4 ms·

If you bought PC instead of Mac, you could upgrade any component at any time.

addaon 3y ago
Keep in mind that if you bought the PC at the same time as this Mac, you'd likely be looking for an AGP graphics card. While there's new old stock available, even if you can find a 2007 HD3850 it's not really much of an upgrade.
Night_Thastus 3y ago
I'm not one to defend Apple, but that's not really true in a practical sense. You can swap GPUs, sure. But eventually the CPU will be too slow relatively speaking, so you'll need a faster CPU. And if you need a new CPU, most sockets don't support future CPUs (or only +1-2 gen), so you'll need a new motherboard. The power draw of CPUs and GPUs have increased, so you'll likely need a new PSU if you only just barely were getting by before. Because of the new motherboard, you'll need new RAM. You can't socket DDR3 into a DDR5 slot. New CPU socket may require a new CPU cooler too, depending on the brand of cooler and how good they are at maintaining compatibility. Even if it has a mount, you may need it just because power draw has increased so much that an older cooler may not be sufficient anymore. If you're just swapping the GPU, thats easy and will most likely work for a few generations. But sooner or later, the whole computer will need to be replaced, except maybe the case.
- Shorel 3y ago
  I have reused PSUs for about 3 or 4 builds. It is always a good idea to overinvest in a good quality PSU, with some room to spare. CPU+board+RAM are usually replaced together, as a combo. So, not ideal, but not that bad either. Storage is also independent and easily upgradeable, I've had hard disks last several builds, just as PSUs. I think my last desktop had four disks inside.
- zamadatix 3y ago
  Practically I think you end up with a couple genuine breaks: - CPU/Motherboard/Memory - GPU - Storage - Monitor with PSU sometimes happening on one of those and case being an optional anytime upgrade. Eventually you'll need to replace everything over enough time but the nice thing is you don't need to immediately replace everything the moment the first component gets outdated. The ultimate killer of this value is most people just don't upgrade components, it's too in the weeds for the average user.
  - Night_Thastus 3y ago
    That's fair. Those are all mostly mutually exclusive. Personally I wait until several generations have gone by (at minimum 4 intel, 2 Nvidia), so it's best to just replace almost everything. It's a lot of fun assembling a new machine.
eyelidlessness 3y ago
And if that isn’t satisfying enough, you can spend your time judging people who have possession of a nearly two decade old Mac and who might be interested in doing something with it?

Keep in mind that if you bought the PC at the same time as this Mac, you'd likely be looking for an AGP graphics card. While there's new old stock available, even if you can find a 2007 HD3850 it's not really much of an upgrade.

Night_Thastus 3y ago

I'm not one to defend Apple, but that's not really true in a practical sense. You can swap GPUs, sure. But eventually the CPU will be too slow relatively speaking, so you'll need a faster CPU. And if you need a new CPU, most sockets don't support future CPUs (or only +1-2 gen), so you'll need a new motherboard. The power draw of CPUs and GPUs have increased, so you'll likely need a new PSU if you only just barely were getting by before. Because of the new motherboard, you'll need new RAM. You can't socket DDR3 into a DDR5 slot. New CPU socket may require a new CPU cooler too, depending on the brand of cooler and how good they are at maintaining compatibility. Even if it has a mount, you may need it just because power draw has increased so much that an older cooler may not be sufficient anymore. If you're just swapping the GPU, thats easy and will most likely work for a few generations. But sooner or later, the whole computer will need to be replaced, except maybe the case.

Shorel 3y ago
I have reused PSUs for about 3 or 4 builds. It is always a good idea to overinvest in a good quality PSU, with some room to spare. CPU+board+RAM are usually replaced together, as a combo. So, not ideal, but not that bad either. Storage is also independent and easily upgradeable, I've had hard disks last several builds, just as PSUs. I think my last desktop had four disks inside.
zamadatix 3y ago
Practically I think you end up with a couple genuine breaks: - CPU/Motherboard/Memory - GPU - Storage - Monitor with PSU sometimes happening on one of those and case being an optional anytime upgrade. Eventually you'll need to replace everything over enough time but the nice thing is you don't need to immediately replace everything the moment the first component gets outdated. The ultimate killer of this value is most people just don't upgrade components, it's too in the weeds for the average user.
- Night_Thastus 3y ago
  That's fair. Those are all mostly mutually exclusive. Personally I wait until several generations have gone by (at minimum 4 intel, 2 Nvidia), so it's best to just replace almost everything. It's a lot of fun assembling a new machine.

eyelidlessness 3y ago

And if that isn’t satisfying enough, you can spend your time judging people who have possession of a nearly two decade old Mac and who might be interested in doing something with it?