Collecting Parts, Or Not

Today the CPU I ordered arrived, and I couldn’t be happier. I bought an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G. I got the CPU first, not that the I order that I err… order parts in matters normally bit in this case I felt compelled.

Because of the volatile nature of the market for almost anything PC-related, very few computer parts can be bought at Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price or MSRP (MSRP). AMD had just released the CPU that I chose in August of this year and it could easily be found still being sold at the MSRP of $359. This was a no-brainer for me. I ordered my processor right away. I wanted to buy this before scalpers took their cut.

There are a lot of reasons for the high prices,. First, there is a shortage of computer chips. the reasons for this are a bit complicated, so I’m not going to get into them here. But like so many things of late it comes from a shortage of labor at the manufacturing facilities because of COVID. This has led to a ripple effect of higher prices through the PC hobby. Jay From Jay’s Two Cents YouTube Channel does an excellent job of explaining why this is happening in the video linked here:

So why should the casual hobbyist or someone (like me) returning to the hobby care a mad owl’s fart about what’s happening to the market? The short answer is: “I don’t know.”

Or do I?

This is a horrible time to be a PC enthusiast. Prices are crazy bad. People are paying two times or more (sometimes many times more) MSRP for a graphics card, CPUs are being scalped, even the ones from a generation ago. At its point, I wouldn’t place blame on anyone throwing up their hands and saying, “I’m out!”, and walking away. But in a very real sense, I think this is an opportunity.

While wanting to collect my parts for my gaming PC and putting money aside for them, I’ve been thinking about some more basic questions: Should I overclock my system? Core speed and voltage, what’s the link? Is there a sweet spot in my current build between Frames per Second and overclocking? Core temperature versus throttling, what’s the best compromise?

For me, I have put the idea of games, per se, aside and have gone back to the hardware side of things. The thing that made me interested in computers; to begin with. I’m going to look for some software that tests my current hardware and see what I can learn from that as I put pennies, quarters, and the occasional dollar aside for my next computer’s bits and bobs, expensive though they may be.

Okay, maybe not setting the games thing completely aside

Reconnecting With An Old Hobby

Years ago, when I was in the Air Force, I was stationed overseas for a time. While there, I had a roommate that was a computer hobbyist. He had an Apple IIe and of course, he loved it. He convinced me that I should take up the hobby, as home computing would be the next BIG thing. And he was the admin of a public Bulletin Board Service on base, and if I wanted, he could set me up with my own page. Of course I jumped at the chance. These were the heady days of the late nineteen-eighties. The days when I bought an Apple II myself and later upgraded to an Commodore Amiga 500.

The Amiga 500 was an impressive machine for it’s day.

Later, I learned how to upgrade my Amiga and I loved learning how to configure the new hardware and run more impressive, at least back then, programs. That was before programs were called “apps.” when did that start anyway?

For the last couple of months now, I’ve started to rekindle the love I once had for the hardware side of the computer hobby. I’ve been tinkering with some configuration settings in my Dell i7 BIOS. Carefully, of course. I’ve come to realize just how much I’ve missed being a PC power user. I guess I really am a geek at heart.

Maybe some day my hobby space will look something like this.

The next project I wanted to tackle was going to be building a gaming PC, but the current market for PC components has put that out of reach for what I wanted to do. That changes my plans for the time being to putting money aside for a carefully selected prebuilt machine with some limited customization that I will upgrade as the market eases a bit. I’m a little disappointed, yes, but all computer parts in due time, I guess.

Dear Santa…

One compromise I really do not want to make is choosing my CPU. I will get either an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 series or the 7 5700 series. Depending on price. The wife insists on paying for things like mortgage and food.

PCs can be an expensive hobby but like anything else, I guess its captures and holds your interest, and what makes one happy.

Peace.