Nvidia won, we all lost

GPU Performance, Value, and “Luxury” Positioning

• Many commenters feel GPU generational gains for gaming have stagnated relative to price: mid‑high cards from 2017–2020 still feel “good enough” for most titles at 1080p/1440p.
• Others strongly dispute claims that a 2080‑class card is “close” to current flagships, citing benchmarks, 4K, high-refresh monitors, VR, and ray tracing where modern high-end cards are dramatically faster.
• Broad agreement that high-end GPUs have shifted from enthusiast tools to luxury goods; “midrange” now effectively starts around $500–650, which some see as normalization of inflated pricing.

Pricing, Supply, and AI vs Gaming

• Nvidia is seen as prioritizing datacenter/AI chips; consumer GPUs are perceived as a side business used to maintain mindshare and a “halo” for CUDA/RTX.
• Ongoing resentment over paper launches, persistent scalping, and MSRPs that don’t reflect actual street prices. Some argue Nvidia could produce and stock more (like console launches); others point to TSMC capacity and AI demand as hard limits.
• A minority defends Nvidia’s behavior as rational profit-maximizing in a supply‑constrained market; critics call it enshittification and deliberate luxury positioning.

12VHPWR / 12V‑2x6 Connector and Safety

• Long subthread on melting/burning connectors: disagreement over how much 12V‑2x6 improves the situation and whether failures are mostly user error vs design negligence.
• Engineers highlight lack of fusing, sensing, and current balancing as “fire waiting to happen”; others note these features belong on the PCB/PSU rather than in the connector itself.
• Mention of a prior lawsuit and the perception that Nvidia shipped an obviously marginal design to support extreme power draw.

DLSS, Upscaling, and “Fake Frames”

• Strong divide: some see DLSS and frame generation as “snake oil” used to cheaply claim huge FPS gains, with visible artifacts, latency, and a departure from “real” engine‑rendered frames.
• Others say DLSS (especially recent versions) is excellent, often superior to FSR and third‑party tools, and that temporal methods plus upscaling are now fundamental to real‑time ray/path tracing.
• Broader technical discussion: TAA artifacts, MSAA’s impracticality in modern deferred pipelines, and the tradeoff between higher pixel density vs smarter reconstruction.

Monopoly, Lock‑In, and Alternatives

• Many frame Nvidia as having de facto monopoly power in GPU compute via CUDA and RTX‑exclusive features, enabling aggressive pricing and influence over reviewers.
• AMD is praised for open drivers and solid gaming value (especially on Linux), but criticized for weak AI/CUDA alternatives; Intel Arc is seen as promising but immature.
• Some argue that users themselves created this situation by overwhelmingly choosing Nvidia; others respond that once lock‑in exists, “just switch” is no longer a realistic market correction.