Online tech retailer Newegg briefly ran a CPU and GPU raffle yesterday that offered a small chance for lucky 'winners' to pay full price (and then some) on today's most in-demand tech, including AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs and Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics cards.
Best gaming monitor: pixel-perfect panels for your PC
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I guess that's just the state of PC building in 2021: waiting in line for a chance to buy the latest CPU or GPU, and one bundled with at least one other product you didn't necessarily want or need. But I suppose even that's better than bots reportedly running rampant snapping up what little stock there is, leaving just an out-of-stock icon staring endlessly back at the rest of us hopeful builders.
The 'Newegg Shuffle' event was only live for a brief moment but Reddit user u/LordNazo was kind enough to snap a picture for posterity.
Hopeful shoppers were required to choose from a variety of combo deals that paired either an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, Ryzen 5 5600X, or Asus ROG STRIX RTX 3080 Gaming graphics card up alongside a motherboard—a compatible AM4 board with the CPUs or an Intel Z490 alongside the GPU.
Shortly thereafter those that entered were drawn from at random and emails despatched notifying the 'winners', as Newegg calls them—it's a sad state of affairs that the prize is simply paying full price for the latest PC parts.
The reaction to Newegg's event hasn't been particularly positive, either. The Reddit thread on r/buildapcsales is filled with users complaining about the 'prize', in large part due to these being combos and not single items, and the fact any of this is necessary to begin with. Perhaps that last one is symptomatic of a larger issue presenting itself in the tech industry today, and therefore out of Newegg's hands.
The top comment on the thread compares the system to loot boxes:
While others simply wallowed in hopelessness:
While some had hoped for a reprieve from PC part shortages in 2021, it's clear we're not out of the woods yet. Nvidia suspects it won't be able to return to some semblance of normality in stock until May, according to recent comments made by its CFO Collette Kress, and AMD has largely gone dark on Ryzen 5000 and Radeon RX 6000 stock replenishment.