At what point do you say GPU's are too expensive and refuse to buy?

[XeNoNF50]

£2k+ is where you need to list your GPU specifically on the house insurance

 

[Shoza]

I bought a 3080 for £649 and decided I’d never spend more than that again.

 

[clone]

If people buy what they are selling for then it's them that are the problem.

 

[Hostile_18]

Honestly its so complicated now with the cards holding all their value.

Am I spending 2k on a 5090 or £235 (the upgrade cost).

Then you have to factor in performance uplift and electricity usage.

 

[Vimes]

Even though, to a point, some tech would get a sort of free pass when it came to spending money, I'm much less inclined to want to these days.
The likes of what Nvidia are doing, cost wise, just helps with that.

Disappointing though, total understatement, that costs continue to rise as they do.

Running at the highest possible settings and frame rates is no longer as important as it once might have been. It certainly is not the deciding factor when it comes to how many hours that I'll play a game.

Chasing the latest tech revision is hard on the wallet and has limiting satisfaction before looking once more, relative to its age.

It actually feels more comfortable to be more on the sidelines of such tech launches.

 

[Howling]

3 Kidneys. Just too damned expensive at that point

 

[ICDP]

Honestly its so complicated now with the cards holding all their value.

Am I spending 2k on a 5090 or £235 (the upgrade cost).

Then you have to factor in performance uplift and electricity usage.

And what if you are new to PC gaming and are not trading your old GPU to offset costs. Would you still pay £2300 for a 5090?

Forgive me if I am wrong, but didn’t you sell your 4090 in prep for the 5090 but are now facing the prospect of paying £600 plus to “upgrade” 30%? Would you buy a used 4090 for the price you sold yours for? Or would you think “hmm brand new 5080 for most of the performance and a significant saving”? If it’s the latter then you have sort of answered your own question on used GPU values.

In my experience holding value is relative to when you sell. Try selling your 4090 in a year or two because you decide to “miss a gen” and tell me it held its value. A new 5080 at £1000 - £1200 absolutely WILL impact used 4090 prices, it’s 100% inevitable. 3090s are selling for £550 - £600. 3090Tis are not remotely holding their value either. The 4090 will go the same way sooner rather than later.

Nobody ever factors in electricity costs when buying a GPU. The only time that ever gets mentioned is when someone suddenly cares about efficiency and their favourite vendor is “winning” sometimes so marginally that it equates to pennies per year.

 

[cosmogenesis]

Covid meant my 3080 was £900. A also bought a 2080 super for £550 for my nephew. That’s way more than they were worth but resources were short then.

So I would say £1000 is more than enough

 

[Josh]

Last new GPU I bought was a 3080FE, that was £650ish - so I’d say about £1000 is my limit.

 

[ne0]

£1200 is my absolute limit tbh. I did pay £1700 for my 3090 but prices were silly at the time and I didn't have a lot of choice. £2000 is just too much when you think what else that money could go towards. It's simply not worth it.

 

[bobert50]

£2k+ is where you need to list your GPU specifically on the house insurance

Ha! this is when it's definitely getting silly when you have to do this.

I think my limit is more a limit with common sense when compared to everything else rather than what I can outright afford. My limit used to be £300 yonks ago for the latest flagship or near, then it got stretched to £750ish for the 1080ti, which in my mind was a 'one off', but then £1000ish for a 4070ti

I personally feel I can't justify more than £1200 in the next 3 years, especially given how relatively small the progress has been, but who knows. They're constantly trying to push the boundaries here. I do believe £2k+ is crazy money. In fact, even if I earnt double the salary that I do, I'd still be pretty uneasy with dropping £2000 on a GPU personally, given that a 4070ti gives me really quite ok performance.

 

[Mesai]

Prices are massively inflated, but only because consumers enable it. People also continue to talk about these cards in the context of MSRP, but the majority will end up buying AIB cards, which is the more realistic reference price.

It's just another company taking advantage of consumers with poor money management. The fact that scalpers are still in business just blows my mind - mental that people will give their money to someone who's intentionally exploiting you.

 

[Brumboy]

I'm a bit OCD with this. I can think of it in a few ways (this is for any purchase really):

How many days/weeks/months of savings is it? 1 month of savings? Cool, will I get hundreds/thousands of hours of enjoyment out of it? Worth it. Compared to other hobbies it's extremely cheap. (I spend £200 a month on boxing lessons, so 5 months of those = £1000 GPU)

How long will I keep it for? Then work out a rough resale value. Then work out the cost of using it per month. So £1000 for a GPU, sell my old one for £250. £750 ugprade cost, keep it for 5 years = Sell that for £250. That £1000 GPU cost me £500 in the end over 5 years which is £100 per year/£8.33 per month. So I think of it as I'm renting a GPU to play games. Under £10 per month for 50 hours+ of enjoyment. Great value!

 

[Hostile_18]

And what if you are new to PC gaming and are not trading your old GPU to offset costs. Would you still pay £2300 for a 5090?

No I wouldn't. I've built up to the top sku over the last three generations. I'd never recommend someone new to any hobby get the best equipment straight out of the gate.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but didn’t you sell your 4090 in prep for the 5090 but are now facing the prospect of paying £600 plus to “upgrade” 30%?

Yes I sold it for £1699. It's a +£235 upgrade ro the fe. I wouldn't pay hundreds extra for a partner card.

Would you buy a used 4090 for the price you sold your for? Or would you think “hmm brand new 5080 for most of the performance and a significant saving”? If it’s the latter then you have sort of answered your own question on used GPU values.

It depends how much you value absolute performance and vram over warranty and the new frame gen IMO. But yes I'd rather have a warranty with such an expensive purchase and "save" £500 over a used 4090.

In my experience holding value is relative to when you sell. Try selling your 4090 in a year or two because you decide to “miss a gen” and tell me it held its value. A new 5080 at £1000 - £1200 absolutely WILL impact used 4090 prices, it’s 100% inevitable. 3090s are selling for £550 - £600. 3090Tis are not remotely holding their value either. The 4090 will go the same way sooner or later.

It will go down slowly over time. I'm someone dosnt see prices trending downwards over months that's on them, and a considered decision not to sell. The best time to sell is inevitably just before a new gen.

Nobody ever factors in electricity costs when buying a GPU. The only time that ever gets mentioned is when someone suddenly cares about efficiency and their favourite vendor is “winning” sometimes so marginally that it equates to pennies per year.

I can't speak for everyone but I certainly care about efficency which translates to running costs, heat and noise..it's a big factor why I'm considering a 5080 instead of a 5090. The 30% performance uplift is fine IMO.

 

[uscool]

Bought 3080 for £649 when it was released , won't go over that will stick to around £500-£600 and only if it gives good uplift from current card meaning skipping generations I just can't imagine paying £1000 for a graphics card

Currently looking with interest at 9070xt

 

[Hostile_18]

Everything in the world has gone up. Wages, fuel, materials etc technology throughout the whole industry has stagnated, making gains fairly small. Sticking to the prices of the 30 series is going to get people a substantially lesser product relative to its time of release. It's not a Nvidia problem (though they don't help) it's a world problem.

I'd say £1000 is today's realistic £649 3080 price.

 

[cliffy]

Prices go up fact of life, settimng a limit now and saying i will never spend morfe then that and sticking to it means you going to be buying in the mid range to low end market sooner rather then later if not already. buying DFI Lanparty motherboards many many moons ago for £100 - £150 and telling my mate i would never pay more then that, now i am sitting here looking at a £600 motherboard and have just RMA'd an £1100 one. I always use thos ecxample but i remember going pub and beinbg able to buy 2 pint and 4 games of pool for £5, cant even get a pint for that now. SO for me the limit is do i want / need it, do i like it and crucially can i afford it

 

[Shaolin Chicken]

It would have to be £1000 for me. £2000 is way too much for me to spend.

 

[The_Arbiter]

I managed to justify £500 during CV, but couldn't get one, so didn't end up spending that.

Now i'm looking at £200. Inflation and general bitterness for everything killed any positive vibes that would have increased my budget.

 

[uscool]

Prices go up fact of life, settimng a limit now and saying i will never spend morfe then that and sticking to it means you going to be buying in the mid range to low end market sooner rather then later if not already. buying DFI Lanparty motherboards many many moons ago for £100 - £150 and telling my mate i would never pay more then that, now i am sitting here looking at a £600 motherboard and have just RMA'd an £1100 one. I always use thos ecxample but i remember going pub and beinbg able to buy 2 pint and 4 games of pool for £5, cant even get a pint for that now. SO for me the limit is do i want / need it, do i like it and crucially can i afford it

£1100 motherboard ? What features you use that you can't get with £300-£400 motherboard?