WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Reports suggest that NVIDIA's 5090 Megadu will be up to 25% fast. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 Dude, this is what I've been waiting for. Why are you waiting? You could buy like a sick gaming rig right now for just a G. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.000 Yeah, that's so last-gen. This is gonna be worth the wait. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:19.000 In other news, tariffs on electronics that are manufactured outside of the United States, 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:24.000 so almost all of them, are expected to result in major price hikes. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.000 Oh no! Now what am I gonna do? Should I build a computer now or should I wait for next-gen? 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.000 That's a great question, viewer. Yes, you! 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:37.000 And it's one we see all the time, especially around big CPU or GPU launches. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.000 And while the answer would normally be to plan a manageable budget for yourself 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.000 and upgrade whenever your current system is no longer meeting your needs, 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:50.000 with those potential tariffs inbound, things could get a little more complicated, 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.000 especially for our American friends. But there is some good news, because believe it or not, 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.000 this isn't the first time that we run into this type of consumer taxation. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:05.000 So we only need to look at the recent past to understand how tariffs could impact our purchases, 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:10.000 be they on PC parts, washing machines, or even merch on LTT Store. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:15.000 I hope things don't go down this path. I want a 50-series GPU. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:22.000 But if this new tax comes into effect, now could be a really savvy time to buy a PC rather than waiting. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.000 Let's break it down and break down this segue to our sponsor. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.000 Reason number one to pull the trigger now is you know what you're getting. 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:45.000 As cliche as it sounds, until there are third-party reviews, we don't really know what's coming down the pipe. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.000 Sometimes the pre-launch rumors end up being pretty accurate, 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.000 but other times they aren't, and it can be a pretty poopy feeling to wait, 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:57.000 sometimes months, for a pot at the end of the rainbow that turns out to be fool's gold. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:03.000 Number two, it's Q4, baby! Tis the season for inventory management. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:11.000 And as we outlined in our Holiday Buyer's Guide, you can pick up a machine that will handle any AAA game out there for less than you'd probably think. 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.000 And in our recent review of the AMD Ryzen 9800X3D, 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:22.000 we found that even an older AM4 and DDR4 system is still very capable of modern gaming 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.000 and can save you a ton of money, money that can be spent on a better GPU for enhanced visuals. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:35.000 And guys, I know what you're gonna say. Buying an older CPU platform can limit your future upgrades, but look at this. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:41.000 We asked our staff here what parts they usually upgrade before they just give in and get a whole new platform. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:49.000 And while 40% said GPU, the cold hard truth is that most people don't upgrade their CPUs. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:54.000 Which leads us to reason number three. How often do you really need to upgrade your PC? 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.000 Even our team of very techy, gamery folks seems to be on about a two to three year cycle. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:05.000 Just enough time to buy now and hopefully wait out the future tariff storm. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.000 Ah yes, the dreaded T-word. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000 To find out more about tariffs and how they might impact pricing, 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.000 I asked Elijah who wrote this video to ask Taren who has a friend 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:23.000 who worked in the PC hardware supply chain last time a US administration peaked at Brazil's homework 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:26.000 and thought, hmm, that seems like a good idea. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.000 He explained it to me by laying out two different scenarios. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:36.000 Imagine I'm Walmart. I'm buying a 59D at a bulk price of $100 and I'm going to sell them for $125. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.000 I make a tidy profit and you get your GPU. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:42.000 That's scenario one without any tariffs. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:50.000 Now for scenario two, let's say a flat 50% tariff is applied to a country where I purchased the GPU from. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:55.000 I reach out to order some more and there's an extra little line on my invoice. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:58.000 50% of the value of what my order was. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.000 Now I couldn't sell it for $125 even if I wanted to. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:07.000 I'd be losing money. So to keep my profit, I need to sell them for $175. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:14.000 But now my shareholders are upset because they see my gross margins shrink from 25% to 17%. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.000 Okay, let's go with $187.50. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.000 That looks terrible on a price tag. $189.99. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:26.000 Now last time around, the electronics tariffs were mostly targeting goods manufactured in China, 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:32.000 which then resulted in manufacturers investing in factories outside of China so that they could avoid them. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:35.000 But there's a little hidden cost to the consumers there as well. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.000 Let's say I'm Foxconn now, different hat. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:42.000 I drop a quarter of a bill to build a new factory in Vietnam. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:46.000 There's no Chinese tariffs there, but someone still has to foot the bill. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:50.000 I know, I'll just charge $125 for that GPU now. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.000 It's less than $150, so I'm still competitive in the market. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:59.000 And in no time at all, consumers will get used to paying more for the same product. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:09.000 More gravy for me, baby. Obviously that's an oversimplification, but there also are examples of times when it's played out just like this. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:16.000 The pre-tariff RTX 3080, for instance, launched for $700 US and had a die area, 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:21.000 so the size of the actual silicon chip, of 628 millimeters. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:30.000 The post-tariff RTX 4080 launched for $1200 US and has a die area of just 379 millimeters. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.000 Now some of this price increase can be traced back to external factors, 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.000 like higher wafer costs for more advanced manufacturing process nodes, 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.000 not to mention the global inflation that has taken place over the last half a decade. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:50.000 But a big part of it is just plain charging more for less now that they've figured out consumers are willing to pay. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.000 And this time around, it could be worse. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Because so many companies diversified their manufacturing out of China last time around, 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:03.000 there's a lot of talk amongst American policymakers about implementing import tariffs, 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:08.000 rather than just limiting the tariffs to the exports of a particular country. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:15.000 That will result in manufacturers billing out for both their investments that they've made to diversify their manufacturing 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:18.000 and the tariffs that are being surrendered to the US government. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:22.000 And it's not like the retailer is going to get caught holding the bag, 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:27.000 they're just going to mark up accordingly, and if sales volumes decline, they'll simply order less. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:35.000 So now, the GPU from our example that used to cost $125 at the till is $235. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:45.000 And guess who paid for it? You. On Monday, November 25th, President-elect Trump announced a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Canada as well. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.000 We'll have to see if they actually follow through with that, but based on that announcement, 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:54.000 our red, white, and blue friends are going to want to order your LTT merch right now. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.000 Now look, I'm not even going to bother reading comments on this video, 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.000 because I'm sure that some folks are going to accuse me of getting political. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.000 But math is not political. 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:10.000 Math is math. And as heartless as it sounds, the math says that our standard of living in the Western world is enabled 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.000 by unfettered access to cheap overseas labor. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.000 And if you think that moving manufacturing back is going to solve inflation or even happen at all, 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:25.000 I have some hard truths for you. One is that Americans don't want a lot of these jobs. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:31.000 TSMC, for example, has had a heck of a time hiring for their Arizona semiconductor fab, 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:38.000 and for some pretty good reasons. One of the most obvious ones is the misaligned expectations of work-life balance. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.000 Now, American workers' rights are far from perfect, 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:46.000 but what they are is worlds better than what you might find elsewhere around the globe. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:50.000 Americans rightly expect things like limited shift times, mandated vacations, 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:53.000 the right to collective bargaining, etc., etc. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:58.000 Another less obvious reason is the eroded pipeline of qualified applicants. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.000 It takes decades to resolve the chicken egg dilemma and develop the steady stream of both 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.000 new talent and new jobs that makes an entire industry tick. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:12.000 It's one of the reasons that our Labs team has struggled so much to hire subject matter experts. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.000 Like if we were in South Korea, for instance, and we wanted to hire a display expert, 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.000 we would be tripping over applicants. Here? Not so much. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:26.000 And it isn't just us. Ratings, for instance, has had a job posting up for a display person for ages. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:33.000 Hard truth number two. Americans don't generally want to pay for American-made products. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:36.000 There are exceptions, many, many exceptions. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.000 All-American clothing even has this handy-dandy list of companies who make their products in America, 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:47.000 many of which are crushing it. I'm personally partial to my onshore-manufactured darn tough stocks from Vermont. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:52.000 But that doesn't change that the overwhelming trend is toward bargain-basement overseas marketplaces, 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:58.000 with Temu surpassing shopping apps from giants like Amazon and Walmart earlier this year. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.000 And more and more, I see an attitude of, 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:05.000 if it costs a few dollars more, it's a complete scam. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.000 A sentiment that actually makes a ton of sense, 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:12.000 given the ongoing economic challenges that have ballooned our cost of living since, 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.000 realistically, the 1980s. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:18.000 Hard truth number three, maybe the hardest one of all, 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:22.000 is that even if Americans wanted these jobs and were willing to pay a premium 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.000 for goods that were manufactured by their friends and neighbors, 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:30.000 they don't have enough neighbors. U.S. unemployment is sitting at about 4%. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.000 It's not exactly a historic low, and it has been creeping up, 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:39.000 but it is well below the last sustained high that we saw during the 2008 financial crisis, 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:45.000 and it's not that far above the deepest historic lows of about 2.5%. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:51.000 So, I don't know, maybe there's a scenario where folks want to make career moves into manufacturing roles, 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:55.000 but what I suspect is that most don't. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.000 Ask yourself, would I rather do this all day? 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:02.000 Don't forget, it's for minimum wage or less. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:05.000 So, that's the math. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:08.000 There is a political conversation to be had here, 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.000 something around the deep societal change that would need to take place 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:18.000 in order to significantly alter the math, but that's not something I'm going to touch on. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.000 So, let's come back to should you buy a PC right now? 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.000 Well, based on the rhetoric we're seeing so far, 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:31.000 it might not be a bad idea. The RTX 5090 was already rumored to hit the market at around $2,000. 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:38.000 If the proposed tariffs go through, that could jump to more like $2,500 for parts that are manufactured outside of China 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:42.000 and maybe even more for anything that's manufactured within China. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:47.000 Now, NVIDIA may absorb some of this in their margins, you know, as a favor to gamers, 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.000 but they also might not, 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:53.000 and you could build a pretty nice, I don't know, 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:57.000 entire gaming machine for that much money right now. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:02.000 Another X factor is, do you guys remember the last time I made a video called 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:05.000 Buy a PC Right Now? 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:11.000 That was right on the eve of a crypto boom that drove GPU prices into the stratosphere for years. 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:14.000 Well, guess what's booming again right now? 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.000 Look, if you don't have the money at the moment, 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:20.000 or you want to hold out for next gen, don't worry too much. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:25.000 This all might end up being a nothing burger, but if you were waiting for the right moment to strike, 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:28.000 electronics are pretty affordable out there right now, 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:32.000 and I expect that game developers are going to be targeting current hardware 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.000 for quite a few years while we wait for a new generation of consoles. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.000 So, back 5090 probably won't be needed for a while. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.000 You know what we will need though, is this segue to our sponsor. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:47.000 If you guys enjoyed this video and you want to buy some parts right now, 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:52.000 why not check out our Holiday Buyer's Guide. It's less of a holiday guide and more of just a buyer's guide. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:55.000 We cover four different price points and give you a really good starting point 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:58.000 for how to configure a great gaming PC.