I heard multiple people indicate that nvidia is planning on ‘pay per use’ on their new graphics cards. If one buys a graphics card, a certain number of gpu cycles per month is free, after that is on pay-per-use basis, until the next month?
Cheers …
From ChatGPT
Nvidia’s cloud gaming service GeForce NOW is moving to a model where paid subscribers have a monthly playtime cap (e.g. ~100 hours per month) and can pay for extra hours beyond that limit. That’s a subscription-service usage model, but not a restriction on your physical GPU that you own.
Face it! Nothing is yours anymore!
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Haven’t heard the rumor, but the idea isn’t new. Today’s hardware is really complex, you think you’ve got a CPU a memory or a disk, but in reality there are hidden complete microcomputers inside this chips. These are not for general computing or anything usable to application but provide diagnostics during the manufacturing, and anti-tamper facilities later. It’s entirely possible to activate your chip (or parts of it) for a limited time only. So why not use it for a GPU subscription model? You’d pay a monthly fee to have it fully unlocked, otherwise it’ll get auto-trimmed down so some very basic iGPU function…
PS. I worked for an electronic giant on such embedded firmware already two decades ago, and it wasn’t anything new back then, I was in the maintenance team, not research
A few attempts have been made to remotely upgrade hardware. These were not generally well received by consumers who feel like they are being ripped off. I think it is more common in enterprise.
Although there are more common ‘downgrade’ mechanisms e.g. ink cartridges which counts usage and prevents use even if there is ink still in there (to prevent refilling).
the issue i have is that manufacturers are now trying to have it both ways - sell the product to make money, and then charge to use it beyond ‘what they consider monthly-normal-use’.
Not dissimilar to another thing i heard - that bmw is now using screws with proprietary screw heads … not sure if this is really true or not … https://www.bmwblog.com/2025/12/30/bmw-roundel-screw-patent/
bring up the question - who is the owner? who decides what is ‘normal’ use?
when do corporations start to use consumers as batteries (as in the movie matrix)?
Do not BMWs still come emergency tool boxes?
Is that supposed to make sense?
Apple did something similar a while back (pentalobe screws). It took a few weeks before you could buy such tools on Aliexpress.
The most obvious “subscription” model on hardware are mobile phones without replaceable batteries. The manufactures further cemented that by artificially stopping support for 2-3 years phones as “these should be dead by now”.
Absolutely
AFAIK, This is not a rumor
I don’t doubt that but your sentence doesn’t make any sense.
Find it hard to believe that supposedly hard disk manufactures are allowing used disks to get into their new products. Basically they have no control over their production due to not having any factories anymore. Only that Seagate could figure this out due to their embedded SW that refuses to be reset.
Basically, I am disgusted that so these companies risk their reputations and ignore this major criminal activity for what? Profit? Only Seagate has had the foresight to even detect it and even has a support page so that their customers can determine if they have a just purchased a used hard drive. https://www.seagate.com/blog/the-second-hand-drive-market-what-you-need-to-know-and-how-to-spot-a-counterfeit-product/
For now on I will only be getting my HDs from Seagate.