GPU prices — is the worst behind us ?

Well given the crazy prices this is a good thing if the new tech just boosts fps since there's no way I can afford to pay a thousand+ bucks for video card
 
NO ... the worst is NOT behind us, not even close. 8 year old GTX 970 cards selling for 2/3rds what they cost when new? We're no where near even seeing a tunnel let alone the light at the end of that tunnel. Get used to it ... it's here to stay. You want to play games on your PC? Be prepared to fork over some really big bucks.

phew, glad I got that off my chest :barefoot:
 
I bought the 3080 Ti for 1500ish which is 300 more than MSRP but I’m having a hugely annoying issue with my 2080 Ti and LG C1. The HDMI 2.0 port causes drops that otherwise shouldn’t be there. I wish TV makers would just have a DisplayPort included and 1 Gbe NICs.

I figure I can sell my Corsair SF600 and MSI Ventus 2080 Ti to make up some of the cost.

I didn’t expect it to be an issue but whatever it’ll last for 4-5 years or so.

I kinda want to built a UE5 development PC with a 3090 but am hesitant to do that with these costs and new platforms coming out with DDR5.
 
Look at what happened to lumber. It already crashed. If you could cut off the miners buying dozens of cards each, video cards would crash too.
Why would that matter? Either the manufacturers, AIBs, and resellers get a cut of these crazy prices, or they don't and everything will be scalped. Either way, the end-user will pay about the same unless they compete with the scalpers. If gamers do get lucky and buy, say, a 3080 for $600, how many of them would keep it for gaming vs reselling it immediately for a $900 profit? As long as mining remains this profitable there will be additional demand for GPUs driving up the price, and even 50% crashes earlier in the year didn't really change much. If bitcoin crashes 90% then you might get the scenario everyone wants where miners dump their cards on ebay for below-MSRP, but until then (when it may happen no one can predict), you'll have much greater demand than supply. This isn't even taking into account inflation, which is also conceivably driving up the price of everything used in a GPU and being passed on to the consumer, generally faster than you would see wages rise.

NO ... the worst is NOT behind us, not even close. 8 year old GTX 970 cards selling for 2/3rds what they cost when new? We're no where near even seeing a tunnel let alone the light at the end of that tunnel. Get used to it ... it's here to stay. You want to play games on your PC? Be prepared to fork over some really big bucks.

phew, glad I got that off my chest :barefoot:
Unfortunately this is what I would imagine the future to look like as well.
 
There was a distinct point in which upgrading GPUs no longer delivered dramatically better visuals, instead simply increasing fps at almost identical settings. Looking back at my gaming evolution from early 80s to present day, a lot of us are in that golden videogame generation that got to see graphics leap ahead in dramatic iterations every few years. For a kid coming into gaming today, is there even a dramatic wow factor that would deliver similar impressions from the jump of 8 bit to 16 bit to 32 bit 3d?

For me, the moment when a new graphics card simply meant slightly higher fps at the same settings was when I got 2 7900gtx's for bf2. Yeah there was a little more umph, but rationally the game looked the same despite the better part of a thousand dollars parting ways with my bank account.
There were only 6 really huge steps in engines that I can remember, ignoring the 2.5D games.

Quake
Unreal / Unreal Tournament
Battlefield 1942 (grand scale maps, even if the polygon count was meh)
Far Cry (VERY wow for when it came out).
*OR* Crysis

Unreal Engine 5.
 
Look at what happened to lumber. It already crashed. If you could cut off the miners buying dozens of cards each, video cards would crash too.
Lumber feels like a different beast. Houses don’t go obsolete like a gpu does, so population growth tends to drive housing demand at the macro level. GPUs do go obsolete so not only do you have population growth demand increases you have upgrade cycle demand, which, even if we strip out the mining dips I’m under the impression that the market still isn’t supplying the necessary volumes. This is sorta evident on the LHR skus in that they’re not mining price scalped at 3x msrp, but they’re still OoS everywhere and you can’t get one easily.

TLDR I agree with you that prices will come down a bit, but the old days of great GPUs for 200 bucks are gone
 
I thought the PS4 was a pretty big jump from PS3.

First game I played was Until Dawn and I was completely blown away. In fact, when the game started I thought it was still a cut-scene, until I noticed the character wasn't moving and was like "oh, shit, this is the game".

Life is Strange was also really innovative. Not in the graphics, but in the fact that there were real choices to make, different outcomes, main characters could just die, real consequence.

Detroit Become Human was similar, as there are branching stories and real decisions, but it felt more like a movie than a game. The gameplay was a little basic and I didn't enjoy the controls. But it was still an amazing experience.

I think graphics are good enough. I'd even be okay with PS4 level graphics, assuming the game had full interaction. Like you could pick up any object and use it, have actual conversations with NPCs, walk inside buildings and just bust open a door and there would be someone in there watching TV and freak out.

So far, developers keep making better looking graphics but the games themselves haven't really got better in maybe 10 years, and in many cases are going backwards (in terms of how they use physics, etc.).
 
NO ... the worst is NOT behind us, not even close. 8 year old GTX 970 cards selling for 2/3rds what they cost when new? We're no where near even seeing a tunnel let alone the light at the end of that tunnel. Get used to it ... it's here to stay. You want to play games on your PC? Be prepared to fork over some really big bucks.

phew, glad I got that off my chest :barefoot:

Sad but True - Metallica
 
DAMN. I was looking at 8X8GB G.Skill 3200C14 kits yesterday. They were $400 for RipJawsV and $480 for Trident-Z. Today the cheapest one is $568. Doh!
 
yeah my kit of Gskill 2x 32GB CL18 3600 that I got for just under $200 a year ago is now $320 lol
 
I've been on a GT 1030 for a year I just wanna play games at modestly good PC level graphics again, I even bought Death Stranding and Control over Winter and haven't touched them yet 😭😭😭😭😭😭
 
I've been on a GT 1030 for a year I just wanna play games at modestly good PC level graphics again, I even bought Death Stranding and Control over Winter and haven't touched them yet 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I don't know what your budget is, but I see some used 980TI's for $300 on flea bay. That's probably the best price/perf ratio you can get at the moment.
 
I don't know what your budget is, but I see some used 980TI's for $300 on flea bay. That's probably the best price/perf ratio you can get at the moment.
Sold my 1070 to a friend for 200 while eBay wanted 400. If he has friends it’s be a good time to ask around. If he doesn’t have friends, well the 1030 is the least of his issues :)
 
Sold my 1070 to a friend for 200 while eBay wanted 400. If he has friends it’s be a good time to ask around. If he doesn’t have friends, well the 1030 is the least of his issues :)

I'm in this position cause I sold my 2070super to a friend right before PC apocalypse lmao

I'm too cheap to buy scalper/mining pricing, I'll just complain instead 🙃🔫 😭
 
I know this sounds slightly off-topic but I've checked several Canadian web sites like Newegg.ca, ShopRBC, MemoryExpress, CanadaComputers (even Vuugo & PC Canada) and it looks like the pricing and availability of Intel CPUs is being impacted (uh, well AMD as well).
 
While at the same time, wages are not increasing. Guess what that means?

Maybe not where you are but when I see high school kids starting out at $15 an hour to work fast food I think wages on the low end are fine.

Back on topic...when I see the craziness of GPU prices it makes me feel blessed that I lucked out on an FE card last fall for retail.
 
Yeah even though I don't have a 'real' GPU, Handbrake finally got 10-bit HDR support, so I have probably a year's worth encoding time of UHD rips to go through now, I'll wait this out and just bitch and complain
 
The people that do that are the only ones who buy the $1500 GPUs in the first place. Everyone knows that you pay top dollar for the last few percentage points of performance. If you were content with a card that was 70% as good as a $1500 card, you could get one for $600-700 (3090 vs. 3070Ti or 6800XT).
Where are you getting 3070ti and 6800xt for $600 - $700???????????????????
 
Where are you getting 3070ti and 6800xt for $600 - $700???????????????????

You're missing the point. You could just as easily say that you can't get a 3090 for $1500 either. I'm based it on the suspiciously absent MSRP cards. Realistically you're going to pay $800-900 for a 3070Ti and $2200 for a 3090 if that makes you feel better.
 
To attempt an answer to the original question, I think probably yes. I'm looking at Amazon, Best Buy and Newegg this afternoon for a 6900XT, and I'm starting to see them actually in stock and orderable. They're awful pricy - the cheapest 6900XT I see is almost $1600, but it's apparently in stock at Newegg and ready to ship, and not just some random scalper. I would assume a big part of the reason it's expensive is that XFX raised the price, which the AMD board manufacturers apparently have more leeway to do. It looks like a similar situaiton with the 3080 and 3080 Ti.

Edit: Also, eBay prices for older used cards like the 980 Ti are starting to come down to more reasonable levels. I remember looking for some dead ones a few weeks ago, and price of a working today is about where the price of a dead one was back then.
 
there is even a 6700xt on newegg as a 'sold by newegg' item for 799$. still not great, but not OMG WTF at least.
 
Fuck, it’s almost like there was some weird demand for these things for some reason that isn’t there now.
 
So, some years back I made a comment about how the prices were getting to high for many folks and was told "it's whatever the market bares and remember, PC gaming is a luxury item."

Are you enjoying your luxury prices?
 
So, some years back I made a comment about how the prices were getting to high for many folks and was told "it's whatever the market bares and remember, PC gaming is a luxury item."

Are you enjoying your luxury prices?

I've always agreed with this, and also that PC gamers made things worse. Part of the entire "PC Gaming Master Race" was ALWAYS about spending more than you had to on items and then posting it online. The bragging about spending money was always just as, if not more, important than playing actual games for a huge portion of the gaming and enthusiast community. And everything now from black PCBs, to RGB, to heatsink designs, to inflated prices on everything is directly related to that. The community hung out a "single white male sucker with money sign" draped glowing lights all over it and then broadcasted it all over the internet and companies came running far and wide and this is the result and it's not going back.

This situation isn't isolated to PC gaming, lots of other things are like it. Check out cooking equipment for married foodies and those prices have gone up as well. People posted their pictures in the kitchen on date night and videos of cooking and now knife prices are up and good lord the high end stuff.

If companies see an chance to do this they will, always. But the market has to be silly enough to prove they will go for it and then boom it's over.
 
I've always agreed with this, and also that PC gamers made things worse. Part of the entire "PC Gaming Master Race" was ALWAYS about spending more than you had to on items and then posting it online. The bragging about spending money was always just as, if not more, important than playing actual games for a huge portion of the gaming and enthusiast community. And everything now from black PCBs, to RGB, to heatsink designs, to inflated prices on everything is directly related to that. The community hung out a "single white male sucker with money sign" draped glowing lights all over it and then broadcasted it all over the internet and companies came running far and wide and this is the result and it's not going back.
tldr: e-peen.
 
I've always agreed with this, and also that PC gamers made things worse. Part of the entire "PC Gaming Master Race" was ALWAYS about spending more than you had to on items and then posting it online. The bragging about spending money was always just as, if not more, important than playing actual games for a huge portion of the gaming and enthusiast community. And everything now from black PCBs, to RGB, to heatsink designs, to inflated prices on everything is directly related to that. The community hung out a "single white male sucker with money sign" draped glowing lights all over it and then broadcasted it all over the internet and companies came running far and wide and this is the result and it's not going back.

This situation isn't isolated to PC gaming, lots of other things are like it. Check out cooking equipment for married foodies and those prices have gone up as well. People posted their pictures in the kitchen on date night and videos of cooking and now knife prices are up and good lord the high end stuff.

If companies see an chance to do this they will, always. But the market has to be silly enough to prove they will go for it and then boom it's over.

I would counter this for PC sales/parts with places like buildapcsales on reddit, pcpartpicker (or the old pricewatch) where bargain hunting has been around for 20+ years. Even with the rise in RGB disco light bling, you have most looking for the best price/perf ratios and not getting bent over on overpriced hardware. Then there is the software competition and pricing with tracking sites like isthereanydeal etc.. Though consoles have gotten better on price drops in the past 5 or so years.
 
I've always agreed with this, and also that PC gamers made things worse.

I don't think that's what he was saying at all.

When a lot of this started people said things like "don't like these prices? Well you don't have to be a gamer. It's a luxury," when it's more than that, and not a luxury.

Now we're on the cusp of a series of international economic issues that are poised to permanently damage PC gaming, PC building, and PC ownership in general. So maybe we shouldn't act like this is just prices going up on a luxury, but address some of the larger underlying problems that will expand well beyond how much money it takes to play Call of Duty.
 
I don't think that's what he was saying at all.

When a lot of this started people said things like "don't like these prices? Well you don't have to be a gamer. It's a luxury," when it's more than that, and not a luxury.

Now we're on the cusp of a series of international economic issues that are poised to permanently damage PC gaming, PC building, and PC ownership in general. So maybe we shouldn't act like this is just prices going up on a luxury, but address some of the larger underlying problems that will expand well beyond how much money it takes to play Call of Duty.
I agree with this, I've lost almost all interest since I can't have what I want and it's ridiculously overpriced. It's now time to put down the keyboard and mouse and look at other things like getting on the bike and enjoying the outdoors.
 
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