working mans guide "how to finance a high end gaming habit." :)

[guskline]

happy medium, I enjoyed your post. Thanks.

 

[nurturedhate]

This is nothing more than a giant "why can't poor people stop being poor" thread. This is ludicrous.

 

[whm1974]

This is nothing more than a giant "why can't poor people stop being poor" thread. This is ludicrous.

Indeed. Even people wo are not poor still have to spend money on other things.

 

[Face2Face]

I know I started with a Quantex Pent II 233, with a 4mb Riva 128 card. I think?

Credit card, tax return, second job for a month. you need a good starting point.
Most grown adults can afford $1,200 for a good starting rig.
Or find a new hobby.

Wow, you just brought back some memories. I remember our Quantex Pentium 75Mhz with a Riva GPU as well. I remember flipping through computer shopper for days helping my Dad find the best deal on a new PC.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Where are you living that your electricity is only $22/mo? I'd kill for $22/mo electric bills. I get what you're saying but to an extent, I'm with the OP on this. Most of the people I know complaining that "PC Gaming is too expensive" stop at Starbucks on the way into work every day. And their phone bills aren't remotely close to $20/mo. If $20/mo is a deal breaker, you may need to reconsider your life choices. I've worked fast food in the past and even now I'm not ATOT baller status, but I've never been at a point where there was no way I could come up with $20/mo for my hobby/entertainment save for a stint of unemployment at which point gaming of any sort isn't a priority. I know no shortage of people under the $15/hr line that manage to buy gaming PC's. No, they aren't upgrading every year but lets be honest, that's not necessary. I'm still running my 3770K and as of yet haven't had a pressing need to replace it. I built my first gaming PC when I was still in high school.

I'm not completely unsympathetic to less fortunate people. But I also know several people in the "computers are too expensive" category that are on welfare and spend 16 hours a day playing MMO's. Poor life choices are why they can't afford $20/mo. Even if you have a legit reason to be on welfare, you could find ways to supplement your income if you really wanted to.

"Same order of magnitude." $20 might not cover my cell phone bill, but if it came down to the wire, $20 might be enough of a partial payment to keep my phone from being disconnected for another month. (It used to be I had to owe them <$100 past due.)

Etc.

It would matter less for, say, rent.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

With a system that old, I would replace it before installing a video card that expensive. And unless said gamer is gaming at 4K, the GTX 1060 and 1070 are fine for normal use cases.

For $.75 a day I can upgrade/replace entire system every 4 years instead of trying to stay on the bleeding edge of GPU development.

 

[linkgoron]

So basically your advice is to save a little every day, buy Nvidia even though AMD cards have better longevity, and buy bad price/perf cards like the 980 instead of the 970?

Anyway, a 290x would've been a much better long term card, especially when considering mining.

"Anyone!, even a 12 year old can save $.75 a day for a video card, and play at the high end. AND have money left over."

I wonder what I could buy if I saved $1.5 a day or $3 a day! I mean even a 12 year old can save that kind of money.

 

[Ansau]

How sad that you feel forced to upgrade every year and a half to whatever most powerful gpu you can find.

Once you step away from the elitism of "full ultra or peasantry", you realize how a gpu can last, specially if it's a solid one with plenty vram at a reasonable price, like the HD 7950 or R9 290. All you need is to stop using taxing AA, reduce taxing shadows and reflections and BOOM, you find yourself playing latest games at very high settings with a gpu you bought 3 years ago.

All I have left to say is congratulations for dropping 300-400 bucks every 12-18 months in an entertainment that doesn't require it.

 

[NIGELG]

I think it's a troll post .I've plunged 500 hours into Fallout 4 but because my 7970 is almost 4 years in my system I'm not a ''serious gamer''?

Who the hell are you to define what a serious gamer is supposed to be?

 

[Headfoot]

In microeconomics, your supposed guide to "finance a high-end gaming habit" is nothing but a 5 year old's budgeting-101 tips & tricks article only worthy of being published on a Geocities site. Also, you should be the last person to be writing this considering you own a low-end PC. Do yourself the favour of not posting about rational buying decisions in these forums, because this only serves in showing how you have no idea or experience in the field of budgeting and microeconomics decision-making.

absolutely savage

 

[Phynaz]

I know I started with a Quantex Pent II 233, with a 4mb Riva 128 card. I think?

Hey! I had a Quantex system, can't remember what it was though, maybe a PIII 600?

 

[Innokentij]

I went trough 690 > TITAN > 780TI > 980TI by just selling my card day 1 new card review came out since most people wont know about em for weeks to come yet. I buy the cards for 7000-8000nok sell for 5500-6000nok for that price gap u cant even get a mid range card in Norway. So basicly big invesment upfront, but then u stay on high end for pennies after when u upgrade. Only reason i dont have my 2600k is cause gf needed a new computer or i still wouldnt have upgraded that since it ran and still runs 24/7 4.8GHz since launch.

 

[happy medium]

Wow, you just brought back some memories. I remember our Quantex Pentium 75Mhz with a Riva GPU as well. I remember flipping through computer shopper for days helping my Dad find the best deal on a new PC.

Computer shopper? wow that's where me and my girlfriend bought ours. That's sooo funny. I think it was like $2800! In fact it was on the back cover, I cant believe I remember that.

We had my son on the way, just bought a used car, a 2 bedroom apt. and we both were food servers at a Mexican place.
WOW the memories. Funny we could afford a $2800 computer. I think we used our tax return.

 

[happy medium]

So basically your advice is to save a little every day, buy Nvidia even though AMD cards have better longevity

NO , I guess you could just insert a 7970, 290x/390x and Fury X and it would work. You would just have a slower system every year and less resale value.

 

[DisarmedDespot]

Yeah, uh, OP? You start off by assuming everyone has a full system with one of the most long-lived recent CPUs and only buy brand new GTX X80 tier GPUs, and mention getting 1440p monitors as gifts. This, uh, yeah. It's not helpful for anyone.

-Why immediately jump to the GTX X80 tier when they're new? Why not wait a bit for a Ti version to come out and then get those cards used for a much lower price? Just get one from a manufacturer that transfers warranties if you're concerned about reliability.
-Wasn't the 970 at launch pretty damn close to the GTX 980, to the point many people went for it instead? That makes much more budget sense.
-What are you going to do when the Sandy Bridge CPU bottlenecks your GPU and you need to rebuild the system from the ground up, having spent your spending money?
-Finally, what about non-GPU upgrades? What about an SSD or a new monitor (that you don't get for free)?

 

[happy medium]

I went trough 690 > TITAN > 780TI > 980TI by just selling my card day 1 new card review came out since most people wont know about em for weeks to come yet. I buy the cards for 7000-8000nok sell for 5500-6000nok for that price gap u cant even get a mid range card in Norway. So basicly big invesment upfront, but then u stay on high end for pennies after when u upgrade. Only reason i dont have my 2600k is cause gf needed a new computer or i still wouldnt have upgraded that since it ran and still runs 24/7 4.8GHz since launch.

Yea , with the way cpu's are increasing in performance every year (8%), You need to upgrade your rig like every 5 years. Its not uncommon to buy 3 gpu's vs 1 cpu/system

 

[happy medium]

Yeah, uh, OP? You start off by assuming everyone has a full system with one of the most long-lived recent CPUs

Well where you start defines what tier you can play.
Do the math with a gtx670, 770, 970 and 1070 and you have enough money left over to upgrade the entire rig after 5 years.

Why immediately jump to the GTX X80 tier when they're new? Why not wait a bit for a Ti version to come out and then get those cards used for a much lower price?

why not,? I agree, I just used the x80 as an example

What are you going to do when the Sandy Bridge CPU bottlenecks your GPU and you need to rebuild the system from the ground up, having spent your spending money

Sell my Sandy bridge system while it still has value and upgrade with money I make at work that I put in the bank just like any other adult.
You act like a $300 system upgrade every 5 years is a lot. I'm sure you can get $300 for your old system. $600 for a motherboard /cpu and memory is a good base system.

Finally, what about non-GPU upgrades? What about an SSD or a new monitor (that you don't get for free)?

You don't get rims and tires for your car free either.

 

[happy medium]

For $.75 a day I can upgrade/replace entire system every 4 years instead of trying to stay on the bleeding edge of GPU development.

That's a great idea, some like to be closer to the bleeding edge though.
Look at the responses in this thread, its hard to please everyone and every situation.

 

[poofyhairguy]

It is like iPhones or anything else. If you sell the former flagship device at the right time you can jump to generation from generation without as much cost.

The three issues I have with that theory are:

1. The theory never takes into account the time and effort it takes to sell the old card, in fact often even the Ebay fees aren't taken into account. Not everyone lives in a large city with a vibrant Craigslist.

2. The theory basically relies on a sucker that isn't as in tune as some people here and don't know the hardware they think they got a deal on is about to be replaced.

3. If for some reason you decide to not stay on top of GPU info for six months are more (aka "you just play the games") then you might get screwed. A good example there is someone who bought a 780 ti when it was a flagship only to watch a 970 beat it or come within less than a year. That is hundreds of dollars in value that could be lost if you aren't Johnny-on-the-spot.

But if you can pull it off there is not a lot of downside. But I would argue if you are so plugged into the GPU landscape to pull it off you could make gaming an even better deal for yourself by either cryptocurrency mining or buying/selling Nvidia or AMD stock at the right time.

 

[IEC]

My method is mining. Since 2013 every PC-related purchase I have made has been paid for by mining proceeds. I just finished recouping the cost of my latest round of mining expansion. Vega and Zen may be next. Or possibly only Vega, depending on performance.

 

[happy medium]

It is like iPhones or anything else

I wonder how many people pay more for their phones than their video cards?
I paid 3x more for my phone than my card.
Do I need all this crap for my phone ? nope, I use it to text, make calls, to see what time it is, and gps. A $150 phone can do that just fine .

Why did I buy the expensive phone? good question, because I can?
Because my pop got a new one and I want mine to be better/ faster?

I upgrade my computer because it needs it, and to meet my needs.

 

[crisium]

So basically your advice is to save a little every day, buy Nvidia even though AMD cards have better longevity, and buy bad price/perf cards like the 980 instead of the 970?

Anyway, a 290x would've been a much better long term card, especially when considering mining.


I wonder what I could buy if I saved $1.5 a day or $3 a day! I mean even a 12 year old can save that kind of money.

Just from reading the title one would assume its a mining enthusiast spreading his wisdom on how to literally finance free (after a notable period of having to have cash first) GPUs from mining. This turns one's thoughts straight to AMD, naturally. But so does the upgrade path in the OP. Now this requires some premonition, but 680 -> 780 -> 980, in foresight, was not a cost efficient upgrade path. Simply 7970 -> 290X would have gotten you within 10-15% slower performance at worst (at the peaks of Kepler/Maxwell's leads over GCN), and at times pretty much the same performance. And it would be, using launch prices, $1700 vs $1,100. Supposed better Nvidia resell value is not gonna make up that difference. Although, I admit the 780 came before the 290X and the launch 290X was loud, so it would take extra patience for that many do not have, fair enough.

Then again, for a "poor man's guide" you should really recommend the better performance-per-dollar. 7950 OC until aftermarkets 290s would have been the most cost efficient upgrade path for the 28nm generation. For most of the 28nm generation, the 7950 undercut the 670 and the 290 undercut the 780 and 970, so it applies to almost any time other than initial Nvidia undercutting for a few weeks before AMD responded. By Mid 2012, still early in 28nm, the 7950 was an amazing bargain at ~$340: Even pre-Never Settle drives, max OC 7950 (from 800MHz to 1150-1300MHz depending on model) came very close to max OC 680 and 7970, IIRC. Even ignoring mining, this was a wise choice to get ~90-95% of top tier performance for 30%+ less.

I think the best advice, outside of mining, is to:
Wait for competition, and even then wait a few months.
Get a second tier card.

This turns one to the 7950, 670, 290, and even 970 on the 28nm gen. I won't poo-poo the 970 since it did initially undercut the 290X for a few weeks and was an OC beast. But these are not at all the cards you recommended for a poor man saving pennies a day. I think you'd do a better service recommending these cards. Unfortunately competition now is limited, so you can only follow one of those points, but that still points people to the 1070 not the 1080. I would never recommend someone savings pennies a day for a GPU to buy any of the cards you mentioned.

 

[happy medium]

Just from reading the title one would assume its a mining enthusiast spreading his wisdom on how to literally finance free (after a notable period of having to have cash first) GPUs from mining. This turns one's thoughts straight to AMD, naturally. But so does the upgrade path in the OP. Now this requires some premonition, but 680 -> 780 -> 980, in foresight, was not a cost efficient upgrade path. Simply 7970 -> 290X would have gotten you within 10-15% slower performance at worst (at the peaks of Kepler/Maxwell's leads over GCN), and at times pretty much the same performance. And it would be, using launch prices, $1700 vs $1,100. Supposed better Nvidia resell value is not gonna make up that difference. Although, I admit the 780 came before the 290X and the launch 290X was loud, so it would take extra patience for that many do not have, fair enough.

Then again, for a "poor man's guide" you should really recommend the better performance-per-dollar. 7950 OC until aftermarkets 290s would have been the most cost efficient upgrade path for the 28nm generation. For most of the 28nm generation, the 7950 undercut the 670 and the 290 undercut the 780 and 970, so it applies to almost any time other than initial Nvidia undercutting for a few weeks before AMD responded. By Mid 2012, still early in 28nm, the 7950 was an amazing bargain at ~$340: Even pre-Never Settle drives, max OC 7950 (from 800MHz to 1150-1300MHz depending on model) came very close to max OC 680 and 7970, IIRC. Even ignoring mining, this was a wise choice to get ~90-95% of top tier performance for 30%+ less.

I think the best advice, outside of mining, is to:
Wait for competition, and even then wait a few months.
Get a second tier card.

This turns one to the 7950, 670, 290, and even 970 on the 28nm gen. I won't poo-poo the 970 since it did initially undercut the 290X for a few weeks and was an OC beast. But these are not at all the cards you recommended for a poor man saving pennies a day. I think you'd do a better service recommending these cards. Unfortunately competition now is limited, so you can only follow one of those points, but that still points people to the 1070 not the 1080. I would never recommend someone savings pennies a day for a GPU to buy any of the cards you mentioned.

I agree , mabe I'll add in the gtx670, 770, 970 and 1070 and make a $.50 a day option.
That still would be high end and might save you about $ 750 more dollars.
vs the 7970, 290x/390x and fury X it would be about the same performance give or take.

 

[Headfoot]

Then again, for a "poor man's guide" you should really recommend the better performance-per-dollar. 7950 OC until aftermarkets 290s would have been the most cost efficient upgrade path for the 28nm generation.

Exactly. I had a 7950 @ 1150 which I mined on, got about $200 profit worth of litecoins off it at the time. When the mining bubble hit the absolute peak I was able to sell my 7950 for $400 on eBay and I bought a used 290 on this forum for $400 in 2014. Then last year I bought another used 290 on this forum for $200 to Crossfire. When crossfire works (iffy) it's faster than a 980ti/1070.

Total cost of upgrades: $0.

Now even if you remove the mining revenues from that equation, it was a total of a 7950 I got for $250 and another $200 to essentially triple my performance from 2013 to present.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I wonder how many people pay more for their phones than their video cards?
I paid 3x more for my phone than my card.
Do I need all this crap for my phone ? nope, I use it to text, make calls, to see what time it is, and gps. A $150 phone can do that just fine .

Why did I buy the expensive phone? good question, because I can?
Because my pop got a new one and I want mine to be better/ faster?

Personally I spend what I do on phones because they are my primary computer. I use my desktop less and less and do more web browsing and such on the phone.

In fact my most powerful desktop PC is hooked to a TV because its only real purpose is gaming. Ten years ago that would have also been what I web surfed on, plus my primary productivity machine. Mobile phones and laptops have sucked up the latter tasks, so they get an increasingly larger piece of my technical budget.

I upgrade my computer because it needs it, and to meet my needs.

I agree which is my my best gaming rig still rocks a 2600k and a 390x because its hooked to a 1080p tv. I don't see a need to move to something better until there is a VR headset that doesn't feel like I am buying a prototype.