Idiotic tariffs, indifferent retailers, depraved flippers and AI mania are making the simple act of buying a graphics card the defining misery of PC gaming in 2025.
The golden ticket for me is buying previous gen. Used.
I picked up a 7950 during the crypto crash. A 980 TI when everyone was doing exactly this and jumping on new stuff. My used 3090 is like $200 more than when I bought it, last I checked.
And the risk of it being faulty? Heck, I could’ve bought two of them and still come out ahead of these stupid new card prices.
This gen is still pretty screwed, though. 7900 prices may drop some with this, but still…
It is very tempting. Would definitely recommend for anyone who needs something.
My current laptop that I bought during the pandemic shortages has a 2070 mobile chip which still works fine-ish for newer games. I’m tempted to look at basically anything better, but I’m not truly in a rush to upgrade just yet and want to make sure whatever I upgrade to is worth the price.
The main reason for my impetus at present was to try to get ahead of the Trump tariff price hikes, but I’ve basically accepted that as unavoidable at this point.
The golden ticket for me is buying previous gen. Used.
I picked up a 7950 during the crypto crash. A 980 TI when everyone was doing exactly this and jumping on new stuff. My used 3090 is like $200 more than when I bought it, last I checked.
And the risk of it being faulty? Heck, I could’ve bought two of them and still come out ahead of these stupid new card prices.
This gen is still pretty screwed, though. 7900 prices may drop some with this, but still…
I had thought of that, but the 4080’s/4090’s were going for significantly more than the next gen cards were going for at MSRP.
I mean, look at this, the 5080 is MSRP $999 but here’s Newegg’s 4080s:
And looking at the “Buy it Now” prices for used models on eBay isn’t much better:
7900s aren’t as outrageous:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=amd+7900&_trksid=p2334524.m4084.l1313&_odkw=rtx+4080&_udhi=1000
You are not wrong though, those 4080 prices are messed up.
It is very tempting. Would definitely recommend for anyone who needs something.
My current laptop that I bought during the pandemic shortages has a 2070 mobile chip which still works fine-ish for newer games. I’m tempted to look at basically anything better, but I’m not truly in a rush to upgrade just yet and want to make sure whatever I upgrade to is worth the price.
The main reason for my impetus at present was to try to get ahead of the Trump tariff price hikes, but I’ve basically accepted that as unavoidable at this point.