Longevity focused build questions

[Read247247]

Primary Purpose of the build: Choosing components based on what is likely to last a long time and age gracefully

 

Budget (including currency): $2400 CAD, quite flexible. Cheaper is better but if $3000CAD is what it costs for the quality I want then I'll pay it. 

 

Country: Canada

 

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 

Some light gaming (Overcooked, Ori and the Blind Forest, and similar)

Productivity during WFH, mostly just RDP in to other computers but would like it to be a capable machine for software side projects. 

 

Other details: 

I'll be buying this slowly over the next four-six months, so assume MSRP for all currently hard-to-get components, I can use discord bots to find reasonable prices if I really have to, but I'm planning to just wait out the shortage. 

I'm hoping this will be my main computer for a very long time (8+ years), so am willing to spend more now to get something that will last and not show it's age too soon.

I currently use a 4k monitor and am looking at getting another one.

 

I've built lots of business computers (used to work in IT), but have little to no experience choosing parts for myself. I'm especially uncertain when it comes to cooling, case choice, and power supply choice.

Water cooling scares me just because it seems high stakes if I mess it up, but if it gets me better longevity than that's worth it?

I think my monitor choice and longevity preference lends itself well to something like a Ryzen 7 and 3070 pairing, but am hoping for advice on that as well. 

 

Noise/size/RGB/aesthetics aren't really concerns either way, I just want good components that will run well and last a long time.

 

Any advice on components, or full parts lists is very appreciated. 

[Read247247]

Realized I should have clarified. The new 4k monitor (if I buy it), would not be included in the budget I listed. The flexible $2400CAD is strictly for the tower.

[LloydLynx]

18 minutes ago, Read247247 said:

Water cooling scares me just because it seems high stakes if I mess it up, but if it gets me better longevity than that's worth it?

Water cooling is worse for longevity and is kinda high maintenance over a long time.

 

I'd advice going with a Radeon graphics card, their drivers tend to mature over time and the fact that AMD is more willing to load up on VRAM means the cards tend to be more future proof in that respect as well. Also, if you ever want to do anything with Linux in the future, you'll be kicking yourself if you bought an Nvidia card.

[LloydLynx]

Oh yea, another tip, avoid motherboards that depend on the OS to update the firmware. In the distant future you may want to upgrade your firmware for whatever reason, only to realize your current OS isn't compatible with the BIOS upgrade tools.

[Chris Greene]

1 hour ago, Read247247 said:

Realized I should have clarified. The new 4k monitor (if I buy it), would not be included in the budget I listed. The flexible $2400CAD is strictly for the tower.

Funnily enough I made a few different rig options for myself so to see that youre in canada like me was a happy surprise maybe check these out These were my choices for the builds that I chose a different build but spent hours tossing parts together  hope these lists help you

 

Part List Links                            CostBeforeTax/EST Price post tax           Purpose of the PC

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/87DDK3       $2203.68/2500   2-4k gaming/streaming/editing (No limitations ever)
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/jLWW68         $1182.19/1400   1440p gaming/streaming (Very High-Ultra) Best Choice for gaming on many modern titles
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/kGvght     $782.32/850     720-1080p gaming 16gb ram better cpu Great for lower end gaming  GTA V Fallout4 Medium-High
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/7XNRRT         $586.68/650     Esports and Low end gaming 8gb ram Budget bare bones 720p gaming very limited hardware

 

[Jayzer]

1 hour ago, Chris Greene said:

Funnily enough I made a few different rig options for myself so to see that youre in canada like me was a happy surprise maybe check these out These were my choices for the builds that I chose a different build but spent hours tossing parts together  hope these lists help you

 

Part List Links                            CostBeforeTax/EST Price post tax           Purpose of the PC

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/87DDK3       $2203.68/2500   2-4k gaming/streaming/editing (No limitations ever)
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/jLWW68         $1182.19/1400   1440p gaming/streaming (Very High-Ultra) Best Choice for gaming on many modern titles
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/kGvght     $782.32/850     720-1080p gaming 16gb ram better cpu Great for lower end gaming  GTA V Fallout4 Medium-High
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/7XNRRT         $586.68/650     Esports and Low end gaming 8gb ram Budget bare bones 720p gaming very limited hardware

 

All of those are very bad builds, and will not last very long.

I suggest taking this build: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$249.00 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$191.40 @ Vuugo
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$109.75 @ Vuugo
Storage	Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$78.75 @ Vuugo
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$64.99 @ Canada Computers
Video Card	PowerColor Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Red Devil Video Card	$600.00
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$124.99 @ Newegg Canada
Power Supply	Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$154.99 @ Newegg Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1573.87
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-02-28 20:23 EST-0500

There might be some improvements that others can make, but here's my best one.

And the RX 5700 XT is not fixed on that price, I just looked at MSRP price, but do still try your best to find a decently priced one.

[Read247247]

15 hours ago, LloydLynx said:

Water cooling is worse for longevity and is kinda high maintenance over a long time.

 

I'd advice going with a Radeon graphics card, their drivers tend to mature over time and the fact that AMD is more willing to load up on VRAM means the cards tend to be more future proof in that respect as well. Also, if you ever want to do anything with Linux in the future, you'll be kicking yourself if you bought an Nvidia card.

Thanks! This is super helpful