Welcome back friends of the channel, today I’m going to ponder on something very important.
That’s on the topic of purchasing graphics cards right now.
Prices on current cards are returning to normalish, but looming on the horizon
is the next generation. So the age of debate starts: should your but now or should you wait?
There are quite a few things to consider when trying to make that decision right now,
but hopefully I can get your cogs a turning so that you can make a
decision that works best for you. So without further ado, let’s go.
To get this discussion going, we have to turn the clock back all the way to 2020
when the GeForce RTX 3000 Series and the Radeon RX 6000 Series
debuted. Sure, there was a lot of bad stuff going on in the world at that time
BUT we got the most solid and competitive launch from both graphic giants in years.
The RTX 3080 came out gorilla style and blew us away with what
a $700 graphics card should be delivering. Not long behind that came the Radeon RX 6800XT
which delivered comparable raster performance for $50 less. What could go wrong? We gamers
were in heaven and genuinely had a debate on our hands-on concerning which card to go for.
Well, it didn’t take long for the miners to figure out these puppies were just right for them.
Marry that with an onslaught of scalpers as well as global shortages,
and us gamers were left out in the cold.
Nearly TWO years have passed. Mining is on a downturn, scalpers have moved on to other
things like shoes I guess, and pricing is coming down. We’re quickly approaching MSRP,
and even recently I caught sight of a GeForce RTX 3050 ON SALE, as in BELOW MSRP.
The same can be said for the lower tier Radeon cards like the RX 6600 as well. But after two
years are we really willing to pay what the cards should have been available for the whole time?
I mean, it does feel kinda crappy. That said the performance is still there, and if they were a
good price at launch then aren’t they still? There does however loom another question on the horizon.
Literally on the horizon. We’ve been in the current cycle for quite some time,
and with pricing just now coming in line with where it should have been,
it seems like it could be too little too late. Many folks have already started
claiming they’ll be waiting for the next generation and I completely understand that.
We know that launch cycles are quite predictable, or rather they were in the past. But a lot has
changed over the past couple of years. Everything has taken longer and there’s no promise that an
extended timeline won’t hit the graphics card scene as well. I mean, even Intel’s
Arc GPUs have been unceremoniously pushed back. Nvidia is even marketing heavily that they’re
‘back in stock’ so there’s nothing hinting at anything new anytime soon.
But a word of caution if you’re going to be a holdout for the next big thing. Remember the
RTX 3080 launch when all those folks sold their RTX 2080Ti’s for pennies on the dollar and were
left holding a bag of cash only to see no stock and massive price hikes?
I do! Just food for thought if you think that won’t happen again.
I beg you to do some research because it happens with EVERY major GPU launch cycle.
So what do you do? It’s hard to say because it really is going to depend on your current
situation and how badly you want an upgrade. If you’re still holding on to that hall of
fame contender GTX 1080 Ti, then you’re probably laughing all the way to the bank.
But if you’re on the RX 480 then you’re probably itching for something real bad.
I know no one likes a non-answer but you’re really going to have to be careful with this decision.
My advice is if you’ve got the cash saved and the card that will deliver the performance you need
or want for your resolution is available at or below MSRP soon,
then I might suggest going on and jumping on it if your current setup is feeling long in the tooth.
But, if you’re not running into performance issues right now then wait it out and see what happens.
PCWorlds current recommendation for 1080p gaming is either the RTX 3050 or RX 6000 depending on
street pricing, 1440p is RTX 3060Ti, and 4k is the RTX 3080 but right now all of those
could be in flux depending on street pricing. One question is, will those cards and others like them
hold their own against the new generation? Well on one hand it doesn't really matter since we have no
idea yet and these cards can get you better gaming now. On the other hand, when the next Gen launches
maybe these current cards look like chumps and you might feel like you wasted your money.
Unfortunately that's how things always go, things will get better over time. But if
you need it bad now it doesn't mean the current gen cards are just going to stop
working when next Gen launches. Yes, they will grow long in the tooth sooner and the price to
performance ratio will be off compared to the new stuff, but that's the risk.
But like I said earlier, we have rumors of what the next Gen holds and when it will launch but no
one knows but the companies right now. And even if the next generation does launch is 6 months
that doesn't mean you'll be able to get it right at launch. I'm not even talking about miners
and scalpers, I mean that the next Gen usually launches at the high end so you'll be waiting
even longer for the mid and low end options. Buy that time we might be talking a year from now.
One of the biggest reasons to wait though is that we have no idea on how Intel
entering the discrete graphics card market is going to shake things up.
They might have some attractive options that could cause major competition
that drives down prices. That is the hope, and if it's true gamers stand to benefit greatly.
But what's your reasoning for buying now or waiting? Let me know in the comment section
below, and while you’re down there hit that thumbs up button and make
sure you’re subscribed here at PCWorld for even more PC hardware and software goodness.