Discussion Rant: The Wait for GPUs is Really Painful

[IDProG]

This is mostly just going to be my rant on the awful GPU market.

I don't know if we can agree or not, but this generation sucks. Both Nvidia and AMD, their products are mediocre AT BEST in my opinion.

The 4090 should've cost $1200 at best.
The 4080 should've cost $900 alongside the 7900 XTX.
The 7900 XT should've cost $750.
The 4070 Ti should've cost $700.
The 4070 should've cost $500.
The 4060 Ti 16GB should've cost $450, the 8GB shouldn't have existed.
The 4060 is kind of priced reasonably, though I will never buy an 8GB GPU in 2023.

Some people say "You should not wait for graphics cards or you'll be waiting forever. Buy when you feel like you want to upgrade", but that is instant gratification, and I resent that kind of thought.

If you know that a generation absolutely sucks, you should not cater to what you feel you want.
Imagine actually following the aforementioned advice, like, 1 month before the Ethereum PoS change.

IMO, only buy GPU "right now" if the GPU is literally going to die while waiting, and I don't think you should even do that. Just wait with an iGPU, find another hobby or use the time you usually game to work harder, and use the money you use to buy a GPU to buy stocks, instead, so you earn more money.

I believe the next generation will significantly be improved, as both companies are absolutely being destroyed by GPU buyers (understandably) for falsely expecting crypto mining to stay. That said, the next generation will come in as early as H2 2024. That's a long waiting time.

I am here, with my GTX 1070 wanting an upgrade and being forced to wait for another generation because I refuse to put my hands into the poop that is this gen.

I guess I'll just end my rant with some questions for discussion:
1. Do you think the next generation will be better?
2. Do you also want to upgrade, but choose to wait for one more gen because of how terrible this gen is? If yes, what is your current GPU?
3. What are some single player games that can be played well by the GTX 1070?

 

[ilukey77]

budget is king ..always work to your budget !!
Get it out of your head this gen is over priced right now because its not!!
inflation and the pandemic has caused these rises and there here to stay ..
If i was going to recommend a gpu on a budget the ARC770 for the lower tier or a 7900xt at a good price with its 20gb Vram that think is going to age very well !!

 

[bill001g]

What I see happening is more and more people will decide to buy a console rather than a "mid?" cost video card for a pc. In the short term the video card manufactures will not care but the companies that make games will move more resources to platform with the most users.....kinda why so many make crap mobile games.
It all depends on if these video card companies keep trying to get maximum profit in the short term. nvidia earning statements say they make over 60% profit margin without all their other expenses like R&D and after they still make over 40% profit. Most companies say like walmart make in the range of 25% gross profit and only around 2% actual profit.

 

[Moonstick2]

My previous card was an R9 290 4GB, and it was a beast. I kept it going for about 8 years, which compared to when I first began building PCs is an insane amount of time. I finally chose to upgrade to a 6700XT 12 GB (plus CPU/RAM) at Christmas because my PC was struggling with more recent AAA games, and buy struggling I mean I couldn't max everything out and maintain 60fps @ 1080p. My R9 290 cost me £215. My 6700XT cost £399.

Except. £215 then is equivalent to about £300 now due to inflation. Plus that was an exceptional right place/time deal, the card was more typically going for £260 at the time which is equivalent to £360 now. (And when R9 290 was now-gen it was £360 RRP, equivalent to £500 now.)

So I've paid about 10% more than I should have done then, for a card that should last me another eight years, close to quadrupled my benchmarks in AAA games with everything turned on (+CPU upgrade helping, of course) and draws about 2/3 the power.

Top tier cards are always overpriced. Back when I got the R9 290 it was the GTX Titan, costing equivalent to £1200 now and would be lucky to reach half the FPS my 6700XT does. But every generation has a sweet spot.

Saying that e.g. the 4060Ti 16 GB should be priced 10% less than it is sounds like...I dunno, like you're fed up with the low FPS from your current card, you only want a high end now-gen card but you don't have the budget so it's all the GPU manufacturers' fault?

 

[slurmsmckenzie]

It does feel a bit painful to me also, although I'm not really in a position to complain - I currently have a 3060 Ti and would *like* something better but I appreciate that this is nothing like being on 10xx series card and waiting for something affordable that isn't insulting.

I used to have a 1050 Ti (I didn't really game much) but fancied playing Forza Horizon 4 and having got a used Acer X27P (4k 144hz) monitor I soon realised I'd need to upgrade to use it properly. Unfortunately this was when scalping was at its peak, spent hours on eBay looking for used cards that weren't a complete joke (didn't find any). Instead I spent hours refreshing Scan.co.uk, noticing that when ANY 2xxx or 3xxx card came into stock it was gone in under 5 mins. I eventually went for an MSI 3060 Ti GamingX before they sold out - paid £600. I realise that was way over the odds, but I was just happy to have been able to buy a brand-new card and the price was actually less than used examples were going for on eBay. I've been pretty happy with it, was certainly an upgrade.

Two years later and since the mining bubble burst I was thinking "hey, great, now I could spend a similar amount of money but get something better that isn't at scalping prices".... but that hasn't really panned out. I mainly play Forza Horizon 5 now and I can tell it is more demanding than FH4, I would like to upgrade so I could play at 4k ultra and am lucky enough to be able to afford to, but can't really bring myself to pay what is being asked. The 4070 is a maybe although lots of people think even 12GB is not future-proof enough and it isn't a huge upgrade. Everything above that and below the 4090 is just priced too high with too many (intentional) compromises for my liking. I could get a 4090 but.... that would seem like such an extravagence TBH, and I can think of other ways I'd rather spend £1.6k (a Canon R7 for example). At this point I'd be essentially paying £1.6k to play FH5 (and maybe FH6) at 4k ultra!!

I would also like to know what the next generation is expected to be like but the only commentary I see is that it likely won't be any better. Other folks say to "skip this gen" but I wonder if it will make much difference? I guess having a previous-gen card myself I can afford to wait and see more than some others can.

All of the above said, I could see myself getting a 4070 if prices drop a little more and one is on sale closer to £550 maybe. Maybe.

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

Everyone is entitled to a rant... that being said... this generation sucks unless you are on a 4090.

Result

www.3dmark.com

If you can swallow the price... it's totally worth it.

People have also got to realize... Nvidia has no competition. When you have no competition you can charge whatever you want.

 

[Eximo]

I always seem to buy the "wrong" card each generation. At least recently.

GTX980 at launch was fine, until the 1060 6GB came out and made it practically unsellable.
GTX1080 at launch wasn't bad and lasted me a good five years, but I should have held out for the 1080Ti, which I would probably still have.
3080Ti I paid retail for, which at the time was $1400. Had I waited, could have had a 3090 or 4080. Or even a 3080 12GB for $800

 

[Yupperzzzzz]

This is mostly just going to be my rant on the awful GPU market.

I don't know if we can agree or not, but this generation sucks. Both Nvidia and AMD, their products are mediocre AT BEST in my opinion.

The 4090 should've cost $1200 at best.
The 4080 should've cost $900 alongside the 7900 XTX.
The 7900 XT should've cost $750.
The 4070 Ti should've cost $600.
The 4070 should've cost $500.
The 4060 Ti 16GB should've cost $450, the 8GB shouldn't have existed.
The 4060 is kind of priced reasonably, though I will never buy an 8GB GPU in 2023.

Some people say "You should not wait for graphics cards or you'll be waiting forever. Buy when you feel like you want to upgrade", but that is instant gratification, and I resent that kind of thought.

If you know that a generation absolutely sucks, you should not cater to what you feel you want.
Imagine actually following the aforementioned advice, like, 1 month before the Ethereum PoS change.

IMO, only buy GPU "right now" if the GPU is literally going to die while waiting, and I don't think you should even do that. Just wait with an iGPU, find another hobby or use the time you usually game to work harder, and use the money you use to buy a GPU to buy stocks, instead, so you earn more money.

I believe the next generation will significantly be improved, as both companies are absolutely being destroyed by GPU buyers (understandably) for falsely expecting crypto mining to stay. That said, the next generation will come in as early as H2 2024. That's a long waiting time.

I am here, with my GTX 1070 wanting an upgrade and being forced to wait for another generation because I refuse to put my hands into the poop that is this gen.

I guess I'll just end my rant with some questions for discussion:
1. Do you think the next generation will be better?
2. Do you also want to upgrade, but choose to wait for one more gen because of how terrible this gen is? If yes, what is your current GPU?
3. What are some single player games that can be played well by the GTX 1070?

I literally picked up a 6700XT for $80 RMAd($20) it for a new one. You can find deals im sorry you may refuse to spend the money or buy sec hand. Do you not have a friend that gifts you their old card if its better than yours? What are you looking to get out of waiting? Cheaper cards? Better FPS? New technology? More eco-friendly? If you are in to mining then dont bother ranting here because im sure your problem could be resolved today.

 

[Yupperzzzzz]

Time when you are young is less valuable then money but as you grow up time greatly surpasses the value of money. You claimed you are forced to wait another generation if its because of price go make an extra dollar by picking up a shift or two (stocks in youre case) or pass on a couple skips; it will literally offset it.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I guess I'll just end my rant with some questions for discussion:
1. Do you think the next generation will be better?

No. Everything's going up in cost. Yes you could simply blame corporate greed, but inflation didn't help, the challenge of making smaller nodes isn't helping, the fact there's basically a monopoly on bleeding edge manufacturers also isn't helping.

2. Do you also want to upgrade, but choose to wait for one more gen because of how terrible this gen is? If yes, what is your current GPU?

I already upgraded to something recent, and I was more than satisfied with my purchase. And looking back at my previous purchases, if I started back with the GTX 980 at its launch MSRP of $550, skipped every generation, and stuck with that budget without accounting for inflation, I'd still would've gotten an RTX 2070 Super and RTX 4070

Which heck, $550 back in 2014 is $705 today if we went by the CPI inflation adjustment.

3. What are some single player games that can be played well by the GTX 1070?

What's "played well"? My requirements are pretty basic: 1080p medium quality at 60 FPS for more action oriented gaming, but I can go down as low as 30 FPS

And according to this video, the GTX 1070 still satisfies that requirement:

So you might go "if you upgraded to something recent but your requirements are that, how come you upgraded?" Here's where I'm going to sound like a total ass: because I can, because I can afford it, and because I don't think these prices are out of my reach. And if you want to label people like me as part of the problem, the reality is that gaming is not a cheap hobby. It never was a cheap hobby especially if you want to get into the latest and greatest.

I mean heck if you think spending $800 for the card below the flagship is expensive, people were lamenting in 2002 that $400 (which is ~$650 today) was reserved for "the fortunate few".

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

Time when you are young is less valuable then money but as you grow up time greatly surpasses the value of money. You claimed you are forced to wait another generation if its because of price go make an extra dollar by picking up a shift or two (stocks in youre case) or pass on a couple skips; it will literally offset it.

Hahah... so true. I'm 48 and do you think I'm losing any sleep about spending over $10k on my new PC?

Not at all.

 

[Avro Arrow]

budget is king ..always work to your budget !!
Get it out of your head this gen is over priced right now because its not!!

When it can't even compete with last-gen, YES IT IS.

inflation and the pandemic has caused these rises and there here to stay ..

The cost increase is a leftover effect of the mining boom. These companies had become accustomed to huge margins and are trying to make this the new normal for their own sakes.

Of course, I'm always ready to back-up my words with proof so here we go:

Q: What are video cards made of?

• Tech-Grade Silicon (GPUs, VRAM)
• Circuit Boards (incl. caps, VRMs, connectors, etc.)
• Fans, Copper and/or Aluminum

Q: What other major products are made with tech-grade silicon?

• CPUs
• SSDs / Flash Drives
• DDR RAM

Q: What other major products are made with circuit boards (incl. caps, VRMs, connectors, etc.)?

• Motherboards

Q: What other major products are made with fans, copper and/or aluminum?

• CPU Cooling Solutions (both air and liquid)

Since inflation is based on the value of currency, then the cost of video cards will parallel the cost of CPUs, CPU coolers and motherboards if inflation is the reason for their increase in cost. After all, they're made of the exact same components so inflation would affect them all the same if what you said is true.

Of course, that hasn't happened so it has nothing to do with inflation. This is just some stupidity that corporations and the media have thrown at us as an excuse for their own greedy cash-grabs.

Don't be so ready to believe what the rich tell you (through the media) because they'll lie to you without a second thought if its in their interest to do so. So let's look at CPUs over the past few years. I'll use AMD CPUs because their product stack is easier to follow and since the question is about inflation, the brand won't matter since real inflation affects all brands equally. I'm also using CPUs because they are cutting-edge silicon, the same as the most expensive part of a video card, the GPU itself.

March 2017:
Ryzen 7 1700 - MSRP of $329
Ryzen 7 1700X - MSRP of $399
Ryzen 7 1800X - MSRP of $499

April 2017:
Ryzen 5 1600 - MSRP of $219
Ryzen 5 1600X - MSRP of $249

July 2019:
Ryzen 5 3600 - MSRP of $199
Ryzen 5 3600X - MSRP of $249
Ryzen 7 3700X - MSRP of $329
Ryzen 7 3800X - MSRP of $399
Ryzen 9 3900X - MSRP of $499
Ryzen 9 3950X - MSRP of $749

November 2020:
Ryzen 5 5600X - MSRP of $299
Ryzen 7 5800X - MSRP of $449
Ryzen 9 5900X - MSRP of $549
Ryzen 9 5950X - MSRP of $799

April 2022:
Ryzen 5 5600 - MSRP of $199
Ryzen 7 5700X - MSRP of $299
Ryzen 7 5800X3D - MSRP of $449

September 2022:
Ryzen 5 7600X - MSRP of $299
Ryzen 7 7700X - MSRP of $399
Ryzen 9 7900X - MSRP of $549
Ryzen 9 7950X - MSRP of $699

January 2023:
Ryzen 5 7600 - MSRP of $229
Ryzen 7 7800X3D - MSRP of $449

I see absolutely NO evidence whatsoever that inflation has affected the selling price of silicon over the past six years, let alone just the past three. There has been no pricing explosion in CPUs which means that there's no excuse for one in GPUs.

Also, I can still get new motherboards for under $100, CPU air coolers for $20 and CPU AIO liquid cooling for under $100. Those prices have remained the same for over ten years. Therefore, this "inflation" that the media, influencers and other shills love to parrot as an excuse for these big corporations is a lie.

Don't automatically believe everything you hear without using your own brain to separate the truth from the lies first.

 

[slurmsmckenzie]

People have also got to realize... Nvidia has no competition. When you have no competition you can charge whatever you want.

I'm not arguing with this at all, this is a genuine question - do you think there is no way at all that Nvidia could have set prices even a bit lower so that less people would refuse to buy without competing against themselves?

Everything I'm reading seems to either be "get lost, come back when it is 50% of this price" or "yeah, they can charge what they want so stop whining". How about somewhere in between that were Nvidia still make a load of money but don't alienate *quite* as many consumers and reviewers? I'd have thought that two sales at $50 less is still better than a single sale at the higher price?

I'm aware this might be naive in the extreme, if so please don't set me on fire, I am genuinely interested!

 

[Deleted member 2947362]

Hahah... so true. I'm 48 and do you think I'm losing any sleep about spending over $10k on my new PC?

Not at all.

I used to chase upgrades, new gen CPU comes I upgraded, new new GPU came out I upgraded, sometimes multiple upgrades with GPU's in couple of month's

I was an upgrade junky which led to me spending more time benchmarking than I did gaming on my spanky new hardware lol

Which in the end I just got burnt out and gave up with PC's for over 8 years.

I only just got an old second hand PC a little while back and it wasn't long before the old cravings started, But this time I just got a lower end CPU then a cheap but cheerful second hand RX5600XT and 32gig ram.

Now I keep thinking hmmmm, Motherboard, better GPU and maybe I should of got the R7 5800X and a nice sound card.

The cravings are strong but I don't really need any of it, I don't game no where near as much as I did and what I have is fine for I use it for.
But those bloody cravings, I can no longer afford to let them get the better of me lol

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

The cost increase is a leftover effect of the mining boom. These companies had become accustomed to huge margins and are trying to make this the new normal for their own sakes.

Yeah... I purchased my 1080 Ti in April 2017 for $699.. and shortly thereafter mining became a thing and prices went up.

We'll never see a flagship card for $699 again.

I'm aware this might be naive in the extreme, if so please don't set me on fire, I am genuinely interested!

I dunno... if AMD had a card that could compete with the 4090 not only would it drive Nvidia prices down but I would probably buy it. I have no loyalty to Nvidia despite the fact I've used their cards for the last 22 years. I'd also been with Intel for the same amount of time and just went AMD because I felt it was a better option.

When you want the best of the best in GPUs right now it's Nvidia. So pay the price or settle for less with AMD.

I used to chase upgrades, new gen CPU comes I upgraded, new new GPU came out I upgraded, sometimes multiple upgrades with GPU's in couple of month's

I was an upgrade junky which led to me spending more time benchmarking than I did gaming on my spanky new hardware lol

Hahaha... yeah I was the same when I was younger. Not so much anymore. I haven't ran a benchmark in almost 3 weeks.

 

[Deleted member 2947362]

Yeah... I purchased my 1080 Ti in April 2017 for $699.. and shortly thereafter mining became a thing and prices went up.

We'll never see a flagship card for $699 again.



I dunno... if AMD had a card that could compete with the 4090 not only would it drive Nvidia prices down but I would probably buy it. I have no loyalty to Nvidia despite the fact I've used their cards for the last 22 years. I'd also been with Intel for the same amount of time and just went AMD because I felt it was a better option.

When you want the best of the best in GPUs right now it's Nvidia. So pay the price or settle for less with AMD.




Hahaha... yeah I was the same when I was younger. Not so much anymore. I haven't ran a benchmark in almost 3 weeks.

Well I guess I would really be classed as an 'Recovering Upgrade Junkie' because the temptation never goes away ..

I wonder if there are any recovery groups where we can all met up and talk ourselves out of this upgrading infliction.

 

[slurmsmckenzie]

Well I guess I would really be classed as an 'Recovering Upgrade Junkie' because the temptation never goes away ..

I wonder if there are any recovery groups where we can all met up and talk ourselves out of this upgrading infliction.

What doesn't help is that it is less easy to pass older stuff onto friends / family as an excuse to upgrade, nobody seems to want a desktop PC anymore!

"My name's Slurms and I have four old CPUs in the loft...."

 

[Deleted member 2838871]

Well I guess I would really be classed as an 'Recovering Upgrade Junkie' because the temptation never goes away ..

I wonder if there are any recovery groups where we can all met up and talk ourselves out of this upgrading infliction.

Hahah... that's pretty much why I went all in on this new build. Outside of an easy CPU swap to 8000 series down the road I don't see much else changing with this build over the next few years.

 

[Deleted member 2947362]

My name is Plummmmm et and I am a Recovering Upgrader

I have 4 CPU's (1 intel 3 amd) an Nvidia 9800GTX+ an HD7870 also GTX980 and couple of sound cards along with many many gig's of Ram ranging from sd 66mhz, Rd ram all the way up to DDR4 not to mention the HDMI and Display Port and shameless amount of Dvi to HDMI and VGA cables and HDD in the loft



Did I mention the keyboards

 

[Deleted member 2947362]

Thinking about I got so much stuff I could probs play a game of top trumps with another inflicted recovering upgrader lol

although I fear, I would be playing with fire, a game of old hardware upgrade path top trumps would push me off the wagon.

Back in to the never ending hunt for that feeling I got from my first upgrade you're always chasing it knowing it won't last long until the next upgrade comes knocking

lol

 

[ilukey77]

When it can't even compete with last-gen, YES IT IS.

The cost increase is a leftover effect of the mining boom. These companies had become accustomed to huge margins and are trying to make this the new normal for their own sakes.

Of course, I'm always ready to back-up my words with proof so here we go:

Q: What are video cards made of?

• Tech-Grade Silicon (GPUs, VRAM)
• Circuit Boards (incl. caps, VRMs, connectors, etc.)
• Fans, Copper and/or Aluminum

Q: What other major products are made with tech-grade silicon?

• CPUs
• SSDs / Flash Drives
• DDR RAM

Q: What other major products are made with circuit boards (incl. caps, VRMs, connectors, etc.)?

• Motherboards

Q: What other major products are made with fans, copper and/or aluminum?

• CPU Cooling Solutions (both air and liquid)

Since inflation is based on the value of currency, then the cost of video cards will parallel the cost of CPUs, CPU coolers and motherboards if inflation is the reason for their increase in cost. After all, they're made of the exact same components so inflation would affect them all the same if what you said is true.

Of course, that hasn't happened so it has nothing to do with inflation. This is just some stupidity that corporations and the media have thrown at us as an excuse for their own greedy cash-grabs.

Don't be so ready to believe what the rich tell you (through the media) because they'll lie to you without a second thought if its in their interest to do so. So let's look at CPUs over the past few years. I'll use AMD CPUs because their product stack is easier to follow and since the question is about inflation, the brand won't matter since real inflation affects all brands equally. I'm also using CPUs because they are cutting-edge silicon, the same as the most expensive part of a video card, the GPU itself.

March 2017:
Ryzen 7 1700 - MSRP of $329
Ryzen 7 1700X - MSRP of $399
Ryzen 7 1800X - MSRP of $499

April 2017:
Ryzen 5 1600 - MSRP of $219
Ryzen 5 1600X - MSRP of $249

July 2019:
Ryzen 5 3600 - MSRP of $199
Ryzen 5 3600X - MSRP of $249
Ryzen 7 3700X - MSRP of $329
Ryzen 7 3800X - MSRP of $399
Ryzen 9 3900X - MSRP of $499
Ryzen 9 3950X - MSRP of $749

November 2020:
Ryzen 5 5600X - MSRP of $299
Ryzen 7 5800X - MSRP of $449
Ryzen 9 5900X - MSRP of $549
Ryzen 9 5950X - MSRP of $799

April 2022:
Ryzen 5 5600 - MSRP of $199
Ryzen 7 5700X - MSRP of $299
Ryzen 7 5800X3D - MSRP of $449

September 2022:
Ryzen 5 7600X - MSRP of $299
Ryzen 7 7700X - MSRP of $399
Ryzen 9 7900X - MSRP of $549
Ryzen 9 7950X - MSRP of $699

January 2023:
Ryzen 5 7600 - MSRP of $229
Ryzen 7 7800X3D - MSRP of $449

I see absolutely NO evidence whatsoever that inflation has affected the selling price of silicon over the past six years, let alone just the past three. There has been no pricing explosion in CPUs which means that there's no excuse for one in GPUs.

Also, I can still get new motherboards for under $100, CPU air coolers for $20 and CPU AIO liquid cooling for under $100. Those prices have remained the same for over ten years. Therefore, this "inflation" that the media, influencers and other shills love to parrot as an excuse for these big corporations is a lie.

Don't automatically believe everything you hear without using your own brain to separate the truth from the lies first.

but do you truly expect the prices to go down ??
do you expect magically as if this gen is overpriced either Nvidia or AMD is going to drop prices ??
dream up conspiracy theories all you want its simply AMD and Nvidia know people will pay and they do at some point ..
you want that specific product pay for it !!

 

[hotaru.hino]

The ultimate problem I have with these sorts of threads and posts is I get this vibe that people conflate needs with wants. Nobody's forcing you to buy these cards. Nobody's forcing you to buy expensive hardware. Games aren't forcing you to buy expensive hardware either. All I get from these posts is the person has FOMO.

Why must you have a high end card? If your needs are >120 FPS 1440p on max quality, which is still considered on the higher end of spectrum, then you have to be prepared to pay such. If you can't afford such, then oh well. Lower your expectations. Compromise with what you're wanting to work with.

I started off my PC gaming life with a Pentium II coupled with an Intel 740 or similar back in 2000. It couldn't even run Half-Life with a hardware accelerated mode. The "upgrade" from that was a Celeron with some 810 or 815 based Intel GPU. It could still barely run GoldSrc engine games at 60 FPS on 640x480, and if I was using OpenGL, the FPS would tank the moment someone used a flashlight. My first "proper" gaming PC still wasn't anywhere near high-end. While my friends were toting around with a Radeon 9700 or a GeForce FX 5950, I had a GeForce FX 5600. It could maybe do Half-Life 2 at 800x600 at 60FPS on medium settings at the time. And you know what? I still had fun. Sure I might've been jealous, but I wasn't going to let that ruin the experience of actually being able to play games.

And even during my time in college, most of my PC upgrades only happened because I got birthday or Christmas money, and I stayed mostly midrange. And when I did get an upgrade, I'd sell the old parts or hardware. Even after I graduated and had a steady job, I wouldn't splurge on something top-end. And also I sold off the thing being replaced to recoup some of the expenditure.

Sure it would've been nice to have some of these halo cards or $500+ CPUs, but when it came down to brass tacks, I saw no real justification for spending that kind of money. And over the years I've been into PC gaming, my performance requirements are relatively tame. Heck, I could see myself getting another 5 years out of my current system because I cap everything so my computer isn't a space heater all the time.

 

[Deleted member 2947362]

The ultimate problem I have with these sorts of threads and posts is I get this vibe that people conflate needs with wants. Nobody's forcing you to buy these cards. Nobody's forcing you to buy expensive hardware. Games aren't forcing you to buy expensive hardware either. All I get from these posts is the person has FOMO.

Why must you have a high end card? If your needs are >120 FPS 1440p on max quality, which is still considered on the higher end of spectrum, then you have to be prepared to pay such. If you can't afford such, then oh well. Lower your expectations. Compromise with what you're wanting to work with.

I started off my PC gaming life with a Pentium II coupled with an Intel 740 or similar back in 2000. It couldn't even run Half-Life with a hardware accelerated mode. The "upgrade" from that was a Celeron with some 810 or 815 based Intel GPU. It could still barely run GoldSrc engine games at 60 FPS on 640x480, and if I was using OpenGL, the FPS would tank the moment someone used a flashlight. My first "proper" gaming PC still wasn't anywhere near high-end. While my friends were toting around with a Radeon 9700 or a GeForce FX 5950, I had a GeForce FX 5600. It could maybe do Half-Life 2 at 800x600 at 60FPS on medium settings at the time. And you know what? I still had fun. Sure I might've been jealous, but I wasn't going to let that ruin the experience of actually being able to play games.

And even during my time in college, most of my PC upgrades only happened because I got birthday or Christmas money, and I stayed mostly midrange. And when I did get an upgrade, I'd sell the old parts or hardware. Even after I graduated and had a steady job, I wouldn't splurge on something top-end. And also I sold off the thing being replaced to recoup some of the expenditure.

Sure it would've been nice to have some of these halo cards or $500+ CPUs, but when it came down to brass tacks, I saw no real justification for spending that kind of money. And over the years I've been into PC gaming, my performance requirements are relatively tame. Heck, I could see myself getting another 5 years out of my current system because I cap everything so my computer isn't a space heater all the time.

It's true you don't need any of it.
(if you are or can be happy with what you have)
Take it from a self admitted Recovering Upgrader lol

But they do like to dangle the carrot in front of the donkey.

Sneaky.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Yeah... I purchased my 1080 Ti in April 2017 for $699.. and shortly thereafter mining became a thing and prices went up.

We'll never see a flagship card for $699 again.

Yeah... it sucks.

I dunno... if AMD had a card that could compete with the 4090 not only would it drive Nvidia prices down but I would probably buy it.

The reason that AMD doesn't make a card like that is because it's a lot of money to risk when people who spend like that almost always buy nVidia. I wouldn't bother with it either.

I have no loyalty to Nvidia despite the fact I've used their cards for the last 22 years. I'd also been with Intel for the same amount of time and just went AMD because I felt it was a better option.

When you want the best of the best in GPUs right now it's Nvidia. So pay the price or settle for less with AMD.

How are you settling for less? With the exception of the halo products, the Radeons are faster than the GeForces at every price point. The reason that I've been using Radeon cards for the last 15 years is that I always got more performance for the price. The way that I see it is that if I had about $500 to spend on a GPU, I would be settling if I bought a GeForce card.

If I felt like I was settling, I wouldn't have used them for this long. The truth is that nobody's really "settling" for anything because both GeForce and Radeon cards work just fine. If you're a professional, then sure, get a GeForce card. For gaming, you could go either way and the difference between them is about the same as the difference between AMD and Intel, 99 times out of 100, you'd never be able to tell a difference between them.

Hahaha... yeah I was the same when I was younger. Not so much anymore. I haven't ran a benchmark in almost 3 weeks.

Yeah, we start to lose interest as we get older because we care more about "Does this work or not?" instead of "How fast is this?".

 

[Endre]

This is mostly just going to be my rant on the awful GPU market.

I don't know if we can agree or not, but this generation sucks. Both Nvidia and AMD, their products are mediocre AT BEST in my opinion.

The 4090 should've cost $1200 at best.
The 4080 should've cost $900 alongside the 7900 XTX.
The 7900 XT should've cost $750.
The 4070 Ti should've cost $600.
The 4070 should've cost $500.
The 4060 Ti 16GB should've cost $450, the 8GB shouldn't have existed.
The 4060 is kind of priced reasonably, though I will never buy an 8GB GPU in 2023.

Some people say "You should not wait for graphics cards or you'll be waiting forever. Buy when you feel like you want to upgrade", but that is instant gratification, and I resent that kind of thought.

If you know that a generation absolutely sucks, you should not cater to what you feel you want.
Imagine actually following the aforementioned advice, like, 1 month before the Ethereum PoS change.

IMO, only buy GPU "right now" if the GPU is literally going to die while waiting, and I don't think you should even do that. Just wait with an iGPU, find another hobby or use the time you usually game to work harder, and use the money you use to buy a GPU to buy stocks, instead, so you earn more money.

I believe the next generation will significantly be improved, as both companies are absolutely being destroyed by GPU buyers (understandably) for falsely expecting crypto mining to stay. That said, the next generation will come in as early as H2 2024. That's a long waiting time.

I am here, with my GTX 1070 wanting an upgrade and being forced to wait for another generation because I refuse to put my hands into the poop that is this gen.

I guess I'll just end my rant with some questions for discussion:
1. Do you think the next generation will be better?
2. Do you also want to upgrade, but choose to wait for one more gen because of how terrible this gen is? If yes, what is your current GPU?
3. What are some single player games that can be played well by the GTX 1070?

Hello!

The way I see it, people underestimate Intel, which offers on their Arc A770 LE 256-bit memory bus & 16GB VRAM!
The drivers have improved since launch, surpassing not only the RTX 3060, but also the RTX 3060 Ti!
And there is still more potential to be unlocked through drivers when talking about Intel Arc.

My advice:
I'd buy a current Intel Arc GPU, or wait for Intel's Battlemage lineup.