sucks to hear that. I always shoot for mid range. I switched to Ryzen a few years ago because of the much cheaper price and more flexible board options for upgrading.
My new PC is only running Ryzen 5 3600, it was supposed to be the 5600 that I bought on launch but I got screwed and waited 3 weeks with no shipment and eventually got mad and cancelled, and fought for another couple weeks to get refunded. But it works fine, so I’m in no hurry. I will probably wait for the new Zen 4 chip as they will likely require a new slot.
Video Cards are the exception. I don’t really do much heavy gaming, so I don’t update these nearly as often. Besides Its soo hard to get a decent card my last card I bought was a AMD RX 580. It was $300 CAD a couple years ago. Now Ebay sells it $800 its outrageous and dumb.
Do not buy used, often they were Mining Cards and are junk now.
It is an amazing site, it helps keep track of prices for most current pc components with links to sites etc.
So don’t give up it can be frustrating but once you learn some of the tricks people use (like using twitter bots that alert you for card drops) it will get much easier.
I can’t bear to watch this unfold anymore. I wonder if we will see PCs being scalped by the holidays…There has already been so much stress in people’s lives over the last year…
In the meantime, for those who are able…
The Verge: Microsoft releases Windows 11 preview, available to download now.
I installed the preview…meh. Its definitely geared towards touch screen. Not a fan of the Start Menu. Direct HDD access (once updated and implemented by games) and auto HDR so far are the only interesting bits for me.
… Microsoft said it’s temporarily pulling the PC Health Check app with the goal of fixing it. “Based on the feedback so far, we acknowledge that it (the app) was not fully prepared to share the level of detail or accuracy you expected from us on why a Windows 10 PC doesn’t meet upgrade requirements,” the company said. “We will get it back online in preparation for general availability this fall.”
Window’s version may change, but Microsoft doesn’t.
Security expert Kevin Beaumont, who spent nearly a year working at Microsoft during the pandemic, has criticized the company over its Windows 11 hardware requirements. “In the middle of a pandemic when orgs are hurting, with a global chip shortage, Microsoft [is] trying to get people to replace things for security reasons that are questionable,” said Beaumont on Twitter. “Buy a Surface? No. Make a better OS.” - from The Verge
I wouldn’t buy a new PC for Windows 11. Unless they have some hidden features coming its pretty superficial other than Direct HDD access, which has to be implemented so it’s not likely to be common for a while. Personally I don’t understand why people would be rushing out to get it. Unless I have missed something.
My read of Win10 is that the security aspects will really help reduce the attack surface for malware. Unfortunately for us with older PCs, the hardware is not compatible with the current security needs.
I don’t blast Microsoft for advancing computer security. I just wish I could get more life out of my older PC.
OTOH, I now have an Ace in the “but Honey, I have to buy this nice new computer with the great graphics card. No, dear, it’s not so I can enjoy No Man’s Sky more, it’s for safety from criminals” card game.
I should have posted the article the statement came from. It is specifically Windows that continues to be attacked. While other attacks occassionally happen, Mac and Linux are so much safer than windows. In other words, and I have heard this from a number of sources, windows needs to be completely rewritten.
Also, I am wondering why 64GB of space is required…windows is also huge and sucks memory and maxes out entire cores…
Windows is attacked the most, because the majority of people use it. Especially older people. The sandbox nature of others helps prevent some of these attacks. But make no mistake servers etc get hacked a lot, and they generally dont run windows.
64 GB…easy done the way windows maintains backwards compatibility with .net frameworks. Multiple variations. Plus it keeps a copy of install files etc to rollback. Considering some games are larger than this I don’t see why this is an issue.
Windows itself doesn’t suck memory, the things running in it does. I generally idle 0-7% cpu , 1-2gb, (requires only 4 most pc have 8 or 16) even on my older laptop. Malware scanners, disk activity etc can eat up resources …especially old slow machines. But most of the time its junk people downloaded that cause it. I find the only PC that run slow / poorly are either old or unmaintained.
People that prefer Linux or Apple…so be it, everyone has a preference. Personally I can’t stand either. Linux would be my second choice, but I hate running commands for everything. If I wanted that I’d go back to dos. The UI has improved over the years, but I’m still personally not interested.
A lot of Microsoft’s problem is the need for backward compatibility due to the sheer number of users.
The humongous number of Windows users worldwide also presents too tempting a target for hackers, especially since too many keep old OS versions around way past their end of life.
There is now an OS security grouping difference – desktops and laptops vs. mobile devices like phone and tablet OS.
Apple’s OS security is excellent but skin deep. Once a hacker gets in, it’s like a kid free in a candy store.
Hopefully, competition will drive both Microsoft and Apple to improve.
It is important to note that disabling these features could affect the performance or stability of Windows 11, so be sure to only use them on a virtual machine or test box that are you are ok with working in an unsupported environment.
BleepingComputer: How to bypass the Windows 11 TPM 2.0 requirement.
I wonder if we will see PCs being scalped by the holidays…There has already been so much stress in people’s lives over the last year…
Yeah, that is what keeps me from moving completely to Linux. I have a hard enough time remembering my phone number. 
