Could even be higher than that. A more recent factor affecting the price of chips is that half the worlds production of neon came from Ukraine before the war. That has now come to a halt. And its needed for the lasers in litho machines that etch the wafers.

And another price increase...... At this rate, a 3090Ti for 2000 euros will seem a good deal in 2024.:(

Considering what we paid in the late 80's and early 90's for 8088 processor PC's, today's prices are still a bargain.

alanm:

Could even be higher than that. A more recent factor affecting the price of chips is that half the worlds production of neon came from Ukraine before the war. That has now come to a halt. And its needed for the lasers in litho machines that etch the wafers.

Is the structure of the laser device such that gas is escaping from it constanty, thus needing to be replenished regularly? Or is the gas not actually in the laser but the target of the laser beam needs to be in neon atmosphere for the process?

The price of gaming just keeps getting more and more expensive. I do not see it changing either. The expectation that prices will fall back at some point will most likely never happen, and this increases will become the new norms.

Kaarme:

Is the structure of the laser device such that gas is escaping from it constanty, thus needing to be replenished regularly? Or is the gas not actually in the laser but the target of the laser beam needs to be in neon atmosphere for the process?

Apparently it needs to be replenished for the laser to perform at a constant energy and not weaken. This applies esp to deep-ultraviolet photolithography (DUV), which was used on a wide range of processes (incl Intels 10nm Icelake chips). However this may not apply to the newer EUV machines that operate on more advanced processes. https://omdia.tech.informa.com/OM022339/Why-the-cloud-and-data-center-industry-should-worry-about-a-potential-war-in-Ukraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excimer_laser (see under Pulse repetition rate )

One more reason Microsoft's decision to orphan bazillions of otherwise useful processors with it's insistence on TPM compliance with Windows 11 is a poor one. With circumstances as they are, this is not the time for this.

The phrase "you will own nothing and be happy" was not idle chatter or wishful thinking.

Embra:

The price of gaming just keeps getting more and more expensive. I do not see it changing either. The expectation that prices will fall back at some point will most likely never happen, and this increases will become the new norms.

When i was young where i live gaming was super expensive. A computer was 4 to 5 grands which in todays money is probably in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 grands. A console game alone was sold for around 120$ (up to 200$ for a Neo Geo cartridge) which is in todays money between 250$ to 400$. Nobody had a PC. Very few people were gaming. You were lucky if your parents could afford 10 games a year. At one point people wont have the capacity to pay anymore. I think we are getting very close to this point. I work with my computer so i can justify upgrading on a regular basis but tbh if i was gaming only i would probably have a Switch and call it a day.

hamltnblue:

Considering what we paid in the late 80's and early 90's for 8088 processor PC's, today's prices are still a bargain.

Nobody had a PC back then and for a good reason.

hamltnblue:

Considering what we paid in the late 80's and early 90's for 8088 processor PC's, today's prices are still a bargain.

especially how quickly hardware went out of date back then...

MonstroMart:

When i was young where i live gaming was super expensive. A computer was 4 to 5 grands which in todays money is probably in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 grands. A console game alone was sold for around 120$ (up to 200$ for a Neo Geo cartridge) which is in todays money between 250$ to 400$. Nobody had a PC. Very few people were gaming. You were lucky if your parents could afford 10 games a year. At one point people wont have the capacity to pay anymore. I think we are getting very close to this point. I work with my computer so i can justify upgrading on a regular basis but tbh if i was gaming only i would probably have a Switch and call it a day. Nobody had a PC back then and for a good reason.

I remember when when PC games were DOS on floppies. And when early "high capacity" hard drives (10mb) were super expensive. Didnt care for the hobby then but do recall a friend who loved playing chess on his IBM desktop. [spoiler] http://mag.metamythic.com/wp-content/upld/2012/10/hard-disk-ad-morrow.jpg [/spoiler]

hamltnblue:

Considering what we paid in the late 80's and early 90's for 8088 processor PC's, today's prices are still a bargain.

alanm:

I remember when when PC games were DOS on floppies. And when early "high capacity" hard drives (10mb) were super expensive. Didnt care for the hobby then but do recall a friend who loved playing chess on his IBM desktop. [spoiler] http://mag.metamythic.com/wp-content/upld/2012/10/hard-disk-ad-morrow.jpg [/spoiler]

Holy cows those were expensive. I remember when my parents bought a 40MB hdd. I don't know how much they paid not sure it was that expensive but they probably paid more than i thought lol. I remember them paying 800 or something for our first VHS and paying around 4 grands for our first computer. But most of my friends did not have a computer nor a VHS at home. If companies think we can go back to those price and people will keep consuming as much as they are atm they are dreaming on acid big time. I don't want to make this political but the whole let's bring back jobs and do a middle finger to china because we can is a pretty bad plan overall and lack any kind of sensible planning. The market will revert back to what it was before cheap labor. Super expensive stuff with most people not having the capacity to buy anything other than food on their table and a roof over their head.

Another price increase? What happened this time? Joe overslept on his shift? Lee turned on the water tap too much? Frank forgot to turn off the electricity and charged them an overpayment? Some worker loosened some old unnecessary cable? Those are excuses, that they use 99% of the time, to put higher price.