Building a PC to last multiple years is an easy process. Just about every PC component available is what’s known as a standard part. This means it should support a wide variety of other components. For instance, should you purchase a recent Intel or AMD motherboard, you’ll have at least one NVMe M.2 SSD slot, which supports all SATA/NVMe SSDs with transfer speeds up to 14,000 MB/s with PCIe 5.0. Installing a PCIe 4.0 SSD in a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot will see the drive run at its full potential. The same goes for the AM5 socket for AMD processors, which is expected to be supported for many years.
When planning your next PC build, it’s vital to consider the age of a platform, especially the motherboard chipset and socket. These will determine which processor generations you can use when upgrading further down the line. For other parts, I recommend buying within budget as most will be upgradable to some extent.
Buy a high-capacity power supply
It’s easy to work out how much power your PC will need. You take the power draw of the CPU and GPU, add an additional 100W for the motherboard and other parts of the PC and you’ll have a reliable estimation. Add some buffer for spikes to achieve better efficiency and you’ll have plenty of headroom to work with. When considering upgrades, I would suggest looking at even higher output power supplies, especially when moving between GPU generations and tiers. An RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4090 draw 165W and 450W, respectively.
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Buy an AMD CPU and motherboard
AMD supports its platforms longer than Intel. Typically, Intel makes it so two CPU generations work with the same motherboard and chipset. The Intel Z790 chipset and LGA 1700 socket will work with 12th, 13th, and 14th-gen processors. For AMD, the new AM5 socket and respective chipsets are expected to be supported by AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000, and beyond. The older AM4 socket and chipsets supported AMD Ryzen 1000 to 5000, allowing plenty of room for upgrades.
Start small and only buy the process you’ll require today. AMD’s Ryzen 5 7600X is considered an entry point yet it has 6 cores and 12 threads and can handle some heavier workloads. Traditionally, flagship processors had such a high core count and now we have budget-friendly chips with similar numbers. And if you require additional performance, the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 series are available with some excellent processors and will be supported on the same motherboards as the Ryzen 5 7600X.
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DDR5 RAM is the way forward
System memory is used by the OS to store data and DDR4 was the choice for many years. Now that DDR5 is upon us, it’s a good idea to choose DDR5 over DDR4 to provide more room for upgrades, especially as the generation of RAM matures. DDR5 system memory are seriously quick and supported by the latest AMD and Intel processors. If you’re going with AMD’s AM5 motherboards, these only support DDR5 RAM, which makes the choice for you. DDR4 is still great for use in 2024, but DDR5 is the better pick for upgrades.
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Spend as much as you can on a GPU
The graphics card is the one component you do not want to save too much money on. The more you spend here the better your gaming experience will be. The more powerful the GPU, the higher the supported resolution and the longer you can keep using the card before upgrading. Buying a cheaper GPU may save you in the short term, but if you buy a card capable of 1080p gaming and then buy a 1440p monitor, you’ll need to buy another GPU to replace it.
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Building a future-proof PC is easier than you think
Putting together a PC is an easy process that takes time and enough funds to cover the cost of all the parts. So long as you use more recent components and build a system that can handle all the tasks you plan on throwing at it, you’ll be able to upgrade various parts of the PC at a later date. The CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, motherboard, and even the case can all be replaced with off-the-shelf parts. Bear in mind the imcompatibility between AMD and Intel and the generation support and you’ll have no trouble.