Honestly what's the point of spending money on the highest gpu

I mean what's the point of anything, The fastest car , the most shows on a streaming platform, the most gamiest gamepass.

it's all about what value and joy it brings to the consumer.
 
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For Gaming? is just Alex Battalgia levels of dumb. For Productivity/Research tho. I think it matters.
Alex is pretty smart.....so I take it you are actually complementing people who buy high powered GPUs to game with.
I bought a $2400 gaming rig with a 3080Ti in it about a year ago. It was a waste of money. Not one game have I ever felt like used the 3080Ti to its fullest potential. You can get slight improvements compared to next-gen consoles on games that are optimized well for 5x the price.

Let's not forget that most games are not optimized well for higher-end hardware and don't scale at all past a certain point (ex. Escape from Tarkov where I get the exact same performance as my friend with a 2080).
What FPS do you get in Assassins Creed Valhalla at 4K?
Rather I should be asking what games do you actually play and at what res/refresh.

Cuz an RTX2060 would still be an absolutely amazing card if you play relatively simple games at 1080p60.
If you play graphically intensive games and have a 4K120 OLED, you are gonna need some power to really drive that panel.

But thats the joys of PC gaming, if you dont want to get a range topping card.....dont, pay less....or dont even upgrade.
People compare console prices to PC all the time, yet forget someone could have built the PC in 2016 and still play PS5 "exclusives" today without paying a cent for new hardware.

(Not starting a war just stating the facts, dont @ me)
 
Up until recently it wasn't that appealing, but with the advent of adoption of ray tracing at a consumer level, high end cards now have more of a purpose beyond pushing more frames at higher resolutions. I do think both companies are trying to do too much on a single card though.
 
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By the time console users are done spending money on online/cloud paywalls, and $70 games over the course of a generation - they've likely outspent a PC gamer.
 
Honestly, just the highest performance and features possible. That's really it. Some people want "the best" they can possibly get. Some don't care to have "the best" and are fine with different setups. Different strokes.
 
I'm not PC gamer but If you are willing invest on PC gaming then why wouldn't you want spend money on good GPU to get full advantage of PC gaming?
 
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By the time console users are done spending money on online/cloud paywalls, and $70 games over the course of a generation - they've likely outspent a PC gamer.

Still better than buying the 3090 TI for 2000$ only to sell it after one year or less to buy the 4090
 
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Hardly the same when neither is being held back by older tech. We aren't seeing the full potential of these GPU's because engines can only scale so much, it's basically horsepower being left on the table, but I'm not telling anyone not to buy as it drives the industry forward.
Of course they're being held back. GPUs run games, cars drive on roads. 99% of roads are most definitely not designed with supercars in mind. Using a Bugatti as your daily driver is like running games locked to console settings and frame rates on an RTX 4090 - in both cases the only thing you'll get out of it are bragging rights for simply owning the damn thing. For some people that alone is worth the price. Others will take their car to the track, or play Cyberpunk 2077/MSFS/whatever at settings that would cause consoles to blow up. Same shit.
 
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I bought an RTX 3080 at the release to play Cyberpunk with RT. And to, eh, be able to play it properly.. Period. I won't be buying another GPU for years.
 
Still better than buying the 3090 TI for 2000$ only to sell it after one year or less to buy the 4090

If they're getting a nice return on their 3090ti, what difference does it make?

Hell, I'm willing spend good money on kitchen knives. To the average schlub with their cheapo set from Amazon that probably looks like a waste.

There's luxury products in every category. This just smells like jealous console owners who would guaranteed trade their PS5/Series X in at the drop of a hat for pro models if they released tomorrow.
 
Why go out for a steak dinner when you can get a bottle of Soylent at 7-11 for a couple bucks?

The Soylent is just as nutritious. Steak is pointless because you're paying lots of money solely for better taste. You're a bunch of shallow, small minded sheeple who aren't as intellectual as I am.
 
Because I want to be able to play as much as possible at 1440p/100+fps. Other graphics settings are secondary and I'll turn whatever I need down to hit that mark, within reason.
 
If you have the money and all your other financial responsibilities are already addressed, you don't have to justify your purchases to anyone.

Anyone who gives a shit what you buy are just jealous and spiteful people with less money.
 
$1000 to some people is like $100 to you or me. People with the means and/or patience to save can afford the best.

Me personally I'm fine with just getting a PS5 and being set for the generation.
 
Frames.

I would love to run a solid first person shooter at 300+FPS on 300hz monitor at 1440p. Glorious stuff.

I do admit we are hitting diminishing returns there for sure.

VR/AR is the other obvious use case and the way forward.
 
Up until recently it wasn't that appealing, but with the advent of adoption of ray tracing at a consumer level, high end cards now have more of a purpose beyond pushing more frames at higher resolutions. I do think both companies are trying to do too much on a single card though.

Same here. It's still a little premature for rt because it takes so much card, but it's in a good number of games and the effects are nice. I can see buying a card that has much more raster capability than you will use because it will have the rt performance you want.
 
Same here. It's still a little premature for rt because it takes so much card, but it's in a good number of games and the effects are nice. I can see buying a card that has much more raster capability than you will use because it will have the rt performance you want.
Kind of wish we could go back to multi GPUs, it was more flexible.
 
What's the point of buying top of the line gpus when the majority of people have a 1060 and developers keep that in mind when developing most games.
What's the point of buying PS5 when the majority of people have a PS4 and developers keep that in mind when developing most games.
Sure the graphics maybe shinnier and you get a bit more fps but in comparison to consoles the gap isn't as big as it was like 10 years ago.
Turn on RT and I'd argue the gap is even bigger now than it was before.
 
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I buy higher end to lengthen the time between upgrades. I am fine with spending a few hundred more if I feel that the difference will let me eek out a few more years of comfortable play. I rode out the time between 680 to a 1080. My 1080 is still overkill for the games that I regularly play and serviceable for newer games.
 
I don't max everything at 4K 144 with my 3090.

Do I need to ? No . But if I can, why not ?

As far as 4090 goes, I need to see more. Ray tracing means nothing to me.
But not getting the best dlss is kinda a big deal to me. Especially when it's awesome and at times better than native

One day I am like no need. 3090 is more than fine . The most game I play is cod and it locks at 144 4K with dlss quality on my card. Plus by the time next year games that will actually might require higher card, a better card like 3090ti will be available. There are no games and I am better off saving that money

Next day I wake and I am like YOLO buy it lolz
 
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I don't mind if people want to buy a graphics card that's 20% better for 100% more money and like 50% more power use. Whatever, they know what they're doing even if it's unwise. My problem is with the people who buy insane productivity CPUs for gaming. Like dude buy a 5600 or a 12400. It's fine. One step up at a push. But be smart about it.

My personal graphics card play is to always stay one gen back and trade second-hand cards when the next gen is announced. Get the most efficient per cost. Then by trading you'll probably only spend a couple hundo on the upgrade. I fot a pristine used 3080 a couple days back that I forsee myself using until the next line is announced.
 
you insulted the PCMR

If this ridiculous pricing kept going on, keep it a few more years and more people will start to wake up.
 
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I gave up the GPU rat race after i got my 1080Ti in 2017 I think. I could play every game at least at 60FPS on a 34" ultrawide 3440x1440 gsynch at ultra settings.

Prior to that I had a 980Ti, 780Ti, and top end AMD cards beforehand.

I considered a 2070/2080Ti but performance increase was too low

I wanted a 3080 but memory was too low and 3090 was too expensive, mining took over and I just gave up.
40 series cards have launched, far too expensive, I'm out of this stupid gpu rat race.

I put 1200 euro aside since the 3 series launched, couldn't get a card for msrp, since then I've spent that money on a steam deck and low power media center with an AMD 5700G APU so kid can game on it too.

F*ck nvidia and their pricing and AMD who will follow

I'm glad to be out of this stupid rat race.
 
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I gave up the GPU rat race after i got my 1080Ti in 2017 I think. I could play every game at least at 60FPS on a 34" ultrawide 3440x1440 gsynch at ultra settings.
1080Ti is such a beast card, you could easily have had it since release and still be happy with it. And honestly software hasn't caught up with hardware in this regard, except for ray-tracing which often ill-advisedly focuses on primitive reflections and shadows rather than AO or GI (which are easily doable even on current RT tech) and which even RTX owners are going to turn off

I guess it would suck not to have DLSS though. It'll be fun to try out their interpolation technology in a few years' time
 
I have two laptops (one has a 2060 RTX and the other is a 3070 RTX). The 2060 is connected to a 1080p 32" Sharp Aquos HDTV that I use as a PC monitor in the office downstairs. The 3070 is connected to a 46" 1080p Samsung that is part of my main HDTV set.

I can stream to both from each other also stream from both to my Steam Deck.

The reason I mention this is because I decided about 5 years ago that my standard would be 1080p/60fps on Ultra settings for all of my games and I haven't changed my mind. Nothing that I've seen on here or in the plethora of marketing tailored to dazzle us with new graphics has changed that.

I also like to cook shoulder blade steak in an airfryer and it's fucking fantastic.
 
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The point is to play games at 4K120 or to use raytracing that is a generation ahead of console raytracing.
After Stray, Horizon FW and Returnal I stopped believing in RT as valuable metric. the few less blurry puddles in Cyberpunk are not worth the extra $1000. And we are not getting actual games that look close to the demos anytime soon.
 
the few less blurry puddles in Cyberpunk are not worth the extra $1000
This is what I'm talking about, devs are focussing on these hideous low-res reflections that barely look better than screen-space effects. The real ray-tracing showcase imo is Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition... say what you like about the game itself but it has a beautiful & performant RT global illumination solution that still blows away anything else.
 
For as long as I can remember putting together my own machines, I have always gone one (sometimes two) card series behind the most current one. Mostly because I never needed the extra power for most of the shit I was playing, but more importantly I could spend substantially less since I never had money coming out my ass whenever putting them together.
 
II JUST clicked buy on a gpu that is more or less ps5-level. It was used and $190 shipped. With FSR2/XESS coming around, I'll be able to roll with that more or less as long as I want. Sorry, raytracing. I want you, but I want my money more. See you again when I can afford it.
 
Some people buy the best card to have the best performance for the longest time.

Until recently, I had a 1070 which isn't even one of the better cards in the series and I had zero problems running most games at high/max settings at 144p. And that's a 6 year old, middle of the pack card.

Now, some people get the biggest and best every time Nvidia drops a new series but they clearly have the money to do so.

I don't really see the problem.
 
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