1. That's a universal statement... been true with every new release.
2. Here in the US, we're looking at tariff's going from 10% to 30% in January
As for the tired old and silly "few games support it" comment
a) If you made a match.com profile would you add "pretty girls need not respond" because 7 outta the 10 pretty girls you asked out said no ?
b) Sir, would you please only show me only used cars without air conditioning cause I'll only use it 50-60 days a year ?
c) Let's not go to that franchise restaurant 10 miles east of town with no free drinks cause the one that's only 5 miles west, even tho it has better food, only offers free unlimited drinks with 30% of their menu;
d) I won't go to that delicatessen for my breakfast special cause. even tho their food is better, they give away a free lottery ticket and the odds of winning ar not that favorable. News Flash... 0% chance is less favorable.
When an extra feature is provided, especially if it doesn't cost anything that's not a bad thing. I remember an old THG review on PhyX back when it was worth reading (Pre Purch acquisition) on PhysX and it said something to the effect that it wasn't going to knock you out of your chair when you enable PhysX but once you use it, you are certainly not going to turn it off. I expect that once drivers are updated, games are written to use it, we will see most major titles incorporate it. The less popular titles are less likely to spend what's necessary to include it, but then again... most gamers are not buying most of those titles. Checking w/ my boys, youngest plays 15-16 games, middle guy about 7-8 and oldest 3-5.
When handicapping sports events, bookies will add a few points (3.5 typical for college football ... say 4 to get rid of the decimal) to the spread for the home team ... so a 20-17 game on a neutral field could be 24 -17 on one site and a 20-21 on the other. I look at these features the same way. If I am comparing two games, for story, game play, graphics, challenge ... whatever ... and they come up equal, the availability of extra features over the years .... i,e, PhyX, Ray Tracing, SLI / CF support gets extra points as it delivers an improved experience. You may not notice it "going in" ... but w/ PhysX for example, replaying the game where explosions don't produce debris, papers and leaves on the floor that don't move as you walk thu them, curtains that don't move... fog and steam that doesn't exist certainly detract from the game experience.
I had the same experience with IPS. Our 1st one was a Dell Ultrasharp as my son minored in Photography in college .... It was great for PhotoShop... sucked (IPS Glow / slow) for gaming.... he bought a TN panel and used dual monitors using the TN for gaming and IPS everything else. When he graduated and landed 1st job, treated himself to an Acer Predator with the 27" 165Hz 3 ms IPS screens ... his room mate got a 34' curved TN. I payed on both the same day, 1st the IPS ... in going to the curved, i was initially somewhat impressed by the sense of immersion but then going back to the IPS was like getting slapped hard in the face. All of a sudden the difference was so obvious ya find yaself wondering why at 1st glance it wasn't all that impressive. But after the experience, going back feels empty and washed out by comparison. I have the same attitude towards PhysX, I agree with the THG author, if it's available, you are certainly not going to play with it off. As far Ray Tracing, we're not in a position to know just yet. What baffles me is people's ability, for lack of a better word, to make a decision on something that have not yet experienced.
As for the cost ... The cost (in 2017 dollars) of the 'top card' since the year 2000 has ranged from $460 (GTX 285) to $992 (8800 Ultra)
https://www.hardocp.com/news/2017/03/10/some_perspective_zarathustras_nvidia_price_history
The 1080 launched in May 2016 for $600.... inflation adds 5% and, I expect, add another 10% for the China tariff (30% in january)... that's $693. The TPU review puts the price of the RTX 2080 ($3 less than expected) at $699 and the FE at $799. Of course MSRPs are meaningless until one can actually buy the cards. Here's what I'd recommend. The Asus Vega 64 Strix is as low as $650 ($770 on newegg) ... The Asus 2080 is $870 ... That's a 50% increase in performance for a 34% increase in price.
Since nVidia could not keep up w/ demand during the mining craze, accelerated production, and then got caught with excess inventory when mining craze crashed and burned. So, the price of the 20xx will remain inflated until those cards are gone. And what are your other choices ? ... unless you need less than a 1060, AMD doesn't have a horse in the race.
a) Upgraders at 1080p can grab a 1060 / 1070 ... upgraders at 1440p can grab a 1070 / 1080.
b) Upgraders at 1440p 144 Hz and 2160p should stand pat unless money doesn't matter.
c) If doing a new build would advise waiting, but if one can't fight the itch, the 1080 isn't a bad choice but I expect there will be some buyers remorse when the AIB cards drop to $700. In US, probably more unless the tariffs don't go up.
d) Unless money is no object, or being the 1st on the block to have the latest shiny thing is really, really important let the Ti sit on the shelves.
e) Any consideration of purchasing 1st stepping cards should be made knowing that you may be one of these customers:
... you bought the EVGA 970 SC and the 1/3 of the heat sink "missed" the GPU
... you bought the 1060 - 1080 SC / FTW which didn't have thermal pads for VRMs and memory
... you bought one of the early MSI 9xx cards where the adhesive tape over the fan shroud was a bit to sticky and in removing it, you damaged the fan bearing.
Another thing ... I took special note of the review comments which said cards were power limited ... so one question I think is relevant is, "Why are AIBs providing power deliver systems capable of handling 375 watts (2080) and then limiting power to 260 watts . Why design the 2080 / 2080 Ti to handle 375 / 450 watts and then set the default to 260 / 300 and allow a boost only to 296 / 330 ? In the past, nVidia's strategy in response to a new AMD card was to introduce the xx80 Ti and then adjust the pricing of all the cards below 1 tier. Gotta wonder, will the next response to competition be to simply provide a new series using the same hardware with a BIOS upgrade increasing the power limit adjustment .
