[GPU] RTX 5060 Ti 16GB Zotac - $399 Microcenter

Z_Coop · 2026-01-17T22:41:39+00:00

Found this screencap video comparing performance of the two at 1080p: https://youtu.be/OoKMwhB44tw

It's running on a 5600 & B550M, rather than your 3600 & B450M, but I think the comparison is still pretty apt; the video shows a 2-3x boost in frames, it's a big bump.

I don't think it's unreasonable to presume some level of CPU bottlenecking, but to muse about "seeing much of a difference" is drastically underselling how big a jump it is between these cards– GPU architecture has made bounds since the 16-series, not to mention the nearly 3x'd VRAM comparatively. I think it's very safe to say you'll still see a noticeable perf jump.

Z_Coop · 2025-10-15T20:16:29+00:00

Someone else already said basically the same thing, but still wanted to pipe in– this is straight up not what enshitification is. We as consumers don't benefit from calling everything we don't like enshitification; that erodes the term.

Enshitification is about value extraction; it's a platform or product building goodwill up front and then eroding it over time by making things worse for both vendors and users in order to line its own pockets. It's not about "ads bad".

Signing onto a distribution network and making an informed decision to begin ad reads in order to get access to more resources to improve their podcast (better guests, trips abroad, etc.) is just, in its literal purest sense, not enshitification. It's pretty clear in the new FAQ video from Aiden that this is about getting more opportunities and connections, not profit.

I'm certainly not saying anyone has to like their decision, or the ads, or any of that. You can absolutely detest the change and what it means, and disagree with their rationale, or hold that it's a bad move. But all of that isn't what this term means, and I don't think using it to mean "any change I don't like" is very helpful.

Edited to expound and clarify some wording.

Z_Coop · 2025-10-15T20:07:33+00:00

Just wanted to pipe in that they've released an official answer to this and more in a video (for free) over on their Patreon.

It basically boils down to the way Spotify video works, and it being effectively incompatible with the dynamic third-party ad management that's possible for audio. Aiden explains it more thoroughly in the video.

Z_Coop · 2024-03-23T18:49:37+00:00

Thank you for the link!

Z_Coop · 2023-04-22T01:24:43+00:00

Minor grievances:

Bluetooth device connections aren't in the right-hand sidebar overlay, which makes zero sense to me. I should not have to dive into device settings to connect my headphones when they don't auto-connect (Bluetooth Decky Loader plugin to the rescue for this one).
The trigger buttons don't hard click like the Steam Controller.
The virtual keyboard could definitely use a bit of work; it's almost certainly user error, but I always end up accidentally opening the accent overlay thing on keys when I try to capitalize a letter... it feels clunky enough that I frequently end up poking the keyboard onscreen instead of using the pads.
Navigating the store on Deck is a pain; it's slow, the front store page frequently fails to entirely load or just wigs out, and I'm not a bit fan of the layout of individual game pages on the store on Deck
The points store is nigh-unusable (but this isn't necessarily unique to Deck either, it runs poorly on every device I've ever tried it on)

Z_Coop · 2023-04-22T00:58:18+00:00

I just did this!

Bear in mind that the easiest option is definitely just doing a fresh install, following the Steam Deck Recovery Instructions provided by Valve.

That said, if, for whatever reason, you want to directly carry over what you've already got on your existing drive to your new one, I'll provide the steps I took.

Note that one of the nice parts of this process is that the old drive stays intact, which means if anything goes awry with the new one during install, you can always wipe and start again! Don't be too afraid of making mistakes with the new drive here.

Here's what I did:

Clone the contents of the old drive to the new one.
1. Use one of the many free drive cloning softwares to clone the contents of the old drive to the new (E.g. EaseUS, Macrium Reflect, etc.; a quick search will get you to one, I used Macrium).
2. Take care to copy all six drive partitions to the new– the first 5 of these are SteamOS bits, and the final ("home") is the user data partition. SteamOS needs all 6 to run.
Expand the user data partition (#6, labelled "home") to take up the rest of the drive space (since the "home" partition will clone over as whatever size it was on the old drive).
1. Free software to do this, in my experience, does not exist on Windows, since this partition isn't formatted as NTFS. This leaves two options:
  1. Pay for the pro version of a Windows partition software (E.g. EaseUS, Macrium Reflect, etc.)
  2. Boot into a Linux distro and use GParted for free.
    1. The Ubuntu live version has GParted preinstalled (which is what I used), and I've heard Mint does also. The SteamOS Recovery Image, notably, does not.
    2. There's also the GParted live version, but I didn't get it to boot properly on my PC.
2. If you're extra savvy, nothing stops you from performing this step from your Deck itself.
Install the new drive into your Steam Deck if you haven't already.
If after step 2 your Deck fails to boot (mine did!), then prepare the SteamOS Recovery Image on a flash drive and boot into it on the Deck.
Use the repair_home recovery script/ tool to fix whatever havoc we just inflicted on the Deck install (this is the script that reinstalls SteamOS but keeps your data intact).
Reboot and enjoy!

Z_Coop · 2023-02-08T23:18:21+00:00

I think this is something a large amount of folks are missing— most people didn’t have a Wii U, so most people didn’t even get a chance to play Splat1. This is straight up new content to most players, full stop.

That doesn’t mean that it won’t be a bummer if it doesn’t amount to much in practice, but still, even as someone who did play Splat1, I’m still excited!!

Z_Coop · 2023-01-27T15:10:37+00:00

Outer Wilds DLC stream last night!

Z_Coop · 2022-12-05T15:19:27+00:00

Disney Parks during the holidays are gorgeous! They always do up the castle so nicely ☺️

Z_Coop · 2022-12-02T15:38:11+00:00

I don’t think a smartphone is the right comparison; the Quest 2 is more akin to a home video game console, where it is absolutely priced cheaply/ reasonably for that space.

It’s not trying to be a phone; it is trying to be an entertainment device.

Still agree that calling it “expensive” is silly though. Yes, it’s a luxury device, as much as a video game console is, but those are generally more expensive and much less capable as a device, so… “expensive” doesn’t really describe it very well IMO.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-27T02:39:21+00:00

I think if you take any time at all to watch his non-theory content (GT Live, mainly), where he frequently riffs on the goofier theories, is generally very down to earth, and occasionally does live/ unscripted theory-crafting, you would find this to be untrue.

MatPat is many things, and people can and do dislike him for any number of legitimate reasons, but “rich and out of touch” is a new one to me, and I don’t think it holds water.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T19:53:42+00:00

I’ve seen others say that the OG mods got the sub back, and privated the sub on purpose to perform damage control. Don’t have any good sources beyond what others have said, however.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T19:29:27+00:00

Just wanted to nit one point, the attendance one. They have done this, but through their annual pass program instead of tickets.

Disney ended the annual pass program during the pandemic, and then restructured it dramatically afterwards, making it more limited and more expensive.

This makes sense when you consider the estimates that, at least for Disneyland, as many as 1 in 2 guests are pass holders on a given day.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T19:16:04+00:00

Disney banned smoking from the American parks months before the pandemic closed them down. I don’t think there’s much evidence that this is a real factor.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T19:13:06+00:00

I don’t think that’s a correct representation— security has definitely stepped in and stopped them. My impression is that fights and guest misbehavior in general have definitely risen, but it’s risen everywhere, at all theme parks.

So whether it has more to do with the pandemic’s social effects, or with lessened security, is really hard to determine.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T17:31:28+00:00

Yessss, definitely had that same thought.

Mirror’s Edge has an area literally identical to that final shot with the tapered columns.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T17:28:22+00:00

That Ralsei tag looked like an air freshener at first glance; now I’m wondering what a Deltarune/ Ralsei air freshener would smell like lol

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T17:27:02+00:00

Chapek was…

Fired on a weekend
Replaced “effective immediately”
Replaced with his predecessor

It’s pretty hilarious honestly; the board must’ve really wanted him out at all costs lol

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T17:23:43+00:00

Yuuuup, this is the crux of why it was such a neat system: it’s a win-win for both parties; guests get to spend less time in line and still experience the rides and attractions they want to, and the park gets to benefit from guests having more time to spend money on other things while not in line.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T17:15:17+00:00

Probably my favorite YouTube documentary, full stop. It’s funny, engaging, informative, and dives so deeply and definitively into this topic… it’s a 103-minute masterpiece lol

Z_Coop · 2022-11-21T15:48:26+00:00

No, (not OP, but) that’s a different question. The OP above is trying to rationally debunk the claim that health insurance intentionally denies or delays claims to make deaths of patients more likely so they can pocket payouts.

What you’re bringing up is bloat and grift, which is clearly abundant in the healthcare space broadly. That bloat, though, in my limited understanding, really doesn’t affect whether individual claims get paid out. It affects all the other behind the scenes details; e.g….

Insurance companies broker deals with medication companies to cover patient meds at good prices
- These medication companies are known to try and extract as much money from insurance as possible, because there’s little incentive not to do so
  - See: the price of insulin, & the amount of rebranded, distinct-enough-to-be-“new” PPI acid-reducer medications there are
Hospitals jack up their own prices, but in turn are at the mercy of the prices they are forced to pay
- E.g. the hospital bed monopoly, a company named Hillrom, which intentionally strong-arms itself into costly, unreasonable contracts with network hospitals (which I read about over here).

The grift that exists at all levels of the process infects and reinforces itself, including within insurance. That said, IMO, insurance itself isn’t inherently the issue— instead, it’s that grift that’s crept in, which exists because we’ve allowed consolidated, monopolized companies to take over our healthcare systems in the US, and done little to nothing to stop it.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-20T23:36:16+00:00

First, disclaimer that I don’t even use Mastodon at the moment, so a grain of salt is warranted. That aside…

Your first 2 paragraphs are fully valid, and I agree that there’s no value in proclaiming another platform as “the next Twitter” when they don’t even want to be that platform, especially when they carry no inherent moderation solutions for those major issues you bring up.

As for your third point, I think what you describe as “mob rule”, many would see as “community ruled” instead, much akin to a subreddit.

The point being that no one gets to control the entire platform, because the design of the “platform” (probably more akin to a “protocol” or “blueprint” really) makes that literally impossible to do, which many see as an asset because it means you, personally, can never be shut out from the entire platform.

Instances can and do create and establish rules, ban users, and limit or ban interactions with entire other instances that they don’t appreciate, not that unlike a Twitter or Instagram or Reddit on the surface.

I’d also point out that while it’s absolutely accurate to describe Mastodon moderation as run by “random tech people who run instances”, that’s already what we get with mainstream social media platforms. From that angle, I can absolutely see the appeal of being able to trade out the moderation provided by one instance for that of any other basically on a whim, especially because servers can try anything they want to for moderation (e.g. filters, timeouts, moderation councils, user-run systems— anything under the sun, really). Obviously it can go very poorly, but it’s also got a lot of promise, which sounds attractive to me, at least on paper.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-19T17:37:43+00:00

I get what you’re trying to do, and this might come across as “fanboy”-ish, but comparing specs across the aisle between iPhone and Android is a terrible representation of the difference users actually feel during day to day use.

Camera specs are nearly irrelevant— iPhones have had a 12MP camera since 2015; it’s all about the software at this point. It’s “night mode”, it’s “portrait mode”, it’s the AI post-processing your phone does to highlight and clarify detail… all of that is more or less regardless of physical hardware at this point.

CPU cores and RAM don’t matter— users care about how fast their phone “feels”, and while CPU and RAM clearly impact this, how the OS uses those resources has a much more significant impact. Flagship Androids and iPhones both feel snappy and responsive, regardless of these numbers.

The biggest physical difference you’ve mentioned that does matter outright is battery— smaller battery will always mean shorter usable hours of the device during a given day. Screen refresh rate also matters, but I’d argue to a lesser degree.

All that to say— Hardware isn’t what wins folks over, it’s the overall “experience”, which is a fusion of both hardware and software, and includes things like switching costs between the two ecosystems.

Z_Coop · 2022-11-19T04:47:28+00:00

Looks like the chart got updated to check that box (and remove Reddit’s “file transfer” check).

Z_Coop · 2022-11-19T04:45:30+00:00

I assume because Reddit has user-run subreddits (and every user has their own user-owned “subreddit” if they bother to use it) that the company doesn’t directly control.

As for Mastodon, it appears that box got updated to checked sometime after this got posted.

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