I Was RIGHT!!!! (and I hate it)

[FakeATF]

The Konami code, pretty sure everyone knows that. The description says that they are already out of stock, though, so I wouldn't bother at the moment.

[WhitetailAni]

4 minutes ago, Nate. said:

Wait, so in the latest video linus said to go to lttstore.com/3070  and then something about the last two digitis of a code. What are they? I'm confused.

The cards are all sold out right now.

[emosun]

I was all on board for a 3090 but alas , "out of stock" screens are the song of our people now

[WkdPaul]

18 minutes ago, Nate. said:

Wait, so in the latest video linus said to go to lttstore.com/3070  and then something about the last two digitis of a code. What are they? I'm confused.

* Thread merged *

 

15 minutes ago, zeb_vv said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code

<link redacted by staff>

Please, do not post the direct link.

[Zero0ne]

Just wanted to give props to the LTT team for doing this.  Even though I did not score a card it was unique, fair and fun!  For those who struggled a bit with the Konomi code... some of the questions might have tripped you as well.  That said... this 40 odd year old gamer felt right at home with some of those questions.

I hope the team can do a video on the stats and maybe some lessons learned!  In either case, great job team... I know this wasn't easy to put together or even something you had to do for us.

[arc1880]

So does someone actually know when these GPUs were available? Was it after the video was posted? Or was there a certain time during the day? I mean someone in the LTT circle could leak the time and url link to "friends" and at what time.

[Pitboy64]

Direct to Linus;
Ok, I get that trying to figure out who is 'a real gamer' is tricky, but this wasn't it.
I'm damn near 50 years old, and have been 'gaming' for literally 30 years, mostly PC.
Excitedly, I listen to the instructs and was immediately hit with "whats a Konami Code?"
wiki says its a cheat code ... well I never code cheated, so I never looked for, or used cheat codes, so this info wasn't at my top of mind, fingertips.  By the time I quickly learned the trick, and immediately flashed back to entering it on the address line, and ... poof ... gone.

You tried Linus, and ya the heart was def in the right place,
but this wasn't about securing GPU's for gamers, it was about securing GPU's for game code cheaters.

* Next time - and this would be good for the channel - imagine the mileage;
1 - Ask for a 30 second max diy video of a gamer showing their home setup
2 - proving why they need a new GPU 
3 - and some crappy handheld - phone recorded video of actually playing a few seconds
of a minimum of say ... 5 games on their rig.
4 - Require to have videos either uploaded to your site directly, or via Youtube.
5 - Have a few staff spend one day sorting through the first 100 videos that check the boxes, and send a 'one time link' (to stop link spams from working), to winners to purchase a GPU. Although it sounds like a lot of work, it isnt if the videos are very short.
* In other words, make gamers 'earn' the prize.

Here's the thing;
Defining 'real gamers' as cheat code users is a very narrow window, and basing the contest on the knowledge and ability to code cheat, is kinda like congratulating a deliberate spawn sniper for his head shot count.  No one does that, they get chastised or booted.

 

Dont slam me everyone, just trying to make the world a equal place,
by suggesting a gamer contest be based on gaming itself.

[CommanderAlex]

At 9:19 of the video...

 

BUT LINUSSSS,  I JUST WANT A GRAPHICS CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

*Someone creates a new thread*-> "Why are graphics cards hard to buy???"... "Where can I buy a new graphics card???"

[pipnina]

1 hour ago, Pitboy64 said:

Here's the thing;
Defining 'real gamers' as cheat code users is a very narrow window, and basing the contest on the knowledge and ability to code cheat, is kinda like congratulating a deliberate spawn sniper for his head shot count.  No one does that, they get chastised or booted.

I mean, the konami code is just a very well known bonus as was common back in the day, though often "cheat codes" were just the way to access diagnostics developers used. Like in Sonic 2 where a combination of key presses at boot lets you access "free-build" and a music player of sorts.

I'd argue that, despite most gamers knowing OF the konami code, I think the majority wouldn't actually be able to recite it off their head, especially under time pressure since the code is VERY old by this point (in gaming terms).

Also as I said before, unless someone is really into japanese fighter games, would they actually be able to pick out the game in that list that ISN'T one? I only recognised two of the games in the list and the one I thought wasn't the fighter game actually was so EH.

[poochyena]

When and where was there any mention of a link to a quiz? I'm just not seeing it anywhere.

ohh, its in the subtitles. That... seems like a very odd way to do it and really unfortunate to any deaf people watching...

[Pitboy64]

1 hour ago, pipnina said:

I'd argue that, despite most gamers knowing OF the konami code, I think the majority wouldn't actually be able to recite it off their head, especially under time pressure since the code is VERY old by this point.

Also as I said before, unless someone is really into japanese fighter games, would they actually be able to pick out the game in that list that ISN'T one? I only recognised two of the games in the list and the one I thought wasn't the fighter game actually was so EH.

I take that as you agree, but for a parallel reason.  Ya, I saw that list as well, and I picked out only one or two of those games I ever played back in the day, so a code wasn't even a thought.
In other words, the contest was not just for general code users who would know in a flash what that is, but old Konami only players ... the demographic gets smaller ... and lets not even bring up the less likelihood of anyone young enough to have never played 5 or 6 generation old games.

[Velcade]

ASUS seems like a fun brand partner.  Glad they were able to put this together.  Well done all around.

[CrowTheRobot]

Did I hear correctly about a discount off water bottles as a consolation prize?  It sounded like it would happen with orders over $30, but unless you have to place a $30 order first and THEN get a code for the water bottle, I don’t seem to understand how to trigger it.  Just got a permanent full time IT job and thought I’d use the discount to treat myself to a shirt and water bottle...

[Techrocket9]

Opinion: GPU manufacturers should be auctioning products to the highest bidder until the supply situation normalizes.

 

With the current global semiconductor shortage the fixed-price model for high-demand consumer electronics had effectively broken.

 

Demand is so strongly outpacing supply that its neigh impossible to buy GPUs, PS5s, and Xbox Series consoles at MSRP. This is indisputable fact.

 

Because of this fact scalpers have been using arbitrage to enrich themselves.

 

The scalper tax is money taken out of consumer hands that is doing nothing to help resolve the shortage driving prices up. Instead the difference between the MSRP of a product and it's actual market value is going to people who are not contributing to increasing supply.

 

Nvidia, AMD, Sony, and Microsoft should switch from a fixed MSRP model to an auction-style model until the current shortages are resolved. The sale price from the OEM should be the market value, not an artificially low price that means that the product instantly disappears off store shelves into scalper auctions.

 

This extra profit can then be reinvested by Nvidia/AMD into bidding higher prices on TSMC wafer contracts, resulting in actually increased supply of consumer products by virtue of displacing less profitable chip production instead of just lining scalper wallets.

 

This also increases incentive for TSMC to scale up production, though that is a much slower process.

 

Treat GPUs and consoles like the commodities they are and supply and demand can start to repair the current situation. Keep pretending that they have a single fixed value and the situation will continue until the chip production that actually obeys supply and demand corrects the market, which could be years from now. All the while scalpers laugh all the way to the bank.

[AndreiArgeanu]

Glad this video was released, it clarified some stuff for me. I originally thought, that there was both high demand and low supply, but supply is actually a bit higher than other years which gives me a glimmer of hope that in Q2 or Q3 of 2021 the demand will hopefully be much lower than it is and was.

[Pitboy64]

1 hour ago, Techrocket9 said:

Opinion: GPU manufacturers should be auctioning products to the highest bidder until the supply situation normalizes.

You are welcome to your opinion, and this is where to share it.
But ... no.

From watching this video, we learned with great detail what Linus shared on the subject ... the real problem is not supply ... as manufacturers are building what they forecast the market to be, but a demand that could not have been foreseen when these plans were created a year or two ago.  To repeat Linus; manu's (all the way up to silicone) can not build more (or much more) than what they planned to build.  This is not a 'just speed up the line' industry.

 

This resulted in a supply issue, sure ... but it isnt, its only a demand issue.

Your premise is based on turning up the manu volume, to repeat; that is next to impossible as billion dollar fabs will need to be built to increase outputs, for wafers or down the line GPU manu's, and fabs take years to build from ground break to output ... years.

"This extra profit can then be reinvested by Nvidia/AMD into bidding higher prices on TSMC wafer contracts, resulting in actually increased supply of consumer products by virtue of displacing less profitable chip production instead of just lining scalper wallets."

This is a mixup of contrary ideas.  An auctioned doubling (example) of prices for wafers will never actually 'increase supply', as manus ... all manu's ... are running at 100% potential output already.   There will be no more units on skids than planned, so all that will increase is the cost to consumers, and a higher share value for TSMC ... which yes ... they can announce a big new fab ... that will open in 3-5 years, so volumes wont increase till the long term. Auction will not increase outputs in this industry.

 

So far, where are we?
We have no increase of product making it to users, but the short term value increases, and users are paying for it.

Second; Scalpers are a tiny % of the problem, barely noticed on the manufacturer end.  They are at the retail end, although very visible and obvious by anyone with google, but they dont actually hold a high % of units. Remember the bottleneck is in silicone wafers, and scalpers dont buy those. Driving prices thru the roof via auction, will drive a few scalpers away, but also the target end user market, via huge increase of final product prices ... which is a huge market in comparison.

 

No one manufacturer of anything, will ever change their business model because of scalpers, they do not really care about scalpers beyond consumer optics.  They are not about to risk anything viable to limit scalping. 

Finally the basic idea of cherry picking this kind of retail product as one where GPU manus should auction their product to consumers.  Auctions do well and make sense when there is a finite amount of that product ... there wont be any more Picasso's ... ie; sales are based on knowing the limit of the product. 

But when 3000 series GPU's etc have no end date for manufacturer, auction prices fall apart as the value becomes transient. Asus (for example) could easily decide to keep making 3000 cards for 5 more years, destroying the value of those in the wild if sold at artificially inflated auction values, and that is the key, auction value can not be artificially inflated or the price will crash. 

Held as a fixed MSRP retail value, the item value is set and depreciation will be minimal and controllable. Picasso wont be painting any more, driving up existing values.  Asus will update their GPU's to a 4000 series, replacing the 3000 series as desirable, which will end up in the used market as a lesser value.

No manu would consider this as workable.  If a product is good and desired, yes ... prices will increase, but when they put out a midline to poor product (like the intel i7 11700) the price will crash as no one will want it, eating into the profits of popular products.  For a retail destined product, thats unsustainable, thats market share, thats stock value.

Cars, fridges, coffee machines, etc as well as end user tech products; their prices will all shoot up to pay for the artificial, ballooned auction costs, which will have a big effect on national economies, jobs and inflation, and might in some markets, drive a recession.

Although it sounds reasonable in a tech user chat forum, this will only do damage in the real world.
But its an opinion, so thanks for sharing it.

[Techrocket9]

59 minutes ago, Pitboy64 said:

This is a mixup of contrary ideas.  An auctioned doubling (example) of prices for wafers will never actually 'increase supply', as manus ... all manu's ... are running at 100% potential output already. 

An increase in the price of GPUs can increase availability of GPUs by displacing less profitable manufacturing at places like TSMC.

 

Yes, TSMC cannot magic more fabs into existence overnight, but contracts end all the time and the capacity they were consuming will now go to the highest bidder. If GPU designers (AMD and Nvidia) were able to bid 2x per wafer what they do now you can bet more GPUs would be rolling off the assembly line despite TSMC's overall manufacturing capability/output remaining flat.

 

Also, whenever TSMC manages to eeek a little more yield out of their process you can bet it's the highest bidder that gets it.

 

Regarding depreciation, it's true that the value of the cards will not hold up once supply stabilizes, but I don't think that matters. GPUs aren't supposed to be assets, they are intended to be consumed and they're worth whatever people will pay for them. As a manufacturer you can control the "floor" price by setting the opening bid to what is currently MSRP. Once people are no longer willing to bid over MSRP you drop the auction format and go back to traditional more-or-less fixed pricing for your GPUs.

[YukiCF]

I'm a bit confused, they said the last two digits of the Konami Code.. But the code doesn't have any numbers in it? What do I do?

[Invisa_boi]

When it says 404 page not found :/

[Sovek]

On 3/23/2021 at 11:57 PM, Techrocket9 said:

If GPU designers (AMD and Nvidia) were able to bid 2x per wafer what they do now you can bet more GPUs would be rolling off the assembly line despite TSMC's overall manufacturing capability/output remaining flat.

Oh this sounds like a WONDERFUL idea, lets all go back to RTX 2000 prices, or worse because of a supply issue.

 

NO! And lets not forget for an instant here that were TSMC were to go "no, we're gonna go strictly AMD/Nvidia because a temporary shortage" we're gonna wind up in a situation where not only will GPU's be highly inflated, but pretty much anything with IC's will be jacked in price. See that $1200 i-Phone? yeah, its now $2200, as is that laptop that went for $500 now being $800 or more, and thats assuming that they can even get the chips in the first place. 

 

And now Intel is looking at Samsung or TSMC to produce their chips to finally get below 14nm, so instead of being able to afford or get a CPU, now it would be "forget it, everything is going to GPU's at marked up prices", which likely would go to miners since they would have the funds to buy them.

[Red :)]

Subtitles since 10:33 are out of sync.

[gamersglory]

TSMC's main problem right now seem to be the fresh water shortage in Taiwan. There having water trucks bringing it in from other places. They got the money to build there own desalinization plant