Haha, my thoughts exactly! :-)

Surely totally fine if it works for the own needs without spending any high amount. For me this is more complicated because the cost of a PC totally depends on the own demand but even if this demand is "insane"... my general cost of living is so high; if i want to cut down on cost i surely will have to make a "cut" on another spot first. The biggest cost factor for me is not PC gaming, even if GoG and Sony combined is always charging 10-30% more for me vs. US citizens. And this is surely not nothing because if i buy games for 7 years in a price volume of 7000 the price difference alone is around 1400, which is about half the cost of a "behemoth GPU" and twice the cost of my "luxury board". This is what i "pay more" over 7 years if i buy games for 1000 a year (80 a month, core gamer of course)... vs. a US gamer, in games only. 7 years is the expected "maximum lifetime of a good card", so this is why i use this number.

But even if the game price is just 500 a year it still will add up way more than someone would expect without making the hard maths. This is still 700 more in 7 years vs. US gamers, not vs. Brazilian gamers who got 40-60% regional price cut as a standard, on top of any other price cut. Here the difference would be so huge... i could afford me the full price of a behemoth GPU every 7 years, just with the cash i pay more!

So, firstly... just because of this "leeching me out-behavior" i will always pay more than any other citizen somewhere else. According to this financial reality, for people who want to be a minimalist... i live at the wrong place.. to spell out a hard fact. I would have to do something illegal if would have to handle it with the same "efficiency" any other gamer would be capable off... just not gonna work at my place.

So in general, if you are getting "leeched out", do not expect it to be a benefit for your "low cost lifestyle", either change your place or attach your lifestyle toward your "best benefit" or in other words: it is more rewarding to me "going high end", because there will be lesser "corruption" at my total cost vs. other people. In general, if you want to use the cheapest system ever... make sure you as well get the cheapest games ever.

It will go even further than this, because the general living cost will add up as well, which is way higher than the "PC costs with games included".

Price for my home in 7 years: 109 200 (game is 7000, so a drastical difference)

Price for my car in 7 years: 42 000 (this is totally a estimation, it can vary a lot... bad luck = higher cost, big luck= lower cost.

Price for my health in 7 years (insurance and dentist): 44 520 (constantly rising, year after year)

So you see, those 7000 may look like "solid cash"; but if looking from the eyes of a bird flying very high it appears almost peanuts. Even if i add another 7000 for my hardware... still relatively cheap compared to the other costs.

Sure, i can cut it down the hard way but the overall benefit is limited without cutting down on those other costs as well which is almost impossible... unless i want to live on the streets without a car and without health insurance.

It is important to look at the whole picture else we may "look awesome" yet still fail to make a noticeable impact because we simply are dishonest and are creating a "oh i got it almost for free-world" which is more fake than truth. Because "I got it almost for free" is not the same as "i live almost for free", there is a big difference.

And i tell ya, i live pretty cheap for my country... i know people they pay TWICE THAT AMOUNT!

So, nope... i do not feel like "oh... now i am completely broken forever..." looking at a very pricey card because, yes it is a lot of cash, but it is still not the hardest thing i have to manage, not even nearly.

You have to make maths and be good at maths, else you may not understand "whats going on" and "why being super stingy is not always the best personal benefit". The Nvidia chief is as well good at maths, thats why he surely got a Titan-GPU at a hidden place and it is still barely touching his bank account.

It's not just the power, but the heat. I mean 600W is a lot of heat to dissipate (my PSU only has a 650W capacity). You're literally generating over 1kW/h just with that GPU alone. I don't understand how this is considered consumer grade.

I do not think the 5090 is "consumer grade" anymore, it is probably 50% for mining and 50% for gaming and totally focused on enthusiasts. Yet, no one ever had in mind the 4090 was, despite its price, one of the best selling GPUs for Nvidia and i guess same will happen with the 5090. The demand will be very high, because it is simply one more time "far ahead of other GPUs".

In order to handle the heat i would suggest a water-cooling design which is probably not available right at launch, but i could be wrong. Apparently there is a 2-slot design available but i would not trust it... this is gonna be to hot. If so probably 40 cm length, only possible in a big tower.

The case should be a big tower, pretty clear with 3 row of fans at the front and 3 row of fans (360 size) at the upper side of the case, simply the most efficient design which is exactly this one. I do recommend a EATX MB because it simply can handle even more heat.

The 5090 with its "single use design", is the most power consuming single GPU ever (a true Behemoth) but not the highest power hungry multi-GPU setup i ever detected inside a gamer rig. One of the record holders in power use in a gamer rig is probably still this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvtG6c3AMM0

Close to 600 W if some clocks added... this was 9 years ago... so AMD was actually a lot of time at the very peak challenging Nvidia with "crazy designs", but yeah... those days are currently over now.

Actually possible to go even more crazy, making a HD 7990 Crossfire build, which would be around 750 W. As far as i remember it was crunching everything Nvidia had to offer... but nowadays AMD simply said "goodbye... we got to less Porsche drivers". 11 years ago... so we already had such crazy stuff but in another shape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TUYyl__Dpw

Many people react like "they are totally shocked... never seen anything like this"... which is actually not the case but we got the new design-philosophy to make huge single core designs instead of the multi core designs in the ancient time of gaming.

AMD could still release such a "crazy design" in theory using their chiplet-approach if they succeed to beat Nvidia using maybe 800 W. However.. they NEED to beat Nvidia kinda the same way the 7990 was demolishing anything, if so... they will get their customers... even at 800 W. However... if they can not beat Nvidia... this new Behemoth would be doomed... and this is the issue... AMD can not produce such a piece anymore, rasterization is to far behind it seems and even AI is behind of Nvidia... AMD simply was sleeping for to long. At least their X3D CPU is still "the gamers most beloved one", which is their true achievement.

* still satisfied with his AMD iGPU ( Vega 8 graphics ) *

With a GPU like this i would probably focus on "other things". At least not much worse can happen if a GPU may not pass a certain performance. Surely worse if a paraglider is not able to pass a certain quality because it could be the very last flight after. But, i would as well not recommend it on a car, just to much hassles having a unreliable machine while "on the streets". If you are in your room... ok who cares...

Not that i ever said "new hardware is per se more reliable"; clearly not... but at least you had in general more fun until the point it may explode. Anyway, with experience even new quality hardware may become more or less "reliable". In general it is always tricky getting the "newest stuff"... but same counts for a new paraglider design... some older "proven" design might be less performant but in general more reliable.

With what we know so far, the GPUs are with less "surprise defects" as long as the PCB is with good quality. With CPUs the risk is clearly higher... especially if not manually every BIOS specs "fixed".

My old 7950X CPU was going boom... not cheap... but the 3090 TI is still alive and healthy.

If we consider how much people spend on phones, TVs and other electronics, a 2.5k GPU is still within consumer range, at least for a high end product.

I personally can't afford to buy a 2.5k GPU but many other people can (and will).

Yeah, I know.....that's why I try to find a card that is decently cooled and uses less power when I upgrade.

It isn't, it's a george foreman grill in disguise ;)

-

If it still works for ya then more power to ya...keep on rockin' that thing as long as possible :)

Nah, my phone got a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12 GB RAM. I find it suspect if my phone would be more performant than a PC. Yet, there are still probably over 40% PS4 gamers on PSN, which is a console weaker than my phone. Not to mention Switch, although it have yet to become discovered if at least the Switch 2 could beat my phones performance.

However, a phone does not need to be expensive but the fact is that in my country a 600-700 CHF phone is the most popular phone, so in average people spend probaly more or equal on their phone than on their GPU.

Well phones don't often have to run applications/games as intensively as a regular PC usually :)
(like on a bigger screen with resource hogging AAA games)

A phone is a "peak device", as it has not been made for 100% load all the time. Although I could ..., I would not even my PC run at 100% load all the time. A bit above 50% is my target on hardware load, so it will stay cool with higher endurance, yet still sufficiently performant. I would say, if you always will have to run your hardware close to maximum load it would be a clear hint that it is time for an upgrade.

Most games I play (even some newer ones) don't even hit 100% load, but I might upgrade (RAM/etc) if I ever have extra monies.

We humans are efficient, we also have an ancient-technology, high-multi-core, quantum/non-discreet processor and it's exclusively made in its U series ultra-low-power variant

So it's "nowadays electric heaters are so advanced you can play hi-res games on them"?

More seriously, I don't think it's the way to go, not the main "strategy" at least, unless maybe in a purely economic/market point of view (they sell well!) but losing a more sensible general view of the original purpose of the product sold. We're speaking about very advanced products, nearly prototypes, that in a stable technology field (no great revolutions, just more refinement, no more like the sort of generation technology differences in computing like in the nineties) is obviously showcasing the best one can offer. In that sense, I can understand, together with the high price and probably low number of units produced.

Still it's about near the limit of doing something because you can and/or because there's always someone enthusiast and involved enough to buy it with the same mindset one gets a very old bottle of fine wine or some jewel or limited edition poster, a painting. Or probably a powered up spare piece for car tuning (car tuning is currently the hobby that this kind of pc building gives me the most similar vibes).

And then there's the vast majority the ones who nonetheless want a GPU, who are not "whatever goes" fellows that use their computer kinda unknowingly, but they still focus mainly on function, more than on experimenting and reaching some kind of goal or record, or polishing a homemade machine, all in all made also for itself, like someone paints miniatures, even if they're not really into boardgames. These users are still informed users, not hobbysts or builders, nor the ones who just happen to use something (because they probably must in 2024, more or less).
So they are not satisfied without a dedicated GPU/really capable integrated chip, and they know how to make the most of it but need something that's good, rather simple, durable and ideally within everybody's price range.
Is the market offering something similar beside pure office/utilitary/casual PCs (including most laptops in this), single-purpose consoles with their own custom-made hw&sw and bleeding-edge "future-is-now" new lines?

I think there's something missing in the producers' reasoning, and it's something you've been speaking about: space and encumbrance, power needs and heat, cost, convenience (noise, also, with all those fans) can be the deciding "spec" for these customers.
There's probably a whole part of the public that's not "covered" enough by the kind of products mostly sold, or I'm just not so good at finding that type of products? I bet they're calling for that sort of "middle road" thing, so why so few of this kind? Could it be it's not profitable, really?