Components

We’ve talked about GPUs being a little.. overpriced at the moment, in our episode on them. Whether or not it’s post-2021 when you listen to this and the GPU shortage problem is over, you may still be curious: why are things like this right now?

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Sources:

COVID-19 Pandemic Slowing Manufacturing:

• Intrado GlobalNewswire, 6 July 2020, “Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) Market to Grow $200.85 Billion by 2027: at 33.6% CAGR“
• PCMag, 14 February 2020, “Nvidia Faces $100 Million Coronavirus Hit“
• Tom’s Hardware, 9 March 2021, “2020 GPU Sales Failed to Impress, Despite Record Demand“

NVIDIA 30 Series:

• Tom’s Guide, 7 September 2020,”Nvidia RTX 3080 vs. RTX 2080 Ti: How much better is it?“
• NVIDIA.com Newsroom, 1 September 2020, “Introducingi GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs”
• TechRadar, 16 March 2021, “Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 review”

AMD RX 6000 Series:

• Tom’s Guide, 28 October 2020,”AMD Big Navi release date, price, specs and performance“
• Tom’s Hardware, 23 November 2020, “AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 Review: Nipping at Ampere’s Heels“

TSMC Manufacturing:

• ExtremeTech, 7 January 2021, “Report: Packaging Issues, PS5 Demand May Be Hurting TSMC Production“
• GamingBolt, 24 September 2020, “Tech Analysis: How Are Xbox Series X And PS5 SoCs Manufactured?“
• Wccftech, 23 April 2020, “NVIDIA And AMD Just Bought Up All Excess Capacity At TSMC For Next Generation GPUs And CPUs“

NVIDIA Mining Lock and Mining GPUs:

• Tom’s Hardware, 15 March 2021,”Nvidia Hacks Its Own GeForce RTX 3060 Anti-Mining Lock (Updated)“
• ZDNet, 18 February 2021, “Nvidia launches CMP, cryptocurrency mining processor, may alleviate gaming chip shortages“

Supply Issues and Mitigation:

• NotebookCheck.net, 29 April 2021, “AMD determined to ramp up Radeon RX 6000 GPU production throughout 2021“
• Screen Rant, 15 April 2021, “Nvidia Says GPU Shortage May Last Until 2022“
• PCMag, 12 April 2021, “Nvidia: Demand for Graphics Cards to Outstrip Supply for Much of 2021“

Overpriced GPUs:

• Wccftech, 13 February 2021, “Over 14,000 NVIDIA GPUs Have Been Sold On eBay This Year Alone And The Resale Price Is Going Up As Time Goes On“
• eBay on 5 April 2021, “RTX 2060” Search Query

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Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

In our GPU episode, we’ve talked about DisplayPort and HDMI- the current “main” connectors out there (the ones people actually use, or at least often). However, there are still other connectors that have somehow withstood the test of time. We’ll tell you about a few of them.

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Sources:

DVI:

• How-To Geek, Updated: 3 July 2017, Accessed: 25 May 2021, “What’s the Difference Between HDMI and DVI? Which is Better?”
• Monoprice Support, Accessed: 25 May 2021, “What is the difference between DVI, HDMI, and VGA?”

VGA:

• TechRepublic, 4 September 2008,”Looking back at the IBM PS/2″
• HP Tech Takes (HP.com), 19 July 2019, “Top Advantages of DVI vs VGA for Computer Monitors”

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Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

Alright, so Ray Tracing! NVIDIA’s supporting it with their RTX lineup, and AMD is getting in on the action starting with the RX 6000 series! Heck, even the new consoles seem to have…. it…. but, really, who is Ray? And why are we Tracing him?

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Sources:

Definition:

• Tom’s Guide, 14 June 2020, “PS5 and Xbox Series X ray tracing: Here’s why it’s a big deal“
• TechRadar, 20 August 2019, “What is ray tracing? The games, the graphics cards and everything else you need to know“

Ray-Tracing vs Rasterizing:

• ChaosGroup.com, 16 September 2019, “Real-time, ray-traced and rasterized rendering explained”
• Linus Tech Tips @ Youtube.com, “Is RTX a Total Waste of Money??”

Ray Tracing in Media:

• Pixar’s paper on Ray Tracing in the movie Cars (2006)

RT Cores and Ray Accelerators:

• Appauls.com, 8 March 2021, “Nvidia RT Cores vs. AMD Ray Accelerators – Explained”
• Vortez, 18 November 2020, “AMD Radeon RX 6800 Review“
• AnandTech, 14 September 2018, “The NVIDIA Turing GPU Architecture Deep Dive: Prelude to GeForce RTX”

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Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA