Around three months ago, I finally bit the bullet and got me a new desktop for work.
The last time I got myself a workstation was in 2016. That rig been quite the trusty soldier, enabling me to make a decent living, serving as my digital darkroom for photography, and allowing be to waste thousands of hours of Overwatch. It didn’t really give me any issues at all and it’s still able to work for 80% of what I need for work save for more compute-heavy workloads (running AI models locally) and current-generation gaming.
However, no thanks to planned obsolescence of the industry, I had to retire it. OS, app, and driver support are all ending for its nearly decade-old hardware. I’ve “given” it to the kid to be her remote class and Minecraft machine but since she prefers to use her mom’s iPad and Switch, I might just turn it into a media server so I can stream my recently-unearthed collection of “stuff” locally.
Anyway, over the years, the algorithms have pushed PC content from the likes of LTT and JayzTwoCents my way. Never really paid attention since I didn’t want to get influenced by GAS and suddenly crave new hardware that I clearly couldn’t afford. I guess 2025’s a bit different since things are changing quite rapidly across industries that anyone not familiar with the latest shit will most likely become a potato by the year end.
I knew electronics prices have skyrocketed even before the pandemic and have wildly fluctuated since but the cost of PC parts these days did come as a bit of a shock. I was targeting to build an upper mid-tier rig to hopefully serve me just as well as the last one but I didn’t expect that such hardware would cost as much as down payment on a compact sedan. Haven’t done the math if it’s just inflation talking but I’m now the elder statesman who misses the times when a two-piece Chickenjoy meal was only P32.
The miser in me is also pissed off that I bought some components at “launch” prices just when the 50-series GPUs hit the local market which meant I paid for the early-adopter tax. Prices have gone down about 10% since. I did rush the purchase. In hindsight, I would’ve gotten quite the steals during the last Amazon Prime Day sale by buying the components that are below the de minimis.
Next thing that irked me is that customizations, optimizations, and maintenance have to be routine. And we’re not just talking about physically cleaning the computer from dust and cooties, clearing cache, and running malware scans.
BIOS and drivers have to be kept up to date. Otherwise, some unresolved bug might just fry your hardware. Tracking the latest bulletins across all components and keeping up with everything has been taxing.
Unlike with cars, I am quite handy with computers, having owned and maintained PCs since I was 10. But the level at which these newfangled machines need “care” is just ridiculous.
With my old machines, I never really had to dive deep into tweaking hardware setting and fiddle with overclocking since I’ve been able to do what I needed using stock hardware. For context, my old machine ran flawlessly right from the start with the most basic components. It even used the stock CPU cooler and it never breached 70C even under prolonged full-load. I also only updated the BIOS which I still think wasn’t necessary.
With this new rig, however, it’s probably my third time to update the BIOS in just 3 months of ownership. Doing this resets all previous custom settings that had been needed to get the damn thing to run “optimally.” It is vital to set the undervolt and thermal limit values to keep the CPU from not only burning itself and my house with it. Maybe I’m just unlucky with my pick of a motherboard, but it behaves weirdly every time I set something in the BIOS. There are times that a certain setting just borks the thing and the only way to recover is to clear the CMOS settings.
Now, I hold my breath each second the diagnostic LEDs stay lit during post. I also had to tweak the GPU’s clock values and power draw since working on AI slop has been pushing the GPU to the limit. Since GPUs can basically cost more than half of the build’s value, it’s quite necessary to take some precautions for it to last a bit.
And probably the last thing that bugged me is the whole RGB craze is still a thing. Why must everything be laced with fancy lights? Even the kid has quickly outgrown her My Little Pony phase and prefers minimalist aesthetic over unicorn puke. And the kid teases me that I’m a “rich gamer kid” since my computer lights up in the dark.
Anyway, I think I’m all caught up with the what’s what in PC building these days but I’m expecting that this wouldn’t be my last PC-related rant in the next few months.