You could could also turn this argument around on its head
Why would i go through the hassle of finding and buying some old junk hardware, tweak/use it for the lenght of the competion then throw it in the trash, instead of competing with the (modern) hardware i already have/own. Even think many ppl would learn many new things they can use for their daily modern systems, that they game on every day.
In the last few competitions/cups, what kind of hardware rules generated the most submissons ? (genuine curious)