Everything was fine, prices were relatively stable until RTX came and nvidia suddenly started doubling prices every generation while at the same time showing the lowest raw performance increases between generations.
Thinking about this from another perspective.
While I totally agree with the end result of what you are saying... the cause I think I disagree on. Or maybe not disagree, really... just needs more context.
RTX was the leading indicator that nVidia was shifting direction as a company. They were pivoting from a Graphics-first company to an AI Compute-first company. RTX is just some way for nVidia to turn their new AI/Compute oriented business and bridge it to their older Graphics-oriented clients.
Graphics isn't their main priority any longer. I really think they are only still in the business for two reasons: primarily, nostaliga. It was what they started doing and their image/business reputation was built up around it over decades, and I think that makes them a bit hesitant to drop it entirely. And second, it still makes a bit of money, and they have proven that they can just keep ratcheting the margin up and people keep paying. I don't think they have found the ceiling yet, and honestly, even if they do, I don't think it would hurt them at all to start pushing this ceiling since graphics sales are now dwarfed, and anything they don't sell on the graphics front ~would~ sell on the data center front, and probably for even higher margins.
I honestly would not be shocked to see rasterization performance increases completely stop. I think nVidia is rapidly heading to a future where AI/RTX just does everything, including emulate rasterization in AI compute hardware. I don't know technically how that would occur, but sure seems like it's pretty darn close to doing that already.
Data Center sales are 10x what gaming/graphics sales are today for nVidia, and that's the sector that, somehow beyond all my belief, is still growing. I don't see how that stays sustainable, we are already seeing major constraints on infrastructure - there aren't enough Power Plants to run all the cards that have been sold to date, but orders keep stacking up and growth still somehow is still occuring -- maybe by virtue of replacing existing, less efficiency hardware? Maybe it's just sitting in crates in a warehouse? I don't know. And I don't know how it keeps on the current trajectory, or even a positive trajectory, for much longer.
But that's why graphics today are so expensive. RTX isn't exactly the reason, but it is a symptom of the reason.
