Anyone else getting bored with PC hardware?

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
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It seems like the excitement around PC hardware is dwindling. Slow releases, marginal improvements to performance, and unimpressive performance/dollar compared to last year has stifled my interest. CPU's are practically dead with 5-10% better performance each generation. Nvidia has been milking their lineup with numerous tiny iterations for megabucks. AMD simply turned up the knob on the 7xxx series and added a few things that maybe devs will use in 2-3 years.

Maybe part of it has to do with how powerful these cards are now and how video games don't really push them (sure there are a few games).

Anyone else a little bored?
 

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
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Yep, things in general just don't seem to be advancing so quick because everything in every day work is already so fast thanks to SSD's and games have looked the same for the past 5 years thanks to consoles.

Gotta look towards other things to upgrade/get excited about. 4k monitors, G-sync, Occulus etc.
 

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
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Yup, nothing good to spend money on with these super slow release schedules of new high end parts with tiny boring refreshes in between. I am really hoping that gtx 880 rumour of a 28nm maxwell card is bogus. I could care less about another release that almost amounts to just giving the performance of an overclocked preceeding card.

At least we have HW-E in the fall. A nice octocore and Rampage 5 mb with some DDR4 will be a fun upgrade.

I've been spending more on watercooling than GPUs. More fun and always room to improve.
 

Bubbleawsome

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2013
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No. My limitation is money. Otherwise I could build servers, mini pcs, ultra gaming systems, home brew cooling. No limits. :p
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
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If they can build the hardware I will buy it. No doubt things have slowed down a lot in recent years.
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
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It seems like the excitement around PC hardware is dwindling. Slow releases, marginal improvements to performance, and unimpressive performance/dollar compared to last year has stifled my interest. CPU's are practically dead with 5-10% better performance each generation. Nvidia has been milking their lineup with numerous tiny iterations for megabucks. AMD simply turned up the knob on the 7xxx series and added a few things that maybe devs will use in 2-3 years.

Maybe part of it has to do with how powerful these cards are now and how video games don't really push them (sure there are a few games).

Anyone else a little bored?

Get used to it. Most AAA games are multiplatform and cater strongly to the console crowd. Next gen consoles suck too much, there is no point in upgrading unless you are going Eyefinity/4K or something.

Pair this with difficult hardware problems. Die shrinks harder and costlier than ever. Thermals a huge problem, we went multicore because a single fast core ran into the laws of physics, at least on current silicon-based planar technology.

Then there is mobile sucking away tons of talent and resources from desktops/servers. It's not all bad though, and focusing on grunt per watt is a good thing environmentally
 
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Qwertilot

Golden Member
Nov 28, 2013
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If bored, try going away from it for a bit :) Year on year changes perhaps not so massive but added together over a few years? Still very substantial.
 

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
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I've taken up other hobbies for sure. I check in from time to time and still nothing. Anand has had to go as far as reviewing mice, its been on the front page for a week.
 

kawi6rr

Senior member
Oct 17, 2013
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If bored, try going away from it for a bit :) Year on year changes perhaps not so massive but added together over a few years? Still very substantial.

That's basically what I did. I built a computer 5 yrs ago and it did everything I needed for 5 yrs until my ATI reference card failed. I was basically playing the same PC games on the weekend, MW4, Age of Empires, Age of Mythology when I had time. I started playing MWO last year and my old card just couldn't handle the stress :'(. While I was doing research on a new card I started getting the bug to build a new system again and that brought me back to these forums. I was gone for so long I couldn't even remember my old login name so I created a new one but I've been coming to these forums since 1998. Now that the new system is a few months old trolling the forums and reading up on the same Intel fan boys hating on AMD and vise versa is getting boring again. Don't remember the rivalry being this bad in past.
 
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Makaveli

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2002
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Agreed things have slowed down however there is always things to replace and improve on a computer :)

I just went with a closed loop water cooler on my gpu. Still fixing the cable management in the rig.

Some focus has gone to my secondary rigs also. HTPC is still running a socket 939 opteron so that has to be upgraded. I've just replaced all the fans in that silverstone case with high quality ones to keep it quiet and I still have to put an SSD in there.

There are always things to do but the rate of advancement has slowed down and will continue to slow down due to physics.
 
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bunnyfubbles

Lifer
Sep 3, 2001
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stacked memory seems poised to shake things up a ton in the next few years (supposed to see mass production start this year, although likely won't be until 2016 that we see it for consumer products)

Volta with 1TB/sec of memory bandwidth, and the chance for desktop APUs to have 300+GB/s would be major game changers
 

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,695
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Still on my first gen i7. I think its more of the fact that I don't game as much anymore too.
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
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I don't know about bored, but there isn't much to watch on a yearly cycle anymore. When I don't have any problems doing stuff with 2-3 year old mid-range hardware there isn't much incentive to upgrade. All the motion is happening in mobile, but even there performance is rapidly getting to a point of "good enough' for the vast majority of people. At least for what they want to do on a phone.
 

SlickR12345

Senior member
Jan 9, 2010
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Not bored, but significantly disappointing with over priced and over hyped products.

From CPU's to GPU's to Memory I haven't seen a significant performance improvement and especially for GPU's we've had the same technology now for over 3 years.

GTX 5/6/7 series are all pretty much the same core, AMD 6/7/R series are pretty much the same core.

Intel I 2/3/4 are pretty much the same core and AMD has been with the same Bulldozer core for over 3 years as well.

Completely useless technology with minor performance improvement with companies like Nvidia literally robing stupid people with $1000 gpu's that are not worth a penny over $500
 

Zanovar

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2011
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Yeah ive been bored with pc hardware lately also.i can always tell as i start reading av reciever/speaker and mountain bike forums and reviews a lot more.
 
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Sunburn74

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2009
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Took almost 4 years to upgrade my GPU and not for lack of effort, but more that it took 4 years to reach a doubling of GPU processing power for the same price. On one hand, thats not bad (imagine if house sizes doubled every 4 years or if your car went 2x as fast every 4 years etc) but on the other hand its much slower than previous generational advancements.

I don't think consoles are to blame (consoles have been blamed forever) but rather that GPU manufacturing is likely hitting a wall. After all these companies make most of their money from the computing side anyway and the demand for more processing power never really wanes.

I very much expect to see reductions in chip power draw and the creation of single card multi GPU cards as the standard in the next decade or so.
 
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thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
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A bit bored as well, although mining increased my interest a bit. The watercooling adventures keep things somewhat interesting though, especially if I have to make my own hold down bracket or VRM sinks, etc....air cooling is SUPER boring :D
 
Aug 11, 2008
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I am more bored with games than the hardware. The hardware I have plays any game at decent settings, and is good enough that I don't feel a need to upgrade. I could upgrade to a 2x faster gpu and probably 40% faster CPU, but there are no games coming out that seem worth the price of an upgrade.
 

24601

Golden Member
Jun 10, 2007
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A bit bored as well, although mining increased my interest a bit. The watercooling adventures keep things somewhat interesting though, especially if I have to make my own hold down bracket or VRM sinks, etc....air cooling is SUPER boring :D

Essentially the same for me.

If I wasn't crypto-mining, I would be with a more reasonable upgrade from my 460 GTX 768 MB to a 660TI or 760(Wasn't out when I was upgrading) and just been done with it.

I am more bored with games than the hardware. The hardware I have plays any game at decent settings, and is good enough that I don't feel a need to upgrade. I could upgrade to a 2x faster gpu and probably 40% faster CPU, but there are no games coming out that seem worth the price of an upgrade.

Yes, PC games have gone the dark path of console ports further and further since 2000.

It's now to the point where there is essentially no PC games designed for PC gamers anymore, as all the classic studios got redirected by Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft to designing purely for console consumption and releasing a port to PC when they feel like it.
 
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Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
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Yes, PC games have gone the dark path of console ports further and further since 2000.

It's now to the point where there is essentially no PC games designed for PC gamers anymore, as all the classic studios got redirected by Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft to designing purely for console consumption and releasing a port to PC when they feel like it.

If you only consider AAA, then sure, but there are tons and tons of PC games coming out that are only on PC and were made specifically for PC. What muddies the waters is that consoles and now even mobile games get an obligatory PC afterthought port. Some of the best games I've played in the past year have been PC focused games. They are mostly non-traditional experiences though, not arcade racers or FPS games.
 

24601

Golden Member
Jun 10, 2007
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If you only consider AAA, then sure, but there are tons and tons of PC games coming out that are only on PC and were made specifically for PC. What muddies the waters is that consoles and now even mobile games get an obligatory PC afterthought port. Some of the best games I've played in the past year have been PC focused games. They are mostly non-traditional experiences though, not arcade racers or FPS games.

I'm talking the gems of PC gaming that are not possible to duplicate properly on other platforms (as a result of the platforms themselves and/or the demographics targets) like complicated deep immersive: rpgs, FPS, RTS, sandbox games, Ultima Style MMOs.

The high point for RTS was reached with Age of Empires II.

The high point for Ultima Style MMO was reached with Interlude Chronicle Lineage II.

The high point for complicated deep immersive RPG was reached with Dragon Age Origins.

The high point for complicated deep immersive sandbox game was reached with Morrowind.

The high point for classical PC FPS is Unreal Tournament (99).

The high point for PC realistic shooter is Counter Strike Source.

Everything coming out of the old legendary studios and developers since has been consolized to such a point that they don't even exceed those crazy old high points.
 
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Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,130
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It seems like the excitement around PC hardware is dwindling. Slow releases, marginal improvements to performance, and unimpressive performance/dollar compared to last year has stifled my interest. CPU's are practically dead with 5-10% better performance each generation. Nvidia has been milking their lineup with numerous tiny iterations for megabucks. AMD simply turned up the knob on the 7xxx series and added a few things that maybe devs will use in 2-3 years.

Maybe part of it has to do with how powerful these cards are now and how video games don't really push them (sure there are a few games).

Anyone else a little bored?

Well, it comes down to the fact that there is really little competition. AMD unfortunately has not been innovating much in terms of actual performance boosts. As a result, Intel has really had no incentive to continue boosting performance of their CPUs since the competition doesn't have a product that can compete against their highest performing CPU from 3 generations ago, let alone against the current generation. The only think driving Intel performance at this point is greater power efficiencies which will hopefully unlock new markets for them, such as phones and other integrated devices.

As for the video card side, it is the same thing. AMD hasn't put out anything that can beat Nvidia's last generation highest performance for the last couple years. Sure, it might have beaten it at launch, but Nvidia then just pulls out the full version of their last generation that isn't stripped down with disabled cores...

Until there is actual competition and innovation from one of the players, the other guys don't need to do anything more than they already have done and can simply take profit as opposed to needing to push new technology out. I think a large part of this is really from the PC software as much as hardware. Developers are not calling for and pushing the graphic envelop either. They keep crafting their games to work on the consoles that are not only 10 years old, but are on hardware that is 12-13 years old compared to what could be in the latest PC. The only thing right now driving any increase in needs of graphics performance is the jump to 4K resolutions. But since the consoles can not do it, we won't really have a true push for another 6-8 years.
 
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Feb 19, 2009
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Nope, very exciting times, 4K monitors like Samsung's with 1ms response and great IQ for a TN for cheap. I went to finally buy one today (released here only a few days ago), it's all sold out.
 

jimhsu

Senior member
Mar 22, 2009
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The movement has been away from the middle to the extremes. (Think of the "hollowing of the middle class" that's been a global phenomenon since, say, the 50-60s).

Ultra light weight / portables: Mobile, watches, wearables, smart "everything".

Ultra high-end computing: Big data, simulations, rendering, bioinformatics, cryptocurrencies

"Gaming" and "General PC usage" simply doesn't require either spectrum. Hence, the focus on the extremes.

Eventually the two combine: mobile analytics by supercomputers, thin-client wearables powered by geolocated datacenters. Hence, no "middle-class" (PCs) required. Along goes the concept of "software ownership", which is already close to obsolete.

A "brave new world" indeed. When was the last time you scheduled your root canal at the barbershop?
 
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