So we now know what the next generation of Nvidia GPUs will look like and how much they will cost.
Here in South Africa pricing for the RTX 2080 Ti currently sits at just under R27 000.
As we pointed out when we reported this news, that’s car money here in South Africa though you won’t be getting a very good car.
With the new GPUs only set to arrive in September, our money is burning a hole in our pocket and we want to go shopping so we’ve been looking for better ways to spend our RTX 2080 Ti budget.
So here’s how we’d spend that cash, don’t tell the boss though please.
A console gaming setup
You could have the latest GPU tech or you could get yourself a brand new UHD TV, sound bar and PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One X.
Sure you won’t have any games but if were able to drop R27 000 on a GPU we’re going to take a calculated guess that you’d have some cash left over and you could use that to buy games.
- LG 55UK6400 Smart UHD TV – R14 999
- JBL 2.1 Soundbar – R2 999
- PlayStation 4 Pro 2TB 500M Limited Edition – R8 499 or,
- Xbox One X 1TB Console – R7 999
A decent camera setup
Cameras are usually very expensive but in relation to a GPU that costs R27 000 they are actually a bargain.
Take this Canon EOS 80D DSLR vlogging kit from ORMS for instance. For the low price of R22 195 you will get an 80D body, a Canon EF-S 18-135mm IS USM lens, Canon PZ-E1 Power Zoom Adapter, 64GB Sandisk SD card & Rode VideoMicro Microphone.
That’s just about all you need to film video, editing that video without a computer may prove tricky but you can think about that next month.
A great coffee machine
So we were thinking of kitting out our kitchen with our R27 000 budget but that seems silly when you can buy the most important appliance – a coffee machine.
The Delonghi Primadonna Elite Automatic Coffee Machine is pricey for a cup of joe at R24 999 but can you really put a price on Bluetooth connectivity, support for the Coffee Link App and a 4.3inch touch display? We can’t.
An overpriced couch
Instead of tech how about a lovely couch?
Sure, you could get a cheap couch but if you’re looking to spend R27 000 poorly, well we have a deal for you.
This vintage leather three-seater couch will only set you back R21 999. Usually it retails for R28 999 but thanks to a special you can get it for a bargain.
A gaming PC
Silly as these previous suggestions might be this last one is actually rather revealing.
For less than the price of an RTX 2080 Ti GPU we can purchase a full gaming system from Evetech for R24 999 complete with:
- Intel Core i7 8700 CPU
- MSI Z370 Pro Motherboard
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti OC GPU
- 750W 80+ Gold PSU
- 8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
- 480GB SSD
Add to that the fact that we’d still have cash left to buy games this option actually makes sense.
At the end of the day your money is your money and how you choose to spend is ultimately your decision but as it stands right now we have very little idea of what benefits an RTX 2080 Ti has over a GTX 1080 Ti.
Of course it will be better, but to what degree? Are we looking at a 15 percent increase in overall performance compared to last gen? We simply don’t know and we’d sooner waste our money on couches and coffee machines than spend it on the unknown.
Right now we don’t know how well these cards perform in games compared to the GTX 10 series even though Nvidia showed off its own benchmark results.
Our point here is don’t pre-order these new GPUs until you know exactly what you are getting for your money.
Sure a couch that costs R21 000 is silly but so is dropping even more money on a card that a brand’s marketing firm says is good.
Of course the cards might be the best thing ever but they could also be terrible. It’s worth considering that no CEO has come to a launch and pointed out the issues with their product/service.
There is very little tempting us to start squirreling away money for a new GPU especially with that coffee machine staring us in the face.
[Image – CC BY 2.0 Paul Sableman]
