Even now that a few weeks have passed since the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 launches, availability is still a huge issue. Per Nvidia's own admission, supply problems are likely to persist into 2021, and that isn't good news -- especially with the bots grabbing every purchase the moment cards are available. But, EVGA has come up with a creative workaround to give everyone a fair chance: classic british queueing.
Published by Jacob Freeman on EVGA's website is the following text:
"We have made some changes to the checkout process for EVGA.com 30 Series orders. Now we are using a queue based notification system.
To sign up, use the notification button on the product you would like to be notified for. For everyone who already used the notify button previously, you are already entered. Once product is available (and it is your turn to purchase), you will receive a secure email that will allow you to purchase the product that you received a notification for. Please note that you have 5 hours to place your order, if your order is not complete within 5 hours, the product will be released back into queue system.
Also note that your email address that was used for the notify system MUST MATCH an email that has a registered EVGA account, if an account is not available with that email, you will need to create one before you can purchase.
Also note that this system will be available for US store first and evaluating for other regions."
EVGA's product management director, Jacob Freeman has also been actively keeping the community updated about RTX 30-series orders through their Twitter account, and credit where credit is due, they are doing a stellar job managing expectations.
Of course, when you receive the email that it's your turn to order an RTX 30-series card, you still only have 5 hours to actually place the order -- so you better pray that it comes at a time when your boss isn't watching.
