PC gaming has been one of many biggest joys of my life for so long as I can keep in mind. From enjoying Blood Bathtub on a Pentium 3 pre-built from HP within the early 2000s to getting barely playable FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 on my RTX 3080 rig, it has been a wild journey. For these new on the scene, PC gaming may appear completely nice and even higher than ever. However for these like me who’ve seen the business evolve over almost three a long time, the writing’s just about on the wall — PC gaming would possibly by no means return to regular once more.
This isn’t some hyperbolic rant or a doom-spelling “PC gaming is useless” submit. A number of developments rising previously few years have remodeled the face of PC gaming, with 2022 being particularly unhealthy for desktop PCs. It appears the business is hell-bent on leaving players behind in favor of chasing greater and greater numbers. PC gaming could be removed from useless, nevertheless it positive appears radically totally different as we speak.
1 Graphics playing cards have grow to be a luxurious commodity
Ah, sure, graphics playing cards — the holy grail of PC gaming. Whereas they all the time have been essentially the most essential and costly a part of gaming PCs, issues have began to get out of hand within the final 5 years or so. Nvidia first touched the $1,000 mark for his or her flagship card with the RTX 2080 Ti in 2018, with issues going utterly haywire with the RTX 30-series because the 90-class playing cards had been launched. The RTX 40-series firmly cemented Nvidia’s new strategy to treating GPUs as luxurious merchandise quite than gaming requirements.
Even if you happen to view these halo merchandise in another way than the extra mainstream 80- or 70-class playing cards, it would not look any higher for the latter. The RTX 4070 was little greater than an RTX 3080 priced $100 larger at $600. And the much less mentioned concerning the RTX 4060 Ti, the higher. AMD’s document hasn’t precisely been stellar both. They launched their flagship playing cards in 2022 after which nothing for nearly six months. The RX 7800 XT and RX 7600 XT had been higher worth playing cards, forcing Nvidia to chop costs, however not by a lot.
Thanks to those unprecedented GPU costs, desktop PC gaming is changing into too costly to digest. There was a time when you could possibly construct a high-end gaming PC with out worrying about the place your GPU’s subsequent installment would come from. Right this moment, you’d should spend a small fortune to construct a PC able to 1440p 100+ FPS in all fashionable titles, particularly if you happen to’re a ray tracing fanatic. Graphics playing cards are the most important contributors to this development, however they don’t seem to be the one piece of the puzzle.
2 Even motherboards are ridiculously priced
Motherboards often do not obtain the hype or hatred reserved for GPUs and CPUs. It is because they are not as thrilling, but in addition as a result of you did not have to suppose or spend an excessive amount of on them earlier than. Issues have modified drastically this era, as new motherboards, particularly on the AM5 aspect, have shot up in worth. Even if you happen to exclude the very best motherboards for gaming, you continue to must spend a minimum of $180 or much more to snag an ATX B650 motherboard for AMD’s newest processors.
Except you wait it out for a sale, the times of sub-$100 motherboards are gone if you wish to construct a present system. Positive, mATX boards will work simply nice, however along with the opposite compromises, you continue to must spend a minimum of $150 to keep away from a barebone mannequin. Including to the woes of shopping for overpriced graphics playing cards, the motherboard prices are actually beginning to add up.
In case you’re constructing a system for the long term, you may should forego Intel and pay the AM5 platform tax to keep away from shopping for a brand new motherboard the subsequent time you turn between CPUs. Now, you would possibly say that costs would possibly go down sooner or later as AM5 turns into extra mainstream. However it’s already been a yr into the brand new platform and costs have not actually dipped loads. It seems that $200 motherboards signify the brand new regular for PC gaming.
3 Moore’s Regulation is useless, apparently
If Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is to be believed, Moore’s Regulation — the commentary that predicts the doubling of computing efficiency each two years — will not be potential anymore. Jensen has mentioned this a number of instances in an try and justify the worth hikes of Nvidia’s gaming GPUs. It has additionally been used to justify the considerably stagnating efficiency of Nvidia’s gaming chips lately. Intel tends to disagree with Nvidia on this, however that is one other matter.
Whichever aspect of the controversy you are on, the very fact of the matter is that firms have stopped delivering vital generational enhancements year-on-year. Even after they do handle to provide a very groundbreaking product, the associated fee advantages aren’t handed on to the client. The longevity of PC elements like CPUs and GPUs has shrunk dramatically in comparison with just a few years in the past.
CPU upgrades have began contributing much less and fewer to gaming efficiency, $500 GPUs with 8GB VRAM have all of the sudden grow to be commonplace, and shady naming schemes to dupe clients into spending extra are cropping up time and again (taking a look at you, RTX 4080 12GB). So we have to settle for the truth that spending the large bucks on a high-end gaming PC won’t prevent from the necessity to improve within the close to future.
4 Native decision would not actually exist anymore
After I first made the leap from 1080p to 1440p three years in the past, I used to be really impressed by the improved visible high quality. I used to be rocking a GTX 1660 Ti on the time, so the decision I used to be having fun with was truly 1440p. You may’t actually say that in 2023 as upscaling applied sciences like DLSS and FSR have all however permeated PC gaming to the core. You may select to run your video games with out it, however not if you need the high-end expertise you truly paid for.
These upscaling and optimization methods could be getting higher yearly, with the typical gamer failing to identify any distinction between native and upscaled output. However, recreation builders have began utilizing upscaling tech as a crutch and doing a sub-par job at optimizing their video games to run nicely within the first place. The checklist of horrible AAA recreation launches in 2023 alone is a testomony to the truth that recreation studios have actually dropped the ball relating to recreation efficiency.
It would not seem like there is a reversal on the horizon, as Nvidia and AMD proceed to give attention to enhancing upscaling efficiency as an alternative of giving players sufficient VRAM and respectable ray tracing capabilities. Simply have a look at the downright shameful efficiency of the very best graphics playing cards of as we speak in Cyberpunk 2077 max settings with out DLSS, and you may start to get the image.
5 And we’re welcoming this downfall
It would come as a shock to some, however we, as players, are fortunately laying down the crimson carpet for this PC gaming downfall. The pandemic uncovered the unlucky actuality that players can pay something for a graphics card, and GPU firms by no means regarded again. Regardless of many big-budget launches performing considerably higher on consoles, PC players proceed to flood boards and feedback concerning the superiority of the “PCMR”.
You may simply discover a big portion of the group justifying the atrocious costs of as we speak’s PC {hardware}, with some merely resorting to feedback like “simply earn extra.” As an alternative of voting with our pockets, we have put PC gaming, and graphics playing cards particularly, on a pedestal, bending over backward to give you inane arguments to justify absolutely anything producers do.
I keep in mind constructing a first-gen Ryzen system with a GTX 1660 Ti in 2017 for round $700. Even with 2017 requirements, it was a price range construct however succesful sufficient to generate spectacular framerates at 1080p and even 1440p. Video games get extra demanding and inflation performs its half, sure, however that does not imply you need to should spend the equal of a complete system on a graphics card after 6 years. Constructing a $1,500 gaming PC has, sadly, grow to be the norm in 2023.
It was good whereas it lasted
Supply: Asus
It’s believed that PC gaming goes by way of cycles, going from the very best of instances to the worst of instances and again. For a large number of causes although, I really feel the cycle has all however damaged, and we’ll by no means actually return to the nice instances once more. PC gaming will flourish, positive, however not for the on a regular basis gamer. The RTX 5090 would possibly break all data and would possibly promote like sizzling truffles at $2,000 a pop, however the remainder of the group will possible stay ignored.
PC players would possibly lastly be satisfied concerning the many issues a console does higher than a gaming PC, and make the change. Gaming laptops, handhelds, and different classes would possibly see an increase within the coming years. However I really feel desktop PC gaming will grow to be an elitist passion, and we’ll all simply should be OK with it.
