There tends to be a correlation between quality, longevity, and price. It’s not a perfect fit but it’s definitely a thing that exists.
I built a brand new cutting edge PC for a family member in 2011. They wanted to change careers and get into IT and figured they needed the bestest fastest PC they could afford. Anyway, it worked great until they decided it was time for a new one in 2019. I got to keep the 2011 PC in exchange for some assistance with selecting components for the new build. I put in a shiny new SDD, ebayed 16GB of old RAM that was the fastest thing the motherboard could handle, and I’m still using it as my primary server / workstation / web browser / cloud backup automation controller / etc. It cost more upfront but the amount of time that 2 different people have not spent with fucking around building new PCs has more than offset that in my opinion.
So this PC is on its 3rd round of HDDs and 2nd round of RAM but that was only to boost performance, not because of a hardware failure. I haven’t lost a power supply, motherboard cap, fan motor, or USB port on it yet. That’s pretty remarkable for a 14 year old machine that’s been running 24/7. The 2019 build hasn’t had a hiccup in almost 6 years now either.
2010 - built PC - ~$500 - Phenom II X4 + onboard graphics
2015 - added GTX 960 to play games - <$300
2017 - replaced w/ Ryzen 1700 build - ~$800 - new mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU - kept boot drive from OG build
2018 - upgraded to NVMe drive - $200 - repurpose old Phenom II x4 build as NAS w/ older drive (SSD) - ~$200 (doesn’t count NAS drives)
2022 - upgrade CPU to 5600, GPU to 6650XT - $430
2024 - moved to ITX case - ~$400 - new mobo and case, kept same PSU - upgraded NAS to old 1700 CPU, better case, etc
So, in 14 years, I’ve done 5 upgrades, each of which took something like 30 min. Total spent, $2700, so <$200/year. That’s less than many pre-builts, which are often replaced after 5 years. Idk about you, but this is a really good tradeoff for time vs money.
So I went back and found some receipts, and it turns out that we’re pretty much on the same page. This thing was actually about $900 of hardware, which was basically a higher end mid tier build. I remember looking for high quality components but I wasn’t grabbing high performance ones. I’ve probably spent $300 on drives and RAM so cost per year is under $100.
As far as how much I value my time - one does not spend a mere 30 minutes swapping a mainboard out of the everything-box that runs all your shit, so I value hardware stability quite a bit. I moved most of the time-consuming compatibility hacks into docker containers the last time around so hopefully it’s a lot easier next time. I have to deal with this stuff all day long at work so my appetite for PC projects at home is very low. If I can throw some more cash at it to stave off the need to swap out a drive or even the whole PC for a couple more years I’ll gladly do it.
so many other hobbies have costs that sneak up on you too. You know what you’re getting into when you build a computer. When I first started getting into photography I learned lenses can be significantly more expensive than the actual body.
There tends to be a correlation between quality, longevity, and price. It’s not a perfect fit but it’s definitely a thing that exists.
I built a brand new cutting edge PC for a family member in 2011. They wanted to change careers and get into IT and figured they needed the bestest fastest PC they could afford. Anyway, it worked great until they decided it was time for a new one in 2019. I got to keep the 2011 PC in exchange for some assistance with selecting components for the new build. I put in a shiny new SDD, ebayed 16GB of old RAM that was the fastest thing the motherboard could handle, and I’m still using it as my primary server / workstation / web browser / cloud backup automation controller / etc. It cost more upfront but the amount of time that 2 different people have not spent with fucking around building new PCs has more than offset that in my opinion.
So this PC is on its 3rd round of HDDs and 2nd round of RAM but that was only to boost performance, not because of a hardware failure. I haven’t lost a power supply, motherboard cap, fan motor, or USB port on it yet. That’s pretty remarkable for a 14 year old machine that’s been running 24/7. The 2019 build hasn’t had a hiccup in almost 6 years now either.
And how much do you value your time?
Here’s the history of my PC:
So, in 14 years, I’ve done 5 upgrades, each of which took something like 30 min. Total spent, $2700, so <$200/year. That’s less than many pre-builts, which are often replaced after 5 years. Idk about you, but this is a really good tradeoff for time vs money.
So I went back and found some receipts, and it turns out that we’re pretty much on the same page. This thing was actually about $900 of hardware, which was basically a higher end mid tier build. I remember looking for high quality components but I wasn’t grabbing high performance ones. I’ve probably spent $300 on drives and RAM so cost per year is under $100.
As far as how much I value my time - one does not spend a mere 30 minutes swapping a mainboard out of the everything-box that runs all your shit, so I value hardware stability quite a bit. I moved most of the time-consuming compatibility hacks into docker containers the last time around so hopefully it’s a lot easier next time. I have to deal with this stuff all day long at work so my appetite for PC projects at home is very low. If I can throw some more cash at it to stave off the need to swap out a drive or even the whole PC for a couple more years I’ll gladly do it.
PC gaming is a really cheap hobby as far as hobbies go. A good experience is only a few thousand dollar a decade
so many other hobbies have costs that sneak up on you too. You know what you’re getting into when you build a computer. When I first started getting into photography I learned lenses can be significantly more expensive than the actual body.