Now I am a preacher to the grumble too. Way before the 290X I would only entertain a £200-300 purchase now and again on a component. I think this year there must be a massive influx of gamers starting off at the entry end buying up all the stock and this snowballs a supply issue.
At work yesterday I spoke to a colleague who has a young teenager and he is a PS4 nut. I was surprised to hear they werent after the PS5 they now want a gaming PC as 'thats what his mate all have' and she said they spent in total about £1300 on the christmas present..