You know, this makes me want to just get a PS4 or something to play games these days. So much cheaper. The thing about consoles - and really this goes back to the early days - is that they push them to the limits and are creative about using a known set of tools and tech.

With PC GPUs changing, what, every two years now and doubling in price, something like PS4 makes a lot of sense. And that old adage of graphics not making a game still holds true.

Quote from: Freddy on September 29, 2018, 01:39:24 AM
You know, this makes me want to just get a PS4 or something to play games these days. So much cheaper. The thing about consoles - and really this goes back to the early days - is that they push them to the limits and are creative about using a known set of tools and tech.

With PC GPUs changing, what, every two years now and doubling in price, something like PS4 makes a lot of sense. And that old adage of graphics not making a game still holds true.

Agreed Freddy.

PC gaming is heading in the direction of hardcore gaming, something for the few and not the many.

For the casual gamer there will still be cheaper option cards available, also with AMD joining forces with Intel to add better onboard graphics to Intel CPUs there might be some light at the end of the tunnel.  

One of the biggest mistakes I made when I bought my system back then was that I opted for NO OBG or OBA on the MoBo. This turned out to be a mistake on my part, forcing me to scramble when my vid cards both failed. Sadly, it was at JUST the wrong time for me, on both a personal financial level, AND from the standpoint of the cryptocurrency boom. {sigh!} I notice that single vid cards capable of supporting 4 monitors is edging back into the $300USD range, so perhaps soon I'll be able to get a decent card for my gear (should I ever get some income, that is), but it's still months off, at the very least.

Checking in, BTW. Will report on things in the daily thread.

Nice to hear from you Dave, I went through a long waiting time before being able to get a video card for my build.  I think I got a good deal on a Evga 1070 with a water cooler.
Carl2

You'll get there Dave 

Regardless of choosing to say no to the new range of cards I'll still keep an eye on things. Here's an article which looks interesting, I only skimmed it so far.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and 2080 review

We are still waiting for AMD's next offering, when it arrives expect it to shake up the prices 

  I looked at the article but it is really over my head, a photo on the screen for a fraction of a second.  Maybe its very good for the right person but I'm not sure if I'd see a difference.  Probably a matter of if the game will play.
Carl2

Carl, I can try to summarise. Basically from what I see it's a case of diminishing returns. Sure some of the new features are 'nice to haves' but they are far from essential. The features they add are things like making a scene more defined and adding more realistic shadows. And they are only obtainable by paying through the nose.

Give it a couple of years for the tech to become mainstream and the prices may go down. In the meantime you can spend all the money you save on games  

I have to say I did run into a few games I liked, low cost maybe free games.  I don't care for the running around shooting people or monsters, when hunting in the woods you don't shoot people.  I saw a vid of a driving game, totally unreal since you can't drive down a street like that.  So games get better and video cards get better but paying as much for a video card when whole computers cost less is another thing.
Carl2

QuoteI saw a vid of a driving game, totally unreal since you can't drive down a street like that.

I'm sure you can get a nice Sunday Driver simulator Carl 

Sure it's not like you would drive down the street like that, but isn't that why we play games, so we can do this escapist stuff ?

I don't see many dragons in my part of the world either. But each to their own

Quotepaying as much for a video card when whole computers cost less is another thing

Yes, you hit the nail on the head. 4K PC gaming is prohibitive, but is attainable for a great deal less with a console.

Here's a bit of interesting news.

QuoteNvidia Delivers Ray Tracing Driver for Previous-Gen Pascal Cards

Yep thats right, you can now enable Ray Tracing on GTX graphics cards, performance might not be great in games but there might be some other uses i.e. renders. 

https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/nvidia-ray_tracing-pascal-10_series-driver,news-60356.html

I will have to have a play with that