I finally had to shut down my business. PPP loan kept us afloat for a bit, but with all of our major clients suspending operations, there is just no prospects right now.  The on-site security business is kinda hard when nobody is working on-site!

With all this free time, I booted up p3d5 for the first time and discovered that my 5 year old graphics card is not cutting the mustang anymore.  So I checked out the boards to see what a new 12 gig card will set me back.  Holy chip shortage Batman!  What in th wide world of sports is going on here?  The exact same model of GTX 970 that I bought in 2016 is now almost $900! That's more than twice what I paid for it. 

So it looks like I'm going to be playing a lot of Minecraft from now on 🙂

I hope everyone is faring as well as possible under the circumstances.

The sad part is that too many people are prepar3d to pay silly money for graphics cards. It's about time that the ransom demands worked in the opposite direction. I have just checked Amazon UK to see what is available, and there is a veritable comedy show of offers......£500 for a GTX 970, £850 for an RTX 3060 (seriously.....a "6" card for the price of a PC?), nearly £300 for a 1050Ti coffee coaster, and the best one of the lot.....another RTX 3060 for £2966 (plus £4 delivery ; apparently there are only 10 left in stock, so get those credit cards out quick, lads)

59 minutes ago, captain_adf said:

I finally had to shut down my business.

 

Really sorry to hear that. 

 

5 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I have just checked Amazon UK to see what is available, and there is a veritable comedy show of offers......£500 for a GTX 970, £850 for an RTX 3060 (seriously.....a "6" card for the price of a PC?), nearly £300 for a 1050Ti coffee coaster, and the best one of the lot.....another RTX 3060 for £2966 (plus £4 delivery ; apparently there are only 10 left in stock, so get those credit cards out quick, lads)

 

Yep, utter insanity Chris. So lucky I nabbed my RTX 3090 when I did. I thought it was a crazy price at the time, but good grief, prices have escalated even further.

We are living in weird times.

Sorry to hear about the status quo affecting your business. It did for me too so I know the feeling. Just remember, when one door closes, kick another one in. 🤣

Keep smiling and remember, computer games and sims can run at 1920x1080 and still look good, so you don't actually need the latest GPU toy.

Edited April 2, 20215 yr by Chock

20 hours ago, captain_adf said:

I finally had to shut down my business. PPP loan kept us afloat for a bit, but with all of our major clients suspending operations, there is just no prospects right now.  The on-site security business is kinda hard when nobody is working on-site!

With all this free time, I booted up p3d5 for the first time and discovered that my 5 year old graphics card is not cutting the mustang anymore.  So I checked out the boards to see what a new 12 gig card will set me back.  Holy chip shortage Batman!  What in th wide world of sports is going on here?  The exact same model of GTX 970 that I bought in 2016 is now almost $900! That's more than twice what I paid for it. 

So it looks like I'm going to be playing a lot of Minecraft from now on 🙂

I hope everyone is faring as well as possible under the circumstances.

I hear ya and I am sorry that your business did not survive the pandemic.  A whole lot of small businesses and some big businesses that were already struggling have permanently closed their doors.  If it was not for the SBA and their EIDL and PPP loan programs, I would be among them.  As for a new graphics card, most of us do not have the money for one.  Between production cuts due to the pandemic, water shortages, bad weather, and the crypto-currency boom, graphics cards and the semi-condutors used in all electronics are scarce.  The few graphics cards that are available are often grabbed by scalpers and sold for two or three times more than the MSRP.  Dark days for the flight simmer who wants or truly needs a new rig for anything beyond FSX.

Edited April 3, 20215 yr by stans

Thanks for the encouragement, I'll get back on my feet again. Always have.

And I know I can't complain just because I can't run the NGXu in complex airports with sliders full right! With a little tweaking, I found a decent profile. The GTX 970 is still a good card.

It's back to ground school for me, in more ways than one!

By the way, I read "personal reboot" as "personal robot". I admit, I am a bit disanointed you haven't invented a personal robot. 

Call me paranoid, but the GPU shortages have gotten so bad now that when we get back to travelling, I'm going to pull the GPUs out of my computers and lock them in my gun safe.  The local Microcenter hasn't had a 20xx or 30xx GPU in stock for close to six months now.   At this point in time and for the foreseeable future they're for all practical purposes irreplaceable.

Just finished two days of nontrivial aching and shaking following Moderna jab #2.  Spring is definitely in the air.  Time to reboot, indeed.

23 hours ago, w6kd said:

Call me paranoid, but the GPU shortages have gotten so bad now that when we get back to travelling, I'm going to pull the GPUs out of my computers and lock them in my gun safe.  The local Microcenter hasn't had a 20xx or 30xx GPU in stock for close to six months now.   At this point in time and for the foreseeable future they're for all practical purposes irreplaceable.

Just finished two days of nontrivial aching and shaking following Moderna jab #2.  Spring is definitely in the air.  Time to reboot, indeed.

I have an unused 3080 that I'm giving away to the 1st $10,000 that hits my Venmo account. 😉  Have already seen folks on Craigslist selling them for $3k....just ridiculous.

Kidding ! (I do not have a 3080 laying around, but predict if the miners get too hard up, $10k won't be a number they're willing to go to to fill out their mining rig).  Sadly, this trend has all but eliminated the possibility of simmers getting a 30 series card at anywhere close to retail.  I've completely given up and will run with my 2070 super for the foreseeable future.  I hate where the GPU market is today...its disgusting.

23 hours ago, w6kd said:

Just finished two days of nontrivial aching and shaking following Moderna jab #2

My 2nd Pfizer dose knocked me for a loop as well (a few months back) and I think that is the general theme as I've noted by reactions from all my coworkers (all fully vaccinated due to we're all in healthcare)...we all noted that the 1st vaccine...almost no post-symptoms....2nd dose...kaPow!   I had the exact same symptoms as you....in addition to severe exhaustion....could not get out of bed without extreme effort.  Well worth it though as I'm now confident that I'm safe from acquiring or spreading the virus.

Edited April 5, 20215 yr by Steve Dra

I had my first (Oxford AstraZeneca) vaccine nine days ago. I went to bed that night with the shakes, but two paracetamols sorted that out inside thirty minutes.

56 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I had my first (Oxford AstraZeneca) vaccine nine days ago. I went to bed that night with the shakes, but two paracetamols sorted that out inside thirty minutes.

 

Ive had a letter telling me I can have one. Cant get through on the phone though to book. 🙂 

Let's not hijack this into another COVID/vaccine debate, please. 

2 hours ago, Steve Dra said:

My 2nd Pfizer dose knocked me for a loop as well (a few months back) and I think that is the general theme as I've noted by reactions from all my coworkers (all fully vaccinated due to we're all in healthcare)...we all noted that the 1st vaccine...almost no post-symptoms....2nd dose...kaPow!   I had the exact same symptoms as you....in addition to severe exhaustion....could not get out of bed without extreme effort.  Well worth it though as I'm now confident that I'm safe from acquiring or spreading the virus.

LOL me too ! Just got 2nd dose Saturday. Today is better, yesterday was sore all over and fatigued.

 

Sorry, you posted as I was typing w6dk. My bad.

Edited April 5, 20215 yr by Penzoil3

On 4/3/2021 at 4:16 PM, martin-w said:

By the way, I read "personal reboot" as "personal robot". I admit, I am a bit disanointed you haven't invented a personal robot. 

Personal robots are becoming available, although the ones being made right now are designed more to take care of a certain need/desire and are not really suitable for keeping a residence tidy.