (which are set to kick off from September going by the most likely predictions from the rumor mill).