In the second part of our article series, some of our most committed and longest-serving members continue to reflect on how things used to be.
I am still interested in components and accessories
@Roger W lurked for a few years before creating an account because he wanted to ask technical questions and chat with other knowledgeable members before buying computer parts.
– One could well buy a used RTX 3080 graphics card towards the end of the pandemic via SweClocker’s marketplace at a reasonable price and feel fairly secure in the fact that you are buying from a like-minded person.
Roger W thinks the market is safe and gadgets are usually reasonably priced.
– Not so much actually! I’m still interested in new computer components and accessories much like I was then. I also have roughly the same curiosity regarding monitors and VR headsets, as well as speakers and headphones, etc. The intensity of interest may have cooled somewhat, but roughly the same type of stuff attracts.
– I probably feel that it felt both bigger and more niche before, which may sound strange but not completely illogical: There were probably simply more enthusiasts who wanted to talk on forums at that time, so that SweC could be more niche but still have a large user base. SweClockers has probably matured to some extent and become more mainstream to some extent, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
– I hope SweC continues with coverage of interesting computer components and related topics, and that there is still a community of Swedish enthusiasts who give feedback on it. It’s very interesting to read the news itself AND the reactions to it, to get perspective on it.
It’s fun that it has lived on so strongly
Kilroy has been a member since he was in high school. He was interested in computers in general and found it fun with hardware. He also spent time with friends who built their own water coolers and experimented with, for example, peltier elements.
– SweClockers had the prettiest website – the blue one – and the best community of the Swedish hardware sites, so it was easy to get sucked into that world! I probably remember best all the fun home constructions.
– Meeting some SweCare IRL at the meetup and foosball tournament at Dreamhack was fun.
– It has decreased considerably. For one thing, the performance increases from generation to generation are not as impressive now as they were then. On the one hand, there are so many professional and ready-made systems for, for example, water cooling, so there are not as many inspiring and fun home builds. The processors today automatically overclock themselves, etc.
In part, the situation has changed. When you were in high school and studying further, it was fun to dream about building things you could barely afford and overclock yourself to get maximum value for the stuff. Now I’m older and have the finances to simply buy what I want. I’d rather pay 900 bucks extra for a ready-made can and the security I get then.
The forum’s knowledgeable members make it easy to find the right components, such as water coolers and AIOs.
– It’s not as experimental and fun today with hardware and this is also reflected in the community. Even on the software side, today everything works automatically, so it’s not as easy to get help from a dedicated community as it used to be.
– That it should continue to develop and that something so narrow and built from the ground up has still lived this long is fun and impressive. It’s a long and special story and it’s great that it has survived as strongly as it does in such a changing industry. Even though my interest is cooler, it’s nice to still keep in touch with a dear old friend!
Source: www.sweclockers.com
