The case against buying top-end components

Bottom line

Top-end components are great; they push the boundaries and offer the best performance currently available. While this is great for overclockers and hardware enthusiasts, regular gamers don’t need this sort of performance.
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I usually never buy anything unless its been on the market for quite a while

If I may ask when will it be more appropriate to buy a graphics card that was released very recently?
 
I think graphics cards are quite unique to this as if you wait too long you end up with the old card and if you buy too early you pay too much. This would be left up to the user to decide on. With the other hardware, the article is correct very few people need the power of a High End product. You paying a lot for features you barely ever use.
 
I usually upgrade to the second strongest card in the line up of a new range (GTX570, GTX670 etc). Saves you R2000-R2500 and the performance difference is not worth that extra mula.
 
Seeing as I deal with this on a daily basis.
I always tell me clients to buy what suits their pockets and I almost always advise them not to upgrade if they are playing the latest titles on high to ultra settings with their current hardware. That said I am running the latest and greatest machine money can buy and honestly its epic but its a waste and most people don't need a machine like it.

For those wondering specs of my main rig are:

3960x
MSI Big Bang XpowerII X79
G.Skill 16GB 2133
MSI 7970 Lightning x2 Crossfire or Evga GTX690 4GB
Corsair Force GT 480GB
WD 3TB
Corsair AX1200
Cm Storm Trooper
Samsung SA950D 27" 3D

I mainly use it for the business though :D a lot of clients want to play on it and I have actually sold a rig like this to a very good client of mine after he played BF3 Maxed out.

Total cost for something like this..Close to R49 000...worth it...No..lol
 
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There's nothing wrong with buying the latest and greatest hardware, just don't do it every month (unless you're a millionaire)

I've bought the latest and greatest roughly a year ago. Can see my rig in sig. I do small upgrades now and then (Just purchased a bigger SSD for example, and got some watercooling)

There's no point in what I have now and going over to Ivy Bridge or LGA 2011. My rig will still handle everything that's thrown at it.
 
Diminishing returns yes.

I reckon for PCs the sweet spot is around about the 15k mark. Better to rather halve the time till next upgrade than pay 2x as much.
 
I work in computer retail and strangely enough I am not one of those guys that feels the need to recommend a GTX680 to someone because I am greedy - I offer the sweet spot because not just anyone is going to drop R14000 on a graphics card. Mid range is where it is at, you will get good value for a fraction of the price.

Of course, you don't want to get cheap components either - rather spend a little bit of extra dosh on something quality - mid range as well! Some people say R15k for a gaming machine, you can get something going for even cheaper, in the R12k range even.
 
Can I also point out that, provided you have the space and PSU, 2 mid range GPU can rival a single high end GPU but at a lower price.
I also don't believe in buying the latest series simply because you can go down a series and get the same unit cheaper or a better one at the same price. Check out this for performance vs cost and rankings. I just got a 560Ti and believe I got a great price to performance ratio.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
 
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