A friend asked me at school today that if I suddenly had $1,500 to build a PC, what would I buy?
My answer surprised him. I told him I wouldn't build a super high-end PC.
See, there's no fun in having a PC do things easily. A high-end system doing things quickly isn't interesting. I like old hardware. Pushing 2, 5, 10 year old hardware to its limits. Making it shine again. Making it top-of-the-line. Having it do things quickly, but not easily.
There's also no story behind new components. You have to create the story. Some may enjoy that, but I don't. I like exploring and continuing the story. That's why I'd buy a used system. Because making old parts shine and adding to the story is fun. There's no enjoyment out of having a generic, brand new, off the shelf PC. There's enjoyment between finding many websites and hunting for the parts you need. There's enjoyment in communicating people, asking them how they used the hardware, and how much they'd part with it for. There's enjoyment in troubleshooting stuff that won't work, and hunting on ancient forums and websites for information on how to make it work. It's way more satisfying to put together a system that was an adventure to build, rather than a LEGO set. And that's why I'd spend it on used hardware.
- mech, PCGuy_5960 and Crunchy Dragon
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I agree. It took me over a year to build my PC, it isn't the most powerful but it still powerful and certainly more than I need. More than that though it is cool to me. I really think the parts I have are neat and I made a lot of memories finding the parts and I learned a lot of things along the way
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Me, I spent waaaay more than I should've on some parts, have a literal graveyard of dead/dying GPUs, like, 4 cases in my basement from old PCs that I pulled parts from, a small handful of ewaste finds (C2Q Q6600 and some generic mATX 775 motherboard, along with an Antec Earthwatts Green 650w PSU), and a bunch of RAM.
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ew old stuff
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lol your dumb
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@Princess Cadence I'm putting together a Windows XP machine for retro gaming
SpoilerLet's be honest though: even with that kind of money, you couldn't get a high-end system these days. The most you could get is probably the higher end of the midrange spectrum. Prices are just too dang high and Ethereum isn't helping one bit.
I totally agree, systems that are adventures to build are definitely more fun. The first build is also a lot of fun, but it doesn't get more fun the more you do it IMO. Sometimes you'll get the "PC builder itch" where you just really really want to build a system. Next thing you know, your main rig is in pieces on the table in front of you(I have done this so many times).
I enjoy pushing the limits of my hardware as well, I've got my 780 stable at +245 core, +115 memory and it's good enough for me. I could push +250 core, but it's not as stable(still good enough for gaming). I'm planning on turning my current machine into a dedicated folding rig as well when I've got the funds for it(need a new PSU and a GPU of some kind).
Speaking of old hardware, I"m actually getting some from a friend this weekend: a GeForce 6200, a GeForce GTS 250, and an unknown(at the time of writing) ATI card.
(put the spoiler in so my post isnt too long lol)
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Eh I consider any thing under intel 2000 series and GTX 500 series not worth it for gaming nowadays, if you have to cheap up even more might as well get a console at this point personally speaking
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4th gen i7s are still good though. The top of the line ones can still be used in gaming builds this day if you still have an older gen and don’t want to buy new ram they are a perfect cpu to get
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@CryptoMatt Yeah, they are. Still a bit too new to be fun for me, though
@Canada EH At least you're not mining, right...?
@Princess Cadence Yeah, I guess so. The only exception is X58 IMO.
@Legendarypoet But I'm assuming you're older than me, and you've used older hardware before, right?
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One goal I had when I built my computer is that I wanted something unique. Unless you are able to do extreme modifications with modern parts you won't get a combination of parts that other people haven't already paired together. On the other hand, with a computer made out of old parts like mine as well as with the mods I have done I feel really confident that there isn't a twin of my computer anywhere else in the world
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