Why are GPUs so expensive?

[Jae-So]

I agree. Right now if feels like the only thing that will bring competition and some sensible pricing to the GPU market is the release of some next generation consoles. This should provide incentive to Nvidia to release a GPU which will be competitive against them at a reasonable price point!

This is what I'm hoping for. I just don't see value in upgrading from my 1070 with these consoles about to drop (hopefully at £400).
If I see a GPU at sub £400 that can destroy a One X then I'll change my mind.

Even as an enthusiast I have to look at the best price/performance.

 

[Jae-So]

Really? Even 1060 6GB hit £300.

Are you talking about the 90's?

When the HD4870 and GTX260 dropped they were under £250.

 

[TNA]

When the HD4870 and GTX260 dropped they were under £250.

Got my 4870 for around £200 on launch. Best bang for buck card I have ever had as it was the best gpu money could buy at the time. These days they want stupid money’s.

 

[DELETED_195422]

5700xt says hello.

mid range price and decent 4K performance

Nah, the only 4K card worth it's salt today is the 2080 Ti and that's £1K+.

Plus the 5700XT, like every other card on the market just now is overpriced. That card should be no more than £200/250, in fact it was going to be called the 690 and should've been priced in line with the SKUs it was replacing.

Aye, serious hard pass on that card.

 

[Grim5]

I still maintain my claim, the 2070 super and 5700xt are decent 4K cards.

mid you disagree then your standards are too high and that means you should be more happy to cough up/ you can't expect bleeding edge and pay peanuts for it.

 

[TNA]

I still maintain my claim, the 2070 super and 5700xt are decent 4K cards.

mid you disagree then your standards are too high and that means you should be more happy to cough up/ you can't expect bleeding edge and pay peanuts for it.

I would be fine on a 2070S on nearly all games up until now. But I think 2020 titles like Cyberpunk 2077 will need a bit more grunt so I am wait on a 3070. Not to mention I can see a 3070 having more RT grunt than a 2080Ti does.

 

[CuriousTomCat]

I still maintain my claim, the 2070 super and 5700xt are decent 4K cards.

mid you disagree then your standards are too high and that means you should be more happy to cough up/ you can't expect bleeding edge and pay peanuts for it.

Yes they are but Nvidia cards ending in a 70 have always been high end. I believe Rock n Roll said he wanted a mid end card that could do 4k.

 

[Marine-RX179]

Really? Even 1060 6GB hit £300.

Are you talking about the 90's?

Not that far back, but more like pre-Titan era.

Post Titan pricing started to rocket across the board (and this was before Brexit and weaken pound).

 

[4K8KW10]

Yes they are but Nvidia cards ending in a 70 have always been high end. I believe Rock n Roll said he wanted a mid end card that could do 4k.

GTX 470, GTX 570, GTX 670, GTX 770, GTX 970, GTX 1070 are all mid-range cards with prices started from $349.99....
GTX 480 was $499.99.

RTX 2080 Ti was $999.99 for AIB card and $1199.99 for a reference card.

 

[Captain]

When are we expecting new cards from Nvidia?

 

[aoaaron]

When are we expecting new cards from Nvidia?

I've recently read a lot of people estimated Q3/Q4 but I really think they'll release something in Q1/Q2. The most eagerly anticipated PC game is Cyberpunk so I think it would be silly for Nvidia (and AMD) not to tie in a release for their GPU around that time. Also I'm going to assume they'll want to release a series of GPUs which will set themselves apart from the Xbox X series and the PS5. RDR2 has already shown the world that the 2080ti is not the 4k/60fps card we need.

This year I feel the bulk of their competition is actually coming from consoles rather than AMD.

Q1/Q2 makes MUCH more sense to me. As a prospective console buyer, I'll probably end up buying a 3080ti for £900+ and justify it to myself by saying I'm not going to buy the new Xbox of PS5. However if they want to play ball and wait until Q3/Q4, I see a few/a lot of users buying the cheaper GPUs and a console instead.

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

I would be fine on a 2070S on nearly all games up until now. But I think 2020 titles like Cyberpunk 2077 will need a bit more grunt so I am wait on a 3070. Not to mention I can see a 3070 having more RT grunt than a 2080Ti does.

3070 should be a great 1440p high hz card especially for the cost, at least that's what I'm hoping.

RDR2 has already shown the world that the 2080ti is not the 4k/60fps card we need.

Anyone wanting speed probably wouldn't be playing at 4k to begin with though. We all know there are games which can't even hold 60FPS at 4k, I'd personally be disappointed splashing out that much and still not get enough performance I want.

 

[Jae-So]

Got my 4870 for around £200 on launch. Best bang for buck card I have ever had as it was the best gpu money could buy at the time. These days they want stupid money’s.

Same, had that card, then a 4890. Amazing value.

 

[DELETED_195422]

I've recently read a lot of people estimated Q3/Q4 but I really think they'll release something in Q1/Q2. The most eagerly anticipated PC game is Cyberpunk so I think it would be silly for Nvidia (and AMD) not to tie in a release for their GPU around that time. Also I'm going to assume they'll want to release a series of GPUs which will set themselves apart from the Xbox X series and the PS5. RDR2 has already shown the world that the 2080ti is not the 4k/60fps card we need.

Now isn't a good time to be buying any card, that's for sure.

Also, as stated above, we don't know the requirements to run next gen PC titles, nor have the recommended specs to run games like Half-Life: Alyx/Cyberpunk been released.

There are still too many unknowns to be dropping good money on a GPU today.

The whole GPU market is a ponzi scheme at present and at times i do wonder why i even bother with the platform.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Got my 4870 for around £200 on launch. Best bang for buck card I have ever had as it was the best gpu money could buy at the time. These days they want stupid money’s.

that was 11-12 years ago; right after the worldwide recession. so i'm not surprised tbh. it's as if nobody understands what impacts on prices and what the main drivers are.

if we had another massive recession tomorrow. GPU prices would drop over the next 6 months. i'm fairly certain of that.

so do you have any recent examples which didn't follow a recession? or are they all 10+ years old?

I also don't understand why people are spending ££££ on a monitor then complaining they now need to spend the same on a GPU. well buy a cheaper lower res monitor then. it's a simple solution.

I agree GPU's are expensive however when you look at the bigger picture. you should never be aiming for top end anything unless you are a top earner.

For example my mate just spend £3K on a tv another mate spent £3500 on a tv 2-3 years back. I recently spent £1K on a tv and I get on par quality with the £3500 tv albeit smaller. The £3K is better but I wouldn't say £2K better it's also a lot bigger too. People need to spot the value for money options and stop looking at extreme high ends.

1080P - 1660 super - £200
1440P - 2070 super - £400 or 2070 for £350 or 5700 for £300

4k - you deserve nothing less than to be bent over if you are gaming at that res. because it is top end and quite frankly a ridiculous amount of pixels to push.

what I want to know is why are so many on here needing to buy 2080's or higher? if it's because of 4K well you made your own bed with that one. sell the screen and quit complaining.

the 5700 for £300 is probably the best value for money option next to the 2070 super for £400.

 

[NZXT30]

Really? Even 1060 6GB hit £300.

Are you talking about the 90's?

During the mining boom of course but thats irrelevant. The 1060 had a launch price of $249.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

During the mining boom of course but thats irrelevant. The 1060 had a launch price of $249.

if mining boom is irrelevant then so is pricing during a recession.

 

[4K8KW10]

that was 11-12 years ago; right after the worldwide recession. so i'm not surprised tbh. it's as if nobody understands what impacts on prices and what the main drivers are.

if we had another massive recession tomorrow. GPU prices would drop over the next 6 months. i'm fairly certain of that.

The reason why HD 3870 and HD 4870/4890 were that cheap, was that AMD had previously released the 2900 XT which was the worst* graphics card from them ever. They had to do it because of the market share bleeding..

Radeon HD 2600 XT was just $105, while the 2900XT was $380, when 8800 Ultra was $650 and 8800 GTX was $530..


*well, RX Vega 64 is right now the worst AMD Radeon card ever.

 

[TNA]

that was 11-12 years ago; right after the worldwide recession. so i'm not surprised tbh. it's as if nobody understands what impacts on prices and what the main drivers are.

if we had another massive recession tomorrow. GPU prices would drop over the next 6 months. i'm fairly certain of that.

so do you have any recent examples which didn't follow a recession? or are they all 10+ years old?

I also don't understand why people are spending ££££ on a monitor then complaining they now need to spend the same on a GPU. well buy a cheaper lower res monitor then. it's a simple solution.

I agree GPU's are expensive however when you look at the bigger picture. you should never be aiming for top end anything unless you are a top earner.

For example my mate just spend £3K on a tv another mate spent £3500 on a tv 2-3 years back. I recently spent £1K on a tv and I get on par quality with the £3500 tv albeit smaller. The £3K is better but I wouldn't say £2K better it's also a lot bigger too. People need to spot the value for money options and stop looking at extreme high ends.

1080P - 1660 super - £200
1440P - 2070 super - £400 or 2070 for £350 or 5700 for £300

4k - you deserve nothing less than to be bent over if you are gaming at that res. because it is top end and quite frankly a ridiculous amount of pixels to push.

what I want to know is why are so many on here needing to buy 2080's or higher? if it's because of 4K well you made your own bed with that one. sell the screen and quit complaining.

the 5700 for £300 is probably the best value for money option next to the 2070 super for £400.

Why are you trying to paint the picture like as if I am always comparing a 4870 with the gpu’s of today? That was a one of comment where I replied to someone who brought it up. I still stick by my comment that gpu prices the last year or so have become stupid, but it has nothing do with a 4870. I am not the only one who thinks this...

Why do you assume I do not understand about the recession? I get that back then the pound was much stronger also, it was like 2-1 for a while which meant we got parts much cheaper. But I always look at dollar prices anyway to see if they have increased prices are not.

Was the 970 and 1070 during the recession also? There is obviously more to all this than any one thing and I could go into detail. But none of it changes the fact that graphics card prices went up in the past year or two.

What does my choice of monitor have to do with not being satisfied with the trajectory of recent price hikes? I game at that resolution as I like the better image quality. I never go above 60fps so the grunt I need is less than a 1440p gamer who wants 120fps or whatever. Why is 4K a ridiculous amount of pixels to push? That is just your opinion because A your eyes/brain cannot see/appreciate the difference or B because you sit so far from your monitor that the pixels are wasted on you. Don’t assume everyone is like you and that their needs are the same. With monitors I thought it was made clear to you in the past it is not the case of one size fits all?

Regarding your example about the tv’s, I did the same, I got a 55” LGB9 recently for £994 brand new with 6 years warranty. I chose to wait as I was in no rush due to being happy with my 1080p Plasma as most content until recently I watched was 1080p.

 

[aoaaron]

3070 should be a great 1440p high hz card especially for the cost, at least that's what I'm hoping.


Anyone wanting speed probably wouldn't be playing at 4k to begin with though. We all know there are games which can't even hold 60FPS at 4k, I'd personally be disappointed splashing out that much and still not get enough performance I want.

Some people dont want speed.