Tech N' Tactile

Your Graphics Card Isn’t On Fire, The Market Is

• Tech N' Tactile • Season 1 • Episode 9

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 51:19

Leave us a Message or A Comment Here!

The year kicks off with a plot twist no builder wanted: memory is the new gatekeeper, and AI is holding the keys. We dig into how data center demand for DRAM and VRAM is reshaping the PC market, why DDR4 and DDR5 kits have exploded in price, and what it actually takes to run local LLMs without setting your wallet on fire. Along the way, we unpack the ASUS 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti “EOL” rumor that sparked panic buying, then trace the rapid walkback from ASUS and NVIDIA as supply constraints—not cancellations—came to light.

From Micron’s pivot toward enterprise AI to retailer markups and empty shelves, we map the forces that turned a hobby into a headache. If you’ve stared at a 2x16GB kit priced like a mid-range GPU, you’re not alone. We talk smart upgrades in a distorted market: when a prebuilt makes financial sense, how to avoid scalpers, and why treating AI as a tool—rather than a crutch—keeps your problem-solving muscles sharp. We also look at the broader ecosystem: Microsoft and NVIDIA loudly championing AI, Google weaving it into every layer from search to Android, and Apple advancing more quietly with on-device features and a walled-garden pace.

There’s a glimmer of hope: constrained hardware cycles could pressure studios to optimize games instead of waiting for the next GPU bailout. Will AAA listen, or will indies keep leading on efficiency and polish? Until the dust settles, our advice is simple and calm—don’t panic buy, verify official statements, and buy only what you need. If you’re planning an upgrade, tune in for grounded tips that prioritize stability, value, and sanity.

Enjoyed the show? Follow Tech N' Tactile, share this episode with a friend, and drop your take on AI’s impact: are you buying now, switching brands, or waiting it out? Subscribe for more!

Support the show

https://techntactile.com/

New Year, GPU Gripes

Cody

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Tech and Tactile podcast. It's 2026. The new year is uh upon us, and a wonderful story has developed in the world of tech. All I've been talking about is video games lately, so it's nice to flip the damn switch. So um yeah, let's let's get into it. We are graphics cards, we need 'em. Yes. We can't live without them. You can't play your uh overly unoptimized video games uh without them because you know VRAM. VRAM is what you need, and guess what? We're not getting a lot of these days. Fucking VRAM. Let's get into it. There there's um there's been a lot of uh oopsie daisies that uh has been going on in the side of NVIDIA. I mean, you know, I'm sure AMD's turn in the uh in the spotlight will come, but NVIDIA they're they're getting bent over the rails uh lately. And I mean yeah, it's it's been pretty fucking rough. Like, let me tell you, dude. Like I, for reference, just picked up a new rig, and right uh at the end of uh Christmas, you know, I got I got like I got like a not even I wouldn't even call it like a fantastic one. It was a 5060, 32 gigs of DDR5, a decent processor and everything.

Michael

And Ryzen 8500G.

Cody

Right. So I picked this rig up, and not even a month later, I spent about 1500, and not even a month later, this rig is almost two fucking grand.

Michael

If not over by the time we're recording this.

Cody

Yeah, so uh let's talk about it. Let's talk

Personal Rig Sticker Shock

Cody

about uh PC building and how it was cool and how it's not literal, yeah. Now it's logistically a fucking nightmare. Like it's it is awful to get into. Uh so yeah, I don't know, Michael. What do you what do you got for us? I'm sure you found some shit.

Michael

Uh so yeah, so first I guess we can talk about kind of the the thing and the issues that are hitting a little bit closer to home for us these days. And um, before we get into kind of the the overall NVIDIA and AI and uh VRAM nightmare, we're gonna talk about um AI and how it's killing absolutely everything in the world. So kind of close to home for uh me and old codeman here, we see, or at least we have heard from various sources, um, that the South Carolina Um Operations Division is planning on going with something by the name of Project Cobra, as it has been coined, which is going to be a $1 billion data center um plan for South Carolina right on the edge of Lake Wiley here in York County.

Cody

Uh and I okay, look, you know, before I I'm pretty sure I've even said it maybe here on this podcast, like, before I get into everything about AI, I

AI’s Appetite For RAM And VRAM

Cody

think AI is a wonderful tool. But like all things that are developed that can be good, uh, it is pushed to its absolute fucking worst uh worst side of itself. I mean, you know, said the same thing about uh whenever crypto was getting really big. I always talked about how crypto could be cool. But now every time I hear the word crypto, I cringe and don't want to hear anything about it anymore, and then think about all the 40 series graphics cards I couldn't own because some motherfucker in China was buying them all up to goddamn mine their stupid crypto currency.

Michael

Speaking of uh 40 series cards as well, when we do um eventually, if we may do, our CES 2026 episode, possibly in a week or two, they uh they announced that wonderful little Bitcoin mining water heater that we'll talk about in the future.

Cody

Oh yeah, that thing. Fucking great. CES was a shit show for me. I'm sorry, but well, that's another topic for another day.

Michael

There was a lot of stuff, but yeah, we'll cover that at some point in the future. But that's not what today is about anyway.

Cody

No, today's about AI, and honestly, I'm getting really goddamn tired of it. Like, you can't literally open up an app or anything without seeing some kind of goddamn AI. Now, don't get me wrong. I think AI is a wonderful tool, and it can be used to do wonderful things, but it's just it's just everywhere, man. And it's getting to the point where, you know, you can't even enjoy buying the things that you want to buy if you because it's all being bought up by all the big tech companies, and yeah, uh the consumers are being left in the dust. This is just not very good at all. I'm lucky to have gotten the computer that I've gotten, and I wouldn't even call what I've gotten high end in the slightest.

Michael

Um I mean so yeah, just to just to kind of give a brief overview of like, you know, AI and why it's consuming what it's consuming with RAM or um you know random access memory for what you have on a computer, all these different things with um different like AI LLMs and stuff, they have so much that is required to have them run comfortably. Because for a local LLM, on average, depending on the scale and size and complexity of it of its network, you wouldn't need anywhere from 16 to 64 gigs of RAM just to run comfortably, which is a wild to think about because everyone is using all these cards, not even for graphical purposes, but purely just for like you know, RAM purposes, just for like memory power, which is ridiculous.

Local LLMs And Memory Math

Cody

I mean yeah, like I I get what people are you know why they need it, but it's so busted that you, the consumer, if you wanted to get your own like I I'm an older guy, so I you know, whenever it comes to a long it used to be inexpensive as hell to build your own PC. Yes, it can be it was always like you know, there was a price like there was an entry barrier whenever it came to money, right? But the one thing that never mattered was RAM. I mean, it you would build your fucking PC, you would never in a million years think, oh god, how am I gonna get my RAM? You're just like, oh, how much RAM do I want in here, you know? And then, you know, you you would just get the fucking RAM and and then it would be over. Right. And now it's like I I literally for my rig that I had, I mean, you know, I got two 16 sticks of DDR4 RAM, the kind that you sent me. That son of a bitch was almost two hundred dollars. Actually, it was it was two hundred dollars.

Michael

Yeah. It's it's wild.

Cody

I get it, it's DDR4 and everything like that, but like, dude, like it was I don't know. I get it, it was 216 sticks, but still, that should not have been two hundred fucking dollars.

Michael

Yeah, and and just for reference, if you if you take a minute just to go look up the current like actual graph chart of what RAM memory or not RAM memory, but RAM memory prices have gone from. If you go look at back at their base price, back from like August 2024 to May of 2025, roughly, it was just hovering around about anywhere between 70, 80 to maybe $100, depending on the brand and like the fanciness, if you had RGB or a higher memory transfer speed. It has effectively gone from that upwards um to present day. And if you look at the current top spike as of January 2026, it is just under averaging $300 for a 216 stick at um DDR4 3600 megatransfer. It's it's worth it.

Cody

Yeah, that's fucking ridiculous.

Michael

And that's just for DDR4, not to mention five. It's even worse with

Price Spikes: DDR4 And DDR5

Michael

five.

Cody

Yeah, that's not yeah, DDR5, the the current RAM that every can get. I mean, forget about it. You may it's almost the fucking price. I mean, it's almost as expensive as like certain GPUs.

Michael

Yeah, so if you if you look at the same um kind of graph trends, but you look at like DDR5 at the 6,000 megatransfer rate for two 32 stick kits, it's effectively went from um baseling 200 to right now it is just at the 920 mark.

Cody

Yeah, that's fucked. I mean, seriously, like the the deal that I got on my rig, and you know, I I'm not I just couldn't imagine like almost 200 like $2,000 and like I don't know, man.

Michael

Percentile wise, I'm not sure what exactly like the the percentile ratio difference is because I'm I'm not a mathematician off the top of my head visually like that, but the inflation rate is massively crazy considering you went from basically going from about a hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars, depending on the between effectively roughly May to January. Yeah, I don't know what that rate of return is on inflation, but lowered it is high.

Cody

With all this bullshit that's going on, it uh you can't even fucking not only could you not build your own rig, I mean uh it's affecting all kinds of manufacturers. Like, you know, uh I don't think we're gonna see a new video games console uh in in quite a while. Uh iron Nintendo is about to increase their fucking uh Switch 2, you know.

Michael

If anyone has been increasing their consoles consistently since this has happened, it's good old Xbox.

Cody

Yeah, it has. Yeah, it fucking has. But I mean, honest to God, man, like not only are everything is everything getting way too expensive because of the fucking shortages, it's also uh I there might be a silver lining to some of this, and I'm gonna get into it, but you know, I gotta get all I gotta whine and bitch about it a little bit more before and get it out of my system. You know, that's that's what I'm fucking doing here. But then again, you know, might be whining and bitching, but it is very true.

Michael

Yeah.

Cody

You can't fucking buy shit these days.

Michael

Another really big piece of why AI is consuming so much RAM is when you think about it, when you look at different like engines like ChatGBT or you know, Gemini, Deep Seek, Minstrel, Lumina, all the other ones that push a lot of RAM requirements, especially God forbid, all the ones like with that that are built around the option of having like AI image generations and stuff like that, those will eat not only VRAM, but just RAM in general as a whole, whether you're using it on a system simultaneously just because of it's wanting to do more accurate and faster generations over a scale of thousands to millions, depending on what is running it and how many people are trying to run that same system at the same time.

Cody

Yeah. Uh I mean like I said, AI is a wonderful tool. Yeah. But AI, I if I'm I'm gonna be honest, all with all of this AI going around, I think people get or are probably gonna get a lot well, it's not even probably. People are just gonna get a lot more lazy and dumber, if I'm honest with you. Not to undermine anyone

Supply Chains And Micron’s Pivot

Cody

who would go about it, but I mean I have some stories to tell, like, you know, uh about like learning new trades and stuff like that. Uh not only whenever you like and again, I know AI is an algorithm. I know that you know, if you train an algorithm, eventually it'll get things going, but AI is just so unaccurate right now. Whenever it comes to like, you know, you Google something and then Gemini pops up. A lot of the times it can be correct and it'll pull sources and it'll let you see the sources that it pulls, but then if you're just reading the AI, you might be getting a little bit of false information because it might be pulling from multiple different sources and then combining them into one string of text for you.

Michael

Like a spaghetti code from hell type thing.

Cody

Nah, it's it's kind of circumstantial in my kind of instance. So I look up a lot of like I've been playing a lot of souls games, and I'll look something up, and it'll pull an area from one game and then tell me that this item is in the other game, and like you know, when it clearly isn't, and it's it's like my my things are very circumstantial. Like, you know, if you use it for uh basic stuff like that, I'm sure the AI is fine, but like, you know, like like I said, it relying on it, and people plenty of people will probably only rely on the AI for their sources, and if that's the case, they're gonna have a lot of incorrect sources for quite a while. But like I I like I I just I feel like AI using it to gain uh like you know to look up stuff and everything will kind of dumb down your problem-solving skills. Like people whenever like I was growing up, sure, you know, everyone had Google for the longest time. If you could figure something out, you would Google it, right? But then again, what's wrong with also ramming your head into a solution until you solve it and then you get the satisfaction of finally figuring out how something works?

Michael

Yeah, that's that's part of the satisfaction of me and you being IT majors, because it's what we do and it's what we love to do. Me and you will ram our heads into something for hours, and when we finally have that moment of satisfaction after, you know, five, six, ten hours, whatever the hell it may be after polling all nighters, it's the best feeling in the world when you can officially claim that, hey, I did this, not some machine.

Cody

I uh I like that a lot. Like that that's probably one of my key com uh uh memories of switching to Linux, where uh like like you know, I get into Linux and I'm like, okay, I have Steam and Steam is working and all the Steam accessories, all cool Steam, it's working all fine,

DIY Desperation And RAM Workarounds

Cody

right? Well, what if I want to play something that's not on Steam? How do I figure that out? How do I do this? And you know, obviously I would look up guides and stuff like that, but then whenever I specifically wanted to get like you know, fan games or mods and stuff working, uh instead of like you know, like there there have been guides out there, but sometimes I don't do very well reading a whole lot to myself. Like sometimes I just need to experience it for myself because you know I I learn a little bit different, I retain knowledge a little different uh than looking something up and following a step-by-step guide, as I'll probably fuck it up at some point, especially if it's a black web page. Yeah, if it's a white fucking web page. So I'd rather instead of read, I I just kind of rammed my head into the wall until I figured it out. I remember trying to get specific uh like I think it was like uh flash games, like I was trying to figure out how they use it we were trying to work. Rufus, yeah. I was trying to figure out how to play flash games on Linux and you know all that cool stuff, and ended up going down a rabbit hole for ten straight goddamn hours when the solution was literally just added as a non-Steam game and use Proton. And like, you know, now that I know that, obviously, I'm like, wow, I feel stupid. Steam was my fucking solution all this time. But like in those 10 hours, I learned so much about the OS that I would have never learned.

Michael

Yeah, and the inner workings of the digital hierarchy of what it prioritizes and how it's built upon itself, which was kind of nice to learn.

Cody

Yeah, I learned that all for myself, and it was knowledge that I gained without having to look something up and have it regurgitated to me out on the internet. Like, don't get me wrong. Like, it's it's fine if you want to do that, if you just want your information given to you quick and easy, I understand. That not everyone is a patient motherfucker like me. Some people are impatient and want their fucking information now. Yep. And my honest to God answer is what was wrong with Google before AI? Just get just fucking enough of it, man. You could g you we already have something called a search engine. Search your query and read it and like you know, do your research, but the AI will not fucking save you. It won't. And there are people out there who will probably have the complete opposite take and think all of this is good. And you know, I'm open to counter-arguments. I think that like I I've always like I said, I think AI is good, but I think it's just being overdone and it's getting a little regarded ridiculous.

Michael

Yeah, so and another thing that I I I I want to shine a spotlight on with

ASUS EOL Rumor And Walkback

Michael

how out of hand that this is becoming, especially with the the market shifts and the tanking of stock and everything else. There's one big reason that I want to make sure to cover of how and why this is happening. So we all know that RAM is a computer component that has to be manufactured from somebody, right? So when we have when you think about who controls the RAM manufacturing market and who dominates the market when it comes to you know DRAM chips and how the sticks are made, manufactured, and all like, you know, compiled, you've got four. It's Samsung, SK Hyanks, and Micron. Now, why I'm saying this is where's one more?

Cody

You said four, right? Yeah, so You just listed three.

Michael

Kingston, that's the other one, I believe.

Cody

There you go. I was about to say you're you got one. There you go, Kingston. Because we just bought some from Kingston.

Michael

Yeah. So why so why I'm saying this is because good old Micron decided to say bye-bye to the consumer side of the market and focus fully on enterprise AI production. Yeah.

Cody

Which is nuts. And that's crazy because Micron was like, I mean that's usually Yeah, I would usually buy my RAM from Micron or if I had like you know PC, like if I was gonna get RAM, Micron was it. Now I go to Kingston.

Michael

Yeah. It's just wild to think that they're like, you know what, we're just gonna leave y'all to y'all's devices and y'all have a good day. Right.

Cody

And I mean, it's ridiculous. Like, there's no other way to say it. And I don't I wish I had a solution. I am not a smart motherfucker by any means. I sit in my I sit in my fucking chair and I play obscure random video games and uh drag Michael down a rabbit hole with him. That's usually how my days go. I don't have a lot of uh substantial knowledge in all of this. I just bitch and complain to people on the internet, and that's honestly, you know, I'm okay with that. Because I mean, you know, who doesn't like to bitch and complain about something every now and then? But I I truly think that this bubble, unlike the crypto bubble that was going on with the 40 series when that was prevalent, this is gonna take this is gonna be a lot more of an issue than that. Yeah, I don't think we're

Panic Buying And Retailer Markups

Cody

gonna see a actual like I don't think that this is gonna get any better for any time soon. In fact, I think as technology progresses, because uh I I'm always the one who is excited to see progressing technology, but as technology progresses, I feel like this is only going to be worse. Right. And uh that kind of makes me question how video cards are gonna be made. They're probably gonna find cheaper solutions to make them, which means you might have uh more uh cards catching on fucking fire, like the fifty series were doing when they were coming out.

Michael

Yeah, those I believe I believe. The reason behind why the 50 series was catching on fire to memory wasn't necessarily the card itself, but the 12 six pin connector that's connected to the GPU got so fucking hot that it melted.

Cody

That's fucking insane. That's crazy.

Michael

Yeah. So there's a lot of different like production concerns with a lot of this. And I know, like, kind of circling back with you know Micron's exit and everything, they announced that they plan to stop selling all crucial branded RAM and SSDs globally by February 2026. And I don't know if anyone's checked the calendar, but that's in less than really two weeks. And once everything has been kind of cut, it's over. Like after that, like you you realize that like with all these AI data center demands like consuming all of the supply, that pretty much anything that absorbs DRAM and different NAND kind of consumer products, that like as more demand comes on and they see less and less

Hope For Optimization In Games

Michael

um you know grab from consumers with producing, that it's just gonna lead and more surge for this demand that's not gonna keep up, and then eventually at some point, either somebody's gonna have to step in or this mark like the entire like economic market is just gonna go flatline completely for everybody. Because it's just gonna it's gonna build up so much that it implodes on itself.

Cody

On a funnier note, you know, not not to flip the the to change the subject because uh it'll be there, but do you hear the story about the dude who was like breaking into fucking uh data centers or just break like I don't remember what it was, but like those dude who broke in and like smashed open a display case and like stole some fucking RAM out of a fucking PC.

Michael

I don't remember where that was. Was it the display units at Best Buy? I can't remember. I I'm I vaguely remember that, yes.

Cody

I tried to pull the article before the uh podcast, but it it was like some and someone will probably like no, uh, but like in there was a store that was broken into where there was a fucking computer, like those computers, and like the fucking display cases were shattered and the fucking RAM was stripped out of the uh out of the uh units, which is insane.

Michael

Right. I believe if if I remember correctly, I know that Best Buy and different like actual storefronts have been locking out their display units without RAM because of everything that's been going on. Now, as of recently, I know like different like places have been going to extremes to kind of circumvent this whole um DDR, you know, different RAM crisis. Hell, we've got people from Germany telling other motherfuckers how to make their own RAM. Then you got people being like, I'm gonna use 150% of my brain and take so damn avatar laptop and put it into a um full dim converter so that I can still have a full stick of RAM but have a laptop chip.

Cody

Yeah, uh I think it was a dude from Russia where uh he's like uh it was a dude from Russia

Big Tech’s AI Push And PR Backlash

Cody

and he's like, Yeah, I'm gonna teach you how to build your own RAM, boys. Let's go get some get your soldering kit. We're gonna build some fucking RAM.

Michael

That's what it was, yeah.

Cody

Yeah, yeah. He's like, get your soldering kit, boys. We're gonna teach you how to build some RAM.

Michael

Ironically, it's been a lot of there's been a lot of um genius ingenuity that we've seen over the last couple of weeks, but I I do believe seeing the uh the SODIMM and the soldering kit adapters were probably the cherry on the metaphorical ram cake, because that was pretty funny.

Cody

Uh speaking of uh, you know, ram and everything, uh uh uh why don't we kick it back to some of the articles that you were reading to me before like the whole fiasco before we started streaming, uh, you know, the one involving uh our good uh our our good buddies over at ASUS. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about their fuck up. Let's talk about that. Yeah. Because they fuck up and they're getting fucking bent over the rails right now, dude.

Michael

Yeah. Um so to clarify, if anyone wants to kind of go look at the video and check it out, um ASUS is one of well, I should say one of ASUS's PR representatives over at HUB or Hardware Unboxed released a statement saying that um the 5060 Ti and the 5070 Ti, 16 gig variants, had reached end-of-life status less than a year from release due to the memory shortages um due to the demand, and that they were um going to stop supply um because of it and completely basically kill the 5070 Ti and the 5060 Ti over um VRAM AI concerns.

Cody

Yeah, uh I I flipped my ass at that, because like I mean who wouldn't?

Michael

So just to kind of give you a bit of a a timeline as of what's happened right now, so that was kind of announced literally basically yesterday, as we found out prior to recording this, and then now today, as we were getting everything kind of in front of us, we see the now updates as hardware unboxed and ASUS and everybody has completely backtracked on the statement because it was all a bunch of crap. So basically, to give you a full timeline of kind of what we're referring to, hardware unboxed talks to ASUS um for other 5070 TI samples. The ASUS PR representative says that the samples are not available due to supply constraints, and calls ASUS models the EOL or end of life. And then Hardware asked ASUS to clarify, someone from ASUS, I don't know who the fuck it was, but according to Hardware and Box, confirmed that they were EOL. Official wording from them. Then retailers are contacted to verify supply, retailers have no stock available for um to buy four stores, and then Hardware and Box pushes this video based on the on-record ASUS statement plus the different

Apple’s Quieter AI Strategy

Michael

retailer checks that were made. And then once NVIDIA of all frickin' people hear about this, they verify their GeForce SKU IDs to verify that the models are still shipping, which they do. ASUS then follows up saying that NVIDIA told ASUS that the 5070 TI is not end of life from NVIDIA's end. And then that ASUS is streamlining trying to streamline more models. Now we've got hardware unboxed being like, alright, I fucked up. He now publishes this clarification. Asus follows up again a third time with the son of a bitch and says that the 5070 Ti and the 5060 Ti are not discontinued, or EOL. Hardware Unbox then requests more 5070 Ti samples as of eight hours ago. That was the last update.

Cody

And there this story is still ongoing, so like there's who knows what the hell's gonna happen.

Michael

This is completely active.

Cody

Yeah, like you know, I would have I would have waited to talk about this more, but it's just funny to talk about this in real time. And maybe uh I don't know, maybe we'll do irregular updates where we just start posting about this. I don't know. Like that the this story is hilarious, but like what if I like holy shit imagine, imagine a GPU not even lasting a full fucking year before it is goddamn end of life, shelved, capoted, like no longer manufactured. Could you fucking imagine? I mean like good god, man. I mean the 50 series had its controversies and everything like that, but damn. Yeah, I I knew that was too good to be true.

Michael

Like I was like, the market has become a flaming mess right now. It is just it's ridiculous.

Cody

Yeah, absolutely, dude.

Michael

So just to just to clarify, um, straight from the ASUS press room that was released today, just before um we went live with this episode. Um, and I I will quote this directly. We would like to clarify recent reports

Advice: Don’t Panic Buy, Consider Prebuilts

Michael

regarding the ASUS GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16 GB models. Certain media may have received incomplete information from an ASUS PR representative regarding these products, the GForce RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB model have not been discontinued or designated as end-of-life or EOL. ASUS has no plans to stop selling these models, nor will NVIDIA stop supplying them. Current fluctuations in supply for both products are primar are primarily due to memory supply constraints, which have temporarily halted production output and different restocking cycles. As a result, availability may appear limited in certain markets, but this should not be interpreted as a production halt or product retirement. Asus will continue to support the GeForce RTX 570 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB models and is working closely with its partners to stabilize supply as conditions improve. Yeah. What a story. Wow. It's been a wild 48 hours, people.

Cody

Yeah. What a fucking story, dude. What a train wreck. Do you have like could you imagine?

Michael

I would be hardware unboxed right now because he is getting roasted from every corner of the internet.

Cody

Could you imagine the people that heard that fucking? Because I I I I've done it. I am one of these people, but I am glad I didn't do this. But could you imagine the person who read that article flipped their ass and went out and bought a fucking 5070 immediately?

Michael

Oh, uh, speaking of that as well, did you see that certain storefronts off of um different retailers from Best Buy and stuff, depending on who you bought it from, either directly or third party or like you know, secondhand store, was increasing from 750 to about 1300 after that announcement?

Cody

Yeah, yeah, I saw that. I was like, well, I'm not getting a 5070 because I got a I got a 5060 8 gig uh VRAM model, and I'm like, you know, I wouldn't mind, you know, getting a little more junk in my trunk a little later down the line after I pay off a little bit of my debt from this PC adventure I've done. Uh so like you know why uh that yeah, that sounds great. And then I read this article and I'm like, well, I guess I'm switching to AM fucking D.

Michael

9070 XTs.

Cody

Yeah, I may as well, you know, just go down the full AMD route. I got a fucking processor in there, may as well go grab GPU. Never done AMD, but I guess now I don't have a choice. And then I see this today and I'm like, well, I'm glad I wasn't one of those dumbasses who went out and bought something immediately. Like, I mean, not not to call anybody out. Like, I get it. You know, whenever you get whenever things happen, you know, uh, what's it called? The FOMO, like you know, you of uh getting your GPU and then you're like,

Community Questions And Closing

Cody

end of life, fuck, I gotta jump on it. Yeah, and then you get it kind of right before the price hikes. Yeah. But like, hopefully the prices go down. I doubt it. Well, it's hard once the price increases, it's hard to do it. It's hard to yeah, like it's yeah, it normally doesn't.

Michael

You have more purchases trying to come in at that higher rate, and then once you lower it, you don't have enough stock to keep up with the discounted price that sort shoots purchases up higher than it was before. There's um there's definitely there's definitely a lot to be kind of concerned with over here, kind of with how um this one kind of outsourced, kind of lit the universe on fire. And at least to me, and I I don't know if you you may or may not see this the same way, but now that everyone has gone after this guy, that is a verified kind of PR outlet for that everyone relies on for what ASUS he's he's basically the official mouthpiece for a lot of ASUS people, um, to kind of clarify it simply. But after all of this was reported back to ASUS and then they chew him out, all he says, aside from like, you know, reposting the um the clarification from their official press room, he says two words. Sorry, everyone. That's it.

Cody

When you're getting you know you're gonna get fucked. There's really nothing you can say. You're just it's like whenever you're it's like when you're hanging out with the boys.

Michael

I I wish you would I wish this guy would step up a little bit because I feel like he's not stepping up like he needs to be and ad admitting.

Cody

I I I get it. I I get it, like, but at the same time, it's like this. It's like it's like when you're hanging out with the boys and you say something and you you're like, oh I fucked up. Yeah. My bad. It you're still gonna get some shit for it. You know, they're still going to they're still gonna fuck with you for a little bit. Um that's essentially what's I don't know if he he he really couldn't do anything to clarify anything, you know, just admit I fucked up. Uh there's uh maybe he could have maybe put a little bit more into it, but either way, he's gonna get some serious shit for it.

Michael

I I don't I don't know who I don't know where the disconnect came from with this, but whoever however this happened saying that a supply constraint is grounds for an EOL is wild.

Cody

Oh yeah, that's that's kind of jumping the gun beyond that's literally jumping the shark.

Michael

Jumping the shark, yeah.

Cody

Yeah, it's it's yeah, that's because then people will panic by and then the fucking like we literally watched the GPUs go up in real time. Yeah, yeah. 750 plus oh my god. Like yeah, i I'm not getting a freaking 5070 anytime soon.

Michael

At least things kind of flatline back out as as long as you know supply remains somewhat consistent over the next couple months, I would assume.

Cody

Yeah, it's true. But hey, on another note, there's a silver lining to this boys. Uh we may the things might be a little better on the uh video game front. We'll see. See, you know, a lot of people be are releasing games these days, and well, a lot of games have this problem of being heavily unoptimized and shit like that. Well, what do you do if you're not coming out with any new hardware because you can't come out with new hardware because the memory constraints literally won't let you.

Michael

Yeah, it'll be I feel like it'll be very interesting to see how that's gonna impact the developer market um in a in a couple of ways. Because not only will while while yes, that is that is definitely gonna be a step in the process. So we all know that like, you know, different manufacturers, developers, whatever you are in the cycle of stuff, they all get dev kits about like you know, that is different from the final product model.

Cody

And depending on usually have more memory in them and shit like that.

Michael

Yeah, so depending on the dev kit that they receive for future consoles, whatever it may be, they've got to work within the the bounds that they get. And in in the event that this gets so bad that they can't even supply a legitimate dev kit, let alone another family of hardware because of this, either that or they're gonna they're like chew a hole in our pocket to do it. But I feel like there's a definitely kind of a reverse that needs to happen right now. Because if we keep like if we keep going forward, I feel like it's again, it's just gonna hit a wall where everyone's just gonna kind of implode on itself.

Cody

Don't worry, like well, I think you're missing my uh point. What I am saying is with the hardware that we've got now and the consoles that we have, maybe developers will actually, you know, take more time to uh what am I saying? They won't fucking do it. I'm I'm wasting my f I it doesn't even fucking matter. This is triple A gaming we're talking about. They ain't no fucking indie developers. They won't. No, uh all that aside, maybe developers will actually, you know, take the time to optimize their games a little bit. Or maybe I'm living in fucking fantasy land because it'll never fucking happen.

Michael

Maybe they'll take a page out of good old Valve's book for once.

Cody

Uh I mean, maybe. I don't know. Speaking of Valve, uh with this memory shortage, we still have yet to see anything about the steam machine.

Michael

We have yet to hear anything concrete about our good little child that is the steam machine. Which I'm not gonna lie, it's very concerning because ooh boy, because we were promised Q1 2026 and uh we ain't heard a word yet.

Cody

Yeah, I mean to be fair, we've got a while. Q1 is still like it'll be a while for Q1, but uh it's not looking good out here, boys and girls, it's not, it's not one fucking bit. Uh the key consensus is don't panic by. Don't spend if you see something you want, like GPU-wise or RAM and shit like that. With RAM, I mean you don't really have a choice. You're fucked either way. But if if you're uh in the market of uh hunting down a GPU and shit like that, just uh you know, save your money, do what you gotta do. It's it's hard on these streets, but never panic buy. Uh always wait, because I I'm glad I'm glad I didn't do it. I'm I'm one of those fucking panic buyers. I'm glad I didn't run a shot and get a damn 5070 right before that shit. I mean, you never know what what'll happen.

Michael

But I mean, you know, and again, kind of circling back with the the kind of one of the core consensuses with you know how the market is right now because of you know micron's exit and stuff. It I don't know how how better to say this, but like with Micron and like how everything is changing so rapidly because of AI demand and how so much seems to be kind of either deflating or inflating whatever side of the market you may be kind of on. The fact that you have people saying that like you know, while this is happening, that um you've got people in higher places, for example, like microns, like they claim that their exit for the community is better because they think that leaving the consumer market is beneficial on the grounds of that they would still supply um OEMs and laptop stuff that would still have their bits and pieces products within them over like in a in a like an umbrella sense. But like what's bad about that is all the people that build stuff theirselves and all the DIY people out there lose a literal key component for something that they need to kind of either for like you know work, whatever that they're building for. And like when you have one of the big components of the market pull out, like you know, stuff like this doesn't just impact one person or one branch of an overarching, like you know, um big company. It's it's like a national thing depending on how far your routes go.

Cody

Yeah, it's it's hard in these streets right now, man. Yeah. But like I've said, uh, like I was saying, don't panic by uh because things are gonna get worse. And I mean, just keep an eye on the market.

Michael

They always get worse before they get better. So like I said, we'll we'll have to kind of wait, wait it out and see what happens because right now this doesn't seem like it's gonna be the impact that this has left does does not seem like it's gonna go away anytime soon.

Cody

My honest to God advice for any of you who want to upgrade your stuff like that. Uh I mean, for those of you who don't even like who who are trying to build PCs and stuff, I can't believe I'm gonna say this. It's sacrilege, but you're better off buying a pre built. PC and then going from there. You are not it going down the route of building your own PC is far more expensive than getting a pre-build. And I would normally not say that. But I mean, people you can get fucked with your prices these days with GPUs and stuff. So the bottom line, I don't know. Go down to your local fucking uh tech store, Best Buy, like whatever the hell you know you got. I even hear Rent A Center is actually doing that that bad right now. Uh I mean I I've heard some I've heard things. I I don't know. I haven't I mean I might take you to one in Charlotte and we'll figure out what the hell that's going on. There's a good one in Charlotte that we can go look at. But I mean, yeah. Uh just uh keeping on prices. Don't buy from third party, like you know, from scalpers or anything like that. Right. Uh and just kind of stay strong, you know. Things are gonna get rough, and I'm not gonna lie, if you're uh still trying to get into the PC market, your best bet is pre-built.

Michael

Um data centers are killing everybody right now, because pre-built are really your own I I feel like pre-built in in this sense currently is like a modern day like computer like financial safety net. Because I feel like if you don't go pre-built, you're you're not gonna have what you want when you need it. Because right now there's really no other comfortable option than having like a pre-built safety net, if I'm being completely honest. It's true.

Cody

Um, you know, the the last thing I I'd like to talk about, since you know we're doing this, you want to talk about the fucking CEO of uh of Microsoft and then in NVIDIA and stuff like that, and how much they're shilling out for AI and how they're getting absolutely roasted.

Michael

Oh yeah, the um their their little fancy performances that they put on.

Cody

Yeah, yeah, you remember uh uh I don't remember his name, Satya Nadella. I I don't remember his name. It's the Microsoft CEO, and he was like, you know, people need to get past calling AI slop, and then micro slop started trending.

Michael

Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. So with oh Lord, I I can see his face, because you when you look at the dude from NVIDIA, you know exactly who he is, um, kind of immediately. Um I think for Microsoft it's Satya Nodella. If I was trying to br I'm trying to remember NVIDIA's guy's name. I can see his face. Jansen Huang. That's it. Jansen Huang.

Cody

Yeah, Jansen Huang, yeah. Um both of these guys, they are getting they are like they're the biggest meme step.

Michael

Um when it comes to pushing um the uh the glorified benefits of AI.

Cody

Um and when I heard from Google? I don't I don't hear Google uh I mean I know Google's obviously doing they have Gemini, but I I haven't heard Google getting roasted like uh like these guys have lately. Like I guess because they're new. Maybe Google started, I don't know.

Michael

So I I still feel like Google in a in their own little bubble, while they obviously are in Nvidia's and Microsoft Shadow um a little bit more publicly than you know, I would say they're being a little bit more publicly cautious as compared to what NVIDIA and Microsoft is doing, kind of stepping into the limelight with this. But if you if you think about it, they push AI across their products pretty much as much as Microsoft, because like when you look at their their search engine, for one, because you've already pointed that out, and then um you know, like when you go to your Gmail, how they have um their AI thing to like where you can filter and like do whatever you need within your Gmail bubble, you have that. Yeah, hell, if you even think about it, their fucking um Androids, Google Pixels is ate with AI.

Cody

Yeah, it's true.

Michael

I mean, so while yes, I I would agree they're not in the forefront as much as the other two by far. However, they are just as deadly. But yeah, back to these guys. Yeah, so I I would feel like um the the biggest thing that I would say I've s I've seen, um, at least with how Google approaches most of kind of their their uh Lord, what's the word I'm looking for? Their um how how they want to make their like outlook on an AI look to their kind of employees for like their development strategy or their their PR strategy, however you want to say it, is it's like if you took full stack development, but you applied AI to that full stack. So kind of basically, if you kind of go down the A down the hierarchy line for what they do, is you've got all the different Gemini branches, you've got all like their TPU accelerators, you've got the AI Android features, you've got like their search engine, like over overhaul optimizations that they've done. They're doing it for at least from like you know what we've said and what we've seen, all of their different products stack and connect in such an interconnected jointed way that the process flow is connected because of AI, because everything that they do is wanting to fuel and push AI to the point where they don't have to do much on the back end anymore. Because I feel like all of their workspace and their workspace is becoming more AI tool centric. Does that make sense?

Cody

Yeah, have we heard anything about Apple doing anything with AI?

Michael

I I know they are, but like so as far as Apple goes, um I'm trying to remember Apple's crap off the top of my head.

Cody

Um I don't have it. Like I have an iPhone and I'm not I'm not seeing a shit ton of AI, at least whenever whenever I use my phone. I'm not I know I think it's there.

Michael

I was gonna ask, I don't know what Apple's default is when it comes to searching. Um, because I know I don't know if you have yours defaulted to stuff like Google or like you know with their screen screen readers and Siri and stuff, because I I feel like Siri all Siri does is read you what Google pulls, correct?

Cody

Um yeah, it it literally just searches the the web and then pulls out stuff. Like, you know, I guess you could consider Siri like a type of AI, but Siri's been around for ages.

Michael

I don't know how to I feel like while yes, Apple based off of like different things that I've seen in the market, well while yes, I'll fully admit I'm not an Apple guy. I'm fully you know Samsung Galaxy. Um while yes they're considering AI in different like bits and pieces, especially with like probably the biggest one that I can think of off the top of my head that they were talking about before was their their vision process.

Cody

I think it's also in their new Mac uh of like their new Mac stuff.

Michael

Yeah, I've seen that, yeah. So uh again, Apple compared to pretty much every other UI ecosystem still is that beautiful walled garden of Apple. Um while yes, they're still trimming the exterior with AI, I would say. I don't think that at their core that they're publicly pushing AI. I feel like they're testing it more on their platform in a more like onboarded private invisible sense. Does that make sense?

Cody

Seems like it because it's not when I use because I I'm an iPhone user and it's not in my face all over my stuff. Like right. I'm not seeing it pushed whenever I use the like my uh my phone. So that's just why I'm curious. That's all I use. I don't have a because I feel like I don't know how Macs do it or whatnot.

Michael

If you kind of go back in time a little bit, back to the the the the olden days, shall we say, when chat GPT first became somewhat prevalent, Apple didn't have really anything or really any real strategy for that time. Because all all they really had was Siri kind of at the drop of a hat. So um all the the only other thing as of recently that they did kind of stepping in was I I know that they were in talks with different pieces of Gemini, but I haven't really studied up on where that went. That was like the last thing that I saw that they were trying to do around the time when the Vision Pro kind of became restructured, if you will, to the public. But um, I do know now without a doubt that their their internal team kind of when it comes to their research and development for stuff like that probably has become exponentially much larger. Right.

Cody

Uh but yeah, uh I just thought I would at least bring up the the micro slop thing, because I I thought that was really hilarious seeing that.

Michael

And then uh and then freaking I know I know that Apple, uh I know I don't I don't mean to be stuck on this, but I know that Apple, again in the sense of it being a walled garden, there I don't think that I I don't know if you would agree with me on this, but I don't think that Apple has ever been the company that's like I gotta get out the door first. They were always the ones to be kind of withheld so that they could release something that is worthy of polish to their Garden of Eden folk. You know what I mean?

Cody

Right. Uh I gotta do more research on it before I he's like, you know, we're not done talking about this subject. No, not at all. And I definitely I think I'm gonna call it here just because this was a lot of uh information and a lot to talk about. But yeah, I mean, you know, for those of you who uh, you know are into the know of AI, do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you wish that there was more of it or less of it? Uh do you think Microsoft is micro slop? I want to know, you know? Give me some give me some stuff. Uh did I whine a bitch enough about AI? Uh you know, uh, or did I not whine and bitch enough? Uh only time will tell. But uh for this one, I think that's really it. I I've got nothing more. I'm out of gas. Yeah.

Michael

And as always, I mean, y'all know where to find us. We have all of our social links kind of everywhere on the ether, techntactile.com. We have our link tree down in the description. We are on all social platforms. So again, please let us know your thoughts and comments down below in any of our comments, whether you're on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, all the places. We would love to hear from you guys. All of the support for all of our platforms as of recently have been amazing. We are glad to be back, and let's make this year a good one, people. We're glad to be back, we're glad to have you. We're gonna be having some really good times this year. I can feel it. And as always, people, stay accessible.

Cody

Yes, stay accessible.