Pc lifespan

[Yoobsterlol]

I'm trying to build a pc but I really don't want to spend $1500 on a pc that will only last me like 3 years. What is the average lifespan for a gaming pc?

The parts I'm looking at are a gtx 1080, i7 6700k and basically everything else can be whatever.

[Prokart2000]

2 minutes ago, Yoobsterlol said:

I'm trying to build a pc but I really don't want to spend $1500 on a pc that will only last me like 3 years. What is the average lifespan for a gaming pc?

The parts I'm looking at are a gtx 1080, i7 6700k and basically everything else can be whatever.

ive had my parts for coming up to 5 years now and they are still good so yours should last longer

[don_svetlio]

3 years is what you'll get out of those. Volta and Navi are due 2017/2018 and will bring even more massive improvements.

[Yoobsterlol]

4 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

3 years is what you'll get out of those. Volta and Navi are due 2017/2018 and will bring even more massive improvements.

Well that sucks, and I'm guessing that Volta an Navi are the next gpu architectures right? 

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Yoobsterlol said:

Well that sucks, and I'm guessing that Volta an Navi are the next gpu architectures right? 

They are the big milestones, yes.

[Ichi]

Depends on which 'lifespan' we're talking about.

Lifespan in terms of obsolete in technology probably ~3 years.

Lifespan in terms of hardware longevity depends on how you take care of them until they die out which could go as far as 6-10 years?

[don_svetlio]

2 minutes ago, Ichi said:

Depends on which 'lifespan' we're talking about.

Lifespan in terms of obsolete in technology probably ~3 years.

Lifespan in terms of hardware longevity depends on how you take care of them until they die out which could go as far as 6-10 years?

10 years is a very big stretch. Almost all GPUs from 2007-2008 are now dead or dying. If we're talking active use a GPU lasts for about 4-5 years tops

[Guest]

A gaming pc keep playing THE SAME GAMES for a very long time. You should have some massive random hardware failure, before you can't play them anymore.

 

When trying to keep playing the newest games, you would have to lower your settings, and expectations. When you would get the newest, most demanding game on a 2 year old computer: don't expect everything to work fine on the highest settings.

 

I wonder if you are a console gamer... If you are, think of this. If you buy a console thingie, that's the hardware you have. Game developers create a game for that console platform, without having to think about all the different hardware, or future hardware/upgrades. (but in my opinion, the quality of those games won't get an increase over time, since you are stuck with the same hardware/console)

 

If you want a gaming computer, you will need to set your expectations. If your expectations are that you will keep playing games on ultra, 5 years later... Be prepaired for some massive upgrades.

 

Consoles vs (desktop) computers is like six pack of beer vs fine whine. Both will get you drunk, but the experiance is something entirely different. You pay for what you (want to) get.

[Yoobsterlol]

2 minutes ago, Ichi said:

Depends on which 'lifespan' we're talking about.

Lifespan in terms of obsolete in technology probably ~3 years.

Lifespan in terms of hardware longevity depends on how you take care of them until they die out which could go as far as 6-10 years?

Very informative, thanks a lot, I was kinda looking for both lifespans but it's not like I am in a hurry for a pc so I guess I will wait til Volta if it's that big of a improvement.

 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

10 years is a very big stretch. Almost all GPUs from 2007-2008 are now dead or dying. If we're talking active use a GPU lasts for about 4-5 years tops

I agree on this. Depending on how much you use your computer, video cards die "quickly". Running my 3rd vid card on my 7-8 year old pc.

[y_unit265]

I managed to do 5 years with a pre-build desktop by Medion. The reason I decided to build a new pc is because I was unable to get playable framerates on "the division". It still runs gtav / bf4 @720p/30fps/low-med fine.

Spoiler

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/392/radeon-hd-7670-oem > Mine has a nice red pcb with an even smaller fan

 

[Yoobsterlol]

4 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

A gaming pc keep playing THE SAME GAMES for a very long time. You should have some massive random hardware failure, before you can't play them anymore.

 

When trying to keep playing the newest games, you would have to lower your settings, and expectations. When you would get the newest, most demanding game on a 2 year old computer: don't expect everything to work fine on the highest settings.

 

I wonder if you are a console gamer... If you are, think of this. If you buy a console thingie, that's the hardware you have. Game developers create a game for that console platform, without having to think about all the different hardware, or future hardware/upgrades. (but in my opinion, the quality of those games won't get an increase over time, since you are stuck with the same hardware/console)

 

If you want a gaming computer, you will need to set your expectations. If your expectations are that you will keep playing games on ultra, 5 years later... Be prepaired for some massive upgrades.

 

Consoles vs (desktop) computers is like six pack of beer vs fine whine. Both will get you drunk, but the experiance is something entirely different. You pay for what you (want to) get.

I'm not that big of a console gamer but I get what you're trying to say, I'm basically happy if I can run a game at medium settings at 1080p

[Enderman]

8 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

10 years is a very big stretch. Almost all GPUs from 2007-2008 are now dead or dying. If we're talking active use a GPU lasts for about 4-5 years tops

thats because people dont dust or replace the thermal paste and they run it in a hot PC case at 90C most of the time

i see people on reddit with a 10-15 year old GPU thats still going because they keep it in good condition

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

thats because people dont dust or replace the thermal paste and they run it in a hot PC case at 90C most of the time

i see people on reddit with a 10-15 year old GPU thats still going because they keep it in good condition

Link? I want to see it for myself

[Yoobsterlol]

9 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

I agree on this. Depending on how much you use your computer, video cards die "quickly". Running my 3rd vid card on my 7-8 year old pc.

You know, maybe I'll just take my chances, my main and only computer is a acer laptop thats using a 940mx and a 6200u so if that dies before the new Volta architecture comes out then I'm kinda screwed, I will end up having to get another computer anyway and I will be forced to get a Pascal card anyway and since I'm only turning 14 at the end of the month I'm not getting any more money in my budget

[Guest]

Try getting a paper route or some job like that. That's how I bought my first computer 18 years ago.

 

Also, consider this... $1500/3 years = $500/year. $500/365 days = $1,40 a day. I consider that acceptable. And you could wait for those newer parts. But considering you would accept medium settings @ 1080p for the next 3 years, you don't really need to wait for those parts at all. You can do that probably with good hardware which are in stores right now.

[Enderman]

14 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Link? I want to see it for myself

here are a few

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/2qwo5f/thats_quite_an_upgrade_from_gts_250_to_gtx_970/

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3fcndy/one_hell_of_an_upgrade_pny_geforce_210_to_evga/

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3typ4q/thats_one_hell_of_an_upgrade/

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/2jz6me/retro_rig_update_got_a_new_gpu_for_my_retro_rig/

but i have seen older ones

people be like "time to upgrade my GPU" and theres a pic or a 9800GT to 1080 or something

 

Edited June 18, 2016 by Enderman

[Yoobsterlol]

17 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Try getting a paper route or some job like that. That's how I bought my first computer 18 years ago.

 

Also, consider this... $1500/3 years = $500/year. $500/365 days = $1,40 a day. I consider that acceptable. And you could wait for those newer parts. But considering you would accept medium settings @ 1080p for the next 3 years, you don't really need to wait for those parts at all. You can do that probably with good hardware which are in stores right now.

I would do that but I don't think they have paper routes anymore, and considering I'll probably have enough problems when I move(I currently live in Korea but am planning to move back to Canada where was born) since I'm probably going to live in a homestay I think that it would be too hard, and I'd also much rather spend that kind of money on something more useful, or donate it to the homeless or something. 

 

[maremp]

33 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

3 years is what you'll get out of those. Volta and Navi are due 2017/2018 and will bring even more massive improvements.

3 years, are you kidding? The old pc I had, used by my parents now, with gts 250 (released march 2009) and Q9400, still works. Sure it's not top of the line and will most likely not be able to run the newest AAA titles, but it works. 

There are always "massive improvements" coming the next year or year after that and you could always wait for a better thing, but the wait will never really stop. 

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, maremp said:

3 years, are you kidding? The old pc I had, used by my parents now, with gts 250 (released march 2009) and Q9400, still works. Sure it's not top of the line and will most likely not be able to run the newest AAA titles, but it works. 

There are always "massive improvements" coming the next year or year after that and you could always wait for a better thing, but the wait will never really stop. 

Thing is, unlike Pascal, which is a modded Maxwell-based platform, Volta is an entirely new architecture - similar to what Polaris/Vega are - hence why they are taking longer. Pascal was never planned, it's a response to 14nm GPUs coming out sooner than expected.

[maremp]

6 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Thing is, unlike Pascal, which is a modded Maxwell-based platform, Volta is an entirely new architecture - similar to what Polaris/Vega are - hence why they are taking longer. Pascal was never planned, it's a response to 14nm GPUs coming out sooner than expected.

I'm not sure what's your point here. How does that change anything about waiting for next year's "massive improvements"? By all means, if the buyer can wait, they shouldn't waste the money now, but whoever is buying the pc now (as in following few months), there is no point in waiting a whole year for whatever might come in the next gen. 

[Yoobsterlol]

1 hour ago, maremp said:

I'm not sure what's your point here. How does that change anything about waiting for next year's "massive improvements"? By all means, if the buyer can wait, they shouldn't waste the money now, but whoever is buying the pc now (as in following few months), there is no point in waiting a whole year for whatever might come in the next gen. 

I guess I will just wait, since apparently Volta will be such a big improvement, it's not like I'm in a hurry and besides, Volta just sounds way cooler.

[Yoobsterlol]

• Oh and also the reason I wanted a good pc was so I could start a Gaming and a tech channel and by the time Volta comes out I will be like 16 and that will probably be a better age for doing that kind of of stuff

[maremp]

2 hours ago, Yoobsterlol said:

I guess I will just wait, since apparently Volta will be such a big improvement, it's not like I'm in a hurry and besides, Volta just sounds way cooler.

Volta is just codename of the architecture. You won't hear an owner of 1070/1080 saying they have a pascal gpu, if they did, people would look at them like "wtf are you talking about".  

If you're not in a hurry and don't feel slowed down by your current build, then there is no point in upgrading now. Don't upgrade to have the latest in tech, that's mostly for bragging rights. I've purchased the 1070 only because it's a brand new build and the latest pc I've owned, before switching to laptops, is the one I had described in a post earlier.

[Yoobsterlol]

6 hours ago, maremp said:

Volta is just codename of the architecture. You won't hear an owner of 1070/1080 saying they have a pascal gpu, if they did, people would look at them like "wtf are you talking about".  

If you're not in a hurry and don't feel slowed down by your current build, then there is no point in upgrading now. Don't upgrade to have the latest in tech, that's mostly for bragging rights. I've purchased the 1070 only because it's a brand new build and the latest pc I've owned, before switching to laptops, is the one I had described in a post earlier.

Well I'm using a laptop so not the best, but I can wait, now that I think about I probably don't need the 1080 anyway but it kills me inside when I don't have the best(when I can afford it).