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Your current GPU buying strategy

Troezar

Troezar

Troezar

Soldato
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Posts
7,281
Interested to hear what everyone's thoughts are. Are you just buying new whatever you fancy? Looking for a last generation bargain? Looking on the used market? Sitting tight until everything is launched?

I've got a roughly self-imposed £500 limit. At that I can't see anything to beat my 3060Ti so I'm just playing the waiting game until all the midrange cards are launched next year. The used market "flood" doesn't appear to have materialised in the UK at least. Who's going to blink first?
 
I might go for a cheap last gen bargain. Something below £300. I really need to move on from my 970 and I’ve been meaning to replace it since mid 2020 but I want to play it safe with the way the economy is going
 
Chuk_Chuk said:
I might go for a cheap last gen bargain. Something below £300. I really need to move on from my 970 and I’ve been meaning to replace it since mid 2020 but I want to play it safe with the way the economy is going
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Makes sense. I've found my 3060Ti to be decent at 1440p. If the price drops they could be a good buy. I paid £369 for an FE model.
 
I`m waiting for proper benchmarks and pricing for the 7900xtx, as I game at 4k I`d like to run max settings 144 FPS without the need for FSR, I`m not entertaining Nvidias stupid pricing but if the 7900xtx doesn`t cut it or has a silly increase in price over what is supposed to be MSRP I`m sticking with what I`ve got.
 
Really no idea at the moment, I want something which can reliably run everything at 175fps on my 34" ultrawide, my 6800 is close, but struggles with a few games, and certainly isn't there with RT titles.

In theory a real 4080 should be the ideal option, but the one on its way is a) more like a 4070, and b) ridiculously overpriced. The 7900xt(X) is tempting, but the RT performance isn't quite there yet which is putting me off.
 
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I'm so disinterested in PC gaming and the state its in (being fed a constant diet of nothing but sloppy seconds console ports) right now that I sold my 3080 FE couple months ago and haven't replaced it with anything, just using the iGPU on my 9900K to browse the internet and play 2D retro games via emulation, for an hour or two a week, and also, reinstalled a stand alone version of the old classic Battlefield 2 & the WWII Forgotten Hope 2 Mod, with active MP servers :D , for which its perfectly adequate to run at 1080p 60fps at max settings!

If I wanted to play console games, I'd buy a bloody console!

I've occasionally thought about picking up a 1660Ti as a stop gap until something comes along on PC that relights my interest and would persuade me to get a nice expensive GPU again, but just can't bring myself to spend £200+ on such a weak ass level of GPU. The level of overpricing on low end to mid end GPU's is truly shocking, IMO.

3060Ti AIB cards still going for £450-£500 is a total joke, these things should be no more than £350-£400 by now.
 
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I went from a 1080ti to 3080 when it launched as I wanted to play Cyberpunk with fancy ray tracing. Not seeing anything coming out soon to convince me to spend more on another upgrade yet.
 
Wait for benchmarks from the new AMD cards and 4080, wait and see what happens a with pricing on them, probably into the new year, maybe jump on something when both performance and price have settled a bit.

We have a 2070S and a 2080Ti in the gaming rigs and a 1070Ti in my workstation at present, all of which are getting a bit long in the tooth but honestly are doing their job fine. I would like a ‘proper’ 4k/120Hz/ultra/Full RT card at some point but it doesn’t feel like this generation has one on offer, and I’m not prepared to pay 4090 prices anyway. I would also quite like to add a hackintosh boot to my workstation, which points to AMD as nvidia are not supported (I love my MacBook Air M1, but my 5950x has more ‘grunt’).

But the first upgrade is likely to be for my girlfriend’s machine to go from Ryzen 3700x->5800x3d, then we’ll do some graphics later.

Plus right now my gaming needs are being met on PS5 and Switch…. Which reminds me, I need to get Bayonetta 3 downloading and prepare my thumbs for some serious button-mashing!
 
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I jump around like a rabbit on amphetamines. i went from a 3080 reference (which I waterblocked), to a 3070 Ti, to a 3060 that fit in an ITX case I wanted, then up to a 3060 Ti as the 3060 didn’t feel powerful enough for my preferred resolution (1440p), and this weekend I am selling the 3060 Ti and have ordered a 6900 XT waterblocked card.

I enjoy modding cases and doing crazy little builds. I just finished an A2000 in a butchered but highly effective custom waterblock, installed in a FormD T1, running a dual rad loop, with a passive PSU - to replace a 7 year old iMac. I am working on a case mod for the 6900 XT that mounts my 1080 external radiator to the rear panel of the case, but with flow through air cut out of both the rear panel and internal case.

My logic is flaky at best. I buy cards cheap (in relative terms) by monitoring places like the Overclockers clearance section. I tend to use them for 3-6 months then get bored and replace them. I probably lose £200 on average per iteration, but I have lots of fun. I never buy current top of the line.

I will buy a 7900 XTX next year, probably late year when refurbed or second hand versions start showing up, and flip the 6900 XT at that point.
 
I have a 3080ti and up until last week I was itching to buy a 4090, but then common sense prevailed, for now. I mainly only play the new cod at the minute, at 3840x1600, with a couple of settings set medium and everything else maxed. I am getting a capped 130 frames pretty much constantly. I told myself the other night, is it really worth being 2 grand out of pocket to be able to knock those few settings I have on medium, to high, just to gain a tad bit more eye candy and another 14 frames, which is my monitors refresh rate (144) and I decided I'd be a complete a knob-head if I switched right now. I also play controller games on a 48 inch Oled at 4k and the 3080ti has next to no issues playing any of those at decent frames either, especially if dlss is enabled. So yeah, as much as I'd like one to have a play with, the 4090 just doesn't make sense to me at the minute. I think many 30 series owners have a similar mindset to me hence why 4090 cards are being left on the shelves and seemingly dropping in price ever week. So, my buying plan is, wait for 4090's to drop a whole lot more, and by that I mean nvidia's ridiculous MSRP, which I believe they will sooner than later, then snag one with a big smug smile on my face whilst patting myself on the back for being a good boy for managing to wait.
 
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my vr gaming hobby demands a top card, i didn't like spending £1699 on a gpu but that's what the best costs so it is what it is.
 
tyke_ said:
my vr gaming hobby demands a top card, i didn't like spending £1699 on a gpu but that's what the best costs so it is what it is.
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If that's the only option and you have the means it makes sense. Compared to some hobbies this is a cheap one. Everyone has a different situation and priorities. It's good to hear what others are doing and why.
 
You know what this thread got me thinking. I will just get a cheap current gen with the intention of replacing it when the next generation of cards launch in 2024 or whatever. I know I am not spending £1000+ on a gpu. And it’s pointless buying one of the new cards in spring 2023.

Winter is coming I am going to be gaming more and doing more 3d modelling. I’ve already put off certain games for long enough.

Maybe tweedle Dee and tweedle dum will figure out how to launch mainstream cards before winter, by the time I need a new card.
 
Im tempted to go for maybe a 3080 to give me a little more of a boost, currently have a 2080 super, a ryzen 9 3900x, 16 gigs ram, if i get the right deal, might be the best upgrade option ?
 
I've always just upgraded when needed. My situation is I'm still using GTX 1080 because nothing I want to play has needed more. I find I'm mostly playing games that are really easy to run, it's easy to have a good time with a low end card.

That said, when I bought the 1080 it was for PUBG, which I played for a few weeks then never touched again, so even though the 1080 turned out to be a good purchase I probably wouldn't buy a GPU because of a single game again.

I also hate the prices, blatantly ripping people off because people will pay silly prices. I generally believe in voting with my wallet, so I can't give them money to reward their bad behaviour.
 
I went out on a limb when I bought a 3080FE, but I’ve been really pleased with it and it still gives me more than enough performance for what I do.

Even if I were to look at the new nvidia/amd cards, there’s f-all chance I’m paying a grand or more for one of them. If this is where mid/high end gpus pricing now is, I’m out.
 
Troezar said:
Interested to hear what everyone's thoughts are.
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I game at 4k. I bought a 4090 for this PC and an A770 just to try it out. For raster games I game at max settings on the former and medium settings on the latter. RT is another matter.
 
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