The 10 year plan computer

[AMF]

You guys are all crazy. All he needs is a dumb terminal. Everyone knows game streaming is the future!

well i got a 2005 Lenovo for him lol!!!! lets upgrade it

 

[Dr. Dro]

That's what makes it a rebrand


Yeah, those extra <200 MHz will change EVERYTHING /s

You misunderstand, what I meant is that previous generation marketing rebrands didn't just lump it all under the current generation's internal code name. That's quite misleading, especially since it has relevance from a technical standpoint.

 

[Klemc]

Why not to buy a 10 years old PC today, to see how it handles games, video, web, work. It's faster than wait ten years to see.

i7-4790K
FX-9590

 

[AusWolf]

Why not to buy a 10 years old PC today, to see how it handles games, video, web, work. It's faster than wait ten years to see.

i7-4790K
FX-9590

Good point. Or buy that modern PC in 10 years' time. I bet it'll be a lot cheaper then.

 

[A Computer Guy]

I had a 10 year run with Q6600 core2quad assembled in 2009. Arguably the first 6 years it was my primary but I got suckered into a 4 core 8 thread laptop with blueray. I delegated the Q6600 as my file server / legacy game PC (I had switched to console for awhile ) until Win10 blewup my RAID config with a forced update in 2018-ish and I jumped into AM4 with R5 2600 after that.

What I discovered was SSD and more cores make a huge difference in longevity and quality day to day experience. That 8 thread laptop is still very usable today but my needs for work, storage, and gaming outgrew it rapidly around the 9th year of my Q6600 build. A problem with trying to plan a long term build is it's more likely your needs will change during that time.

You have AM4 and 5900x/5950x has come down in price quite a bit (5950x $375 USD). Perhaps this might be an option especially if you have a PCIe 4.0 capable motherboard, decent VRM's, with at least 1 NVMe slot. I suspect a minimum of 16 threads will carry most people comfortably for awhile and 32 threads has proven to me to be an excellent experience. Gaming however has special needs if you intend to keep up with the newest games. GPU choice will still be more important than CPU and PCIe 4.0 will still be viable for quite some time. Of course nobody can predict the future so work within your budget and hopefully it will work out just fine. I did that with my Q6600 and no regrets although I did not plan it to be a 10yr build but it was a specific build to take care of my needs at the time with a little wiggle room for improvements.

 

[#22]

OP seems the kind of person who made decision basing on not knowing much and now just doesn't like opinions of people knowing more. Kinda person who believes in what he likes more.

You will for sure go to Heaven. Together with your everlasting mid-range pc. Just tell us your sins what makes them forgiven, so you can keep sinning and give money.

 

[Lewzke]

Get (2x16) 32GB RAM for future proofness (DDR4 second hand is inexpensive) and it is useful for workstation tasks, and for the graphics card the RDNA2 architecture is still rock solid with the monolitic gpu infinity cache (RDNA3 is barely better because the chiplet issues). I suggest to get RX6800 second hand (or RX6700XTOC/6750XT). For 11700k the 6800 would be enough. The overclocked 6900XT/6950XT or stock 7900XT/GRE needs some serious CPU like the 12900k or 13600k). 4k gaming and ray tracing is too demanding, better to stick with 1440p and drop some settings to medium in the future with raytracing off this way you can game 6-7 years for sure, but if you play only in 1080p then the 6800 can serve you 10+ years, it is overkill for 1080p at the moment, but in the future it will be on the sweetspot.

 

[freeagent]

Why not to buy a 10 years old PC today, to see how it handles games, video, web, work. It's faster than wait ten years to see.

i7-4790K
FX-9590

I was actually going to mention this way back on page one..

I have a 3770K, last time I ran it she felt pretty soft.. I replaced it with Zen 2 originally, and it smacked the shit out of that old Intel. Zen 3 just obliterated it even more. Good times

 

[A Computer Guy]

I am building a `10 year (and a bit) plan` pc. That is, a pc thats going to last me 10 years. There are a few select upgrades along the path due to fund constraints which i will explain shortly...

PC is predominantly to be a gaming and office platform. Id like to play some games such as Cyberpunk, Baldurs 3, Red Dead. I currently play World of Tanks a lot. Id like to try some RT but thats not the big show stopper for me. I like my games with high graphics settings as Im notthat much of a competitive games player.

I want the end pc to last a long time before needing an upgrade. In fact I intend to hold it to the 10 year plan if i can.

Case - is the simply huge Thermaltake level 10 battle edition. Its old, rare and very roomy. Lots of fan options and room for pretty much any size graphics card.
CPU - Currently a `free` i5 10400F cpu. Its a temporary cpu as I plan to aquire either an i7 11700 or i9 11900 sometime later this year which is pretty much the most powerful cpu i can use on this sytem.
Motherboard - A mid range ASrock B560 Steel Legend motherboard. This board will stay for the duration of the 10 year build.
RAM - 2 x 8gb 3200 speed Silicaon Power DDR4 which works nice and stable on XMP2 with CAS 16 so pretty typical Samsung module memory really. This may stay or may get upgraded to 32gb.
Storage - 500gb Fikwot (yeah i never heard of them either!) PCIE gen 3 M.2 drive in the second M.2 slot. The first slot doesnt appear to work while a 10th gen cpu is used, I believe a 11th gen cpu is needed to allow the 4th gen primary slot to be used. I plan to upgrade this to a Samsing 980 1tb drive after the cpu is upgraded. There are a few mechanical drives attached to store my Steam catalogue of games.
Graphics - Currently has a humble GTX 970, In the long term I want to buy an ASrock Steel Legend 7900 GRE as from a performance point of view I think this would work out well and from an asthetics point of view I think it would look real nice with the Steel Legend motherboard. I may swap out the 970 for something like a RTX 3070 temporarily until I can afford the 7900.
PSU - Currently sporting a GameMax 700w Rampage modular psu. Yeah I know its reputation but these have served me well to date. I do plan to put a more respected psu in this build but I dont know what yet.

Why have i taken the backward step of buying 10th / 11th gen intel instead of intel 12th or Ryzen?

(edit, last minute comment) CPU choices for AM4 eventually ran circles around 10th/11th gen if I recall correctly. If you have an AM4 board you may have better long term (older gen) options regarding CPU, in particular Zen3 CPU's 5950x / 5800X3D as EOL options.

I have had AM4 builds for years and I like them but wanted a change. I bought into 10/11th gen due to the year of manufacture, that is 2020-2021. 1If you went back in time 10 years from 2021 to 2011 the king of cpus was Sandybridge i7 2600 / 2700 which even now some 13 years later would still be a useable cpu today. I want to see that this build can stand a similar test of time and i can come back to the forum in 2034 and show how well the pc is coping.

I saw in a YouTube video opinions that input latency with 10th gen feels better.

My biggest issue is funds. This build is being funded by my selling off pc hardware I have lying around and this is taking time. Ive currently got two more pcs to sell, my AM4 rig that should raise about £300 and an older 3rd gen i5 that should raise about £100, Add to that another £200 ive saved up selling other odds and ends. I dont want to cut too many corners but I also cant just splash the cash. So here are my dilemas:

Just my opinions and thoughts aside from my prior AMD related post.

What PSU should I get? needs to be reasonably priced but also decent reliability and capable of powering the cpu and gpu.

Corsair RMx series PSU.

Should I opt for the i9 (currently priced around £200) or the i7 (currently priced around £160)? Would I see that much gains with i9?

GPU is more important for gaming so I would opt for i7 to put more cash to GPU.

Should I go witht he Samsung 980 storage? or would a cheaper alternative fit the bill? The mechanical drives I have fit in the removable drive bays and are ok for some of the indie games I have but not the latest games id like to play.

I hear good things about Western Digital black series of NVMe being both cheaper and faster however I would prioritize looking for deals with highest capacity and warranty period to put more cash to GPU.

Would I benefit from faster RAM?

My personal preference is RAM speed compared to cost doesn't really matter. 32GB of CL22 sounds terrible but really it's just fine. ( I know right?) This might sound gross but I run Horizon Zero Dawn and Death Stranding at 60fps (limited by monitor refresh) with 5950x, Rx 6700 xt, and CL22 ECC ram, at high details, with no problem in the gaming experience. Save some money with cheaper RAM to put toward GPU. Having said that don't buy bottom of the barrel of anything if you can help it.

Graphics. BIG question! Should I invest in something better than the 970 now, something like a 3070 maybe? (currently available with warranty for £270) or hold off till I can raise the £530 for the steel legend version of 7900 GRE?

I did quite well with midrange rx 6700 xt. It's probably not going to last 10yrs with modern games but it was only $300-ish dollars at the time. My prior choice would have been rx 6800 xt but that has only recently dipped below $500 USD. I hear 3070 is pretty good choice except for the price.

In what order should I make these purchases?

If you decide to go with current hardware buy CPU last. It's hard to argue with getting a free CPU. If it's not enough you still have options to upgrade it later.

Your advice and opinions most welcome.

Good luck.

 

[dgianstefani]

I saw in a YouTube video opinions that input latency with 10th gen feels better.

Just my opinions and thoughts aside from my prior AMD related post.

Corsair RMx series PSU.

GPU is more important for gaming so I would opt for i7 to put more cash to GPU.

I hear good things about Western Digital black series of NVMe being both cheaper and faster however I would prioritize looking for deals with highest capacity and warranty period to put more cash to GPU.

My personal preference is RAM speed compared to cost doesn't really matter. 32GB of CL22 sounds terrible but really it's just fine. ( I know right?) This might sound gross but I run Horizon Zero Dawn and Death Stranding at 60fps (limited by monitor refresh) with 5950x, Rx 6700 xt, and CL22 ECC ram, at high details, with no problem in the gaming experience. Save some money with cheaper RAM to put toward GPU. Having said that don't buy bottom of the barrel of anything if you can help it.

I did quite well with midrange rx 6700 xt. It's probably not going to last 10yrs with modern games but it was only $300-ish dollars at the time. My prior choice would have been rx 6800 xt but that has only recently dipped below $500 USD. I hear 3070 is pretty good choice except for the price.

If you decide to go with current hardware buy CPU last. It's hard to argue with getting a free CPU. If it's not enough you still have options to upgrade it later.

Good luck.

You will almost never be limited by CPU (and therefore RAM) performance if you target 60 FPS 4K gaming.

The situation is very different for people who prefer higher framerates.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

10 years? After 6 the PC will be extremely out of date and slow and only sad grind will follow. You will be frustrated at least a third of this 10 year period.

It is stupid to plan suffering for yourself.

 

[Klemc]

This topic stayed in the top3 since itr started !!!

 

[Vayra86]

Yes, it has. There’s been a lot of negativity over the plan, I should have expected that I guess.
the advice has been in general to stop what I’m doing, build a reasonable pc with modern parts and just upgrade as and when like most sane people would do. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years or so.

i will likely still go that for the many other PCs in the house but for this one I want to see just how long I can use it (aiming for 10 years but we will see) and still be reasonably happy with it. I’m likely to have other PCs here more modern but if I can, I want to try keep using this one for as long as I can. See if I can make 10 years.

advice I’ve taken on board:

Aim for 11700 rather than 11900.
Aim for 32gb DDR4 3200 instead of 16
Aim for gen 4 m.2 but doesn’t have to be Samsung
Aim for better quality PSU

Graphics card wise I’m aiming for a 2021(ish) card as powerful as I can realistically afford. So likely RTX3080 series or RX6900 series. Of the two I’m thinking the AMD card will likely be better for long term use with its increased VRAM.

Alright then! Yeah that's a completely different approach. Then you're just having a fun project with it.

 

[Dragam1337]

Nothing in computers can stay relevant for 10 years. Not possible. Look at my relic from 2020-2021. It's done, but I keep using it because I'm too poor to upgrade.
Good luck!

I have many parts that are older than 10 years. PSU, Case, soundcard, speakers, mouse and keyboard. High quality products that doesn't directly impact the performance of games can last a very long time.

 

[A Computer Guy]

Yes, it has. There’s been a lot of negativity over the plan, I should have expected that I guess.
the advice has been in general to stop what I’m doing, build a reasonable pc with modern parts and just upgrade as and when like most sane people would do. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years or so.

i will likely still go that for the many other PCs in the house but for this one I want to see just how long I can use it (aiming for 10 years but we will see) and still be reasonably happy with it. I’m likely to have other PCs here more modern but if I can, I want to try keep using this one for as long as I can. See if I can make 10 years.

advice I’ve taken on board:

Aim for 11700 rather than 11900.
Aim for 32gb DDR4 3200 instead of 16
Aim for gen 4 m.2 but doesn’t have to be Samsung
Aim for better quality PSU

Graphics card wise I’m aiming for a 2021(ish) card as powerful as I can realistically afford. So likely RTX3080 series or RX6900 series. Of the two I’m thinking the AMD card will likely be better for long term use with its increased VRAM.

Question. What kind of resolution and framerate are you targeting for gaming? I don't recall monitor choice being discussed yet or what you are currently using. Dgianstefani brings up a good point about framerate target. If your expectations are pretty low like 60fps gaming you can probably save yourself some money especially in regards to the GPU selection and avoid over spending in capability you can't access in your intended configuration.

​

 

[SL2]

Aim for 11700 rather than 11900.

A step in the right direction, but avoid the 11000 altogether.

Go for a 10700K, 10850K, or a 10900K. Besides matching or beating the 11900K in games, even if minimally, they also use less power.

 

[Dr. Dro]

A step in the right direction, but avoid the 11000 altogether.

Go for a 10700K, 10850K, or a 10900K. Besides matching or beating the 11900K in games, even if minimally, they also use less power.
View attachment 340727

Rocket has the positive of supporting AVX-512 though. Might be relevant very-long-term.

 

[xmanrigger]

Best run I had with a PC was my X79 system (i7-3930K, 16GB DDR3@2200mhz). Ran that from 2011 to 2020. Only upgrade in between was upgrading VGA. Started with 2x GTX680/SLI, and then RTX 2070 Super. That same PC is still going hard in my lab. Gaming was very acceptable right up to 2020. Still runs games half-assed decent.

That PC was replaced in 2020 with my current daily driver: i9-10850K, 16GB DDR4@4000mhz, RTX 3070 Ultra. This PC still has a foreseeable future for me. Although not at par with the latest CPU/GPU. But works just great for me. 1440 gaming is stellar. - Year 4

 

[Chrispy_]

I'm a bit late to the thread to read all pages but the best 10-year plan is most definitely two 5-year plans.

To put it in context, a 10-year-old PC today is full of hardware security vulnerabilities that have performance-robbing software mitigations, it's not much good for gaming, and you're missing out on a bunch of features like NVMe, ReBAR, USB speeds faster than 5Gb/s, and of course full compatibility with Windows 11.

If you didn't care about gaming or high-performance in 2014, you could have bought an $800 PC in 2014 and upgraded it for $400 with a better platform and storage in 2019. That's $1200 over a decade and it would have felt decent to use for the whole decade. If you spent $4000 on a PC in 2014 it would still be suffering today from almost all of the same problems that the $800 2014 PC had. You might have 6 cores instead of 4, but you still don't have modern storage, platform features, connectivity, OS compatibility, hardware security mitigations.

PCs are temporary purchases because the software that we use them for moves on fairly quickly. If you buy a high-end PC for a high-end purpose, it will need to be demoted to a lesser purpose before 10 years have passed. Sure, an i7-5820K and GTX 980 were powerful for gaming in 2014 but by about 2020 they were struggling, and today they're low-spec machines for the kids' e-sports games at best, maybe more if you're willing to tolerate low framerates at minimum settings.

 

[cvaldes]

One of the most telling aspect of this whole conversation is OP's continued silence about what display resolution and refresh rate he expects to be gaming at in 2034 and what he games on now.

I have a number of displays in my house: 1080p/60Hz, 32" 144p/165Hz, 55" 4K/120Hz. Even two years ago, 90% of my gaming was done on the 4K/120Hz display. Not every device I own will drive 4K at 120Hz on every single title but it's there.

As someone who owned a 24" 1080p/60Hz monitor for 13 years, it was looking mighty tired at the end of its long life even if it was still doing all the things it did when I first plugged it in.

 

[AusWolf]

I'm a bit late to the thread to read all pages but the best 10-year plan is most definitely two 5-year plans.

To put it in context, a 10-year-old PC today is full of hardware security vulnerabilities that have performance-robbing software mitigations, it's not much good for gaming, and you're missing out on a bunch of features like NVMe, ReBAR, USB speeds faster than 5Gb/s, and of course full compatibility with Windows 11.

If you didn't care about gaming or high-performance in 2014, you could have bought an $800 PC in 2014 and upgraded it for $400 with a better platform and storage in 2019. That's $1200 over a decade and it would have felt decent to use for the whole decade. If you spent $4000 on a PC in 2014 it would still be suffering today from almost all of the same problems that the $800 2014 PC had. You might have 6 cores instead of 4, but you still don't have modern storage, platform features, connectivity, OS compatibility, hardware security mitigations.

PCs are temporary purchases because the software that we use them for moves on fairly quickly. If you buy a high-end PC for a high-end purpose, it will need to be demoted to a lesser purpose before 10 years have passed. Sure, an i7-5820K and GTX 980 were powerful for gaming in 2014 but by about 2020 they were struggling, and today they're low-spec machines for the kids' e-sports games at best, maybe more if you're willing to tolerate low framerates at minimum settings.

Exactly my point, thank you for elaborating on it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
The beauty of the 10 year plan here is op is starting out with a 3yo system so he really only needs it to last 7 years so it's in the bag if the asrock board lasts that long that is hehe

 

[biorpg]

9 years ago I built this Dual Xeon E5-2689v4 system, and after 8 years I'd stuffed it so full of random hardware, that I built a second one identical to it. (Board, QS CPUs, and memory cost $3500 back then, and about $1000 for the same board legit versions of the same CPUs, and even more memory a year ago). I run windows 10, and the only software I can't run is software that only runs on Windows 11, but I can run Windows 11 because my board has a TPM but I can't imagine why anyone would spend so much time weighing various hardware builds just to kill it with Windows 11. Also, the software that only runs on Windows 11 does so arbitrarily, as Windows 11 is a reskin of Windows 10 designed to lower your expectations while Microsoft's support obligations for 10 expire.

 

[#22]

There will be many examples of builds which delivered these ten years and ones which failed. The thing is, they all just won or lost in technological obsolescence lottery, but even winners all finished with bottom-of-the-barrel style.

The first ones just having chances to win would be a strong pair from 2006: early Core 2 Quad paired with at least 8800 GTX. Thanks to four cores and card being from the first ones lucky to support DX10. Both were able to deliver relatively playable 720p/30fps/lowest in 2015 GTA V, but I would like to see how they handled e.g. Witcher 3 or Dying Light. On the other hand we have losers like Kepler obsoleted by DX12 and being drastically low on VRAM; 7700K aging way poorer than earlier 4/8 and who even thinks about it in 2027; legendary 1080 Ti which <2 years from debut started to lack RT capabilities and DLSS (both as only one upscaler and only one good looking since 2.0) or 3000 cards lacking FG. However you futureproof your pc, it will just try it's luck in the lottery

 

[SL2]

Rocket has the positive of supporting AVX-512 though. Might be relevant very-long-term.

Lower heat from the 10700K on the other hand is nice for someone who tries to keep the cost down.

I stand with what I said before, just get whatever's cheapest. The 11000 brings nothing to the table that the OP is asking for, just worse gaming performance and more heat.