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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/<< Your feedback is much appreciated! Please leave them in the comments below :) 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.

So I'm building a new PC soon, and I have a choice between waiting until I have £5-600 for a decent i3-6100/ Rx 480 build, or spending what I have upfront (Around £300)on a pentium(of some sort)/ Rx 460 build. This question is about whether I should go for the Pentium G3258 for the performance/overclocking, or the G4400 for the newer socket and upgradability. Which is better for 1080p 40+ fps at any settings (the higher the better)? Or is this not worth considering and should I wait for the i3-6100 build (especially if the price drops after kabylake is commercial)?

Q: I was going to go for the 1060 Zotac or the MSI 480 and was trying to see which GPU will give me at least 5 yrs of solid use in games in 1080 decent fps and also in the editing videos I am not rich guy so I am trying to future proof my current build as much as I can. All answers are appreciated

I'm planning on buying this card for my first pc build but I also want as much as possible, to still enjoy the upcoming games for the next 3 years. Now, do you think this card will suffice?

So i’m planning to build a gaming pc at summer. And there’s rumors about the next gen for nvidia cards. Should i wait? Is it gonna be that long? What do you suggest?

I don't think anyone can truly futureproof their pc, with all the advancements these days in hardware it's going to be obsolete within a few years anyway. What have you done in the past or going to do to future proof your system? I remember buying a 120gb SSD because it would futureproof my pc, 2 years later the entire thing was obsolete. This year I bought a new monitor (I think this will still hold up in a few years), a 3440x1440 Gsync 120hz monitor. My pc has issues pushing games at that resolution but I think it will be useful when I eventually upgrade it. What have you guys done/ will do?

I decided to build a gaming pc, but I need to wait a year to save up some money. I will be going with a X99 chipset, with intels new Broadwell - E chips. I need to build this pc in exactly a year (May - June 2017). My question is, should I buy a 1080 next year, when it is a lot cheaper, or buy the 1080 Ti when it is released around that time. I don't think I will need anything more power hungry than a 1080, but I also don't want a last gen card (1180 will be out soon that time). Budget is also a concern. I don't want to spend over $2,600 (including monitor). I plan on doing 4k gaming as well. Basically, what would be the best Nvidia GPU to buy next year for 4k gaming?

Hi, i plan to buy new pc in the next few months. My goal for now is 1080p gaming like Heroes of the Storm, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Minecraft, Overwatch, GTA V (I like eye candy btw). But eventually 4K and VR, maybe in 1-2 years, atleast second generation VR sets. I dont have a set budget. But i dont want to spend much more than i need to. So i have selected some components like the i5-6500 and gtx 970, 850 evo 500Gb, 16G dual channel DDR4, and FD Define S Window. I think those should be enough to play on max in 1080p with a bit of breathing room? But i cannot decide about the motherboard, should i pay extra now for expandability and eventually get to oc-ed i7 and gtx 10xx or 11xx in SLI? Or buy the cheapest system that suits me for now (previous gen or/and used even?) and then (in maybe 2 years) build new one with... Idk ddr5, pcie 4 or whatever special needs next gen VR might have? The specific models im considering right now are ASRock H110M-DGS with Corsair CX600 or ASRock Z170 Extreme4 with Corsair RM750x.

So I'm building a new desktop on a roughly $1500 budget, and I'm torn as to what graphics card to get. My two options are a single GTX 980, or 2 SLI GTX 970s. Everything that I've read suggests that the 970s will vastly outperform the 980 for not much more, which is all well and good, but I'm mainly concerned about upradability. If I get two 970s, I don't really have much room for upgrading without replacing what I already have. But if I go with one 980, then I can upgrade by adding another 980 in the future. What are your thoughts on this? How much better are 2x 980s than 2x 970s?

Im trying to decide on a new cpu for my build and I cant decide on which socket type to get. I want to use it for gaming but I also want a socket type so that when I need a new cpu new versions will be out. I know its hard to futureproof a PC but im just wondering if any of you could give me some advice