This is why 'archinstaller' script was created (text based so not a gui but a UI at least) that basically does the same as a bazzite gui installer script.
Looks and feels similar to me ;-)
But I hear 'ya and I agree hopefully it won't be a long wait
Yesterday I did some testing (gaming actually

) and a saw a constant ~3200Mhz core clock (w/o any OC on my end) with some 300+ power draw in a UE5 based game.
Not sure if silicon lotto or these chips are this good and I am not complaining for $599
This is my gripe with MC. They do this because they want to make sure that each of them get their commission for each sold card.
It would have been so much faster to put the cards in a pile and print out the paper for each of them beforehand and hand that out to the people waiting in line.
Actually that is how it was when the first time happened we must had to be lined up before opening on a launch day. I recall staff was waling along the line outside and asking and discussing what card people need then handed over the printed paper for that card with their commission sticker on it. So when I got inside I essentially was only lining up for the cashier.
It was faster and smoother.
But I assume there were people cheating/misusing this system so we slowly ended up with what we have now. Which is the worst. But this is life
I think that the biggest problem with their system was that they made everyone wait to checkout to pick up their cards, and that took forever! We were watching inside while waiting, and some people took over 10 minutes to check out, which is absurd, with hundreds of people waiting!
Either they should have just given us the cards from the start, or done what they eventually ended up doing: have a manager (or three) in the queue picking up the sheets and then the cards and running them to the customer either in the queue or at the register. Eventually (just before I got to the registers), one manager started doing that. But he still waited until we were at the front of the line going to the actual register. So, we were still sitting there waiting (and backing up the line) while he got them.
tldr?
I'm not reading a novel.
It was a 3.5 hour experience.
Right from my post (You can stick to the first sentence and maybe the third of the third point, if it's too much effort for you to read a whole paragraph):
A few things that struck me from talking to others:
1) the primary motivating factor for most people was that they'd heard that prices were going up, either from manufacturers and stores raising them, or more commonly Trump's tariffs.
2) Nvidia was pretty universally hailed as the bad guys, for their lack of stock, their overprices, and all the other mishaps they'd had.
3) but the most striking thing of all to me was that almost no one had any idea which card they wanted, besides a vague idea that they MIGHT want one of the MSRP models. A few people wanted a white one to match their build or some other specific interest, but even then, they didn't really care to investigate the specifics. And while maybe a little under half of the people I talked to were hoping to get one of the MSRP models, the majority didn't care. The general assumption was that those us of that far back in the line weren't going to get one of them. Remember, we had THREE HOURS in line, with nothing to do, but talk to each other. And they had their phones in their hands, checking the stock of the different cards. And I pointed out the spreadsheet to many of them. But almost no one was looking at the actual details of the differences between the cards. They would just be happy to get any of them, even if it was $150-200 more than MSRP. It was so weird to me. I had enough trouble convincing myself to blow $600, but to spend $150-200 more on cards with the same specs seemed just crazy. I just can't comprehend spending $600-700 without doing at least SOME research! One important thing to note is that most of the cards that went out of stock on the website while we were waiting were the more expensive models. Only one of the $600 cards sold out before I got in the store, 3 hours later.
Mate, i just read the first line:
"Ok, so I'll relate my experience"
and the last one:
"By the next day, they reported everything sold out."
In short would I be correct to assume you arrived on day two expecting stock, only to leave empty handed with nothing but a great story?
Nope. If you're read any further, you'd see that I got an overclocked model for $600.
"I upgraded my GPU to the 9070 XT series after watching reviews and seeing a $380 trade-in offer for my old card. I aimed for an MSRP model (Sapphire Pulse, Gigabyte Gaming OC), but things sold out quickly online. I rushed to MicroCenter, waited in a massive line for 3 hours, and observed that most people didn’t know what card they wanted, with many willing to overpay by $150-200 for the same specs. I eventually got the $600 Gigabyte card, despite others ending up with more expensive models. The store was slow, with confused customers and disorganized checkout. The line remained long even after I left. It was chaotic, but I managed to secure a card under MSRP, which felt like an accomplishment!"
Good summary. Maybe I should hire you to rewrite all of my posts everywhere! ;-)
The trade-in was only at Newegg, who sold out with a card in my cart. So I never traded my GRE in. I did, later go back to Micro Center and traded in two older 6800 XT and 6700 XT's (they only take back cards you bought at MicroCenter) for much less.
Side note: MC accepted my 6800 XT card that Newegg had previously rejected. So, it was working fine. I'm guessing that the excuse Newegg had (though they don't offer any explanations at all!) was that the serial number label sticker on the card was partially scratched off, despite most digits showing and matching the number on the box I sent with it. So, keep your serial stickers clean and intact!
This is my gripe with MC. They do this because they want to make sure that each of them get their commission for each sold card.
It would have been so much faster to put the cards in a pile and print out the paper for each of them beforehand and hand that out to the people waiting in line.
Actually that is how it was when the first time happened we must had to be lined up before opening on a launch day. I recall staff was waling along the line outside and asking and discussing what card people need then handed over the printed paper for that card with their commission sticker on it. So when I got inside I essentially was only lining up for the cashier.
It was faster and smoother.
But I assume there were people cheating/misusing this system so we slowly ended up with what we have now. Which is the worst. But this is life
The biggest problem was that they didn't have the stock handy and had to go find and get each one individually, which took forever. And they couldn't grab any matching card from that model. It had to be the specific one on the paper. At first, they had each cashier go up to the pickup desk to get them after you got there, which took forever. While we were waiting outside, we saw some people standing at the cashiers waiting for over 10 minutes, as the lines got longer and longer! Eventually, they stopped letting people into the store for quite a while to try to go through the long line at checkout. They should have had someone working the line to take the papers and retrieve the cards.
Eventually, a manager started taking the papers, but he did it at the front of the line as we went to the cashiers, leaving us and the cashiers doing basically nothing but waiting for several unnecessary minutes as the line got longer.
In the end, I got one, so I'm glad. But there was no good reason for making us wait that long. yes, they sold over 500 cards. But it took them over 6 hours to do that, even with 8 cashiers on duty, with lines growing over 3 hours -- all of which is absurd.
Ironically, they apparently got a ton more in on Friday, though those sold out quickly, too. I wonder how backed up the lines got, since most people assumed that once they were gone, they were gone for a while.