this time, AI ruins the GPU market

So that can be a bit tricky and ultimately, it depends on what you want to do. It could be a while before this bubble pops--people keep saying it's going to happen "soon", but these creeps keep finding invisible money from their billionaire buddies, so I would ere on the side of "it'll pop, but definitely not within the next year or two".

With that in mind, what do you want from a graphics card? Do you want to play the latest games? You can probably get away with the RTX 30 series for most games; you might not always be able to play it at the high end, but these cards should be relatively within reach with some modest saving.

If you want a RTX 50 series... I'd probably pass on it. Perhaps this makes me a bit of a luddite, but I've yet to see anything the RTX 50 series puts out that has really "wow'ed" me. Of course, that's personal taste. If you have the money to burn and you want one, I'd get it ASAP because those are gonna be the cards that start to skyrocket.

The RTX 40 series is kind of a middle ground. Afaik, the 4080? (I think it was this was) was performing pretty on par with one or two of the 50 series. If you don't mind saving a little longer, I'd probably go for that one. It'll last you a little longer than the 30 series, and you're not going to have to take out a mortgage just to afford it like the 50 series--and the AI tech bros are gonna focus on those 50 series cards for the "AI advantage" or whatever.

There is hope! It's just a matter of coming to terms that there's 1) lots of different RTX cards and 2) figuring out what you want from your RTX card. (:

thank you for the detailed answer! I actually don't want 50x series, I know it has something to do with the AI shit, like it has AI features?? and people took them under DAYS. so I guess I'm late already. if I find a 40x series, I'd go with that, I think I'll need something called a DLSS?? since devs are putting all the shit to their Unreal / Unity games. I'm not a fps maniac, nor a "it must run on ultra grrrrrr" maniac. I just want the games to run, and I don't want the pc to die. I also render in Blender, and edit videos, so it'd actually help me, I think. I'm a bit scared regardless, but I know the GTX is holding others back in the pc :/ that's the only old thing

Ah perfect. That's actually super helpful! And as someone who 3D models and does a lot of intense artwork myself, I 100% understand the need for a card that can handle that.

Also as a note, DLSS can be nice, but I've never actually noticed any significant difference with it on or off. I'm not nearly as picky as some people in gaming, but honestly, I much prefer the AMD FSR, which is an open technology and isn't gatekept by Nvidia. 

Right now, I have a 3080 RTX in my PC. Pros are that it can run DLSS 1 and 2, it can run most games on higher quality, and I can render millions of polys without too much issue when I'm sculpting. Cons are that it doesn't support current DLSS versions and the one I have at least is loud as hell when it's running.

Still, if you want to avoid Nvidia altogether (I normally do, but my current PC is a hand-me-down right now), then I would suggest the Radeon RX 7900 XTX from AMD. AMD is cheaper than Nvidia with technology that's quickly becoming comparable, if not exceeds Nvidia's stuff. The 7900 XTX is only edged out by Nvidia's 4080, so it's a really good card at a fraction of the price. And my AMD computer before this one (AMD CPU + AMD GPU) ran like a dream when it came to 3D modelling and rendering, so I imagine the newer stuff will as well.

sadly Nvidia is all I know. someone says AMD and such, and I'm lost. I keep going back and forth between the 3060, I want it and not want it. when i read something good about it, the next is a horrible experience on a forum. it is barely better than a 1660Ti and sadly I have no clue, how new games handle the mentioned DLSS, how many types does it have (I didn't even known there's newer types bruh), why is it even important, and what happens if I try to run a game that has it, but my card doesn't even know it exists (I mean the GTX. the GTX is a little creature, never heard of DLSS or ray tracing and how happy is it). same for ray tracing, I abbbbbsolutely DON'T need it in my life. I can sleep without ray tracing and lumen. I also have no clue, how a game with lumen behaves, if I load it with GTX. I'm just in the darkness with this topic, and there's no straight answer on the internet, so I can't really educate myself.