PC gaming at a new low point?

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Iggy Wolf Feb 20 @ 8:45pm

Is it me, or does the GPU market suck ass in general at this point? If you're an existing PC gamer, you're lucky if your current card works and you don't have to upgrade or don't want to. But if you're just starting out, your choices are still expensive AMD cards, barely in stock Intel cards, or absolutely almost never in stock Nvidia cards, and the previous generation was discontinued so not even reasonable prices for older gens.

Seems like PC gaming would take a downturn if people suddenly find themselves unable to actually play new games at even reasonable frames because they couldn't even get a chance to buy a GPU, nevermind at a fair price. Used to be, the decision was whether to buy a 70 or 80 tier if you could afford it. Now? You're lucky if you'll even find a 60 or 70 tier card at this point. I can see Intel cards being good enough for old games (if their newer drivers have finally stabilized), but what about people wanting something that just works even for new games?

You don't want settle on a console, but you can't afford to break the bank on an AMD or Nvidia card. Even if you DID want a 60 series card, Nvidia apparently stopped making even the 4060. Just how much does Nvidia or AMD even care about PC gaming at this point? Because they're sure as hell not convincing anyone to buy them for THAT reason. All the "AI bros" and scalpers bought out the inventory.

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Showing 1-15 of 21 comments

Good Night Owl Feb 20 @ 8:51pm

Hardly matters anyway. Modern triple A titles suck.

Broken releases,
Excessive DLC,
Live service,
Big corps buying studios, only to light them on fire, then shut down the company.

Why spend money on a great card just to play what really matters these days? Indie titles.

Last edited by Good Night Owl; Feb 20 @ 8:51pm

vkobe Feb 20 @ 8:59pm

Originally posted by Iggy Wolf:
Is it me, or does the GPU market suck ass in general at this point? If you're an existing PC gamer, you're lucky if your current card works and you don't have to upgrade or don't want to. But if you're just starting out, your choices are still expensive AMD cards, barely in stock Intel cards, or absolutely almost never in stock Nvidia cards, and the previous generation was discontinued so not even reasonable prices for older gens.

Seems like PC gaming would take a downturn if people suddenly find themselves unable to actually play new games at even reasonable frames because they couldn't even get a chance to buy a GPU, nevermind at a fair price. Used to be, the decision was whether to buy a 70 or 80 tier if you could afford it. Now? You're lucky if you'll even find a 60 or 70 tier card at this point. I can see Intel cards being good enough for old games (if their newer drivers have finally stabilized), but what about people wanting something that just works even for new games?

You don't want settle on a console, but you can't afford to break the bank on an AMD or Nvidia card. Even if you DID want a 60 series card, Nvidia apparently stopped making even the 4060. Just how much does Nvidia or AMD even care about PC gaming at this point? Because they're sure as hell not convincing anyone to buy them for THAT reason. All the "AI bros" and scalpers bought out the inventory.

which new game cant run on rtx 3050 ???

or rx7 ???

even intel arc should all pc game

DoomsDay Feb 20 @ 9:08pm

pricing for newly released gpu has been high, price is fair in second hand market,
I dont see much problem with the pricing for gpu,when most people see some gamer sitting in front of a computer, they see only a monkey in addiction towards some money draining scam.
I dont need them to change their views on gaming and gamers,

and I will be at a loss when most people acknowledge what these gamers are doing as playing games, as it says it is,
like if they become so accurate with words and understands things, what would they say about the whole world, the whole show.

Punished Rusty Shackleford Feb 20 @ 9:13pm

I own a high end PC but I seldom play a game that was made in the last 3 years.

it is a simple life.

S73v3NH4wk1n9 Feb 20 @ 9:26pm

The RTX 5000 series having bad 32bit PhysX is sad.

Last edited by S73v3NH4wk1n9; Feb 20 @ 9:26pm

Heretic Feb 20 @ 9:45pm

Originally posted by Good Night Owl:
Hardly matters anyway. Modern triple A titles suck.

Broken releases,
Excessive DLC,
Live service,
Big corps buying studios, only to light them on fire, then shut down the company.

Why spend money on a great card just to play what really matters these days? Indie titles.

I totally agree with you.

Dusk of Oolacile Feb 20 @ 10:02pm

Originally posted by Good Night Owl:
Hardly matters anyway. Modern triple A titles suck.

Broken releases,
Excessive DLC,
Live service,
Big corps buying studios, only to light them on fire, then shut down the company.

Why spend money on a great card just to play what really matters these days? Indie titles.

Bad writing,
Cringe dialog,
Dumbed down game mechanics,
Remasters, remakes,
Remakes of remasters,
Remasters of remakes...

Iggy Wolf Feb 20 @ 10:14pm

Oh, for sure. I think my main point is that when most people would rather just buy a GPU that can run basic games, indies, or old classics, then having even a low inventory for the low end is what's annoying and sucks. I'm not upset that 5080 or 5090 is out of stock.

Those cards might as well not exist for regular gamers right now. It's when you can't even find low end 40 cards, and 30 series are second hand. I guess the concern is whether Nvidia will even bother to give scraps to the low end.

Incarnate Feb 20 @ 10:14pm

If games stagnated in graphical quality for ten years (as if they hadn't already stagnated for the last five), I would be happy. It sounds weird, but a technological standstill would be good for overall quality.

That would free up some manpower for devs to better optimize their games and learn their engine better to craft more unique art styles or mechanics. Everything on the Unreal engine looks identical. In trailers, it's hard to even differentiate indie shooters from AAs, or AAs from stuff made by EA and Ubisoft.

smokerob79 Feb 20 @ 11:04pm

its gone crazy do to mining on GPU's and NgreedyA playing with the low end pro's that cant really afford quadro cards for things like editing.....never mind playing with the availability as they are pumping out more AI based hardware than gaming hardware

they have real competition as AMD cards have been nailing it if you had the 500 bucks and could find a card in stock.....

without being handed a 3080 for free i would be back on consoles already.....got back in to PC as it was the cheaper option when 360 was selling for 300 bucks new.....i built a better PC for 250.....

#10

Iggy Wolf Feb 20 @ 11:13pm

Originally posted by Anoi Hidalgo:
the 4060 only goes for a couple hundred bucks. My first card was GTX 460 so i have no sumpathy for the kids today when even a 2060 was 1000x better than what i had lol

If it does, that's fine. I remember the issue being that when they released for $400, they were considered overpriced relative to the actual value and performance. But it's more so the fact that no one would wanna pay more than $400 or $500 for even a 70 series card, and trying to get even a 4070 for less than $600 is an exercise in frustration. Not even in terms of price, but stock. No one's going to pay $800-900 for a 2nd hand 3080 or 3070, but that's what you'll see for those cards now as well. When it used to be that waiting meant you could get 2nd hand cards or simply new old gens for less than they MSRPed for.

#11

swillfly Feb 21 @ 12:14am

all gonna be moot soon anyhow; chip prices are about to skyrocket worldwide - esp. in 'Murica

#12

󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡⁧⁧Kei Feb 21 @ 12:17am

it's all about having the money to buy the new hardware but that won't help much if the games look like mediocre and perform terribly, cough stalker 2 and any unreal game