Tag: especially
Now’s the time to hunt for a cheap graphics card
If you've been hunting for computer upgrades, it's been a rough couple of years. After the one-two-three punch of a worldwide chip shortage, a boom in cryptocurrency mining, and a scourge of scalpers (yes, “scourge” is the collective noun for scalper, I looked it up!), graphics cards in particular have been incredibly hard to find at any kind of reasonable price. But with new budget GPUs on the way from both Nvidia and AMD, your best chance to score a new card for less than a mortgage payment might be coming up very soon.
A bit of context. During CES at the start of January, Nvidia announced the GeForce RTX 3050 and AMD announced the Radeon RX 6500 XT, with retail prices at $250 and $200, respectively. We could go into a lot of detail on the respective technical power of these cards, but that's another article. Suffice it to say, they're built with budget gaming PCs in mind, targeting decent 1080p performance and bringing some high-end features like ray tracing and DLSS to a price point at which they've never been available before.
So what's different about these cards, that will make them any less susceptible to the market forces which have driven prices to double and even triple their MSRP? A few things. One, they're less powerful cards in general, especially in terms of memory, which means they'll be less desirable for cryptocurrency miners. The same number-crunching power that gives you a solid 60 frames per second at 4K also lets you tear through crypto hashes. In short: more power means more money, and the crypto miners would rather spend a few hundred dollars towards a more powerful card that will be more efficient for their purposes. Less demand from crypto miners means less interest from scalpers — trickle-down disinterest, if you will.
AMD
That will hopefully result in a lower demand from the non-gamer segment of the market. What about supply? Without getting too technical, less powerful processors can be manufactured in larger batches than the kind of screaming GPUs you see in the RTX 3070, RX 6700 XT, and higher models. The dies that create the processors are physically smaller, allowing the manufacturer to get more out of a single run — sort of like making more cookies out of the same dough by making each cookie smaller.
This means that, chip shortage or no, Nvidia and AMD should be able to get these less powerful cards out of the fabrication plants at a much higher rate. We're seeing at least a little evidence of that already: Rumors indicate that there's a full court press of RTX 3050 variants coming from Nvidia's various manufacturing partners, like EVGA, MSI, and Asus.
Nvidia
Of course, with the way things are going, you're still unlikely to snag a new graphics card simply by strolling into Best Buy on your lunch break. Gamers will probably still need to resort to pre-orders, waiting in line in front of stores, spamming the F5 button at their favorite etailer, and all the other tedious minutia of trying to get a faster gaming PC in the COVID era. (Incidentally, going for a pre-built PC might still be a better option, at least if you need to upgrade multiple components at once.)
The Radeon RX 6500 XT is scheduled to land on January 19th, and the GeForce RTX 3050 is scheduled to launch on January 27th. Good hunting.
Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 Ready for the WRC Hybrid Revolution
 |
The GR YARIS Rally1 is the successor to the all-conquering Yaris WRC, which claimed a clean sweep of the manufacturers', drivers' and co-drivers' in the 2021 season that concluded just eight weeks ago at Monza in Italy. Now, the roads of the French Alps will play host to the first event for the revolutionary Rally1 cars, which take over from the World Rally Cars that have formed the highest category of the WRC for the past quarter of a century.
Rally1 cars feature several significant changes compared to their predecessors, headlined by the arrival of hybrid technology to the highest level of rallying for the first time. The hybrid unit in each car comprises of a 3.9kWh battery and a motor-generator unit (MGU) delivering an additional 100 kW (134 PS) under acceleration.
In the GR YARIS Rally1, this is combined with the proven 1.6-litre turbocharged engine from the Yaris WRC to provide the drivers with over 500 PS. The engine will run on a 100 per cent sustainable fuel: The first of its kind to be used in an FIA world championship.
The GR YARIS Rally1 is built around a dedicated spaceframe chassis offering increased safety protection for drivers and co-drivers. Other transformations required by the regulations include less complex aerodynamics, a return to a mechanical gearshift and the removal of the active centre differential. These changes will increase the focus on the skills of the drivers, who will also need to adapt to the demands around regenerating and deploying the hybrid energy on the stages, while working with their engineers to optimise the performance and drivability within these new parameters.
Since it ran for the first time last spring, the GR YARIS Rally1 has undergone a thorough testing programme which for the last few weeks has been focused on the particular demands of Rallye Monte-Carlo. The event is famed for its changeable conditions, which can vary from dry asphalt to snow and ice, and could provide an especially challenging start for the drivers in their new cars.
When the rally begins on Thursday night, the GR YARIS Rally1 of reigning champion Sebastien Ogier will be the first of the new generation of cars to start a competitive stage. The eight-time world champion, who has also won Rallye Monte-Carlo a record eight times, is embarking on a partial schedule of events this season along with a new co-driver, Benjamin Veillas. Leading TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's effort over the full season will be Elfyn Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin, who finished second in the 2021 standings, and Kalle Rovanpera and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen, who came fourth overall last season.
A total of four GR YARIS Rally1 cars will be present on every round with Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston contesting the full season for a newly-created team, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team Next Generation.
The crews today begin three days of reconnaissance of the stages, 85 per cent of which are new compared to 2021. For the 90th edition of the rally, the service park moves to Monaco itself from Gap. After a shakedown on Thursday morning, the rally will begin in the evening from the iconic Casino Square ahead of an opening pair of night stages - the second includes a return to the classic Col de Turini, to be passed in darkness for the first time since 2013.
Friday is the longest day of the rally and consists of three stages to be run twice with no mid-day service, only a tyre-fitting zone in Puget-Theniers. The task is similar on Saturday, which takes place further to the west: Three stages will be run in the morning, two of which will be repeated in the afternoon after a tyre-fitting zone in Digne-les-Bains. The rally's final day on Sunday is made up of two stages run twice - the latter stage finishing in Entrevaux is the only one that is identical to last year.
For more information visit https://toyotagazooracing.com/wrc/release/2022/rd01-preview/.
Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.comThe TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team will begin a bold new era in the FIA World Rally Championship when the 2022 season begins and the GR YARIS Rally1 makes its debut on the legendary Rallye Monte-Carlo from January 20-23.
Latest Intelligence
