What you need to know
- Best Buy will allow people to get a ticket that guarantees the opportunity to purchase an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.
- Employees at select Best Buy stores will start handing out tickets today at 7:30 AM local time.
- People with a ticket will then have the chance to purchase an RTX 3080 Ti starting at 9 AM local time.
The NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti launches today at several online retailers. As is the case with all of the best GPUs, we expect the new card from NVIDIA to sell out immediately. You can try to get lucky online by jumping between retailers, but Best Buy has another option. At select Best Buy stores, you'll be able to show up early to receive a ticket that gets you the right to purchase an RTX 3080 Ti.
Best Buy spells out the terms and conditions and also has a tool to help you find participating retailers.
Here's how you can purchase the powerful RTX 3080 Ti today, as explained by Best Buy (emphasis added):
NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition graphics card will have limited quantities available on Thursday, June 3, at select Best Buy stores only.Employees at participating stores will start handing out tickets at 7:30 a.m. local time.[i] We'll have as many tickets as graphics cards available at each store, which means if a customer gets a ticket, they will be guaranteed the opportunity to purchase a graphics card inside the store beginning at 9 a.m. local time.
While you aren't guaranteed to get a ticket if too many people line up, you are guaranteed the opportunity to purchase an RTX 3080 Ti if you get a ticket. That's probably better odds than waiting until the cards go live online and hitting F5 repeatedly.
Demand for buying a powerful graphics card for over $1,000 will vary from area to area. You may get lucky and be in an area in which people don't want to race to purchase one. That would provide better chances than competing with scalpers and everyone else trying to grab one online.
This is a similar setup to major console launches and other cases in which brick and mortar stores expect demand to outpace supply. As you'd probably expect, each individual can only purchase a single RTX 3080 Ti.
If you can't get to a participating Best Buy, you can try your luck when the cards go live online today.
