Why I'm not buying an RTX 3000 series card at MSRP

[18358414]

I'm currently using a GTX 750ti, and have been thinking of upgrading my GPU.  Then RTX 3000 came out, and I thought I might get one... but I kept hearing about availability issues and whatnot. 

 

Well, currently I can get an EVGA RTX 3070 at MSRP in my little Canadian town because our local computer shop doesn't show stock levels in online searches and nobody locally knows what an RTX 3070 card even is.  So if I wanted that 3070, I can get it. 

 

But then I think, "almost CAD$800 for a graphics card?  To pair with a R3 1300x?"  They have CPUs too, I could upgrade to a 3700x, but why? 

 

With the hype that's build up over this stuff, I just took a step back and asked myself "why do I want to upgrade?".  The answer: I don't... and I really don't need to right now.  If I bought it, it would just be sitting there idle 90% of the time and by the time I actually start using to its potential it'll be old news.  So if you're sitting there lamenting over the lack of GPU supply, ask yourself if you *really really* need to upgrade right now.  After considering that perspective, I'm pretty happy with what I already have.

[GuiltySpark_]

I'm not sure I understand this post. You don't play enough video games at demanding enough resolutions so that works for you. Others play a lot of video games at high resolutions so yeah, they want to upgrade or even get a card for their new build. 

 

 

[18358414]

3 minutes ago, rickeo said:

I'm not sure I understand this post. You don't play enough video games at demanding enough resolutions so that works for you. Others play a lot of video games at high resolutions so yeah, they want to upgrade or even get a card for their new build. 

 

 

I livestream and have a triple monitor setup.  I play enough video games that I need a decent gpu, but there's really no need to go crazy and buy a 3070 (or even a 2060; a 1070 would be a step up, but if a 750ti works, then it works).  I guess I'm tired of hearing people complain about wanting a 3070 to upgrade from their 1070; I don't see why people should be ripping their hair out over this stuff. 

[GorujoCY]

2 minutes ago, Yuri Fury said:

I livestream and have a triple monitor setup.  I play enough video games that I need a decent gpu, but there's really no need to go crazy and buy a 3070 (or even a 2060; a 1070 would be a step up, but if a 750ti works, then it works).  I guess I'm tired of hearing people complain about wanting a 3070 to upgrade from their 1070; I don't see why people should be ripping their hair out over this stuff. 

I mean something over the 3060 is considered a decent upgrade from any card. Also it sounds like you havent watched linus's video about bottlenecking too:

ill leave it here

 

[crazzp]

I believe the OP is talking about scarcity principle / minimialism mindset.

 

People want what they can't get, be it limited edition sneakers, autographed jersey only-one-in-the-world paintings, people are willing to spend alot of money for things which are limited even though there may not be necessary a need. 

Changing to a minimalism mindset, the OP has thought through clearly, "Do I really NEED this GPU?". If you put away your emotion and the urge to get that rare GPU, the answer is no. 

 

I like what OP is sharing. Minimalism is what many of us should work towards to, getting only what we need and not just buying things simply because we have the fear of missing out. 

[GuiltySpark_]

1 minute ago, Yuri Fury said:

I livestream and have a triple monitor setup.  I play enough video games that I need a decent gpu, but there's really no need to go crazy and buy a 3070 (or even a 2060; a 1070 would be a step up, but if a 750ti works, then it works).  I guess I'm tired of hearing people complain about wanting a 3070 to upgrade from their 1070; I don't see why people should be ripping their hair out over this stuff. 

Because this is a hobby. I had a 1070 a while back. I could not play Horizon Zero Dawn at 3440x1440 at a playable framerate so yes, I needed to upgrade. At the time, 3000 series was only announced so I got a 2080 Super to hold me off and it was a massive upgrade for that game and my enjoyment of it was increased. 

 

I don't understand this talk about a 750Ti working unless you're using 3x 720p displays but modern high resolution displays and modern games will not be playable on a 750Ti. Hell I couldn't get the results i'm after with a 2060 or even a 3070 so it was 3080 or bust. 

 

Turns out the only available card during a Best Buy drop was a 3090 FE so I went with that but that's a different story. 

 

End of the day, maybe you have no reason to upgrade but others in the same situation may WANT to upgrade because they do this stuff for fun. 

[18358414]

1 minute ago, GorujoCY said:

sounds like you havent watched linus's video about bottlenecking

Yeah, I've watched it. The takeaway I got is that it's futile to upgrade in a lot of situations.  How does a 750ti manage to drive 3x 1080p monitors at more than 30fps while streaming?  I haven't bothered to dive too deep into why it works so well, but it does the job.  Maybe it's because I have no idea what "Horizon Zero Dawn" is because I usually play simulator, RTS, and turn-based games. 

 

I get that it's a hobby. I have hobbies also.  But I don't run out and spend thousands of dollars on my hobby when I can be just as happy with what I already have. 

[Rameares]

Your right if your not going to push the limits of a card you are wasting your money, a suitable upgrade for you might be a gtx 1650 super or gtx 1660.

 

A lot of people buy things because they want them not because they need them. The time to upgrade is when your current hard ware can not meet your own reequipments. As you pointed out your happy with a 750 ti and it's performance while others here found RTX 20 series cards could not meet their reequipments.

[tikker]

59 minutes ago, Yuri Fury said:

I guess I'm tired of hearing people complain about wanting a 3070 to upgrade from their 1070; I don't see why people should be ripping their hair out over this stuff.

Here we arrive at, I think, the key point of your initial post. From your perspective a 3070 isn't needed. Which I can understand, because you then say

45 minutes ago, Yuri Fury said:

Maybe it's because I have no idea what "Horizon Zero Dawn" is because I usually play simulator, RTS, and turn-based games.

There are exceptions of course, but simulator games, RTS games and turn-based games generally aren't the most visually demanding games. They are often CPU bound because of the amount of game logic that it needs to process in terms of many entities to keep track of, AI to evaluate, certain effects etc. FPS typically doesn't matter as much either in those type of games. If the game in addition to that also does not or cannot leverage many cores effectively, the GPU will not matter that much.

 

I don't know your specific titles, but because of these reasons I am not surprised that a 750 Ti still suits your needs. For you getting 30 FPS in, I don't know, Civilization, may be completely sufficient and enjoyable. On the other hand I very much like being able to pump >120 FPS in e.g. DOOM Eternal or at least maintain something near 60 FPS in Horizon Zero Dawn. On my setup the former is doing that fine, but the latter is where it starts to struggle on higher graphics settings.

54 minutes ago, crazzp said:

Changing to a minimalism mindset, the OP has thought through clearly, "Do I really NEED this GPU?". If you put away your emotion and the urge to get that rare GPU, the answer is no.

The line between need and want will be different for different people though. This reminds me of other topics in the past saying we should all just go to APUs because we can get those and they "run games" and nobody needs >30 FPS. An older GPU X may very well run your game comfortably at 1080p@30Hz Medium settings, but it can certainly be more enjoyable to run at e.g 1440p@144Hz Ultra. They both server their markets. People who just want to enjoy the game will be satisfied with the lower end hardware, but people that want to enjoy the game in its fullest glory will want something more.

 

Of course objectively the answer for these kind of things will most of the time be no, because a GPU, or even a computer for that regard, isn't a basic life necessity. Nobody needs it, unless their work depends on it. We are allowed to want one though. What I do find ridiculous is the anger and outrage about not being able to get one. We're all upset, but a GPU isn't worth fretting that much over.

 

45 minutes ago, Yuri Fury said:

I get that it's a hobby. I have hobbies also.  But I don't run out and spend thousands of dollars on my hobby when I can be just as happy with what I already have. 

That's the nice thing about hobbies. People can spend as much or as little as they fancy.

[18358414]

Yeah, pretty much the whole point is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".  I never really said that a 3070 wasn't a good choice for anyone, but was more trying to point out that not everyone would be able to even use it to its potential.  I know a guy who bought a 2070 last summer and is used it to play chess, process word documents, and host teleconferences.  I ask him, and he doesn't even know why he bought it, it was just what the guy at the store suggested. 

 

People are free to spend their money however they want, and I will probably never understand some of it (like people who spend $10000+ on mobile apps); supply isn't going to be low forever so I don't see much point in getting frenzied up about the 3000 series cards in this market. 

 

Perhaps I should delve deeper into GPU lore to better understand the mindset. 

[SorryBella]

1 minute ago, Yuri Fury said:

Perhaps I should delve deeper into GPU lore to better understand the mindset.

Nvidia Cinematic Universe.

 

Honestly your anecdote somehow really match me right now. Ive been only really using this computer to watch youtube, discord, and many homeworks. Real life really hits you like a train hard enough to make you have to forget gaming.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

I mean... I'm running a 550Ti at 1440P and I'm not buying a RTX 3000 series. 

_{Seriously someone help me this thing and the FX-6300 is fucking garbage.}