Thats nuts!!
More crazy if we take the current market pricing for GPUs into account. I could probably get £450-£550 alone for my current GTX 1080 TI.
That's why I'd part it out. The value of the 1080 Ti will greatly depend on what it is MSI Gaming Trio for example will get you more than say an EVGA SC due to the significant difference in OC performance. It's never about the typical 4-5% performance difference between AIB cards ... you won't pay 5% more for a card that's 5% faster ... people pay 10-15% or more for the bragging rights. I don't think you could £500 ish for your 1080 Ti
There's an EVGA SC2 on ebay for $310 (£232) ... Asus Reference style for $390 (£292)and MSI Gaming for $570 (£330) and Asus Strix for $500 (£375) Gigabyte Aurus $505 (£428)
But again, the devil is in the details and you have to read the post in the context in which it was given. A "rule of thumb", by definition, is something that will get you ***close*** most of the time or under normal conditions. Current market conditions certainly do not fall into "Normal Conditions". Refer to this paragraph in the original post:
"However, the dearth of new products + pandemic inflated pricing has induced folks to pay more of late. And you also have to look at it from a perspective of what will the value be a year from now when market returns to normal (assuming it does) in case you want to get a new box. And that's the problem especially with a family / friend .... the current market leaves a huge gap between vale and perceived value.... so whatever is actually fair would generally leave both sides less than happy."
What's going to happen to that value when the market returns to normal ? What's going to happen when the 4xxx series drops ? So lets look back a few years .... $250 1060 was 50% faster than the $650 780. Now we are in a unique market where the price of everything is inflated because of the pandemic, and even more so because of pent up demand. The 3080 Ti has a $1800 list price ... why ? because they can. The MSI Gaming Trio To costs $2,400 ... why, because they can. It's popular to jump on manufacturers and sellers for inflated prices but ya can't say they are evil .....
a) When a manufacturer has low yields or can't get products to market, they still have to pay all their normal expenses, so of they used to selling 10,000 products a month and now they are selling half that, their markup has to increase substantially.... that's not necessarily "profit", ... rent hasn't change, utilities haven't changed, layoffs don't cover all of the labor costs.
b) When a reseller has low inventory because they can't get or can't get products to sell, they still have to pay all their normal expenses, so of they used to selling 500 units a month and now they are selling half that, their markup has to increase substantially.... again, that's not necessarily "profit", ... rent hasn't change, utilities haven't changed, layoffs don't cover all of the labor costs.
The key here is that they can only do that when people continue to buy. Resellers don't make money for units sitting on shelves; so they adjust prices accordingly. So the price of the past generation cards and other components are inflated because of supply issues. When product yields and supply chain issues are resolved, and the market returns to normal, the value of older componentry will go down the toilet.
So hence the dilemma I described. For the sake of argument, let's say the market returns to normal in Summer 2022. By that time we'll be reading leaks about the new 4xxx series cards an the sales of 3xxx series will drop. As that happens the value of older generation products will tank.
So it comes down to this .....
1. One could make various arguments to support a price of say £1200 or even the current parts price listed above of almost £1800
2. But 6 - 12 months down the road, will you have buyers remorse knowing that your system is worth less than (£500) after just a few months of use ?
That's my point .... what's it worth ? ... it depends.
If you are going to use the system for say 2 years before your next build, it's going to cost you £50 - 75 per month ... worth it
If you are going to use the system for say 9 months before upgrading, it's going to cost you £133 - 200 per month ... not worth it.
Between here and my son's house we have gamers of 30, 29, 28, 29, 27 and 26 ... just about all of them were excited about upgrading to the 3xxx series. They have (4) 1080 Ti's or (1) 2080 Ti and (one) 2070 and all are now sitting tight .... not only the inflated costs of components but "what" if in the area of job security come into play.
Looks like a win-win waiting to happen
