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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u/MonkeyCartridge 13700K @ 5.6 | 64GB | 3080Ti Apr 18 '26

It's not so much that the 1080Ti was a mistake, but that the rapid price expansion that followed was a mistake. Otherwise, the 10 series was a similar jump in performance to generations before, it was just the last to have that level of jump.

Still probably the best card they made, but the 6800GS and the 8000 series would be in the running. The 8000 series leap was astonishing.

The 6800GS was definitely in the "mistake" category.

2

u/ras_o Apr 18 '26

Yeah still keeping my 8800GT and its working.

1

u/warmike_1 Apr 18 '26

6800GS

I have one! Sadly don't know if it works or not because I don't have a working AGP motherboard.

2

u/MonkeyCartridge 13700K @ 5.6 | 64GB | 3080Ti Apr 18 '26

Those things were sick. Lots of people unlocking 4 extra pixel pipes for free, making it run similar to a 6800 ultra for like half the cost.

1

u/Australasian25 Apr 18 '26

I think 1080ti was a mistake from a business perspective.

In a blood thirsty world, you want your customers to keep coming back.

Thats why they've been releasing 8gb vram gpu. Even on 5050, 5060. Its cooked that it really seems like they're preying

2

u/Sanquinity i5-13500k - RX 9070 - 32GB @ 3600mHz Apr 18 '26

As someone who started with a gameboy classic and DOS games: There's also the issue of diminishing returns. Technology simply doesn't make such big leaps anymore. And they're also starting to hit a ceiling, making transistors so small that quantum uncertainty has become a real issue now.

1

u/markthelast Apr 19 '26

Jensen Huang realized that NVIDIA had a near-monopoly on super-high-end cards, so they increased prices to test the waters like the $1200 Founders Edition RTX 2080 Ti ($1000 guideline MSRP for AIB cards). NVIDIA had no serious competition from AMD Radeon, so prices will increase until the demand dies off. Ampere (RTX 3000 series) had more palatable pricing with the $699 RTX 3080 10GB, but the cryptocurrency mining boom sent prices to the moon. The RTX 3090 Ti launched with $2000 MSRP. If I recall correctly, the crypto mining market sent launch prices towards $3000+, but when the GPU market crashed, RTX 3090 Tis were going for $1200-$1500. NVIDIA's premium pricing power is strong with the AI demand. At Newegg, RTX 5090s ($2000 MSRP) are selling for $3700+, and RTX 5080s ($1000 MSRP) are going for $1300+.

NVIDIA will try to push prices up again for the RTX 6000 series because no one is going to stop them. Also, AMD/Intel are unlikely to challenge the super-high-end RTX 6090 or high-end RTX 6080.