So, you’re waiting on the next GPU refresh before you finally upgrade your system. I’ve been there too, but, over the years, I’ve realized that it’s not always worth waiting. Sometimes, it’s best to just pull the trigger now instead of waiting for the perfect time—here’s why.

The GPU Waiting Game Never Ends

Let’s face it, there’s always new hardware just around the corner. I firmly believe that if you want a new product to release, just buy the current model and the company will release the new one the next day. All they’re doing is waiting for you to buy to release the new gear.

As funny as that sounds, it’s true (to a point). There’s always going to be another new graphics card no matter what you do, and, when it does release, it might let you down.

Related

Why the RTX 50 Series Is the Most Disappointing NVIDIA GPU Generation Ever

I expected nothing from RTX 50 GPUs, and I’m still disappointed.

Because of this, you should just stop waiting for the perfect moment to buy a new card. If you wait until the new card comes out, it’ll be impossible to get. If you wait six months after it launches, there’s just six more months until the next launch, so why not wait it out a little longer?

The waiting game simply never ends, so stop playing it and just get a card that fits your wants and needs now.

Prices and Performance Have Finally Leveled Out

If you look everywhere but the high and ultra-high end range of graphics cards, the MSRP pricing is actually relatively decent given how much power modern graphics cards provide.

It’s amazing how much pricing hasn’t actually changed that much over the years. Yes, the ultra-high-end is insanely priced, with the RTX 5090 having a $1,999 MSRP. However, mid-range is the new high-end when it comes to pricing.

The GTX 1080, which was a monster of a card at the time, cost $599. The RTX 5070 has a MSRP of $549, and I’d venture to say that the 5070 is filling the same shoes the 1080 did. Yes, they’re different class cards, but in terms of price-to-performance, I think that the new 70-series fills the same shoes that the 80-series used to.

Without spending thousands, you’re getting really solid performance in that mid-range tier of graphics cards.

The Mid-Tier Is the Real Sweet Spot

Speaking of mid-range graphics cards, that’s the sweet spot anyway. Yes, we all want the RTX 5090 with an i9 and 256GB of DDR5 RAM. It would be great. But, what if I told you that you didn’t need an RTX 5090 to enjoy PC gaming?

Related

Why a 1440p Monitor Is the Sweet Spot for PC Gamers

It’s 2025 and 4K gaming still isn’t very accessible.

Before I picked up my second-hand RTX 3080 12GB for around $275 last November, I was rocking an RTX 3060. Would you be surprised if I told you I had an RTX 4090 laptop sitting next to my RTX 3060 desktop, and almost always I chose the desktop to game?

There are a number of reasons, but one of the main things is mid-range graphics cards really are where it’s at. Most brand-new AAA titles launch with so many bugs and need so many patch fixes that even the most high-end setups can barely run extreme settings.

So, I’ve actually become pleasantly content with mid-tier graphics cards and medium settings. Some games I’ll push for ultra settings on my setup, when I can, but otherwise I just stick to medium or high.

Related

How to Buy a Used Graphics Card Without Getting Scammed

A used GPU is a great way to save money on your PC build… as long as you don’t get scammed.

Current mid-range cards (or high-end previous generation cards) really balance things out. Like I said, I paid $275 for an RTX 3080 12GB in November of last year. Yes, I got a fantastic deal on it, but deals like that are out there if you keep an eye on the second hand market.

You don’t need the latest-and-greatest to game. Just get what you can afford and enjoy it. Shop for the best deal, but don’t drag your feet. When I saw this RTX 3080 on Facebook Marketplace, I was ready to meet the guy same-day because I knew I wouldn’t find a better deal than that.

You’re Probably Not Maxing Out Your Current Card Anyway

Unless you’re using a decade-old graphics card, there’s a chance that you’re not even maxing out your current GPU anyway.

Some games can definitely put your graphics card to the test and use every ounce of power it has to offer. However, more often than not, there are other limiting factors at play in your gaming setup.

If you’re on an older processor, or only have 16GB of RAM, then an RTX 5090 won’t do you any good anyway. In that scenario, your GPU might be able to push all the frames it wants, but your CPU could totally fail to keep up with it. This really only happens when your system is trying to push a high FPS, and you’ll notice stuttering, lagging, long loading times, and other issues.

The RTX 5090 would try and push all those frames the CPU simply wouldn’t keep up, meaning your GPU would sit at a low utilization rate and the processor would be the bottleneck. So, buying that ultra-high-end card would be a waste without upgrading the rest of your computer.

Related

4 Reasons to Upgrade Your Gaming PC CPU Instead of the GPU

The CPU is important for gaming, too.

A great way to know if your system is taking full advantage of your graphics card is to run some form of hardware monitoring software while you game to see what your system is doing. Some games offer overlays to show you system metrics, and that can be useful too. You want to look at the utilization of both the GPU and GPU.

If your GPU utilization is at 20%, and the CPU is stuck at 100%, then you’re bottlenecked by your CPU for sure. If it’s the other way around, and the CPU utilization is low and GPU is high, then it’s time to upgrade your GPU. Similarly, if both the GPU and CPU aren’t hitting 100% utilization, then you could be facing other bottlenecks like storage or RAM (or you simply don’t have the settings turned up high enough).

So, before you go out and spend hundreds or thousands on a new GPU, make sure that you’re fully utilizing your old one first.

Chasing the Perfect Build Delays the Fun

If you’ve been in the PC gaming realm for any length of time, there’s a good chance you’ve tried to make the “perfect” build at some point. We’ve all done it. However, doing that can simply delay having fun.

I have a good friend who, about seven years ago, bought my GTX 1080. I had recently switched to AMD because I sold my gaming PC and went with a Mac mini and eGPU, and he needed a new graphics card.

He was still using that graphics card up until about two months ago. Yes, he was using a GTX 1080 in 2025. He had upgraded the rest of his setup to a Ryzen 7 7700X, 32GB DDR5, NVMe, and 4K 144Hz monitors—but he was still using a GTX 1080.

Late last year, I tried to talk him into buying a then-previous-generation RTX 30-series card as the RTX 50-series was yet-to-be-released. He refused, because he was simply determined to get a 50-series card at launch. The rumors looked great, and he was chasing that perfect build.

Related

Building a Budget PC? 4 Reasons Why Last-Gen Hardware Still Rocks

Most of the performance for way less of the cost.

While he waited, I scored the aforementioned RTX 3080 12GB for $275. There were several other deals around that price range near me, and I offered to pick them up and ship it to him. He still refused, chasing that RTX 50-series.

Well, the RTX 50-series launched, and it was nearly impossible to get at MSRP (or at all). He was upset at the paper launch (which I told him would happen, and he thought it wouldn’t). Alas, he still couldn’t get a card.

He was determined to pay MSRP, which meant no GPU for him for a few more months. Still, I found great deals on previous-generation RTX 40-series cards, and he wouldn’t have it. He was chasing that RTX 50-series still.

Eventually, when he was on the other side of the country, he found a MicroCenter that had an RTX 5070 Ti at just over MSRP and pulled the trigger.

He has been wanting to upgrade his graphics card since the 30-series released, and he’s delayed it for this long. Now he’s enjoying his new GPU, but he could have been enjoying those 4K 144Hz monitors so much more for the past year or two than he was.

The moral of the story: just buy the graphics card that’s in front of you. Don’t keep chasing the dream of a perfect build.

Just Enjoy What You Already Have (Or What You Can Afford)

Along the same lines as chasing the perfect build, just get what you can afford.

When I built my first brand-new gaming PC, I went into debt. Massive debt. I was 20 years old working a barely above minimum wage job, but I just had to have that top-tier gaming PC and I spent $4,000 to build it. What a mistake.

These days, PC upgrades only come when I can afford them. Until then, I just enjoy what I have.

Remember that RTX 3080? I sold my RTX 3060 for $200 (and then a few other unused PC components) and made the upgrade to the RTX 3080 completely free to me. I didn’t go into debt, I didn’t have to pay astronomical prices, I didn’t have to fight scalpers—I simply got the card I could afford at the time, and enjoyed what I had until I could afford something else.

That’s my challenge to you. Enjoy the graphics card that you already have until you can afford to upgrade, and don’t worry about upgrading a second earlier. The right setup will come along at the right time, and it’s not worth pulling a second mortgage out on your house to build a monster gaming PC. Trust me.

Once you settle on whether you’re buying a new graphics card or sticking with the one you have, be sure to tune your graphics card to get the most FPS possible out of it.

There are several steps you can take for tuning your PC to eke out that last little drop of performance from your existing hardware.