Is Future Proofing Your PC Build Stupid?

#sponsored #techtips

[TheDarkPreacher]

I have a 10 year old 850W EVGA 80+ Gold PSU. That thing has been through 3 total system changeouts. Still running great.

[ClellBiggs]

The problem is that it's impossible to know what direction PC tech will go in.

[GlorifiedGremlin]

Till a new chipset socket totally rails all of your plans

[timothydillon]

Can't remember what the commercial was for, but I remember one where a guy goes to a store, buys the latest PC, puts it in the seat of his convertible, and on his ride home, he sees a billboard for the next model computer. I learned decades ago, you can't future proof tech.

[TheQuickSilver]

I've had so many folks I know tell me that they're doing some upgrade or another for "future proofing" that I just roll my eyes now. Mostly, from what I've seen, people just use that term so they have an excuse to upgrade something because they have money that's burning a hole in their pocket

[twelvecatsinatrenchcoat]

The biggest mistake I made building my first machine was skimping on a CPU, because it turned out the dated CPU I got had an older physical configuration than brand new CPUs.

So when it came time to upgrade like five years later, I had to replace my entire motherboard if I wanted a new CPU. If I had spent a little more to future proof, I would've saved a ton of money in the long run.

[mnksld]

I've been rocking my i7 2600k (cost: 15€) with a slight overclock to 3.8ghz (could go to 4.5ghz) with air cooling for 12 years and I've only once upgraded my GPU from 750ti to 2060 (cost: 80€). All the games I play (even RDR2) run great at 40-60 fps after some graphic setting optimizations. I occasionally run Minecraft-servers, do light video editing and produce music too. I think my PC is VERY bang for the buck as the total cost is around 750€

[cheeseburgerinvr]

"Lastbast asked" Eminem been real quiet since this banger dropped

[jonas_k.]

A high quality PSU with enough wattage headroom can go a long way

[calc]

Personally, I leave room for upgrades in my Rigs. Almost every desktop I’ve built has gotten additional internal storage, a quarter of them have gotten ram upgrades or additional ram. Various add-in cards for various things.

[andrewcorbin]

I have used my Case, CPU fan, Mobo, PSU, and SSD through multiple upgrades. The ram doesn't need upgraded if I swap out CPU or GPU. I did add more 8 TB of HDD storage recently

[Lapsio]

I'm currently on WRX80 platform (TR 5965wx) and I'm planning to use it for at least 6-8 years. My previous platform was P67 (with i7-2600k) and I used it for like... 10 years.

Yes. Future proofing definitely worked for me. And best way to future-proof is to get motherboard with best I/o you can get

[HMT_main]

I just upgraded my PC that previously only had a GPU that was integrated in the CPU with a 3060 12gb and a new PSU and it makes such a big difference! I now have > 60 FPS where before I had 10 FPS!!

[petersmythe]

With laptops, it's much more important to buy a set of components that will go obsolete for your needs about the same time. I had an HP laptop that had a first Gen i7 (good) and a 230m graphics card (bad). That performance mismatch meant I replaced it after only about 3 years.

[harshbarj]

Future Proofing is a rather smart move. If anything it just means later on you have more options. I know when SATA first came out I made sure my next upgrade had it, even though I had no plans on buying a SATA drive. But it was nice to know it was there just in case. Same happened with M.2. When it came out I made sure I hade one. But It was not till 3 upgrades later that I made the move over from SATA. I still have those systems and today all 3 are running NVME drives. While you can't predict where tech is going to go, you can at least make sure you have the latest tech at the time you buy even if you don't need it then.

[happily_blue]

But you know what DOES need an upgrade? Today's sponsor Nexigo!!!

[docolemnsx]

The only future proofing I've done 7 years ago when building my system was getting a large, sound dampened case. It was a slightly below mid tier system then, and it still does alright for my needs. Since building it, I've only upgraded the psu, fans and cpu cooler to some slightly overkill options (also went back to 100% air in the process) so I don't have to worry about these failing basically forever 😂 I do keep it pretty clean inside 😉

[allainangcao]

Future proofing is okay if you are worried about specific components. All the smaller things though that usually won't suffer any problems is a bit much.

[geekyleak]

I don't think there is some kind of "Future-Proofing", because Technology is changing fast right now. Every brand is releasing new products every few months and overall jump from DDR4 to DDR5 and also in VRAM technology happened faster than the time it used to take previously.

[xxDrain]

For future proofing, I:
-Buy at least a B chipset motherboard (to handle CPU upgrade to i9/R9)
-Leave 2 of 4 ram slots unpopulated for extra sticks later
-Get extra wattage on my PSU, I go with 700W for a system that would do fine with 400W
-Buy a lower end CPU from a newer generation for more CPU upgrade options later (have to stick to same socket).