NVIDIA RTX 3000 series

Well, these new GPU’s will have multiple purposes, it seems, like frying eggs in the morning, etc…

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NVIDIA teasing the 3090ti :rofl:

Great idea with the current shortage of everything - maybe it will be under $6000 who knows

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Crazy isn’t it. I’m done buying hardware to indulge myself for at least 3 years (except perhaps a new VR headset). Time for the software to catch up.

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Amen ! Further upgrades at present provide only marginal benefits , at outrageous costs . I’m referring specifically to DCS .

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I used to be willing to spend exorbitant prices to have the best. My current 2080 t.i. I probably spent about $1,200 for it, but honestly, that’s my limit. The cost to benefit ratio has now gotten a ridiculous, and even I’m not willing to spend the money that they are now asking for.

Especially, when I keep seeing that my 2080 t.i. seems to be running msfs at better frame rates than many people’s 3090s

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I’ve been on a couple of stock notification lists since maybe March 2021, and finally got to BestBuy with an in stock RTX 3090 at retail. I clicked the Buy button, which is usually an Out of Stock button by the time I get there, and then received a you are in line message. After 15 mins without activity, I refreshed the page. Out of Stock.

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I got my 2080 t.i. via an out-of-stock website alert. By that time I had missed out on about 10 possibilities because others got there first, but this time when the alarm went off, I think it was like 2:30 in the morning; it woke me straight up and I leapt out bed, raced across the room (instantly wide awake) and started slamming the buy button.

I had already signed into several possible store websites, so all I had to do was pull up the correct one, stab the purchase button and pray for a couple of seconds until I saw I had gotten it.

I know it’s definitely non-pc, but honestly, my first thought when I saw I had gotten it, was “Suck this, purchase Bots!”

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Meanwhile, I know several of wannabe crypto Bros who have multiple mining rigs with a dozen or more of the things, because they’re convinced they’re gonna strike it rich.

It’s more than slightly infuriating.

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3090ti I think

I find it hard to blame miners for using available hardware for generating income. What’s wrong about them trying to improve their financial well-being? Frustrating as hell because it negatively impacts our hobby, yes. But if they make a little money while learning about currency, banking, and how markets operate, then it puts them in a more competitive position than using the same hardware solely for recreation. IMHO of course.

It’s complicated to me, and a matter of bad timing: after almost 2 years of waiting I broke down, having to purchase an entire new box to get my 3080Ti. Which arrived DOA. And they replaced it within 2 weeks! (counting shipping) - like they [component builders] had plenty of supply, waiting to be put into full builds. Hmm. :thinking:

If my fav. sims were better optimized (or I lowered my expectations?) maybe I wouldn’t need the 3080?

I immediately thought of

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Thats the hardcore model. 3090 TBM

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I’m almost at the point where I consider quitting gaming altogether.

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I’ve had the same thoughts. VR has kept me in the game. And I really enjoy my new-found passion for creating missions (writing code for them - the ME is a PITA!). I spend a lot more time doing that it seems…

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there is always a solution, thinking about it myslef :slight_smile: who needs the latest and greatest all the time !?

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Yeah, it really feels like we are caught between a rock and a hard place.

How digital asset mining impacts GPU availability and why it's difficult to predict the end of GPU scarcity.

Dumbing this stuff down to Barney style, which is all that I understand anyway.

In general, the two primary digital assets (AKA crypto currency) being mined now that impact the GPU market are Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). They pay miners a reward for crunching numbers on GPUs or other purpose built processer. Because BTC takes a lot more processing power than ETH and because purpose built mining hardware does the job more efficiently, I’m thinking that is less impactful to the GPU market. You can mine BTC with a GPU, but I’ve read that your payout will be like maybe once per month or longer, depending on a number of factors that are beyond this post.

When will all of the BTC be mined?

However, mining ETH is a lot easier and less expensive to get started. You basically already have what is needed to generate small but tangible rewards in your gaming rig. It takes about 15 mins to teach someone how to setup a digital wallet, join a mining pool, and begin mining while you are not in DCS, BoS, MSFS, or shooting things. If it were more complicated or expensive, far less would engage in mining.

ETH mining is supposed to end when it is migrated to Ethereum 2 (ETH2) , which uses another method of rewarding miners for ensuring that the network runs, called proof of stake.

When this migration happens, it’s predicted that there will be a flood of GPUs on the market and we should get back to normalcy. But as @fearlessfrog and others predicted, instead of the migration to ETH2 being a 2022 thing, the goal posts keep moving and the latest I’ve seen is early 2023. It’s all speculative anyway. They’ve tried to make proof of work mining ETH less attractive, like changing the payout algorithm to take longer, but they can’t make it too painful or no one would mine and the network would lose efficiency and value. Therefore, your GPU is valuable to both someone wanting to generate enough to cover a Costco run once a month, and to those who make a business out of it.

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