I still use the GTX 590 card. Granted, Alienware has had to replace it 4 times, but I have yet to buy a game that it won't run maxed out at a good FPS rate. Coupled with a bunch of RAM, some SSDs, and an Intel i-7 2600 and I have had a computer for almost 2 years that still isn't being pushed too hard.
Go back to the early 2000s and try to play the newest games with a PC that you weren't constantly upgrading. I think the preponderance of console ports is holding back PC gaming technology wise, but it's not necessarily a totally bad thing. For one thing I'm not spending a grand every year keeping up with technology just to play games.