No, it's not too late to begin.
No, it's not too late to begin.
Hey everyone, I had a thought while planning my first PC build. It seems I might only have a machine for about four to five years at most, since I’m heading to college and other expenses will come up. Not all my money will go straight into gaming; I need to prioritize basic needs like food. There’s a chance I’ll end up with a low-spec setup that runs on older hardware, maybe not getting any upgrades. Should I wait until I have a steady job and own a home before starting PC gaming? I’m not sure anymore—I’m young and probably won’t even be able to play games in a year due to dual enrollment. I hope I can secure a job soon so I can save for college, and even this year I might only manage about an hour and a half of game time daily. Balancing guitar lessons, church, schoolwork, lawn care, and therapy feels tough. Is this really too late, or is there still time?
If you’re worried about time constraints and a new PC feels like an expense, begin with a budget model—perhaps a refurbished Optiplex with an SSD, extra RAM, and a basic GPU. Spend a few hours testing it; if you enjoy the experience, consider upgrading later. If not, you’ll have a solid setup for other uses. Start with low graphics and moderate frame rates, which will help you gauge your interest before investing more.
At young age, I'd say you're worrying about all this far too soon. Being driven and excelling at school is a good thing, and I wouldn't want to diminish that in any way. However, you also need to make time for being a kid. Does that mean gaming? Maybe, maybe not, but whatever you do, find some time for fun and dare I say a little irresponsibility (just a little). You'll have the rest your 50+ years after you graduate to be an adult, and frankly that comes fast and furious. If you think you'll have more time then, you really are very young . Still, all things in moderation. Even as an adult, you have to learn to carve out time for R&R. You can't be "on" all the time, or you'll just burn out and be useless to everyone and everything. This is actually an excellent time to start finding that balance, because it's low risk. When you're an adult, failure can mean losing your job, losing your.home, losing your spouse. As a kid, it means a bad grade maybe, but you can always recover from that. If you learn to take care of your responsibilities and find time to recharge now, you'll have a skill that will propel you in all things in the future. Edited July 12, 2020 by LogicalDrm