The interesting thing about this is that people are now stuck with whatever PC they had when the prices suddenly shot up. In the past there was always a hardware adoption curve, where some people had the newest stuff, other people waited for it to get cheaper before they bought it.
In the past, if a game company was developing a game that was scheduled to be released in 2 years, they could look at what hardware people were using now, and estimate what people would be using in 2 years. Graphics and gameplay that was possible on game studio machines running the latest hardware would be too much for home PCs when development at the studio started. But, by the time the game was ready, home machines would have caught up and people could experience these amazing graphics at home. Now, I assume game studios are going to have to re-think things and assume that most people at home will still be playing on the old gaming PC they built before the AI price apocalypse.
Next you won’t be able to own computers yourself. It’s all going to be rented through sky high subscription fees. Technofeudalism intensifies.
*capitalism.
it’s ruined everything it’s touched. including my porn / gaming rig.
And my porn gaming rig!
And my gaming porn rig!
And my gaping morn rig!
And my AUX!
… Morn like DS9 Morn? Quark’s bar Morn? The Lurian?
Ewww
Yeah y’know, morn porn?
How is that capitalism when “who you know” is the one most important factor deciding what you can do?
Those AI companies don’t have and never earned the money they are investing. The people lending them the money also don’t have and never earned it.
Capitalism is a mode of production where the means of production (ie. capital) are owned by individuals who then use that ownership to exploit workers for their surplus labor value to turn it into profit.
Contrary to popular belief, “true capitalism” does not require free markets.
And what you call a society where the people “exploiting workers for their surplus value” don’t own the capital, but just know the person that command the police?
Or are you under the impression that rich executives or investment funds own capital?
Exactly. Capitalism, as the other commenter said. There is a reason it is called “capitalism”, as in capital, and not “rightfully earned profit”.
You motherboard will come with AI and will have to be connected to the Internet like game consoles so they can mine your data and push ads to you!
Laughs in evil corporate AI!
Just stick a Valve logo on it.
Call it Steam Vapour or some shit and all the G*mers would eat it up.
My decision to buy a top end card for my 2019 base build PC in Q4 2025, Quickly spiraled into a panic buy of a full stack of new computer parts.
I calculated it last night. I spent about $4000 CAD in 2019 on my build then, which was high end for the time (tack on another 3000 or so in upgrades through its life, 16>32 RAM then switching it out for 64gb, 2070 > 3080 > 5080, and at least one SSD addition)
I havent even built it yet and I’ve spent like 6800 CAD on my next PC, I didnt plan on making the switch until Q4 2026 when my ESU Windows 10 expired but the rampocalypse and everything-pocalypse has forced my hand into buying now at bad prices, instead of buying later at worse.
I wouldnt have even lifted a finger if It wasn’t for the fact that my machine is so old, its stable but for how long?
Did the GPU shortages ever really end, though? We just have more shortages on top of it.
It did but the inflated prices stayed because enough people were willing to pay them. If people don’t abstain from buying ram and storage for the next 18 months then those prices will stay where they are too.
They ended for about a month, a month and a half ago.
Maybe not PSU shortages, but definitely power supply shortages.
I love gas turbines! I love pollution spewing power plants reliant on a scarce natural resource! (heavy /s)
That’s why I’m planning on investing in a solar+battery system for my home this spring. Well, that, and because my electric rate keeps rising.
If you don’t already know this, you should look into used solar from solar power plants. They cycle out their equipment on a schedule, so it’s still got most of its life left, but for like half the price of new solar.
Downside is you have to figure out all the parts you need yourself, and get the whole shebang shipped, which can be expensive if you don’t live near where they originate (still less than new solar, ofc). You also need to arrange to install and hook them up. The install portion can easily be done by anyone if they are relatively handy, and then just have them professionally connected, which saves even more.
Sorry for the German. :D
This stuff reminds me of all those capo dogs who would constantly talk about how hard it was to acquire a car in the USSR
I spent months trying to get my GPU, I finally got it and settled on my ram figuring “I’ll just wait a year or so then upgrade when there are better options.” Whelp, there goes that plan.
Built my computer in 2019. It may be the last one I build.
I wanted to build a computer a couple years ago, but the prices they were charging for individual components even then just didn’t make sense compared to buying a more affordable, comparably strong pre-built.
I can’t imagine trying to build one now with these RAM prices, it’s insane.
I haven’t built my own computer since the 90s. Early 90s. It seems like you will always get a way better deal buying a comparable prebuilt one. And then there’s all the goddamn hassle. But I guess if that’s what you are into, maybe that’s fun. Like people who work on rebuilding old cars. I’m a software guy. Hardware is always such a pain in the ass to deal with.
Same. Still holding up quite OK in 1080p Gaming though. Wanting to wait for the GPU prices to drop but oh well.
I just needed some fucking m.2s and I was done, I thought I made it. I was wrong.
There was a huge PSU price hike in the early 2020s… They’ve since come down, but I did snag a Corsair 1KW Platinum for like 130USD on a sick sale back then JUST IN CASE.
I guess I was so caught up in the GPU shortage that went under my radar. Seemingly nothing is immune from these component shortages.
I’m still recovering from the crypto mining caused GPU shortages during covid.
I built my PC shortly before the GPU shortage and plan on not updating till the RAM shortage is over (not that I could update earlier since money is currently an issue)
I bought a used workstation (xenon, ecc memory) pre-covid hit. I swapped the processor with the highest spec one that would fit the socket (thanks for changing sockets so frequently intel… not) and 64 GB ecc momory. Both were cheap because they were used. About 6 months before the GPU crazyness I bought a used 1070 TI for around $200. Upgrading the GPU a few years later was out of the question and now upgrading the whole thing is out of the question.
Due to the processor age I’m just going to install Linux on it and cozy into my older game library. Gaming time is pretty limited these days anyway due to having kids and these days I’m doing most of my gaming on a handheld.
I hope this can help make open source RISC-V and ARM systems more common.
It’ll probably spur on a higher influx of soldered unified memory based systems until even desktops are commonly soldered in terms of ram and processors. It might even allow for new socket standards, since consumers would be begging at that point.
It kinda even aligns with my theory of how electronics improve through standards becoming incredibly commonplace but stale, which then creates new form factors that are soldered, and then the rest of the market follows, creating new modularity standards to replace the old ones.
I got really lucky. bought my pc parts end of november and paid ~1800 euro for a full pc build with a 9800x3d, 9070xt and 64gb ram.
64 GB ram you say?
GET HIM BOYS HE GOT RAM
