Ship of Theseus

For those uninitiated, the Ship of Theseus is a philosophical question (stick with me, I promise!) discussed by the likes of Plato- "if you were to have a ship, or any other object, and replace every single component which it's made of, is that ship still the same ship?"

I haven't built a new computer since 2012. Yet this is a build log for a machine which currently has a Ryzen 5000 CPU and a 3080. I'd like to use this space to advocate for one of my favorite parts of the DIY PC market - upgradability and expandability.

Almost decade ago, I built a rig with a 3570k and the cheapest Z77 board on the shelf at Micro Center. Little did I know, after 3 GPU upgrades (iGPU to 750ti, to RX 470, to the 3080), an accumulation of storage both mechanical and solid state, RAM upgrades (8GB to 16GB DDR3, then 16GB of DDR4), a new motherboard and 2 CPU upgrades (3750k, to r5 1600, to r5 5600), as well as the addition of RGB Strips and Fans - I'd still be using the same case and power supply I bought way back when Windows 7 was still the latest and greatest. As technology evolved and my budget grew, I was able to "level up" my rig - one piece at a time.

My machine has grown with me, been there through thick and thin. I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I could afford to replace my case, it would certainly help with temperatures to do so, but this cheapo case has been through battle and back with me. I'm not sure I could really call it "my computer" if it wasn't in a stormtrooper-esque enclosure of questionable integrity. The fact it's a bit of a "sleeper" (ironic as it may be to use the term on an RGB-clad system) is endearing to me.

Its dated, arguably cheap-looking exterior betrays the impressive compute power which lies within. Compared to buying an integrated system with a limited upgrade potential, a DIY PC can be stretched over time so far it barely resembles it's original creation, endowed with new capabilities unimaginable when you first built it.