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Yeah, I'm with you anon. Here's my rough upgrade path (dates are approximate):
- 2009 - built PC w/o GPU for $500, only onboard graphics; worked fine for Minecraft and Factorio
- 2014 - added GPU to play newer games (~$250)
- 2017 - build new PC (~$800; kept old GPU) because I need to compile stuff (WFH gig); old PC becomes NAS
- 2023 - new CPU, mobo, and GPU (~$600) because NAS uses way too much power since I'm now running it 24/7, and it's just as expensive to upgrade the NAS as to upgrade the PC and downcycle
So for ~$2200, I got a PC for ~15 years and a NAS (drive costs excluded) for ~7 years. That's less than most prebuilts, and similar to buying a console each gen. If I didn't have a NAS, the 2023 upgrade wouldn't have had a mobo, so it would've been $400 (just CPU and GPU), and the CPU would've been an extreme luxury (1700 -> 5600 is nice for sim games, but hardly necessary). I'm not planning any upgrades for a few years.
Yeah it's not top of the line, but I can play every game I want to on medium or high. Current specs: Ryzen 5600, RX 6650 XT, 16GB RAM.
People say PC gaming is expensive. I say hobbies are expensive, PC gaming can be inexpensive. This is ~$150/year, that's pretty affordable... And honestly, I could be running that OG PC from 2009 with just a second GPU upgrade for grand total of $800 over 15 years if all I wanted was to play games.
Almost exact same timeline, prices and specs here. Just went with the RX6600 instead after hardware became somewhat affordable again after crypto hype and COVID. Always bought the mid-lowend stuff of the then actual hardware, if upgraded wanted/needed. It's good to read of non-highend stuff all the time though.
I only got the 6650 because it was on sale for $200 or something, I was actually looking for the 6600 but couldn't find a reasonable deal.
I make enough now that I don't need to be stingy on hardware, but I honestly don't max the hardware I have so it just seems wasteful. I probably won't upgrade until either my NAS dies or the next AMD socket comes out (or there's a really good deal). I don't care about RTX, VR kinda sucks on Linux AFAIK, and I think newer AAA games kinda suck.
I'll upgrade if I can't play something, but my midrange system is still fine. I'm expecting no upgrades for 3-5 more years.