So, I already made a post about this, but want to improve on it and emphasize a few things. Ultimately, I wanna focus on the longevity of the build, particularly the CPU and GPU. The ultimate deciding factor is how long a midrange build (with a $200-300ish CPU/GPU) will last. I will, however, offer nuance in some years as cheaper/more expensive builds are economical for various reasons.
2006
As I said, you CAN get a good combo here that would last for a while in SOME form, but you'd get a MUCH better build if you waited a year. Still, you couldn't have known that at the time and you'd still likely get a console equivalent build that would last a while. Honestly, it was about average for the time.
Example PC: E6600, 8600 GT
Estimated longevity: 4-5 years
Tier: B
2007
Probably the golden year of the late 2000s. You got high quality components for relatively cheap, leading to an abnormally long build cycle for the time. While not too out of the ordinary by modern standards, it was a very long lasting build for the time.
Example PC: Q6600, 8800 GT/HD 3850
Estimated Longevity: 5-6 years (CPU could go 6-8 with GPU upgrade)
Tier: S
2008
Like 2007, but everything was cheaper. Some expensive stuff came out, but it wasn't worth buying at the time. Your best bet was getting cheap refreshes here.
Example PC: Q6600, 9800 GTX+/ HD 4850
Estimate longevity: 4-5 years
Tier: B
2009
2009 was a weird year. You made out good if you bought a Radeon HD 5000 series at the end of the year, but otherwise it was just 2008 again with less longevity.
Example PC (Q4): i5 750/Phenom II X4 965, HD 5770/5850
Estimated longevity: 5-6 years
Example PC (Q1-3): i5 750/Phenom II X4 965, HD 4870/GTX 260
Estimated longevity: 3-4 years
Tier: B
2010
Probably a better year at the time. CPUs weren't amazing and didn't age well given what came after, but the GPUs lasted as long as could be expected at the time
Example PC (Q4): i5 750/Phenom II X4 965, HD 5850/GTX 460
Estimated longevity: 4-5 years
Tier: B
2011
2011 was a god year for CPUs but a mediocre one for GPUs. Sandy bridge was legendary but the GPUs kinda got the short end of the stick. So it was kinda middling.
Example PC: i5 2500k, GTX 560 Ti/HD 6950
Estimated longevity: 3-4 years (CPU was 5-7 arguably with a GPU upgrade)
Tier: B
2012
Example PC: i5 3570k, HD 7850/GTX 660
Estimated longevity: 5-6 years
Tier: S
2013
Things started to get a big more middling for the midrange in this year. Not the strongest.
Example PC: i5 4670k, GTX 760/R9 280
Estimated longevity: 4-5 years
Tier: B
2014
This is a year where if you spent a little more, you could get a truly legendary build. Otherwise, it kinda sucked though.
Example PC: i5 4690k, GTX 960/R9 280
Estimated longevity: 3-4 years
Upgraded "legendary" PC: i7 4790k, GTX 970
Estimated longevity: 7-9 years
Tier: B
2015
Really a bad year if you stuck to midrange
Not a bad year if you spent more on a premium build.
Example PC: i5 6600k, GTX 960/R9 380x
Estimated longevity- 2-3 years
Upgraded PC: i7 6700k, GTX 970
Estimated longevity- 7-8 years
Tier: C
2016
Legendary year on GPUs, but once again, a bad year unless you upgraded to the expensive i7 model
Example PC: i5 6600k, GTX 1060/RX 480
Estimated longevity: 2-3 years (GPU would be good for around 6-7)
Upgraded PC: i7 6700k, GTX 1060/RX 480
Estimated longevity: 6-7 years
Tier: B
2017
Early on was bad because of middling CPU options, but still better than 2016. I'd recommend a Ryzen 1600 for an early year build unless you buy an i7 6700k/7700k. Late year opened up to truly be something special though. The Ryzen 1600x wouldn't last super long, but at least you'd have Zen 4 which can slot much better CPUs in it too.
Example PC: R5 1600, GTX 1060/RX 580
Estimated longevity: 4-5 years
Example PC (Q4): i5 8600k, GTX 1060/RX 580
Estimated longevity: 5-6 years
Tier: A
2018
CPU wise was a repeat of late 2017. GPU wise you got the RX series, which had better longevity, but was expensive. You kinda got screwed unless you paid out of the target price range on GPUs.
Example PC: i5 9600k, GTX 1660 Ti
Estimated Longevity: 4-5 years
Upgraded PC: i5 9600k, RTX 2060
Estimated longevity: 5-6 years
Tier: B
2019
GPU wise, 2019 was a bad time, for CPUs, it was an okay time with the Ryzen 3000 series hitting things.
Example PC: R5 3600, RX 5600 XT
Estimated Longevity: 4-5 years
Tier: B
2020
As I said, god help you if your computer broke. Wasn't bad on the CPU side, but COVID and crypto destroyed the GPU market. I didnt mention it here as Ive mostly focused on midrange and reasonably premium builds, but there was also a lower midrange with stuff like "50" cards that was relatively popular for budget buyers and all of that died around here. It was on its way out after Nvidia started getting greedy in 2018, but yeah, here it truly died.
Example PC: i5 10600k/R5 3600, GTX 1050 ti/1650
Estimated Longevity: 2-3 years (CPU could go 4-6)
Tier: F
2021
The crapshow continues. RX 6000 and RTX 3000 series cards launched but good luck affording them. Btw, those 1050 tis and 1650s I'm recommending cost like $400-500 in this era, so you were paying premium prices for what used to be sub $200 budget cards.
Example PC: i5 12400/R5 5600, GTX 1050 Ti/1650
Estimated longevity: 1-2 years (CPUs still viable in 2026 as of writing this)
Tier: F
2022
For most of the year it was the same as 2021, but late year prices improved, especially on RX 6000 series cards.
Example PC (Q4): R7 5700x/i5 12600k, RX 6650 XT
Estimated Longevity: 5-6 years
Example PC (Q1-3): R7 5700x/i5 12600k, GTX 1050 ti/1650
Estimated longevity: 1-2 years (GPU), 5-6 years (CPU)
Tier: B
2023
Again, the best it was gonna get post pandemic. The new normal.
Example PC: R7 5700x/i7 12700k, GTX 4060/RX 7600
Estimated longevity: 4-5 years
Tier: B
2024
Lots of good deals but not a ton of changes. I think 8 GB VRAM is gonna bite people in the ### here.
Example PC: R7 7700x/i7 12700k, GTX 4060/RX 7600
Estimated longevity: 3-4 years (GPU), 5-6 years (CPU)
Tier: C
2025
Very mid year tbqh unless you buy up on GPU. Q4 sucked because RAMpocalypse began. I really think if you buy 8 GB RAM in 2025, its like buying 2 GB in 2015. It might be all you can afford, but yeah, good luck once games start wanting more.
Example PC: R7 7700x/Core Ultra 7 265k, GTX 5060/RX 9060 XT 8 GB
Estimated longevity: 2-3 years (GPU), 4-6 years (CPU)
Upgraded PC: R7 7700x/Core Ultra 7 265k, RX 9060 XT 16 GB
Estimated longevity: 4-6 years
Tier: C
2026
RAMpocalypse is the worst thing to happen to the GPU market since COVID.
Example PC: R7 7700x/Core Ultra 5 250k, GTX 5050/RX 6650 XT
Estimated Longevity: 1-2 years (GPU), 3-6 years (CPU)
I ain't even gonna do an upgraded PC since a decent GPU would cost north of $400 these days.
Tier: F
So, with that said, let's update the tier list. I'll focus 75% on the worse build if I include 2, since the other build was only available for one quarter of the year, or required an upsell of $100 or so ($200 if both CPU/GPU) in order to make it work.
Results
S Tier: 2007, 2012
A Tier: 2017
B Tier: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
C Tier: 2015, 2024, 2025
D Tier: None
F Tier: 2020, 2021, 2026
With that said, what can we deduce?
Well, in retrospect, most years are pretty average. Even if there are years with the golden CPU, the golden GPU, for the most part, very few years do everything align and be perfect. Either the CPUs are bad, the GPUs are bad, part of the year is good, part of the year is bad, or it requires an upsell to an i7 or 70 tier (now "60" tier, because nvidia greedy) to make it a good year. Still, there is a year once every 5 years or so where things align.
Another thing I found interesting is at the midrange the best years often have 5-6 year PCs, whereas on average, you're talking 4-5 years. Anything less than 4 is bad. Some years got made worse due to the midrange being crap. 2014-2015 were both pretty bad. But again, the upsell was important.
Sometimes for best longevity, going up a tier can be as important as timing it right. Sometimes an "i7" or similar CPU is SIGNIFICANTLY more important than an i5, since, since sandy bridge, a good "i7" tier build can last upwards to 8-10 years. GPUs have a bit less longevity, but the same principle applies, especially when VRAM or tech like ray tracing (see: 2018) comes into consideration. A 1660 ti sucked, a 2060 was better, and even better, 2070s are still viable today. 1070s on up were viable for longer than a 1060. But the biggest difference came between say, a 2 GB 960 and a 4 GB 970. The 970 was viable until like 2023 for mainstream gaming, whereas the 960 ran out of steam by 2017-2018. Buying a quad core i7 helped in the long term vs an i5, which lacked hyperthreading. The 6 core i7 8700k, which i didnt include as it was almost $400 and the 8600k was a decent CPU, is still viable today.
And in the modern age, we're at a point where it's better to buy a slightly older CPU that's a higher tier than a newer one. The 12th gen intel and 5th gen ryzens are like this. Rather than buy a newer i3 or i5, you could buy an older i7 or r7 and use that. Also, to be fair, i intentionally excluded the 13th and 14th gen because of their...issues. But yeah. Like, I bought an older i9. It was like $600 at the time but I got it for $200. it's kinda like what happened with the Q6600s. Was $600ish in 2006, but by 2007, dropped to like $240 or something, and thus became viable. Buying a 7700k gave me 8600k level performance back in 2017. So yeah, sometimes strategically buying upward is as important as timing it correctly, if not more important.
If anything, this just vindicates my current strategy of buying my PCs piece by piece. Because I CAN just wait for a "golden year" CPU/GPU. Like Im good because I bought my GPU at the end of 2022 when the iron was hot, and then in 2023 bought a CPU which ended up being the right time for that. In 2017, I bought my 7700k as a late 2016 christmas gift as I wanted to hold out for zen 1, and then was disappointed by the 1600/1700 so much I went all 7700k instead. Then at the end of the year my 760 died so I went for a 1060, which ended up being a golden GPU so to speak. So....yeah. That's one thing I'm gonna say. Buying a whole build all at once might sound good on paper, but outside of specific time intervals, it can also backfire as most years always have SOMETHING wrong with them.
And of course, dont buy when prices are nuts. COVID bad, crypto bad, AI bubble bad.
If I had to guess, based on current and previous market trends, not only is buying now a bad time to buy, but if you did buy, at least on the GPU side, you'd want to buy up to like a 9060 XT 16 GB or 5060 Ti 16 GB. Which is like $400-500. So dont bother. 8 GB GPUs remind me of the 2 GB period going into 2014-2015. Like youre gonna get burned on that. CPU wise, things were good until rammageddon. Now they're less good.
If I had to guess, the next set of "golden years" will probably come around 2027-2029. I'm leaning toward 2028ish. We need the AI bubble to pop, and we'll need the next gen of CPUs/GPUs, and consoles to hit the market. We need quite a bit of progress for there to be a worthwhile boost over current CPUs. The market has been stagnant in recent years, and it's looking like we'll need zen 6 and nova lake bringing like 12 core X3D CPUs and the like to the forefront. And then we'll need to wait a few more years for prices to drop and normalize, since nowadays it seems like budget CPUs are just last year's premium ones...literally. We'll need there to be a sub $300 GPU with 12 GB or more of VRAM thats 2x as powerful as a 6650 XT or 4060. That aint gonna happen until at least 2027-2028. And once PS6 specs become finalized and we see roll outs, we'll know what the target specs for PCs will be to get something that'll last until like...2035. So yeah. Right now, unless youre desperate, hold everything you got, wait for current crisis to blow over, and buy low around 2028ish if possible. That's my plan at least, given I hit the 2022-2023 window where I got golden hardware for now.
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