Venko's recent activity

  1. Comment on AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT reviews and launch in ~games

    Venko
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    I'm also running a 970 still. Unfortunately I wasn't able to buy a 9070 XT before the stock vanished in all UK stores though so I'll be sticking with my Xbox Series X for gaming for the...

    I'm also running a 970 still. Unfortunately I wasn't able to buy a 9070 XT before the stock vanished in all UK stores though so I'll be sticking with my Xbox Series X for gaming for the foreseeable future.

    1 vote
  2. Comment on AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT reviews and launch in ~games

  3. Comment on AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT reviews and launch in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    I failed to pick up an NVIDIA 5070 Ti for the UK MRRP. Since then I've been waiting to see what AMD's offering is and, to a layman like me, it looks like a very attractive option. I'm strongly...

    I failed to pick up an NVIDIA 5070 Ti for the UK MRRP. Since then I've been waiting to see what AMD's offering is and, to a layman like me, it looks like a very attractive option. I'm strongly considering picking one up at 2PM tomorrow when it supposedly launches and then building a new gaming PC around it.

    I don't have any experience with AMD though. There are many manufacturers and it's difficult for me to understand what the differences are between the MRRP models. In the UK the MRRP models that I've seen are:

    • Asrock Radeon RX 9070 XT Steel Legend
    • PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper
    • Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming
    11 votes
  4. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT reviews and launch

    The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT launches tomorrow (6th March) for a MRRP of: $600 USA before taxes £570 UK after taxes Reviews: Have They Finally Done It? - Hardware Unboxed Review & Benchmarks vs. 5070...

    The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT launches tomorrow (6th March) for a MRRP of:

    • $600 USA before taxes
    • £570 UK after taxes

    Reviews:

    Bonus:

    30 votes
  5. Comment on The UK and other regions are running suspiciously low on Xbox Series X console stocks, why is PlayStation still widely more available? in ~games

    Venko
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    During the covid GPU shortage I bought an Xbox Series X. That was just over four years ago. Since then I've maintained a Game Pass Ultimate subscription and played many, many games on it. At £450...

    During the covid GPU shortage I bought an Xbox Series X. That was just over four years ago. Since then I've maintained a Game Pass Ultimate subscription and played many, many games on it. At £450 for the console itself plus the subscription cost it's offered me some incredibly good value gaming.

    I've tried to pick up a GPU to build a new gaming PC recently but that's not gone well. The 5070 Ti sold out in seconds in the UK and is now selling for £150 over its supposed retail price. It looks like the new AMD offering may offer a credible alternative if it actually has stock at the supposed retail price.

    There's just no competition value-wise when compared to the Xbox Series X though and I suspect that there never will be again.

    3 votes
  6. Comment on As Internet enshittification marches on, here are some of the worst offenders in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    I really want to get an Apple TV but I've been waiting patiently for Apple to release the next model. MacRumors is currently suggesting that it will release around the end of the year.

    I really want to get an Apple TV but I've been waiting patiently for Apple to release the next model.

    MacRumors is currently suggesting that it will release around the end of the year.

    1 vote
  7. Comment on A surprising immigration raid in Kern County foreshadows what awaits farmworkers and businesses in ~society

    Venko
    Link
    From the article it sounds like 75% of the workers aren't legally working in USA. If the employer is aware of that then how do they get away with employing them? In the UK an employer faces up to...

    From the article it sounds like 75% of the workers aren't legally working in USA. If the employer is aware of that then how do they get away with employing them?

    In the UK an employer faces up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine for every single incident of employing an illegal worker.

    6 votes
  8. Comment on US Supreme Court unanimously backs law banning TikTok if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Considering how close the referendum was I think it's reasonably likely that Meta was the deciding factor in Brexit. Up until now the political party in power in the UK was made up of an...

    Considering how close the referendum was I think it's reasonably likely that Meta was the deciding factor in Brexit.

    Up until now the political party in power in the UK was made up of an increasingly large number of Brexit supporters. Now that's changed I wouldn't be surprised if foreign companies responsible for electoral interference that's caused horrific damage to the country are held responsible.

    Especially considering the war that Twitter/X is waging on the British government and how politically aligned Meta is. These companies appear to be deeply political and their interests don't align with those of the British public.

    19 votes
  9. Comment on US Supreme Court unanimously backs law banning TikTok if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company in ~tech

    Venko
    Link
    I wonder if this will be used as justification to ban Twitter and Meta apps in other countries. They've both already demonstrated the impact that they have on foreign populations and on elections....

    I wonder if this will be used as justification to ban Twitter and Meta apps in other countries. They've both already demonstrated the impact that they have on foreign populations and on elections. Then recently they showed their strong links to the American government. I can't really see a difference in terms of risks.

    52 votes
  10. Comment on US Food and Drug Administration to revoke authorization for the use of red no. 3 in food and ingested drugs in ~health

    Venko
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    This kind of thing is why I'm so uneasy about food safety when visiting USA. The UK passed legislation in 1995 based on an EU directive to ban E127 in almost all cases. In other words, Americans...

    This kind of thing is why I'm so uneasy about food safety when visiting USA. The UK passed legislation in 1995 based on an EU directive to ban E127 in almost all cases. In other words, Americans have been eating E127 for almost thirty years after Europe banned it (except for cherries) for safety reasons. For many other artificial food colours we have mandatory safety warnings.

    See this NYTimes article for some other potentially unsafe food additives that are common in the USA. Even bread is potentially dangerous in the USA and, even if you were to try and make your own, lots of flour is unsafe because it contains the same ingredients used in store-purchased bread.

    2 votes
  11. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    Orwell: Ignorance is Strength - the sequel to Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You. Much like the original game you play an agent using a super spyware network called Orwell. Your job is to investigate...

    Orwell: Ignorance is Strength - the sequel to Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You. Much like the original game you play an agent using a super spyware network called Orwell. Your job is to investigate citizens and form a version of truth alongside another agent. The twist in these games is that whilst you have access to lots of information on citizens the only action that you're able to take yourself is sending datachunks to the other agent by adding them to the Orwell database. Doing some unlocks other documents that relate to those datachunks. Although the other agent can message you you cannot message them yourself. This means that you can control the "truth" by controlling which datachunks you send. I really enjoyed both the original game and this sequel. There's some crossover between the stories in both games so I suggest anyone interested start with the first game.

    3 votes
  12. Comment on Nvidia announces four next-gen RTX 5000 GPUs in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the heads up. It sounds like the recommended retail price isn't realistic in the UK and the card will be a lot more expensive then. It may be a lot cheaper to get the 5080 founder...

    Thanks for the heads up. It sounds like the recommended retail price isn't realistic in the UK and the card will be a lot more expensive then. It may be a lot cheaper to get the 5080 founder edition from Nvidia than buy a 5070 Ti and this will push the price of my build up drastically.

    As for the 1440p high refresh rate monitor I plan to do exactly that - swap one in months later when I see a good deal.

    1 vote
  13. Comment on Nvidia announces four next-gen RTX 5000 GPUs in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Here's my draft PCPartPicker parts list based on PCPartPicker's "Magnificent AMD Gaming/Streaming Build" with changes following suggestions from you, @infpossibilityspace and swapping out the GPU...

    Here's my draft PCPartPicker parts list based on PCPartPicker's "Magnificent AMD Gaming/Streaming Build" with changes following suggestions from you, @infpossibilityspace and swapping out the GPU to the yet unreleased 5070 Ti.
    Considering the UK list price for 5070 Ti, assuming I can get a founders edition from Nvidia, this lands near my £2,000 target price. If I'm unlucky with stock/checking out quickly then I'll probably have to pay extra for a third-party 5070 Ti.

    1 vote
  14. Comment on UK users: Lobsters needs your help with the Online Safety Act in ~tech

    Venko
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    When Ofcom's rules come into play on 16th March then will a geoblock for the UK also be applied to Tildes?

    When Ofcom's rules come into play on 16th March then will a geoblock for the UK also be applied to Tildes?

    9 votes
  15. Comment on Nvidia announces four next-gen RTX 5000 GPUs in ~tech

    Venko
    Link
    I have an over ten year old gaming desktop that's really showing its age with an Nvidia 970 3.5/4GB GPU. I'd like to build a replacement soon. For the GPU I'm wondering about the 5080 versus the...

    I have an over ten year old gaming desktop that's really showing its age with an Nvidia 970 3.5/4GB GPU. I'd like to build a replacement soon. For the GPU I'm wondering about the 5080 versus the 5070 Ti as both feature 16GB of RAM (I can't justify buying a card with less memory). I don't have a 4k monitor but am considering getting a 2k one.

    In the UK the list prices are:

    • 5080 £979
    • 5070 Ti £729

    Does the 5070 Ti look suitable?
    Which processor would people recommend pairing with the GPU? I know that I'll need to figure out all of the other components too.

    3 votes
  16. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    Venko
    Link
    Ironically this website blocks access from the UK, EEA and EU so nobody in Europe can read the article.

    Ironically this website blocks access from the UK, EEA and EU so nobody in Europe can read the article.

    10 votes
  17. Comment on Slay the Spire 2 | Official gameplay trailer in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    I'm really excited that Slay the Spire 2 is built in Godot instead of Unity. There have been a few popular Godot games recently such as Brotato and Cassette Beasts but it's good to see more Godot...

    I'm really excited that Slay the Spire 2 is built in Godot instead of Unity. There have been a few popular Godot games recently such as Brotato and Cassette Beasts but it's good to see more Godot commercial successes.

    Mega Crit, the developer of Slay the Spire, is also a gold sponsor of Godot. Re-logic, the makers of Terraria, are silver sponsors but they also made a 100k USD one-time donation. It's really good to see these things in a market dominated by Unity / Unreal.

    14 votes
  18. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Venko
    Link Parent
    There are only two servers in Turtle: The RP-PvE one and the PVP one. Pretty much everyone, myself included, plays on the Nordanaar PvE server for which a lot of features are exclusive. Also in...

    There are only two servers in Turtle: The RP-PvE one and the PVP one.

    Pretty much everyone, myself included, plays on the Nordanaar PvE server for which a lot of features are exclusive.

    Also in TurtleWow, although quests and such are faction exclusive you can group with the opposite faction.

    1 vote
  19. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Yes, thank you. I think it's possible that Tildes stripped out everything except the final part of the URL from my bbcode link.

    Yes, thank you. I think it's possible that Tildes stripped out everything except the final part of the URL from my bbcode link.

    1 vote
  20. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Venko
    (edited )
    Link
    Turtle WoW - I saw a post a while back about how the private World of Warcraft server, Turtle WoW, was remaking the WoW classic engine in unreal 5. This is still quite a way out but on the mention...

    Turtle WoW - I saw a post a while back about how the private World of Warcraft server, Turtle WoW, was remaking the WoW classic engine in unreal 5. This is still quite a way out but on the mention of Turtle WoW I decided to check it out.

    It's basically an expanded version of classic WoW with lots of tweaks, balance changes (including talents revamp and more class skills) and so, so much extra content. It knocks Season of Discovery out of the park and there's no rush/fear of missing out.

    It took me a while to apply optional patches to the client and set up some addons to my liking but since then I've been enjoying playing a High Elf paladin. I plan to set it up on my Steam Deck next.

    6 votes