Advertiser Disclosure: At Slickdeals, we work hard to find the best deals. Some products in our articles are from partners who may provide us with compensation, but this doesn’t change our opinions. Our editors strive to ensure that the information in this article is accurate as of the date published, but please keep in mind that offers can change. We encourage you to verify all terms and conditions of any product before you apply.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThis season, things have been especially competitive in the computer hardware space. New GPUs are available from both AMD and NVIDIA, which is exciting as it’s been ages since both companies were equally competitive. However, demand is significantly higher than usual and inventory is in short supply.
If you’re struggling to snag a next-generation graphics card and are frustrated that everything is always out of stock, we feel your pain! Unfortunately, our best advice as Deal Hunters is to try and wait out the drought.
First off, we’d like to dissuade you from considering a previous generation GPU. Right now, they’re all still priced as they were before the new cards hit market, so they pack considerably less bang for your buck than they did just a little while ago. For example, a quick search on NVIDIA’s RTX 2070 reveals that it’s $100 over the price of a new RTX 3070.
As for the newer cards, inventory at your usual retailer is almost guaranteed to be unavailable due to shortages and scalpers. eBay, on the other hand is rife with prices that are twice as expensive as MSRP.
At this point, waiting it out for more 30-series to be available is the right approach. The same goes for AMD and its new Radeon 6000 series cards—wait for more inventory to show up and the market to be stabilized. NVIDIA previously stated that it did not expect stabilization until early 2021.
The only deals available on previous generation cards are through system builders. Companies like iBuypower, Maingear, Origin PC, and CyberPower are some places where prices are reasonable and have promotions — sometimes with free upgrades — are attached. These places are an excellent choice to snag a deal if you’re looking to upgrade to a whole new machine. Check out our guide to buying the best mid-range gaming PC to see our top choices. But what can you do if you’re looking to upgrade just your graphics card?
How to Find a Card (if You Really Want One)
Credit: Slickdeals
If you’re dead-set on hunting the 30-series, the first thing you’ll want to do is sign up for an account on your favorite retailer for notifications. Usually, vendors are good about instantly sending out in-stock notifications and alerting you when they’ve scanned in new inventory. Unfortunately, forums are reporting that even email notifications on Best Buy and Amazon are lagging, often emailing you after the product has already sold out.
Second, you’re going to want to also sign up for an account on Nowinstock.net. With an account, you’ll be equipped to receive notifications for any particular product via text message, Discord notification or Telegram messenger. Notifications come attached with the link directly to the purchase page for the graphics card you’re interested in. Nowinstock.net is fast because it directly monitors purchase pages for changes and is often much faster than a retailer’s own email system. We’ve been using Nowinstock.net ourselves to keep an eye out for both AMD and NVIDIA’s new GPUs as well as AMD’s new Ryzen CPUs, and so far, it’s been effective.
If you’re quick enough, you’ll be able to grab exactly what you’re looking for, but be careful. Even on some retailers, 3rd party seller prices are at scalping level. Be aware of manufacturer prices and what’s listed.
Third, don’t hesitate to browse Slickdeals for actual real deals! Because we’re community driven, only highly-vetted deals will make it to the Frontpage of our site thanks to the votes of your fellow enthusiasts. In that sense, you have an army of techies watching out for you. You can add the Slickdeals Browser Extension to get instant notifications about deals that pop up as you shop. You can also set up a Deal Alert in case any of the GPUs you want go on sale.
When Will Retailers Have More Availability?
iStock.com/Willowpix
Both AMD and NVIDIA say they are producing as many GPUs as possible. However, given supply constraints worldwide coupled with the pandemic, production capacity is strained. NVIDIA stated that it expects supply to be “good” in early 2021, which means factories have been ramping up for the past two months but we still haven’t seen the needle move in a big way. Some retailers show an increase in supply but that only means having 10 cards every two weeks to 20 cards. Our best guess for world-wide stability will be after March 2021.
Tuan Nguyen
Tuan's been in the tech industry for over 20 years. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of Maximum PC, Head of Hardware at PC Gamer and ran a host of other websites you may have read. He loves a good deal but only on the very best gear. He also swears by custom-built PCs but only uses Macs—bizarre! Tuan loves all things audio and video and gets nerdy with cars.