NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card will go on sale on February 25 for $ 329 MSRP, and although this is the hardware manufacturer’s lowest offer, the card will probably still be very popular and have a shortage. With this in mind, we will announce when the 3060 is expected to go on sale, offer some retail links and share our own tips to ensure you get an order on time. The rush is about to start again, so here’s all you need to know.
What time is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 released?
NVIDIA
While all previous NVIDIA RTX GPUs were released on the day of release around 9am EST, NVIDIA officially announced different plans for the 3060. In an email sent to the press, NVIDIA said that the RTX 3060 is expected to be available at nationwide retailers around 12 o’clock EST on February 25.
That said, as we saw in September with Sony’s PS5 pre-order fiasco, it can not hurt to have your tabs ready by 9am EST, just in case some stores decide to release their stock a little early set. Although NVIDIA probably put together strict sales terms with its partners, it never hurts to be overly prepared on the day of GPU release.
Pre-order links
Now that you know exactly when the RTX 3060 is expected to go on sale, it’s time to find out where you want to buy one. NVIDIA does not sell a Founder’s Edition of the 3060, so that means all versions of the card are offered through third-party manufacturers. Consistent with the idea, you may want to start your search on third-party stores before visiting NVIDIA’s own website.
This list of retailers is not completely complete, but here are some of the best places to get a 3060 on launch day. We have saved the pages to search for the 3060 already, so hopefully they will fill in correctly as soon as the maps are available.
B&H in particular avoided the last few graphics card releases on launch day, but we thought it would be helpful to include the store on our list as an outlet once all the other options were completely exhausted.
Best tips for ordering an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
NVIDIA
You have the official release time and some links you can use to make your 3060 pre-order, so we now offer some useful tips to drop your card before the annoying bots. Some of these tips may be obvious to experienced online shoppers, but here are some retail tactics we learned after successfully securing some hot tech items during the pandemic.
- Enter payment information in advance: With the exception of the official NVIDIA store, all of the above retailers allow customers to enter their payment information into an account at any time before making a purchase. With that in mind, you need to add in advance any credit, debit or Paypal you plan to use for your store. When the rush of orders begins to come in, stores sell products to those who pay for them the fastest. They are not going to wait for the person who is still entering their card number at the checkout. If you do not like the security implications of storing credit cards, you can always delete the data after the sale has been made.
- Follow some solid sources: While updating product pages over and over again sometimes works, it also does not hurt to set up alerts for some Twitter accounts that trade on the transaction. We are partly in accounts such as Wario64 and IGN Deals which provides regular links or updates on the availability of articles on a moment-to-moment basis. The minutes it takes to send an email address to retailers will not be fast enough for the 3060, so rely on Twitter for faster information.
- Programs are fast: Also related to speed, many buyers find that buying hot items through smartphone apps is faster than using a desktop website. This is especially true if you have your payment information entered in advance. Some have also found that the RTX GPU product pages are first displayed on mobile phones. We are still personally part of our desk, but people with a good phone want to consider this route.
- Use your best hardware: It goes without saying that since you are about to communicate with sites and programs that will be heavily loaded, you should always fight with the best hardware possible. Even if you only work from a browser, make sure there are no hardware-based issues that could slow you down. Especially in the GPU race, every second counts.
- Sneaky Best Buy: While most sites like Amazon and Newegg tend to sell out all their GPU shares immediately, Best Buy is trying to weaken its sales in an effort to ensure that real people can secure their goods. This means that Best Buy, when it comes to sales times, may not have tickets available until 12:30 EST or even 13:00. Even after launch, the “Add to Cart” button can flicker on and off at an unpredictable interval. Keep a close eye on Best Buy, because you may be lucky if the 3060 is sold out elsewhere.
The NVIDIA GeForce 3060 goes on sale on February 25 for $ 329 MSRP.
Are you planning to order an RTX 3060 on Thursday? What are your best pre-order tips to secure hot items? Tell us in the comments section!