As someone not looking to spend a ton of money on new hardware any time soon: good. The longer it takes to release faster hardware, the longer current hardware stays viable. Games aren't going to get more fun by slightly improving graphics anyway. The tech we have now is good enough.
this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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People don't just use computers for gaming. If this continues people will struggle to do any meaningful work on their personal computes which is definitely not good. And I'm not talking about browsing facebook but about coding, doing research, editing videos and other useful shit.
Scientific modeling and simulations
But wait! They can pay for remote computing time for a fraction of the cost! Each month. Forever.
I fully expect personal computers to be phased out in favor of a remote-access, subscription model. AI popping would leave these big data centers with massive computational power available for use, plus it's the easiest way to track literally everything you do on your system.
easiest way to track literally everything you do on your system.
And ban undesired activities. "We see you're building app to track ICE agents. That's illegal. Your account was banned and all your data removed.".
"Remain in your cube - The Freedom Force is en route to administer freedom reeducation. Please be sure to provide proof of medical insurance prior to forced compliance."
Hopefully the AI bubble popping means they have to close data centers and liquidate hardware. Dirt-cheap aftermarket servers would be good for the fediverse.
I fully expect personal computers to be phased out in favor of a remote-access, subscription model
I wouldn't hold my breath.
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You can write code just fine on 20 or even 30 year old hardware. Basically if it runs Linux, chances are it can also run vim and compile code. If you spring for 10-15 year old hardware, you can even get an LSP + coc or helix, for error highlighting and goto definition and code actions. And you definitely don't need a beefy GPU for it (unless you're doing something GPU-specific of course).
Editing 720p videos (which, if you encode with a high enough bitrate, still looks alright) can be done on 10-15 year old hardware.
Research is where it gets complicated. It does indeed often require a lot of computing power to do modern computational research. But for some simpler stuff - especially outside STEM - you can sometimes get away with a LibreOffice spreadsheet on an old Dell or something.
From the looks of it we will have to get used to doing more with less when it comes to computers. And TBH I'm all for it. I just hope that either my job won't require compiling a lot more stuff, or they provide me with a modern machine at their expense.
Dude, I'm coding every day and I know what hardware requirements I have. You can write some code slowly on a potato but a lot of software development requires tons of RAM and powerful CPU. Linus Torvalds is using Threadripper 9960X for a reason.
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I know radeons don't really have the performance crown, but as a life long Nvidia GPU and Linux user, the PITA drivers are not a problem when you use an AMD radeon card.
So that kind of means that the high-end AAA PC market will crash in the next years, right? No new GPUs, production stop for existing GPUs and rising prices for GPU & RAM in combination with inflation and a bad economy ensure that many people can't afford a gaming computer. And that a lot of those younger gamers can't afford to start this hobby.
And that means a shrinking audience for games, which need all this GPU power. If you're an AAA publisher, it kind of looks crazy to invest multiple millions into a game that you can't be sure that your audience will be able to afford to play
Don’t worry, you can Stream It From the CLOUD™️ for the low low price of 6x what a GPU would cost you over 5 years.
yea you can wait in a queue to play your unmodded single player experience game
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No not really. AMD is still producing cards. Most people play on older or used cards anyways. Maybe like don't make Crysis level Graphics but other than that one year of less GPU releases won't kill gaming. Once the AI bubble bursts NVDIA might have lost a lot of edge over AMD in the gaming market and they'll scramble to get back
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All games will be streamed, with a subscription
Retroarch disagrees. I don’t need your newfangled enshittified slop. I have megaman X and wine.
Any sub 500 dollar gpu can play any game that’s not ray traced unreal engine 5 slop. Lots of games to choose from the last 40+ years. The only limiting factor is ram prices sadly.
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Definitely a shrinking audience for AAA games, but I don’t think it will be too bad gamers overall. Consoles will keep marching forward, as will Valve with the Steam Deck and Steam Machine.
I think the highest of the high end graphics stuff has long since hit diminishing returns. You can do a hell of a lot with yesterday’s hardware and less-than-bleeding-edge process nodes for newer hardware. Consoles have never used bleeding edge GPUs and they’ve always done fine with sales (across the whole market, if not always individually). I think we’re highly unlikely to see a repeat of the 1983 gaming crash.
They do fine in sales because the consoles sold at loss and they make money on game sales.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would love to stop producing consoles and start selling you monthly service via a thin client. They just need a ready to go platform for it to gain enough mass first.
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Let Nvidia go bankrupt, we won't miss it
If consumers can't get new gpus, devs aren't going to bother spec'ing for them. This'll probably just result in a stalling of tech you'll see at home for a few years. Honestly that seems to be happening already. The leaps we'd seen in previous generations seem to be slowing anyway. Maybe this is just a plateau of tech for a while. Good for consumers when they accept that they don't have to always be on the bleeding edge.
I want devs to write games for £400 Steam Decks. I don't want them to write games for £3000 GPUs.
There's realistically no games that won't run on PS5 level hardware. Every effect that can be done with raytracing can be done a little worse without it.
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Someone is going to make bank by catering to consumers. Will the market accept nvidia back with open arms if/when the ai investments fall through?
Well what do most victims of exploitation and abuse do?
As a Linux gamer, nvidia was already on thin ice.
Also I had past them up on recentish purchases since they only really controlled the highest end of the market which I don't have the budget for. So honestly I have no intention of welcoming them back unless there is literally no other option. You made your bed.
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Most people are willing to sell their morals. When nvidia comes crawling back it will be like nothing ever happened.
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They’re AI only now.