The sales of pre-built PCs are getting lower these days, but this does not apply to all parts. Jon Peddie Research have assembled data, showing that the sales of high end PC GPUs are growing. They also predict that this trend will continue in the following years.
Kelt Reeves, the founder of Falcon Northwest, custom PC builder, told Jason Evangelho that the most popular configurations include the most expensive graphics cards. Even with GTX Titan's very high $1000 price, a lot of people order PCs with several such cards. Falcon's customers have spent 16% more money on GPUs this year compared to 2012. Reeves considers the appearance of 4K displays as a new driving force behind those purchases, as games are the only way to appreciate the full 4K experience at the moment, but that requires a lot of graphics power.
This news may sound optimistical for PC gaming, but there might be a catch. Between late 2008 and 2012, single GPU cards suggested retail price haa never passed the $500 mark. There were always people making extreme rigs, but their expenses are capped at 4 GPUs, which never were as expensive as these days. Falcon's better numbers may simply be the result of $650 GTX 780 and $1000 GTX Titans being purchased by enthusiasts with deep pockets. Higher GPU prices are not welcome for the average gamer with much tighter budgets.
Posted 06-09-2013, 21:26
I want the GTX 880 :(
Posted 06-09-2013, 20:51
I don't mind so much about fraemrates. As long as it's stable I'm happy. Saying that though, I don't expect my performance to stay this high much longer, but for the time being it's all good
Posted 06-09-2013, 19:26
I see, I usually try to get 60+ on my 670, but sometimes go for 40+ in some games for more eye-candy. 120 Hz monitor allows to play at 40 FPS without tearing.
Posted 06-09-2013, 18:42
1080 and (usually) 30+
Posted 06-09-2013, 17:57
On what resolution and framerate?
Posted 06-09-2013, 17:26
I'm still maxing everything on a 6970 with 6 gigs of DDR2
Posted 06-09-2013, 16:45
I have always self built my own gaming PC's and I have always put in a decent graphic card, not necessary the top end, but usually the model before. Like my current 7950, didn't see a point of the 7970 cost at the time so I went for the one before, able to run everything on full.
Posted 06-09-2013, 15:53
Considering the 6900 series is still in the £250/£300 price range despite being, effectively, mid-range cards now, I can certainly see the logic behind ascribing some success to the cost of newer components. On the other hand, most PC users don't and won't pay for GPUs even close to that price point, so I expect we'd be seeing an overall shift increase regardless of what happened. I chalk this down to the ease, and greater understanding of such, of putting together your own rig these days.
Even the amateur user is reaching the point where they're confident enough to se4lf build. Everything is marked and, even more importantly, colour coded making it literally child's play to put a rig together. I mean, seriously, my little girl is eight and still only has moderate reading skills, but she can put together a computer for you.
So, yeah.
A downshift in prices would be nice though. Hint hint!