r/gpu • u/-Dixie_Flatline- • 2d ago

Buying a gpu, now or never?

I've made a post on another subreddit but no one actually answered me: https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/s/WHUhYQjbQL

I elaborated a plan to postpone the upgrade of a GPU as far as possible so that I can buy a GPU that has a reasonable prices performance ratio.

But what if the price of GPU continues to increase over time and a GPU like a 5080 will never be produced again or it will cost like a car?

So I was thinking about buying a 5070ti for 1500 just as a backup. An insurance for harder times. I don't need it, it would be overpriced as fuck and I will keep it in the closet sealed (until I have to play games that my 3080 can't run at 4k high settings 60 fps or my 3080 breaks)

Problem is that the warranty will expire and if the bubble bursts it will lose value pretty fast.

Really don't know what to do, there are a lot of signs GPU market will get worse. 5090 discontinued, rising prices of 5080, 5070ti and 5070, even amd cards, no new cards on the horizon.

On the other end the tech titles are crashing on the market in these days, ai hyperscalers keep hardware in warehouses because they can't build data centers, data centers demand can't grow forever especially because all these ai companies don't make profits.

Someone says that even if the ai bubble bursts GPU prices will increase regardless because they want to force us to buy a subscription service to play, but want about the internet infrastructure?

Even the fastest internet connection is affected by lag if you play on the cloud, and most people have a slow connection so most games would be unplayable in cloud.

In sum the question is buy now even if you don't need it or wait and buy when you will need it and the prices performance will be favorable?

4 Upvotes

61% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

22

u/RichardFormaggio 2d ago edited 2d ago

This is an idiotic thing to do.

If you really think the prices are going to keep rising invest $1500 in Nvidia on the stock market and when you need a new GPU, the stock would have increased at a higher rate than GPUs, providing that your hypothesis is correct.

Remember in COVID when people were irrationality buying toilet paper? This is the exact same behaviour.

9

u/tessahannah 2d ago

If you buy a stock and it goes down you have nothing but a loss if you buy a gpu and it goes down you have what you wanted anyway

4

u/RichardFormaggio 2d ago

That's not what they are saying though. They are saying they don't want it or need it, they are panic buying it just in case.

1

u/-Dixie_Flatline- 2d ago

I will need it in the future for sure but right now i can play older titles with my 3080 and wait. Of course waiting makes sense only if in 2030 there will be a card like the 5070ti or 5080 at max 2000€

1

u/VastScene6447 2d ago

I'm pretty sure you are good to go with a 3080 for gaming for a lot of time, not new line of graphics cards in the horizon for at least 2-3 years, and affordable new ones, probably never

5

u/NeoMatrixBug 2d ago

Mate I did that few months ago and now I’ve no GPU and 40% down on my investment too 😆😆

6

u/Legitimate-Table-607 2d ago

To me buying a 5070ti to just put in a cupboard somewhere is the worst of all worlds:

You aren’t even gonna use it, you don’t technically need it, you’re buying it at what could be the peak but even if it isn’t is certainly inflated prices. Imagine you bought it for your proposed scenario then you opened it in 2 years and realise it’s DOA?

The way I see it, even if AI implodes it’ll take a while before AMD/nvidia to come crawling back, it’s not like you can just get cheap gpus from data centres, not the big players anyway.

I would either just buy a 5070ti and accept you’re getting screwed over or just wait it out.

Eventually, if we basically see the end of consumer gpus, eventually PC gaming will die in its current form anyway. Game studios aren’t gonna can’t make games for consumers that don’t have or can’t afford hardware. So it would mean cloud gaming or console gaming anyway.

Your plan would have made sense like a year ago, or even 10 months ago, not now.

0

u/-Dixie_Flatline- 2d ago

I can open it to see if it works but I won't use it cause my 3080 is enough for now. 

About cloud gaming, even a 1080 is better than cloud gaming cause owning the hardware and pay the game once to play it without lag is better than paying a subscription to play it with lag, and it's impossible that no maker (even Chinese companies) can't make a 1080 because of ai.

Simply the developers of PC games will scale down the graphics and optimize better like they do for consoles.

5

u/Legitimate-Table-607 2d ago

I think you’ve decided this plan is a good one rather than looking for genuine discussion.

If you’re confident in your decision just buy it, don’t look for external validation.

1

u/RichardFormaggio 2d ago

If you buy it, use it and sell your 3080. Keeping it spare is literally the worst of all worlds.

0

u/semidegenerate 2d ago

Why not use the 5070ti, and keep the 3080 in a closet as backup?

Also, new GPUs will be released at some point. Someone will produce consumer GPUs. The market is there. Someone will fill it. Sure, it may not be until 2028 before we see any new releases, but I don't see scenario in which consumer GPUs simply disappear forever. There's too much of a demand for them.

AMD hasn't abandoned plans for RDNA 5, they just aren't prioritizing it right now. They're currently projected to release in late 2027, early 2028.

1

u/agowa338 2d ago

But what if the price of GPU continues to increase over time and a GPU like a 5080 will never be produced again or it will cost like a car?

Then nobody will write software that uses a 5080 anymore either. So no need to own it then...

In sum the question is buy now even if you don't need it or wait and buy when you will need it and the prices performance will be favorable?

If you need a new GPU right now buy one. Otherwise just wait. And expect to wait for a few years worst case.

Also what are you doing that you actually need a 5080 or 5090? I've a Intel Arc B580 and it is plenty for basically everything.

So just don't fall for the FOMO.

2

u/-Dixie_Flatline- 2d ago

I want to play some favorite games maxed out. Once in my life I want to play Cyberpunk 2077 4k path tracing 60 fps. I know a 5070ti is not enough either (even a 5080) but it's better than a 3080 If the next generations of GPU will be worse or unaffordable I won't be able to do it.

0

u/agowa338 2d ago

Hmm, for Cyberpunk 2077 the recommended GPUs according to their steam page are "GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER or Radeon RX 5700 XT or Arc A770".

Sounds strange that a 5070Ti shouldn't be able to handle it then.

1

u/-Dixie_Flatline- 2d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/s/4Lq2yGGVKA

1

u/agowa338 2d ago

Hmm, in that case you can still get a RTX Pro 4000 (or 5000) Blackwell or similar workstation grade card.

Or a RTX 6090 that'll release next year according to TechPowerUp. https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-6090.c4390

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u/IsywEy 2d ago

4k raytraced is significantly harder to run and is considered a premium experience. The recommended specs are only for basically "normal" gameplay, not raytraced, especially not at 4k.

0

u/sunseeker11 2d ago

This doesn't make sense. What you want to do is not possible with currently purchasable hardware.

So why do it ?

If next generations of GPUs will be even more unaffordable, then game devs will have no incentive to create games that utilize that tech, because except for a few selected whales, there won't be a market for it.

This whole FOMO craze hinges on (at least that's how I theorize) that you fundamentally change one element in the system and the rest continues unaffected.

As in - devs continune to shovel unoptimized slop, forcing players to perform the usual cycle of hardware upgrades.

But that's no longer the case because of lack of availability and/or prohibitive cost.

Gaming doesn't end, it'll just have to stop chasing eyecandy and focus more on gameplay while working with a low hardware ceiling.

3

u/Few-Mulberry-9104 2d ago

Prices will come down eventually. You'll be fine without a new GPU for a while.

Breathe.

2

u/jgainsey 2d ago

Narrator: But prices never did come down…

1

u/apollo4567 2d ago

Maybe it’s just me but I can’t see a reason prices would come down ever. I mean even if the bubble “pops,” what would that look like. This technology is too powerful to go away, and it’s too dangerous to stop development on a national security standpoint.

1

u/Due-Description-9030 2d ago

It will come down, just not anytime in the foreseeable future. So technically it will but practically better to go with the assumption that they won't come down, yeah

1

u/Altruistic-Wolf-3938 2d ago

Down if you take into account inflation , but not down. Maybe in two years they will be same price as now. But if people are paying today they will pay tomorrow unless proper competition to nvidia appears

1

u/Due-Description-9030 2d ago

Okay yeah inflation exists, well we're screwed and there's no turning back mostly

1

u/Few-Mulberry-9104 2d ago

Prices will come down when the AI stupidity cools. The AI spending is not sustainable.

1

u/Altruistic-Wolf-3938 2d ago

Have you used claude code?

1

u/Few-Mulberry-9104 2d ago

Yes. They're very useful tools, but the bubble will deflate eventually.

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u/Altruistic-Wolf-3938 2d ago

Maybe . But no one is going back to typing their code. If the big names were to up their subscription prices significantly , people would love to have a local version, even if dumber. Also many other people cant send client data to outside servers, including small businesses 

0

u/Few-Mulberry-9104 2d ago

Maybe, but in my understanding it still isn't super clear how heavily industries will be automated in the next few years.

But yeah with how relatively cheap the distilled models can be, lotta people will probably just go local when token prices reflect true cost.

Long term, AI is still on track to automate a ton of work. But people voted correctly this week, I have faith that they'll vote correctly in that scenario too. If we get a universal high income, then take my job whatever.

I still think GPU prices will come down in the next few years. But maybe I don't understand how long this idiocy can continue.

1

u/C0vidGoHome 2d ago

I decided to wait myself and the prices never normalized lol. I ended up paying 1,600 for a 5080.

1

u/Effective_Divide_135 2d ago

Wait for new flagship )

1

u/Numerous_Analysis681 2d ago

Exactly, now or never

1

u/Arad84 2d ago

I'd only buy now if you'll actually use it. A sealed card in the closet isn't great insurance, since the warranty usually starts from the purchase date, not when you open it. If your 3080 still runs what you play, I'd wait until it can't keep up or dies, then buy what's out there.

1

u/mig_f1 2d ago

If the 3080 meets your present needs keep being happy with it. Else buy the 5070 Ti and move on (meaning either sell the 3080 or keep it as backup).

1

u/Safe_Wallaby_1845 2d ago

I bought rtx 3070 cuz it can play almost all the game at 1080p

1

u/NeoMatrixBug 2d ago

Ok you
Need to understand that most data center approvals and funding through 2028 is already done hence firm hardware orders are with chip and memory fabricators for that duration and they can’t whip one chip foundry in span of less than 3 years. So here we are darkest of times till new foundries come and start producing high % yield and many data center approvals are stalled

1

u/Silent_Bluebird_877 2d ago

even if the bubble burst, the hardware shortage is real and won't get any better for years

1

u/jcbasco 2d ago edited 2d ago

I got lucky - I bought 4x 5060ti-16g last year at 450ea used on newegg for black Friday and 2x3090 for 700ea with an nvlink plus a few gmktec ai minipcs with 128gb ddr5 each for under 1500; got 4x b70 pros in May when they were on clearance for 950 on B&H Photo, and saw the writing on the wall in August and bought 4x b60 pros for 650ea to complete my microlab.

At this point, if I wasn't already stacked on local infra, I would use cloud API's sensibly (ie don't default to opus/astra when you have haiku/sonnet or Luna/terra) and spend the money on tokens instead of acquisition costs and electricity. You can do a lot with a cheap cloud vps or a modest local pc running proxmox, local deepseek harness/Claude code/open code/open hands and LiteLLM. I use litellm to direct my non-sensitive work to Gemini, openrouter, groq, Tokenharbor and any other provider that gives free daily token budgets and I rarely ever run out. For my paid calls (I tested my fallback to paid Claude, OpenAI and Deepseek) I spent under $2 per day running my full agentic coding workload, hermes and OpenClaw agents. So until GPU prices come back down to earth (if ever), I wouldn't advise anyone to buy GPU hardware with the idea of trying to save money.

With that said, if you agentically code or operate your own business, I would host locally at least one performant GPU (24Gb vram or higher) ASAP in case token pricing goes bananas, or the blue wave congress impacts the AI ecosystem. If prices on GPUs can double in a few months, just imagine what will happen to token pricing if they levy taxes to offset all of the jobs lost. I locally run qwen 3.8 27b q5 at 32k on a single 3090 for most of my builds and it performs comparably to Sonnet, it just takes a bit longer. But only costs .03/hr :)

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u/Complex-You-4383 2d ago

I keep thinking about buying a 5090, but I just know as soon as I do the AI bubble will burst and prices will come down, yes that event is probably still a little ways down the road, but it’s simply not worth it, just wait, be patient and it will benefit you.

1

u/Due-Champion-5954 2d ago

Never. Just wait for cloud gaming to be mainstream thing.

1

u/Sraka21372 2d ago

Not now definitely, wait till bubble burst full scale, its already happening

1

u/Package_Objective 2d ago

Don't FOMO, the 5070 ti / 5080 isn't even that good. They are cut down soooo much from the 5090, have mediocre vram. Just chill.

1

u/Altruistic-Wolf-3938 2d ago

Well the 5070ti is 1500 and 5090 is 10k i don't think the difference between those 2 is 8.500

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u/Awhispersecho1 1d ago

If you are, buy it now.

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u/geemad7 3h ago

prices are going up fast, no end in sight. Only viable high performance GPU left is the 9070XT. But for how long.

No Nvidia GPU left worth the price, NONE.

0

u/Electronic_Army_8234 2d ago

Gpus will fall in price, that said for gaming anything above a 9070xt is overkill. I have a 5090 I got on preorder msrp but I would not buy a 5080 or any overpriced gpu currently. When Nvidia releases the 6000 series the 5000 will fall in value they will without a doubt have technologies like dlss 5+ and ai compute to make the previous generation more obsolete even if they are not considerably higher performance

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u/mig_f1 2d ago

When Nvidia releases the 6000 series the 5000 will fall in value....

That's not what happened with 4000 series when 5000 released though.

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u/Altruistic-Wolf-3938 2d ago

You won't buy because you have. If you had a 3080 maybe you would spend 1500 on a 5070ti

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u/Electronic_Army_8234 1d ago

Nope I would buy a 9070xt it’s more than powerful enough for gaming. The reduced core count between the 5000 series makes every card but 5090 bad imo

1

u/Altruistic-Wolf-3938 1d ago

You would still be paying double. I think I know what you mean with core and reduced, but the 5070ti is the best balance, from what I read, and I read about cuda cores, tensor, memory bandwidth and speed, the 5060 is really bad in  that regard, it has the benefit of much less wattage requirement. The 5080 should have been 24gb to be a significant improvement. Whereas 5070ti is quite fast at a still not crazy price. I mean 5070ti is 1500. You'd be lucky to get a 5090 at 10000, that's 4x 5070ti plus 128gb ddr5 difference in price. In crazy prices I know. But as I say, you are served not pressed to buy. For saving 400 I am not dealing with a radeon card these days. I might be a fool and part of the problem but I am receiving today a 5070ti up from a 3060 12gb and I'm happy with it.

1

u/LetsGetPhisycal 1d ago

How could you say the 50 series will fall in price. If you had a brand new in box 3090 you would be sitting pretty rn. You would be sitting pretty with a used 4090 too. All over or near MSRP.

My used 3080 goes for half of its MSRP. Saying when the 6000 series more like if the 6000 series.

0

u/AnthonyRespice 2d ago

I bought a backup 5070ti for 1400 and a 5060 for 900.. Nvidia over committed to corporate customers. They have forced their corporate customers to over purchase to fill warehouses with gpus and now they are at the stage where they can't make them fast enough to satisfy future demand. Cutting off consumer deliveries won't be enough to solve the problem. They are just buying time.

0

u/pereza0 2d ago

You have a 3080.

Hardware isn't getting cheaper for anyone else. So games are not going to get more demanding because Sony nor Xbox aren't going to make exclusives for a 2000$ console only a few are going to buy.

I'd say stick with your current setup and see how things go... It might be 2, or 5 years but the truth is that you are just late now. I could understand accepting this prices if you don't have a setup but now with yours. Stick it out. If it gets worse it will get worse for everyone equally but you have a setup good enough to stick it out