This is going to be one of those rants from my perspective, based on a conversation I had with friends and family two nights ago (1 August, 2015). Names of the people involved will remain confidential. Don't ask for names.

My take on this debate is with PC hardware and their choices. As you may have realized at some point, I actually love high-end, enthusiast-class hardware configurations (though not ones that are absolutely nuts and stupid like The Compensator build log they did) and many think that such configurations will not last long whatsoever and you must upgrade every year. Now this is where my view on this whole thing comes in. Absolutely NOTHING lasts long, regardless of how much you pay for it, whether it's $1,500 or in excess of $5,000 (Just the tower). It's you that says when to upgrade, not Nvidia, or Intel, or AMD. No one has any say on when to upgrade but YOU! You're the one in control of your system. You decide how long you want your system configuration to last. And no one agreed, and I was like what the hell guys? Now I agree with Linus and the community that paying anywhere from $1,500-$1,800 will yield a better value in the long run, but however, not everyone would want to spend that much on a system. And that's okay, as long as you're happy with the system, you're good to go.

On the subject of how long the individual systems will last will depend on whether you're buying the latest AAA games or not and whether you're playing at 4K resolution or not, but ultimately it's you that decides. If you're playing last year's AAA games like Crysis 3 or Tomb Raider (2013) or if you're playing a game like ARMA 3 (released 2013-2014), then you can make your system last years on end before you have to upgrade to something new. But if you're playing mainstream titles or e-Sports titles like League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, DOTA, StarCraft II, Team Fortress 2, CS:GO, or even World of Warcraft, you can get away with much less, even at 4K like what Linus demonstrated with the $1,000 4K AMD gaming machine. But if you want the enthusiast-class machine, then go for it. No one is going to stop you, not even me. But I would question your hardware selection if it's absolutely nuts, silly, and nothing more than a way to shovel your money away (The Compensator anyone?)

Now the challenge that I'm going to take and that anyone else would like to participate in is for every $1,000 you spend on the tower equals 1 year. For my near $6,400 gaming computer, I will make it last 6 years and 4 months to get the full value out of it. Am I going to resell it? No. But let's face it. PC hardware won't last long from a technological standpoint, but physically they will last. The GeForce GTX Titan X will last around a few years at the maximum due to its massive 12GB GDDR5 video memory, but the GeForce GTX 970 and the 980 will show its age within the next few months due to their 4GB (3.5GB + 512MB for the 970) video RAM. CPUs can in fact, last a really long time. That Intel Core i7-3970X is still standing quite well to this day, even the ancient Intel Core i7-2600K processor is going well too. The whole point is that previous hardware is still supported and it's still relative today and it will last you another year or so before you have to upgrade your hardware to something new. Also with Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge motherboards, they all still support PCIe Gen. 3, so that means you can quite frankly install any GeForce 900 series and AMD Rx 300 series of GPUs because they're all PCIe 3.0, they're still supported for about 2 more years until PCIe 4.0.

What I'm trying to get at is that you don't have to upgrade every freaking year guys. You don't have to regardless of how much you pay for, though higher end hardware tends to last longer in terms of performance later in the future, even though they are last generation products. It's better if you get the full value of your system if you maintain it well for almost several years. It has happened before with midrange and world-class systems before, though I don't know of anyone owning a high-end system for that long and if anything, I'll be the first to perform this incredible feat with a $6,400 computer and I will have all the bragging rights I want. And it has been done before. And I will be the first to pull it off with an expensive gaming rig that I'm aware of.

What I'm promoting here is if you're wanting to buy some expensive rig like me, make it last longer than one year to get the full value for how much you spend on it. That's why my rule of thumb is for every $1,000 you spend on a rig worth $3,000+ equals one year you keep that rig as is at the time of purchase because those configurations actually last much longer than what most people think, from CPUs to GPUs, especially GPUs with large amounts of video RAM. I know from a technological standpoint that they last one year, but physically and realistically lasts much longer, even when its microarchitecture has expired. Nvidia and AMD will still support them through driver updates, so they'll still be relative for years to come. So long story short: If you plan on spending $3,000 or more, make it last 3 years or more. You are the one in control of your system. It's solely you that says when to upgrade.

Sources of information (will be updated as I find valid and reasonable information)

How Much Graphics Power Do You Really Need? By JayzTwoCents:
https://youtu.be/_-VVBl9_2Xw

Beginner's Guide to Motherboards by JayzTwoCents:
https://youtu.be/ZnaQyGAg8Eg

How Many CPU Cores for Gaming? By LinusTechTips:
https://youtu.be/PVl8Eupbr_E

Low End Video Cards Rant & R7 240 Review & Unboxing by LinusTechTips:
https://youtu.be/sph6cjJeRdI

Can You Build a 4K Gaming Machine for Under $1,000 by LinusTechTips:
https://youtu.be/j4xDfEOGONw

>>Credits go to Jay, Linus, and Luke for making these videos. These videos really bring in some valid, yet important points, along with a demonstration by LinusTechTips :) \O/<<

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If you want to criticize me, be constructive about it or I will not approve. This doesn't mean don't comment, I appreciate good comments and criticism.