How Long Does a Gaming PC Last?
Nowadays, when gamers are building their PCs they dedicate most of their funds and research to finding the best performing parts that fit into their budget. This makes sense since you want to make sure your PC is dishing out high FPS so you can have a smooth gaming experience.
Why does nobody then concern themselves with the durability of their parts? It makes sense in every other aspect of life to not only look at performance but also look at the lifespan of the parts you are buying.
Have gamers become complacent and have forgotten to be cautious with their purchases? The short answer is no, and we will tell you exactly why this answer makes sense!
How Long Will a Gaming PC Last – Increasingly Good Quality Parts
The biggest reason gamers are not concerned with the question of how long does a gaming PC last is because gaming components have increasingly become more stable, durable, and reliable.
If 10 years ago when building a PC, you had to be careful with minute details otherwise you ran the risk of destroying your parts, currently PC parts are like oversized lego pieces that just cost A LOT more.
It is also important to mention that the mentality of gamers has also changed. Now people tend to only buy reputable brand parts that they know work well, therefore significantly reducing the chances of running into faulty PC hardware.
So now you have brands that understand they are under constant watch therefore they need to output good quality products and buyers that are well trained to buy reputable parts and to avoid shady, boot-leg-looking items.
How Long Should a Gaming PC Last – Parts Last Longer Than They Are Used For
Another important truth you must come to face with is the fact that in most cases people will upgrade to a new part before that part reaches its maximum intended lifespan.
This is not surprising considering that a CPU lasts for 5-10 years, a GPU lasts for about 5 years, and parts like a PSU last for 10-15 years. Literally, the only parts you need to be concerned about in the next 2-3 years are your fans and the HDD (if you have one) since these are moving parts that give out first.
There are cases where the same PSU unit has been used in 2-3 different builds without issues since these parts are made to last, so you should really not worry about how long does a gaming PC last.
Not only are PC parts blessed with long lives, but new parts are also released yearly, and the new gaming standards are evolving beyond imagination resulting in the real lifespan of your gaming PC being around 2-3 years.
After these 2-3 years, you will be forced into upgrading, since the requirements for the new titles will most likely be too much for your computer to handle.
The math here is simple then – if a PC part is made to be used for 5-10 years, but a gamer will most likely use it for about 2-3 years, should they be concerned about durability issues? No!
How Long Do Gaming PCs Last – What Can Shorten the Lifespan of Your Parts?
Although all this time we have touted how great the PC parts have gotten, we still need to remind you that they are not indestructible and will wear down in time. The process of wearing your PC parts down can also be accelerated by certain factors which we will quickly discuss.
The main way you can shorten the lifespan of your PC parts is to expose them to extreme levels of heat. In the end, your CPU, GPU, motherboard, and RAM have circuits that are prone to deterioration at high temperatures – so if extreme temperatures are the main culprit, then cleaning your PC and making sure that there is enough airflow to keep your temperatures in check should be a must!
Overclocking
One way through which you can inadvertently increase the temperature of your components is through overclocking. Overclocking is the process of manually increasing the MHz at which your GPU/CPU operates at.
This is done by circulating more current through your parts to give them more power, and since there is more current involved, we know there will be higher temperatures. The main purpose of overclocking is to squeeze a couple of extra FPS out of your PC and is relatively safe to do.
Issues from overclocking arise only if your PC build does not have enough airflow or any other means of keeping your components cool with the added extra heat.
Going through with an overclock means that you have a motherboard with a solid VRM configuration, a solid CPU cooler, and you don’t mind cranking up the fans on your GPU to keep temperatures in check.
If any of those things are lacking, or bother you, overclocking will most definitely increase your temperatures and speed up the process of deterioration on your components.
At the same time, even as we are talking about the fact that overclocking can deteriorate your parts faster if inappropriately cooled; if we once again take into account the actual time parts spend in a PC (2-3 years at maximum) and the usual gaming loads a PC has to deal with (short bursts of intense gaming where both the CPU and GPU accelerate) EVEN IF you overclock your components to their absolute maximum potential, the chances of them failing during the period you will be using them is EXTREMELY small.
This is all to say that unless you are running a Prime 95 benchmark at 95C 24/7 to torture test your CPU, the chances of your components (stock or overclocked) failing is extremely small, unless you damage the hardware yourself (dropping it or hardware modding), or if it was delivered to you already faulty.
The conclusion is simple – if you are buying parts from a reputable brand, have built the PC properly with decent cooling, and do not have a fetish for smashing computer parts, then you should really not care about how long will a gaming PC last!