Dok stojimo na ivici nove generacije grafičkih kartica iz Nvidije i AMD-a, na internetu se ukorijenila poznata rasprava – isplati li se prethodna generacija GPU-a još uvijek kupovati kada je nešto novije, sjajnije i moćnije na pomolu?
Mogu vam to razjasniti: uh, da.
Argument ostaje isti kao i za proteklih nekoliko generacijskih izdanja – da je besmisleno kupovati proizvod na rubu da postane 'zastario' i da cijene često ne padaju dovoljno da bi bio vrijedan novca. Tamo is logike ovog argumenta, ali ne uzima u obzir veliki problem: tržište GPU-a već dugo vremena nije slijedilo logiku.
Barem ne na bitne načine. Da, u prošlim godinama mogli ste odšetati do svoje lokalne prodavaonice kompjutera i uzeti novu grafičku karticu sa rođak lakoća, bio to potpuno novi model u MSRP-u ili prethodna generacija koju je zamijenio uz ukusan popust, ali posljednjih nekoliko godina dokazalo je da jednostavno ne možete predvidjeti budućnost tržišta, GPU-a ili nečeg drugog.
When GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 were first released, plenty of PC gamers and computing enthusiasts believed an upgrade from the previous generation couldn't be justified by the insanely high prices, and that waiting for the 3000 series to drop was the more sensible option – and then all hell broke loose.
Povijest bi se mogla ponoviti
Rijetki GPU-ovi RTX 3080 s temom Gundam koji su ugrađeni u rudarsku opremu izazvali su pomutnju na internetu. (Zasluga slike: I_Leak_VN)
The Ampere series of cards like the GeForce RTX 3060 had a divisive pricepoint – some finding it to be reasonable, while other lamented the apparent death of affordable graphics cards – but a terrible cocktail of word issues also made them almost impossible to find.
The Cryptomarket saw a boom in Ethereum, which made the cards very attractive to miners who snapped them up in bulk for use in cryptomining farms, while the Covid-19 pandemic caused supply chain issues and a chip shortage that affected almost everything in the tech world, from computing components to cars and appliances.
All this scarcity inflated the price of GPUs to wild levels, with the GeForce RTX 3080 hitting an average resale price of almost x3 times its original MSRP during the height of the Great GPU Shortage. AMD fared a little better, though even Team Red was still blighted by shortages and scalpers.
One difference between how the two companies approached the situation was in regards to cryptomining, with Nvidia eventually re-releasing updated models of almost its entire Ampere series equipped with anti-mining preventatives.
These LHR (low-hashrate) cards weren’t completely uncrackable, but they may have helped dissuade folks from snapping up mountains of RTX 3060s. On the other hand, AMD acknowledged the situation and stated that once a customer buys a GPU, they’re free to do what they like with it.
Međutim, veliki problem je to što ta oskudica nije utjecala samo na tu generaciju grafičkih kartica – ona je također napuhala cijenu gotovo svakog GPU-a na tržištu. Argument o čekanju do puštanja sljedeće generacije grafičkih kartica kako bi se kupio jeftiniji, stariji model ili novo izdanje po relativnoj cijeni potpuno je nestao gotovo preko noći.
It's your money, your requirements and your choice
Zašto je tako sretna? Tko zna, ali kladim se da njezin GPU radi točno ono što joj treba. (Slika zaslužna za: Shutterstock)
Will this happen again? It's hard to say.
The shortage was caused by a variety of issues that just happened to occur at the same time, but should Covid-19 cause more supply chain constraints then it's likely that both Lovelace and RDNA3 GPUs could see their prices start to skyrocket due to demand. The crypto market also has every likelihood to recover given its volatility, so you shouldn’t feel like we’re out of the woods just yet.
I do have a simpler argument in all of this though: it's worth buying a new GPU if it’s worth it tebi .
Older GPUs still very much have a place in the market right now. You only have to look at the Steam Hardware Survey to see how many gamers are still using cards that are several generations old at this point, and depending on the games you play, it's likely you don’t actually need an especially powerful graphics card. Most first-person shooters and battle-royale style games intentionally keep the system requirements low to attract more players for example.
I wrote a piece several months ago off the back of the RTX 3070 Ti getting poor reviews. It was marked down for its price and performance, but the joy it has bought me is beyond value. I won’t feel bad for my choices given the circumstances given graphics cards were harder to find than gold dust. Would I have preferred an RTX 3090? Sure, but did I need one? Absolutely not.
Kako troškovi života postaju sve viši u mnogim zemljama diljem svijeta, jednostavno nema smisla nadograđivati se na 'sljedeću veliku stvar' samo radi toga, a i Ampere i RDNA2 GPU-ovi i dalje će biti relevantni i sposobni godinama koje dolaze.
If you see an especially good deal on a cheap graphics card in the coming weeks, don’t let early adopters try and convince you to wait for Lovelace or RDNA3 unless you’re happy to do so – we simply don’t know what the market will look like when they launch.
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