NVIDIA's Pascal architecture marks a major shift in performance per watt and revolves around the highly efficient 16nm FinFet manufacturing process. So far, the company has unleashed products designed for higher resolutions and enthusiasts who are prepared to pay extra for a more fluid gaming experience. For example, AIB versions of the GTX 1080 in the UK can cost over £650 and have received hefty price hikes. Whether this will subside once supply increases or Sterling becomes more stable is unclear, but the current market price is unlikely to appeal to a large audience. While the GTX 1070 offers performance beyond the GTX Titan X for significantly less, it's still too expensive for many people on a tight budget. According to AMD's internal research, 84% of PC gamers select a graphics card within the $100-$300 price bracket.

Speaking of AMD, they recently unveiled a mainstream GPU entitled, the RX 480 which delivers a ?premium VR experience?. Prior to its release, the rumour mill was in full force speculating about the performance and some AMD fans hoped it would defeat the R9 390X while retailing for a mere $200. Clearly, this never came to fruition because Polaris was always intended to target affordability and provide a good entry point for PC gaming. Those with realistic expectations admire the RX 480's excellent price to performance ratio and believe it's a superb product. Unfortunately, the launch has been marred by the GPU's power exceeding PCI-E slot specifications. This led to users reporting hardware damage and they were concerned about the impact of using the RX 480, especially when paired with a cheaper motherboard. Thankfully, AMD resolved this issue in a quick fashion via a driver update and explained the situation pretty well.