PC Build Lifetime and Performance Question

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Krusifixion

Krusifixion

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Nov 15, 2014
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So, just a while ago, I posted a PC build to open it up to professional criticism. The overall goal in that post was in finding a performance build that fit my $1200 budget. I took the advice I received to mind and made a few tweaks to some other parts.

While researching these things though, another smaller concern came to mind. What would the lifetime of my build be. I certainly don't want it to age after just a couple years. While this probably shouldn't be that big of a deal, it took me a lot of work and time just to save up for this build. My preference for lifetime is 5+ years.

My current build is here:
[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YZCX3C) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YZCX3C/by_merchant/)

The question of performance is defenitely still open, however this build already is barely fitting my budget, and I think I am quite satisfied with the performance it currently maintains. Still, feel free to leave your comments and concerns.

For comparison purposes, the performance goal for the build was to play the more grapically demanding games of the age, such as Crysis 3 and the Witcher 2 (and yes, I do plan to play these games) on Ultra at 1080p, never dropping below 40fps (if this isn't possible, leave your remarks and a solution). Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
Math Geek
Lifetime of a system is a very tough question to answer. Gaming and rendering and other such specialty uses will shorten the life of any system. the demands stay at the top of the hardware's capabilities and evolve as the hardware evolves. The gpu seems to be the first thing to be outdated. you got a heck of a gpu picked and should get a couple years of high end gaming from it before it starts to show it's age with whatever new eye candy will be out then. If your willing to compromise as new stuff comes out, that will add to the life of the parts. if you want to stay current and maxed then your hardware will have to keep up.

i liken it to drag racing as this is a VERY money driven sport. what won this year won't even compete next year...
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skit75

skit75

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Oct 7, 2008
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The core of my rig is 5.5 years old. You will need to replace your GPU every 18-24 months to stay on top of new-release games. Your rig looks to be able to do this. If you build the core solid(powersupply/motherboard/CPU) and regularly maintain it..... 2-3 times a year, your rig can last 4-6 years with some overclocking.
 
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Math Geek

Math Geek

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Oct 15, 2014
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Lifetime of a system is a very tough question to answer. Gaming and rendering and other such specialty uses will shorten the life of any system. the demands stay at the top of the hardware's capabilities and evolve as the hardware evolves. The gpu seems to be the first thing to be outdated. you got a heck of a gpu picked and should get a couple years of high end gaming from it before it starts to show it's age with whatever new eye candy will be out then. If your willing to compromise as new stuff comes out, that will add to the life of the parts. if you want to stay current and maxed then your hardware will have to keep up.

i liken it to drag racing as this is a VERY money driven sport. what won this year won't even compete next year once the new stuff comes out. You can stick with what you have and move to a lower class and still be competitive, but to run with the big boys, you'll have to buy with the big boys.

I fix computers for folks all the time who still use a 10+ year old xp machine with integrated graphics and 1 gb of ram and they are happy cause it does email and let's them see pics of the grandkids when they come in on facebook. it's all about what you want to get out of your computer. your build will kick ass for a couple years and then maybe need a gpu upgrade but the rest of the parts should be good to go for at least 5 years or more judging by how well other i7's have aged.
 
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Solution
skit75

skit75

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Oct 7, 2008
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I set a goal of 5 years when I built this rig. I also thought SLI would be in my future, at the time to extend some life of the GPU. This is a bad idea.

You will be better off upgrading your GPU in 18-24 months rather than adding another dated GPU into your system and you won't have to deal with the compatibility and bug issues of getting SLI/Xfire working on new release games. My advice, either SLI/Xfire right from the start or don't do it at all.

You lose significantly in the bang for your buck department going SLI/Xfire. The newer GPU will be more powerful, use less power and run a lot cooler, every update cycle. If you are building for longevity, I just assume you are mindful of price Vs. performance, as I was.

The i7 CPU does hold up well over this time-frame. I am sure someone can point to a chart saying my i7-920 is old. I am not so sure anyone can point to a chart that says the i7-920 is costing me any measurable/meaningful performance loss compared to the newest generation i5/i7 CPUs, in gaming. I am positive they are better but that doesn't make my games look bad nor does it cause any bottleneck.

I will very likely make it over the 6-7 year mark on this machine as I don't see myself upgrading in the next 2 years unless something pops. Keep it clean, keep it cool and you can keep on keeping it.

I don't have any official records but, I would guess this rig has a better than 95% ON time over that 5.5 years with overclocks varying from none during the summer(2.67GHz) all the way up to 3.8GHz in the winter. I was never able to get mine stable passed 3.8GHz.
 
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