Agree with it all. I know and agree and almost mentioned the price non-linear scaling when dealing with performance on top tier cards etc you're absolutely right. But, that being said like you I do look at the linear scaling of dough and it's pointless to buy a brand new card for over a grand, that's absurd. Sure, like Apple (who I hate btw) fools and their money will soon be parted, but for the rest of us, we get best we can get for value and don't just spend max to get max with no budget in mind.
Well, if you mentioned Apple (my home is also iDevice free
![Wink ;) ;)](https://tpucdn.com/forums/data/assets/smilies/wink-v1.gif)
), here's the thing. I'm a tinkerer and like to configure stuff and know my devices inside out. So Apple doesn't qualify as a purchase even before factoring price in. But not all people are like that. In fact, I'm in a minority. If you had an above average paying job and you needed a device that just works, you'd probably have iPhones at the top of your list (then there's always the economy lesson that asks "does it make sense for Michael Jordan to pay $100,000 to have his lawn mowed?").
Video cards are a little different (if you're not into tech, you probably don't need a high-end one), but it's not inconceivable that cards that make no sense for me and you, make some sense to other guys. It's what Nvidia seems to think, ever since they got Titan out the door, and since the stuff is selling, it seems they're not entirely wrong.
What makes this so annoying is that we're actually paying attention to the trend, but we can't do anything about it. There are some that think spewing hate over forums threads will make a difference, but really, who are we kidding?