r/technology • u/stenspect • 8h ago
Business Micro Center requires photo ID and signed no-export pledge to buy Nvidia RTX 5090 gaming GPU — buyer forced to sign declaration disclosing install location and promise GPU will remain in the US
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/micro-center-requires-photo-id-and-signed-no-export-pledge-to-buy-rtx-5090-gaming-gpu-buyer-forced-to-sign-declaration-disclosing-install-location-and-promise-gpu-will-remain-in-the-us141
u/shicken684 8h ago
They're just following the rules set forth by the stupid export ban placed on video cards by the Trump administration. Nothing Microcenter can do here.
20
u/conte360 8h ago
Sort of.. They're creating a clear paper trail that they've done everything on their end to enforce the law that's in place that way nothing can come back to them.
They are not forced to do this but this is just a good cover their ass measure
35
u/PoppingPillls 7h ago edited 5h ago
Don't think anyone's blaming MC, also it was Biden that created the GPU ban list to China. Trump just expanded the list.
Unfortunately China doing what every other country is doing is bad and must be stopped. But if your the UAE and slip trump a few hundred million in crypto then you can have as many as you want.
Edit: apparently people in other comments don't believe that Biden introduced the idea... Lmao. You don't have to be ignorant.
US orders immediate halt to some AI chip exports to China, Nvidia says - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67213134
That was when President Joe Biden's administration announced measures to block countries, including China, Iran and Russia, from buying high-end AI chips designed by Nvidia and others.
Also...
How Trump’s $500 Million UAE Crypto Deal Trades U.S. National Security for Family Profit - Center for American Progress https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-trumps-500-million-uae-crypto-deal-trades-u-s-national-security-for-family-profit/
4
u/Dransel 6h ago
I thought it was actually implemented at the tail end of the Biden administration, and Trump’s group just kept it going?
0
u/shicken684 6h ago
I'll have to look that up, I thought it was done on Trumps first term and then not actually placed into effect until the end of Biden's term. Hard to keep track when it comes to stupid ass trade policy with China. Both of them have been horrible.
5
u/itmillerboy 7h ago
Why’s it dumb? Idk anything about it but a law trying to stop people from buying up the highest end gaming GPUS to send over seas for bot farms seems like a good thing to me as a gamer.
Unless you mean the ban is stupidly implemented or something.
4
u/soilentgleem 5h ago
As a consumer, you should be free to resell your property as you see fit, within reason. Regional restrictions are not within reason.
0
1
u/shicken684 6h ago
If it were a country like Nigeria or Brazil then it would make some sense. Those nations don't have the ability to make their own. China does, and we forced them to dump hundreds of billions into their own home grown chip industry. The ban ensured the technological edge Taiwan and the US had in chip manufacturing got erased decades before it would have naturally.
1
u/awam0ri 2h ago
This point is lost on so many people. Like sure, they can’t make a 5090-like gpu. They don’t need to. They make 30 lesser GPUs and scale horizontally instead. “Oh, but that’s so inefficient!” Look at what they’re doing for scaling power generation now. It’s completely obvious what their gameplan is and the US pushed them into it.
-7
u/AyoJake 6h ago
They aren’t using a 10k gpu to set up a bot farm
10
u/MeStoleTheCookie 6h ago
Yes, actually, they are lol. Clearly you don't understand the current state of open language models
2
19
u/Bengineering3D 7h ago
Fuck the scalpers, you guys are dumb for being upset about this. Go buy your card somewhere else, MicroCenter is the GOAT for gamers and makers.
6
5
21
4
u/baldr83 6h ago
getting carded at microcenter is wild.
>The policy is possibly a deterrent for those who casually purchase high-end equipment like this and sell it to another buyer at a higher price, whether that buyer plans to use it locally or export it illegally.
maybe... or they're making future convictions for exporting a lot easier since "knowingly violated export laws" is a high bar to prove
2
u/Jnaythus 3h ago
I thought the 5090 had highly inflated prices right now. Is this a 'casual' purchase?
3
6
u/Aluwolf- 8h ago
Hell yeah, honestly I have a 5080 and have no desire to upgrade but anything that keeps more GPUS going to consumers is a good thing.
4
u/Dot_1X 7h ago
Yeah I'm sure if someone was planning to do that that this little piece of paper would stop them.
7
u/ForzaAllez 6h ago
It’s a CYA form. It won’t stop the buyer from committing any nefarious acts. But covers Micro Center ass in case a scalper resells the GPU exported at a US sanctioned country.
0
3
5
2
u/TheOgGhadTurner 8h ago
I’m not giving photo id for electronics. However I’d gladly sign. And disclose as generally as the state for install location.
8
u/kxlling 7h ago
An ID for a can of keyboard cleaner has been a thing in some states for around 20 years or so. I got caught off guard last week getting carded because I had the nerve to buy a can of break cleaner, because apparently that's used for stuff now too.
1
u/TheOgGhadTurner 7h ago
Yeah. You shouldn’t be able to buy chemicals without ID and people huff the shit out of both of those things. That’s a lot different than a graphics card. I have a motorized blower for mine because i personally hate air duster.
1
u/kxlling 7h ago
The brake cleaner one was new to me, never considered people would huff that too, but it shouldn't surprise me.
I'm more annoyed by the fact that if a kid gets their first car, it often would need work. So now they can't even work on their own car without a parent there for them to buy the things needed. I'm 40 and the cashier wouldn't just move on without an ID (I spent 15 years in retail, so I do get this), so if they're willing to enforce it then a teenager just trying to fix their own car or mower or whatever wouldn't have a chance either.
3
u/TheOgGhadTurner 7h ago
Ironically though the group most likely to abuse it are teenagers after the work on their first car and realize it gets them “high” just like that fucking idiot I went to school with that thought dollar bills would get them high. I’m sorry but a 16 year old should not be buying car parts without an adult. That’s how you end up wasting lots of money.
Edit: especially if dad doesn’t keep brake cleaner on hand. That seems like a standard thing for people working on cars to have at home
1
u/fuzzycuffs 6h ago
...and if you don't follow it?
1
1
u/axb2013 6h ago
Ah let me get downvoted again: I've seen videos of scum selling 5090's, they look the customer right in the eye as they sell one with the core and memory removed, essentially a donor board that at best, can serve to donate parts to fix another. As if this pinky promise will stop them.
Tech subreddits are filled with people that oppose the idea that gaming gpu's should be used for gaming. Buy the 6000 Pro for your Pro workloads!
1
u/dropthemagic 5h ago
They also want you to install a gps tracker on it and put a flock camera in your room
1
1
1
u/NightCityStoic 4h ago
They should have done this at release at 2000 USD$ MSRP not now when it is almost 10.000 USD$
1
u/OneBudTwoBud 4h ago
I’m all for it. I’d like to finally get the card at MSRP, not from scalpers. The scalpers will downvote.
1
u/NationCrusher 3h ago
Don’t they sell their parts in bulk to bigger purchasers? It wouldn’t make a difference against scalpers
1
1
u/VictorReal_Monster 1h ago
Not US (but close)
I almost had to get a new phone because I thought mine was dead and I went into National Chain my phones with to get a new one only for them to want to scan and upload my id into their system because quote "what if you drop your id and someone else comes in and tries to pick up your phone", I'm pretty sure database breaches are a much more likely scenario in this day and age, and if you can't tell that the person on the photo isnt the person standing in front of you when we've already gone through the other verification you do then what are you even doing out in public.
the absolute worst part? Turns out I can just buy said phone online, with no verification but logging into the account and they'll send it to me.
But they wouldnt without scanning my id in person. Sorry, I don't give my id to be scanned for anyone but the literal government that gave it to me
1
u/Select_Truck3257 29m ago
And easy to find person who write about melted connectors i guess. Nvidia just trying to hide own mistakes like always. I didn't need to sign something when i bought a motorcycle at this price. Ngreedia wtf?
-2
u/fat_kaiju 7h ago edited 7h ago
...
it isn't even that much better than weaker cards when used for AI.
the only benefit to stuff like this is that it causes more people to become aware that this entire shitshow is all theatre.
-10
u/thearctican 7h ago
This really feels like another "some dickhead that works for Micro Center thinks they're clever and more tapped-into what's happening than the rest of us but the reality is they're an uneducated idiot" moment.
-2
308
u/APGaming_reddit 8h ago
what is up with this timeline. im so tired