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Tech News
A new GPU pricing survey shows graphics card prices have risen 35% over the past three months, with many mainstream cards selling well above their listed MSRPs. For example, the RTX 5070, originally priced at $549, is now reportedly selling for around $900 in the US.
Valve's latest Steam Hardware Survey shows the share of gamer systems with 32GB or more RAM fell by over 5% in a single month, while PCs with 1TB or more total storage dropped nearly 5%. Correspondingly, the proportion of systems with 8GB and 16GB RAM rose, as did those in the 750GB-999GB storage bracket.
The latest monthly GPU pricing survey across 10 countries shows graphics card prices climbing for another consecutive month, following a 7% month-over-month jump reported in September. Entry-level cards like the GeForce RTX 5050 saw steep increases in the US, rising from a $310 starting price to $420, while high-end RTX 5090 availability remains severely limited, pushing the RTX 5080 into the role of Nvidia's effective top gaming card.
Valve's Steam platform is experiencing a significant outage, with over 1,000 reports on Downdetector and rising. Affected users report getting stuck on a 'Loading User Data...' screen and being unable to log in, with reports coming from Canada, Japan, the UK, Poland and elsewhere. The outage appears to have begun around 6:00 AM ET, according to Downdetector's tracking graph.
A new how-to guide recommends disabling Xbox Game Bar, switching Windows Search back to Classic indexing, and pausing OneDrive sync to free up system resources during PC gaming. The guide explains step-by-step navigation through Windows Settings to turn off these background features, arguing that tools like Steam already cover most gaming needs that Game Bar provides.
A free, open-source application called Shader Compilation Stutter Killer (SCSKiller) precompiles game shaders into the GPU driver's cache before launch, aiming to prevent mid-game freezes caused by on-the-fly shader compilation. It works at the engine level, supporting titles built on Unreal Engine 4 and 5, Unity, RE Engine, and FromSoftware's engines, rather than requiring a per-game whitelist. Testers tried it across several games known for stutter issues to evaluate its effectiveness.
A free mod called D2 Survivors recasts Diablo II's world in the survivors-like genre, where players fend off swarming enemies with auto-attacking builds. It requires an existing copy of Diablo II or Diablo II: Resurrected and runs via a browser page opened on a desktop computer.
A gaming hardware roundup recommends several third-party PC controllers that cost less than Sony's DualSense while offering features such as TMR joysticks, rear paddle buttons, and multiple onboard profiles. The GameSir G7 Pro is singled out as a lightweight, pro-style option with remappable buttons, a charging dock, and 2.4GHz wireless connectivity at roughly half the DualSense's price.
A solo developer released SCSKiller, an open-source tool that pre-compiles game shaders on a user's PC and stores them in the GPU driver cache to reduce shader-compilation stutter. It supports DirectX 11 and 12 titles on AMD and Nvidia GPUs, and can detect games from Steam, GOG, Epic, Ubisoft Connect and Battle.net, though some games require a brief recording session to identify shaders.
Microsoft is broadening its Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) service beyond AMD Radeon GPUs to also support Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm graphics hardware on Windows PCs, with support arriving later in October. ASD streams precompiled shaders from the cloud rather than requiring each PC to compile them locally, a process Microsoft says it can shrink from several minutes to a few seconds. The feature currently works with Gears of War: E-Day and was confirmed by DirectX program manager Wendy Ho in a company blog post.
SWK ENERGIE, the municipal utility of Krefeld, Germany, has introduced a tariff called meinGAMING aimed at gaming households with three consumption tiers: Casual Gamer (2,500 kWh/year), Pro Gamer (3,500 kWh/year), and Gaming Households (5,000 kWh/year). The plan carries a higher fixed charge but a lower per-kWh rate, with the utility claiming the electricity is 100% renewable and offering a price guarantee of up to 24 months.
A longtime curved-monitor owner outlines the format's appeal, highlighting how ultrawide and super ultrawide curved displays like the 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G9 OLED enhance cinematic gaming and productivity by offering extra screen real estate comparable to dual 27-inch monitors. The writer also notes downsides, such as many story-driven games still rendering cutscenes in 16:9, leaving black bars on wider curved screens.