Thanks to voracious demand from AI hyperscalers, PC part prices are on a steep rise – not just RAM, but also SSDs and hard drives , as well as GPUs . And at the same time, availability seems to be waning on multiple components, with seemingly no end in sight — unless you can somehow see into 2027 or beyond . So you probably don't want to replace your key components any time soon, as long as they are good enough to get you by.
I'm certainly hoping nothing happens to the RTX 4090, 64GB of RAM, and the Ryzen 9 7950X in my main system in the next year or two. Or at least until we know a lot more about what comes after Intel's Nova Lake, and AMD's Zen 6 on the consumer side, which also might be around the time that we'll be seeing new gaming GPUs from Nvidia .
So what can you do to help make sure your components last you a couple more years and beyond? Plenty, including the more obvious stuff like making sure your case and fans are relatively clean and working as expected, and your PC is plugged into a name-brand surge protector (I've personally had good luck with this model from Anker ).
But you also should consider replacing the older supporting hardware that hasn't also gone up in price, like ageing or sub-par power supplies, or older coolers that may no longer be working at their peak capabilities. It isn't exactly exciting to invest $100-$200 in often-neglected parts that won't give you a higher frame rate or faster computing. But doing so now might save you from having to replace something much more expensive down the line – or something that may even be hard to buy at short notice.
Check the temps of your CPU and GPU during a stress test
Use something like HWinfo during a stress test to check the max and sustained temperatures of both your CPU and GPU, and compare those to the published or generally accepted TJ Max (thermal junction max) temperatures for your chip. If you have a recent-gen high-end CPU, it will likely quickly hit its TJ Max temperature and throttle on a taxing test. This is normal, and generally shouldn't be a concern if most of what you are doing with your PC is gaming, as gaming doesn't generally tax the CPU as heavily as highly threaded applications.
That said, if your CPU or GPU is often hovering at high temperatures during, say, a gaming benchmark, you should probably consider upgrading your cooler and / or case fans. The CPU cooler, logically, will have more of an impact on your CPU temperature, but if your GPU is often warm, make sure your intake and exhaust fans are oriented correctly, and then consider adding more airflow (more fans — or more and better fans) aimed at your graphics card. CPUs and GPUs are designed to handle a fair amount of heat, but generally, keeping their temperatures lower should lead to greater longevity.
You can also consider getting some of the best thermal paste , and re-pasting your CPU for lower temperatures and better sustained performance, which should cost between $5 and $20. You could also consider disassembling and re-applying pads or paste to your graphics card. But if you don't have experience on that front, it's a much more involved job that involves disassembling your card. And unless your card is several years old or your model is prone to cooling issues, the pre-installed thermal paste on most graphics cards should be fine.
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Did you carry over your AIO cooler from a previous build? Replace it with a new model or a simpler air cooler.
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