Though I have a PS4 Pro, I still play games on my PC on a regular basis. My computer is getting old however. The CPU, an Intel Core i7-920, in my desktop is about nine years old now, ancient in computer terms. My video card is also four years old. Video cards age way faster than most parts in a computer, so mine is also ancient.
A few weeks ago, I decided that I should start my upgrade by buying a new video card. I usually go with AMD cards, a throwback to when they were called ATI Technologies, a Canadian company. When I checked online retailers though, every single newer and capable AMD video card was sold out. At first I thought it might be a mistake because computer parts are usually never just sold out across the board no matter where you look. It wasn’t a mistake though, every single half decent AMD video card was sold out pretty much worldwide.
I did some more research and I discovered that cryptocurrency miners are using AMD video cards to mine currency. These cards are especially good at crunching numbers and making money. They’ve been buying the cards in huge quantities, dozens at a time and depleting the stocks. It totally sucks that these cards aren’t even used for gaming, just mining currency.
The solution to this is to either wait until manufacturers make more cards or use another line of video cards, which would be Nvidia cards. Even the Nvidia cards are getting difficult to find, mostly because if you are building a regular computer, you basically have no choice but to buy an Nvidia card.
I realize this is another first-world problem but if this shortage is going to persist for another few months, I’ll just have to buy whatever is out there.