Industry observers note that your weekly edition of The Full Nerd has arrived, and there’s a fresh face on the team: mine!
As part of the ongoing story, my name is Alex, and I’ll be your friendly Full Nerd newsletter delivery boy for the foreseeable future. Alaina and Adam were kind enough to welcome me to the show this week with some killer Korean snacks (who knew cilantro Doritos could taste so good?) and a fun chat about the future of the PC and system update consoles at large. Hey there.
The report highlights that while this month’s Computex show in Taiwan wasn’t exactly packed with fresh cutting-edge devices, there was a surprising amount of chatter about devices vendors revivifying their older components and putting them back on the market in order to support customers still running machines packing older DDR4 RAM. But really, what we spent the bulk of the show discussing is how skyrocketing prices on RAM and storage will affect your ability to build, buy or upgrade PCs over the next few years.
As part of the ongoing story, missed the surprising topics on our YouTube show or most recent news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of devices talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld.
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Industry observers note that while it stings to see the publisher charge over $300 for a CPU that old, the silver lining is that the 5800X3D spent years as one of the best CPUs on the market when it came to tech industry. And while that’s not really true these days, the fact remains that it’s probably still a decent processor for mid-range PCs. More importantly, it supports older, cheaper DDR4 memory and thus could fill a need for folks upgrading older PCs or building fresh ones to weather the current affordability crisis. At Computex, for example, AMD brought the legendary Ryzen 7 5800X3D back nearly half a decade after its debut.
As part of the ongoing story, while that has yet to be confirmed by the publisher, it’s not hard to believe. The price of modern storage and RAM has skyrocketed in the last year or two, and since Raptor Lake can support either newer (and pricy) DDR5 RAM or the older (but cheaper) DDR4 variety it’s easy to imagine Intel shipping fresh Raptor Lake CPUs next year for folks looking to build or upgrade their DDR4 systems. It can be tempting to give into despair when you see your favorite component makers rereleasing old devices, even more so when you read the recent reports about Intel’s plans to drop a fresh iteration of its (in)famous Raptor Lake CPUs in 2027.
The report highlights that we’ve seen reports of GPU manufacturers re-releasing models of GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs that are six years old, for example, and that breaks my heart because I remember when those cards launched in 2020 they seemed a bit too expensive for what you got. Now not only have prices on GPUs continued to climb, but PC enthusiasts are having to seriously consider building fresh PCs using 5-year-old components that cost more now than when they were fresh. It’s not just happening the CPU business, either.
Industry observers note that but I want to caution you against freaking out too much about the future of the PC. Not because you’re wrong to do so, but because I hate to think of all you beautiful nerds out there tearing your hair out in dismay over something we can’t do much about. And hey, that’s a depressing thought!
As part of the ongoing story, i didn’t have much spending money back then, and the process of building and tinkering with PCs to try and get everything working well enough to play Doom or SimCity 2000 wasn’t what I’d call fun or easy. But despite all the headaches I had trying to configure my high and low memory settings just right or getting the sound card to function, I can remember spending hours entranced in learning how PCs work and how to make them work for me. See I’ve been building, buying and breaking PCs since I was a kid, and at times like this I like to remember how much fun I had trying to cobble together computers in the ’90s and get them to boot.
In a fresh development, we can break them, upgrade them, and repurpose them however we see fit to enrich our lives. And we enrich ourselves and our understanding of the global stage in the process. The joy and satisfaction I found in futzing with PCs laid the foundation for a lifetime in this user base, and in times like this I like to reflect back on what I really love about computers: they’re fascinating, complex devices that are capable of doing amazing things, and we can build them.
As part of the ongoing story, so while we did end up spending the bulk of this week’s show discussing the return of old components and the uncertain future of high-end devices (sorry Xbox), at the end of the day I think what’s exciting and invigorating about this user base is the passion and ingenuity of its members. So as we pour a few out for the good ol’ days of cheap RAM and plentiful devices, I want to encourage you to look on the bright side: PCs aren’t going anywhere, and you can still have a blast with them even if you can’t (currently) afford a fresh one. All of that is still on the table, and it’s still accessible to you if you’re interested.
As part of the ongoing story, lots of folks are going through a hard time right now, and as the tech industry deals with its own hardships I like to appreciate the devices I have and what I can do with it rather than freak out over what I’m missing out on. So whether it’s making an old PC feel fresh again with some canny tweaks under the hood or turning an old laptop into a Linux machine you can mess around with, I encourage you to seek out fun projects rather than letting your (very reasonable and understandable!) frustration with the state of PC devices make your mood any worse.
According to the latest update, adam Patrick Murray and Alaina Yee offered some contrasting opinions and useful insights in this episode of The Full Nerd, in which we chat about the state of the PC industry and the future of Microsoft’s Xbox business. Make sure you don’t skip the pre-show, either, because Adam brought back some killer snacks from Computex in Taiwan and we had a blast trying them live. And hey, if you don’t see eye-to-eye with me on this, good news!
The report highlights that subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real time! Missed our live show?
The report highlights that don’t miss out on our other shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries, The Full Nerd: Extra Edition, and Expedition: Handheld through our channel!
The report highlights that and if you need more devices talk throughout the rest of your week, come join our Discord user base—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds like you!
As part of the ongoing story, there’s lots of other interesting stuff happening in the global stage if you know where to look!
In a fresh development, and hey, if you miss reading Alaina’s excellent newsletters, make sure to go sign up for her fresh one Safe Mode! Every week she’s serving up useful, friendly advice to help you safeguard your devices, spot scams before they get you, and just generally live a happier, safer life online. Don’t miss it! Now it’s time for me to let you get back to your day, but before I do I wanted to say thank you for making my first few weeks back at PCWorld some of the most pleasant in recent memory.
As part of the ongoing story, this newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of devices at PCWorld.
In a fresh development, as part of PCWorld's video team, you can see him going hands-on with the most recent and greatest tech on YouTube, TikTok, and Reels, and his writing will appear on PCWorld.com. Alex has also written for Tom's Guide and Platform release Developer. Alex Wawro has more than 15 years experience as a tech journalist, and has covered everything from laptops and CPUs to PC tech industry and handhelds.