Let me square up my argument for the low end and why I think handhelds will become the main PC. The device is just like a NUC with the addition of a portable feature. I'm not sure on the current percentage of users, but I have seen many people setup their steamdeck and similar to be a standard PC. The price of a handheld is far cheaper than custom built system. NUCs and similar are also close to the cost, but if I was a gamer and in that market, a handheld would look better to me because I can bring it anywhere. You can think of it as the older bulky laptops that were desktop replacers.
I agree that these devices are not yet suited for max settings 1080p just yet, but I do not think we are too far from that point. Especially when Asus and others are already putting mobile dedicated GPUs into these devices.
Idk, it seems like a great area for the low end market, and it adds in a lot of potential modding/upgrade money that companies would like to be apart of.
So for my argument, think less about focusing on people playing on these devices in their handheld state, and more as a desktop replacement.
I installed Windows on my SteamDeck too, but it doesn't mean it's any good. I wanted to use it as a laptop replacement, but it's impossible because of what I said in my previous post. I guess you don't have any of the modern handhelds as the theory is far from reality and people on the web usually try justify their bad choices, so skip many issues.
Mobility is a myth because of how fast you can drain the battery. If it's not a trip to the nearest grocery store (why would you go there with a console?), you need a charger with you, so it's like carrying a laptop with a power supply. Every model's battery lasts for 1-2 hours in any more demanding 3D game. In comparison, you can get about 3-4 hours out of a Nintendo Switch and, with an additional battery, up to 9 hours. Switch+battery is as large as bare ASUS, MSI or whatever else is there.
Except for SteamDeck on sale, every other handheld console costs like a cheaper gaming laptop. Every is also as loud as a typical gaming laptop - read it as way too loud to play without a headset for longer.
Every handheld has a CPU with integrated graphics, which is not much better than the desktop integrated graphics because of the required power limits. 1080p is usually possible at lower details and ~30FPS.
All the accessories to connect them to a monitor/TV and other devices are not cheap. I mean, an additional docking station costs $100 or more. Why would you pay $700+ for a handheld console, with all the cables, power supply, etc., making a mess on your desk when you can have a simple mini PC or a laptop that takes as much or less space? To use a handheld in a desktop mode, you still need a mouse and a keyboard or anything else that lets you use it on a bigger screen.
You can replace a desktop with handhelds right now, but in a typical scenario, they are louder, slower, cost a lot, and don't save space at all.
Back to the RTX5000 topic, I don't feel like all these AI features, NNs, etc., change anything in the desktop component power draw. All the low-power chips or mid-series are far more efficient. Look only at new Intel CPUs with separated NPUs. If you check the RTX5000 series, then only the RTX5090 has a very high power draw, but it also has many more cores, more RAM, and other things than the RTX4090. GDDR7 has a high power draw, and they put 32GB of it. Every other GPU is +/- a replacement for the last gen. regarding the power draw, but they are faster.
Memory overclocking for top graphics card models has always been marginally helpful because of the already wide memory bus and high bandwidth. You could see a boost on lower models in the last 3-4 generations. Maybe in some applications, it will help, but somehow, I doubt we will see any significant difference between reference and OC models.
Btw. I wouldn't touch Zotac if I had $2k+ to spend.
What is interesting is that many RTX5090 models have liquid metal on GPUs. Brands like Gigabyte also use some magic "server grade" gel instead of thermal pads. This was mentioned in some press releases and is also listed on the product pages of some brands.