5 reasons I'm never buying a high-end GPU again and you shouldn't either

Summary

• Premium mid-range GPUs provide excellent 1440p gaming at almost half the cost of high-end SKUs.
• True 4K gaming on flagship GPUs is still limited despite the premium.
• Mid-range cards get all the upscaling and AI features present on the high-end parts.
• The money saved by picking a mid-range card can be spent on other components or a gaming console.

It's not exactly news that GPU pricing could use some course correction. Ever since the launch of the RTX 3090, it has become clear that GPUs are fast becoming a luxury commodity. And this isn't just limited to the halo products. With the RTX 4000 series cards and the Super refresh doing the bare minimum with cards like the RTX 4070 Ti Super, you can no longer expect near-flagship performance even when you shell out close to a grand on a graphics card.

It has been a long time coming, but I've finally decided not to buy a "high-end" GPU again. Any that costs in the range of $700 or more would be considered a high-end graphics card in my book. There are enough good reasons for me to save my money for better use, and you should also consider doing the same.

1 I can play 99% of games on mid-range cards

100+ FPS gaming on ultra settings

Aside from the titles that make headlines for their ground-breaking visuals, there are tons of excellent games, including big-budget AAA ones, that run flawlessly on mid-range graphics cards. For every Cyberpunk 2077 or Alan Wake 2, you also have games like A Plague Tale: Requiem, Resident Evil 4 (2023), or Marvel's Spider-Man that don't bring graphics cards to their knees despite sporting flawless visuals.

We don't need the absolute best gaming GPUs to enjoy the majority of graphically intensive games at their fullest potential.

Today, we have decent mid-range graphics card options like the RTX 4070 or RTX 4070 Super if you like to play games at 1440p at the maximum settings. If ray tracing isn't a particularly important pain point, AMD's RX 7800 XT and even RX 7900 GRE are excellent picks. Playing titles like The Last of Us: Part 1, Metro Exodus, and even Cyberpunk 2077 (ray tracing and DLSS enabled) at 100+ FPS at 1440p resolution on a mid-range card is a phenomenal experience by anyone's standards. We don't need the absolute best gaming GPUs to enjoy the majority of graphically intensive games at their fullest potential.

2 Flagship GPUs don't unlock flagship 4K gaming

No-holds-barred 4K gaming is not quite there yet anyway

If you decide to splurge on a $1,000+ graphics card, thinking that it will automatically unlock unrestricted 4K gaming on your system, then you'll be sorely disappointed. True 4K gaming (without upscaling or AI assistance) was always a tough nut to crack, even for flagship GPUs. It's disappointing that the best an RTX 4090 can do, even after enabling the latest DLSS or FSR magic at the highest 4K preset, is 70-80 FPS in the most demanding titles (I'm talking path tracing here).

On a $1,000 RTX 4080 Super, you'll barely break 60FPS with every fancy setting enabled on Alan Wake 2.

And that's with the most powerful GPU on the planet, which incidentally costs nearly $2,000. On a $1,000 RTX 4080 Super, you'll barely break 60FPS with every fancy setting enabled on Alan Wake 2. If I'm going to be making compromises like turning off path tracing or lowering texture resolution even after buying a high-end GPU, what's the point of spending that much on one? Comfortable 4K gaming at bleeding-edge settings isn't there yet regardless, so I might as well wait. But who's to say that future titles won't crush the RTX 5090 or RTX 6090 in the same way?

3 I get all the upscaling and AI features on mid-range cards

Fortunately, Nvidia doesn't paywall Frame Gen (yet)

Nvidia's leap in DLSS performance with DLSS 3.0 and Frame Generation technology was a pivotal moment. Gamers can now flick a switch and nearly double their FPS (varying from title to title). Seeing the sub-par optimization in recent games, these features become all the more important in a GPU as they pick up the slack and deliver a performance worthy of premium graphics cards. But I don't need to spend more than $500-$600 to get access to these features.

Thankfully, all the cards in the RTX 40 series and RX 6000 & RX 7000 series cards have access to the respective upscaling and AI frame boosting features that the flagship cards do. While the entry-level and budget SKUs won't be able to do much with these techniques (unless you're gaming at 1080p), the mid-range options can do plenty. This is another reason not to blow my budget on a high-end graphics card.

4 I'll feel better investing in other components

Save your dollars and create a balanced build

By opting for a fairly powerful mid-range graphics card like the RTX 4070 Super, I can use the money saved to spruce up the other aspects of my build. The biggest advantage of foregoing a high-end graphics card is that I can get excellent gaming performance and create a more balanced system. Maybe instead, I'll upgrade to an 8-core processor to get some more juice out of my occasional multi-threaded workloads, and buy one of the best liquid coolers to keep it cool.

I could also invest more in a better-looking PC case or some nice-to-haves like RGB cable extensions or extra case fans. The whole point is to get more out of my gaming PC once I've already taken care of gaming performance by choosing a great mid-range GPU option.

5 My gaming PC isn't my only gaming device

Save $500 on the GPU and get yourself a PS5

I'm fairly confident that a lot of gamers these days have at least one other gaming device besides their gaming PC. Whether you're a fan of the PS5's timed exclusives or the convenience of the Steam Deck, you're probably not playing all your games on your PC. Going from an RTX 4080 Super to an RTX 4070 Super will save you $500 that you can spend buying a PlayStation 5 or a Steam Deck OLED instead.

For me, the performance downgrade from the GPU swap will be more than compensated for by the fun I'll have on the PS5 or the Steam Deck. And even if it's not the same case for you, you could still be very happy not overspending on your graphics card.

PC gaming is expensive but you can still make smart choices

Nvidia has successfully capitalized on its superior mindshare to push GPU pricing to new heights. While AMD isn't faultless in this situation, it still offers much better value than Team Green. With $800+ GPUs becoming the norm, you might assume that the cards costing less than that will come with a lot of compromises. But it turns out you can spend around $500-$600 on a premium mid-range GPU and still enjoy the latest titles with maximum settings at 1440p. Then you can enjoy the money that you'll save by getting other PC components or another entire gaming console.