Alyus :
bystander :
Every new generation of cards, we get people excited that their new card can play 4K without lowing much if any settings and within a few months, they are back to the same situation as always. The top in cards are generally good to go at 2560x1440 with only some reduction of settings and will remain that way for generations to come.
The cycle is very consistent;
1) GPU manufacturers make a faster card
2) the game developers make more demanding games.
Developers prioritize developing games for consoles such as the PS4 and XB1; they earn a living by selling games and to maximize their sales, they design games for the systems the majority of gamers possess. For those with above average systems, they can increase the game settings.
Most PC gamers are casuals and most average casual gamer will not spend $1000 or more dollars on a single GPU; my guess is that gaming enthusiast (gamers who spend $2000+ on their gaming PC) is outnumbered 3/10. The data easily found by looking at Steam's stats for their customer's hardware.
Most people buy prebuilt machines and not exactly expensive ones at that.
As far as gaming PC's go nothing much has changed over the years, MOST people buy on the cheap (cheapest crap they can buy) so they are lower midrange or under and or old lower midrange or under machines that they try and play games on.
Then they come places like here and ask why their POS box won't play games worth a crap.
We get the old I want to play (enter new AAA game here) at good frame rates and don't want to spend any money.
Then complain when people tell them what they really need.
It doesn't help that some morons with YT channels cater to those types of people and post BS like low end machines playing the newest games. That and those POS refurbished SFF systems that idiots seem to buy and think they can turn them into gaming machines.
Then they come here and ask why THAT POS won't work the way the one in the BS YT video did?
And then complain when we tell them what reality is.
Realistically people don't need to spend $3,000 on a gaming machine, but they do need to be realistic based on what they want to do.