Looks like I’m gonna keep on rocking my pre-Covid era computer without an upgrade for a few more years.
Keep it as long as possible, the new shit suuuucks, is built to break & riddled with adware.
Back in my day ;) we had to worry about keeping up with the newest tech because you needed it for the best games or whatever.
These days, my desktop from 2014 can run all of the new games that I want to play (yes, even the demanding ones) It has 32 gigs ram and a 1660 Ti. That’s really all I need, especially since most of the games I enjoy AREN’T new.
How is adware an issue? I haven’t had any of that with my Mint machine.
It’s baked into a ton of hardware updates these days. Trust me, in 5-10 years it’ll be a big deal if we don’t do something about it…like yesterday.
Also, OS doesn’t matter if it’s a bios update.
That’s…not how device firmware works.
You’re not going to get adware drivers on a Linux system unless you’re using stuff that’s supremely sketchy and also installing things you shouldn’t be. What you’re thinking of is 3rd party windows drivers.
Android runs on Linux, wouldn’t you agree that Android is compromised?
Android depends on who gave it to you. If you install Linux from a parking lot flash drive it doesn’t mean the Linux project is compromised, it means you got pwned.
I’d make the same argument about installing pre-compromised pirated windows but…windows kinda just is malware now.
… Not really. And also no.
The Android kernel is a modified version of a Linux kernel, yes.
“Android is compromised” is a very, very silly statement.
There is zero adware in Android (AOSP). Unfortunately manufacturers tend to install Gooogle Play Services, which compromises the whole device.
It’s actually scary how wrong you are while being so confident. It’s not even just wrong but also so incredibly dumb. Doesn’t matter if you’re drunk or not, you’re clearly an ignorant fucking idiot.
I mean they said “unless you’re using stuff that’s supremely sketchy and also installing things you shouldn’t be”
Also, If your motherboard installs something through a bios update, that has nothing to do with your OS. It comes before.
Please point out the bios deployed adware you are talking about, or I’ll have to assume you’re just talking from vibes.
That not how that shit is done.
The BIOS just take care of the basics, but Windows do have an API allowing the BIOS to ask for the installation of additional drivers. That process was abused (and continue to be) by multiple hardware vendors to install spywares or adwares.
Linux doesn’t have that API, and just ignore such requests.
is built to break
honestly, i kinda agree to this, the current gaafets and mbcfets designs are like fuses on a nano scale if it doesn’t have REALLY good power management. Unlike with finfets where the channels/source are still connected firmly on base to dissipate heat in case of a nasty power draw.
Give me startcraft or age of empires ii over most modern fames anyday
Yeah, same here honestly
Or maybe I should buy a refurbished gaming laptop
Luckily two and a half years ago I decided it was time for a new computer. I go more than a decade between new PCs so it was just really dumb luck that I got a new computer when I did. And the reason I can go so long between computers is because I always get way more RAM than I need when I get a new one.
So given the current state of things, it’s a little awkward to admit how much RAM is in my computer.
Sold out with pinky promises, not with actual money, no.
its nvidia and AI creating a bubble on the belief they’ll be able to get profit and get out before it pops.
But all it is… is imaginary money going around in circles. nvidia invests a trillion in AI, AI buys a trillion dollars of nvidia videocards from some nebulous point in the future where they arent made yet, nvidia invests that trillion back into AI, AI uses it to buy ridiculous amounts of ram that wont be made for years, RAM invests it back into AI, and on and on they go, generating imaginary money and value, by buying imaginary things.
under a sane government this would be investigated as raw stock manipulation and fraud
I really hope when this bubble pops nvidia is destroyed in the process along with the AI companies.
It’s the same accounting trick as enron, but intercompany instead of internal.
Nvidia already made tons of profit off it. They’re the ones selling shovels.
Then Nvida financed more shovels to the speculators in the hopes that enough of them will strike gold it will get paid back, but also created a shortage in the shovel market so the price of shovels is going through the roof.
If by “pinky promises” you mean contractually binding letters of intent, then yes. This is standard procedure in any manufacturing industry when dealing with orders of massive quantities, because it normally also requires investment from the manufacturer in equipment which they don’t make on non-binding "pinky promises).
With imaginary money
To build chips that are used as collateral for datacentres that have yet to be built, so the chips can’t be used, and they’ll just age out of usefulness.
and they’ll just age out of usefulness.
Nah, we’ll stall on this generation. Even if a new one is released, very few will pay the extra when games would alreadyhave to start becoming RAM optimized again. Even Windows just dropped their 32GB recommendation.
Without the recommendation being met, people weren’t buying windows PCs, so lower the requirement and people will buy more computers and more copies of windows. Which means they always could have just optimized better if they felt pressure.
Games will 100% do the same.
Which could be a huge thing for rational companies right now.
The big hurdle to domestic production is you’ll spend billions and by the time it’s built it’s “last gen”.
Instead of useless data centers, we could be building up domestic chip production, confident it will still produce top of the line chips when it goes live.
A literal golden opportunity, more so if China goes after Taiwan finally, you’d be the only international supplier.
As far as I know, no country is doing it tho.
Even Windows just dropped their 32GB recommendation.
Yes, but they haven’t actually done the memory optimisation work. They just plan to sell underpowered machines.
Odd to think that the Windows Vista days are coming around again.
Wasn’t that one of the reasons that people didn’t like it? A lot of manufacturers basically just crammed it onto XP-spec machines, so it ran horrendously, and was generally awful to use.
And also everyone was running garbage Windows XP applications which wanted administrator permissions and to save it’s data in the Program Files folder.
For years the accounts software we used at work required you to install it in C:\ because it couldn’t handle keeping it’s data and executable in different places.
…
They didn’t need 32 GB to run windows…
They never needed 32 GB to run windows, they never would.
Windows said every laptop needs what a gaming pc needs, because Windows wanted us to have that ram to use AI features that are coming.
Like…
They didn’t have to optimize because they never needed it to begin with
You’re right about domestic production but I think the situation is much worse. We’ve tried to make advanced chips domestically and we can’t do it. Taiwan has had decades to perfect the resource allocation, supply chains, knowledge, and work culture to make those damn things.
It should be an executive order to make them domestically, and put up with the years of failure and low output. It’s a matter of national security to be able to create and maintain computers and other advanced tech.
Biden tried to do just that. But our own beloved oompa lumpa axed that first chance it got. Because… I’m not certain it’s “reasoning”
Because it was Biden’s accomplishment. That alone meant it had to go. He’s a vindictive, narcissistic toddler.
Taiwan has had decades to perfect the resource allocation, supply chains, knowledge, and work culture to make those damn things.
…
Uh, Apple taught them from scratch in less than 20 years.
Now they have a proven plan on how to do it, what to look out for.
Like, the on part Apple didn’t understand is that China was ok with Apple employees being treated as disposable, because they’d burn out, quit, (maybe) recover, and by then alreybe replaced.
Now an Apple trained employee needs a job and Apple won’t hire them back. Repeat that tens of thousands of times and before Apple releazied all they were doing was training their competition, it was too late.
It wouldn’t be “years of failure and low output”. It would be years of nothing to build the infrastructure and then flip a switch.
As a bonus this makes chips for weapons in parallel, something we desperately need to do.
This ain’t just a crackpot idea, and it’s not just mine.
It’s just any country that does it, risks kissing off the only manufacturer till up and running. It’s fucking with trillions of dollars. We need an arms race scenario with multiple countries trying to be first.
Source on TSMC hiring ex-Apple employees lol
Apple uses TSMC’s services because there’s a huge difference between what Apple does (chip design) vs what TSMC does (chip manufacturing).
It wouldn’t be “years of failure and low output”. It would be years of nothing to build the infrastructure and then flip a switch.
No, the failure and low output come AFTER the switch is flipped, unless you get a TON of industry know-how from TSMC. First you have nothing, then you have low yields until you figure out the processes.
I know you know this, but PC RAM is useful for a lot more than games. Workstation PCs are where I find this situation really hurts. I suppose that to an extent, some of what you describe might apply to development and design tools.
Before this shortage took off, I got a rock-5-itx (ARM computer) with a whopping 32GB of RAM which was definitely overkill for the home server I use it as, but now it feels insanely decadent. I’m looking for ways to utilize it, like running Immich with the full AI facial recognition features and whatnot, Nextcloud with the full text search, etc.
None of the chips built for datacentres are useful for gaming. None of the RAM in these chips is useful for normal computing - even servers - much less home gaming.
AI compute believes it’s still in a “race” so they won’t want to be using previous gen chips unless forced to in some way.
This isn’t the “dark fibre” of the AI bubble. It’s just a future pile of trash.
None of the chips built for datacentres are useful for gaming. None of the RAM in these chips is useful for normal computing - even servers - much less home gaming.
…
Yes, literally everyone knows that…
If you ask why the production of two different form factors that use the same infrastructure could effect the quantities produced, I can probably explain that for you.
But it’s like being surprised you have to wait in line at checkout despite being the only person in Costco buying a single can of grape soda, so hopefully you can figure it out from here.
Next time you feel like you’re missing something though, it’s easier to just ask first rather than hoping someone else takes all this time instead of just ignoring you and not explaining what you’re missing
Things don’t add up. I see articles about computer parts becoming unavailable along with articles about data center plans being cancelled or not getting built. I assume the data centers ARE getting built and those second articles are lies to calm people down.
OpenAI has a deal with Samsung and SK Hynix to purchase 900,000 DRAM wafers per month, or 40% of global DRAM output. These are just uncut wafers, accumulating in warehouses that serve two purposes:
- Prepares them for the distribution to data centers,
- Manipulates the supply chain to squeeze their competitors, who are left with slim pickings.
You and I are the victims of this until the bubble finally pops and the deal falls through.
You and I are the victims
We’re way downstream. The “victims” are all the SaaS and smaller market cap firms that need business compute for accounting and commerce.
Case in point, I got a request for a new server delayed three months because we blew through our Q1 budget for new hardware faster than expected.
That’s not really hurting me, personally. But it means our server teams need to do more with less even as the business expands.
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It’s because it’s a Ponzi scheme. Huge amounts of investment dollars are being dumped into AI and anything related to AI. If you build any kind of chips that are used in AI datacenters, you suddenly have a bunch of money invested in your company. What do you do with it? You make a deal with OpenAI (or one of the other ones) that you’ll invest that money into them if they agree to buy a bunch of chips from you. Now you have revenue on books and are showing a reasonable return on that investment.
If you were a chip manufacturer and actually believed that there was a big future in AI, you’d be using those investment dollars to build some more chip fabs. And some of these companies are doing that. But overall, moving money to another company so they will order chips for datacenters that aren’t built yet (and may never be built) is just bubble ponzi shenanigans.
Computer hardware depreciates in value very quickly. You don’t buy hardware today so you can install that hardware in a datacenter that won’t be online for another year.
Capitalists wet dream is to make more money without investing any new capital. Chip fabs are in a situation like that where they can make buttload more money without changing anything except charging more.
Nothing will change because the alternative is investing billions just to keep the price down. They’d rather pocket the billions now.
If you were a chip manufacturer and actually believed that there was a big future in AI, you’d be using those investment dollars to build some more chip fabs.
Major new semiconductor fabrication plant projects are expanding across the United States, led by a $16.8 billion SpaceX and Tesla “Terafab” project in Grimes County, Texas, massive expansions by TSMC in Arizona, and Samsung’s ongoing fab development in Taylor, Texas.
Computer hardware depreciates in value very quickly. You don’t buy hardware today so you can install that hardware in a datacenter that won’t be online for another year.
Hardly unusual for speculators to buy up a hot commodity the day of release and then resell it into an inflated secondary market a few days or weeks later.
SpaceX and Tesla “Terafab” project
Ah, so the only thing we know with confidence is that it’s definitely not happening.
TSMC was because of the Chips Act and it’s not DRAM.
TSCM’s Arizona plant was announced in May 2020.
And it has much more to do with defense industry senators brokering the deal than Biden’s presidency.
The Chips Act was in committee with bipartisan support before the election was decided. Senator Warner joined U.S. senator John Cornyn in introducing the $52 billion CHIPS for America Act was back in June of 2020.
Sure there’s plans, maybe even some ribbon cutting with some gold shovels to “break ground” or whatever. These are things you do when running a Big Store type of scam.
Production is usually sold a year in advance. This includes orders from retail outlets.
My take is more of a:
1000 DCs were planned
200 are getting cancelled
800 are yet to be built, built, supplied with productsand of the 800 remaining DCs, some are buying the stock that is now free or the orders are rerouted by the ordering company to other locations that also need more hardware.
What did that Michigan politician say “we’re used to ignoring people and just doing it anyway” something along those lines…
Dodge must be pretty happy.
This guy actually Making RAM at Home
Really interesting watch actually. But uh, I don’t think we’re gaming on homemade RAM anytime soon lol
My kid wants to build a gaming PC for their birthday.
Am I cooked?
Your bank account certainly will be.
That said, if you buy refurb you can put together a decent rig on a budget.
Overcooked at this point
Recently built a computer for my kiddo. Beg, borrow, and steal. And keep an eye out for motherboard and memory combos from new egg.
SODIMM ram is still cheap. You could build them a ddr4 intel system with integrated graphics (ideally Arc cores or plenty of EUs) that will run some older or simpler games at 40-60fps with a little upscaling, and the whole thing could be done for 500-700 I reckon.
Either that or maybe build an AM4 if you find a used GPU at a good price.
Microcenter or some similar physical store is probably your own hope. They run pretty decent deals to bring you into the store.
I’d recommend visiting one for Black Friday/cyber Monday. It’s probably your only hope for things not to be ridiculously overpriced. Instead you’ll just pay for very overpriced items.
Why are AI companies buying consumer grade RAM?
They aren’t?
They are buying up capacity from manufacturers who are stopping production of DRAM and pivot to HBM which is more profitable. Abandoning DRAM which affects a lot more than just “consumer grade RAM”
They’re publicly traded companies. Their investor meetings point out that HBM is not more profitable.
It is in theory more guaranteed profit because it’s a smaller number of bigger contracts. But that’s the gamble they’re making.
But isn’t it kind of a game of chicken then for the consumer markets? Whoever gambles the other way, can win in both volume and availability, being able to cut the others off market just by pricing, enabled by the prior two points, get brand points by the ladle while at it, and kind of become a staple of the consumer market. When the bubble pops and others return, the market isn’t the same and everyone else sits at a disadvantage?
Yes.
Which is why it’s bad that the only 3 companies with capacity currently are colluding.
Didn’t know people liked shitty trucks that much
You joke but drunk drivers love those trucks.
*didn’t know there were so many drunk drivers
Mustang marketing department doing overtime
Don’t worry all orders will be canceled when the bubble pops.
Replace some of the labor you would use to pay for RAM and put it into learning a lighter weight operating system.
Most roundabout “install Linux” I’ve seen yet.
GG my fellow PC enthusiasts
How long was crypto graphics card demand ? Anyone remember ?
GPU prices have gone up and up since RTX 2000 era, basically.
My 3090 is about as expensive than it was at launch, 6 years ago.
There were crypto slumps, many moons ago, but I don’t think that’s happening again.
Anecdotally, according to the internet my ~14 year old graphics card is worth more than 2x what I paid for it. So…
After the last one they never really lowered prices back, we were still buying near crypto era priced GPUs before the AI boom.
No problem. So much enshittification on the web these days, don’t need so much RAM, I might sell some.
