So, anybody in the market for an Asus ROG Astral Dhahab Nvidia
5090GTX? 'Cause you can get one for the cheap, cheap price of $10,600
if you're interested.*
Admittedly, this is a bit of a cheat; this is a card released only in
the United Arab Emirites and it supposedly has been gold-plated, so
it's not really intended as a consumer-level card. It's aimed directly
at oil sheiks with more money than sense. But GPU prices --especially
Nvidia offerings-- are so high already that, even without the
unnecessary bling, a $10G card doesn't seem all that out of the
ordinary. I mean, consumer-level cards are already topping $1500 at
times for the high-end; it doesn't seem so unusual that there might be
a 5090RTX (maybe with 64GB RAM or something) that goes for twice or
three times that cost. The GPU market has gone completely insane. It
makes _Apple's_ prices for their wares look downright sensible in
comparison.
Of course, you don't need any of these high-end cards, not really. If
you don't mind playing at 'mere' HD resolutions (1920x1080) and
cranking down the settings a bit, even the newest games will run on
video cards two or three generations old. Still, it's a far cry from
the heyday of video-card development (late 90s, early 2000s) where you
could scoop up the hottest card for $300 or less. (And even then we
thought the prices outrageous!).
But enthusiasts (myself included) happily paid that premium...
sometimes multiple times a year. I'd walk into a store to see what was
new, and walk out with some new hardware, purchased almost on the spur
of the moment. Now, whenever I consider a new video card I approach it
like buying car; do I need this GPU? Are there better ones? Can I
afford it? No grabbing the latest-and-hottest just to have it; these
days I gotta do research and consider how the purchase will affect my
budget for the next month or three. It's a lot less fun, I tell you
what!
And all that's assuming I can actually FIND one of these cards in the
first place, what with crypto-bros and AI-enthusiasts (mostly the same
thing, these days) scooping them up en masse before the average gamer
has a chance. Or just scalpers, hoping to make a profit as unwanted
middlemen.
It's great for Nvidia, anyway. This new business model is not only
allowing them to make bank, but it pretty much kills any chance of
competitors rising up to challenge the throne. Gone are the days you'd
have a dozen different chipsets vying for your attention (and
dollars). Now it's Nvidia, and trailing behind AMD/ATI and IBM. (Oh, I
guess Apple is back there too... but only if you're into mobile).
I'm not really considering getting a new GPU; not really (although if
anyone wants to toss a 5090RTX my way, I won't complain. ;-). My
4080RTX is still more than capable (and anyway, I really need to
upgrade the network storage and backup first). I just miss the more
free-wheeling days of yesteryear when the prices weren't so
outrageous.
* buy one quick before they're all gone! ;-)
https://rog.asus.com/me-en/graphics-cards/graphics-cards/rog-astral/rog-astral-rtx5090-o32g-dhahab-edition/