I was a bit put off by it, because that's not normally like Jay to suggest such advice. Kinda came off a bit LTT-like, you know, ad-sponsored LTT-like.

Also I watched Tech Yes's response to jay's vid and I can't help put facepalm at Bryan's userbase muttering "it's Jays fans, what do you expect?" or something similar along those lines. Like Jay isn't a retard, nor his audience, if anything I see GN/Tech yes and Jays in the same sort of league, while LTT is now more aimed at casuals and flashy shit for those jus wanting to watch a few clips (Linus is doing far more youtube shorts now, while the other 3 channels prev mentioned aren't really bothering with that side of YT, which is more aimed at casual views).

Bryan is more or less spot on with his advice, while Jay's feels haphazard and rushed, and I imagine he's going to own up to that within the next week, if he'll have watched Bryan's response. 

There is however one tiny little piece of Bryan's vid I disagree heavily on, and that's "buy used". We've seen what's been going on the past couple of years with the used market so far and even recently, Crypto bros have been flooding that market, and I know there will be a good amount of ppl out there trying to buy these cards up, not fully knowing that they were heavily used for Mining, and thus have a much shorter lifespan/wonky performance. 

I wouldn't buy used at all, because that's a market that's being saturated at this moment by the miners, just like how near the start, miners and scalpers were taking over the supply/demand, now one group is taking over the second hand market via flooding used mining cards. 

I'm thinking now to just wait for a 3080 that lowers to around my 1080ti price, but at the same time I will judge it's stock level, to see if I can wait out a bit longer until the 4000 series comes about (Bryan even said in a recent podcast of his that it's better value to go for the 3080 instead of the Ti variant, due to already stupid price differences and this time around I'll agree with that). 

Having said all that, I still firmly believe that both miners/GPU manufacturers/vendors should be punished for siding with the miners/scalpers for 2 yrs straight. I also agree with Bryan in seeing PC hw being in a bit of a state atm, with current gen systems being better bang for buck compared to what we got from PC back in 2015/2016 (Even if current gen is low in stock, it's still mocking the MSRP's and inflated prices of most current gen cards at this moment). (26:45 on the vid below).

If you are going to get the 3080 non Ti, make sure to spring for the 12GB version as it does have more cuda cores, RT cores, Tensor cores and obviously more Vram.

The problem with Intel's GPUs isn't the end performance per se, but how we got here: they delayed them multiple times, have only launched in China (and Korea in laptops), overprimised how well they'd perform (they're one step below of what they said) and their drivers still leave a lot to be desired, specially in older games relaying on DX 11 or older.

Those are the main criticisms.

And yes, Intel has managed to do this all by themselves, without buying another ocmpany... mainly because they couldn't do it. Instead, they've just knocked on AMD and Nvidia's doors and hired a lot of people from them. So yeah, they may have started from scratch, but they've done it with people that have ample experience in how to make GPUs.

Hopefully you are right but with Raja taking the lead, I don't have much faith in long term.

Intel Core i9-13900K Raptor Lake CPU Gaming & Synthetic Performance Benchmarks Leaked, 5% Faster Than Core i9-12900K On Average

https://wccftech.com/intel-core-i9-13900k-raptor-lake-vs-core-i9-12900k-alder-lake-gaming-synthetic-performance-benchmarks-leak/

I'd take it with a grain of salt since Intel does heavily nerf QS samples


Steam Deck hits over 4,000 titles marked either Verified or Playable

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/07/steam-deck-hits-over-4000-titles-marked-either-verified-or-playable/

New WoW UI is still a work in progress, but it's looking pretty dang sleek so far. I previously had to use Bartender4, ElvUI and Sexymap, just to be able to fiddle about with the majority of UI options/skins, and that felt rather clunky over the years, especially with profile conflicts and custom character UI profiles not saving properly.

This new slimmer and updated UI means I won't need to bother much with any of those mods, which is great, which means less addons hogging memory or giving perf hitches. I'm especially loving that they've basically made Bartender4 the basaeline for editing your hotbars, but I would really love for them to add the Immersion addon to their baseline for reading quest text/talking to NPC's (The addon itself I would highly recommend, as it means you don't need to read a wall of Q text ever again).

Ppl still seem to be a bit iffy with the new race though, but I've always been a fan of anthro based races in WoW, and I'd still kill to be able to play as a Gnoll Warlock. Blizz could probably do with buffing the new Dracthyr body size a bit, since we've previously seen dragons in WoW that are rather buff and not insanely twink-like. 

The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

GOG has two new Deal of the Day and a new Weekly Sale:

• The first DotD is The Planet Crafter, still in development, 15% off until Wednesday: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_planet_crafter
• The second DotD is Starcom: Nexus, 50% off during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/starcomnexus
• And the Weekly Sale features up to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220718_weekly_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• The daily deal is Little Witch in the Woods, still in Early Access, 10% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1594940/Little_Witch_in_the_Woods/
• And The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia will be 88% off until July 24: https://store.steampowered.com/app/940680/The_Textorcist_The_Story_of_Ray_Bibbia/

We find several new deals at Humble:

• There's a new Humble Bundle: the Outright Games Summer Break, with up to 10 games to get during 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/outright-games-summer-break
• The Humble Store has three new sales:
  • The Age of Empires franchise Sale features up to 50% discounts during 4 days. The keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/age-of-empires-franchise-sale/
  • The 2K Classics Sale comes with up to 80% discounts during 4 days. There are keys for Steam and GOG (1): https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/2k-classics-sale/
  • And the Big in Japan Sale brings up to 90% discounts during the next 7 days. You can check individual publishers (Komodo, Idea Factory, D3 Publisher, NIS America) or in total with extra publishers: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/big-in-japan-sale/

And Fanatical has three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Tropico 6, 65% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/tropico-6
• WB puts its games up to 86% off during 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/warner-bros-games-inc
• And the Fanatical Favorites BYOB comes with 20 titles to choose your 2, 3 or 5 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/fanatical-favorites-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time PC Port, Ship of Harkinian, now supports framerates up to 250fps, features a Nintendo 64 Mode
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-pc-port-ship-of-harkinian-now-supports-framerates-up-to-250fps-features-a-nintendo-64-mode/
The team behind Ship of Harkinian, one of the unofficial PC ports of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, has revealed some new features that it has added to its latest version.
Currently, there are two unofficial PC ports of The Legenda of Zelda Ocarina of Time. The first one is Ship of Harkinian and the other one is Open Ocarina. According to the team, Ship of Harkinian now supports framerates up to 250fps. Moreover, it comes with a Nintendo 64 mode for all those that want to re-live this game in its original form.
Additionally, the game is now compatible with WiiU and Mac OS.
And that’s not all. This latest version of Ship of Harkinian, called Rachael Alfa, includes a free camera mode, an item randomizer and numerous new cheat codes.

Battlefield 3: Reality Mod is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/battlefield-3-reality-mod-is-now-available-for-download/
As promised, the highly anticipated mod for Battlefield 3, Battlefield 3: Reality Mod, is now available for download. The team behind this ambitious mod has also released a Beginner’s Guide video that you can find below.
BF3: Reality Mod is a Battlefield 3 modification that focuses on communication and teamwork. It draws inspiration from the successful BF2 “Project Reality” mod. The mod aims to offer a complete gameplay and UI overhaul that creates a more tactical and meaningful experience.

A modder is bringing the Saturn version of Quake to the PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/a-modder-is-bringing-the-saturn-version-of-quake-to-the-pc/
Modder ‘JaycieErysdren’ is currently working on a project that aims to port the Saturn version of Quake to the PC. The modder has used a Blender plugin which can grab all textures and geometry, and assign materials to match it all together. As such, a downloadable version of this mod should appear online pretty soon.
In case you did not know, the Saturn version of Quake was a bit special. For starters, it used the Slavedriver Engine and not the original Quake Engine. Thus, Lobotomy Software (who was responsible for this port) had to reconstruct all of the game’s levels.
Quake Saturn also comes with some unique features. For instance, instead of 3D models, it uses sprites for its weapon viewmodels. Additionally, the liquids look different, and they now are animated. Not only that, but aquatic shadows within liquids are visible.

Someone remastered 1981's Ultima with the stellar graphics of 1985's Ultima 4
https://www.pcgamer.com/someone-remastered-1981s-ultima-with-the-stellar-graphics-of-1985s-ultima-4/
Have you ever wished that the clunky, outdated graphics of one of your favorite games would be given a real overhaul? A profound change which takes into account years of technological development?
Perhaps, even, if that technological development is also pretty old?
Well, wish no more, because modder Jeremy Abrahamson has released a complete visual overhaul of Ultima, first released in 1981, using the stellar tileset developed much later for Ultima 4—in 1985. Yes, if what you truly want in life is to play games from just before the era of Stranger Things with upgraded graphics from the year of the second season of Stranger Things, modders have you covered.

GAMING NEWS

MultiVersus Open Beta begins on July 26th, gets new gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/multiversus-open-beta-begins-on-july-26th-gets-new-gameplay-trailer/
Warner Bros has announced that the MultiVersus Open Beta will begin on July 26th. This Open Beta will support cross-play between PC and consoles, and will have dedicated server-based rollback netcode.

Soulframe is a new free-to-play Action Hybrid-MMORPG from the developers of Warframe
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/soulframe-is-a-new-free-to-play-action-hybrid-mmorpg-from-the-developers-of-warframe/
At TennoCon 2022, Digital Extremes revealed a brand new game, called Soulframe. Soulframe will be a free-to-play Action Hybrid-MMORPG, and below you can find its debut in-engine cinematic trailer.

Monday news, part two:

Free Sims 4 update will add growable body hair and sexual preferences
https://www.pcgamer.com/free-sims-4-update-will-add-growable-body-hair-and-sexual-preference-options/
The Sims 4 High School Years expansion pack is coming on July 28, but even if you don't want to spend $40 so you can relive the drama and trauma of high school you'll still be able to enjoy some of the pack's new features.
Alongside the expansion, a couple of interesting changes will be introduced to the The Sims 4 base game for free, ones the community has long been asking for. First, your Sims no longer need to look like smooth plastic action figures—body hair is coming to the game at long last, including chest and stomach hair, arm and leg hair, new facial hair options, and yes, even back hair.

Fall Guys studio apologizes for bug that caused players to make unintentional purchases
https://www.pcgamer.com/fall-guys-studio-apologizes-for-bug-that-caused-players-to-make-unintentional-purchases/
The transition of Fall Guys to a free-to-play game has been a major success for Mediatonic and Epic Games, but there have been a couple bumps. Servers struggled to deal with a sudden spike in players after the switch, forcing the developers to disable custom lobbies and some parts of the in-game store, and now some players are encountering a bug that's causing them to unintentionally buy items from the store instead of previewing them.

Bungie and Sony make it official
https://www.pcgamer.com/bungie-and-sony-make-it-official/
Sony and Bungie have announced via Twitter that the publisher's $3.6 billion deal to acquire the Destiny 2 developer has closed, with the stage now set for Bungie to fully integrate into Sony's operations.

Total War: Warhammer 3 video accidentally leaks 4 DLC factions
https://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-warhammer-3-video-accidentally-leaks-4-dlc-factions/
Creative Assembly revealed an awful lot of detail about the upcoming Immortal Empires campaign for Total War: Warhammer 3 yesterday, including a little bit that it may not have intended to. Sharp-eyed fans watching the Q&A session picked up on what they believe are the names of four factions that will be released for the game as DLC.

Factorio studio angers Russian gamers by increasing regional price from $9 to $174
https://www.pcgamer.com/factorio-studio-angers-russian-gamers-by-increasing-regional-price-from-dollar9-to-dollar174/
Factorio developer Wube Software is facing a fierce backlash from Russian gamers after suddenly and sharply increasing the price of the game on Steam in Russia. The price hike resulted in a flood of hundreds of negative user reviews, and while the overall rating remains "overwhelmingly positive," the current rating is "mixed," with just over half of the user reviews posted over the past 30 days being positive.

Owlcat gives a first look at Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and some of its companions
https://www.pcgamer.com/owlcat-gives-a-first-look-at-warhammer-40000-rogue-trader-and-some-of-its-companions/
As with the Pathfinder games, developers Owlcat plan to document the creation of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader with a series of dev diary videos on its YouTube channel. The first of them features lead narrative designer Olga Kellner giving an early look at the spacefaring CRPG.

UK Government's loot box inquiry says no changes to law, asks industry to self-regulate
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk-governments-loot-box-inquiry-says-no-changes-to-law-asks-industry-to-self-regulate/
The UK Government has issued a formal response to its 2020 call for evidence on loot boxes in videogames. In short: The UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) doesn't think the government should regulate loot boxes in videogames at this time, rather that the games industry should be encouraged to self-regulate in order to avoid the necessity of legislative action.
>> Because self regulation always works...

Comedy sex game House Party adds playable woman, leaves Early Access
https://www.pcgamer.com/comedy-sex-game-house-party-adds-playable-woman-leaves-early-access/
NSFW comedy-adventure House Party first gatecrashed its way onto Early Access in 2017, was briefly ejected from Steam, and then relaunched in a more SFW version with a separate Explicit Content Add-On containing the naughty bits. Now, after four-and-a-half years of public development and goofy YouTube thumbnail faces, House Party has officially hit version 1.0.

Blizzard is giving out Diablo 4 beta keys to fans who get themed tattoos
https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-is-giving-out-diablo-4-beta-keys-to-fans-who-get-themed-tattoos/
If you're desperate to get early access to Diablo 4, Blizzard has a plan. But I suppose it depends just how desperate you are: turn up to one of the publisher's upcoming 'Hell's Ink' events, get an actual permanent Diablo-themed tattoo, and early access can be yours.
>> What in the actual F*ck?! That's moronic.

Intel debunks Arc A780 rumors, such graphics card was never planned

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-debunks-arc-a780-rumors-such-graphics-card-was-never-planned

So the A770 is the highest for this generation which is weaker than a 3060 Ti. Certainly a big gap than the rumoured 3070 Ti performance but we will see about the pricing.

Intel Core i5-13600K ES3 “Raptor Lake” 14-core CPU tested in CPU-Z and Cinebench

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-core-i5-13600k-es3-raptor-lake-14-core-cpu-tested-in-cpu-z-and-cinebench

As always, take it with a grain of salt. Usually final CPUs are faster than ES Samples

GeForce RTX 3050 for OEMs reportedly features 2304 CUDA cores

https://videocardz.com/newz/geforce-rtx-3050-for-oems-reportedly-features-2304-cuda-cores

"Based on the comments, this RTX 3050 OEM model comes with the same memory configuration of 8GB, however the bandwidth has not been confirmed. Update: NVIDIA have now confirmed the 2304-CUDA specs for this model. The company also confirmed that the OEM version has different clocks: 1.51 GHz base and 1.76 GHz boost clock:"

This is one of those things I dislike about Nvidia where you have two GPUs with the same name but clearly different specs so they will perform differently. So a 3050 in a Dell system may not be the same 3050 that you can get off the shelf. It really shouldn't be that hard to call it a 3040 or something just to let people know cause OEMs sure as shit won't disclose the specs on their website.