The first gaming PC I built was in 2019. I worked at a car wash all summer in high school in order to afford it. It wasn't anything crazy even at the time; a mid-spec gaming PC. But it was the nicest computer I had ever owned. I was using a dual-core Lenovo IdeaPad that made this new PC feel as if it was operating at lightspeed. But time is cruel even to the best of machines. In recent years, I have wanted to go and buy a new PC, but it just seems totally out of reach.
The first instance of this happening was the COVID + Crypto-induced GPU shortage of 2020–2022. I built my PC in November of 2019; I was trapped inside by March 2020. The timing could not have been any better for me personally. But then Nvidia announced the 3000 series of GPUs, and I thought I was ripped off.
"It's half the price for double the performance?!" is what I thought to myself. I was in total shock. I was jealous I didn't get a 3000 series, but almost immediately, you couldn't even buy a GPU within double its MSRP. Once again, I felt like I had lucked out and built a good enough PC to survive this shortage apocalypse.
Three years later, the 4000 series has been out about a year. Another good launch from Nvidia (not as great as the 3000 series). The GPU shortage finally seems to be behind us. You can buy cards with relative ease; prices aren't marked up way past MSRP. Life is good. It feels like three years after the pandemic, we have some breathing room in the PC building space. But as a college student, there was no reason to buy a new PC, nor was there any money to rightfully spend on one. I instead decided to get a MacBook Pro M1 that I got as a great open-box deal from Best Buy since I wanted a better laptop for school.
It's now 2025. I have graduated college. My trusty ol' PC sits beside me, thinking of its wonder years gone by. I think to myself, "this is when I'll do it; I'll build a new PC." But oops—AI has other plans. I had waited too long, and the DRAM shortage is now upon us. RAM, what used to be the simplest thing to buy for your computer, now costs more than a good GPU. But it doesn't stop there. GPUs are now primed to skyrocket in price too because they also use DRAM. Even SSDs, too, are getting blown out. It's happening again. But now it's not just your GPU; it's basically everything except the CPU, case, fans, and power supply.
Old reliable, thankfully, is still doing well, as I guess we will wait another year or two before things calm down again. But this is getting ridiculous. Almost every year now, there seems to be a 5-alarm alert about some PC component. If you are a kid in high school trying to work a minimum wage job just to buy a PC, you'd have to work a lot longer to afford it.
I feel incredibly thankful that I built my PC in 2019. I feel like I got to experience that last "normal" time to build a PC. I could waltz into a Microcenter and pick something off the shelf instead of paying 4x the price for something or fighting bots online for a limited drop.
I hope it gets better and I hope it stays better. PC building is one of the easiest ways for someone to get their hands dirty with hardware and get a major reward in the end, creating a curiosity and excitement with computing.