I upgraded last spring, mainly because I was worried about prices going up due to tariffs:
1700X → 5700X3D
32GB DDR4 →64GB DDR4
512GB NVME → 4TB NVME
Vega 56 →9070XT
New case and PSU*
Turned out the tariffs weren’t as bad as I expected but the AI buying spree I didn’t anticipate was even worse (and expected to last for a long time), so now I slightly regret not going all the way for DDR5. Would’ve been an extra $500+ back then, but would be an extra $1000+(?) now. Still, I’m much more future-proof than I would’ve been had I not been paying attention to politics, as my old setup wasn’t actually feeling inadequate yet at the time.
I also almost built a solid-state NAS with one of those cube-shaped Beelink mini PCs, but missed my chance: the SSD prices started spiking while I was waffling over it in my online shopping cart. Even the mini PC itself costs nearly double now what it did then, let alone the storage for it.
(* New case because I got the wrong 9070XT under launch-day time pressure and the 2.5-slot card didn’t fit in my 2-slot ITX case, and then new PSU because the new case required SFX instead of ATX. I could’ve gotten a bigger case for less money, but I wanted more portability in case I need to flee the country on short notice to escape fascists. And yes, that was my actual thought process. Thanks, Trump. 😡)
I upgraded last spring, mainly because I was worried about prices going up due to tariffs:
Turned out the tariffs weren’t as bad as I expected but the AI buying spree I didn’t anticipate was even worse (and expected to last for a long time), so now I slightly regret not going all the way for DDR5. Would’ve been an extra $500+ back then, but would be an extra $1000+(?) now. Still, I’m much more future-proof than I would’ve been had I not been paying attention to politics, as my old setup wasn’t actually feeling inadequate yet at the time.
I also almost built a solid-state NAS with one of those cube-shaped Beelink mini PCs, but missed my chance: the SSD prices started spiking while I was waffling over it in my online shopping cart. Even the mini PC itself costs nearly double now what it did then, let alone the storage for it.
(* New case because I got the wrong 9070XT under launch-day time pressure and the 2.5-slot card didn’t fit in my 2-slot ITX case, and then new PSU because the new case required SFX instead of ATX. I could’ve gotten a bigger case for less money, but I wanted more portability in case I need to flee the country on short notice to escape fascists. And yes, that was my actual thought process. Thanks, Trump. 😡)