The annual 618 sale is here, and I originally planned to upgrade my PC. But turns out there’s no room for upgrades—only a full replacement. Then, assembling a new PC led to a series of bizarre issues, leaving me stuck after a whole day of frustration.
ThinkPad P53’s Non-Upgradable GPU
When I bought the P53, I never imagined this scenario. Historically, ThinkPad P-series laptops allowed GPU swaps, but this time, I discovered the GPU is soldered to the motherboard instead of using the traditional MXM interface.
This was a shock. My initial plan was to start with a basic T2000 GPU and later upgrade to an RTX 5000 if needed. Now, that path is completely blocked.
DIY PC Builds Are Shockingly Expensive
It’s been years since I last built a PC myself. After researching current hardware trends for a day, I started picking parts.
My original idea was to spend around ¥5,000 to boost my CS2 frame rate from ~130 (on the P53) to 300. With that goal, I settled on an AMD 9600X + RX 7650 GRE combo.
But after tallying everything up, ¥5,000 wasn’t even close—the total came to around ¥6,400.
PC Parts List
- MSI B650M GAMING WIFI D5 + R5 9600X (bulk) ¥2089
- SEASONIC FOCUS 650W Gold Full Modular PSU ¥599
- Redmi 24.5" 200Hz Fast IPS Monitor ¥549
- ZHI TAI 1TB NVMe SSD (Ti600) ¥419
- Gloway 32GB (16GBx2) DDR5 6000 C28 RAM ¥849
- Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Cooler ¥139
- Yeston AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE 8G D6 ¥1839
- Great Wall Archimedes 1 Black Case ¥139
And honestly, I’m not even happy with this build—it’s already a heavily compromised setup. My initial choice was an AMD 9700X + RTX 4060 combo, which would’ve added another ¥2,000 to the total.
What really irked me was seeing prebuilt third-party systems at absurdly low prices.
For example, on JD.com, MSI and IPASON sell base models like an i5-13490F + RTX 5060 desktop for ¥3,900, or a 9600X + 7650 GRE build for ¥4,700.
The reason? These systems qualify for a 20% government subsidy, making DIY builds completely uncompetitive in terms of value.
The Frustrating Government Subsidy
Fine, if DIY is too expensive, I’ll just buy a subsidized prebuilt, right?
Nope—another headache.
While browsing gaming laptops on JD, I found the Mechrevo Jiaolong 16Pro 2025 (R9-7845HX, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, RTX 5060, 180Hz 2.5K display) originally priced at ¥6,400, but only ¥5,199 after subsidies.
On paper, this laptop outperforms my planned 9600X + 7650 GRE build—and it’s over ¥1,000 cheaper. I was ready to impulse-buy.
But then, the subsidy just wouldn’t apply. I hadn’t used it this year, so why?
Customer service explained: Guangdong’s subsidy program ended on June 1st. A quick news search confirmed it.
The problem? Almost every PC still displays the subsidized price. Paying ¥6,400 now would make me feel like a total sucker.
Ordering Elsewhere—Still Waiting
Not giving up, I checked Taobao and found a “Subsidy Preferred” section. The trick was to unlink my JD subsidy account and rebind it to Taobao.
But the laptop there was a pre-order, with a 3-day estimated shipping time. No clue if it’ll actually go through.
For now, I’m waiting.
If it doesn’t ship, so be it. I’ve also noticed the AMD 7845HX might have quirks—while benchmark scores are high, its CCD architecture could hurt gaming performance. Running games on just 6 cores might actually be faster than the default 12-core mode, which feels… off.