Read this before pre-ordering your Nvidia RTX 30-Series graphics card


I know I know. The temptation is great, if you’re a DIY PC-building enthusiast who’s tired of watching your games shake up you crank them into “ultra” quality settings. Nvidia’s new RTX 30-Series graphics card is a beast. But should you pre-order one? I will not.

I’ve been tempted, though: if Nvidia’s marketing is pushing their capabilities a little further, you’ll still get solid performance for a reasonable price even if you go to the bottom, 9499 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070. This card is alleged Fast Compared to Nvidia’s previous flagship, the GeForce RTX 2080T – a card that costs at least $ 1000 at launch.

All of this except seals the deal if you’re upgrading to something older than that, especially if your graphics card starts with a “10” or lower number. Reason: Do not pre-order a new graphics card.

But if I don’t pre-order, I won’t get one

I got it. There is an absolute thirst for new graphics cards, as Nvidia has not offered a new line (microarchitecture, really) since the launch of its GeForce RTX 2080 in September 2018. I claim you’ll come across some sellouts coming launch day. (September 17), which means you’ll have to wait a while to get your hands on a new 30-Series card. That’s right.

First, we have not yet confirmed Benchmark What these 30-series cards can do. Good on Nvidia for doing a lot of initial work and throwing out Some beautiful charts To show How these new graphics cards stump previous models. (They are There’s a lot of upgrades going on, especially to upset That Who recently Pay more For the top-line of the line 20-series cards.) But Nvidia has statistics PR, not real-world performance-testing.

To keep these graphics cards moving at their own pace, waiting for everyone else – journalists and YouTubers alike – is a constitution for yourself. This will not only give the best possible indication of how these cards perform in the regular mode, but you will learn a lot about the noise that it is easy “200% faster!” Does not enter the chart.

For example, Will CPU bottlenecking No matter how good Y is, higher frame rates affect your ability to relateWe have a graphics card? How much extra power will these cards draw when you are making-out your favorite games? Will these graphics cards turn into miniature space heaters or jet engines while you’re playing? This will Cards, depending on the resolution and quality settings you typically play, increase your frame rate significantly to the level of the games you like (hint: you probably don’t need a $ 1,500 graphics card to play Fornite).

Will 30-series sales be seen sooner or later?

The launch of GeForce 30-Series cards comes at a joyous time. It’s September; Epidemic-September, sure, but still September. That means by the end of November those big all-shopping days are oh-so-so close. You might say, for Nvidia’s F 1,500 GeFros 3090 you won’t see attractive cash deals, you can at least buy a graphics card and get some freebies-games, extra months to try out the subscription service, discounts on other gear you need May fall (such as a new power supply), etc.

I’m not one to say I’m waiting two months to save to 50, because it sounds a little silly, but given Only How close we are to some big geeky sales events, if you haven’t fully convinced yourself to buy a new 30-series graphics card on the day of the launch, it’s worth it for a while. And you’ll probably see some more-aggressive-than-normal prices …

Don’t call AMD a comeback, he’s been here for years

Big new. We will not announce AMD’s response to Nvidia’s 30-Series graphics cards until October 28, which means we have no idea what kind of performance we expect, or how AMD plans to tackle Nvidia’s already aggressive pricing for its 30-Series. Creating. Graphics cards. But this is AMD’s first major graphics card (finally) to support ray tracing, you can expect a bit healthier competition than usual.

What does that mean? Even if you’re loyal to Nvidia, I don’t buy a 30-series graphics card until I at least see what AMD is prepaying. If AMD’s offers are attractive enough, Nvidia will have to wander a bit (or lower prices) to stay afloat. Who knows, maybe AMD’s Radian RX 6000-Series GPU could really come out on top – possibly for performance And Price. If so, you are currently sucker to fly 1,500 d blows on Nvidia’s top-shelf card, if only after months of waiting could something better be done.

Simply put, the latest graphics card generation war hasn’t started yet. There is no reason to upgrade immediately; If you’ve been waiting so long to upgrade, you can handle a few more weeks. That’s a smart move.

Power Move: Pre-order anyway, but …

I wrote this article, and that too I am I’m still considering a pre-order for a 30-series graphics card because I don’t want to stop waiting months if there are any inventory issues. If I could not assure you No Pre-order a new card, I take no offense; However, I would suggest that you place your pre-order at a retailer that has a refund policy (and no restocking fees).

Nvidia? Amazon? B&H? Assuming you have a graphics card without opening it is better to go. Navigate? No.

Buy your new Nvidia graphics card if you need to, but sit on it as long as you can. You probably wouldn’t be aware of AMD’s announcements until we see some leaks before October 28th, so I’ll try to place your 30-Series order as close to the end of September as possible.

Of course, now you’re playing everyone’s favorite graphics card guessing game: how long will you be able to hold on to the cards before they go out of stock wherever you’re trying to buy them? I’m sure you’ll get a sense of demand once Nvidia’s new cards are launched, which I hope will help you figure out if it’s worth pulling the trigger sooner or later. No matter what, consider the power of a good return policy, and you’ll get a better deal later – or a full graphics card.

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