At what point does "future-proofing" a PC become a waste of money?

Posted by Indrajithbandara@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 31 comments

I'm currently planning a new PC build and keep running into the same problem.

Every time I choose a component, I start thinking, "Maybe I should spend a little more so it lasts longer."

Then that turns into:

A slightly better CPU

A more powerful GPU

More RAM than I currently need

A larger SSD

A better motherboard for future upgrades

Before I know it, my budget is hundreds of dollars higher than what I originally planned.

I understand the idea behind future-proofing, but technology moves so quickly that I'm starting to wonder whether spending significantly more money today actually saves money in the long run.

For people who have built PCs over the years, where do you personally draw the line between smart future-proofing and unnecessarily overspending?

Have there been any upgrades you paid extra for that genuinely ended up being worth it years later? Or components you regret spending extra money on?

I'm interested in hearing real experiences from people who have gone through multiple upgrade cycles.

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TheOriginalKrampus@reddit

If you want to “future proof”, invest in a good quality case that’s easy to build in; a premium, efficient, high-wattage PSU from a reputable manufacturer with a long warranty; and maybe a high quality tower cooler whose manufacturer offers to ship new mounting brackets for newer socket types.

I would also say get a quality TLC NVME. 1TB minimum. If it’s good, then you can either use it as a boot drive on your next system, or a secondary storage drive. That’s what I’ve done. Even when they have PCIE 6.0, a quality Gen 4 drive will likely be fast enough for most things.

_Leighton_@reddit

The moment you future proofing looks like more than avoiding dead sockets, buying an overkill power supply or getting a high end case. Everything else is just spending more on something that is pretty much guaranteed to depreciate in value anyways.

GPU's are probably the worst place to future proof. They depreciate the fastest of any component class and are extremely easy to replace. RAM is another really bad place to future proof, you'll probably be good with 32gbs of RAM until DDR6 is the new standard and likely a good bit beyond too and again very easy to replace. Storage is the same, besides your boot drive.

CPUs are worth going a little overkill on but there's no reason to go all out. Biggest thing is buying into a platform that will have new architectures coming later on. Buying into first Gen AM4 as an example was probably the best thing I've ever done in terms of PC building, went from a 1600 to a 5600X3D on the same motherboard. That was a system that was bottlenecking a 1070ti but is now more than enough processing power for a 4070.

tup1tsa_1337@reddit

At any point

BigFatCoder@reddit

Knowing what future you are aiming for, otherwise it's a waste of money. When I build my rig, I know what games I am playing and what kind of programs I am going to use. So I built slightly above of that and lasted about 8\~9 years.

Estebanzo@reddit

I think this has gotten substantially more difficult of a question to answer in the last few years and now it's basically impossible to answer without a crystal ball.

It used to be that future proofing was pretty much always a bad deal. Every generation of hardware was significantly more cost effective than the last generation. There was huge deflation in the cost of manufacturing electronics. Demands of games and software were also increasing at a rapid pace. It made sense to upgrade frequently because oftentimes budget options in the current generation outperformed the most expensive options just a couple generations before.

But it isn't as simple anymore. We've got supply chain shortages. We're basically at the start of a global computing power arms race that has huge amounts of capital being poured into it. Maybe the whole AI craze will collapse and be a total bubble or maybe it won't. Personally I think demand will continue to outpace supply long term even if we have a big AI bubble that bursts.

Software improvements are probably also going to be a bigger deal than hardware improvements in the future. Stuff like DLSS is going to keep getting better. Software and games aren't becoming more demanding overtime at the same rate that they were in the 2000's and 2010's. Graphically we've hit the point of diminishing returns on stuff like screen resolution. So that has to be considered as well.

I think the answer now is very hyper specific to each piece of hardware and it's relevancy to your use cases, and what hardware has more sensitivity and risk for supply shortages.

ryanmcstylin@reddit

As soon as you pick a part that isn't well balanced with your build. If you future proof, something will always be over powered or under powered. For a while I cycled between upgrading my GPU, CPU/ram/mobo, and perifferals ever 2 years. So every 6 years or so I would have a new computer.

Then I moved to upgrading what I need to, that's how I ended up using my 1080 for 10 years with no plan to replace it

marcuschookt@reddit

It is always a waste of money.

Future proofing only works if you have relative confidence in the rate of incremental growth in this market. You however cannot reliably say how long your component will remain relevant since you have no idea what's in the producers' pipelines nor what future games will demand. So you can't even put a number to the future-proofness of it, is it good for the next 2 years or 10? No idea.

There's also the fact that in the consumer PC market, there are hard stops every time the CPU socket goes up a generation. Your GPU and RAM may be able to move over from AM4 to AM5 but your CPU and Mobo have to go. And when they do, the countdown begins on most of your other components too because the new gen will quickly leave them in the dust.

Because of that, even under the best circumstances, "future proofing" will only get you as far as a few short years. Your souped up gear now will be just okay in about 5 years and heavily outdated in 10, that's always going to be the case.

NekoMao92@reddit

I get the best MB, RAM, GPU, and CPU that I can afford at the time, of those, the RAM and GPU are the easiest to upgrade later on. I have a Radeon RX 7800 XT which has been more than enough for anything that I run.

I have HDs (data drives and the SSD that I run my games from) that are 5-10 years old in my newest PC that I build 2 years ago. The only new SSD that I have in my PC is the stick drive on the MB that has the OS installed on it.

Silly-Conference-627@reddit

Future profing in my mind only applies to components that will stay while multiple others get swapped.

I am thinking stuff like the motherboard, PSU and storage. The rest is pretty much replacable on a whim.

cp_carl@reddit

When you buy a 1000w computer to future proof, but when you actually "need" that power to brute force a future problem the "modern" solution of that time is probably built in to the cpu, or runs at 10w instead. It's so hard to repurpose old tech that was "future proof" when it's a 500w gpu because it's almost never worth the idle power costs in a home lab. give me power efficiency and it'll still be pretty efficient in 5 years - that's what i consider future proofing, buying it with a second life in mind when i upgrade later.

Nagol567@reddit

The only thing I consider for future proofing is getting a motherboard socket that will be supported for the next 6-8 year (not intel, not ever intel) and making sure the VRMs can handle a higher power draw CPU than the one im buying. After that get the best price to performance CPU and GPU or one tier higher than the best price to performance. If you look back at CPU or GPU benchmarks that show ryzen 2600 and 2700 compared to hardware today the difference is negligible. If you look at how well RTX 2070s vs RTX 2080s are doing on benchmarks with modern GPUs its negligible performance differences. The only other future proof item you can buy is a high quality heatsink for your CPU. Everything else is going to age like milk over the next decade. Other than that if you are not going to upgrade parts in 4-6 years like the CPU and GPU then you might as well just get whatever parts suit your needs now and then buy a new computer every 8 years.

dzone25@reddit

At the point where you don't have the budget / disposable income to actually continue it.

Be smart with your money, for most typical users they don't need the latest and greatest of basically anything. A solid, well built mid-range PC will last however long you want it to and you won't even think about it again.

jackattack502@reddit

Future proofing is a good case and PSU. Everything else needs to be bought with the present in mind.

HovercraftStock4986@reddit

for me, i just base my needs off my favorite games and my monitor. e.g., my monitor is 540hz, so i just need a PC good enough to get a minimum of 540hz in counter strike, the finals, diablo, etc. just figure out what’s good enough for you, and buy for that. hopefully game devs are finally realizing nobody gives a shit about hyper-realistic graphics, and they’ll start making better and better optimized games instead of GPU benchmarks with a side of gameplay

Kronix86@reddit

Everytime I think about upgrading i look at the prices.. storage is absolutely ridiculously priced atm.. so will be awhile.

PolyamorousPilot@reddit

I think about future proofing in terms of generations or architecture, less than individual components. Like going AM4 or AM5 right now? AM5 is much better, but comes with a very heavy tax, mostly because it requires DDR5. I've literally just put together a PC for a friend and we chose to stick with AM4 and splurge on the GPU (9070xt) (budget was $2000 AUD for a completely fresh build). The benefits of doing AM4 now are we saved ~ $800, and by the time they'll be looking to upgrade, AM6 (or Intel's new architecture, if it's worth anything) should be available.

Sometimes future proofing is actually going for the more modest option now and upgrading when the next generation comes out.

PretendingImNotAnApe@reddit

Future proofing is pretty subjective. You can max out your motherboard with the top i9 or ryzen 9 cpu it supports and run that computer for 10 years. But if the top chip is $1000 and a chip 92% as fast is $229 now you have basically functional equivalence but can throw junk the system on 4 years with another $229 special and have a better system for 8 of those 10 years for the same 1000 dollars. Its sweat equity, I doing more work, looking for deals, replacing things more often. Some people just dont want to do this. Im an enthusist.

Realistically my pc will process an Autocad layer in 28 seconds and my old system took 36 seconds. But I was getting coffee for 1/2 and hour anyway.

Zealousideal_Side987@reddit

when you die

jasons7394@reddit

I do not personally believe future proofing is a thing worth considering right now.

If you focus on price to performance it should last 4-5 years without needing anything.

Can just turn down a setting or 2 in 3 years if you need to.

However, there are a few things:

Getting a good power supply that can handle a GPU upgrade is usually cost effective.

Make sure the motherboard is not super budget (2 ram slots, no VRM heatsink etc...) , but mid-range. Don't need X870E, but a well rated B850.

Otherwise get the performance you want today. It will last. PC gaming is going to stagnate a lot from AI wrecking the market. Far less newer PCs hitting the market.

Games will need to be playable via handhelds, cloud gaming, older PCs, etc..)

Doomshine@reddit

All depends on your disposable income. I build a new rig every 7-10 years, and they always last! Prior rig was mid range across the board, prob $800 all said and done. My most recent, the GPU itself was $700, and will *fingers crossed* last until 2030.

You can't have the newest and best forever, something will always come along better/faster than your current. Build something you're happy with, that can do what you need it to.

Side note, the entire point of a budget is just that, final price point. If your budget becomes flexible once you see newer/faster stuff, there's no real point in setting a budget in the first place.

Spend what you are comfortable with, and get something that performs how you need it to now. The future is unknown.

Keytarfriend@reddit

this poster is a bot, guys

-UserRemoved-@reddit

I'm suspicious as well, but how can you tell?

Post history.

Not only have they posted to six subreddits in the past half hour (all generic common questions that might get a lot of upvotes), you can't see the other 10 posts they made that have already been removed.

Abstract_Void@reddit

just get components that have an upgrade path and components which won't poop out to quickly.

so for cpu go for an am5 cpu since amd keep the same socket across multiple generations.

you only need 32gb ram max for gaming. also you can just buy two 16gb sticks, so you are only using 2 out of the 4 slots, so you can upgrade later on if you need to.

for gpu depends on your frame rate, resolution and their price to performance. but ideally get a 12gb vram gpu minimum. since nowadays games are eating 8gb at 1080p.

cmh_ender@reddit

PCs are starting to slow down their rate of change. but future proofing is still kind of a fools errand. set a hard budget, don't let yourself scope creep past that number. Once you have the PC, you will honestly stop parts shopping / comparison checking and you will be happy with what you have.

FrustratedDevIndie@reddit

Imo you buy what you can afford. At the rate of upgrades and new product plus cost, I think trying to future proof is a fools errand. My biggest recommend is to make sure you can getting a mobo platform that has a upgrade path. Build with a path forward is the new future proofing

If you can't see the future, then always.

The entire premise of "future proofing" is buying more than you need in hopes it lasts you longer. That's literally what overspending is, only you added a tiny justification to it to make it sound like it's something else. It's not, it's the same thing.

AstarothSquirrel@reddit

Look up the law of diminishing returns. My Streamdeck (not to be confused with my Steamdeck) Best peripheral I've ever purchased (there are cheaper alternatives available) At first, I wasn't sure how much I was going to use it but I use it constantly throughout the day.

badtlc4@reddit

usually when you do it. that is when it becomes a waste of money.

Celatra@reddit

future proofing is not even a thing .every mid range pc now is future proof. just at like price to performance ratio and build the best pc that suits your needs.

kmkm2op@reddit

Once it goes past the point of decent diminishing returns it's better for most people to just save the money for a future upgrade and just enjoy the games. Only if you want to push for a high end experience do you splurge but then you get trapped in a cycle of constantly getting the latest and greatest if you want to maintain that luxury experience.