> only really faster and better if you don't use them for gaming, unfortunately. Upscaling and frame generation is not a better GPU, it's one with a band-aid applied to hide the fact that it actually did not get much faster.

The generations gains haven’t been as great as past generations, but it’s getting silly to claim that GPUs aren’t getting faster for gaming.

Intentionally ignoring frame generation and DLSS up scaling also feels petty. Using those features to get 150-200fps at 4K is actually a very amazing experience, even if the purists turn their noses up at it.

The used GPU market is relatively good at calibrating for relative gaming performance. If new GPUs weren’t actually faster then old GPUs wouldn’t be depreciating much. Yet you can pick up 3000 series GPUs very cheaply right now (except maybe the 3090 which is prized for its large VRAM, though still cheap). Even 4000 series are getting cheap.

> Some people do put off buying cellphones and laptops when they know a new model will come out every year.

Don't confuse technical deflation with the Osborne effect:

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect

The overall trend has been the opposite though, hasn't it? People used to buy a new phone (or new laptop/etc) every couple of years because the underlying tech was improving so quickly, but now that the improvements have slowed down, they're holding onto their devices for longer.

There was an article[1] going around about that recently, and I'm sure there are more, but it's also a trend I've seen first-hand. (I don't particularly care for the article's framing, I'm just linking to it to illustrate the underlying data.)

[1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/how-device-hoarding-by-ameri...