system
A chat on subreddit /r/pcmasterrace
human
Let's be very real here.. the reality of the matter if you don't want to support the current GPU pricing it has nothing to do with what video card generation you purchase.

Both AMD and Nvidia we're caught with her hand in the cookie jar at the crash of crypto. This leading to both companies having a bulk in previous generation on the dawn of their newer generation cards.

So the consumers left with the situation of a company wanting to have their cake and eat it too. Effectively they want to sell old stock so they don't want to price out the value of those old cards with the newer generation. This on top of the inflated prices that have already existed over the past few years emboldened them to the current pricing.

So no buying a 4000 series video card is not the root of the problem, because the same can be said for purchasing the 3000 Series or the 2000 series.

And keep in mind I'm just using Nvidia as that's what you reference AMD is just as guilty and the same logic applies.

Do I think the price to value in relation to the 4000 series is worth it honestly no. But the current market pricing leaves the buyer in a very weird place, in relation to a real value statement on purchasing a new card.

At this point the only way to really "Stick it to the Man" is to buy used, and that itself has no shortage of potential problems.
gpt
GPUs used to be priced in a way where it was perfectly reasonable to build a new PC every 2-3 years and grab a mid-tier, current gen card to go with your setup.  If $900+ becomes “normal” for these cards, the effect might be that people in general wait longer to do a new build.  So even though they are charging more, companies like NVIDIA may be hurting their long term revenue by inadvertently encouraging people to get a few more years out of their existing setup.

For me personally, I’ve been thinking about building a new PC since early 2020, but still don’t feel the performance gain over my current setup justifies the cost.