re: PC Discussion - Gaming, Performance and Enthusiasts

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resist the urge and wait another year or two

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Do you even enthusiast bro?

That's all fine and dandy, but there is much more to gaming monitors now than just resolution. I'm not gonna spend a grand on it. The right time of year, no competition? I may spend $800. As I said, I was seriously considering the ROG swift for $799, but the timing was never right at first, and then I started seeing all of the reviews about some QC issues (that's what happens with a new production line and the inability to meet demand), so I decided against it.

Say what you want about the foolishness of spending X amount of money on computer hardware, but this is how the hobby works and how the industry responds. It's true for all products but is particularly prevalent with the PC enthusiast market. 1440P 120+Hz G-sync is considered the holy trinity of gaming monitors. It doesn't get better than that right now, and given the state of GPUs, it's a long overdue development. So when you're a company selling the single greatest gaming monitor that you can't make fast enough, you charge a premium. That's the nature of the industry and its loyal customers. That's why my GTX 980s cost 60% more than 970s but offer only 15% better performance. There's cost-efficient, and then there's the best. Welcome to PC gaming.

Yeah, things get cheaper as time goes on, and at the same time, newer better options arise priced at those premiums you refused to pay 2 years ago. My 980s will be hundreds of dollars cheaper one day. Eventually there will be a single video card that doubles the performance of SLI 980s. I paid as much for my Pentium 4 as I did for my 4770K. I paid $300 for a phone whose best feature was polyphonic ringtones. That's not the point and has never been the point of this hobby.

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Once 4K 144Hz hits here before long, there isn't much coming behind it in terms of tech.

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I think you're still putting too much emphasis on resolution being an indicator of technology progression here. But yeah, display technology is generally slower, which also means prices are slower to drop. And again, there's cost-efficient and there's the best. Early adopters are early adopters because they don't want to wait for price drops and small tweaks. Can't fault them if they can afford it. In this industry, the people who spend $1000 on 1440P 144Hz Gsync are probably going to spend the same on the 4K 144Hz gsync monitor in a year or two, and continue chasing the best. That's just how enthusiasts treat this hobby. There's nothing reasonable about it, but it's also not "stupid" either. There are far more bad purchases to make within this hobby, like $400 motherboards, excessive RAM, and other things that provide zero observable benefit.

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No one knew about gsync that long ago.

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Don't argue with the expert

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There's nothing reasonable about it, but it's also not "stupid" either.

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If you are wealthy, sure, that goes with damn near anything you buy at that point. Median income spending a grand on just a monitor? That is where stupid comes in. One thing if you're a single bachelor too, versus a family with that median income spending that much on something so trivial.

You're also talking about a very very small niche market adding in all of that, which is why you have limited quantity's available and they sell out quick from those limited quantities. But that's just how a small niche market works in tech, not just monitors obviously. Our beloved Nexus 6 is the exact same thing.

The quick sellout and small quantity of ROG swifts is entirely based on production yields. It's also the reason behind the high price. AU Optronics literally cannot make passable panels fast enough. The tech was/is brand new, and in fact this company was the only manufacturer willing to produce this type of panel for ASUS. The other cost comes from NVIDIA's gsync. It's basically a $200 feature regardless of the monitor.

So, the fact that AU Optronics is now producing a similar panel for Acer and Amazon has been getting the Swift in stock almost daily for the past couple of weeks is a good indication that production is being refined and yields are getting higher. More companies will be interested in high-res, high-refresh panels. In addition, we'll see Freesync bring competition against gsync and getting rid of the proprietary price-gouging. But the ramping of competition and the price reductions will happen slowly, and once you've experienced variable refresh rate gaming (I finally got to see it in person over Christmas), paying today's premium is worth it to avoid going another minute without it.

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once you've experienced variable refresh rate gaming (I finally got to see it in person over Christmas)

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Where did you see it? Describe the experience.

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You get the smoothness/cohesiveness of software-based vsync without the lag and stutter, and the responsiveness of variable frame rates without the tearing.

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Want