What is a long lasting gaming rig worth?

ankido

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Jun 15, 2008
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Hi,

I've about come to the end of the road here with computers and gaming. I've spent so much money on computer parts and they're not even high end. Currently, I have:

Intel CPU i7 4770 3.5ghz
16GB memory
GeForce 780 GTX
Windows 10
Samsung 4k UHD monitor

I want to play games on 4k and be able to withstand on the onslaught of computer parts and gaming coming out every MONTH. How much money do I have to spend in order to make sure I've invested well and 5 years from now I won't have to upgrade a part of my computer that will cost me over $1,000?

Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 5960X 3.0GHz (Eight-Core) (Extreme Performance)
ASUS X99-E WS USB 3.1 (Intel X99 Chipset) (Workstation Class)
32GB DDR4 2800MHz Corsair Dominator Platinum DHX (Extreme-Performance)
1500W Corsair AX1500i (Digitally Controlled Power)
1x SSD PCI-E Card (400GB Intel 750 Series) (NVM Express) (Extreme Performance)
1x Storage (2TB Western Digital/Seagate/Hitachi)
3x SLI Triple (NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X 12GB (Includes PhysX)
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR (Ultimate in Audio Playback and Creation)
H20: HydroLux Level 4: Digital Storm Exotic Custom Cooling System (3x Video Cards + CPU + Chipset)

All this for gaming and multimedia creation. Do you think I'll be set for the next 10 years? The price is a whopping $11,139. I don't smoke cigarettes anymore. I save $3,360 a year. If I invest in this computer, that's 3 years of of no smoking money saved for a computer. I spent $70 a week on cigarettes that's $280 a month. Wouldn't it be better if I spent it on something I actually use and doesn't degrade my health? Just need an opinion. I'm starting to lose my mind not being able to run Fallout 4 or Witcher 3 on my rig with 4K. Feel like I'm missing out on the gaming world because I'm not rich.

I'm looking at Digital Storms Aventum 3.
 
Solution
Keep current system. CPU, etc will be fine for another few years. Upgrade them at a later date when something more worthwhile than Haswell-E comes out.

Get 2x 980ti's and plop them into your existing system.

Nothing is good for 10 years.

ankido

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Jun 15, 2008
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18,685


I thought about the 2x980 Ti's. I was looking at the EVGA Hybrid gaming version for $749. That's $1500 in video cards together. It would fit well with my EVGA Z87 series motherboard.
 

ThePoetPyronius

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Mar 4, 2015
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This... is a hard conversation. That rig sounds amazing, but the nature of tech is highly dynamic. There's a pretty good chance that, even with a rig like that, you would want to upgrade some aspect of it in the next 10 years. I mean, 10 years ago, we only just got our first dual core processor, and now it's unthinkable to try and use a single core processor in a decent gaming rig.

Just looking at the next year in gaming, VR and AR are likely to be the next big ticket tech items to test the scope of our hardware; they are going to push our system requirements to their limits. Now, I'd hazard that you will definitely be able to run an Oculus on the rig that you've listed, but firstly the Oculus itself isn't going to be cheap, and secondly - what comes next? If VR really does take off, it's going to push the hardware market to be able to keep up. What new innovations can we expect to optimise our rigs better for this new tech?

Anyway, you get the idea. It's an awesome rig, I'd be surprised if you needed to upgrade within 5 years. But 10 years is pie-in-the-sky in PC terms. I think you've kinda gotta love upgrading to love PCs. :)