I haven't done a big upgrade in a while, my most recent being switching from the ryzen 5 5600x to the ryzen 7 5700X3D because it was only $200 for a big upgrade. I haven't tracked exactly how much I spent to build it, but at this point is probably around $1500. The parts are a mixture of new bought like the CPU and storage, with some second hand as well, GPU, Case, Motherboard, RAM.
I've had this motherboard since the beginning of this build, and the reason for that is AMD has made is basically impossible to justify upgrading it. Although AM5 is out, AM4 still has CPUs being made for it, with the 5000XT series coming out in July and the 5700X3D before that. I am planning on my next upgrade being a complete new build.
I've always loved using Linux, before now I ran windows only because my favorate game Apex Legends didn't run on Linux. Now that It does, I dual boot Windows just incase I need to do anything on Windows, although, I haven't had to use it at all in a month. I used to use Debian because it works very well and I don't have to worry about updates breaking my computer. Now I'm running Arch because I wanted more up to date repositories, even if that means some instability.
I built my first computer when I was 13 years old. I learned how through a combination of Youtube videos and asking my computer nerd friends at the time about it. I don't have any pictures of my original build, I gave it to my brother after building my current one. I don't remember the full specs of the original, but I know it has a ryzen 5 2600 and a GTX 1660 super. Unsurprisingly, my mom gave me the money to build my first computer, I spent about $950 in total on it, all new parts because at the time, I didn't know how to get better deals second-hand.
In total, I've been tinkering with computers/laptops for about 5 years now. I've been in love with it since I put together my first gaming computer. And that's made me basically tech support to my family, I've been able to fix their laptops, desktops, printers, or just show them what they're doing wrong software wise.