Thanks! Now I just need it to arrive safely!

Tbf, EA was doing their "on the house" program for around 2-3 years when Origin was in it's early stages, then they stopped when they came out with their Origin sub service. GoG is still doing the odd free game give-away here and there as well. The ones found on Steam are primarily due to devs wanting to do give-aways though. 

I feel like Epic are playing the long game in the worst way possible tbh. 

Yuri might be able to play Cyberpunk 2077 @ over 30fps with his new rig!

Well the new patch for 2077 didn't exactly do much. I still ran into a bug where the gun shop icon on my mini map went wonky all over the place.

Also I called for my car, it drove up to me, but then while I decided to take a call, the damn thing drove off without me, and I tried calling it back lmao. It never came back, so I had to go steel someone's. Also the tire tracks are still bugged and aren't fully connected to the ground.

I think the whole working from home thing CDPR are doing, means it'll take many a month for them to fully sort out their game.

Reading the reddit thread for the Nvidia GR patch, and it feels like Nvidia is purposefully trying to fuck over the 1080ti series: https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/k9tith/game_ready_driver_46079_faqdiscussion/

Still kind of a dick move, especially when you have to consider that their latest cards are expensive, out of stock and also not performing up to spec either.

I know many a company pull the scummy "planned obsolescence", but it's still a dick move to do this, when the 1080ti is like 3 1/2 years old, not like 5-7yrs old or anything.

So here is the full email that Hardware Unboxed as gotten:

"Hi Steve,

We've reached a critical juncture in the adoption of raytracing, and it has gained industry-wide support from top titles, developers, game engines, APIs, consoles, and GPUs. As you know, NVIDIA is all-in for raytracing. RT is important and core to the future of gaming, but it's also one part of our focused R&D efforts on revolutionizing video games and creating a better experience for gamers. This philosophy is also reflected in developing technologies such as DLSS, Reflex, and Broadcast that offer immense value to customers that are purchasing a GPU. They don't get free GPUs; they work hard for their money and they keep their GPUs for multiple years.

Despite all this progress, your GPU reviews and recommendations have continued to focus singularly on rasterization performance, and you have largely discounted all of the other technologies we offer gamers. It is very clear from your community commentary that you do not see things the same way that we, gamers, and the rest of the industry do. Our Founder's Edition boards and other NVIDIA products are being allocated to media outlets that recognize the changing landscape of gaming and the features that are important to gamers and anyone buying a GPU today, be it for gaming, content creation, or studio and stream.

Hardware Unboxed should continue to work with our add-in card partners to secure GPUs to review. Of course, you will still have access to obtain pre-release drivers and press materials. That won't change. We are open to revisiting this in the future should your editorial direction change.

Bryan Del Rizzo
Director of Global PR, GeForce"

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/kbijzo/nvidia_might_actually_be_evil_wan_show_december/

Honestly I don't fully disagree with Nvidia's statement as Hardware Unboxed stance on Ray Tracing is pure nonsense. But I do think Nvidia's wording could be better as one could interpret it as they only want Ray Tracing and nothing else. Which to be fair, they obviously do but realistically, they are obviously fine with Mostly Raster and some Ray Tracing instead of All Raster and No Ray Tracing. A reviewer should present all options to the consumer, not just the ones they see fit as that is not what PC gaming is about.

Still, I am expecting Nvidia to back-peddle at some point from all the pressure they are facing right now.

So my final build is looking to be like this:

Strix 3080
Ryzen 5800X
Asus Dark Hero Motherboard
G.Skill Trident Z 32GB RGB
Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB SSD
O11 Dynamic XL Case
Cable Mod cables
750 Watt Evga G3 Power Supply
Noctua NH-D15 cpu cooler

As someone who truly believes that RT is the future of gaming and not just the next 10 years but the next 50 years, I cannot fault a reviewer for going a different angle. Reviews are opinion pieces and it is vital for a wide array of different angles to be represented. Reviews from Nvidia fanboys are just as important as reviews from AMD fanboys. Might as well have a review from a person who doesn't game or thinks gaming is a lame waste of time. Those are all important angles because there are different kinds of people out there and they rely on reviews that are tailored to their position. Only then will it be possible for someone to make an educated decision of how much a product is worth to them.

That's an issue I have with game reviews for example. My taste isn't necessarily mainstream so I'd love to have reviews of people who don't gush about that lame mainstream gritty realism. As is I probably can't take any Cyberpunk review seriously or as a recommendation. I would need to read a review of a person who absolutely hates the game and glosses over all of the things other reviewers love and instead names all the bullshit I might encounter. That is much more helpful to me than a glowing review from someone who tries to be objective about it and only goes at it from a neutral or mainstream position.

There you go. 

Nvidia's latest 4k cards can do 1440p Ray Tracing at 60. Clap clap claptrap. Now send the free card to Hardware Unboxed or send one to me.