The Ryzen 5 3600 Refuses to Die

The forum consensus on AM4 upgrades — buy a 5800XT, wait for AM6 — sounds like cost-conscious advice but functions as a deferral mechanism. Each thread that recommends staying on the old socket kicks the platform transition forward by another 18 months. The builders who follow this advice will face the same tradeoff again, with the same budget constraints, and the same community approval for making the frugal choice. The trap is that each incremental upgrade is independently rational and collectively costly.