So everyone says that this and that got too expensive in PCs and how it was all cheaper 10
years ago...
I finally got all my PC parts shipped to me and after 15 years it's time to upgrade my Phenom 2 system.
Part of this upgrade is that I cleaned up 30 years of crap on, above, under, and around my computer desk.
I found some stuff....receipts for 486 PCs bought 30 years ago.

"Funny" about this is that my new 7700 Ryzen/4070 Ti/32 GB DDR5/2 TB NVMESSD system is within
20$ of a 30 year old 486 system.
So you think "sure that's Intel raking you over hot coals cause they are the only deal in town", but actually
it's not (and i'm an AMD guy)....it's everything else.

486 cost around 300$, 20$ cheaper than my 7700 Ryzen.
But....floppy drive 150$....400 MB HDD 500$...it's all those little things thats minor in a modern build
that 30 years ago really drove up the cost. 1 MB RAM around 55$, 8 MB 440$...

Alt of the minor components have gotten a lot cheaper while GPU off course increased greatly, bottom line is
you are paying as much for a modern PC as you did for a 486 30 years ago, but you get a lot more
out of it today which makes modern PCs a great value :) (somewhat sarcasm there ;) )

Did you adjust for inflation?

Add to the fact that one doesn't have to chase the upgrade train anymore either. Yes, there are still newer iteration of standards and hardware being released but in a much more incremental fashion. I can now go about a decade without having to seriously think about making an upgrade. Even only going for half that time would have been almost unthinkable in the '90s.

My gaming box is going on 4 years now, and it still does and plays everything I want or need it to. All I did was add another SSD last year to add more storage space for games. I'm interested to see if I can push it to 2030 (or beyond). ;)

On 6th of April AMD will release the 7800X3D, a processor with more staying power than what you bought.
https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d
I hope you bought fast RAM and turned on expo in the UEFI settings (one click overclock) or tuned them manually. Extra important if you do not have a 3D processor.

I used to get third or fourth hand hardware in the nineties and the noughties since it was so expensive new. A hundred was more money back then than now.

Just the videocards.... the bloody videocards....

An S3 Trio didn't cost you a lung, a kidney and a square feet of skin.