Having more VRAM means you can use higher quality textures - even "older" games have settings that can make use of it. 2GB has been mainstream since around 2012.
You have to get out of this mindset - power usage has nothing to do with performance. A 75Watt 1050Ti that has no power connector absolutely crushes your 5850. Newer high end cards draw less that older high end cards - the market is only going one way, manufacturers face pressure to reduce power consumption, both from environmental legislation, but also financial e.g. to reuse products across various markets e.g. desktop, laptop, mobile, games consoles.
I didn't say that cuda core count didn't matter at all. The fact is though that a 384 core Geforce 1030 performs better than a 8 year old 1440 core Radeon 5850. The reasons why I've touched on above - faster clock speed, architecture improvements, memory compression, more VRAM.
The issue with the Radeon RX550 vs RX560 is that if you are spending £80 on a 550, it is worth spending the extra £20 to get double the performance from a 560. An RX550 isn't much quicker than a GT1030, but the Geforce range doesn't suffer so much as the pricing is better spread out - the 1030 is £60, and a 1050 that is likely double the performance is £110 or so.
What is there to get bored of? Graphics Cards aren't Pokemon - you haven't got to catch them all?
Surely it's as simple as:
is it fast enough? no
can I afford/justify something better? yes/no
Most of us have to settle for whatever we can afford. The "best" graphics card I have in my house is a 270X - is it fast enough? probably not. Can I justify anything better? No - as the low-mid range new cards haven't really moved on from what I have, and I can't justify spending £100 on a 5 year old card that does.
not sure if a reply i made via my phone to the first part ive removed from the quote(too big too respond to these particular mentions) got through, but if it didnt then it was basically me saying if i go against any advise i get given for purchases as such then its because i buy for right now if i can, i dont have an option to buy online more so for private sales, had too many issues from the bay for that nor do i always have the money, but when i have the cash i look for places within 50 miles that i can collect if the price is good or go to 2nd hand shop unless its a new item of course because i need/want the item that day or the next, there was a nice gtx 970 mini on gum yesterday for £70 but it was sold within half hour.
now on to the other bits of your quote..
1. i know how important vram plays a part, a 2gb 270x used 1.7gb in the division for my use before, my systems usually have a lot of video memory to share so 1gb not always that bad, BF4 and FO4 used under 1.1gb of my 270x, star wars never even touched 1.2, i play on high settings where possible and dont use any fancy settlings like gameworks or whatever, but what i meant by my comment was from people saying for example a gt 640 4gb or something(even a 270x 4gb i think i read about) is too weak to use that memory so its more of a marketing thing, im not saying the 1030 is using that for a gimmick, i was genuinely asking if those 1030's are actually strong enough for the memory it offers.
2. i dont know why you compared it to a game, but when i know how a piece of tech works, if i have the option to try something different then i would prefer to do it, like ive said, in more than a year i have had 3 or 4 gtx 750's one of them being a TI, i know what to expect from it, but its like settling for the safe option as a result, there are loads of graphic cards ive never got to own that are still capable to an extent, so want to experience them so long the prices are not stupid.
3. you quote 'most of us have to settle for what we can afford' which is exactly the whole point of all my purchases, if i could throw down £500 or even £200 whenever i felt like it i would have a much better system than my haswell ever was, all in all for everything ive purchase for the 2 old systems i own over the last 2-3 weeks i have spent roughly £166 (having an hdd with the first computer was a bonus but i already have a few same goes for windows)), that wouldve got me roughly some okay APU and certainly not the psu i have, granted the 775 is meant to sell to make back the cost of the acer, but still, there was nothing for that money worth buying nor was it spent in on setting.
also what do you class as fast enough? im not too bothered as such for fps, but if i can get 45-60fps on high preset @ fullscreen 1920x1080 then its fast enough for me as the gameplay is nice and smooth, not exactly something the 5850 can do, but i knew that anyways, i dont have a g-synce/freesync more than 60hz screen nor am i bothered about either so i dont have to push much.
