NVIDIA RTX 3000 graphics cards are still mighty rare, but Canadian gamers are getting lucky right now.
(Photo : GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
Customers wait outside of a Best Buy store in downtown Toronto, Ontario on November 23, 2020 to pick up their online orders. – Canada’s largest city Toronto and much of its suburbs will be placed under lockdown beginning November 23 due to the spread of Covid-19, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced. The lockdown, whose restrictions include a ban on indoor private gatherings, will last at least 28 days and violators can be fined CAN$750 ($570). Retail businesses in the city have been restricted to curbside pickup only and all restaurants are takeout or delivery only.
PCGamer reports that Best Buy Canada just received a new GPU restock from NVIDIA at 16 locations across The Great White North. The thing is, they’re only available in-store, meaning you can’t buy them online. So if you’re a gamer living in Canada, you’re going to need to line up.
Here is the list of Best Buy Canada stores where the NVIDIA RTX 3000 cards are restocking at June 30, local store operating hours:
- Calgary: Deerfoot Meadows Shopping Centre
- Victoria: Uptown
- Edmonton: Edmonton South
- Vancouver: Cambir
- Kelown: Orchard Park
- Darthmouth: Dartmouth Crossing
- Winnipeg: St. James
- Halifax: Washmill Lake Drive
- Oakville: Winston Park Retail Center
- Ottawa East: Coventry Road
- Sudbury: Marcus Dr
- North York: Downsview
- Toronto: Bay & Dundas
- Montreat: Marche Central, Centreville
- Windsor: Walker Road
- Regina: Prince of Wales Dr
According to the Best Buy Canada blog, prospective buyers should expect a queue outside every store before official opening times. If you want to know about each store’s operating hours, here is a link for you to check out.
As soon as you get to a participating location, store employees will be giving out tickets to people waiting in line. There will strictly be ONLY ONE TICKET PER CUSTOMER/HOUSEHOLD. This is to prevent anybody from hoarding graphics card stocks; as you all know, cryptocurrency mining is still rampant.
The number of tickets being handed out corresponds to how many NVIDIA RTX 3000 graphics cards are in stock at the store by the time you arrive. However, GPU models will vary from store to store. So, if you come in expecting to buy an RTX 3090, you might not actually get one and be stuck with a 3060 Ti or a 3080 Ti–the latter of which performs more or less on par with a 3090 anyway.
Again, this GPU restock at Best Buy Canada only applies to in-house purchases, so forget trying to buy boatloads of cards with a bot.
Read also: NVIDIA GPU Restock: RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3070 Ti, and RTX 3090 Spotted on Newegg on June 25–Where to Look Next for MSRP Cards?
NVIDIA Graphics Card Supply and Pricing Finally Easing Up?
As you should know, there’s still an ongoing semiconductor shortage and cryptocurrency mining boom, which is causing graphics card prices to stay bonkers mostly. But it looks like things have been easing up quite a bit.
(Photo : Olly Curtis/PC Gamer Magazine/Future via Getty Images)
A group of graphics cards, including (L-R) an MSI GeForce GTX 1050 OC 2GB, Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 AMP Edition 4GB and an Asus GeForce GTX 1070 Strix OC Edition 8GB, taken on January 20, 2017.
Over a week ago, it was reported that both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs experienced their highest price drops yet in Europe. In select EU countries, graphics card prices have fallen by as much as 50 percent due to a combination of several factors. Crypto mining, for one, is not as profitable as it used to be due to its insane power requirements. Also, Team Green and Team Red’s efforts to shore up supply have been quite effective lately.
It’s a great time to be a Canadian gamer, eh?
Related: GPU Shortage FINALLY ENDING? Asrock Believes Graphics Card Demand from Crypto Miners Will Drop
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Written by RJ Pierce
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