Is pc gaming over?...inovation is dead.

[joecomp2000]

this is a questions I have been having lately. Gaming cards have gone through the roof. we all know this.

So there is a handful of people that are sucking it up and paying $1000 for a card . But looking at steam , most people are not moving from gtx 1060 or 1050ti ( which you can not find use for less than $200 or new for $300 for a 1050ti)

IIRC that means the 1060 and 1050ti represent almost 20% of the market . ad the 16x0 's and the 10 series and we are probably around 50% of the steam survey running cars coming up for 6 years old.

has any rtx entered the top 10? I do not see this ending any time soon, in fact I suspect ti is getting worse.  that all being said. with out rtx being used , why would software companies embrace the new bells and whistles. After all wouldn't  they want to sell the most copies?

SO this is the way I see it there are 3 options

1) Software companies build for new cards and sell less copies, leading to lower profits , and a closing of the less selling titles. making the pc game market smaller maybe extinct.

2) people dump the pc and go console , bring software companies with them as they chase the market. again pc gamin is dead.

3) software companies use the new features, but build also for lower priced cards. this is the best scenario. however it increases cost for the companies .innovations become un-used and essentially dead ...again people move to consoles 

 

I realize consoles are hard to get too, but they seem easier to get . and still are less than 3060's

 

every day this goes on , I think it is more and more likely.... I question whether we passed the point of no return

if you were a software company , would you be working on the console version or the pc version .... yeah they make copies for both, but they debug the platform they sell most of...

will pc be a second class platform

 

[Chris Pratt]

The 10 series and 16 series cards have persisted because they're actually really decent cards. What you're seeing isn't stagnation, it's that we finally reached a critical mass where you don't *have* to upgrade to the latest and greatest cards to have a good gaming experience.

 

The 20 series and especially 30 series definitely bring more to the table, and for things like 4K gaming or ray tracing, they're essential, but that's not where the majority of the market is. It has always been this way. The vast majority of users on steam are still playing 1080p, so yeah, you don't need the latest and greatest for that. The enthusiasts with high def, high refresh monitors, monster CPUs, fast RAM and storage, etc. also have the best graphic cards, but this is always a small segment, because of the cost involved.

 

The pandemic and subsequent availability issues probably didn't help matters, but you'd see largely the same thing regardless.

 

[Sequence]

PC has been a kind of second class platform since forever imo but it is not bigger than ever, with massive pickup from media orgs with the explosive growth of esports. I would not worry about pc gaming crashing and burning. it is here to stay for a long time yet however stagnant the games that come out are. 

[xg32]

on budget builds we have the 5600g which is solid for 1080p/60fps or 720p high refresh

 

the 1650ti or the 1660ti is the best selling dgpu, and they are faster than the last budget cards.

 

in 2018 a 2080ti was 1200usd, a scalped 3070 is 900usd. in 2021 The market for 30 series is getting even better.  It's not just scalpers+miners that bought the cards

 

We are fine, pc gaming is still growing from what im tracking. 

 

Even if it dies (just a fun thought, not happening), worst case we all go console

 

 

[joecomp2000]

have you priced a 1660 lately ....they are solidly over $400... because of the miners.

the super upper end, that has always been high, and now it is higher and not available.

I just see so few people that use the gaming card for gaming upgrade, and think this could stiffle inovation

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

I would suggest PC hardware, and software, are having a golden age.

 

Sales are through the roof, customers are stuck at home as a captive audience and consequently every metric is up - plus, there's never been more variety of GPU, CPU, cases, motherboards etc...or of gaming platforms (Steam, Epic etc...),  and of the games themselves. 

 

There is literally something for everyone, at every price point. 

 

Yes, scalpers have taken advantage of a unique situation, but that won't last forever. 

 

The fact is, it is still possible for 99% of people to play 99% of all PC games on the market - whether it is at 1080p on low settings, or at 1440, or 4k ultra, and everything in between. 

 

That's just my perspective, at any rate.

[tikker]

22 minutes ago, joecomp2000 said:

because of the miners.

No, because of the pandemic and related crap of which miners are only part.

 

Cross-platform games I do often feel like they're developed for console and then ported to PC with a little bit extra detail. You notice that in everything from asset quality to control schemes. That also explains why the 10 series and 60/70 level cards are so ubiquitous, because they run the majority of things just fine.

 

Pandemic pricing also doesn't help. Needing an "ultra graphics card" to play on ultra settings also isn't something that goes down well anymore. That depends on the goal of the top tier hardware though. Should it be that the top of the line GPU can run the game at ultra 60 FPS or 120-240 FPS? Our defnition of "playable experience" has changed and 30 FPS doesn't sit nicely with the PCMR.

[joecomp2000]

well you look at the miner channels on youtube and they love the 1660S...power to hash ratio... the interesting thing is the really love the rx6600 and xt..again power/hash ratio.

which the gamers panned

 

[ADarkBard]

Once the GPUs gamers want are no longer wanted by miners we may see things calm down. A miner can easily absorb the cost of 1,000 GPU. Though what we keep hearing is they aren't paying that much via back room deals and such. Only gamers are and that is because scalpers swoop in and grab up the supply as soon as it hits retail channels. 

[Montana One-Six]

I think @Chris Pratt really has some good points here.

Like he said for 1080p, which still is the most common resolution people play on, you really don't need much more than a 1060.

 

Since I want to switch to 4K I went ahead and got a 30 series (didn't pay scalped prices though). Otherwise I would have stayed with my 980ti since it is still a very capable card at 1080p, even played cyberpunk at a mix of high and medium settings at about 50FPS. Maybe I would have tried getting something like a 1080ti (just to have some overhead plus 900 series is next for eol) but definitely wouldn't have bought a 30 series card if I planned on staying at 1080p.

[joecomp2000]

see there is another innovation that is going no where , 4k.. my xbox one x does 4k ..a 1060 is not going to do 4k at any decent frame rate.

 

side note...a 980ti was an amazing card.... although the power was brutal.. it was still an awesome card for it's day. and still very respectable.

especially 1080..

 

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

19 hours ago, Montana16 said:

I think @Chris Pratt really has some good points here.

Like he said for 1080p, which still is the most common resolution people play on, you really don't need much more than a 1060.

 

Since I want to switch to 4K I went ahead and got a 30 series (didn't pay scalped prices though). Otherwise I would have stayed with my 980ti since it is still a very capable card at 1080p, even played cyberpunk at a mix of high and medium settings at about 50FPS. Maybe I would have tried getting something like a 1080ti (just to have some overhead plus 900 series is next for eol) but definitely wouldn't have bought a 30 series card if I planned on staying at 1080p.

Yes, a 30 series is complete overkill for 1080p gaming.