Video Card Dilemma- Buy now or wait

Midnitewolf · November 17, 2019

I am having a huge Dilemma. I want to build a new PC for myself for Christmas to take advantage of holiday discounts but the lack of any new, high end GPU options being available prior to Christmas, combined with the fact we will have new high end GPU options probably within the next 3-6 months has really placed me in an awkward place and I wanted to get some opinions. One consideration of mine is that right now, I am only running 1080p Ultrawide but expect to upgrade to 49 inch Super Ultrawide probably around this time next year and want to maintain as high of frame rate as possible on demanding AAA titles. Currently from my research this means that unless I want to replace the video card next year, I would need a 2080 TI now however, it just seems a waste to spend $1100+ on a Video card when the next gen will be out in probably less than 6 months and AMD's high end competitive (We hope) card might even be significantly cheaper than $1100.

Right now I believe I have several options available to me.

1) Bite the bullet and build out a system with a 2080 TI. The advantage here is that the 2080 TI should give me all the performance I will need to push max frame rates on the 49 inch Super Ultrawide monitor I will be buying next year and I probably won't need to upgrade the Video card for quite sometime unless ray tracing just goes bonkers anyway. Also I will be able to run damn near anything on at or near extreme settings w/ray tracing immediately while getting at least 60 fps on my current monitor and in most cases, be able to take advantage of its current 144hz refresh rate. The disadvantage is that I am going to be buying a super expensive video card 3-6 months prior to it being replaced by the next generation which feels really painful for some reason.

2) Go with a 2070 Super or 5700XT now and then next Christmas replace it with a 5800/5900 XT or 3080 TI (or whatever name they choose) - This obviously means replacing a $400-$500 card in roughly a year's time which is also rather painful when you think about it. However, either of these cards will run my current monitor just fine and the resulting PC build would still be a major upgrade for me.

3) Just forgo the Christmas discounts now and wait 6 months until the new video cards come out. - My PC right now is still somewhat OK. I can at least get 60 fps out all the new games, even Metro Exodus, as long as I am willing drop some of the setting down a bit but can't fully take advantage of my 144 hz refresh rate on a lot of the newer games and I kind of really want to treat myself to something nice for Christmas.

So what do you all think?

Aristotle2019 · November 17, 2019

Buy all components now on sale - saves money in expensive CPU and motherboards, except GPU and buy the new 5900XT/3080Ti when it comes out . For the meantime , use the 2070Super, or just a 2070 or maybe 2060 Super. Turn down the settings. Or use your older 1080 ultrawide for the meantime but buy the the super ultrawide on sale. And the games. Might be a while until u can take full advantage of a game. But patience is gold.

This is what I would do.

Ravendarat · November 17, 2019

Linus actually talked about this on LAN show and he did what I would do. He would buy the newest gen card out and then sell it 4-6 weeks before the new one would come out, that way the card retained way more of its value on the secondary market and the money he gets out of it will put a huge dent in the next cards price tag. So if I was you I would buy a card to get you up and running and then sell it before the new stuff actually drops that way you can get the most money for your used gear as possible. I have a 2080ti and will likely put it up for sale about a month or so before the next gen comes out