i think this is legit approach . if one wants the latest and greatest then the premium is understandable imo . but legacy is still here and still very much playable .
I never was on the comp tech cutting edge and never will be . its because of the ’ economical region ’ i am living in [ they pay us max 50% from what can be earned in the prosperous west so i am not keen to pay the premium ] plus I dont want to be on the cutting edge anymore . dreamed of it for a long time , i just woke up from that dream recently .
and if even legacy is gone then there is still the chess
Yeah, PC gaming is expensive like a hell, especially in compare with consoles such as XSX or PS5. I don’t want to know how much spent on new PC last year, but it was a lot, even the fact that price is lowest for CPU, MOBO and GPU for long time and even that fact I didn’t buy the best premium HW on the market.
On the other hand there is plenty of old games / simulators which I can play for example on this vintage PC. Changed 2c/2t CPU from A6-6400K Richland to second hand 4c/4t CPU with 2x size of L2 cache A10-7850K Kaveri, changed 2x 4GB DDR3 to 2x 8GB DDR3 (only two slots on MOBO) and with something such as second hand GTX 750 Ti 2GB or better GTX 1650 Super is possible to run a lot games for cheap price.
Believe or not multicore DCS World as well, of course with limited 30 fps.
Every PC I have built since I started in the late '90s has been built to a budget. I have looked at the cost Vs performance intersection and eschewed the ‘latest and greatest’. The closest I have come to building with cutting edge is this current PC that I built in 2020. Ryzen 7 3700X, 32GB RAM, NVMe SSD with a RTX2060 Super, since replaced with a 12GB 3060…
I was planning to upgrade with a new PC this year, but it looks like that ship has sailed. Not that it bothers me greatly because my current rig still hasn’t been demoted to potato status and I can play everything I’m currently playing just fine.
Edited to correct gaphics card RAM - Thanks @Rapier
Ryzen 3700X was, and still is, a good 8c/16t CPU, especially if you have X570 or B550 chipset (both with PCIE 4.0 for GPU) because AMD later added Smart Memory Access (Resizable BAR) support in AGESA BIOS which help to older GPUs!
I guess you mean RTX 3060 12GB which has basically the same performance as RX 5700 XT 8GB VRAM.
I noticed that the most of Mudspikers have Nvidia GPUs but after tested RX 9060 XT 16GB and RX 9070 XT 16GB and I can truly said that AMD is fully back, even competitor level of Ray Tracing.
I don’t have VR such as Meta Quest 2/3 to test but performance both GPUs is impressive and for lower price than Nvidia GPUs.
I thought I paid too much for my 4090 a year-ish ago? Well, I did pay too much. Sat in the box for ~8 months even, waiting for the piggy bank to fill back up; paid $1500 - they seem to be $2500-$3,000- ish now!
Quick Google on a whim…
A founders-edition. Crazy: $3,200
The 4090 seems to have a lot of room to grow -even in VR- based on my observations (DCS, with my ‘happy space’ settings). As long as the software gives me the options to ignore features my tired old eyes won’t notice, or care about, I should be good for a long time (famous last words?).
I have never been wedded to a particular brand and have flip-flopped between AMD & nVidia cards as well as between AMD & Intel CPUs.
The upgrade I was going to do this year would have definitely been AMD for both the CPU and vid card, not just for price Vs performance but also power consumption.
Power is a big consideration for me because we live with an off-grid solar system (i.e. panels and batteries only).
RAM price is the killer for me at the moment though.
That was my goal too, going with the 9800X3D. Seemed to have the rep’ of running cooler and less power than Intel. I’ve never noticed the power draw go vey high and temps are cooler (both CPU and GPU) than my ‘old’ box (GP: 3080 ran hotter than the 4090 does).
If things keep going the way they are this will be my last PC, ever. Shame. Maybe…maybe…they will invent something that gives me the same ‘experience’ that I can shove into a cubby hole under the TV (ala game consoles). Not holding my breath.
The crazy thing is that my 5090 runs cooler and quieter than my old 3080ti while pulling 250W more when running the default bios profile (I now have it slightly undervolted so it isn’t quite as crazy, still a massive power draw though). It also weighs about two and half times as much as my old 3080ti, with the 5090 coming in at just over 3kg
yes the Ram Prices have stopped me cold to purchase an AMD system. I thought about it and really am not going to pay those prices for memory..
I dont know what the furture holds I only care about right now and right now prices are just way out of my league.. I guess they really want to kill PC for ever.. I will not purchase a Steam machine or the likes not even an xbox..
I made a general point when I noticed that most Mudspikers have Nvidia and buy Nvidia only.
Same here. I had the Intel i5-2400 Sandy Bridge CPU with Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB before switching to the AMD R7 3700X CPU with AMD RX 5700XT 8GB GPU, so maybe I might be considered as an actual AMD fan, but if the competitor is better (+ cheaper), I will buy it.
I know that Nvidia is a leader in performance of RTX 5080 and 5090 high-end GPUs, also know that VR support might be a bit better in general, but believe, also based on my own VR experience with Oculus Rift on RX 5700 XT (no issues), that AMD is pushing hard to beat Nvidia, or be a real competitor even Ray Tracing. Therefore, I bought R7 9700X (not 9800X3D with the higher power consumption and higher cooler requirements because of temperature/TDP and 3D cache, an overpriced CPU that makes mainly only better fps 0.1% low in 1440p+ resolution), 64GB DDR5, and RX 9070 XT 16GB.
I know that here are mainly DCS players with high-end PC who might not agree with me about my view of R7 9800X3D, but the additional price for CPU is better to push to GPU. R5 9600X or R7 9700X are better options here in terms of price, temperatures, and general performance.
Is well-known that Nvidia RTX 3000 power consumption and temperatures were worse than AMD competitor RX 6000 series, so not a big surprise here.
RTX 4000 and 5000 followed the AMD way to lower memory access (128-bit or 192-bit instead a 256-bit), use infinity cache, and with better nm technology to lower power consumption and temperatures.
Late to the party but checking PC part prices here in Japan it’s insane. 32GB of DDR5 is equivalent to 60 hours worked at a minimum wage job now. The 4070Ti I got last year has doubled to equivalent of a month’s salary as a full-time office worker. I could get three bespoke 3-piece suits for that price! It’s insane. And sad. I have a few students who’d like to get into DCS but they can’t afford a rig for it, much less the crazy HOTAS prices now, or TrackIR with the horrid exhange rate.
I tend to buy gaming laptops rather than PC systems. First I rarely travel,and the only issue is fitting my joystick into the luggage. As for prices? I spent 2200 dollars on my last one, and it’s a marked improvement over the previous one, and has more space. I’ve boiled down to either buying one every two years, or when the keyboard buttons go and as both a gamer and author, I need the keyboard to be complete, as it breaks down eventually and usually it’s a key that is always essential. But there are issues, like I need a powered USB hub for my peripherals, where if I got a PC, I’d max out the USB slots as much as possible. But given the cost, I find it more economical to buy a laptop instead. And I just don’t have the room on my coffee table to put a PC in. So I gotta do it, even if it’s not the best way compared to other methods.
Agree, I’m pretty sure there’s smart people that are going to take good advantage of the situation and crete a new sort-of market. PC gaming is not going anywhere.
This RAM crisis will especially impact lower tier GPUs: the VRAM is a bigger part of the cost for lower tier GPUs. Rumors are circulating that AMD and Nvidia will stop producing new GPUs for that segment.
So yes, for now, affordable GPUs are still affordable.
But it is inevitable that price hikes and shortages will come to especially the cheaper GPUs, and eventually this will also have consequences for the used market.
I’m not saying it will cease to exist, but know that it will become more expensive in a year, and plan accordingly. I would get an upgrade now if you’re thinking of a GPU upgrade in the next year or 2, and if you can afford it responsibly of course.
I’m of two minds- on one hand I feel you’re right, on the other I know how enterpreneurs think and I wouldn’t be surprise if in a year we are going to see interesting new solutions.
