"These price increases have multiple intertwining causes, some direct and some less so: inflation, pandemic-era supply crunches, the unpredictable trade policies of the Trump administration, and a gradual shift among console makers away from selling hardware at a loss or breaking even in the hopes that game sales will subsidize the hardware. And you never want to rule out good old shareholder-prioritizing corporate greed.

But one major factor, both in the price increases and in the reduction in drastic “slim”-style redesigns, is technical: the death of Moore’s Law and a noticeable slowdown in the rate at which processors and graphics chips can improve."

  • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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    8 hours ago

    It’s not that they’re not improving like they used to, it’s that the die can’t shrink any more.

    Price cuts and “slim” models used to be possible due to die shrinks. A console might have released on 100nm, and then a process improvement comes out that means it can be made on 50nm, meaning 2x as many chips on a wafer and half the power usage and heat generation. This allowed smaller and cheaper revisions.

    Now that the current ones are already on like 4nm, there’s just nowhere to shrink to.

    • toastmeister@lemmy.ca
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      5 hours ago

      Which itself is a gimmick, they’ve just made the gates taller, electron leakage would happen otherwise.

      • dai@lemmy.world
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        21 minutes ago

        NM has been a marketing gimmick since Intel launched their long-standing 14nm node. Actual transistor density depending on which fab you compare to is shambles.

        It’s now a title / name of a process and not representative of how small the transistors are.

        I’ve not paid for a CPU upgrade since 2020, and before that I was using a 22nm CPU from 2014. The market isn’t exciting (to me anymore), I don’t even want to talk about the GPUs.

        Back in the late 90s or early 2000s upgrades felt substantial and exciting, now it’s all same-same with some minor power efficiency gains.

  • heyWhatsay@slrpnk.net
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    11 hours ago

    This article doesn’t factor in the new demand that is gobbling up all the CPU and GPU production: Ai server farms. For example, Nvidia, that was once only making graphic cards for gamers, has been trying to keep up with global demand for Ai. The whole market is different, then toss tarrifs and the rest of top.

    I wouldn’t blame moores law death, technology is still advancing, but per usual, based on demand.

    • nlgranger@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      technology is still advancing

      Actually not really: performance per watt of the high end stuff has been stagnating since Ampere generation. NVidia hides it by changing models in its benchmarks or advertising raw performance without power figures.

    • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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      8 hours ago

      AI has nothing to do with it. Die shrinks were the reason for “slim” consoles and big price drops in the past. Die shrinks are basically a thing of the past now.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        7 hours ago

        Not exactly, but smaller nodes are getting really expensive. So they could make a “slim” version with a lower power unit, but it would likely cost more than the original.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        7 hours ago

        You don’t need a top end card to match console specs, something like a 6650XT or 6700XT is probably enough. Your initial PC build will be more than a console by about 2X if you’re matching specs (maybe 3X if you need a monitor, keyboard, etc), but you’ll make it up with access to cheaper games and being able to upgrade the PC without replacing it, not to mention the added utiliy a PC provides.

        So yeah, think of PC vs console as an investment into a platform.

        If you only want to play 1-2 games, console may be a better option. But if you’re interested in older or indie games, a PC is essential.

      • Toneswirly@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        2060 super for 300, and then another 200 for a decent processor puts you ahead of a ps5 and for a comparable price. Games are cheaper on PC too, as well as a broader selection. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zYGmJn here is a mid tier build for 850, you could cut the procesor down, install linux for free, and im sure youve got a computer monitor laying around somwhere… the only thing stopping you is inertia.

        • tomalley8342@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          2060 super for 300, and then another 200 for a decent processor puts you ahead of a ps5 and for a comparable price.

          you’re going to have to really scrunge up for deals in order to get psu, storage, memory, motherboard, and a case for your remaining budget of $0.

          https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zYGmJn here is a mid tier build for 850

          This is $150 more expensive and the gpu is half as performant as the reported PS5 pro equivalent.

          • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 hours ago

            Ok so, for starters, your ‘reported equivalent’ source is wrong.

            https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2024-playstation-5-pro-weve-removed-it-from-its-box-and-theres-new-information-to-share

            The custom AMD Zen2 APU (combined CPU + GPU, as is done in laptops) of a PS5Pro is 16.7 TFLOPs, not 33.

            So your PS5 Pro is actually roughly equivalent to that posted build… by your ‘methodology’, which is utterly unclear to me, what your actual methodolgy for doing a performance comparison is.

            The PS5 Pro uses 2 GB of DDR5 RAM, and 16 GB of GDDR6 RAM.

            This is… wildly outside of the realm of being directly comparable to a normal desktop PC, which … bare minimum these days, has 16 GB DDR4/5 RAM, and the GDDR6 RAM would be part of the detachable GPU board itself, and would be … between 8GB … and all the way up to 32 if you get an Nvidia 5090, but consensus seems to be that 16 GB GDDR6/7 is probably what you want as a minimum, unless you want to be very reliant on AI upscaling/framegen, and the input lag and whatnot that comes with using that on an underpowered GPU.

            Short version: The PS5Pro would be a wildly lopsided, nonsensical architecture to try to one to one replicate in a desktop PC… 2 GB system RAM will run lightweight linux os’s, but not a chance in hell you could run Windows 10 or 11 on that.

            Fuck, even getting 7 to work with 2GB RAM would be quite a challenge… if not impossible, I think 7 required 4GB RAM minimum?

            The closest AMD chip to the PS5 Pro that I see, in terms of TFLOP output… is the Radeon 7600 Mobile.

            ((… This is probably why Cyberpunk 2077 did not (and will never) get a ‘performance patch’ for the PS5Pro: CP77 can only pull both high (by console standards) framerates at high resolutions… and raytracing/path tracing… on Nvidia mobile class hardware, which the PS5Pro doesn’t use.))

            But, lets use the PS5Pro’s ability to run CP77 at 2K60fps on … what PC players recognize as a mix of medium and high settings… as our benchmark for a comparable standard PC build. Lets be nice and just say its the high preset.

            (a bunch of web searching and performance comparisons later…)

            Well… actually, the problem is that basically, nobody makes or sells desktop GPUs that are so underpowered anymore, you’d have to go to the used market or find some old unpurchased stock someone has had lying around for years.

            The RX 6600 in the partpicker list is fairly close in terms of GPU performance.

            Maybe pair it with an AMD 5600X processor if you… can find one? Or a 4800S, which supposedly actually were just rejects/run off from the PS5 and Xbox X and S chips, rofl?

            Yeah, legitimately, the problem with trying to make a PC … in 2025, to the performance specs of a PS5 Pro… is that basically the bare minimum models for current and last gen, standard PC architecture… yeah they just don’t even make hardware that weak anymore.

            EDIT:

            oh final addendum: if your tv has an hdmi port, kablamo, thats your monitor, you dont strictly need a new one.

            And there are also many ways to get a wireless or wired console style controller to work in a couch pc setup.

            • tomalley8342@lemmy.world
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              9 hours ago

              Short version: The PS5Pro would be a wildly lopsided, nonsensical architecture to try to one to one replicate in a desktop PC… 2 GB system RAM will run lightweight linux os’s, but not a chance in hell you could run Windows 10 or 11 on that.

              Fuck, even getting 7 to work with 2GB RAM would be quite a challenge… if not impossible, I think 7 required 4GB RAM minimum?

              It’s shared memory, so you would need to guarantee access to 16gb on both ends.

              The RX 6600 in the partpicker list is fairly close in terms of GPU performance.

              I don’t know how you could arrive at such a conclusion, considering that the base PS5 has been measured to be comparable to the 6700.

              • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                7 hours ago

                It’s shared memory, so you would need to guarantee access to 16gb on both ends.

                So… standard Desktop CPUs can only talk to DDR.

                ‘CPUs’ can only utilize GDDR when they are actually a part of an APU.

                Standard desktop GPUs can only talk to GDDR, which is part of their whole seperate board.

                GPU and CPU can talk to each other, via the mainboard.

                Standard desktop PC architecture does not have a way for the CPU to directly utilize the GDDR RAM on the standalone GPU.

                In many laptops and phones, a different architecture is used, which uses LPDDR RAM, and all the LPDDR RAM is used by the APU, the APU being a CPU+GPU combo in a single chip.

                Some laptops use DDR RAM, but… in those laptops, the DDR RAM is only used by the CPU, and those laptops have a seperate GPU chip, which has its own built in GDDR RAM… the CPU and GPU cannot and do not share these distinct kinds of RAM.

                (Laptop DDR RAM is also usually a different pin count and form factor than desktop PC DDR RAM, you usually can’t swap RAM sticks between them.)

                The PS5Pro appears to have yet another unique architecture:

                Functionally, the 2GB of DDR RAM can only be accessed by the CPU parts of the APU, which act as a kind of reserve, a minimum baseline of CPU-only RAM set aside for certain CPU specific tasks.

                The PS5Pro’s 16 GB of GDDR RAM is sharable and usable by both the CPU and GPU components of the APU.

                So… saying that you want to have a standard desktop PC build… that shares all of its GDDR and DDR RAM… this is impossible, and nonsensical.

                Standard desktop PC motherboards, compatible GPUs and CPUs… they do not allow for shareable RAM, instead going with a design paradigm of the GPU has its own onboard GDDR RAM that only it can use, and DDR RAM that only the CPU can use.

                You would basically have to tear a high end/more modern laptop board with an APU soldered into it… and then install that into a ‘desktop pc’ case… to have a ‘desktop pc’ that shares memory between its CPU and GPU components… which both would be encapsulated in a single APU chip.

                Roughly this concept being done is generally called a MiniPC, and is a fairly niche thing, and is not the kind of thing an average prosumer can assemble themselves like a normal desktop PC.

                All you can really do is swap out the RAM (if it isnt soldered) and the SSD… maybe I guess transplant it and the power supply into another case?

                I don’t know how you could arrive at such a conclusion, considering that the base PS5 has been measured to be comparable to the 6700.

                I can arrive at that conclusion because I can compare actual bench mark scores from a nearest TFLOP equivalent, more publically documented, architecturally similar AMD APU… the 7600M. I specifically mentioned this in my post.

                This guy in the article here … well he notes that the 6700 is a bit more powerful than the PS5Pro’s GPU component.

                The 6600 is one step down in terms of mainline desktop PC hardware, and arguably the PS5Pro’s performance is… a bit better than a 6600, a bit worse than a 6700, but at that level, all of the other differences in the PS5Pro’s architecture give basically a margin of error when trying to precisely dial in whether a 6700 or 6600 is a closer match.

                You can’t do apples to apples spec sheet comparisons… because, as I have now exhaustively explained:

                Standard desktop PCs do not share RAM between the GPU and CPU. They also do not share memory imterface busses and bandwidth lanes… in standard PCs, these are distinct and seperate, because they use different architectures.

                I got my results by starting with the (correct*) TFLOPs output from a PS5Pro, finding a nearest equivalent APU with PassMark benchmark scores, reported by hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of users, then compared those PassMark APU scores to PassMark conventional GPU scores, and ended up with ‘fairly close’ to an RX 6600.

                • The early, erroneous reporting of the TFLOPs score as roughly 33, when it was actually closer to 16 or 17… that stemmed from reporting a 16 digit FLOP score/test, when the more standard convention is to list the 32 digit FLOP score/test.

                You, on the other hand, just linked to a Tom’s Hardware review of currently in production desktop PC GPUs… which did not make any mention of the PS5Pro… and them you also acted as if a 6600 was half as powerful as a PS5Pro’s GPU component… which is wildly off.

                A 6700 is nowhere near 2x as powerful as a 6600.

                2x as poweful as an AMD RX 6600… would be roughly an AMD RX 7900 XTX, the literal top end card of AMDs previous GPU generation… that is currently selling for something like $1250 +/- $200, depending on which retailer you look at, and their current stock levels, and which variant of which partner mfg you’re going for.

                • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  56 minutes ago

                  Just to add to this, the reason you only see shared memory setups on PCs with integrated graphics is because it lowers performance compared to dedicated memory, which is less of a problem if your GPU is only being used in 2D mode such as when doing office work (mainly because that uses little memory), but more of a problem when used in 3D mode (such as in most modern games) which is as the PS5 is meant to be used most of the time.

                  So the PS5 having shared memory is not a good thing and actually makes it inferior compared to a PC made with a GPU and CPU of similar processing power using the dominant gaming PC architecture (separate memory).

        • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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          8 hours ago

          $850 is way more expensive than a PS5 though lol. Linux also means you can’t play the games that top the most played charts on the PS5 every single month of every single year.

          • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 hours ago

            https://www.metacritic.com/pictures/best-playstation-games-of-2024/

            Works on Linux:

            Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown

            Silent Hill 2 (Remake)

            Marvel vs Capcom: Arcade Classics

            Shin Megamei Tensei (V)engeance

            Persona 3 Reload

            HiFi Rush

            Animal Well

            Castlevania Dominus Collection

            Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

            Tekken 8

            The Last of Us Part II (Remaster)

            Balatro

            Dave the Diver

            Slay the Princess: Pristine Cut

            Metaphor Re Fantazio

            Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (and base game)

            Does not work on Linux:

            Unicorn Overlord (Console Exclusive, No PC Port Allowed by Publisher Vanillaware)

            Destiny 2 (Kernel Level Anti Cheat)

            FF VII Rebirth (PS Exclusive)

            Astro Bot (PS Exclusive)

            Damn, yeah, still consoles gotta hold on via exclusives, I guess?

            And then there’s the mismanaged shitshow that is Destiny 2…

            …who can’t figure out how to do AntiCheat without installing a rootkit on your PC, despite functional, working AntiCheats having worked on linux games for at least half a decade at this point, if not longer…

            …nor can they figure out how to write a storyline that rises above ‘everyone is always lore dumping instead of talking, and also they talk to you like a you’re a 10 year while doing so.’

            Last I heard, a whole bunch of hardcore D2 youtubers and streamers were basically all quitting out of frustration and feeling let down or betrayed by Bungie.

            Maybe we should advocate for some freedom of platform porting/publishing for all games, eh FreedomAdvocate?

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        You don’t need a graphics card. You can get mini PCs with decent gaming performance for cheap these days.

        • chunes@lemmy.world
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          31 minutes ago

          Can confirm. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you mostly play indie games, though.

          • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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            14 hours ago

            There are CPUs with quite capable iGPU, fitting in a mini-PC. All in all maybe $500.

            And yeah, sure, the article mentioned that consoles are subsidized by game prices.

              • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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                1 hour ago

                I have a Ryzen 7 5700G in my DeskMini X300, but that one is a genrration (?) ago. Still, can play almost all games in 3440x1440 at medium settings.

                In case you have seen my “string and tape” case mod to fit the cooler, that was done to support Turbo for video recoding. Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 fits nicely.

              • treyf711@lemm.ee
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                3 hours ago

                Knowing the usefulness that we’ve gotten at our house out of having them, I would probably say if I didn’t have the PS5 I would get a steam deck at this point. A refurbished one from valve when they’re on sale would be my pick. Plus, it works on my 20 year catalog of games.

        • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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          8 hours ago

          By decent you meant significantly worse than console gaming performance though.

          Consoles are still the king for values in gaming, even with their increasing prices.

        • paraphrand@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          Interesting point. Then you understand why Apple is making moves to try to be a real player in gaming.

          All three of us see how gaming performance is plateauing across various hardware types to the point that a modern game can run on a wide range of hardware. With settings changes to scale across the hardware, of course.

          Or are you going to be a bummer and claim it’s only mini pcs that get this benefit. Not consoles, not VR headsets, not macs, not Linux laptops.

          There really is a situation going on where there is a large body of hardware in a similar place on the performance curve in a way that wasn’t always true in the past. Historically, major performance gains were made every few years. And various platforms were on very different and less interoperable hardware architectures, etc.

          The Steam Deck’s success proves my point, and your point alone.

          The thing is, people don’t wanna hear it. They wanna focus on the very high end. Or super high refresh rates. Or they wanna complain about library sizes.

        • YouAreLiterallyAnNPC@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          That sounds kind of like a console, no?

          Edit: I mean, if the intent is gaming and only gaming, it feels like there’s a lot of overlap. Only the PC would have less support for more freedom.

    • Skyline969@lemmy.ca
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      17 hours ago

      I mean, for the price of a mid range graphics card I can still buy a whole console. GPU prices are ridiculous. Never mind everything else on top of that.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours ago

        Yeah, GPU prices are kinda ridiculous, but a 7600 is probably good enough to match console quality (essentially the same as the 6650XT, so get whatever is cheaper), and I see those going for $330. It should be more like $250, so maybe you can find it closer to that amount when there’s a sale. Add $500-600 for mobo, CPU, PSU, RAM storage, and a crappy case, and you have a decent gaming rig. Maybe I’m short by $100 or so, but that should be somewhere in the ballpark.

        So $900-1000 for a PC. That’s about double a console, extra if you need keyboard, monitor, etc. Let’s say that’s $500. So now we’re 3x a console.

        Entry cost is certainly higher, so what do you get in return?

        • deeper catalogue
        • large discounts on older games (anything older than a year or so)
        • emulation and other PC tasks
        • can upgrade piecemeal - next console gen, just need a new CPU + GPU, and if you go AMD, you can probably skip a gen on your mobo + RAM
        • can repurpose old PC once you rebuild it (my old PC is my NAS)
        • generally no need to pay a sub for multiplayer

        Depending on how many and what types of games you play, it may or may not be cheaper. I play a ton of indies and rarely play AAA new releases, so a console would be a lot more expensive for me. I also have hundreds of games, and probably play 40 or so in a given year (last year was 50 IIRC). If I save just $10 per game, it would be the same price as a console after 2 years, but I save far more since I wait for sales. Also, I’ll have a PC anyway, so technically I should only count the extra stuff I buy for playing games, as in my GPU.

        • Skyline969@lemmy.ca
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          3 hours ago

          You do make some decent points, but the console has one major aspect that PC simply does not have: convenience. I install a game and I’m playing it. No settings to tweak, no need to make sure my drivers are up to date, no need to make sure other programs I’m running are interfering with the game, none of that. If I get a game for my console I know it absolutely will work, with the exception of a simply shitty game which happens on PC too.

          The other thing I wanted to touch on was the cheap games. That’s just as relevant on console nowadays. For example, I’ve been slowly buying the Yakuza games for $10-$15 each. That’s the exact same discounts I’ve seen on Steam.

          For backwards compatibility, it depends on your console. Xbox is quite impressive - if you have an Xbox Series X you can play any game ever released for any Xbox all the way back to the original. Just stick in the disc. With PlayStation, it’s just PS4 games that the PS5 is backwards compatible with. Sony needs to do better. And with Nintendo… lol.

          Yeah, with a PC you can do other things than gaming. For most of that you can get a cheap laptop. There are definitely edge cases where a powerful PC is needed such as development, CAD, AI, etc. But on average a gaming-spec PC is not necessary. I’m saying that as a developer and systems administrator for the past 14 years.

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 hours ago

        GPU prices are ridiculous, but those GPUs are also ridiculously more powerful than anything in any console.

        The rough equivalent to a PS5Pro’s GPU component is a … not current gen, not last gen, but the gen before that… find AMD’s weakest GPU model in the 6 series, the RX 6600, and that is roughly the same performance as the GPU performance of a PS5Pro.

        The Switch 2 may have an interesting, custom mobile grade Nvidia APU, but at this point, its not out yet, no benchmarks, etc.

        Oh right also: If GPU prices for PCs remain elevated… well, any future consoles will also have elevated prices. Perhaps not to the same degree, but again, that will be because a console will be basically fairly low tier if you compared it to the range of PC hardware… and console mfgs can subsidize console costs with game sales… and they get discounts on ordering the components that go into their consoles by ordering in huge bulk volumes.

      • TurboWafflz@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        Yeah but remember to factor in that you probably already need a normal computer for non-game purposes so if you also use that for games you only have to buy one device not two

        • Fondots@lemmy.world
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          16 hours ago

          I just built a PC after not having a computer for about 5+ years.

          Built it for games, did not feel like I was missing out on anything in particular except games by not having a computer. There’s a lot of things I’d rather use a computer for but these days most of what I used to do on a computer can be done just fine from a phone or tablet.

          During those 5 or so years, I maybe needed to use a computer about a dozen times, and if my wife didn’t have a computer I could have just swung by a library for a bit to take care of it.

          • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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            16 hours ago

            To me tablets feel like the most useless devices ever invented. Too large to carry around with you but just as stupidly limited as a phone compared to a real computer where you can actually automate some of your tasks and type on a decent keyboard and have a decent sized screen that doesn’t ruin your wrists with the weight of holding it up.

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        You can build a pretty capable PC for about $600. And you won’t have to pay for multiplayer.

        • Skyline969@lemmy.ca
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          8 hours ago

          Along with paying for multiplayer I get access to a large catalog of games as well as additional games every month. Yes they’re inaccessible if I stop paying, but that’s not really a big deal. Even all that aside, I pretty much play single player games anyway.

          Also, when a game comes out I know it’ll work. No driver bugs, no messing with settings, no checking minimum and recommended specs, it just works. And it works the same for everyone on the platform. I don’t have any desire to spend a bunch of time tweaking settings to get things just right, only to have the game crash for some esoteric reason or another.

        • Grangle1@lemm.ee
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          15 hours ago

          “Pretty capable” will get you dunked on in the PC gaming world. For what I’ve seen PC gamers actually recommend I could buy 2-3 modern consoles.

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        The Steam Deck is basically a PC. You can get mini PCs with APUs of a similar performance for very low prices these days. That won’t perform like a current gen console but it’s a cheap gaming machine with a huge selection of low cost games and you won’t have to pay for multiplayer.

          • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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            13 hours ago

            That would be handhelds. Mini PCs are desktop devices. They often use the same processors as handhelds and laptops, though.

              • JayGray91@piefed.social
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                2 hours ago

                I mean after Valve released the Steam Deck, Asus, Lenovo, MSI–to name just a few–followed suit with at least an iteration. Asus has the Ally and Ally X, Lenovo now have 3 models, and MSI only has 1.

                I can’t recall if there are any other big brands handheld PCs, but there’s definitely Chinese ones.

  • thanks AV@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    Is it Moores law failing or have we finally reached the point where capitalists are not even pretending to advance technology in order to charge higher prices? Like are we actually not able to make things faster and cheaper anymore or is the market controlled by a monopoly that sees no benefit in significantly improving their products? My opinion has been leaning more and more towards the latter since the pandemic.

    • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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      12 hours ago

      Moore’s law started failing in 2000, when single core speeds peaked, leading to multi core processors since. Memory and storage still had ways to go. Now, the current 5nm process is very close to the limits imposed by the laws of physics, both in how small a laser beam can be and how small a controlled chemical reaction can be done. Unless someone can figure a way to make the whole chip fabrication process in less steps, or with higher yield, or with cheaper machines or materials, even if at 50nm or larger, don’t expect prices to drop.

      Granted, if TSMC stopped working in Taiwan, we’d be looking at roughly 70% of all production going poof, so that can be considered a monopoly (it is also their main defense against China, the “Silicon Shield”, so there’s more than just capitalistic greed at play for them)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po-nlRUQkbI - How are Microchips Made? 🖥️🛠️ CPU Manufacturing Process Steps | Branch Education

      • thanks AV@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Very interesting! I was aware of the 5nm advancements and the limitations of chip sizes approaching the physical limitations of the material but I had been assuming since we worked around the single core issue a similar innovation would appear for this bottleneck. It seems like the focus instead was turned towards integrating AI into the gpu architecture and cranking up the power consumption for marginal gains in performance instead of working towards a paradigm shift. Thanks for the in depth explanation though, I always appreciate an opportunity to learn more about this type of stuff!

    • SaltySalamander@fedia.io
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      15 hours ago

      This has little to do with “capitalists” and everything to do with the fact that we’ve basically reached the limit of silicon.

      • nuko147@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        I don’t agree. It is capitalism, but not in a bad way. Simply put it is economy logic. Chip market has shifted from consumer market to the enterprise market.

        So because the supply is limited, the demand has gone way up, and enteprise market has a lot, a mean a lot of money to spare buying, because it is an investment for them and not entertainment.

        Also some bad capitalist tacticts in other areas, hard drives for example, that the big players reduced production to keep prices from falling. They cotribute to the problem, but they are not the major factor.

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        While blaming anything and everything on “capitalism” is disingenuous, it really does have to do with a lack of competition in the space. None of the incumbents have any incentive to really put much effort into improving the performance of gaming GPUs. PC CPUs face a similar issue. They’re good enough for the vast majority of users. There is no sizable market that would justify spending huge amounts of money on developing new products. High end gaming PCs and media production workstations are niche products. The real money is made in data centre products.

        • MrVilliam@lemm.ee
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          12 hours ago

          Because people continue to accept that price by agreeing to pay it. The price of a product is dictated by what people are willing to pay for it. If the price is so low that the seller isn’t happy with it, they don’t sell it and stop making it.

          In other words, if you think Nintendo prices are bullshit price gouging, then vote with your wallet. With enough votes, the prices come down or the company goes under. You don’t have that luxury of choice when it comes to groceries or shelter, but you absolutely do when it comes to luxury entertainment expenses. Make them earn your money.

          • TwinTitans@lemmy.world
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            8 hours ago

            I wish people would apply this to many other industries as well. A company will rip people off the first chance that they get.

              • MrVilliam@lemm.ee
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                5 hours ago

                Not OP, but probably price gouging? Especially regarding things where you aren’t afforded the reasonable opportunity to make an informed decision (healthcare, baby formula plus necessary clean water). Also maybe regional monopolies (internet service) or pretty much anything involving an event or venue (ticket pricing or cost of a slice of pizza or a can of beer at a festival).

                In all of these examples, you likely don’t have a heads-up or the chance to choose something else. Admittedly, most of the examples off the top of my head were unnecessary luxury spending, but how in the blue fuck is it okay that any of them are literally a situation of “pay me whatever price I decide or else a person will die”?

                Pretty fucked up if you ask me.

  • kalipixel@reddthat.com
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    16 hours ago

    The consoles unless you root or jailbreak them are too restrictive anyway. For older games you can just use an emulator on your PC or mobile.

  • ABetterTomorrow@lemm.ee
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    11 hours ago

    Wtf, that headline is fucking backwards thinking and capitalistic. If you’re not greedy and don’t have unnecessary high standards that doesn’t make a game, you’re the problem. Sorry not sorry but gamers demand and the companies are at fault here.