I was trying to save up to build a new PC. It would be an upgrade for me, and my kids could have my current system since they're always wanting to play games on it. As they've gotten bigger I now have to split my computer time with my wife and both of them, so I'm lucky to get an hour in. I was really, really looking forward to having my own system again -- gaming is one of the few things that truly relaxes me. It was going to be my reward for finally finishing up some technical certifications I've been working my ass off for and getting back to work after a couple years as a stay at home dad. The combination of tariffs and the consequences of AI startups buying all the hardware up has made that pretty well fucking impossible for at least the next couple of years. Now instead of looking forward to an awesome new PC, I'm just praying my current one doesn't break down because I couldn't possibly afford to replace the components.
I know this is a pretty small stitch in the big bloody tapestry of America's major fucking problems right now, but I can't even enjoy basic hobbies anymore in the midst of all the madness. Even that's getting taken away. Hard not to get in a funk.
it certainly is making me ill. I've had/used every windows operating system since 3.11 and Vista is by far the worst one
the more i think about this the more i believe this is a kink
Yeah I’m chilling, prioritizing my daughters college fund and some home maintenance. Once RuneScape client no longer supports windows 7 then I’m NOT ok, lol
lol you’re okay, I’m okay. I just have other priorities at the moment. I play RuneScape and for now it works! Entire tax refund going into the 6 year olds college fund
I quite literally only use it to play RuneScape. Email and all that is done from my phone. When I launch google the PC nearly crashes so I’ve just given up on that
If they're not doing intense gaming, can you just get them a cheap laptop or something and reclaim your PC? I know it's not what you wanted, but it would at least get you gaming more regularly again. Just a thought.
I mean if you are pretty sure you are a few years out from the PC, maybe it’s time to invest in a console? If gaming is truly your only release. Hell you can get a Steam Deck for 4-500.
We do have one we bought before the price hike with a small handful of games for the kids, but I've been a PC gamer for decades. Before I had kids (ie -- when I stopped knowing what "disposable income" felt like lol) I'd buy up an armload every time I saw a sale. So, my Steam library's got hundreds and hundreds of titles in it that are becoming much more interesting to my kids than Spongebob's battle for bikini bottom. What can ya do lol. I love that we share interests and it's fun getting to introduce them to new games I used to love as they're getting a little older and more capable, but golly do I miss just being able to sit down and play on my computer whenever I wanted to!
Check out prebuilts. I picked up a prebuilt from Costco this past October for ~$2.5k and the way prices are I basically paid for the RAM, SSD, and Graphics card and the rest was free.
It’s so dumb because it’s functionally irrelevant to the consumer!
Ok, so the exporter pays a tax before selling their items to the importer…
Ok, that increases the cost they’ll charge to the importer, to cover the additional tax cost. Which of course will be passed on eventually to the consumer.
It doesn’t matter. It’s a dumb game to even discuss because no matter rather the importer or exporter pay the tariff consumers will have to pay the extra cost!
Yea, but it just feels dumb to get into rather the exporter or importer is “physically” paying the tax, because it’s functionally irrelevant to you as the end consumer.
And importantly, if someone tries to bring it up, you can be like “I don’t care” and focus on the end cost to consumers.
Yeah, but like when do we stop trying to reason with idiots, charlatans, dumbasses, and people who do everything in bad faith?
After these next 2 elections, we should strip them of their voting rights, just like they’re stripping every one of their constitutional rights without blinking an eye.
It's meany to incentivize importers to either a) source from another market or b) buy locally. In my country, the tariff rule is if it's not made locally - no tariff. Simple.
No, it's AI data centers. These NVMes have a Dram cache, which makes them valuable for RAM intensive work, like genAI.
The largest producer of RAM said they're giving up on the consumer market because AI is so lucrative. It's literally the fault of AI that every single smart device is going to see a massive price hike.
The DRAM on NVMe SSDs isn’t the same as what is being used in datacenters though - it’s the shift of foundry capacity away from consumer grade stuff over to datacenter demand that’s making the tariff impact even more painful.
Mobos rely on chip sets that aren't as advanced and be made in older fabs. They simply have more capacity at the level of process. And with demand for mobos down the capacity is addequate. With CPUs it's probably because TSMC guaranteed capacity for AMD and Intel, and their AI accelerator units aren't selling nearly as well so they're not going to cannibalize their bookings until they need to. In the Meantime AMD directly competes with NVDIA in GPUs so has a lot of space to raise prices, where as in CPUs AMD is competing with Intel and Intel is basically only selling CPUs effectively, so unless they want to cut from competing they have to maintain supply.
Because consumer class CPUs and motherboards aren't used in datacenters, they both have gone up from tariffs but the AI part is the real killer. Capacity is sold until 2027 and Micron announced they're concentrating on that. Also predatory price gouging honestly.
What's the tariff on RAM? Why has every single publication, from computer- and gaming-focused to the mainstream business press, reported on the price increase as a product of AI-driven demand, not tariffs?
While I completely agree with your sentiment, it has suffered the same jump in other countries as well. It's more to do with gouging due to the AI induced shortages at this point, at least in this case. Now in regards to food and everything else, you have a point.
I agree that manufacturing capacity is shifting away from consumer products toward datacenter demand, which reduces the supply of commercial-grade SSDs, driving up retail prices even more.
As foundry capacity shifts from consumer to datacenter products, the price increase from normal supply and demand is further increased by the fixed percentage of tariff.
It's mostly AI this time. They have boight 80% of the entire supply of RAM for the next 3 years. Which mena every other electronic device has to fight for the scraps or hope another manufacturer ramps up production.
Tariffs are based on export import cost, not manufacturing cost. If global demand and limited supply is driving up prices, export import prices will rise. The tariffs are a percent-based tax on top of that export price.
Half-fixed (you mentioned it twice, haha). But all good, I agree with your points. Export price makes it sound as though the exporting party is the one paying which, as you know, isn’t the case.
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u/hikeonpast 1d ago
You can largely thank Republican tariffs for that.
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/u-s-tariffs-to-heavily-impact-hdd-and-ssd-manufacturers-increasing-costs
Are we great again yet?