I'm not sure how I should feel that after a while spent looking, I finally found a semi, kind of, sort of, almost, modern generation GPU, new, for close to MSRP? Thrilled that I found one at all, or saddened that its so hard to find? Maybe both?
Only a GT 1030, but enough to play with passthrough and remote acceleration while leaving my "daily driver" alone. At $89.99 shipped, it was less than most used offerings on Ebay.
Along the way, I read several articles about the chip shortage and attempts to address it. The various failed attempts to stop the scalping of higher end GPUs & CPUs, and how the bot wranglers turned each to their advantage, while frustrating, are what I've learned to expect.
The thing that really caught my eye though, was that Nvidia (and their partners) have resumed production of the GT 730, a 7 year old Kepler generation chip, and are marketing it as an option for gamers. When asked though, Nvidia confirmed that they were going through with their prior plans to drop Kepler support in the mainstream "game ready" driver branch after next month's release. So, they will sell you a GPU today that won't have driver support (other than security) come December.
Sort of like how Microsoft will sell you a brand new Surface for a ton of money now that won't be able to run Windows 11 when it comes out next quarter. But that's a whole different can of worms I suppose....
Only a GT 1030, but enough to play with passthrough and remote acceleration while leaving my "daily driver" alone. At $89.99 shipped, it was less than most used offerings on Ebay.
Along the way, I read several articles about the chip shortage and attempts to address it. The various failed attempts to stop the scalping of higher end GPUs & CPUs, and how the bot wranglers turned each to their advantage, while frustrating, are what I've learned to expect.
The thing that really caught my eye though, was that Nvidia (and their partners) have resumed production of the GT 730, a 7 year old Kepler generation chip, and are marketing it as an option for gamers. When asked though, Nvidia confirmed that they were going through with their prior plans to drop Kepler support in the mainstream "game ready" driver branch after next month's release. So, they will sell you a GPU today that won't have driver support (other than security) come December.
Sort of like how Microsoft will sell you a brand new Surface for a ton of money now that won't be able to run Windows 11 when it comes out next quarter. But that's a whole different can of worms I suppose....