Taking a break from PC upgrades

[exodus]

I should be excited with the release of the 3000 series since this is a far greater performance jump for the money than I expected, but with new consoles coming out, I am simply reminded at how expensive PC gaming has gotten.

I currently have a 6700K and a 2070 Super. I'm in a difficult position. My CPU is still holding strong, but is just starting to feel its age. The only meaningful GPU upgrade for me would be a 3080 (preferably a Ti variant since 10GB feels like it may be limiting in the future). That means I'm likely looking at around $1500 USD for a moderate upgrade to my system. I still have an older 1080p Gsync display and 1080p plasma TV. Monitors are also tremendously bad value at the moment compared to TVs. It feels bad paying $500 for a 27" 1440p/144Hz display (e.g. LG GL850) when I can buy a 55" 4K/120Hz display for $650 (TCL 6 series).

I'll never leave PC gaming, but I think this is a time for me to take a break from upgrades and content myself with what I have. I'm not jumping into next-gen right away, but with the possibility of higher game prices (especially in Canada) and the rising cost of PC gaming hardware, I'm finding it really hard to justify chasing performance when I could likely content myself with something like an XSX and GamePass for a mere fraction of the cost. Thankfully, most of the PC games I play are not graphically intensive (Valorant, Rocket League, Crusader Kings, Beat Saber, D:OS2).

I'm not sure what I'll do in the future. I might stick with less frequent lower cost upgrades to keep playing multiplayer games with friends and PC exclusives, and stick to consoles for graphical showpieces. Is anyone else considering doing this as well?

 

[Unkindled]

You shouldn't upgrade unless you feel it's necessary. Don't get caught up in the hype of 4k 60 etc.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

A 2070 Super at 1080p doesn't exactly sound like the worst thing in the world.

 

[Xeonidus]

I have an i7 2700 and an rx480. You're fine lol

 

[pochi]

Friend of mine just bought a 2070 Super yesterday.
Don't worry about the hype.

 

[diablogg]

I should be excited with the release of the 3000 series since this is a far greater performance jump for the money than I expected, but with new consoles coming out, I am simply reminded at how expensive PC gaming has gotten.

I currently have a 6700K and a 2070 Super. I'm in a difficult position. My CPU is still holding strong, but is just starting to feel its age. The only meaningful GPU upgrade for me would be a 3080 (preferably a Ti variant since 10GB feels like it may be limiting in the future). That means I'm likely looking at around $1500 USD for a moderate upgrade to my system. I still have an older 1080p Gsync display and 1080p plasma TV. Monitors are also tremendously bad value at the moment compared to TVs. It feels bad paying $500 for a 27" 1440p/144Hz display (e.g. LG GL850) when I can buy a 55" 4K/120Hz display for $650 (TCL 6 series).

I'll never leave PC gaming, but I think this is a time for me to take a break from upgrades and content myself with what I have. I'm not jumping into next-gen right away, but with the possibility of higher game prices (especially in Canada) and the rising cost of PC gaming hardware, I'm finding it really hard to justify chasing performance when I could likely content myself with something like an XSX and GamePass for a mere fraction of the cost. Thankfully, most of the PC games I play are not graphically intensive (Valorant, Rocket League, Crusader Kings, Beat Saber, D:OS2).

I'm not sure what I'll do in the future. I might stick with less frequent lower cost upgrades to keep playing multiplayer games with friends and PC exclusives, and stick to consoles for graphical showpieces. Is anyone else considering doing this as well?

Click to shrink...

I do re-builds once every 5-7 years and new gpus every 2-3 years. Don't feel like you gotta have the latest and the greatest, especially not at the current prices of PC top-end...

 

[Lashley]

Chasing the newest and the best will always be expensive, and tbh unnecessary.

 

[Vimto]

I always skip a Gpu generation. So upgrade once every 4 years. I think thats a good strategy.

 

[The Pet of the Month]

How does one tell if a CPU is aging anyway? Admittedly these days I'm not doing all too much on my PC besides Plex hosting and light gaming but I don't think my i7 4790k has ever really given me issues.

Your PC sounds good to me. Just grab another SSD or more RAM lol

 

[Napalm_Frank]

I'mma prolly run my 970+4790k to the ground before upgrading. PC hardware is really expensive these days if you want a good future proof and it's hard to say just yet how next gen games will affect it all.

 

[Mechaplum]

You shouldn't upgrade unless you feel it's necessary. Don't get caught up in the hype of 4k 60 etc.

Click to shrink...

This pretty much. Only upgrade if you absolutely need them. Don't get drawn into the hype, especially ones that could cost you >$1k bones.

 

[Tora]

PC gaming is expensive as you want it to be

You're in a bubble as well, most of us with nice rigs are a very small percentage of the overall market

 

[c0Zm1c]

I have a GTX 1660 Ti and I'm sticking with it for the foreseeable future. PC gaming is as expensive as you make it.

 

[Layell]

I have not updated since 2014, just bought bigger hard drives and SSD. If I'm lucky I will run this for 10 years. You're good with what you have

 

[LavaBadger]

No one needs to update their PC every year and no one needs to buy a $1500 GPU.

If you're in this model of upgrade cycle, then yes, PC upgrades are wildly expensive. That's in no way representative of how most people game on PC.

My GPU is 4 years old, and this is the first gen I've considered an upgrade.

 

[Razgriz417]

you're probably good for another year or 2. I have a 6700k and 970 and am only upgrading my gpu for now. Until we're a bit out of the cross gen phase, I'm sure the 6700k will be fine, and your 2070 as well, just turn off RT if need be

 

[nikasun :D]

I would say wait for the game you reeeeeeeally wanna play on PC and then look at your options. I am in the hype as well, have an i7-9700k and a 2080 Super and have a 3080 pre-ordered. I would/could need it for 4K gaming on the TV for Control, but I am not sure that I have the time to play it.

 

[exodus]

How does one tell if a CPU is aging anyway? Admittedly these days I'm not doing all too much on my PC besides Plex hosting and light gaming but I don't think my i7 4790k has ever really given me issues.

Your PC sounds good to me. Just grab another SSD or more RAM lol

Click to shrink...

A few ways:

1) Task manager. You'll see your CPU usage, though this is not always entirely indicative since you can be CPU limited without being at 100% usage)
2) Ability to bump graphical settings without any performance loss. Since I am fairly CPU limited at 1080p, I can usually get away with supersampling to 1440p-1600p without any reduction to performance

 

[DanielG123]

Yep, same here. Have an i7 9700K matched with a 2080 Super, and don't plan on upgrading for a little while. The 30-series cards are incredibly powerful, but unless future titles get unbelievably demanding to run, I should be able to crush most new games fairly easily, especially with DLSS being as good as it is. The only things that I will be adding to my setup is another SSD, another 2 or 3TB HDD, and I'll be sitting good for a good while. Don't get caught up in the hype, and that isn't me at all trying to justify my current build; the new cards are absolutely amazing. But, unless you can either afford to upgrade, or you just need to upgrade, don't. Enjoy what you have :).

 

[Deleted member 13560]

I only upgrade after every other GPU release. So I'm on a 4-5 year cycle. When I update again it will have been about 5 years. The bad thing about it is that you can't sell your old hardware at a decent price. I really don't care about that. I usually just give the stuff away. It's not worth my time to try and sell old hardware for little money. I'm on my 3rd rig since 2008 and don't regret my method.

The main reason I do this is to get a feeling of getting a genuine generational leap in tech and performance. It gives me the same feeling I had when I used to buy consoles back in the day.

 

[Gelf]

You'd be surprised how much you can get out of an older system if you're not worried about maxing AAA titles out at 4K. I think of my future upgrades much as I used to think of buying new consoles. Are there a large enough volume of games I'm unable to play out there to make a new system/upgrade worth it. Considering my instrest in AAA titles has never been lower that could be a while in my case.

If you're unsure about any particular game working just make sure you buy from a store with good refund options if it runs poorly.

 

[Tatsu91]

I should be excited with the release of the 3000 series since this is a far greater performance jump for the money than I expected, but with new consoles coming out, I am simply reminded at how expensive PC gaming has gotten.

I currently have a 6700K and a 2070 Super. I'm in a difficult position. My CPU is still holding strong, but is just starting to feel its age. The only meaningful GPU upgrade for me would be a 3080 (preferably a Ti variant since 10GB feels like it may be limiting in the future). That means I'm likely looking at around $1500 USD for a moderate upgrade to my system. I still have an older 1080p Gsync display and 1080p plasma TV. Monitors are also tremendously bad value at the moment compared to TVs. It feels bad paying $500 for a 27" 1440p/144Hz display (e.g. LG GL850) when I can buy a 55" 4K/120Hz display for $650 (TCL 6 series).

I'll never leave PC gaming, but I think this is a time for me to take a break from upgrades and content myself with what I have. I'm not jumping into next-gen right away, but with the possibility of higher game prices (especially in Canada) and the rising cost of PC gaming hardware, I'm finding it really hard to justify chasing performance when I could likely content myself with something like an XSX and GamePass for a mere fraction of the cost. Thankfully, most of the PC games I play are not graphically intensive (Valorant, Rocket League, Crusader Kings, Beat Saber, D:OS2).

I'm not sure what I'll do in the future. I might stick with less frequent lower cost upgrades to keep playing multiplayer games with friends and PC exclusives, and stick to consoles for graphical showpieces. Is anyone else considering doing this as well?

Click to shrink...

i feel your system would be plenty competent for next gen games will it be 4k 60 or 1440p 144 nah but 1080P 60 i would say.

 

[exodus]

I think there are a few aspects here that are influencing my line of thought.

It's true that maybe I am chasing more performance than I should. A 2070 Super is no slouch, but it will still likely barely keep up with next gen consoles unless the game in question supports DLSS 2.0. Thankfully, 1080p gives me a ton of performance headroom. 1440p would be the sweet spot, but as I said, monitors are far too expensive for what they offer at the moment and I feel I should just spend that money on a TV at this point.

The other thing, and it remains to be seen how it actually plays out, is that this is the first generation where 60fps seems like it will be the baseline, with a possibility of higher framerates with HDMI 2.1 and VRR. I do not enjoy playing games at 30fps, and greatly value high framerates (90fps+ preferably), but I can at least be content with 60fps as a baseline this time around. That's why I'm taking a wait and see approach. I have my doubts, but I'm hoping 30fps titles will be the exception and not the norm this gen.

If I'm going to buy a game on PC, the main reasons are higher than 60fps, and mouse/keyboard. If I'm just looking at replicating the console experience at 60fps with a controller, I lose out on most of what I consider the benefits of PC gaming.

 

[The Pet of the Month]

A few ways:

1) Task manager. You'll see your CPU usage, though this is not always entirely indicative since you can be CPU limited without being at 100% usage)
2) Ability to bump graphical settings without any performance loss. Since I am fairly CPU limited at 1080p, I can usually get away with supersampling to 1440p-1600p without any reduction to performance

Click to shrink...

Ah interesting, thanks for the pointers. I'm able to sit at high settings for various games without issue so I think I'm doing good. But of course I don't go past 1080p because I never intended for this build to go that high up haha.

 

[StereoVSN]

Why is the GPU $1,500? Retail should be $700 (expect $800 for some of the 3rd party cards though) and even if TI comes out next year, 3080 itself should probably drop to $600 with TI being $800ish.

Don't get 3090, OP, unless you know exactly what you are doing as it's mainly for "cheap" AI/ML/GPU Compute workstations or for rendering 4K/8K videos/scenes.

Also, as others said, don't feel compelled to upgrade. Look at those Steam survey results, most people run worse hardware than you. Frankly, the one thing I'd consider in your shoes is that TV or Monitor upgrade. 1440P will do great with a 2070 super and will last you a while. Alternatively, wait for newer monitors in 2021 .. or buy that TV and hook your computer up to it.

Personally I can't stand 1080P anymore for a monitor (TV could be alright depending on the distance). Text sharpness, amount of real-estate, etc.. is annoying. Have you considered an Ultrawide instead? You can get a pretty nice UW for $500ish and 2070 Super will work fine with it.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

You've got a powerful system. No need to upgrade if you don't feel like it right now.

 

[LCGeek]

I should be excited with the release of the 3000 series since this is a far greater performance jump for the money than I expected, but with new consoles coming out, I am simply reminded at how expensive PC gaming has gotten.

Click to shrink...

it's flows but some components are cheaper and exceptionally performing in their price tiers or spec range.

I currently have a 6700K and a 2070 Super. I'm in a difficult position. My CPU is still holding strong, but is just starting to feel its age. The only meaningful GPU upgrade for me would be a 3080 (preferably a Ti variant since 10GB feels like it may be limiting in the future). That means I'm likely looking at around $1500 USD for a moderate upgrade to my system. I still have an older 1080p Gsync display and 1080p plasma TV. Monitors are also tremendously bad value at the moment compared to TVs. It feels bad paying $500 for a 27" 1440p/144Hz display (e.g. LG GL850) when I can buy a 55" 4K/120Hz display for $650 (TCL 6 series).

Click to shrink...

This isn't a bad midrange by any means but you won't be feeling stress at 1080p for sometime, not with that turing. Your cpu won't feel it's age till a console dev makes multiplat that stresses say like the division 2 or rdr2. This is incoming and you will need something that performs at 3700 ryzen level or more to keep decent performance. You can easily last 2-3 years till DD5, that was my intention till some of i5s mobos went dead.

Most people on steam don't even have an rtx turing.

I also don't feel the value proposition of monitors vs displays is off. Most big tvs don't offer same input lag or pixel persistance they certainly are better options if you want hdr and fidelity. Like I'm buying something similar but my model will have gsync on and other junk. You have other better options at that size, refreshrate for that pixel density.

I'll never leave PC gaming, but I think this is a time for me to take a break from upgrades and content myself with what I have. I'm not jumping into next-gen right away, but with the possibility of higher game prices (especially in Canada) and the rising cost of PC gaming hardware, I'm finding it really hard to justify chasing performance when I could likely content myself with something like an XSX and GamePass for a mere fraction of the cost. Thankfully, most of the PC games I play are not graphically intensive (Valorant, Rocket League, Crusader Kings, Beat Saber, D:OS2).

Click to shrink...

Never upgrade cause of a false perception of the upgrading rat race

I'm not sure what I'll do in the future. I might stick with less frequent lower cost upgrades to keep playing multiplayer games with friends and PC exclusives, and stick to consoles for graphical showpieces. Is anyone else considering doing this as well?

Click to shrink...

I mostly upgrade in the middle of gens. This is 3rd time I've ever upgrade at the start or before a new gen starts. It's always a stop gap but hey at least this isnt as bad as upgrading before GTA3 on pc was viable to run. Sucked cause the xbox console version ended up being an infinitely better value over that pc or in general.

 

[exodus]

Why is the GPU $1,500? Retail should be $700 (expect $800 for some of the 3rd party cards though) and even if TI comes out next year, 3080 itself should probably drop to $600 with TI being $800ish.

Click to shrink...

I meant $1500 for the entire system (motherboard + cpu + gpu + pci-e 4.0 SSD)

 

[Thera]

Buying the new card is never a good thing, prices are crazy.
Buying second hand last year card is the way to go.

 

[z1ggy]

Idk what to tell you OP, yesterday i was playing Doom eternal at 4k (downsampled)/60 fps on an i5 8400/2060/16 gb ram

I dont plan to upgrade anytime soon, maybe in 3 years or so.

 

[Convasse]

I keep going back and forth OP.
I love the freedom of PC, but I spent $650 on a new 1080 Ti last year and never really utilized it. I haven't played anything on PC with any consistency since 2016 when I finished the Witcher 3 DLC. But as I started my career (which involves staring at a monitor all day), I've moved away from PC and spent most of my time since 2017 playing PS4 exclusives. At this point, even though the idea of an RTX 3080 is tempting, I can't actually justify spending so much on a single component. It's just lust for new tech at this point, and that goes against my aspirations of a minimalist existence where I attempt to use all of my possessions is used to its maximum potential.
As long as you have modest tech that allows you to dabble and it accomplishes your goals, you're good.

 

[exodus]

Personally I can't stand 1080P anymore for a monitor (TV could be alright depending on the distance). Text sharpness, amount of real-estate, etc.. is annoying. Have you considered an Ultrawide instead? You can get a pretty nice UW for $500ish and 2070 Super will work fine with it.

Click to shrink...

Work gave me an old Dell 30" 1600p/60Hz monitor so it has helped quell the thirst for a new monitor, heh. I use the 144Hz display for competitive gaming, and the 1600p display for games like Flight Sim and Crusader Kings 3.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Will stick to my Ryzen 3800x and 2070S at least until warranty runs out on my new PC and that's 2023. I am fine with setting graphics a bit lower if necessary. Most PC games I play aren't even that demanding except VR games. And these are often just poorly optimized.

 

[NoWayOut]

Why is the GPU $1,500? Retail should be $700 (expect $800 for some of the 3rd party cards though) and even if TI comes out next year, 3080 itself should probably drop to $600 with TI being $800ish.

Click to shrink...

USD $ > CAD $

 

[werezompire]

I just got a new laptop with an RTX 2060 mobile and 1tb ssd and i figure that ought to last me most of next gen.

 

[headspawn]

Holding out for 4000 series stuff.

 

[exodus]

Holding out for 4000 series stuff.

Click to shrink...

I'm honestly not sure what we can realistically expect from a 4000 series. They launched the 3080 as a 320W part on a new 8nm process. They've already maxed the thermal budget of the new process. If a 4000 comes, it's either a very long ways out or is going to be a very incremental upgrade or one focused exclusively on RTX features.

 

[Darkstorne]

Who upgrades every GPU generation? Only a tiny minority. I upgrade every other gen (on a 1070 atm) and still feel like I should try and do every three gens instead for the sustainability...

 

[Trickytoon]

I guess its about setting your own expectations for the quality you want games to run at for the next year or so. I'm sitting on a 6600k and GTX 1070 that I've had for 5 years now and, honestly, I feel I could probably still game on Medium for another year or two with no issues whatsoever. However my personal holy grail comes out soon (Cyberpunk 2077) and I want the best possible experience, so I'm all in on next gen processors and GPU's.

 

[joeblow]

Maybe if you dialed down your general approach to what you find technically acceptable in PC gaming, you wouldn't burn out on how to handle upgrades. I've always looked at it this way... you have to choose two out of the following three options:

- Buy cheap
- Buy quality
- Buy immediately

Out of those three, I've consistently stuck with the first two options for my rig and it has done me well. I can buy a powerful GPU when it launches, but it won't be cheap. I can get something at a super low price anytime I want, but it won't be strong enough in a short period of time.

So what I do is zero in on a general consensus as to what is a high quality component that sometimes is more powerful than I need at the moment (quality). I then wait to buy that part on sale (cheap), even if it takes months (not immediately).

Over time, my powerful setup gets long in the tooth, but I resist the urge to upgrade it all until a new generation of consoles come out to raise the bar for gaming in general. So in, say, 2022 or so, I'll go through this process again.

Currently I have a 2500K CPU overclocked to 4.3Ghz and an AMD 390 GPU w/8 GB VRAM. I got these two in a great sale, and have most recently played Doom Eternal @60 fps in 1080P.

Sure, more and more PC games will overwhelm my rig over the next couple of years before I upgrade again, but that's fine since my PS5 will keep me busy as the new tech hotness in the household. In 2022, I'll find affordable-but-powerful PC options (on sale) to finally catch up at that time.

I like to PC/console game on my TV, and my new 85" 4K/120 fps HDMI 2.1 display gets delivered this week (bought it on sale, naturally) and it replaces my seven year old 60" 1080P HDMI 1.3 display... so again this general approach to upgrading really pays off if you don't try to always have the latest tech while paying the highest prices.

Wait as long as you can and then buy high quality for cheap, next hold off for a long time until it makes sense for another huge upgrade.

 

[StereoVSN]

Work gave me an old Dell 30" 1600p/60Hz monitor so it has helped quell the thirst for a new monitor, heh. I use the 144Hz display for competitive gaming, and the 1600p display for games like Flight Sim and Crusader Kings 3.

Click to shrink...

Nice! Even if it's old, some of those Dell displays are pretty great at 60hz. You also don't need to get a whole new system, can sell 2070 Super, get 3080 and see how it performs. Of course Canadian rates are a bit iffy, but then sales prices for 2070 should be better as well one would hope.

 

[stersauce]

I keep going back and forth OP.
I love the freedom of PC, but I spent $650 on a new 1080 Ti last year and never really utilized it. I haven't played anything on PC with any consistency since 2016 when I finished the Witcher 3 DLC. But as I started my career (which involves staring at a monitor all day), I've moved away from PC and spent most of my time since 2017 playing PS4 exclusives. At this point, even though the idea of an RTX 3080 is tempting, I can't actually justify spending so much on a single component. It's just lust for new tech at this point, and that goes against my aspirations of a minimalist existence where I attempt to use all of my possessions is used to its maximum potential.
As long as you have modest tech that allows you to dabble and it accomplishes your goals, you're good.

Click to shrink...

I've actually been pretty back and forth too. CODMW Warzone has been making me consider upgrading, since the performance has taken a hit recently. If anything, I'll consider an upgrade in January. :<

 

[LCGeek]

I'm honestly not sure what we can realistically expect from a 4000 series. They launched the 3080 as a 320W part on a new 8nm process. They've already maxed the thermal budget of the new process. If a 4000 comes, it's either a very long ways out or is going to be a very incremental upgrade or one focused exclusively on RTX features.

Click to shrink...

Isn't hopper suppose to be mcm?

No one knows. Nvidia can shift to two different processes by the time it hits 7nm or 5nm if they get their shit together with tsmc.

I wouldn't expect much with the kinds of shrinks and inevitable architecture changes nvidia will want to try now they are on smaller nodes. All I care at the end of the day is performance in games or production products I use is visible and a decent gain over what I have. If they aren't I pass.

 

[Norris1020]

As fevered as I've felt about wanting to do a full next gen build I finally made myself sick of thinking about it by endlessly messing with build configuration sites. I'm coming around to accepting staying at 1080p on PC and since I only have a 60hz display I can run most everything at high or highest settings on my 1660ti and my PC runs near silent since I'm 60 FPS capped. But that's what keeps me in a dilemma, I've come close to buying a 144hz monitor several times but just can't decide if it's worth it with the gpu I have.

 

[Earvin Infinity]

I always skip a generation of CPUs and GPUs, then upgrade tailored to my needs. I don't always need the best.

 

[Uhtred]

I don't understand OP, you current rig places you around the same performance profile as the best next gen console. That's months ahead of it's release too.

Is there a particular reason why you feel you need to upgrade right now?

Personally, with your current setup, I'd wait maybe a couple of years. By that time you should eb able to hit that $800-$1,000 sweetspot for something that isn't marginally better than a console, but GIGANTICALLY superior in terms of performance.

And don't forget about the hidden costs of consoles. They'll happily lock your cloud saves and multiplayer behind a $100 per year pay wall, and they are still more expensive per game on average.

 

[BasilZero]

Taking a "break" - I mean you arent forced to upgrade every year..

I upgraded my PC for the first time in 10 years - planning to go upgrades every 5-6 years going forward, save me a lot of money while catching up to the games released.

 

[skillzilla81]

I've got a 1080TI that I'm going to use for the next two years, then I'll look at upgrading.

I'll probably have to start turning some settings down on games to play at 1440, but I'm okay with that. I don't feel compelled to upgrade just because there are new cards out there.

 

[Deleted member 30077]

How does one tell if a CPU is aging anyway? Admittedly these days I'm not doing all too much on my PC besides Plex hosting and light gaming but I don't think my i7 4790k has ever really given me issues.

Your PC sounds good to me. Just grab another SSD or more RAM lol

Click to shrink...

If you're seeing less than 99% GPU usage in a game you're being bottlenecked by your CPU.

 

[Ra]

I should be excited with the release of the 3000 series since this is a far greater performance jump for the money than I expected, but with new consoles coming out, I am simply reminded at how expensive PC gaming has gotten.

I currently have a 6700K and a 2070 Super. I'm in a difficult position. My CPU is still holding strong, but is just starting to feel its age. The only meaningful GPU upgrade for me would be a 3080 (preferably a Ti variant since 10GB feels like it may be limiting in the future). That means I'm likely looking at around $1500 USD for a moderate upgrade to my system. I still have an older 1080p Gsync display and 1080p plasma TV. Monitors are also tremendously bad value at the moment compared to TVs. It feels bad paying $500 for a 27" 1440p/144Hz display (e.g. LG GL850) when I can buy a 55" 4K/120Hz display for $650 (TCL 6 series).

I'll never leave PC gaming, but I think this is a time for me to take a break from upgrades and content myself with what I have. I'm not jumping into next-gen right away, but with the possibility of higher game prices (especially in Canada) and the rising cost of PC gaming hardware, I'm finding it really hard to justify chasing performance when I could likely content myself with something like an XSX and GamePass for a mere fraction of the cost. Thankfully, most of the PC games I play are not graphically intensive (Valorant, Rocket League, Crusader Kings, Beat Saber, D:OS2).

I'm not sure what I'll do in the future. I might stick with less frequent lower cost upgrades to keep playing multiplayer games with friends and PC exclusives, and stick to consoles for graphical showpieces. Is anyone else considering doing this as well?

Click to shrink...

You game at 1080p; why would you feel any pressure or internal conflict to upgrade right now? Until performance falters, your catalyst will be when you decide to up your resolution or refresh rate.

Your CPU is good for another 2 years. When we leave the cross-gen phase, expect 6-core CPUs to become mandatory.

So just... chill for the time being.