With 5G infrastructure ramping up and the automotive sector recovering faster than expected, some are saying chip scarcity could last well into 2022.

I don't know how long will the shortages last, but I have doubts we'll see GPUs making the jump to 5nm any time soon. Apple and the rest will hoard everything TSMC can produce and more.

A bit ago i posted about one of my friend's buying a 1660 Super for inflated price of around $400 CAD. It was last one in the store he could find. Happy to say there is stock of that on Newegg Canada now. The prices are between $750 to $900.

What a wonderful world.

Retailers already scalping prices for the 3060 lol. Ebay prices are going to be nuts.

So I made an attempt at cable management.

Originally:

Now:

All's left is an AIO and some fancy Strimmer Plus cables! The cables are out of stock and the Ryujin 2 isn't out yet but will probably be out of stock thus keeping the theme of PC gaming 2021.

Hey, look! It's the Monday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG's new Weekly Sale is full of platformers up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/platformers_galore

Fanatical has three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Platinum Edition, 75% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/sid-meiers-civilization-vi-platinum-edition-aspyr
• The new Mega Bundle 2 brings 20 games with a 99% discount during the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/mega-bundle-2
• And the Killer Bundle 15 features 8 games plus 1 DLC up to 97% off split into two tiers of 8 and 9 games respectively: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/killer-bundle-15

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Nintendo Switch emulators can already run Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury on PC with 60fps
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nintendo-switch-emulators-can-already-run-super-mario-3d-worldbowsers-fury-on-pc-with-60fps/
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is a new Mario game that has just been released on Nintendo Switch. And, from the looks of it, both Yuzu and Ryujinx can run this new Mario game with 60fps on the PC.
(...)
From what we can see, there are some slowdowns due to the game generating some shaders. My guess is that future versions of these emulators will address this issue. Still, it’s really cool witnessing a new Nintendo Switch game running (on launch day) via these two emulators.
>> There's a couple of videos, in case you want to check it out.

Fallout 4 gets an unofficial Photo Mode, available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/fallout-4-unofficial-photo-mode-download/
Modder ‘reg2k’ has released an unofficial Photo Mode for Fallout 4. This mode is accessible from the Pause menu or via a hotkey and lets you capture some lovely high-quality screenshots from the game.
As the modder noted, Photo Mode works with both KB/M and controllers. You can download the mod from here. Below you can also find its key features.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas gets a 4.6GB AI-enhanced HD Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/grand-theft-auto-san-andreas-gets-a-4-6gb-ai-enhanced-hd-texture-pack/
Modder ‘Kadakash’ has released an AI-enhanced HD Texture Pack for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. This pack is 4.6GB in size, and uses AI techniques in order to upscale all of the game’s texture by four times.
Going into slightly more details, this mod improves the textures of all weapons, vegetation, decals, pedestrians, UI and skybox. Do note that since this an AI-enhanced Texture Pack, the new textures look similar to the vanilla ones. So, while the new textures retain the same art style, they are not THAT much different. Still, we are pretty sure that some GTA: SA fans will find it interesting.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

Enderal, the biggest Skyrim mod ever, is being made compatible with Skyrim Special Edition
https://www.pcgamer.com/enderal-the-biggest-skyrim-mod-ever-is-being-made-compatible-with-skyrim-special-edition/
Last month SureAI, the team behind the hugely popular Skyrim overhaul Enderal, announced they have moved on to focus on a commercial project, and won't be updating Enderal to be compatible with Skyrim Special Edition (the original version required "Oldrim" to play). However, fans have since taken on the task and created a version of Enderal that runs in the Skyrim Special Edition engine, with a Steam release on the way.
Advantages of being able to play Enderal in Skyrim Special Edition include "smoother image quality and improved lighting effects" as well as "Best performance and stability", they say. It also makes a VR version possible, and someone's working on a VR mod already.

Skyrim mod Wyrmstooth returns, years after being deleted
https://www.pcgamer.com/skyrim-mod-wyrmstooth-returns-years-after-being-deleted/
After being taken offline in 2016 when its creator Jonx0r retired from modding, the popular expansion-sized Skyrim mod Wyrmstooth has returned. Jonx0r has uploaded a new version of Wyrmstooth, and apparently returned to the modding scene.
Wyrmstooth adds a fully voiced new questline, set after the events of Skyrim's main story, in which the Dragonborn is hired to defeat a dragon that is harassing the ships of the East Empire Company. Your job is to assemble a team of mercenary companions and travel to the island of Wyrmstooth, which features a variety of sidequests and a gigantic dungeon. To promote the updated version of the mod, Jonx0r made a trailer using text-to-speech software trained on several of the familiar voices of Skyrim.

Fans have reverse-engineered Grand Theft Auto 3 & Vice City
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/fans-have-reverse-engineered-grand-theft-auto-3-vice-city/
It appears that fans have reverse-engineered two classic GTA games, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto Vice City. And while for the average Joe this does not mean much, it opens up the doors for more mods, as well as unofficial ports to other platforms.
According to the devs, both of them work on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, on x86, amd64, arm and arm64. Rendering is handled either by original RenderWare (D3D8) or the reimplementation librw (D3D9, OpenGL 2.1 or above, OpenGL ES 2.0 or above). On the other hand, MSS (using dlls from original GTA) and/or OpenAL are responsible for their audio.
>> There's a link to download the codes in the article (from GitHub), for those interested.

GAMING NEWS

Biomutant PC Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/biomutant-pc-requirements/
Experiment 101 has revealed the official PC system requirements for Biomutant. According to the developers, PC gamers will at least need an AMD FX-8350 or Intel Core i5-4690K with 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 380.

Monday news, part two:

Sorry, Destiny 2's Cosmodrome isn't getting any bigger
https://www.pcgamer.com/sorry-destiny-2s-cosmodrome-isnt-getting-any-bigger/
Last year, Destiny 2's Beyond Light expansion took the controversial step of "vaulting" half the game's worlds. But while it also "un-vaulted" Destiny 1's Cosmodrome as a kind of consolation prize, and more specifically to provide a staging ground for the new player experience, Bungie this week explained that it'd be going no further in fleshing out the region.

Valheim has a rare 'world-destroyer bug' so here's how to back up your world and characters
https://www.pcgamer.com/valheim-backup-world-character/
There's plenty to fear in Valheim, from angry trolls to rampaging demonic deer to back-stabbing deathsquitos.
But nothing is more terrifying than logging in to find your world and character gone and all your progress lost. And that's a real and dangerous possibility, according to developer Iron Gate.
>> Well, it's the problem with Early Access titles, right? In any case, that doesn't seem to be a problem and it's gathering a lot of players.

This simple Valheim fix can increase your performance by up to 30 fps
https://www.pcgamer.com/valheim-increase-fps-performance/
Valheim already runs a lot better than most Early Access survival games, but depending on your hardware you'll probably struggle to get a stable 60 fps. Fortunately, one player on the Valheim subreddit has discovered a series of quick fixes that can result in a massive boost in performance.

Ubisoft surprises The Division 2 players, confirms that new content is coming later this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-surprises-the-division-2-players-confirms-that-new-content-is-coming-later-this-year/
Earlier this week, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that even though its Massive studio is now developing a new open-world Star Wars game, it will also continue to work on its other open-world shooter series, The Division. (...) Today the studio officially committed to that promise, saying in a message on Twitter that the recently-released title update 12 for The Division 2 was intended to be the game's final major update, "but thanks to your continued support, we are now in the early stages of development for fresh content to release later in 2021."

343 Industries says a return to Halo Wars 2 isn't going to happen
https://www.pcgamer.com/343-industries-says-a-return-to-halo-wars-2-isnt-going-to-happen/
(...)
"In the past, we’ve noted the Publishing Team was fully focused on MCC and we had no current plans to return to Halo Wars 2. Now, with all the titles on PC, we’ve seen these questions popping up again although the 343 Publishing Team is still working on more MCC seasonal content along with a variety of features and further improvements. It’s not always easy to be open and transparent—particularly when we expect it’s not an answer the community wants to hear—but we want to give it to you straight: 343 Industries has no current plans for further Halo Wars 2 work including content updates, balance patches, bringing the title to other platforms, or a new game in the series."
>> They could at least port it to Steam...

The Ace Attorney prequels have been rated for PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-ace-attorney-prequels-have-been-rated-for-pc/
Gematsu looked at some recent ratings by the Taiwan Digital Game Rating Committee and spotted several unannounced ports. Tales from the Borderlands and SnowRunner are both apparently coming to Switch, for instance, and more relevant to us, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles has been rated for PC.

The new Call of Duty update makes teamkillers hurt themselves
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-new-call-of-duty-update-makes-teamkillers-hurt-themselves/
Call of Duty's new update across both Black Ops - Cold War and Warzone has implemented a change to League Play: Friendly fire damage will now hurt the attacker after their 2nd teamkill, and teamkillers will be kicked after two additional attempts at teamkilling. Here's the full patch note: "Friendly fire will now convert to ricochet damage after the 2nd teamkill and return damage to the attacker. Players will be kicked after 2 additional attempted teamkills after that." The update has been fairly well-received by Call of Duty league players on social media.

Here's a look at Warframe's ghostly, groovy spring updates
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-look-at-warframes-ghostly-groovy-spring-updates/
Digital Extremes has posted a teaser of Warframe's spring content updates, which range from limited events and a Prime form to a new storyline featuring a new warframe. Of interest to a cult few will be the Octavia Prime form of the most musical character in Warframe, which will release on February 23rd and features custom musical attacks.

Spiritfarer has three big, free updates coming
https://www.pcgamer.com/spiritfarer-has-three-big-free-updates-coming/
Much-beloved, heart wrenching, and undeniably cute life sim slash Charon simulator Spiritfarer has three big, free updates coming this year. Each update will bring in new characters with their own stories, new quality of life improvements, new buildings to make, and new recipes and resources.

The Fall Guys Valentine's Day costume is an adorable red panda
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-fall-guys-valentines-day-costume-is-an-adorable-red-panda/
I repeat, this is not a drill. The Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Valentine's Day new costume is a red panda. That's right: Your adorable jelly bean thing can now be a red panda. There's also some kind of cute Valentine's Day message above.

King's Bounty 2 release delayed to August
https://www.pcgamer.com/kings-bounty-2-release-delayed-to-august/
King's Bounty 2 was previously scheduled for a March release, but has now been delayed to August 24. Denis Maltzev, producer on King's Bounty 2, said in a press release, "We are currently at a stage where the game is complete and playable, but we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing, polishing, and postponing launch will give us the precious months to balancing phase, much needed for such important project for us, with its ambitious, open world, its complex narrative, deep Turn-Based Tactical and RPG mechanics."

Baldur's Gate 3 livestream will feature 'the biggest patch note ever forged in the fiery pits of Larian'
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-livestream-will-feature-the-biggest-patch-note-ever-forged-in-the-fiery-pits-of-larian/
Larian Studios announced the Early Access release date of Baldur's Gate 3 during a livestream called The Panel From Hell last year, a format the developer is planning to repeat this week in The Panel From Hell 2. This time, it will touch on a variety of updates on the state of Baldur's Gate 3 and the forthcoming patch 4, "including the biggest patch note ever forged in the fiery pits of Larian", and will also include "a peek at newly improved cinematics, Tieflings, spells and cows".

Disc Room's nightmare future will always be 69 years away
https://www.pcgamer.com/disc-rooms-nightmare-future-will-always-be-69-years-away/
One of the problems with speculative fiction is that, unless you can accurately predict the future, your vision will always look remarkably quaint by the time we reach whatever far-off year you picked. But no matter how much time passes, indie blade-dodger Disc Room will forever take place 69 years in the future.

Call of Duty Warzone could be getting Zombies mode in Season 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-warzone-could-be-getting-zombies-mode-in-season-2/
Treyarch appears to be teasing an upcoming Zombies mode for Call of Duty Warzone Season 2.
The first hint came from the Warzone Rumble playlist, where a trial machine was spotted in the Verdansk Hospital map by Twitter user Eric Maynard. The machine comes from Black Ops Cold War's Zombies mode, which was used to gain rewards for completing challenges (thanks Eurogamer).

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition gets NVIDIA DLSS 2.0 support and Advanced Ray Traced Reflections

https://videocardz.com/press-release/metro-exodus-enhanced-edition-gets-nvidia-dlss-2-0-support-and-advanced-ray-traced-reflections



A few key things.

PC and Console owners that already own the current version gets the upgrade for free. PC will have even more enhanced RT and the main benefit is that the DLSS version will be upgraded to 2.0 instead of using 1.0. Also:

"This upgrade is so extensive, it will require a Ray Tracing capable GPU as the minimum spec, and we will need to deliver this version as a separate product – it is not a simple ‘patch’ to the base game – instead it will be offered as an extra entitlement to all existing Metro Exodus PC players."


Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2.1 to make 5.0 GHz Zen dream possible

https://videocardz.com/newz/clock-tuner-for-ryzen-2-1-to-make-5-0-ghz-zen-dream-possible

One of the main benefits of this software is that it allows the Dynamic OC that the Dark Hero has but on other motherboards.


Pat Gelsinger becomes CEO of Intel

https://videocardz.com/press-release/pat-gelsinger-becomes-ceo-of-intel


[Rumour] Forza Horizon 5 Japan Map Leaked

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/forza-horizon-5-japan-map-leaked.1591361/

Now take it with a grain of salt but Forza Horizon 4 became one of my all time favourite racing games. If 5 takes place in Japan, it would be hot damn!

My god, Deep Silver, it's almost like you can release on multiple stores and OS's within the same year, instead of one store, one OS a year.

You think you can, I dunno, keep doing the former till the day your company dies?.

Saber Interactive, the publisher of the Metro games, isn't exactly a good one when it comes to caring for its customers and, as such, this news doesn't surprise me. But well, limiting your market to just the customers with ray tracing capable GPUs is already a bad move to begin with.

Also, you've forgotten an important article, Yuri:

AMD Ryzen 5000 ‘Zen 3’ Desktop CPUs & X570 Motherboards Have High Failure Rates, Reports PowerGPU
https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-5000-zen-3-desktop-cpus-x570-motherboards-high-failure-rates/
AMD's Ryzen 5000 Desktop CPUs based on the Zen 3 core architecture and the respective X570 motherboard platform has received some rave reviews from the tech community and has been considered to be one of AMD's best CPU lineup to date, offering insane amounts of performance. However, custom DIY PC Builder, PowerGPU, reports that they are seeing very high failure rates with the new AMD CPU & motherboard platform.

Most of them are dead on arrival, not a problem for most of you that already have them, but it's still worrysome.