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How to build a long-lasting gaming PC, in term of capability?

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June 2, 2014 4:31:00 PM

My friend's brother's PC is a decent gaming PC by today's standards. He built it approximately 4-5 years ago using AMD parts. The PC is still going strong, and can play modern games like Day z Standalone and Planetside 2 at high settings with pretty solid FPS (I'm guessing 30-50 or so).

How does one build a PC that would likely be able to play games down the road, in 4-5 years, at medium-high settings when those years arrive? I didn't ask whether he's upgraded at all in those years, but let's say he hasn't, is it possible to have a PC so capable after so long?

Would an i5 4670k or Xeon e3 1230v3 and something like an Nvidia GTX 760 or more likely, 770, be able to stay somewhat competitive after 4-5 years?

Thank you for any and all feedback!

More about : build long lasting gaming term capability

a b 4 Gaming
June 2, 2014 4:35:42 PM

If you don't plan to overclock, get the xeon e3 1230v3. If you want to overclock, then the i5 4670k.
GTX 770 or any higher cards.
But it sounds like your friend's brother has upgraded parts
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a b 4 Gaming
June 2, 2014 4:40:24 PM

He likely has upgraded his GPU at least once.

You spend your extra money on the core of the system(CPU/Motherboard/Power Supply). My rig cost me $1400-1500 5 years ago. I've upgraded the GPU twice in that time starting with a GTX 260, then to a GTX 560Ti and now the GTX 770SC. By many standards it is a little long in the tooth now but I am playing BF4 and Skyrim maxed out at 60FPS @ 1920x1080p.
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June 2, 2014 4:40:35 PM

Suztera said:
If you don't plan to overclock, get the xeon e3 1230v3. If you want to overclock, then the i5 4670k.
GTX 770 or any higher cards.
But it sounds like your friend's brother has upgraded parts


I'm still struggling with that one haha, I'm planning on going with a Z97, so overclocking is an option someday, and a 760 for now.... I guess upgrade later. Might even go with a 750ti. I like nice, pretty graphics, but I don't need them. I'm dying to play Civ 5 without brutally long load times, or a laptop that feels like it's on fire. I also want to play Planetary Annihilation and the new Civ.
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a b 4 Gaming
June 2, 2014 4:42:33 PM

MrCanEHdian said:
Suztera said:
If you don't plan to overclock, get the xeon e3 1230v3. If you want to overclock, then the i5 4670k.
GTX 770 or any higher cards.
But it sounds like your friend's brother has upgraded parts


I'm still struggling with that one haha, I'm planning on going with a Z97, so overclocking is an option someday, and a 760 for now.... I guess upgrade later. Might even go with a 750ti. I like nice, pretty graphics, but I don't need them. I'm dying to play Civ 5 without brutally long load times, or a laptop that feels like it's on fire. I also want to play Planetary Annihilation and the new Civ.


Well the 750 ti would ok but i find it is overpriced since you can get the R9 270 at the same price but performs much better.
Perhaps the GTX 760 is an option.
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a b 4 Gaming
June 2, 2014 4:45:59 PM

People are saying that a GTX 770 should be running games in 5 years at very decent settings. I can't say that I believe that, to be honest... at least not the AAA releases. Sure it will play them most likely but maybe not at a level that you have become accustomed to. I am OK with upgrading my GPU every 18-24 months and a complete rig rebuild every 5-6 years.
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a b 4 Gaming
June 2, 2014 4:50:58 PM

Well that depends on how the games development accelerates. With 4k resolution gaming in the future, then no the GTX 770 will struggle. With 1080p there is a longer lifespan.
CPU development hasn't had a huge leap yet so it will last 4-5 years still with the i5 4670k. You would only really upgrade is down to the features it has or the features the motherboard has in the future.
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June 2, 2014 6:02:56 PM

Suztera said:
MrCanEHdian said:
Suztera said:
If you don't plan to overclock, get the xeon e3 1230v3. If you want to overclock, then the i5 4670k.
GTX 770 or any higher cards.
But it sounds like your friend's brother has upgraded parts


I'm still struggling with that one haha, I'm planning on going with a Z97, so overclocking is an option someday, and a 760 for now.... I guess upgrade later. Might even go with a 750ti. I like nice, pretty graphics, but I don't need them. I'm dying to play Civ 5 without brutally long load times, or a laptop that feels like it's on fire. I also want to play Planetary Annihilation and the new Civ.


Well the 750 ti would ok but i find it is overpriced since you can get the R9 270 at the same price but performs much better.
Perhaps the GTX 760 is an option.


Interesting, I'm haven't looked at AMD products enough, I don't much about them. So, would an AMD GPU work with an Intel CPU? Are there any issues I should know about for the R9 270? I'm guessing if you have an AMD GPU, you can upgrade later on and choose either AMD or Nvidia?
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June 2, 2014 6:05:18 PM

skit75 said:
People are saying that a GTX 770 should be running games in 5 years at very decent settings. I can't say that I believe that, to be honest... at least not the AAA releases. Sure it will play them most likely but maybe not at a level that you have become accustomed to. I am OK with upgrading my GPU every 18-24 months and a complete rig rebuild every 5-6 years.


Game requirements seem to rise very rapidly... Somehow I doubt that is the case either. I guess my friend's brother must've done some upgrading. So, after 5-6 years, the motherboard is generally too old to do any real upgrading?
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June 2, 2014 6:06:54 PM

Suztera said:
Well that depends on how the games development accelerates. With 4k resolution gaming in the future, then no the GTX 770 will struggle. With 1080p there is a longer lifespan.
CPU development hasn't had a huge leap yet so it will last 4-5 years still with the i5 4670k. You would only really upgrade is down to the features it has or the features the motherboard has in the future.


You, like most others, will likely think I'm crazy, but I'm currently intending to play at 720p. I should probably have mentioned that actually. I may someday upgrade to 1080p, but I doubt I'll go to 1440p for a very long time. I like performance and price, I'm not afraid to spend a reasonable sum for good parts, but I'm in the market for performance, so 720p or 1080p are what I'll go for. Almost certainly going 720p for the first while, that way even the 750ti or R9 270 shouldn't have any issues... I think.

Although pretty graphics and visuals are very nice, I place enormous emphasis on performance. I'm dying to play some strategy games haha.
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a b 4 Gaming
June 3, 2014 2:53:42 AM

Yes, A gtx 750Ti or a R9 270 is a good choice for 720p. You can use ultra settings as well in 1080p in strategy games. They are slightly more cpu intensive than gpu.
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June 3, 2014 3:04:52 PM

Suztera said:
Yes, A gtx 750Ti or a R9 270 is a good choice for 720p. You can use ultra settings as well in 1080p in strategy games. They are slightly more cpu intensive than gpu.


Which would you recommend? The 750ti is cheaper, but the R9 270 seems to have a 256-bit bus. As far as GPU companies, would you say one is better than the other? Some people seem to not think highly of AMD.
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a b 4 Gaming
June 3, 2014 3:25:51 PM

what is your power supply first? Or what you plan to get?
I would suggest at least 550W quality psu. Brands like : Antec, Seasonic or XFX.
You can go either 750Ti or R9 270. But the R9 270 is better than the 750 Ti
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June 3, 2014 6:56:00 PM

Suztera said:
what is your power supply first? Or what you plan to get?
I would suggest at least 550W quality psu. Brands like : Antec, Seasonic or XFX.
You can go either 750Ti or R9 270. But the R9 270 is better than the 750 Ti


I don't have one, I don't have anything for this build... Except a cheap, $12 mouse lmao. Someone on a separate thread recommended two nicely priced, and seemingly good PSUs by EVGA for 650w ($109.99, and 750w $129.99), both were gold plus in their efficiency rating. I'd like at least 600w though, for future upgrades and what not. The performance increase for the R9 270 makes it worth the extra cost I'm guessing?
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June 4, 2014 1:19:13 PM

Suztera said:
Yes , I would say that the R9 270 performance is worth the cost from a GTX 750Ti. The R9 270 has the similar performance of a gtx 760 but it is slightly weaker.
The cheapest R9 270 is this: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9270acdfc
The EVGA you are referring to is this, i presume: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120pg065...
That is a decent enough power supply for a R9 270


So the GTX 760 superclocked by EVGA is only $50 more than the R9 270, might it be worthwhile just going for the 760? Also, the PSU would only be decent for the R9 270, so would 750w be good enough for the future?
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a b 4 Gaming
June 4, 2014 1:23:47 PM

650W is already enough for any single gpu.
Whenever it is worth the $50 for a 1-10 fps increase over the R9 270 at the same settings is up to you really. Personally I didn't want to pay for that price and i am happy with my R9 270 but your mileage may vary. It is something for you to decide really since it is your money and your experience.
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June 4, 2014 2:11:02 PM

Suztera said:
650W is already enough for any single gpu.
Whenever it is worth the $50 for a 1-10 fps increase over the R9 270 at the same settings is up to you really. Personally I didn't want to pay for that price and i am happy with my R9 270 but your mileage may vary. It is something for you to decide really since it is your money and your experience.


Really tough call then.... Really tough on what to do. Would a single GTX 780ti run on a 650w PSU? The R9 270 is looking attractive, plus the two free games are nice!
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a b 4 Gaming
June 4, 2014 2:13:19 PM

Yes a GTX 780ti would run fine of the EVGA 650W. But make sure you read your manual for your psu. Your EVGA is a multi rial and you may have to refer to the manual to see how to make sure that the PCIE power cables are not sharing with any other components other than the gpu else you risk overloading one of the 12V rails on your power supply.
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June 4, 2014 3:00:37 PM

Suztera said:
Yes a GTX 780ti would run fine of the EVGA 650W. But make sure you read your manual for your psu. Your EVGA is a multi rial and you may have to refer to the manual to see how to make sure that the PCIE power cables are not sharing with any other components other than the gpu else you risk overloading one of the 12V rails on your power supply.


Once I choose one and receive it, you bet I'll be reading everything so I don't make any mistakes lmao. I'm glad 650w is enough, I may as well go for that and save some money.
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August 7, 2014 7:04:27 PM

skit75 said:
He likely has upgraded his GPU at least once.

You spend your extra money on the core of the system(CPU/Motherboard/Power Supply). My rig cost me $1400-1500 5 years ago. I've upgraded the GPU twice in that time starting with a GTX 260, then to a GTX 560Ti and now the GTX 770SC. By many standards it is a little long in the tooth now but I am playing BF4 and Skyrim maxed out at 60FPS @ 1920x1080p.


Damn, it sounds like you made some good moves. I ended up putting a decent chunk of my budget into a good PSU, motherboard, and case, and cut back a bit on the other parts. Figured I could upgrade easily down the road.
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