Chasing the white rabbit...

Sure, but I prefer to be on the bleeding edge and it's a sure way to make that happen without breaking the bank. It's not a case of being future proof because you always have the latest, but more so a case of with the latest there's no what if and you always know you're getting the best performance available.
 
I rebuilt my systems a coulple years back, my main is what I use for games, since then; I have upgraded the video card, then the ram, then the video card again, then the ram again, then the current card burnt out so I replaced it with an old card, then the hard drive, sinse then I have added another hard drive; what it amounts to is an i5 processor on top of an adequate board that will still run anything current.
 
"Mid-range" is helpful advice. Thank you.

I know he's got his eye on a $350 video card, and I can't help but think that I could get him a PS4 for that...and he could spend his savings on games instead of worrying about upgrades to play games.
 
He's probably looking at a GTX 970, his graphics will far out do any console but in no way does he NEED that, he can get a GTX960 and still have far better than console graphics. It's looking more what he wants and not what he needs.and the 960 is under $200 when you find the sales.
 
He's probably looking at a GTX 970, his graphics will far out do any console but in no way does he NEED that, he can get a GTX960 and still have far better than console graphics. It's looking more what he wants and not what he needs.and the 960 is under $200 when you find the sales.

Pretty much this.

I got a 960 for $200, and it came with Phantom Pain. A 960 can perform better than a console at higher settings, and a 970 will blow it away (and usually also comes with a game as well). Should be set for several years if just playing @ 1080p though, with a 970.
 
Well you do know the gaming industry drives the technology end of the personal computer industry. The games make demands that the vid card makers create new cards for.

But updating every time a new game comes out is crazy. He might be giving too much credence to what other gamers are saying. It's also possible he's gotten caught up in the starry eyed OOOOO AAAAHHHHH factor. That's referred to as the "Got to have it" syndrome. It comes when you have deeper pockets than you have common sense or you have a 2 legged bank.
 
Well you do know the gaming industry drives the technology end of the personal computer industry. The games make demands that the vid card makers create new cards for.

But updating every time a new game comes out is crazy. He might be giving too much credence to what other gamers are saying. It's also possible he's gotten caught up in the starry eyed OOOOO AAAAHHHHH factor. That's referred to as the "Got to have it" syndrome. It comes when you have deeper pockets than you have common sense or you have a 2 legged bank.
Only sort of. Hardware and even to a point software has been far more capable than what we are seeing. What drives demand is sales. For instance, until the 600 series Nvidia was releasing their top dog card first for more performance and to combat AMD/ATI in their competition. AMD lagged behind in competition and Nvidia saw a chance to rake in some cash due to cards having significant performance for the content at hand. This is still true today. APIs like DX11 haven't even been scratched in the amount of capability that's there simply because developers have gotten to sheer laziness because 12 year olds will buy up the same **** year in and year out. Games like Fallout 4 and Call of Duty are examples of this in the purest form. That's not even including technologies that AMD, Nvidia and other 3rd parties have to offer to add immersion to games. Tech like Hairworks, PhysX, advanced HavoK, WaterWorks, Grassworks, basically any Nvidia Gameworks tech to name a few are practically unutilized due to the outcry of fanboys and gamers because it hampers performance. That dampens how taxing games can be and unutilized tech decreases the demand for powerful hardware to be released.

I'd say as of today the only thing driving home the need for raw power is VR and 4k. Once that hump has been tackled we will see performance and hardware stagnation again simply because software, more specifically game developers can't keep up.
 
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