Guess What Nvidia Did THIS Time – Tech News June 29
AI-Generated Summary
This summary covers the key points from the text:
Nvidia’s RTX 5050 GPU launch highlights ongoing frustrations with anti-consumer practices, including misleading performance graphs, inflated pricing ($250 MSRP), and inadequate specs like 8GB GDDR6 VRAM. The GPU’s mobile version features GDDR7, adding confusion. Nvidia’s strategy of restricting pre-launch reviews and prioritizing profits alienates enthusiasts. Meanwhile, tech competition is needed to curb rising hardware prices, with AMD’s 9800X3D CPU dominating gaming but remaining costly. In storage, Lexar’s NQ780 and NM1090 Pro SSDs offer impressive PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5 speeds, respectively. Other news includes Cooler Master’s NR200P V3 case, MSI’s Toy Story-themed hardware, and Windows 11’s redesigned Blue Screen of Death. Sales like Steam’s summer event and Amazon Prime Day offer discounts for gamers.
📜 Full Transcript
vacillating randomly between agitated doom scrolling and general malaise Team Green hasÂ
to go and launch yet another RTX 50 series GPU the RTX 5050 Resetting the Tech YouTube cooldownÂ
timer for bitter rants about video card product positioning and anti-consumer pricing schemesÂ
And while those rants do seem warranted given that the 5050 is speedrunning through everyÂ
egregious misstep Nvidia has made thus far with the rest of the RTX50 family of video cardsÂ
I’ll agree with anyone who’s just sick and tired of this garbage and checked out mentallyÂ
Particularly given the fact that it does not seem to matter what legitimate complaintsÂ
the enthusiast community lobs towards Nvidia when their actions and motivations around aÂ
launch become clear Nvidia just does the same thing again next time usually just a little bitÂ
worse and they continue to profit and dominate the market regardless So I do have a bunch ofÂ
other non-RTX 5050 stuff to talk about as well And then I’m going to go outside and work on myÂ
Sunburn Oh and I’m also going to have a beer today Cheers! Tech News. SSDs are the ideal storage solution for your nextÂ
build The NQ780 is a balanced drive that combines performance with value offering impressive PCIeÂ
Gen 4 speeds as well as a single-sided design SLC cache and intelligent power control The NM1090Â
Pro features blazing fast PCIe Gen 5 read speeds up to 14,000 megabytes per second twice as fastÂ
as PCIe Gen 4 The NM1090 Pro also has a dual DRAM plus SLC cache and a 6nmter controller to minimizeÂ
heat output even under sustained workloads Both drives are available in capacities up to 4 TB andÂ
come with a 5-year warranty For more on the Lexar NM1090 Pro and NQ780 SSDs click the sponsor linksÂ
in the video description Okay so the RTX 5050 This GPU launch was not unexpected but it is theÂ
fastest Nvidia has gone through launching pretty much the entire stack of GPUs in a new seriesÂ
About 6 to 7 months from the 5090 in January down to the 5050 which will be available in JulyÂ
for an MSRP of $250 per the Nvidia product page that went up on Tuesday Let’s turn through theÂ
raw stats first It’s based on the GB 207-300 die with 2560 CUDA cores or 2/3 of what the $300 RTXÂ
5060 ships with which you’d think would make this easy math an easy card to price 2/3 of $300 200Â
bucks right? nope $250 because Nvidia continues apparently to despise entry-level gamers ThoseÂ
poor people don’t need a deal on a GPU anyway But I’m already distracted Raw specs 8 gigs of VRAMÂ
was inadequate for the RTX 5060 So the 5050 still having 8 gigs still sucks and it’s made worse byÂ
the use of GDDR6 VRAM instead of GDDR7 dropping the memory clock to 20 Gbits per second andÂ
reducing the bandwidth by about 30% Unfortunately these reduced specs only bought us a 20 wattÂ
savings in power too which means with a 130W TDP the 5050 won’t even be able to do the thing thatÂ
low-end cards can often do run off the 75 watts natively provided by the PCI Express bus allowingÂ
for a card without a supplemental power connector which is a boon for upgrading older PCs but notÂ
with the 5050 The memory is on a 128 bit bus still and the boost clock goes up to 2.57 GHz per NvidiaÂ
And that sums up the specs So let’s move on to the other category that I call other bullsh*t NvidiaÂ
seems to be continuing their approach to reviews with the 5050 in that there probably won’t beÂ
any reviews prior to launch which is similar to what they did with the RTX 5060 AlthoughÂ
with the 5060 they did handpick some outlets that basically acted as an extension of Nvidia’sÂ
marketing team by publishing early curated reviews based on Nvidia restrictions to give the cards aÂ
proper glazing Balanced objective reviews could come later after those first heavily slanted onesÂ
got indexed by Google’s SEO engine The 5050 launch date also remains in flux with some leakers sayingÂ
the card will come out on Tuesday July 1st despite Nvidia’s page clearly stating the second half ofÂ
July Now this could mean the card will launch in China before it launches in other regions likeÂ
the US And indeed the GeForce China page just says July and not second half which would be a furtherÂ
indication of snuffed pre-launch reviews Launch date speculation aside though there’s still plentyÂ
of frustration with the RTX 5050 launch thus far like the fact that the mobile version of the RTXÂ
5050 does have GDDR7 VRAM while also having the exact same name conveniently Again leading toÂ
potential confusion when it comes to looking up performance benchmarks GDDR7 is more efficientÂ
though which is why Nvidia PR says it was only used for the laptops Definitely not because it’sÂ
more expensive and would reduce Nvidia’s profit margin though And of course no new Nvidia GPU canÂ
really be announced without extremely misleading graphs And I’m more convinced every time graphsÂ
like these get posted that the graph-making team over at Nvidia is just a bunch of sh*tpostersÂ
They seem to just love to see how much they control the media each time So here’s what theyÂ
do First they obfuscate the testing by rolling all the results together as a suite of 20 modernÂ
games So that way there’s no way to determine just from this graph which DLSS settings were used onÂ
which game Then you use the relative performance as a metric So you don’t have to show actual FPSÂ
numbers Relative performance to what by the way Nvidia Finally you go all in on pretending AI slopÂ
powered multi-frame generation is the same as raw performance And then here you go The 5050 willÂ
definitely be like twice as fast as the RTX 4060 or maybe 40 to 50 times faster than the 3060 AgainÂ
based on this relative metric And to top it off we should hamfistedly declare that by virtue of thisÂ
graph tens of millions of gamers now have 50 times better performance I guess that assumes thatÂ
the 50 million plus people currently running a 10 series 16 series or 30 series GPU are all goingÂ
to immediately buy an RTX 5050 while also assuming all that other stuff about the performance andÂ
multi-frame generation But uh oopsie Nvidia some early benchmarks are starting to come out AndÂ
per this furmark database entry the RTX50 even when running well beyond its default boost clockÂ
at 2,940 MHz only scored 1,978 points in firm mark Now granted this is a 4K test but that places itÂ
below an RTX 2060 or you know just above an RTX 3050 And what a surprise that this chart looksÂ
starkly different from Nvidia’s Anyway if you’d like to hear even more ranting about how easy itÂ
is to tell that the 5050 is going to suck there are links to the Gamers Nexus and hardwareÂ
unboxed videos about the 5050 launch launch announcement in the description below And now theÂ
rest of the tech news condensed and dehydrated for consumption on the go in a process we call techÂ
briefs Competition the tech industry needs it or at least consumers do if we want to be able to buyÂ
PC hardware for reasonable prices On the CPU side after Intel dominated for many years we cheeredÂ
on AMD’s comeback in the late 2010s But now Intel has in many ways become the underdog when itÂ
comes to gaming PC CPU options which is why AMD’s best gaming CPU the 9800X3D is still closeÂ
to $500 whereas the last gen 7800X3D often saw discounts that put it in the mid $300 range NowÂ
if Intel has an answer to AMD’s 3DVcache for PC gaming CPUs it is likely to debut as part of NovalÂ
Lake despite earlier comments from Intel that this technology would only be used for enterprise chipsÂ
It’s called bLLC big last level cache or big last line cache depending on who you ask and it wouldÂ
add cache to the base tile of Intel chiplet CPUs that other active tiles mount to But there areÂ
still big questions about latency and the accuracy of this info in general which was leaked byÂ
Hayes on Twitter Nova Lake will likely use a new motherboard socket too and is expected to launchÂ
in 2026 or 2027 Speaking of PC hardware deals the RTX 5090 was recently available for below MSRPÂ
There are actually a lot of mid-range GPUs that can be purchased at or even sometimes below MSRPÂ
right now even in the US but the high-end $1,000 plus cards are still very expensive typicallyÂ
$400 to $1,000 over their already too high MSRPs At least that’s the case here in the US Over inÂ
Europe though Computerbase spotted an MSI Ventus 3X OC RTX 5090 selling for just €2,000 at retailerÂ
Mind Factory or about 10% off the 2,229 list price And I suppose if you’ve talked yourself into aÂ
purchase of this card despite the other problems with the 5090 like the notoriously unreliableÂ
12v2x6 power connector maybe a €2,000 GPU sounds reasonable to you It did to enough people becauseÂ
the discounted 5090 sold out quickly of course and the next cheapest option is closer to €2,500Â
now Or actually there’s one for about €2,300 But let’s try to focus on some good news Overall GPUÂ
pricing is trending down and it’s nice to see that gamers who didn’t buy high and exercised someÂ
self-control were rewarded for their patience And a reminder never pay scalper pricing SpeakingÂ
of PC hardware competition and Nvidia Microsoft’s AI chip codenamed Braga it has been delayed 6Â
months I almost didn’t include this story because it’s about AI but it’s worth noting First makingÂ
AI processors is hard And even with Google who you might have heard of pouring their resourcesÂ
into it for years now their product is getting a half-year push back and it isn’t even going to beÂ
faster than Nvidia Blackwell when it does launch I find some value in following this side of theÂ
hardware space because of the whole competition thing It’s well known that Nvidia makes a lot moreÂ
profit from a TSMC wafer full of AI GPUs than they do from a TSMC wafer full of GeForce gaming GPUsÂ
But just as gamers benefit from a competitor like AMD offering theoretically compellingly pricedÂ
alternatives to Nvidia GeForce products ramped up competition on the AI hardware side could impactÂ
Nvidia’s outsized profit margins in that market compelling them to balance their chip outputÂ
more favorably for gamers Not that Google is doing that with a 6-month delay or anything butÂ
hopefully my point still stands And yes this is very speculative but in 2025 you kind of got toÂ
dig deep to find those silver linings Speaking of hardware delays the Cooler Master NR200P V3 wasÂ
originally teased at CES in January but it has finally made it to market and can be purchasedÂ
for $150 on Amazon as of Friday It looks pretty sleek with its CNC machined aluminum side panelsÂ
and 280 mm radiator support And while it’s not the smallest SFF chassis at 18.6L it does supportÂ
large triple slot GPUs and comes with a PCIe Gen 5 riser cable Contrastingly to highlight someÂ
early criticisms of the case we have the SFFPC subreddit where it has been determined that theÂ
case feels weird and that they made it ugly with no significant change or innovation Designers wereÂ
high Further proof that if you think anything is cool just go on Reddit and someone will be thereÂ
just hating the sh*t out of it But I do agree that the minimalist Cooler Master logo without the textÂ
looked better And practically if the case didn’t use a GPU riser cable it would be better for airÂ
cooling options Also I hope they do another max version with a power supply and all-in-one liquidÂ
cooler pre-installed If you’ve ever been paranoid that your PC does stuff on its own while you’reÂ
not looking maybe skip this next story MSI has debuted a set of Toy Story themed limited editionÂ
PC hardware including a Buzz Lightyear RTX 5070 gaming trio a Woody inspired motherboard that isÂ
disappointingly Intel based would have liked if that was AM5 A case designed after the space craneÂ
claw machine An 850 watt power supply powered by Emperor Zurg that goes pretty hard if you ask meÂ
And even a 360 mm alone liquid cooler featuring the pizza planet little green aliens Three eyesÂ
three fans It just makes sense What doesn’t make sense is these being exclusive to Taiwan LastÂ
I saw Toy Story took place in America How could you tease us like that MSI and these will onlyÂ
be sold as a bundle or via system integrators Meaning that about an $80,000 NT or $2,700 USDÂ
investment is required for a full system using these parts which despite their kind of random toyÂ
based color scheme all kind of work together given that Toy Story theme Once these sell out they’llÂ
be gone for good So book your flight to Taipei ASAP Lament with me my brothers The Windows blueÂ
screen of death is dead When a Windows 11 update later this summer rolls out the sad face and blueÂ
background we have all grown to know and somewhat fear will be replaced by a hollow meaningless voidÂ
that will echo back the emptiness of our souls as we scrambled to think when we last saved thatÂ
project we were working on Realistically though the bod is just getting a facelift its second inÂ
40 years or so And with a black screen instead of blue the beloved bod acronym remains viableÂ
It will also provide both a stop code and list the driver responsible for the crash which shouldÂ
help it with their rapid response problem solving procedures But chances are you’ll still do aÂ
double take the first time it happens to you And a quick side note the funniest blue screenÂ
that I ever experienced actually crashed out as it was trying to write this sentence So all itÂ
gave me was a sad face that said “You.” Rounding things out today we have sales Two of them thatÂ
might be of interest to PC gamers and builders Starting with the Steam summer sale that went liveÂ
sometime after the solstice and goes until July 10th Opinions seemed mixed on how good the saleÂ
actually is I’ve been hearing that games often go on sale at random times for less than the seasonalÂ
sale discounts on Steam So if you have your eye on a specific title it’s best to add it to your wishÂ
list and then just be patient Still though many titles are 20 to 50% off or more So it’s worthÂ
a browse at Borderlands 3 for three bucks And then next week Amazon’s made up Prime Day holidayÂ
happens And since Amazon made it up they can also make it longer So Prime Day is going to last likeÂ
almost a week this year July 7th to 11th Amazon conjured up Prime Day from nothing in 2015 toÂ
boost sales during an otherwise low sales point of the year So it’s just a big madeup thing AndÂ
I’d recommend buying nothing if you’re generally happy and content otherwise At least that’s whatÂ
I’m going to do But there you have it guys Tech news for the week And if you liked it click thatÂ
like button or leave me a comment down below While