How much has your DAW depreciated in value since you built it?

[LemonTree]

I was cleaning out some paperwork and came across the reciepts from when I built my DAW last June. In total I spent £689 WITHOUT AD/DA convertors. I just went and priced all the same parts. 17 months later I could now build it for £522, so it's only gone down £167

Here was my parts list....

June 2004 Nov 2005

Intel Pentium 4 3000 (HT,RET,800) £116.00 1 £105.99
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe £69.00 1 £72.97
Kingmax "Turbo" 512Mb 3200 Fast DDR x2 £124.00 2 = £56.28
160GB Maxtor ATA133/7200 8MB £56.00 1 £56.34
40GB Maxtor DiamondMax+ ATA133/7200 £30.00 1 £31.00
Zalman CNPS7000 (478/754) Alu-Cop £27.00 1 £17.60
NEC 2510 Dual Layer DVDRW Black £55.00 1 £30.55
Arianet Style RF KB & Optical Mouse £27.00 1 £23.44
3½" Silver Floppy Drive £9.00 1 £9.00 £7.95
Antec 4U ATX550w case & silent power supply £176.10

£689 £522


As you can see the memory has dropped by over half price, only a £10 saving on the processor and the CPU cooler. Everything else is around the same price. Interesting I thought. Here's the money conversions.....

june 04 spent $1,188.28 or €1,007.82

todays cost $900.72 or € 763.42

Depreciation value $288 or € 244.25



So, have I lost? Hell no! I reclaimed all the money back in the first 6 months not to mention the last 17 months of pure joy of having a solid system that I can always rely on. Money very well spent I say.
How does yours hold up?


can you tell I'm bored? ​

 

[LemonTree]

I can't do tables

 

[seismetr0n]

you also have to figure that your components arent worth what you bought them for...

its more like spent $1200 , can sell for $600 depreciation $600

 

[LemonTree]

you also have to figure that your components arent worth what you bought them for...

its more like spent $1200 , can sell for $600 depreciation $600

Why would I want to sell? This system streams back 24 channels of 24bit 48KHz to my mixer laden with vst plugs without a glitch. To me it's worth exactly what I paid, if not more today.

 

[seismetr0n]

i'm no accountant, but thats how i figure (real value of my equipment) depreciation... or you can use the u.s. fed way... its probably around 6% a year (for that setup) ..

 

[lpdeluxe]

I agree with Lemon Tree. What the hell difference does it make what my computer is worth on the open market? It ain't on the open market! It's a tool for recording, and as such would have zero value to 99% of the population, just as the typical TV-enabled, media monster game player would be wasted on me.

It's like a new car: you drive it off the lot, and you've just eaten a large helping of depreciation. But the REASON you drove it off the lot was to have reliable wheels so you could take your sorry ass someplace.

 

[seismetr0n]

hey man, he was just talking about his depreciation... i was trying to give my views of what depreciation are... i'm not saying 'sell anything' .. im just saying

1. used gear usually sells for half the retail price (used market value depreciation)

2. the us gov. depreciates things at around 6% per year (depreciation for tax purposes)

i write off all my equipment yearly (you should too) even if you make $1 or donate your work.. its still a small business and itll save you a lot on your taxes...