So, let's talk about prices.
I mean come on what the hell is going on!
Yes we all know the AI data centre insanity is driving up some parts to a point where it feels like i need to sell a kidney to get them, but some parts make no sense!
Yes, Nvidia are cranking up their prices AGAIN but honestly sometimes I wonder why some parts are the prices they are today.
A ‘great’ example of this is the Sapphire Nitro+ 9070XT. Now I LOVE this card. I love how clean it is and the way it looks! I also love sapphire. They make some awesome parts! Their motherboards are great bang for the buck, and the rest of their line up of GPU’s is great value. Yet the Nitro+ is now around £1,000 for a 9070 XT come on! It's a good card but it's really not worth that.
It's getting to a point now where building a PC is becoming stupid.
We are at a point where some companies get it and are not going crazy with their pricing. Cases are a ray of light at the moment where everyone is driving down the costs for great cases, the HYTE Y50 and the NZXT S5 spring to mind.
Then you see some people, I'm looking at you Corsair, who crank up their prices constantly and if i'm honest, I don't see the value for money here. Now let's get this out of the way. I absolutely LOVE corsair, I use their power supplies in my rigs at home, their ram in my own setup! But at their current prices, I struggle to recommend some of their products when there are alternatives offering similar quality and performance for considerably less.
The industry is getting out of hand and it feels like we're being taken advantage of in some cases!
And don’t think Rebel is clear of this either…. The Rebel Chimera is a system that honestly I would not really recommend to any one! Is it a bad value? No but also yes. For what most people need a 3K system is not something anyone really needs! I say this sitting next to that exact set up, but I was lucky and had some inheritance that allowed me to build that set up. Had that not been the case….. I wouldn't have built that system, let alone fully watercooled it!
Jayz2cents did a great video on the pricing difference within the same class of parts showing the difference in the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ in a space, and that was pre-ai data center BS.
Look, the realistic advice I would give to any one is decide on what you're playing and stop wasting money on the bells and whistles you're not gonna use.
If you look at your games and think, a 5070 will work great, then get the one that fits your budget. For instance you can pick up a MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB VENTUS 2X OC for around £750 vs Asus GeForce RTX 5070 ROG Strix Gaming OC 12GB at £999.95!
So what are you actually getting for that extra £250? A larger cooler, an additional fan, a slightly higher clock speed and potentially quieter operation. There may be other differences, but are you getting £250 worth of additional gaming performance? Almost certainly not.
This leaves me with two thoughts. Firstly, as gamers, we need to stop convincing ourselves that we always need the most expensive version of everything. And yes, I'm absolutely including myself in that.
Secondly, manufacturers need to do better. There's nothing wrong with premium products, but there comes a point where you have to ask whether the price reflects what you're actually getting.
If you're buying purely for performance, consider the less expensive options within that performance bracket, and another example is motherboards. The insane prices for some motherboards at £1000 is truly mad. Will that £1,000 motherboard make your games run noticeably better than a decent £150 - £200 motherboard? For the vast majority of gamers, absolutely not.
However if you are buying a certain style, then I get that. I understand wanting something for how it looks. It's why I bought the HYTE Y70 and my Wife, aka Mrs Rebel, has the Fractal North! Aesthetics is important but balance out where it is important to you. Do you need a screen on your AIO? Because the difference in performance between AIO’s is going to be minimal but the price….. Well, a 360mm AIO from Thermalright is around £50 compared to the MSI MEG Core Liquid e15 LCD ARG which is at £399.99! I mean is the MSI one better looking? Maybe, will it perform any better than the Thermalright? Probably not, and most certainly not eight times better!
But what am I trying to get at here? We all need to do better! Companies need to stop ripping us off, and we need to stop letting them!
We're not going to tell you that aesthetics don't matter. Of course they do. We love beautiful PCs as much as anyone.
But we believe every pound you spend should give you something you actually value. Whether that's better performance, quieter cooling or simply a case you love looking at.
That's the balance we're always trying to find.
There's nothing wrong with buying an expensive component. There's something wrong with thinking you have to.
Don't forget, we cannot control component pricing. We wish we could, and we get just as frustrated with it as you do! But together, as gamers and consumers, we can push back. We can question ridiculous prices, stop rewarding companies that charge them, and make it clear that we expect better.