The 3090 is much more akin to the Titan than the 3080 ... if the 3090 = the 2080 Ti then where does this fit.
NVIDIA GA102, 1665 MHz, 10240 Cores, 320 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 12288 MB GDDR6X, 1188 MHz, 384 bit
www.techpowerup.com
Hothwardware did a price comparison in 2017 graphing price of nvidias top consumer card since the year 2000 and found that that they averaged about $700 (all adjusted for inflation to 2017 dollars).
Post 3444
https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/nvidia-shows-signs-2008-2017.43294/page-173
Adjusting for inflation, tariffs, pandemic related price increases over 20 years, the 3080/ 3070 are bargains. I can't really place the 3090 here as haven't seen much as yet on how it performs in typical workstation applications.
How is early adopter's tax a norm all of a sudden?!
All of a sudden ? .... Not what we have observing this phenomeon over thet since we started building PCs in the early 90s/ We have seen the same with the 2xx and 1xx series ... less so with older products ... new hi-speed RAM releases in particular. But now we live an an age of social media which has greatly exacerbated the situation with consumers drooling like Pavlov's dog for "thumbs up" and "likes" to improve, in their minds, their social standing and "following". Eliminating the early adopter's tax is easy ... don't buy.
There's more than one issue associated with this.
1. When a "fab" produced product 1st hits market yields are lower than they are later on as production line tweaks over time produce better yields. Given the expense to produce newer designs, there's economic pressure to get some money coming in once the product become available. Being 1st to market is not the advantage it appears to be; look what AMD did with their 290 / 290x. Before then, both camps had approximately the same overclocking headroom. Consider that manufacturers have to guarantee advertised performance. So when they clock a card leaving 25% headroom, they can benefit from purchases expecting they can get an an extra 25%, but if it doesn't, then you can't RMA the card. With the 290/290x, AMD very aggressively clocked the cards in the box. They looked at the performance leader, the 780 an using that as a target to beat, and were able to increase the clocks, in the box, to a point higher than the 780 and spent millions advertising that their card was the new performance king. In short, having a known target, they were able to edge the 780, at least out of the box and that's what reviews are based upon. Unfortunately, the 780s had overclocking headroom percentage in the high 20s and the 2xx series was < 5% but it did allow for a big splash in the press.
AMD has that same opportunity now ... with the 3xxx series cards out, they have the opportunity to set clocks as targeting the already released cards performance ... have to wonder ... is nvidia delaying the release of the mid range cards because AMD delayed theirs ?
2. The media's obsession with leaks and being the 1st to "break" new products means consumers are expecting products ... sales of the existing current gen products tank and cut income.
3. With loads of money going out, and income tanking as folks are waiting for the "next big thing", a significant financial pinch is created.
4. This also affects the vendors, they have no money coming in from that segment. They can't sell what they don't have on the shelves, no one wants the old generation so that's sitting on shelves ... in some cases, they can't get them cause they out of production. So what they do have on the shelves, they will sell at a premium as long as folks are still hammering their sites with bots and late nite sniping. Why ? Because they can and they need the money to keep the doors open. If they can't sell 100 products at a $30 profit, maybe they can sell 30 at $100 profit.
Personally, I have never understood the rush to go out and pay exorbitant prices for a product just to be one of the 1st to have it in one's social circles ... especially when your chances of getting a better product for less money increase significantly by waiting till supply catches up with demand. What do we get after spending a few days sniping for new products at midnight ?
a) Unstable driver hassles
b) Potential BIOS upgrades (AMD 480 6 pin cards)
c) Potential cooler design errors (EVGA 970 SC faulty cooler design, EVGA 1xxx SC and FTW missing thermal pads, )
d) Design bugs that won't exist in later steppings such as AMD 480 8-pn cards
e) Won't benefit from performance improvements due to production line tweaks which increase chances in silicon lottery
f) With the number of reviews at such a small number, and with new cards still coming out, have you chosen the best card for your build
I don't have a horse in the race so to speak as, after 28 years of experience, we don't purchase componentry or do any builds including new products out less than 3 months ... sometimes longer. After putting a build list together for the box Im typing from, the motherboard had uses noting various issues in the Asus Forum, that were not resolved till the C3 stepping 5 months later.
But realistically, corporations do what they have to. Corporate officers are required by law to act in the best interests of their shareholders and maximize profits. The assumption that there's good guys and bad guys out there is naive. How each "spins the narrative" will be different depends on their market position and if situation was reversed, they would be doing the exact same thing. No different from politics where one side takes a position when it's to their advatnage and reverses that position when it's to ther other side's advantage.
Simply put, there's only one way to eliminate the early adopters tax ? .... stop buying them. recognize that if they held the product till there was enough stock to quell the early adopter rush, you would not have your card any earlier. Waiting may lead to bridge loans incurring interest expenses or using reserves which would otherwise be gaining interest. If comeone wants to yell at the 'bad guy' because they paid a price premium for a likely lesser card ... Not intending to be harsh but he's close buy at the nearest mirror.
Not exactly something to cheer about. Of course its our own choice in the end.