I've finally got enough disposable income to spend on a mid-high PC but graphics cards at that tier are just ludicrously priced, especially from Nvidia. I remember building my first computer in 2013 and being flabbergasted that people were paying $1000 for a GTX Titan, the best card in existence back then, at launch—that was probably twice the price of my entire build back then (Radeon 7770/FX-8350... simpler times). Now this generation's equivalent, the 4090, is $1599 at MSRP, and often pushed up to $2000 by resellers and scalpers. The next rungs down aren't far behind either, with the 4080 at $1200 and the new 4070ti at $799. AMD isn't as bad, but their software game is so far behind and DLSS is very appealing for extending the life of my card as long as I can.

I was excited to make a new build and leap to 1440p/144hz but the expense has sucked a lot of the appeal out of it. I might just bite the bullet and shoot for a 4070ti deal to see if I can mitigate the tax at least. I know I'm part of the problem for buying new but I just want to be done with all this and have something I can keep for the next like 6-8 years.

    • communism_liker_69 [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I just got a 6600xt for less than 300$ and its really improved my performance over what I had before.

      If you want the best of the best, get nvidia or intel, but if you want good mid range components that can run modern games well, AMD is the best bang for your buck.

        • communism_liker_69 [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          yeah, I mean that more generically for CPUs too since AMD is in that market as well. Edited my comment to say components rather than cards. I've been buying AMD stuff for that reason (best value for mid cost) since I built my first PC in 2006, and I guess since Ryzen came out the top shelf stuff is competitive now too, but I think (I don't follow computer trends too closely) AMD still wins pretty handily at the mid cost level.

    • RION [she/her]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      AMD definitely has the edge for straight raster performance value, but again their software offerings just aren't there. I suppose they're trying, but DLSS seems like the best way to make sure I can maintain performance for a long time (6 years is my target) without upgrading. Plus AI stuff is a lot more finnicky on AMD, and how can I go on without my pictures of dogs in plate armor?

      I would certainly forgo the 40 series for a 3080 12gb or 3080ti if they were available for less than the 4070ti, but they're either sold out or hundreds more everywhere I look, and going lower than that I think I'll start to run into VRAM issues, and at that point I might as well sit in my 1660 Super

      • TankieTanuki [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        their software offerings just aren’t there

        Unless we're talking Linux, then it's the other way around. :tux:

        • RION [she/her]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          True true that's pretty true. I'm a windowissimo for the moment tho