Question Buy/Build a Good PC every ~3 years or a Great PC every ~5 years?

rdpc

Prominent
Dec 20, 2019
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Hi there,
This may be a stupid question and there might not be a simple answer, but I'm just wondering: Would it be, economically, in terms of performance, etc., smarter to build a PC that meets your needs but doesn't greatly surpass them say every 3 years or so, or to build a PC that surpasses your needs, more future proof, with longevity say every ~5 years or so?
Like, as an example, as a video editor I could build a PC now with an i5 and a 1660ti which is enough for now, at around $900 but it might not be in 3 years, or I could build a PC with an i7 and a 2060 super which is more than I need now, but if I move to a lot of 4k in the future it will meet those needs.
But then tech is always becoming obsolete and new tech being released, so I don't know what the smart move is...
Hope that makes sense, thanks!
 

punkncat

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IMO always buy the absolute best you can for the money at the time of purchase, within budget.

In my personal style of purchase I have typically stayed barely behind the curve so far as buying last generation or "after the announcement" type equipment and (mostly) always within my needs as far as usage with the use of a few years in mind. I had, up until very recently, been on a schedule of roughly every 4-5 years, with "other" offset upgrades in between. For instance I often build a "new" setup but bring along the GPU that was upgraded at that halfway point.
 
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