The problem with puzzles is that no one gives their opinion, proposes, or experiments with anything new. I recommend you at least try it. As Carl Sagan said: “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known”
Don't believe the pathetic people who say things are impossible. Humans have always found ways to improve everything. Many things that seemed unbreakable 30 years ago are now obsolete.
there is no other way but to invest in hardware, so give up
I'm working on other things at the moment, but if I were working on this, the last thing I'd care about is your opinion on it being a bit of a noob. It all comes down to using proper techniques. Or haven't you realized that with the same hardware, you get different speeds depending on the code you use?
So, no, it doesn't all come down to hardware alone, but rather a combination of ideas in your code.