Nvidia’s RTX 3070 preorders were pure hell, so I live blogged

On Thursday, Nvidia opened up preorders for the GeForce RTX 3070, the least-expensive of the three Ampere-powered graphics cards Nvidia announced during its September event. It’s a very good card. But if you’ve been following the RTX 30 series the last couple of months, you will know it’s also been very difficult to get your hands on one, and it will likely remain difficult well into next year.

I knew I wanted to upgrade my graphics card this year, and I was dead set on buying the RTX 3080, but it literally sold out as soon as preorders went up. (Damn bots.) So I decided I’d be okay with a 3070; It’s not like I have a 4K monitor yet anyway. This morning, I decided to shoot my shot.

I fired up two monitors with 20 different tabs spread across four Google Chrome windows, plus an extension that would automatically refresh those tabs to make sure I wouldn’t miss.

Newegg went out of stock instantly. Micro Center, too. On my screens, they went straight from not having opened preorders to being completely sold out.

I bet it all on Best Buy, focusing my attention on the one retailer that claimed I might still have a shot at the card. It didn’t hurt that the Founder’s Edition (exclusive to Best Buy and Micro Center) was my first choice anyhow, and my Best Buy credit card meant I wouldn’t have to spend $499 all at once. And I decided to live blog my whole experience in The Verge’s Slack so my colleagues could enjoy my suffering.

Now you can, too. Here’s how it went:

9:00AM: OK, 9am and still not open yet for RTX preorders

9:01AM: Out of stock already at Newegg

Best Buy has not opened preorders yet, it seems

Does not look like they ever opened at Amazon either

9:02AM: Micro Center has run out of stock

Not sure if they are open at B&H, just says “Coming Soon.”

I GOT ONE [at Best Buy]

9:03AM: Shoot it’s gone. It took it out

Best Buy has not opened the Founder’s Edition yet

9:04AM: Best Buy is releasing more inventory every few minutes

9:05AM: Prebuilts with the GPU are sold out at Best Buy

GPU inventory still going in and out of stock

9:06AM: Lol, I have 3 RTX 3070s in my cart???

I have the Founder’s Edition in the cart

Waiting to get to payment

JUST LET ME BUY IT BEST BUY

9:18AM: I do not think God wants me to buy this GPU today...

9:12AM: I am in the checkout but waiting to get to payment now

Now it won’t let me do curbside

but I keep trying to get it shipped

9:18AM: I do not think God wants me to buy this GPU today...

9:19AM: I think I am about to give up

9:28AM: NOOOO IT TOOK OUT OF MY CART

9:20AM: All things considered, Best Buy had the only decent type of moderation of buying one

They were releasing certain units in stock every few minutes

I mean, it was still hell to get one in the cart, but it was a lot easier compared to Amazon and B&H, which sold out in a split second

I have it in my cart on web and mobile

9:25AM: Okay, so it will not let me ship or do curbside pickup, yet somehow I still have a unit??

9:26AM: What gives Best Buy

9:27AM: I think the bots broke Best Buy

9:28AM: NOOOO IT TOOK OUT OF MY CART

At this point, I was ready to give up, but Tom would not allow that. He flagged that Micro Center had one model in stock, and it was the Founder’s Edition. So I quickly went back to my Micro Center tab and...

10:13AM: Heading over there NOW

It looks like I might be able to have a happy ending to my blog

Ahhh, the page will not loaddddd

10:14AM: I think we are getting somewhere

LET ME IN

HOLY shit, I think I got one?

10:17AM: Come on, let me finish the transaction

10:24AM: YES. I WANT TO PURCHASE NOW MICRO CENTER

10:25AM: Come Micro Center mamma needs you to do your magic

10:27AM: OK, I have five Micro Center pages open, and two of them show my cart

10:31AM: HOLD UP. I AM AT ORDER SUMMARY

10:32AM: I am at the final stretch!!!

DID IT JUST GO THROUGH

10:36AM: I THINK IT WENT THROUGH???

I am checking my Micro Center account and my banking app

10:49AM: It does not show up in my order history...

I cannot finalize this blog (both in Slack and Chorus) until Micro Center tells me so

10:51AM: OMG. IT WENT THROUGH