AMD Aims to Protect its RX 6000 Launch Against Scalpers

AMD Big Navi teaser
(Image credit: AMD)

In an attempt to avoid suffering the same fate as Nvidia, it looks like AMD is prepping its partners for how to handle RX 6000 series orders to ensure as little scalping as possible.

This is clear from a leaked letter shown by YouTube channel RedGamingTech and Moore's Law is Dead. The letter addresses AMD partners, issuing guidelines (no strict rules) about how to handle the RX 6000 sales.

(Image credit: Moore's Law is Dead)

The guidelines are all rather self-explanatory, with methods such as captcha controls, purchase limits, bot-detection techniques, and more. The Queuing system looks like a particularly good move, as EVGA implemented this in its own RTX 30-Series ordering system, which the community responded well to.

Of course, the real question is to what extent these measures will help -- they're not mandatory, and this leak could, for all intents and purposes, be nothing more than a PR move to set expectations among the customer base. At best, we imagine that they'll mitigate the situation, but there will still be individuals that find ways to abuse the lack of supply, finding loopholes or other techniques to get their hands on cards for reselling at higher prices anyway.

At the end of the day, there's only so much AMD can do anyway. With the coronavirus keeping many people locked in their homes, demand for gaming hardware and especially the latest and greatest graphics cards is through the roof, and it's no secret that TSMC has no capacity left to increase chip production. 

Meanwhile, if you want to learn more about the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, check out our all-we-know summary and sit tight for next week's announcement on October 28th.

Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

  • Joseph_138
    The way that you protect launches from scalpers is by making sure you have enough cards on launch day so that everyone who wants one can get one. If everyone who wants one, gets one, then there is no market for scalpers.
    Reply
  • Evil_Overlord
    Another way to protect against scalpers is to ditch online sales and only sell your product in brick-n-mortar stores. I'm sure Walmart, Meijer, GameStop, Best Buy, and Micro Center would appreciate the foot traffic. ...of course, the prerequisite to selling in a physical store is (as Joseph_138 rightly said) to have enough cards on launch day to populate shelves.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    Well lets see:

    Ryzen 5000 series: Only to be used on 500 series chipset boards at launch, 400 series support coming next year to SOME boards, cannot be used on 300 series boards.

    RX 6000 series: Questionable if performance will be backed up by third party reviews, horrid driver interface, well documented past history of horrid driver support, very questionable ray tracing performance, and lacks nVidia features such as DLSS and nVidia Broadcast.

    Seems to me AMD wouldn't care about if Little Johnny got his 6900XT as long as that 6900XT didn't sit on the shelf and collect dust.
    Reply
  • TheBeastInside
    Actually I rather like AMD drivers interface a lot more than Nvidias.
    I feel NVIDIA haven't updated their UX in ages and it feels the same for ages.
    I also feel these driver issues are apparant on both sides at times and sometimes they get more attention. I admit I haven't really analyzed this over time, but my experience is pretty good with both companies.
    As far as company policies go, I think Nvidia is the more sneaky one (or the one caught more often 😀). Again, subjective stuff here.
    I do hope AMD kick ass this round since we need competition in this area too. Nvidia is feeling way too comfortable as top rooster.
    Reply
  • colson79
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    Well lets see:

    Ryzen 5000 series: Only to be used on 500 series chipset boards at launch, 400 series support coming next year to SOME boards, cannot be used on 300 series boards.

    RX 6000 series: Questionable if performance will be backed up by third party reviews, horrid driver interface, well documented past history of horrid driver support, very questionable ray tracing performance, and lacks nVidia features such as DLSS and nVidia Broadcast.

    Seems to me AMD wouldn't care about if Little Johnny got his 6900XT as long as that 6900XT didn't sit on the shelf and collect dust.
    Sounds like a disgruntled Intel/Nvidia fanboy
    Reply
  • Avro Arrow
    This should go far to fight the bots and the scalpers. If there really is sufficient stock for demand, then ATi will have definitely won this generation. Coupled with AMD's complete domination of Intel, October 2020 will be remembered as:
    (See what I did there? :p)
    Reply
  • Avro Arrow
    colson79 said:
    Sounds like a disgruntled Intel/Nvidia fanboy
    Read all of his posts. Your description of him is EXACTLY what he is.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    Evil_Overlord said:
    Another way to protect against scalpers is to ditch online sales and only sell your product in brick-n-mortar stores. I'm sure Walmart, Meijer, GameStop, Best Buy, and Micro Center would appreciate the foot traffic. ...of course, the prerequisite to selling in a physical store is (as Joseph_138 rightly said) to have enough cards on launch day to populate shelves.

    Sorry , but Online will always be cheaper and faster to get. I never bought any hardware off the shelves since 2001 ...

    Also , Online gives you the chance to get any model you want , and not whats in stock only in the street market.
    Reply
  • Math Geek
    Joseph_138 said:
    The way that you protect launches from scalpers is by making sure you have enough cards on launch day so that everyone who wants one can get one. If everyone who wants one, gets one, then there is no market for scalpers.

    and how many people want one? which model? which brand? from which country? from which store?

    clearly you know, so please share so the rest of us can know the future as well. i'm sure AMD would love to know the answer as well. there are so many reasons why this is simple wishful thinking...... :)

    whine and spout unrealistic expectations all you want, but its just never gonna happen with any product launch.
    Reply
  • csm101
    nice, this is what should happen to 3070 as well. slowly these low life's should be put out of commission.
    Reply