So long as you're not interested in playing AAA titles on release with max graphics, you can go quite a while between builds. I got over a decade on my last one, and will probably do the same with my current machine.
this post was submitted on 16 May 2026
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I just crossed 3 years.
Hell, I feel like the Nvidia 1xxx generation & equivalent AMD cards were the last real value GPUs. Every generation since has been incremental improvements in image quality for massive costs in price, heat & energy. Now all the other components are catching up...
Ram prices are more expensive but if you gotta build a PC its always worth the money. The amount of entertainment you get from it is crazy. If my PC build is 2k but because of ram prices its 3k. Thats still extremely cheap compared to other hobbies. I know people who spend that just on beer at the pub or uber eats.
If you are money tight am4 and ddr4 is still a solid combo.
I built my pc about 9 years ago, sold the GPU and upgraded 4 years ago. I can play most current games at medium graphic settings with the biggest limitation currently being my power supply of all things.
It helps that indy games are less resource intensive and that and retro gaming is where I find my fun atm but on a build that probably cost around $1800-$2000 when you factor in the updated graphics card (and fan replacement) I'd say that is a really friggen good value for a hobby.
It also helped that I built my pc while I was living in China where a number of components were cheaper.
nope, I'll just whack a new gpu in this old war horse some reused and affordable. tbh devs aren't making upgrading worth my while. U5 sucks, the games look soulless and spending 2k to get better light diffusion from lazy devs on unoptimised slop??? no thank you.
Gaming is a drain on my money. I can't afford any new systems really. If I get a new system it'll be a tiny BeeLink mini PC just for running Linux - to do the basics link email and banking. Currently I have a Samsung Galaxy a06 lol
Mini-PCs are no longer a good value. The RAM and SSD pricing fiasco has killed them.
They used to be these cheaper things for hobbies that you could get for $300-$500, now they're like $800+ and cost as much as a full size SFF machine from a reputable major manufacturer that offers real support, warranties, etc. If you absolutely have to have the form factor for some reason sure go for it but the value proposition has completely collapsed for them as a neat little hobby system.
Are people on average replacing their PC every 3 years or something? Mine's almost 6 years old at this point (ignoring the SSD which is newer, and the GPU which is older).
I could use some RAM but no way in hell that's happening
I'm just waiting for AM6...
Yeah, I've just accepted the PC I have today is probably the final PC I will own. Sure, something might break and I'll replace that one part. But it would be like-for-like and probably at great cost. I really hope things go back to normal in a few years. But with everything going on, I doubt it. And with the push for you will own nothing and be happy, we might not be able to buy high-end computers for reasonable prices ever again.
I am looking forward to living without a computer. I saw a comedy soap opera from the 80s and people live in empty huts whereas modern houses look like dumpsters
i really hope deepseek helps change this, from the looks of it is way more efficient
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
On top of that, deepseek v4 pro is twice as large as v3 in terms of total params.