Is a $100 video card all you need?

[TheOtis]

This is a topic I've thought about for awhile but haven't came to a conclusion on it. It seems like video cards have really caught up with what most video games demand. Crysis and Far Cry 2 are the two games that have REALLY pushed video cards and computers to their limits. These games have taken years to come out and aren't a very good example of the games we see typically released. But playing the most common games people play, TF2, L4D, etc, do you really need to spend $300 on a GPU? Or run multi-gpu configurations? The amount of performance you can get out of a GTX 260(Now at what, $170?) is amazing for the price compared to what we've seen in the past in video card generations.

"With the release of AMD's latest budget graphics card, the Radeon HD 4770, the GPU giant is bringing a lot of technology to the table. The card sports the world's first 40nm GPU (beating out CPUs to a new process technology for the first time), GDDR5 memory, and 640 stream processors, all for under $100. What is even more interesting is that as PC gaming has evolved it appears that a $99 graphics card is all you really need to play the latest PC titles — as long as you are comfortable with a resolution of 1920x1200 or below. Since so few PC gamers have screens larger than that, could the world of high-end PC graphics simply go away?"

Slashdot | A $99 Graphics Card Might Be All You Need

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Well my 3850 was below $100 when I bought it... And that is all I need for play FEAR and COD4....

 

[S0ULphIRE]

...but sometimes it's not what you need, it's what you want.

Add to that the fact most people like to feel that their card will serve them well for a few years more, then you gotta ask yourself "why should I buy a card which can't even play everything today?"
And if you can afford it, why wouldn't you get a $300 card? or $600?

The fact is, games like Far Cry 2 and Crysis WILL be more common. And as that happens, you'll need better cards. For goodness sake, just look at all the advances before now. What do you think everyone was saying back 10 years? "Nope, we don't need those cards, only a few games are actually 3D." well, you get the picture.

 

[aaronkupen]

My hd 3450 is almost perfectly satisfying my needs, sure I think I would be most happy with an hd 4550, but I honestly don't care enough about graphics to buy a $50 dollar gpu.

I think the fact that most people here miss most is that most PC gamers really don't care about playing at high settings.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Tell that to everyone who buys those 'expensive' cards. I assure you, they DO care. Not everyone does, sure. All I'm saying is if you COULD, you'd go with the better card. Obviously. Who wouldn't?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I would say most people do care about graphics, but why get something that is overkill for $600 when in 6 months it will be $200

 

[tastegw]

i say get what you want to get, its not always about what you need.

if you have a budget, try to stick to it. but the fact remains, the gpu is arguably the single most important part of a gaming rig. and thats why most ppl according to the poll i did here a while back, spend the most on their gpu compaired to any other pc part (not including monitor)

at the current day a there is really no need for anyone to buy a gtx 295 or 4870x2, better yet, crossfire or sli them. but ppl still do, and the question is not "do they need it", but the answer is that "they wanted it".

 

[aaronkupen]

I think people forget that that most people ... in this forum... is not the same as most people who play PC games. Most people only really care about if the game plays well and doesn't look terrible.

And no, I have more than enough money to buy even a gtx 295 if I wanted, I just choose not to because I wouldn't have anymore fun playing my games with that card.

And to the person's comments on "tell that to everyone who buys those expensive cards"... they represent a very small minority, and I honestly don't want to get started into this, but I would say those same people need to seriously re-evaluate their lives. If your graphic cards cost more than most people's entire computer, then your priorities are obviously different than the majority of people.

 

[ricanflow]

^^

I dont think you can speak for everyone....it seems to me that most pc gamers would be willing to spend more than $50 on a card.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

aaronkupen, unless most people's rigs cost less than $500, then your last statement is obviously false.
I'd estimate an average rig as costing ~$750-$900

Here's another interesting fact, most people who use computers don't use them for gaming purposes. An average 'gaming' computer would cost somewhere around $1000-$1200.
People who buy pc's specifically to game on don't want to NOT be able to play games. And if you're spending that much anyway, an extra $100 or so on a better graphics card isn't that much.