Do you think GPUs will ever be affordable again? :: Hardware and Operating Systems

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Alxndr 21 Feb @ 2:58am

Do you think GPUs will ever be affordable again?

Things increase in price all the time, that's normal, it's called inflation. However there's regular inflation of everyday goods and services. Then there's giga-inflation, which only seems to affect GPUs and houses.

I think the problem ultimately boils down to lack of competition. There's basically 2 GPU companies in the whole world, Nvidia and AMD (sorry Intel you've got a long way to go yet).

So when you have virtually no competition at all you can create a card and sell it for $3000 and people will actually pay it for it because there's no other product available lol.

Back in the day I could build a top of the line gaming PC for about $1,500 and it would run everything at 1440p max settings and have no problem doing that for the next 10 years. (I'm looking at your 1080ti).

Now you have to upgrade your GPU every 2 years just to stay inline with the latest games. Games are releasing with graphics that are more demanding, faster than the production of the GPUs that can run it.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if in a few years games being developed will be developed with the intention of them running on a card that literally hasn't even been made yet.

For example GTA7 being developed with the intention of gamers using a 6090 with frame gen and dlss to get 60fps. (This probably won't happen from a reputable studio like Rockstar but I'm just using that as an example).

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Showing 1-15 of 126 comments

Rod 21 Feb @ 3:03am

Prices go up but never down this is the new normal.

A&A 21 Feb @ 3:09am

They are affordable but depends on who.
And because the **90 has no competition, it doesn't mean the lower ends don't have.

Last edited by A&A; 21 Feb @ 3:09am

_I_ 21 Feb @ 3:10am

thats how inflation works
money is always worth less in the future
spend it while it has vlaue

Alxndr 21 Feb @ 3:15am

Originally posted by A&A:
They are affordable but depends on who.
And because the **90 has no competition, it doesn't mean the lower ends don't have.

But game studios are creating their games with the expectation that the user is either running a top of the line GPU or playing at 1080p, or using every upscaler known to man.

Eventually Nvidia will probably create an upscaler for their upscaler.

Last edited by Alxndr; 21 Feb @ 3:16am

AmaiAmai 21 Feb @ 3:54am

Originally posted by Alxndr:
Originally posted by A&A:
They are affordable but depends on who.
And because the **90 has no competition, it doesn't mean the lower ends don't have.

But game studios are creating their games with the expectation that the user is either running a top of the line GPU or playing at 1080p, or using every upscaler known to man.

Eventually Nvidia will probably create an upscaler for their upscaler.

Then skip those game studios?

The thing about gaming and PC gaming is that there are so many games out there that you don't have enough of a lifespan to play them all. So why focus on games that run bad?

Alxndr 21 Feb @ 4:01am

Originally posted by AmaiAmai:
Originally posted by Alxndr:

But game studios are creating their games with the expectation that the user is either running a top of the line GPU or playing at 1080p, or using every upscaler known to man.

Eventually Nvidia will probably create an upscaler for their upscaler.

Then skip those game studios?

The thing about gaming and PC gaming is that there are so many games out there that you don't have enough of a lifespan to play them all. So why focus on games that run bad?

I don't focus on the games run bad. I play a variety of games. Some games I play require a basic GPU while others require a top of the line GPU. Yes I could avoid those games that require a top of the line GPU but I'd be missing out on some great games.

AmaiAmai 21 Feb @ 4:09am

Originally posted by Alxndr:
Originally posted by AmaiAmai:

Then skip those game studios?

The thing about gaming and PC gaming is that there are so many games out there that you don't have enough of a lifespan to play them all. So why focus on games that run bad?

I don't focus on the games run bad. I play a variety of games. Some games I play require a basic GPU while others require a top of the line GPU. Yes I could avoid those games that require a top of the line GPU but I'd be missing out on some great games.

I'm curious, what game requires a top of the line GPU?

Or is it that it requires a top of the line GPU to play at a quality you find appealing...?

Those two statements are not equivalent.

Also an expensive GPU doesn't guarantee an enjoyable experience -- the game can still crash and be unplayable on your GPU and all you will be able to do is stomp your feet.

Mad Scientist 21 Feb @ 4:29am

With intel slowly gaining traction with a low-price-high-performance card, there is a possibility of a price war between the 3 companies; intel, nvidia, amd. They just need to go from basically making a 1080Ti card for performance to a 4k-5k series competitor.

C1REX 21 Feb @ 4:39am

Originally posted by Alxndr:
I don't focus on the games run bad. I play a variety of games. Some games I play require a basic GPU while others require a top of the line GPU. Yes I could avoid those games that require a top of the line GPU but I'd be missing out on some great games.

You don’t need an expensive GPU to run the newest games. You just want to run them well above console level. Maybe few times better than consoles. In such case you do need a luxury product costing half of an iPhone ;).
Or you can play everything on entry level 3060 12GB. Especially now as it just got a massive upgrade in form of DLSS4 upscaling based on AI transformer model.

Alxndr 21 Feb @ 5:10am

Originally posted by AmaiAmai:
Originally posted by Alxndr:

I don't focus on the games run bad. I play a variety of games. Some games I play require a basic GPU while others require a top of the line GPU. Yes I could avoid those games that require a top of the line GPU but I'd be missing out on some great games.

I'm curious, what game requires a top of the line GPU?

Or is it that it requires a top of the line GPU to play at a quality you find appealing...?

A good point of note. I play at 1440p and want at the absolute bare minimum 60 fps, I like my games to look beautiful so often use high / ultra graphics settings.

4 games that come to mind are Black Myth Wukong, Indiana Jones, Stalker 2 and Alan Wake 2. Of course I could lower the resolution or graphic settings and play without raytracing but that takes away some of the joy of playing the game.

It's like 60hz refresh rate vs 144hz refresh rate. I never knew what I was missing until I switched and now I can never go back. Now I've experienced the beauty of ray tracing, it's painful for me to play a game knowing that the setting exists in the game but I can't use it without getting 40 - 50fps... Or turning to input lagging frame generators.

#10

BurakZG 21 Feb @ 5:50am

I don't know what is "affordable" for you, but there is no reason to believe that it will be cheaper. If you know the reason, let me know.

#11

ᶻ𝗓𐰁 21 Feb @ 5:54am

GPUs are cheaper now. 10 years ago GTX 970 launched with MSRP of $330. RTX 4060 launched with MSRP $300. That's $30 cheaper for a vastly superior card, against MASSIVE inflation.

Last edited by ᶻ𝗓𐰁; 21 Feb @ 5:55am

#12

GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™ 21 Feb @ 6:16am

You don't have to buy them. PC gaming isn't the only hobby. In situations like this you have to educate your fellow consumer on value.

PC gamers are easily played, have an unhealthy hardware fetish, experience severe FOMO, mesmerized by the marketing hype.

Your desire, emotion, excitement all needs to be mature or you'll fall victim to these GPU scams.

#13

C1REX 21 Feb @ 6:24am

Originally posted by Alxndr:
A good point of note. I play at 1440p and want at the absolute bare minimum 60 fps, I like my games to look beautiful so often use high / ultra graphics settings.

4 games that come to mind are Black Myth Wukong, Indiana Jones, Stalker 2 and Alan Wake 2. Of course I could lower the resolution or graphic settings and play without raytracing but that takes away some of the joy of playing the game.

In such case it won't get cheaper. You want double the resolution and double the fps from console experience and with added ray tracing. That may require few times more powerful hardware than consoles.
While next generation may offer better performance per dollar we also may have ps6 launch and drastic rise in system requirements like we usually get with new consoles.

#14