Computers, computers, my precious...

Cleaning advice: Buy an air compressor, and a wooden skewer to stop your fans from spinning when you use it

The story about your computer reminds me the first PC I assembled for myself back in the day. It was a Core 2 Duo with a GeForce 9400GT (dogshit of a card, but overclocked from 550Mhz to 850Mhz with a bigger cooler).

That C2D ran for years at 3.7Ghz (from the stock 2.9Ghz) on the stock cooler. Once a lightning struck my neighbor's antenna and the PSU literally blew up, but nothing else on that machine went bad. Also I spilled a drink on it once. Took it apart, dried it, reassembled and it ran like nothing happened.

I used it for 10 years. I upgraded RAM, CPU, installed an SSD and even got an AMD R7 360 by the end of its life.

Coded on it all the way through college, played dozens of thousands of hours on it and even managed to play Fallout 4 on Windows 10 before retiring it. After I got a new PC, I decided to disassemble the old one. While removing the CPU, I dropped it on the socket, breaking 2 pins. I probably would never use it again, but man was I sad when that happened, because the MB was the main part that survived the entire journey, just to die in such a stupid way after all it went through.

I don't miss it how slow that machine was by the end of its life, but I do miss the good times I had with it.

On our way to the next Ice Age we had another summer with record temperatures this year. Monitoring the temps of my GPU I was alarmed by the max values. So I ordered a selection of thermal pads and re-pasted and re-padded my baby. For good measure I threw in a good undervolt. 

Before

After

My advice, throw brand loyalty out the window. Intel, Nvidia, AMD, all that matters is you get the best bang for the buck. I also find building your own PC preferable, not just to potentially make it cheaper, but to have better quality, and nicer looking components.

As for Pricing, Canada pays a bit of a premium, after currency conversion, can often see around 30% mark ups from major retailers like Newegg or Amazon when no sales are active.

That said, my current baby isn't too old, slowly upgraded my old one over a few months till it became a new one entirely. At this point, the oldest components in it are like a year and a half old, unless you count 2 smaller SSD's that are still in great health which are a few years old. It runs everything without issue, GPU stays nice and cool, though I am getting a bit of coil whine with Starfield, but only Starfield.

Full setup atm...

Case: Phanteks P600S Gray

Fans: be quiet! Light Wings PWM high-speed 140 mm

Mobo: Asus TUF Gaming B550-PLUS (WI-FI)

CPU: Ryzen 5600

RAM: Team T-FORCE DARK Za 2x16GB DDR4 3600MHz

GPU: Asus Dual RX 6700 XT 12GB

PSU: Corsair RM750x 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular

NVME: WD Blue SN570 1TB

SSD:  2x 500GB WD Blue 3D NAND, and 2TB WD Blue 3D NAND

Monitor: MSI Optix G241V E2 24" 1080p

Keyboard: Alienware 510K Low Profile RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Lunar Light

Mouse: Logitech G502 Hero Special Edition

Headset: HyperX Cloud Stinger

Speakers: Creative Pebble Plus 2.1

Do wish I could have got my case in white to match KB/M, but wasn't an option for months while I looked, so had to compromise. Eventually I'll get the white one and sell one I have, or just paint one I have, we'll see. Also wish I had a different option for GPU, just because LED strip on it locked to purple/blue, and I like to go for a burning embers look. Will prob detach power to strip later when cleaning PC. Also gonna get a 32" 1440p monitor with DR before end of year prob, not a huge requirement for me, but still, might be nice to have. Lastly, PSU may seem overkill, but I got it heavily discounted, so yah, 10 year warranty and GPU upgrade potential.

In the end, it's not the best PC, but it's the PC I wanted, with a few sacrifices I'll correct in time.

I understand your nostalgia for your precious PC