Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
$1,200 GPU is inaccessible for many, but a $1,200 iPhone is not? 🤷‍♂️

This is how I can tell you don't keep up with PC gaming.

The GPU market has been a hot mess since late 2020 due to the chip shortage, scalpers, and Nvidia doing paper launches and purposefully screwing over supply to make artificial demand for the 30 series. It's gotten so bad many PC builders have resorted to buying prebuilts from OEMs like Dell and HP just to salvage the graphics cards in them.

The situation got worse last year when EVGA made the announcement they were no longer going to make GPUs because they got sick and tired of Nvidia draconian almost Apple like management of their partners. EVGA was the best in the business and the ones singlehandedly keeping Nvidia's engineering in check, and with them gone...dark times are ahead.

On the bright side the 30 series are now readily available, and I recommend them over a 40 series card any day.
 


...but the $1,200 price makes it inaccessible for many.
Yeah and the total lack of hardware support from Apple.

When you think about it, Apple has given the greatest gift to Microsoft by not embracing gaming, because every person that both likes to participate in serious gaming, and also likes to use a Mac for work/productivity, is essentially forced to buy a second Windows machine for gaming ("Thanks Apple," says Microsoft, Intel, and all other PC manufacturers), or else make a compromise one way or the other.

For me, I've chosen to use apple mobile devices (iPhone, iPad), and then otherwise PCs exclusively for both work and play. I can live with the PC for work, because honestly most major productivity and design software is cross platform now anyway (or there are solid alternatives), and it's not worth it to me to switch between two devices all the time when I go back and forth between work and play.

Plus, every new hardware release from Apple on the Desktop/Laptop side is already out of date hardware by the time anyone gets it in-hand anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Spaceboi Scaphandre
Yah, what does that even look like on the screen? marketing or visible difference?

With extremely low latency gigabit fiber and a high refresh rate screen...maybe.

But for most people this is just a way to eat through a data cap faster. Until that gouging practice is outlawed, a lot of technology is going to be held back.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: compwiz1202
$1,200 GPU is inaccessible for many, but a $1,200 iPhone is not? 🤷‍♂️



Nvidia needs to offer an interest-free monthly payment plan like Apple does for the iPhone.
I think it's more of a budgeting thing. Not that people can't buy it but can't justify the cost for what it does.. Even a cheap car costs $20,000 but people buy those every day. That car will get you to work and anywhere else you need to go so it's very important in the scheme of things. A good phone does a lot of things where it keeps you in communication with people, and you can use it for entertainment. A GPU only does part of one thing. It's a component in rendering graphics in video games and that's it. If you're spending $1200 for a GPU then you're also spending at least that much for the additional hardware needed to make that work properly. More than likely you're spending another $2k. Is going from 100 to 200 frames per second worth $1200? Perhaps for some people but for those on lower income levels it's pretty hard to justify it for better FPS in video games.

Don't they already have some sort of overpriced rent to own deal like Microsoft does with the Xbox?
 
I have an Xbox Series X and enjoy it as a Blu Ray player too. I like to collect movies and games on disc, but only really stand out titles. I also bought a PS3 after waiting 15 years. PS3 games are so dirt cheap now I collected all the classics before they are lost in time like tears in the rain.
But but you NEED a PS5. You know the 5 means there are five exclusive titles. Plus what are you gonna play PS4 games on, a PS4? Gross... And getting games for cheap is bad, you should be paying $70 per game if not more.
 
Iam using geforce now, it has a future. When i was paying for the 2k premium with rtx3080 it was amazing. Playing with wifi 5ghz and sometimes having troubles and spotty connection indicators. Perhaps a new router will may help with cable as i am using the apple extreme airport…
 
  • Like
Reactions: hovscorpion12
Cool, but….the service still only supports like 10% of games so what’s the point?
Look at the game library you've amassed and review what percentage of your collection you actually play more than twice a year. Now YMMV, but it's under 10% for me. Granted, 10% of my library is miniscule in comparison to all games produced of course.

I'm assuming nvidia has a metric for games that are worth hosting. It's how the service industry works, convenience rather than every use case imaginable. If you have needs for a specific rig for some games, nvidia knows you'll build it (and give up that sweet $$$ upfront for their GPUs, let alone upgrades in the future) instead of paying for geforce. Conversely, geforce is perfect for those who play the 10% of popular games and don't have more niche needs, relatively.
 
$1,200 GPU is inaccessible for many, but a $1,200 iPhone is not? 🤷‍♂️



Nvidia needs to offer an interest-free monthly payment plan like Apple does for the iPhone.
There are insane carrier deals and you can finance iPhone. That GPU won't do anything by itself and costs more than my whole laptop did
 
Not to mention MASSIVE 0 day patches and constant stream of fixes for a supposedly "finished" game over a year or so after release. All that crap is now the industry standard, so installing and being able to play straight off a disc is a long forgotten tradition anyway.
Even worse is I think Dragon Age had PAID DLC the day of or day after launch. People were pissed on forums
 
This sounds great in theory! But what good is 240 fps if internet speed/bandwidth is a limiting factor?

Is 5G even capable of sustaining 240 fps? Or 120 fps in 4K?
And what speed of internet will you need to get the full potential. Don't want to be paying $100+ for internet on top of the $20
 
But but you NEED a PS5. You know the 5 means there are five exclusive titles. Plus what are you gonna play PS4 games on, a PS4? Gross... And getting games for cheap is bad, you should be paying $70 per game if not more.

This is what no games released all year does to someone. It's okay Memoji pfp, Starfield is coming soon™. You'll get a game eventually
 
Last edited:
  • Haha
Reactions: mansplains
Just get a PS5 and a「teenage mutant ninja turtles shredder's revenge」. That's what I call gaming.

AAA game is a BS. Any game retails for more than $50 is a BS
This is why we only do Switch anymore. I remember getting PS1 for $99 and now PS and XBox can be $1k with all the stuff you can get. And $60 $70 games
 
  • Like
Reactions: ccsicecoke
Look at the game library you've amassed and review what percentage of your collection you actually play more than twice a year. Now YMMV, but it's under 10% for me. Granted, 10% of my library is miniscule in comparison to all games produced of course.

I'm assuming nvidia has a metric for games that are worth hosting. It's how the service industry works, convenience rather than every use case imaginable. If you have needs for a specific rig for some games, nvidia knows you'll build it (and give up that sweet $$$ upfront for their GPUs, let alone upgrades in the future) instead of paying for geforce. Conversely, geforce is perfect for those who play the 10% of popular games and don't have more niche needs, relatively.

There’s a ton of games in my library I play regularly, and none work on GeForce now, sooooo….waste of time
 
There’s a ton of games in my library I play regularly, and none work on GeForce now, sooooo….waste of time
Geforce isn't for you then. That doesn't make it pointless for most people as your original post questions.
 
This sounds great in theory! But what good is 240 fps if internet speed/bandwidth is a limiting factor?

Is 5G even capable of sustaining 240 fps? Or 120 fps in 4K?
But... Why would anyone want to stream gaming on a 5G connection...

I... I... I can't even... I mean... Uh?
 
Not to mention MASSIVE 0 day patches and constant stream of fixes for a supposedly "finished" game over a year or so after release. All that crap is now the industry standard, so installing and being able to play straight off a disc is a long forgotten tradition anyway.
Yeah, the discs are so pointless at this point. Forget which title I saw recently but the disc basically carries nothing, with the nearly 200GB of the game downloaded. Might have been COD Modern Warfare II. The disc is just there to act as a license key.
 
Games companies have a very bad record at preserving their titles after 10-15 years so I do both. I have a Games Pass sub, I do buy games from Epic and Steam, but I also collect discs for some titles. If it wasn't for the retro community many classic arcade and 80s games would have disappeared. Today's generation would never see some of the most enjoyable games ever made.
Guess it's what you're into. Personally, I play a game through and then I'm done with it. I don't go back to play it and don't have any interest in playing an old PS3 game. It's great they have options for those that do. Just not my thing personally.
 
I've still got about 4 games in my Steam library I haven't played at all yet and a load of great M1 compatible titles I bought in Steam sales over the last year since getting my M1 Max that I've super enjoyed but have had far to little play time with the spare time I've had.

The amount of time I have spare for gaming means by the time I've got through all those great games and likely bought Resident Evil Village too (yay, native and Metal 3!), my internet connection might have evolved in speed, latency and reliability to a point I'd be more interested in streaming games (about 2032).
 
What about SteamLink? I know the hardware is long gone but it's an app you can run on an Android TV box now. I have it on my Shield Pro to game in the living room TV from the PC in the other room. I have a much older graphics card but I assume it works just as well on newer ones.
That’s what Nvidia told people to use sadly it’s no comparison. The biggest thing steamlink still can’t handle that I have a 21:9 monitor so it doesn’t work going to a TV (well last time I checked). There are supposedly some open source projects to keep it alive I need to mess with but haven’t had the time.
 
That’s why I said “until developers start using the hardware”.

GeForce Now is an "Opt-in" option for games. Developers/publishers only need to be hit the check box and Nvidia will take care of the rest.

The main issue is trust. Developers wish to have their games playable only on Local hardware and do not support cloud gaming. With the 4080 tier, online gamers have the ability to have 28ms of latency compared to 60ms on the Series X/PS5 [wireless]. I have extreme high hopes that the GeForce Now library will grow substantially in 2023
 
Last edited:
And what speed of internet will you need to get the full potential. Don't want to be paying $100+ for internet on top of the $20
if you have 80/80 internet, GeForce Now works beautifully in 4K. While 80/80 is not ideal, if you have at least 300Mbs, the RTX 4080 service will work perfectly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: compwiz1202
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.