Why Building a Gaming PC Right Now Is a Bad Idea, Part 2: Insane Graphics Card Prices

Let's be real this article doesn't help the situation if more people were actually building computers that have the know-how
 
This is an extremely frustrating situation - I've been hoping to get a 1080 Ti for months now.

Then I realized it was far too expensive, so I set my sights on a 1080. Then I realized that even that was still way overpriced, so I checked out the 1070s. Same deal.

Finally, I looked at the 1060s - since I'm definitely not interested in paying the MSRP of a 1080 for a 6GB 1060, I've given up.

If anyone feels like selling me their old card for less than twice its price, let me know. ;)
 
This is an extremely frustrating situation - I've been hoping to get a 1080 Ti for months now.

Then I realized it was far too expensive, so I set my sights on a 1080. Then I realized that even that was still way overpriced, so I checked out the 1070s. Same deal.

Finally, I looked at the 1060s - since I'm definitely not interested in paying the MSRP of a 1080 for a 6GB 1060, I've given up.

If anyone feels like selling me their old card for less than twice its price, let me know. ;)

I have an old EVGA 580ti for sale :D

I should sell that, my old DDR3 RAM, and my 2500k.
 
The Gaming PC's inherent dependency on varied hardware is certainly costing it (and Gamers). Next I assume are SSDs? Consoles are starting to appeal more and more these days.

Nonsense, consoles have their temporary spikes in prices just the same as everything else.
If you can call it temporary. For the most part, consoles retain prices and are much more heavily discounted than PC 'parts' during sales. Their price hike isn't as stingy as PC parts.
Also, this mining craze has been going on for more than what I'd call a temporary phase. Count in other factors, SSDs, expensive monitors, RAM prices (which was featured in part 1 of this article) and its cloudy for PC Gaming.
Talking about consoles, I thought PS4 and XB1 have been jail broken quite a while back and just requiring specific version of firmware? Maybe all the new systems come with new enough firmware that can't be cracked yet.

I just wonder how mining performance looks like there. It's probably not that great, but if power efficiency is close enough, maybe MS and Sony can take a few bullets for PC folks, evening out the pressure... :)
For one thing consoles are NOT jailbroken... that's Apple products. The latest consoles are NOT hacked either. Get sick of PC fanboys spreading blatant lies.
 
Xbox One X.... enough said.

Consoles don't have hacks like all PC games do. The true master race for gaming are consoles.

Even those pc gaming competitions some have been caught using hacks. It's widespread on pcs.
 
For one thing consoles are NOT jailbroken... that's Apple products. The latest consoles are NOT hacked either. Get sick of PC fanboys spreading blatant lies.
I watched a video the other day about cheaters on PUBG. They plainly stated that cheating was less of a problem on console than PC. So looking at it from that perspective, I can't rule out the possibility that consoles do get hacked.
 
Now... Imagine Taiwan suffer a medium size earthquake and TSMC need to shut down a month for repairs.

Or Rocket dude decide he doesn't like the Winter Olympics and shoots a few rockets at Samsung's memory plants.

Sh*t is about to hit the fan folks.
 
Now... Imagine Taiwan suffer a medium size earthquake and TSMC need to shut down a month for repairs.

Or Rocket dude decide he doesn't like the Winter Olympics and shoots a few rockets at Samsung's memory plants.

Sh*t is about to hit the fan folks.

That wouldn't just affect the PC industry, that would destroy smartphone, console, and other device pricing as well. Samsung supplies memory to pretty much every sector of the industry.
 
I've been holding out on buying a VR rig, and was planning on buying one early this year. Now that I've got the money together, the prices jumped up so dramatically that I don't even want to buy a new rig now.

How long should I wait to buy a VR rig now?
 
C'mon....I don't think graphics cards prices are insane.

It is, if you chase after 4K gaming nonsense.

1080p 60fps gaming is accessible, affordable and practical.

Heck, even 720p gaming is cheap. `

Wake up. Open your eyes. See the world with your own eyes. It can appreciate more 'K's than the absurdly expensive monitor and system setup that you can build.

Even 320x200 resolution games are still enjoyable.

It's the gameplay that matters. Not the amount of absurdity in reproducing what your eyes can already appreciate surrounding you.
 
I upgraded my motherboard, CPU, and RAM in 2016 but am still using my old 480 GTX. Although I would love to get a 1060, the 480 met my current needs and I could not justify spending another $190 back then. Now my fear is that the 480 will die before GPU prices return to sane levels. I would have to hope that my old 8800 GT still works, or get the cheapest 8400 GS I can find just to run my PC (no integrated graphic on my board).

I just had this issue.

My 7970Ghz is dying now and had to drop back to a Secondary GTX650.

The only thing I could play was Starcraft 2 and HL2 engine games it was tough.

I spent about a week looking at gpu prices and availability and this **** is bananas.

My choices either came down to dropping $948 CAD on a Vega 64 that was in stock or a Gigabyte RX580 Gaming 8gb card for $530 picked up the 580 card today. I can't wait however long this will take for pricing to go back to normal.

And it did make me seriously considering picking up a PS4 and for a PC MASTER Race citizen as myself that would have been blasphemy.
 
C'mon....I don't think graphics cards prices are insane.

It is, if you chase after 4K gaming nonsense.

1080p 60fps gaming is accessible, affordable and practical.

Heck, even 720p gaming is cheap. `

Wake up. Open your eyes. See the world with your own eyes. It can appreciate more 'K's than the absurdly expensive monitor and system setup that you can build.

Even 320x200 resolution games are still enjoyable.

It's the gameplay that matters. Not the amount of absurdity in reproducing what your eyes can already appreciate surrounding you.[/QUOTE

What a bunch of nonsense. You might as well say to go play outside and use your inagination.
 
I've been holding out on buying a VR rig, and was planning on buying one early this year. Now that I've got the money together, the prices jumped up so dramatically that I don't even want to buy a new rig now.

How long should I wait to buy a VR rig now?

Until the prices drop to what they were.
If we all do this then the prices have to drop.
I've got $5000 to spend on a top end rig but hell will freeze over before I pay these prices!
 
Steve, I have another idea for keeping GPU prices low for gamers: MASSIVE APUs.

Imagine a 1900x paired with a 28 cu Vega, all on a TR4 platform (you will need the huge socket to discipate the heat.)

At $600, it would still be a descent price for gamers and Miners will not touch them.

The new Raven Ridge APUs will be a God send for budget gamers in similiat fashion.
 
I just have to say, you don't have to buy the top 10 parts to play current games. I built my little brother a $400 PC and he plays anything he wants at least on medium graphics.
 
I feel what everyone is saying. I've got a decent PC I put together last year that had a ryzen 5 1600, 8gb of ram, 250gb SSD, 1tb drive, an RX 480 8gb and parts left from my previous build. At the time I did will and had maybe 600 in it.

However my wife and I moved from an apartment to a house of course with spring coming, I'll need things like a lawn mower. I paid about 250 for my 480 last year. Just sold it for 365 on eBay last week. What stinks is that even for an RX 560 4gb with the 1024 stream processors, it's going to be close to 200 dollars!!!!! A 1050ti is going near 225 or more. These prices are nuts!

I'm glad I made enough off my card to get an entry level card and pay for most of a mower. I think I'll get a 560 or 1050 ti though to tide me over until prices come back down.
 
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