Nvidia 900 & 10 Series Drivers Deprecated, SSD Shortages Loom, and Micron Exits Consumer Market

End of an Era for Nvidia GPUs

• 📉 Nvidia has officially deprecated drivers for the 900 and 10 series GPUs with the release of the 590 driver build on Linux, signaling the end of support for older hardware.
• ⚠️ While security updates will continue quarterly, these GPUs will no longer receive performance optimizations or new feature patches.
• 🧩 A peculiar bug prevents the 1050Ti from using the new driver, requiring users to stick with legacy drivers.

Emerging Tech and Market Shifts

• 🚀 External GPU (eGPU) support for Windows on ARM is on the horizon, with Chinese brand Liswan showcasing successful 3D Mark runs on ARM-based CPUs.
• 📈 Intel's Panther Lake integrated GPU shows promising benchmarks, with its 4-core version outperforming AMD's current offerings by 26% in Geekbench.
• 📦 Hell Divers 2 dramatically reduced its install size by 85% by removing duplicated files, a move that makes sense given modern SSD performance.

Supply Chain Woes and Strategic Departures

• ⚠️ Reports indicate a severe NAND development shortage, with costs rising significantly and suppliers like Transcend facing supply disruptions since October.
• 💡 Samsung is shifting HBM3e capacity to regular DRAM to capitalize on better profit margins, potentially alleviating some consumer DRAM shortages.
• 💔 Micron, through its Crucial brand, is exiting the consumer market after 30 years to focus on AI supply chains and enterprise clients, a move met with disappointment from long-time customers.

Amazon's AI Dubbing Fails and Gaming Deals

• ❌ Amazon's beta AI anime dubbing service has been pulled due to poor reception and hilariously bad results, highlighting the challenges of AI in creative fields.
• 💰 Greenman Gaming is offering significant discounts on 2K game bundles, with options ranging from $5 to $15, and also launching a charity bundle site.
• 🖱️ Tech deals include an LTC Nimble Bag keyboard for $36.99, an MSI B650 motherboard and 16GB DDR5 RAM combo for $179.99, and an Intel Core Ultra 7 265 KF for $249.99.

Graphics Card Quality Concerns and Future Outlook

• 🚨 A high-end Asus RTX 5090 RG Matrix 30th anniversary GPU is reportedly not shipping in some regions due to unspecified quality issues, despite its hefty $4,000 price tag.
• 📈 The ongoing SSD shortage is expected to worsen, with price increases already impacting contract prices and potentially leading to higher consumer costs.
• 🔄 While Crucial is leaving the consumer market, Micron may still supply chips to other brands, meaning Micron-made components might still be available under different labels.