@HoloDust I saw your initial response and want to clarify. I’m looking for a set up which can be reasonably upgraded over the next ten years, and handle all upgrades. I’m not looking for a one-time purchase to last a decade, I don’t think $1,500 would be anywhere near enough to reach that target.

Also, all: I’ll read through everything that has been suggested sometime today hopefully… My ultimate goal is to have a system that can serve as a substitute for my Steam Deck (which I use for emulation), PS5 (which I use for technically demanding games), and Xbox (which I also use for some performance boosts, e.g. Sonic Unleashed). My target FPS for current times would be 120fps on non-demanding games (e.g. PS1, SNES, etc.) if possible(?) and 4k as well. For non-demanding games, I’m aiming for at least 60fps on almost anything as well as anything at or above 1440p.

I am not sure what the purchasing power of a $1500 would net you in the USA...

But I would be targeting:
* Ryzen 9800X3D. - (I would personally go with the 9950X for the extra Cores/Threads)
* 32GB DDR5 Ram.
* 1440P 120-144hz-160hz quality VA monitor. (IPS has IPS glow, looks crap in high contrast games.)

Then buy whatever mainstream GPU you want like a Radeon 9060XT 16GB or Geforce 5060Ti and just upgrade that every few years... I always invest in high-end CPU's and memory configurations (But I do more than game) and just upgrade the GPU once it starts to struggle... Or I can get more than 2x the performance.

Okay then, switch out the 7600X for a 7700X and the 9070XT for a 9070 non-XT and we'll be at $1485, $1512 with a 9700X. Going anywhere higher with the CPU would break the budget unless going for a 9060XT, and I feel that's just too much of a tradeoff.

Let me guess, venerable Matrox Marvel G200, with that nice breakout box? I didn't have one, but my buddy had.

Yeah, I understood, just wanted to stress that no matter the budget, you can't make PC right now that will last you comfortably 10 years (emphasis on comfortably from your original post).

Though, I did maybe misunderstood that you want to upgrade as seldom as possible, and that's why I suggested that you go with really good CPU that can last you for very long time, since GPU situation currently is very...how should I put it...rubbish, if you want it to last for quite a while.

Don't get me wrong, there are good GPUs out there, but in 2 years, at THE most, there's somewhat of paradigm shift in GPUs, both from nVidia and AMD, with all the neural thingies coming up, and none of the current GPUs, no matter the cost, has those features. Some of them will be able to brute force some of the future workloads, but those in the high end are simply not worth it overall, unless you have a lot of money to spend now, and don't mind spending same amount of money in 2-3 years again.

But going mid way is certainly valid option as well, descent CPU with beefier GPU, and then replace them both in their due time. In that case, even something like 9600X for CPU will serve the purpose.

EDIT: I almost forgot - for future compatibility and upgradability, AMD is usual CPU choice, since they tend to support their sockets for long time. That said, not all AM5 chipsets are equal, and as the main component of the whole system, motherboard is something that you want to be in your computer for its whole life, so my recommendation would be to go with either X670E or X870E chipset, for they have PCIe 5.0 support, as well as 20 usable lanes from chipset (X870E also has mandatory USB4 through USB-C).

I had an NVidea Riva AGP card at the time. Can't remember which one though, 128 or TNT. I do remember I bought a more expensive version with S-Video in capture. Maybe the TV capture was separate, I can't remember. I know it was not on the standard card, paid extra for the video in. But it didn't have a tuner, I used my S-VHS recorder for that and my Amp, Yamaha DSP-AX1 at the time, S-VHS out.

Ah the days before HDMI took over

At one point I had most of those connections in use lol. So many cables between PC, DVD, S-VHS, Laserdisc, Projector, TV, MSX, PS1, Dreamcast, N64. I labelled them all to keep track.

I also used it to make timelapse videos. Digital camera connected to the PC with a capture program that would add a frame every time you pressed the button. So I made a little program to press that button at set intervals (sending a windows mouse click basically) to make smooth accelerating and decelerating timelapse videos of traffic, clouds and airplanes. (I happened to live on the 12th floor right under the landing route and on a clear night could see 5+ planes lined up coming in)

The benefits of living alone in a one bedroom apartment at the time, everything close together. 

1) The sole purpose of the PC will be for gaming. Microsoft Word is the most demanding non-gaming application I would use on this system.

Could you elaborate? What do you mean by this? RGB referring to something with the monitor or the PC itself?

I am not interested in Xbox PC nor any prebuilt PC, unfortunately. Plus, seeing how ROG X has come out to be an underperforming $1,000 handheld, I wouldn’t take that risk regardless.

Alright… I’m now caught up on all suggestions. Now I need to research everything suggested, which may take a minute. I’ll be back soon. Thanks again all!!

The only way to keep a gaming pc for 9 years is to know the playstation 6 specs then build a pc that can handle it, so you can play games for the 7 years gen cycle + 2 years with cross gen games.

Just wait and play games you like on playstation 5.

There isn’t a PC I could merely upgrade the GPU(?) of to get PS6 games performing decently smooth? Can others confirm or deny? I’m not a fan of playing the “wait two years for next gen” because that’ll turn into “wait two years for it to not cost an arm and a leg.” This PC at the 2025-purchased should last me at least through the first few years of PS6.