I impulse bought this right before the manufacturer's rebate ended and promptly found out my wife is pregnant, thankfully Costco has a great return policy
EDIT: The baby is planned, just thought it would take longer to get pregnant. It's also just about priorities. We could still afford the baby and keep the computer but the money will be better spent on baby necessities and I can just use my 3080 rig a bit longer
Twins? Have you heard of a thing called SLEEP by any chance? 😂 I bet that was rough in the beginning...I knew a guy that had triplets. Holy crap. He was a walking Zombie.
I do miss taking naps with my youngest...she was an awesome sleeper and a napper...she would ask for naps. Hell ya!
Have you heard of a thing called SLEEP by any chance?
nope
bet that was rough in the beginning
Surprisingly, in our situation it wasn't too bad. I got 4 months of paid paternity leave at my work.
So for those 4 months my wife and I each did an 8 hour shift alone every day so the other person could actually sleep.
My shift was 4am-12pm. Her's was 8pm-4am. Then we were both up together from 12pm-8pm.
So we actually never experienced the whole sleep deprivation. By the time I went back to work, they were sleeping through the night. We put them to bed at 7pm wake up at 7am.
Still to this day knock on wood, no issues sleeping.
Don't have any more. This is how they kill you into a false sense of security so the next one can completely stomp over your hopes and dreams of sleep.
We did something similar, but we were so tired the first couple of weeks we didn't actually even think of the possibility to do shifts. Things got remarkably easier once we were able to sleep at least 6 hours a day 😀
I kind of miss it actually. Got through the entirety of Stargate SG-1 during my shifts. Now I barely have time to watch a 30 minute show in the evening.
My wife calculated it all out. Gas expenses to drive to work plus child care expenses was more than she was making. We literally save money by her being a stay at home mom. It was about $130 a month cheaper for her to quit. It's absurd.
Daycare for my 7 month old is 225 a week. My wifes take home is 720 a week. She pays for their insurance. We got lucky with this day care and he absolutely LOVES his teachers. Immediately starts wiggling and giggling as I bring him in. The other day cares in other towns wanted 500 plus. I have to drive 25 minutes to drop him off but its what we have to do.
It doesn't end my friend. My son finally moved out and landed a real job, but the last few years of his education were bank breaking. We did it with him being debt free though, best start of life gift I can give him.
That said, he's been out for 3 months and he had his first "Mom, Dad, I could use a little extra to make ends meet this month" call :P
I came home from a trip last week to one of my monitors going full on rainbow puke. This monitor had been on its last days for nearly 2 years. Before I was done whining my beautiful wife interrupted me and asked if “this” was ok. She held up her phone showing a 49” qd-oled in her shopping cart.
It came yesterday, she used it to play Baltro until 1:30am last night
Preach. It’s 2026, the women can make more money than us. I make a pretty good salary but my wife still makes 2x what I make. I’m grateful and fortunate to be in the financial position we are.
Wait til you have kids. $2k for travel ball, $6k for braces and $1.4k for band trip. All unexpected in the last 3 months. They want name brand everything, sushi, boba tea, summer camps, etc. it’s never ending and then there is the impending college adventure. I love them but I could have had several 5090s for the cost of everything. I still remember when they were toddlers they would turn off my pc mid game. You single guys enjoy this time while you have it.
You have to time the market. Get a PC when prices are low, get a wife when prices are low. If you are strapped to support either sell the other when prices are high.
I have 3 kids and still play regularly, they also play with me on the pc I handed down to them, which also happens to have a 3080 like OP.
While I see why OP returned it. With the market the way it is, he may not be able to afford it in the future. He should have kept it, (he did say he could afford both) and then took the rig with the 3080 and cleaned it up, put it away for when his kid is old enough to have it and then passed it down. But I get why he did it. Family is more important for sure
To be fair, the baby isn't arriving for almost another year. Id be more inclined to sell the older one for whatever money and keep this one to keep updated for later when you have time. The cost of parenting really kicks in once the child needs diapers and food etc. for now, your wife just needs to stay healthy and sane.
This is my thought as well, but the loss of income/paying for a babysitter is where it gets you. The actual cost of having a kid is not much for us, but losing $80k/year from my wife really hurts.
I would have sold the older one. But then again I have a 4 year old and 5 gaming PCs and a lot of other stuff. So I’m not one to talk or give advice. ☺️
Congrats man! That sucks but this shows you’ve got your priorities straight which is not something a lot of parents can say at this point in the process. You’re ahead of the curve
I could but having an extra $3k is gonna make things a lot easier. I still have my 3080 build as well and was planning on keeping it a few more years until prices went crazy
Good man. I don't know why anyone would even argue against what you're doing. You can basically never have too much money stashed away when having a kid/getting married/moving/etc, and $3k is not an inconsequential amount.
Yeah I don't get it either. Like I get that there are plenty of people that make more money than me but we are solidly middle class and things are expensive in 2026
I respect this. Sorry for the abrupt end to your excitement but, you’re being very smart about this. You’ll get settled in, realize kids aren’t that expensive( they’re expensive but people exaggerate ime because they buy their kids way too much dumb stuff), and get a new rig.
Christ dude. Good job. I did kind of the opposite.
As soon as the kid was on the way I said “shit! I’ll never get my pilots license with a kid in the house I better do it ASAP” and spent a bunch of money and used the “free time” to get that done before the kid came. lol.
Damn I would have kept the PC. That thing could last you for years and years, or you could resell for profit if you needed the cash. Or just sell your old PC.
Not going to lie. You absolutely should have just kept it. Because there's going to be a lot of bills and a lot of things that are going to come up now and it's going to be almost impossible to get this again. Now I'm only saying it's going to be impossible because if you have to return it before it even happened then what do you think it's going to be like when it's already done?
Disclosure: I'm not the greatest with money but I'm always entertained.
To be honest…I probably would have recommended keeping it too. The expenses with a kid never stop. You just need to be good with budgeting and keeping track of household needs. That said, if a couple/a few grand is too much to spend right now…it only gets worse after they are born. 😅
You won't have time to play anyway. Good call I'm also on my 3080 PC and I considered a new computer, but I never have the time or energy to play much still. By the time the little one is a little older getting a new PC then will make way more sense.
Kids ain't no joke, but the costs can be controlled so they aren't too insane.
Pro tip- you don't need anything brand new for the first 1.5 to 2 years. Used stuff is so plentiful on all kinds of selling sites and Facebook marketplace.
Used toys ( just gotta clean them)
Used clothes ( no need to buy something new)
Used highchair
Used strollers (you can get an EXCELLENT too tier one used vs what you would get brand new)
Only thing you need that's new are diapers and wipes. Y'all got this. Good luck!!!!
Nice one OP. Looks like you’re going to be a great dad. Getting things in order.
Father of 3 here. Children are the hardest game you will ever play. But worth it.
On the other side of things, I just bought a 2070 to replace my 1070 as apparently it’s much more optimized (and was a cheap upgrade) to go along with my CPU from 2014.
I’d love to buy new components but settling for what I can. Hope you still find time to game post baby!
The wife is actually a great way to launder your own spending, fam.
It also forces you to make more money so that these things just don't feel expensive anymore.
Could be the greatest strategy in all of PC ownership.
Plus as somebody who chose to sell a freshly received steam deck when we had our first pregnancy, I can relate. Don't worry guys, OP will be back to the well soon enough
Just had kid #3. My 3080 rig is still working great… when I have a chance to play it. But, come to think of it… it’s been a loooong time since I’ve played.
Kids are the hardest, but the best video game you’ve ever played. And it’s in infinite resolution with zero lag. ;)
Interesting choice and probably why my wife and I will never have kids. We don't believe we can afford it, probably because we're not willing to change our lifestyles or budgets whatsoever for it. It doesn't meet that level of importance for us, that any kind of sacrifice is really in consideration.
It gets better with time. I managed to get a new PC after my son turned 4. Struggled a lot at first, but with a little patience, you'll be able to afford more, OP.
You'll be alright. I was in the process of buying my dream car until my girlfriend at the time told me she was pregnant with my oldest daughter. I ended up canceling the purchase because we were living with her mom, and with a kid on the way, we needed our own space and better jobs. But now, after five years,we are merried, I have a nice truck, her SUV is paid off, and we just purchased a house about six months ago after renting for four years and some change. We got two kids now and way more than my dream car. My point is, just keep grinding, and you can buy yourself an even better PC down the line, even build one little by little when some extra cash laying around.
I got my pc about 3 years ago in blackfriday deal from Best Buy.
It's all good, man, things will get better. This reminds me of 20 years ago when I was making way less money, and I impulsively bought this 100-inch home theater projector screen and a laser projector. I really loved it, it was awesome, and I used the heck out of it for 29 days. I felt the same way on the last day when I returned it. The difference is, I didn't take a photo, it was all in my head. I'm here to tell you that it gets better. I also did it because I had a wife and kids.
Congratulations on the baby! My daughter is due in November, and I'm in the same boat as you, we were planning but got pregnant a week after taking her IUD out lol.
🤣 After reading the edit, that's just how it is. You get all excited because you're going to try and that means months and months of fun times. Then it happens in like two weeks.
Yeah... It is what it is. You saved the money and the time. After the baby is born you'll be in a whole new world! Enjoy your bundle of joy and congratulations!
The PC can be great with infants! I have fond memories of cradleing my kids in my left arm at their bedtime, leaning back in my chair and playing kerbal space program because it was something I could play with just the mouse. Their mom got to rest, the kids probably felt safe and only a few kerbals were harmed.
Take some of the money you got from the return and buy a Steam Deck. They were MADE for new dads. Suspend/resume, you can play while holding the baby, etc. You can even stream to it from your 3080 rig for games that don't run great on the Deck.
The resale market is moving really slowly where I'm at, selling the 3080 rig to recoup some of the cost was always part of the plan but I was only getting lowball offers of like $700. The RAM and GPU are worth that much alone
Totally get it. I upgraded from my i7-6700k/GTX 1080 rig to 9800X3D/RTX 4070 Super right around when my wife got pregnant and I’ve never gamed so little in my life. It’s getting better now that my son is no longer a newborn, but goddamn I’ve felt so wasteful of my beautifully powerful machine haha.
Welcome to the Dad club! Now you got to adjust your setup to have baby watching involved. I personally used the poppy on my lap and controller in hands. Worked perfectly for me until they got bigger. Wouldn’t change it for the world.
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u/Ardeof2 6h ago
How people afford a wife is beyond me. PC gaming is enough of an expense.