2023 is the first semi-reasonable year in some time in which to upgrade one's GPU

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LordMortis
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by LordMortis »

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:58 pm I gave up and just purchased an entirely new rig.
Smoove from July Quoted
The market is showing all the signs of overbought status and will likely correct very very soon.
BIG AUTO just moved their chip shortage projections from 2023 to 2024, citing the IoT as now competing for silicon processing at an ever expanding rate and nobody can catch up anywhere, even if they had the labor, which they don't.

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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Smoove_B »

I still don't think the advice changed - trying to buy a loose video card right now (and in July) was insane. But if you buy a pre-built, you're not paying scalper prices because those cards are being allocated to PC manufacturers directly by the places making them. At least, that was my understanding.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Zarathud »

I bought a Microcenter PC for availability reasons. Early in the year even the PC gaming rigs were back ordered.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by coopasonic »

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:22 pm I still don't think the advice changed - trying to buy a loose video card right now (and in July) was insane. But if you buy a pre-built, you're not paying scalper prices because those cards are being allocated to PC manufacturers directly by the places making them. At least, that was my understanding.
The prices on pre-built systems have been adjusted somewhat as well and timelines are still suck because people realized buying systems is the way to go. I have 3 gaming PCs to cover my kids and I, if any of them have hardware issues I weep for my wallet. The worst one has a 1660 Super, luckily he mostly plays Terraria which is fine with that.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Isgrimnur »

LordMortis wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:11 pm Whod'a thunk we couldn't move sand through the system quick enough?
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by JCC »

As did I, this week in fact. I got an Alienware from Worst Buy with a 3080 in it. I calculated via Amazon prices just buying the video card and the CPU on Amazon would cost as much as what I paid. Crazy times. I didn't want to wait 1-2 more years for an upgrade (at minimum), so just gritted my teeth and bought it. So far, so good other than not being able to get surround sound to work going HDMI from PC to TV HDMI to TV HDMI-ARC to soundbar. This seems to be a common problem. Windows/NVIDIA should not make this so difficult. People have been complaining about this for many years and I haven't seen any solution except dodgy ones involving modded drivers. But, I digress...

I am not sure when building your own PC will be viable again, but probably not until 2023 at earliest would be my guess.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Brian »

Buying an entire new system isn't really an option that I'd like to pursue as I just custom built my rig a year ago and is still high-end with the notable exception of the video card. When I built the system I got everything but the video card since the 3xxx series was just around the corner from release and boy did that not work out as hoped.

I theoretically could buy a new system for the wife and scalp the card out of that machine but then she would still need a card. Possibly I could put the 980ti in there but, as noted, it's been failing pretty consistently.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Brian wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:36 pm Buying an entire new system isn't really an option that I'd like to pursue as I just custom built my rig a year ago and is still high-end with the notable exception of the video card. When I built the system I got everything but the video card since the 3xxx series was just around the corner from release and boy did that not work out as hoped.

I theoretically could buy a new system for the wife and scalp the card out of that machine but then she would still need a card. Possibly I could put the 980ti in there but, as noted, it's been failing pretty consistently.
Obviously this won't help if you're dealing with faulty hardware, but it may be worth a shot. First, clean your PC & graphics card as thoroughly as possible.

Next, try following these instructions to safely and completely remove your existing nVidia drivers, and then use NVCleanstall to install the latest nVidia drivers minus all the typically included bloat.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Brian »

I'll give it a shot.

I did do a fresh OS reinstall recently in hopes to resolve the issue but it's been getting consistently worse as time goes by.

Oddly, the only game that really seems unaffected has been Read Dead 2 which taxes the system pretty hard and Civ 6 is the worst offender, crashing every 15 minutes or so.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Kraken »

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:40 pm
LordMortis wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:11 pm Whod'a thunk we couldn't move sand through the system quick enough?
Image
Isg wins the thread. Move along.

(On topic-ish) Microsoft says they'll only support my OS for four more years, so I reckon I'll buy a new system then. This one will be 7 years old by then. Meanwhile, I don't game anymore and I already have a video card that's way overpowered for web surfing.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by hitbyambulance »

Kraken wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:27 am (On topic-ish) Microsoft says they'll only support my OS for four more years, so I reckon I'll buy a new system then. This one will be 7 years old by then. Meanwhile, I don't game anymore and I already have a video card that's way overpowered for web surfing.
in which case you can still get by with that same machine for... welll... the rest of your life (just replacing parts as they break). congratulations! you've reached PC upgrade endgame.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Brian »

Well, those you waiting for the prices to drop to a more reasonable rate won't have to wait much longer.

I held out as long as I could but finally ended up paying $800+ for a 12g 3060.

That means prices will almost certainly drop in the next day or two. :doh:
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Brian wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:51 am Well, those you waiting for the prices to drop to a more reasonable rate won't have to wait much longer.

I held out as long as I could but finally ended up paying $800+ for a 12g 3060.

That means prices will almost certainly drop in the next day or two. :doh:
I’ll take that bet!
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by JCC »

Me too. No prices on anything requiring microchips are going to drop soon.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Daehawk »

That upcoming $200 AMD 6500XT 4g has my eye. Since I cant build new for 2 years and my system is 11 years old with a gtx 760 Id love a 6500XT.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by hitbyambulance »

2022 is probably the second best year to upgrade your CPU
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by JCC »

hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 2:23 am 2022 is probably the second best year to upgrade your CPU
haha, we should just change "best" to "absolute worst" in the thread title until the chip shortage ends.
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

JCC wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 5:49 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 2:23 am 2022 is probably the second best year to upgrade your CPU
haha, we should just change "best" to "absolute worst" in the thread title until the chip shortage ends.
Uhhh, pretty sure the title is sarcastic. :p
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Re: 2021 is truly the best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by JCC »

Carpet_pissr wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:01 am Uhhh, pretty sure the title is sarcastic. :p
LOL, it's been so long, I just assumed this was carried over from 2019. My bad!
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Octavious »

I cancelled and then reordered the computer for my daughter. I'll be ripping the 3070 out of there and giving her the 1070ti. She doesn't do anything that needs a 3070 so we'll both be happy. This also means that card prices will drop like a rock the second the return window closes. You're welcome! :P
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by coopasonic »

Octavious wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 5:03 pm I cancelled and then reordered the computer for my daughter. I'll be ripping the 3070 out of there and giving her the 1070ti. She doesn't do anything that needs a 3070 so we'll both be happy. This also means that card prices will drop like a rock the second the return window closes. You're welcome! :P
At this point I think my office has a 3080 (mine), 2070 (12yo son's) and 1060 1660 (15yo son's). That 1060 really could use a boost. I guess we'll see what the bonus looks like in Feb and then the tax return. Ought to be able to do something.

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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Octavious »

The 3070 is blowing the 1070TI out of the water even with my old CPU. Can't wait to upgrade that half later in the year. The only downside is the 3070 is some OEM that is made just for HP and well it looks cheap. Works fine so I guess it doesn't really matter.
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by DOS=HIGH »

Asus says its RTX graphics cards could be up to 25 percent cheaper

I've also noticed more and more 3070 & 3080's in stock from Amazon, Newegg, and the likes. Looks like not buying a whole new PC just because you want to upgrade your video card will be a thing of the past, hopefully.
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

DOS=HIGH wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 3:36 am Asus says its RTX graphics cards could be up to 25 percent cheaper

I've also noticed more and more 3070 & 3080's in stock from Amazon, Newegg, and the likes. Looks like not buying a whole new PC just because you want to upgrade your video card will be a thing of the past, hopefully.
Please keep us informed! I've been waiting a looong time.

I've also VERY recently noticed video cards (literally one, MAYBE two) show up on deal sites again for the first time in...2 years? And not because they are deals, at all, but simply because they are in stock. That's the deal.
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Daehawk »

Looks like video card prices have dropped by a good chunk lately.
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Seeing more and more cards on deal sites now, and GOOD cards (RTX) in complete builds as well (that are not reaming you on price). Have not really seen that in a long time.

Could this possibly be a light at the end of the loooong dark, 1st world probs tunnel?
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Daehawk »

Saw where a 6900xt was $1000.
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Daehawk »

Im seeing another deal , this one at Best Buy.

MSI - AMD Radeon RX 6800 GAMING X TRIO 16G - 16GB GDDR6 - PCI Express 4.0

$769.99

Its in stock too right now.

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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Daehawk »

Found a Newegg deal on a 3080 for less than $1000 :)..by a buck.

MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X PCI Express 4.0 Video Card RTX 3080 VENTUS $999

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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

These LHR cards might actually allow gamers to game again!
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by hitbyambulance »

i might actually get a new video card this year!
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

hitbyambulance wrote: Wed Apr 13, 2022 12:54 pm i might actually get a new video card this year!
Same. I'm feeling it. The first decent deal I see on an RTX card (AFTER I get my first paycheck from new job, obviously), it's on.

OTOH, I'm shocked at how well my old GeForce 760 is holding up considering I upgraded my monitor to a 32" 2560x1440 not too long ago. AND considering I have what I assume to be an unusual computer gaming...rule: play it on max gfx settings (and native monitor res) or not at all! (bitches!) :P :music-headbanger:

This is precisely when having an absurd backlog of fantastic old games that any decent gamer would have played and completed long ago shows its advantage. There have been only a few games I tried to play with this particular monitor and gfx card combo where I immediately uninstalled due to chop (to be re-installed whenever I could buy a decent card).

I bought the recent Humble Bundle monthly deal that someone here mentioned, which contained Mass Effect Legendary edition, and was shocked to find out I could play that with no issues whatsoever! WTF. Maybe as you get into 2 and I guess especially 3, that will not be the case. Shocked. Pleased. I'm shleased. Pleaked?
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Jaymon »

In October of 2019 I got a GeForce RTX 2060 for $345. At the time it was a pretty new card, out for less than a year. A mid range card I think.

Its currently still available, the exact same thing, for $440, which is not bad, considering sometime last year I think it was listed at $700.


I was thinking about splurging and getting a better card, but I just cannot see myself spending $800 on a new video card. Thats just too much splurge. I was hoping for $500 or less.

But considering the same card is now in the mid 400 range, it seems unlikely I could get any sort of noticeable upgrade for that much.
Now I am cranky.
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Jaymon wrote: Wed Apr 20, 2022 7:24 pm In October of 2019 I got a GeForce RTX 2060 for $345. At the time it was a pretty new card, out for less than a year. A mid range card I think.

Its currently still available, the exact same thing, for $440, which is not bad, considering sometime last year I think it was listed at $700.


I was thinking about splurging and getting a better card, but I just cannot see myself spending $800 on a new video card. Thats just too much splurge. I was hoping for $500 or less.

But considering the same card is now in the mid 400 range, it seems unlikely I could get any sort of noticeable upgrade for that much.
Now I am cranky.
Yeah, I am pretty firm on never paying more than about $300-$400 on a video card. I just don't play enough current games to justify it.

In other news, a veritable floodgate of gaming cards must have been released, because I am seeing both systems and deals for individual cards. Many UNDER MSRP!! Feels surreal after 2+ years of almost NOTHING out there.
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by TheMix »

That's obviously because I bought a system in January.

You are welcome. :wink:

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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Carpet_pissr »

TheMix wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 4:10 pm That's obviously because I bought a system in January.

You are welcome. :wink:
Eh, you probably didn't fare too badly. The real price nut-kicking was via trying to buy (IF you could find one) just a better than just decent card by itself. From what I saw, the complete systems that contained nice video cards weren't absurdly priced (like the individual cards were).

I'm not sure this recent "flood" is a chip production issue as much as the manufacturers are cranking out "non-mining" cards now. Every recent card sold by itself that I've seen recently has been of the LHR variety (limited hash rate).
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Re: 2022 is truly the second-best year to upgrade your GPU

Post by Victoria Raverna »

Carpet_pissr wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 5:48 pm
TheMix wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 4:10 pm That's obviously because I bought a system in January.

You are welcome. :wink:
Eh, you probably didn't fare too badly. The real price nut-kicking was via trying to buy (IF you could find one) just a better than just decent card by itself. From what I saw, the complete systems that contained nice video cards weren't absurdly priced (like the individual cards were).

I'm not sure this recent "flood" is a chip production issue as much as the manufacturers are cranking out "non-mining" cards now. Every recent card sold by itself that I've seen recently has been of the LHR variety (limited hash rate).
It is also because the cryptomining business is not that good now. Ethereum is also going to change to proof-of-stake transaction which require less computing to validate transactions.
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