When it comes to the launch of Big Navi graphics cards – and indeed Ryzen 5000 processors – AMD is apparently determined to avoid the mistakes Nvidia made with the availability and stock levels of its RTX 3000 products.
Videocardz highlighted on Twitter that YouTube leaker RedGamingTech managed to get hold of a document purportedly from AMD providing guidelines to retailers on defeating the likes of the bots and scalpers who plagued Nvidia’s Ampere GPU launch.
AMD issues guidelines to retailers to prevent Radeon RX 6000 scalping https://t.co/5ZGk7ogaFBOctober 20, 2020
Those outlets selling RX 6000 graphics cards and Ryzen 5000 CPUs are advised to use some form of bot detection and management, and to make use of CAPTCHA verification.
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When (or if) inventory dries up, a queue-based notification system is also mentioned to let customers reserve their place in line for when stock later becomes available, which is something we’ve seen EVGA do with its RTX 3000 cards recently.
AMD is also urging retailers to switch to manual processing of orders when products are launched, to fully verify orders and again to try and avoid bot purchases.
Other measures include obvious steps like ensuring only one product can be purchased per household.
Working together
Retailers are urged to reach out to their AMD rep to “review which of these measures work” for them.
AMD noted: “Let’s work together to ensure, as much as possible, that AMD’s new CPUs and GPUs get into the hands of the gamers and enthusiasts who they are designed for at launch and throughout the holiday season.”
And you certainly can’t argue with that sentiment, although thwarting bot users looking to make a profit reselling graphics cards is a very thorny and difficult task – but certainly, any countermeasures that make things more difficult for scalpers are welcome.
As for the stock levels of RX 6000 GPUs, AMD has already made some promises – or at least dropped some heavy hints – that stock levels of graphics cards will be better than what we saw with Nvidia’s RTX 3000 range. Although admittedly that won’t exactly be difficult…
AMD Big Navi GPUs are set to be unveiled on October 28, just a week from now, and Ryzen 5000 processors (with a free copy of Far Cry 6 bundled) have already been revealed and go on sale come November 5.
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