How long will this computer last me playing games?

[Peter Barker]

I wanted to build basically a computer which would last me on all the next gen games until new consoles come out my question is will this do it and are there any changes which can be made to make it better while keeping a similar price? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/FXmRgs

 

[apcs13]

Well, you're certainly not going to be able to play on Ultra (at 1080P at least), but that's still a pretty solid PC. Depending on when the next gen will release, it could last, but I'd say that PC will need an upgrade within the next 2-4 years, depending on what type of games you want to play. Let's just say I don't think that you will be able to run Crysis 5 or Battlefield 6... but we'll see.

 

[snowctrl]

You've chosen an overclockable chip, but from the rest of the spec I guess you don't intend to overclock - in which case you can save some money with a non-K series chip

 

[IrnMan]

I'd suggest getting a higher watt power supply, that way you won't need to upgrade it in the future. You may also want to go for a larger HDD, a lot of games now take 10Gb+ of space each so unless you are happy to keep downloading and deleting games you may want to go for a 1TB drive.

I'd also suggest a better quality motherboard. Cheaper MSI boards aren't well known for their quality and putting a £160 cpu and a £120 GPU on a £30 MoBo is not a great idea.

 

[snowctrl]

Can I recommend an SSHD over a HD? It'll give you SSD speeds for OS and game loads, without costing the earth or reducing your storage space

 

[Rationale]

I wanted to build basically a computer which would last me on all the next gen games until new consoles come out my question is will this do it and are there any changes which can be made to make it better while keeping a similar price? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/FXmRgs

The GTX 750 TI is pretty similar to the PS4 GPU, and stronger than the X1 GPU. That means you'll run next gen games fine... At 900p, 30 fps, just like the PS4.

If you try to push for 1080p 60 fps in next gen games, you'll have to settle for medium settings.

You should switch that CPU. The "K" on the end just means it can be overclocked for about $30 extra. Since your motherboard isn't capable of handling an overclock, there's no reason to get the "K" CPU, so you can save money by getting a version without the "K". Any decent Intel CPU will crush the console CPUs anyway.

This would be a more efficient use of money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£39.96 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£32.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card (£120.66 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£30.14 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£35.80 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.88 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£70.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £524.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-18 22:47 BST+0100

 

[snowctrl]

I wanted to build basically a computer which would last me on all the next gen games until new consoles come out my question is will this do it and are there any changes which can be made to make it better while keeping a similar price? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/FXmRgs

The GTX 750 TI is pretty similar to the PS4 GPU, and stronger than the X1 GPU. That means you'll run next gen games fine... At 900p, 30 fps, just like the PS4.

If you try to push for 1080p 60 fps in next gen games, you'll have to settle for medium settings.

You should switch that CPU. The "K" on the end just means it can be overclocked for about $30 extra. Since your motherboard isn't capable of handling an overclock, there's no reason to get the "K" CPU, so you can save money by getting a version without the "K". Any decent Intel CPU will crush the console CPUs anyway.

This would be a more efficient use of money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.19 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£39.96 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£32.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card (£120.66 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£30.14 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£35.80 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.88 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£70.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £524.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-18 22:47 BST+0100

That's a good spec... But I'd take an SSHD over t HD

 

[BustaRhymes]

Hybrid drives don't work. I have one. Your better off saving the cash and getting a cheap WD blue drive.

 

[snowctrl]

Hybrid drives don't work. I have one. Your better off saving the cash and getting a cheap WD blue drive.

I've had good experiences with them.... Can u tell us a little more? What hybrid drives you used, what you were hoping for, and what happened?

 

[itsVance]

I wanted to build basically a computer which would last me on all the next gen games until new consoles come out my question is will this do it and are there any changes which can be made to make it better while keeping a similar price? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/FXmRgs

I don't think that build is going to work for what your asking about.

Here is a good hardware guideline made on a forum post in a new next gen game. Just keep in mind minimum requirements will not let you run it on high.

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/22025/guide-to-can-my-pc-laptop-run-star-citizen/p1

If you can run that game, you will be fine on any other one.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

I wanted to build basically a computer which would last me on all the next gen games until new consoles come out my question is will this do it and are there any changes which can be made to make it better while keeping a similar price? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/FXmRgs

Unfortunately, this is one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions. Nobody can tell how powerful games will be in seven years (which seems to be the average console lifespan) and what kind of PC will be required to play them.

The reason why consoles can sustain a longer lifetime is because games are developed very specifically for that hardware. Good gaming performance is as much about good development as it is good hardware.

The build that snowctrl suggested is good. My only change would be to swap the Seagate HDD for a Western Digital, but that's just because of bad experience.