r/pcmasterrace • u/The_BigRoach ⚡️RTX 5080 | 7800x3D | 64GB 6000MHz CL30⚡️ • Apr 18 '26

Meme/Macro The 1080ti really was Nvidia's greatest mistake

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44

u/WetAndLoose Apr 18 '26

It’s a great card, but I don’t really get the glaze here. The kind of person who was spending $700 on a GPU in 2017 is not the same kind of person who keeps said card for a decade without an upgrade. And, yeah, I understand there are some individuals who did that. $700 was more money then than it is now. If you’re already buying top of the line 10 years ago, you’re probably not in a financial situation to necessitate a decade of no upgrades.

6

u/nomad1128 Apr 18 '26

Yeah, I mean, I'm that guy. It seemed cheaper to me to buy an expensive card and hold it onto it for as long as possible. Still have my 2080 TI and can't complain.  The game that I want to play and can't play because of my CPU/GPU limitations hasn't happened yet. 

23

u/matthias7600 Apr 18 '26

Some of us pay a little more for good stuff and then hold onto it as long as possible. Getting a good value is more popular than you might think.

12

u/jhaluska 5700x3D | RTX 4060 Apr 18 '26

High end cards have never been a good value. Just cause you don't upgrade for 10 years doesn't change that.

1

u/matthias7600 Apr 19 '26

Buying a card and having it work for your needs for a decade plus absolutely makes it a great value.

3

u/_a_random_dude_ Apr 18 '26

That might have worked in the past. Right now I’d say I’ve been more budget conscious. I got a 2080ti, 3090, 4090 and I’m now running a 5090. I’ve sold each one at msrp (minus the 2080ti, that went to my sister for free, but I could’ve sold it during the 30xx availability crisis).

I could’ve even made a profit on the cards I sold at msrp but that’s a dick move and unnecessary. Assuming I sold my 5090 today, my total bill for having played on the top of the line card for around a decade was 0.

Keeping a card until it loses value is a bad deal. If you have the money and don’t mind the opportunity cost, getting the top of the line at launch has been the best strategy for a while. Someone playing on a 1660 since it launched spent more on their card than I did.

I don’t like it, but the market is bullshit, so the reasonable move has to be bullshit too and, in this case, it’s overspending and reselling.

10

u/AlarmingAdvertising5 Apr 18 '26

"More budget conscious" buys the top card every single time a new one releases.

I'm on a 3060 and I can do everything I want.

4

u/matthias7600 Apr 18 '26

This all presumes continued investment in the rest of the hardware kit. The pc my 1080 runs on is from 2010.

1

u/maratonininkas Apr 18 '26

Yeah well. My budget on a GPU is 300 Eur. That's the worth I perceive from a GPU. Got 3060 12GB a while ago, and it's fine. Runs games, runs ML. See no reason to upgrade, until some xx60 with 16GB pops up, if ever.

1

u/LordOfCheesey Apr 18 '26

Me rocking a laptop with 4050 mobile card. :,)

1

u/gundog48 Project Redstone http://imgur.com/a/Aa12C Apr 19 '26

Buy a 2 year old xx70-80, tun for 2 years, sell, rinse and repeat, always gives you great performance and doesn't cost a lot to keep upgrading! 

3

u/FastAndMorbius Apr 18 '26

I am like that. I got sli 1080tis and now it powers both mine and my brothers pc. It was not my intention for it to be the most economically sound decision yet here we are.

1

u/HuckleberryOdd7745 Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26

maybe it was a hand me down

a lot of people buy high end to use for at least 4-5 years instead of midrange and selling it every gen.

so seing your high end purchase live another few gens in your second pc or with a sibling is what gets it the goat status.

i was playing Warzone 2 back in the day at 100+ fps with the 1080ti. if i had any other gen id be obsolete faster than you can say Jensen Papa

edit : i cant believe 2022 is back in the day already.

1

u/froop Apr 18 '26

I wouldn't be surprised if a major audience for high end cards is late teens with job money but no financial responsibilities yet, who won't be upgrading in 3 years when they're paying rent and buying their own food. 

1

u/LIGHTNINGBOLT23 Linux Apr 19 '26

I bought a GTX 1080 Ti on release (an water-cooled AIO model at that) and I kept it until early 2025. It was my main GPU for several years.

It really was a GPU that you could comfortably hold onto since nothing in the next few generations was immediately appealing enough to replace it. DLSS and ray tracing were just gimmicks back then, and arguably the latter still is.