There were <5s kernel compiles in 2002. By contrast, a quad socket Xeon Platinum 8180M ($13k MSRP each) system costing $60k with ridiculous SSDs can do it faste

There were <5s kernel compiles in 2002. By contrast, a quad socket Xeon Platinum 8180M ($13k MSRP each) system costing $60k with ridiculous SSDs can do it faster than you can blink. That's how far retail technology still has to go to catch up to present-day medium-high-end enterprise gear.