Disgusting.

Maybe things will calm down later in the year with prices but I decided $2400 and October 1st my cut off cost/date. If I can get a 5090 for $2400 or less by October 1st I will but if not I just stick with my 3090 and hope 60 series is less of a diester or AMD pull off some miracle and UDNA can compete with a xx90 Nvidia card.

The 5070 series prices are just insane some of them listed for close to what I paid for my 3090.

You say this and I've been sitting here for like 4 GPU gens now, waiting for prices to be affordable, to what I originally paid a 1080ti for...

It's never going to calm down. Ever since Covid, and the mixture of mining/scaling, things have only gotten worse in terms of market cost and availability. Back during late 2016/mid 2017, I had like the biggest choice of selection for different variations of the 1080ti, ranging from £700-1000 prices. Fast forward to today and it's just £900 and beyond, and that's not even for the 80 series, this is literally happening to the 70 series, the 80 series and 90 are just way too high than regular MSRP, it's batshit insane.

The thing is, Jensen ain't dumb. I watched his keynote, he knew exactly what he was doing when he mentions asinine sounding slogans like "the more you buy, the more you save", and "5070 with the power of a 4090", because tech bros and scalpers eat that shit up so easily and readily, that they then go out and proceed to fuck with the market, and Nvidia knows they can just limit the supply chain on purpose, while letting scalpers/tech bros vacuum up what's there on the table, thus creating artificial demand, and also proceeding to fuck over general customers like me from even being able to either get one, let alone afford one. 

We're now at that point where Nvidia/Jensen simply don't care. They'll focus the data centers like royalty, whilst we the general customers for gaming/arts/media will simply have to content with the scalpers and tech bros, both of which don't really contribute anything positive to the cycle and instead just make shit harder to purchase, but to Nvidia the latter two look no different to the company, because anyone who buys their GPU's ends up giving the same cash at the end of the day (besides maybe scalpers, but I've yet to see Nvidia care as much as to get police/FBI involved, and barely any company bothers to go that far).

I've just decided to give up for the time being and just focus on what I still have for a machine. My days of being able to look around me and rub my hands at the choices I can pick from are long gone, and I just have to accept that reality. 

Let’s welcome the final round of news for the week: the Friday news!

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Two days after laying off US-based developers, NetEase says Marvel Rivals has surpassed 40 million players
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/two-days-after-laying-off-us-based-developers-netease-says-marvel-rivals-has-surpassed-40-million-players/
Just days after confirming the layoff of employees at its Seattle studio, NetEase says its hit hero shooter Marvel Rivals has now surpassed 40 million players, and had climbed back to the top of the Steam charges on the strength of its first season in January.
"Marvel Rivals topped Steam’s global top sellers chart shortly after its launch on December 6, amassing over 10 million registered users within 72 hours and over 40 million to date," NetEase said in its Q4 2024 earnings release. "Its Season 1 update in January 2025 sparked another surge, claiming the No. 1 spots on Steam’s top sellers and most-played charts worldwide."

Payday 3 sales dropped off hard in 2024, but Starbreeze has hope for the future
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/payday-3-sales-dropped-off-hard-in-2024-but-starbreeze-has-hope-for-the-future/
After its rough launch, Payday 3 hasn't been bringing in the cash its developer might've hoped for, with Starbreeze reporting sales of $7.7 million in its 2024 financial year, down from $44.5 million in its launch year of 2023. To put that in perspective, the very much aged Payday 2 brought in $3.9 million in sales in FY2024—more than half of what its sequel managed despite releasing 10 years prior.
A report from Game Developer outlines the issues facing Starbreeze, drawing from its corporate fiscal reports to show the extent of Payday 3's poor performance. The game wasn't making corporate sales expectations in its launch year and surely didn't reach them last year, either. The troubles led to the early 2024 departure of its CEO.
All told, Starbreeze reported a full year loss of $18.5 million in 2024.
(...)
According to Starbreeze, things are looking up, however. They've got Payday collaborations with PUBG and Roblox. They've got it as a free game on PlayStation Plus for February—which they clearly hope will bring in some longer-term users to buy DLC.

The Humble Store has two new sales (with some titles available on both):

• The Chills and Thrills Sale has games up to 96% off during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/chills-and-thrills-sale/
• And there’s also the Weekly Sale, also with up to 96% discounts during the same 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/on-sale-now/

Fanatical’s new Star Deal is DOOM Eternal Deluxe Edition, with a 79% deal during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/doom-eternal-deluxe-edition

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

-Empty as well-

GAMING NEWS

-Borrowed from PCGamer-

'I expect a lot of people will hate it': PUBG creator Brendan Greene doesn't care if his new game is too hard for players to handle as long as it 'elicits a reaction'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/i-expect-a-lot-of-people-will-hate-it-pubg-creator-brendan-greene-doesnt-care-if-his-new-game-is-too-hard-for-players-to-handle-as-long-as-it-elicits-a-reaction/
Survival games aren't known to be easy; that's kind of the whole point, especially when you often find yourself in remote, unforgiving locations where you need to keep fed, hydrated, and protected from the elements and maybe some hostile mobs. But Prologue: Go Wayback! takes its difficulty to a whole new level.
"I like brutal games," PUBG creator Brendan Greene tells me. "I grew up with Doom and spent weeks trying to get past its levels. I want to make a space that is hard and difficult, because I do think a lot of gamers like that. Like, there's too much hand-holding, which is fine. But just my game won't have that option."
>> I don’t knw if they hate it or not, but some are finding creative ways to solve problems

Marvel Rivals players have discovered the Human Torch's weakest feature—his incredibly underwhelming Lord icon: 'They just flipped him sideways'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-players-have-discovered-the-human-torchs-weakest-feature-his-incredibly-underwhelming-lord-icon-they-just-flipped-him-sideways/
The Human Torch and The Thing are the two latest heroes set to arrive in Marvel Rivals in the second half of Season 1. Players will be able to check out these two members of the Fantastic Four for themselves when they get added to the game tomorrow, but despite Human Torch having one of the most OP abilities in the game, players are pretty underwhelmed by one of his main cosmetics.
>> As happens sometimes, that tomorrow is today.

Former Sony exec finally says the quiet part out loud: putting PlayStation games on PC is 'almost like printing money'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/former-sony-exec-finally-says-the-quiet-part-out-loud-putting-playstation-games-on-pc-is-almost-like-printing-money/
It's been an obvious truth for ages: console manufacturers have been missing out on fat stacks by not releasing their games on PC. Microsoft long ago gave up on pure Xbox exclusives, and is even releasing games on PlayStation now. Sony, meanwhile, has tacitly acknowledged the fact for years, steadily releasing its PS4 and PS5 back catalogue onto Steam, and then last year, releasing Helldivers 2 concurrently on both PS5 and PC to enormous success. Now, former Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida has come out and said it explicitly: releasing its games PC is a license for Sony to print money.

Friday news, part two:

Among Us 3D will make the VR version playable without a headset, and it's coming 'soon'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/among-us-3d-will-make-the-vr-version-playable-without-a-headset/
A new version of Among Us is coming: Among Us 3D will bring the existing VR version to flatspace, allowing players who don't have or want to use a VR headset to play the first-person version of the original 2D social deduction game.

Sony shares examples of 'sexually charged' texts from former Destiny 2 director who claims Bungie fired him unfairly to avoid paying millions
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sony-shares-examples-of-sexually-charged-texts-from-former-destiny-2-director-who-claims-bungie-fired-him-unfairly-to-avoid-paying-millions/
Sony has responded to a wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed in December 2024 by former Destiny 2 and Marathon game director Christopher Barrett, saying Barrett's termination in 2024 was "justified," and that his lawsuit is "meritless." To back up its claim, Sony included multiple examples of written communications between Barrett and female subordinates in its reply, which it claims "reveal his pattern of misconduct."

'A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to,' but it's a different story for hobbits because Tales of the Shire is delayed again
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/a-wizard-is-never-late-nor-is-he-early-he-arrives-precisely-when-he-means-to-but-its-a-different-story-for-hobbits-because-tales-of-the-shire-is-delayed-again/
Just over a month before it was due to launch, the cozy hobbit life sim Tales of the Shire has been delayed, and is now set to come out on July 29.
Tales of the Shire, for those not in the know, is essentially "Stardew Valley but with happy little hobbits," except that it's 3D rather than 2D and focuses more on cooking than farming, which seems appropriate. Villagers in the game's little town of Bywater wander around doing their things, while you embark on various quests and just live your life in a quiet corner of the world "painted in pastel earth tones, with a lovely art style that balances impression and detail."

Overwatch 2 achieves the improbable, clawing back a 'Mixed' rating in recent Steam reviews after a well-received perks update
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-achieves-the-improbable-clawing-back-a-mixed-rating-in-recent-steam-reviews-after-a-well-received-perks-update/
In terms of ratings, Overwatch 2 could not have released at a worse time on Steam. The hero shooter's online reputation was in the toilet after Blizzard spent years talking up all the cool PvE and campaign missions the sequel would have, only to deliver a fraction of them extremely late and eventually cancel the rest. So when the free-to-play game finally came to Steam in August 2023, it was summarily dunked on with tens of thousands of negative reviews. In 2025, Overwatch 2 rests at an "Overwhelmingly negative" Steam rating with over 300,000 reviews.
Here's some good news: For the first time since its Steam debut, its "Recent reviews" rating, which only tracks reviews in the last 30 days, is at "Mixed." That's thanks to an influx of good vibes after this week's Season 15 update, which brought the biggest shakeup to Overwatch 2 since 5v5 with hero perks.

2XKO fans despair for a 2025 release as Riot pushes back a planned 'larger-scale global playtest' in favor of a 'much smaller one'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/2xko-fans-despair-for-a-2025-release-as-riot-pushes-back-a-planned-larger-scale-global-playtest-in-favor-of-a-much-smaller-one/
We still haven't really had a proper look at 2XKO, Riot's League of Legends-based 2v2 fighting game, and it sounds like that's a state of affairs that's going to continue for a while yet. In a message posted on Reddit, 2XKO game director Shaun Rivera said plans for a global playtest in March have been pushed back, and instead it's going for something "much smaller" as developers continue to work on the game.

Dune: Awakening's sandworms will be their own masters: 'You won't be able to summon them at will'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/dune-awakenings-sandworms-will-be-their-own-masters-you-wont-be-able-to-summon-them-at-will/
Funcom recently announced that Dune: Awakening will release on May 20, and alongside that news, the publisher wants you to know that sandworms are independent annelids that obey their own rules and don't need you to decide when and where they go places or what they do when they get there.
>> The game also has a benchmark tool.

Sure seems like the new Call of Duty map is teasing a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/sure-seems-like-the-new-call-of-duty-map-is-teasing-a-tony-hawks-pro-skater-game/
The latest update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 added an expensive crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that's not the only '90s reference in the update. (Yes, I know the original comic is from the '80s, but the CoD versions are clearly based on the movies/cartoon, work with me here.) As spotted by CharlieIntel, hidden in the skater-themed Grind map (a remaster of a map from Black Ops 2) is a poster with a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater logo and the date March 4, 2025.

Fallout 76's former project lead says it's still his favourite game he worked on, but the initial reception was demoralising: 'I got yelled at in an Apple Store, I'll never forget'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/fallout-76s-former-project-lead-says-its-still-his-favourite-game-he-worked-on-but-the-initial-reception-was-demoralising-i-got-yelled-at-in-an-apple-store-ill-never-forget/
Fallout 76 has become another feather in Bethesda's cap, assisted by the fact that it's the game best-positioned to take advantage of the popularity of Amazon's fantastic Fallout TV show, and thanks to the cavalcade of transformative free updates. But it wasn't always like this. At launch, the reception was rough. An online-only Fallout game with zero NPCs? Yeah, that was never going to fly.
"Working on a live service game comes with a lot of stress, because it just doesn't go away," says Jeff Gardiner, who spent 15 years producing The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and served as Fallout 76's project lead until he left in 2021. It wasn't like he could just move on after players expressed their disappointment. And that even followed him when he was out shopping. "I got yelled at in an Apple Store, I'll never forget."
(...)
Wastelanders launched in 2020, and let Gardiner go out on a high note. "It’s a very unique game. It still is. People always ask, ‘What's your favorite game you’ve worked on?’ Because 76 was such a difficult game and then it turned around to a successful game, it's actually probably my favourite."

There's a simple way to enable FSR 3 frame gen in Avowed and it more than doubled my frame rate, but it makes waterfalls look ugly as sin
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/theres-a-simple-way-to-enable-fsr-3-frame-gen-in-avowed-and-it-more-than-doubled-my-frame-rate-but-it-makes-waterfalls-look-ugly-as-sin/
I've only spent a brief few hours with Obsidian's RPG/fish-person-friend simulator Avowed so far, but I'm enjoying my time with it. What I haven't been enjoying is the occasional frame rate dip, along with a general twitchiness our Nick highlighted in his performance analysis.
However, it turns out there's actually a simple tweak that enables FSR 3 frame generation, and it's more than doubled my frame rate—but it does come with one major caveat.

'A massive, massive moment of wow.' Microsoft CEO predicts AI-generated games are a 'CGI moment' for the industry
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/a-massive-massive-moment-of-wow-microsoft-ceo-predicts-ai-generated-games-are-a-cgi-moment-for-the-industry/
Microsoft's new AI-powered game generation platform Muse is akin to the impact that CGI had on the film industry. So, says CEO Satya Nadella in a wide ranging interview covering everything from AI and quantum computing, to the future of economic growth, while slightly ignoring the fact that Microsoft's AI-generated games are only running at a resolution of 300 by 180 pixels. Hold that thought.

And here are the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• The Git Gud Promo has games up to 90% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250221_git_gud_promo
• The PostApo Promo also has up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250221_postapo_promo
• The Psychological Games Promo also has games up to 90% off during the same 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250221_psychological_promo
• The Violent & Fast Paced Promo also features up to 90% discounts, and also during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250221_gore_violence_promo
• And the last one is the Role-Playing Games Promo, with games up to 90% off once again, but this one will last 9 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250221_rpg_promo

+Steam

• With a new game coming soon, the Atelier franchise is on sale with up to 70% discounts until the 24th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/KOEITECMO/sale/atelier25
• Noita is going to be 60% off until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/881100/Noita/
• TROUBLESHOOTER: Abandoned Children will have a 70% discount until next Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/470310/TROUBLESHOOTER_Abandoned_Children/
• The Sonic franchise sale has games (not all) up to 75% off until February 27: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/SonicFranchiseSale2025
• Publisher Neon Doctrine puts its games on sale with up to 80% discounts until Thursday, the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/neondoctrinepublishersale
• The Wargaming Publisher Sale has games and DLCs up to 89% off until the 27th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/wargaming2025
• Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer, that has a demo, also has a 50% discount until the 2nd of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1931020/Slayers_X_Terminal_Aftermath_Vengance_of_the_Slayer/
• Pax Dei. Still in Early Access, will be 50% off until the 3rd of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1995520/Pax_Dei/
• And the last one, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™, will have a 40% discount until March, the 6th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2933130/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Return_to_Moria/

And that’s it. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT & RX 9070 GPU Performance Leaks Out: Comparable To RX 7900 GRE & RX 7800 XT

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-9070-xt-rx-9070-gpu-performance-leak-comparable-rx-7900-gre-rx-7800-xt/

Alleged AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT nearly matches RX 7900 XTX in leaked Furmark 4K benchmark

https://videocardz.com/pixel/alleged-amd-radeon-rx-9070-xt-nearly-matches-rx-7900-xtx-in-leaked-furmark-4k-benchmark

So one benchmark says 7900XT performance for 9070XT while another says 7900XTX performance.

GeForce RTX 5090 with missing ROPs spotted, up to 4.5% lower performance

https://videocardz.com/newz/zotac-is-shipping-geforce-rtx-5090-with-missing-rops-up-to-4-5-lower-performance

What a shitshow lol. Every possible thing that could have gone wrong went wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if a future firmware update fixes this but still, pretty insane.

G.Skill introduces DDR5 R-DIMM memory with 16-layer PCB

https://videocardz.com/press-release/g-skill-introduces-ddr5-r-dimm-memory-with-16-layer-pcb

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT confirmed as 304W card, RX 9070 non-XT is 220W

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9070-xt-confirmed-as-304w-card-rx-9070-non-xt-is-220w

New 12VHPWR angled adapter features fan, power and temperature monitoring for RTX 40 Series

https://videocardz.com/newz/new-12vhpwr-angled-adapter-features-fan-power-and-temperature-monitoring-for-rtx-40-series

ASUS Overclocks The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 To 3.5 GHz GPU & 34 Gbps Memory On LN2 Cooling, Breaks Multiple Records

https://wccftech.com/asus-overclocks-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-3-5-ghz-gpu-34-gbps-memory-ln2-cooling/

I know it doesn't sound possible, but those two performance leaks may actually be real but not necessarily true, and it's thanks to the third article.

Besides disclosing the TBP (btw, 304W is a weird number), the tweet also states the frequencies of the cards, with the 9070Xt running at an alleged 2970MHz, a figure we've seen in other leaks along with the 3100MHz figure for overclocked cards.

The thing is that the Geekbench result from the first article is from a card running at 2570MHz, 400MHz lower than what the other sources say. That's an over 10% difference that easily explains the performance disparity.

Mind you, that doesn't mean that the second performance leak is true, but at least we know that the first one isn't because we know the frequencies of the cards thanks to the leaked listings at Amazon and other sites.

This could genuinely be Nvidia's worst launch ever.

I mean, one or two problems is kind of normal, but here we have the price (for the 5090 and AiB cards), not so good performance jump (especially the 5080), incredibly low supply, burning/melting connectors (again!) and not defective hardware that should have been spotted during Q&A validation.

What else is going to happen?

ITS almost like they set it up just to get people used to paying higher prices.