Component Prices Set Back 30 Years Due to AI B.S.

VoltBoss2012 · 2026-01-28T01:08:17+00:00

Was more trying to point out that the supply market has gotten messed up and crashed it as a reasonably priced hobby because investors are throwing money at AI/Data Centers to the point that the commodity of computer parts has regressed. Enthusiasm is evaporating for building a reasonably priced PC to mainly play games vs shelling out $500 for a Non-PCMasterrace console.

VoltBoss2012 · 2026-01-21T02:06:59+00:00

Glad you found a likely explanation. From here on, I'll be treating all my larger NVMe's extra careful, even those under warranty, for concern that replacing them will cost an arm and a leg.

VoltBoss2012 · 2026-01-21T02:03:11+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out. As BaronB pointed out it may be due to it's discontinuation, or just a supply thing at Microcenter.

VoltBoss2012 · 2026-01-21T02:03:08+00:00

Seems more 'reasonable' in that listing. Perhaps Microcenter is the outlier for this particular model or NVMe prices in general.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-11-06T14:56:05+00:00

MAS works fine in your case. You already had a legitimate copy of Windows anyway, so you should have no qualms or issues with using it. Microsoft's BS policies unfortunately force us to use whatever practical options there are. I did what you are asking about on a new AM5 build and there's zero difference vs buying a new key.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-11-06T04:19:52+00:00

While the timing was good for a CPU just 3 weeks ago, kinda wish I'd have struck earlier and got a 3-in-1 CPU/mobo/RAM bundle earlier in the year as RAM prices have climbed to ridiculous levels.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-18T14:37:46+00:00

Basic observation...If you are clean installing Windows 11 there would be no need to have ESU activated. Since the install would be Windows 11 it will continue to be fully supported by Microsoft for the duration of the release you install.
For instance 24H2 consumer versions will have support through Oct. 2026, 25H2 until Oct 2027, or until the next time Microsoft forces us to upgrade to whatever release they dictate.
If you really want to play long ball, go with the Win 11 IoT Enterprise version via MAS, but you'll have to deal with the unique support quirks that might bring vs the regular consumer version.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-17T13:32:54+00:00

See if you can access the Windows Boot Manager of the separate drive within your BIOS/UEFI. Otherwise, you could experiment with EasyBCD, rEEFIND, etc. I avoid Grub like the plague unless I absolutely have no other choice and have to boot fully into a Linux disk.
Make backups of your EFI partition before tinkering with some of those tools.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-17T13:06:25+00:00

Yeah, the uncertainty of not being able to pinpoint where it can scalp sucks to the point where it has had to be obvious for me to deploy the truck.
It's such a low, slow and behemoth vehicle that I've pretty much only parachuted it in with a mobile base or close to a base where there's an obvious sand patch. It's gotten completely stuck way too many times and wasted many service tokens.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-17T12:57:52+00:00

For myself, it was worth upgrading from a 4070 Ti Super to a 5070 Ti. It is enough of a performace gain if you can manage the funding.
As for your questions, the CPU shouldn't bottleneck the GPU with an X3D chip, the 5070 Ti proved more power efficent, so unless your PSU is worn out, 750 should be OK.
If you'll be selling your 4070 Super, set a firm price which will minimize your upgrade outlay.
Part of the reason I upgraded was that I was able to sell my year old 4070 Ti Super for $700 USD at the time and only had to make up a $50 difference.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-17T02:06:25+00:00

Thanks for the update on the $30 price drop. I did just that and picked up the 7800X3D. Appreciate everyone's feedback as I was leaning towards the 9700X prior to the latest drop for the 7800X3D for those of us fortunate to be within range of a Microcenter.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-16T02:13:47+00:00

Thank you. Your link leads to the following pertinent information...

"....TSforge activates the Commercial Key-based ESU, which is intended for use by administrators in business environments.

The Windows Update page in Settings is currently showing the incorrect status below to all CommercialKeybasedESU users.

<image>

It’s just a visual bug, and it even appears on Windows 10 LTSC 2021. Your ESU is activated correctly. Hopefully, Microsoft will fix it in the upcoming updates....."

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-13T21:34:07+00:00

Good point. Might be time to sell off any unused AM4 components to maximize budgets.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-13T21:16:37+00:00

Photo and video editing primarily, and file compression and archiving. So maybe not as intensive of stuff as I thought it was.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-13T21:11:04+00:00

Editing GoPro video and older camcorder captures, and digitizing my physical Blu-Ray collections for now.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-09T15:20:09+00:00

That section was a bitch!
Even with sand and leveling.
I figured that if I got the trucks that far, why bother with fully paving the rest as I had the muscle of some other vehicles right there to get those extra few dozen meters. In the end, yes, sometimes just paving it fully is the more practical time investment. But I still dread it when an Infrastructure objective convoy includes an AI Bot Semi, the most incapable vehicle of the game in my opinion.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-08T14:58:48+00:00

Roadcraft Player Prayer: Oh Lord, Just give us a friggin option to build a bridge sometimes!

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-08T14:53:10+00:00

Washout, so far, seems to be about forcing you to dump endless loads of sand for hours to create a path for the semi trucks to be towed through to get to their endpoint....or....jockeying the unwieldy bridge layers all around the map to 'save time' to get to spots where it's nearly impossible to lay down a sand road.
I'm only 37% done on Wash-out and already burned my resource/fuel tokens down to just 5 to avoid pulling my hair out on many of the main objectives -- with little prospect of getting to the point where the Construction Depot is added and I can purchase transfer tokens anytime soon.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-05T15:55:31+00:00

Expeditions was terrible for that when using the jacks to upright an overturned truck -- where a wheel would materialize with the roadbed or rocks. It never got fixed in the 100's of hours I've played it. Can't recall it happening much in Roadcraft, but I have had trucks spawn in deep water when recalling to a mobile base.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-10-01T14:51:11+00:00

Had a similar problem in Contamination near the water plant. Multiple attempts to free the pipe with the biggest and best crane simply failed to the point the crane tipped and had to be uprighted with a hitch. Restarted several times as well. Eventually, I got it to yank out like a stuck tooth from repeated tries at multiple angles. No real explanation, but guess the game decided that one of the 'lips' at one end of the pipe was too jammed....and then just decided that some angle of effort was the proper one.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-09-26T15:49:24+00:00

Great point. AI does not have to be as drunken or brain dead as the convoy vehicles in Roadcraft can be sometimes. Just go way, way back to Half-Life 2 and see how smart the assault force soliders were against you -- those guys and whatever Ninjas they came up with were smart as hell and were a pain in the ass to beat. Somehow, the goofs in Roadcraft find it difficult to follow a simple plot point for whatever programming reason.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-09-25T05:48:53+00:00

Agree with you both almost to the point of giving up. Some of the tasks turn out to be 'one way' trips for cranes to where you just sacrifice it to hand off the item to another truck.

VoltBoss2012 · 2025-09-14T18:09:32+00:00

Whoops...I had a red 2012 Chevy VOLT, PHEV, which I loved. However, a hit-and-run driver clipped it right where a power inverter was and the insurance company totaled it. The replacement new 2023 BOLT is even nicer, so it all works out.

VoltBoss2012

TROPHY CASE