The Ongoing GPU shortage situation is a sore spot for gaming PC enthusiasts, especially since supplies might not increase until 2023. Sadly, a bunch of graphics card crooks just made the situation a whole lot worse, as an entire truckload of EVGA RTX 3000 series cards have been stolen during transit.
In a recent forum post, EVGA revealed that its stock was pinched from a truck “en route from San Francisco to our Southern California”. The notice also states that the company is aware of each graphics card taken during the incident, with individual values ranging from $329.99 to $1,959.99 MSRP.
Naturally, this suggests that GPUs from across the entire Nvidia RTX 3000 series are now missing from the supply chain, and many of the cards will likely end up on the reseller market. As a result, EVGA is advising shoppers to ask for proof of purchase before buying any related products on the second-hand market. The notice is also quick to note that it’s a civil offence to “buy or receive” the company’s swindled stock, so you might want to think twice before you go searching on the likes of Craigslist.
As you’d perhaps expect, EVGA has blacklisted serial numbers belonging to its swindled stock, meaning each card no longer has warranty privileges. Fortunately, this also means it should be fairly easy to identify the company’s pinched products using the vendors ‘check status’ page. It’s also asking anyone with details related to the incident to email [email protected] with relevant information.
It’s worth noting that the thieves in question will likely try and shift the stolen graphics cards once their market value peaks. The RTX robbers might even try and slightly undercut other resellers in terms of price, so you happen across a deal that seems too good to be true, it probably is. That said, both Nvidia and AMD’s GPUs are currently going for double their MSRP, so rogue listings may be harder to spot than you’d think.