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Help me justify upgrading my pc (programming.dev)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have a B450 motherboard, 16gb DDR4 3200 RAM, 1660 Super gpu and a Ryzen 5 2600 CPU. I don't plan on updating the GPU this time, because I don't play a lot of games that require anything more, I'm playing a lot of older titles currently. The problem is this also makes me feel like I shouldn't update the pc at all.

I think I mostly just want to mess around with a decent home lab, but because I dont have an intended use case I'm struggling to justify. I also had parents who don't like to spend money on this sort of thing and I've got their disapproving voices in my head.

The plan is to upgrade to a 5900XT and 64 gb of ram and probably run a lot of virtual machines in a little lab environment but I'm not sure how often I'll have them all running so it could be overkill. The upgrade is about $700 all up too so not small but not too much. I know I'm extending the lifespan of a computer instead of e-wasting the entire thing but I'm still a little apprehensive.

Good idea or nah?

P.S. I run Linux Mint on all my machines if that somehow changes anyone's mind or is somewhat helpful? Can't let the arch users be the only ones to announce.

Edit: thanks for the replies. I went to bed so I'll try to reply to people as today goes. Thanks for the ideas and the one person who asked if I was a sex worker, you've made me laugh and think.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

You could upgrade, but if you actually want to learn tech I would recommend getting a server. Grab an old HP or similar machine and chuck a few HDDs into it and install proxmox. Keep all the VMs off your main system and then you can shut down without impacting them. If you mess up badly you will still have your main system to help recover from the mistake.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

In terms of learning tech, I'm not looking to learn in the traditional "home lab" sense. I work in cyber, and the vms I'd be running are likely different from a regular home lab. I'd be learning how to make a windows domain and how to attack/defend/configure. Realising now I should have said that in the post.

I do like the idea of having a server rack but I don't have any storage space for that so it's a future idea at the moment. Hence upgrading the tower to effectively be a server but also gaming.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

You don't have to get a rackmount server or even purpose built server at all. My lab at the moment consists of a stack of old HP desktops that I stuffed a bunch of memory and drives in. Regardless my recommendation would be to get a separate box to run things on as it makes things easier to deal with in the long run I find.

Main things you'll want from the box is memory and storage. CPU is not as important in a single user environment.

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