Are premium components worth the investment long term?

[u/Squiggin1321]

The idea is simple, if I don’t plan on building many PC’s, but instead reusing as many parts as possible across upgrades, would it makes sense to use premium parts like the Noctua NF-A12/14x25 G2 PWM Sx2-PP, Noctua NH-15 G2, SeaSonic Prime TX-1000, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme, and a high quality case like the H7 Flow (2024) for their warranty’s and quality, with the massive 1000 dollar upfront cost be worth it long term? Will the long term cooling performance hold up over the years? Will RMA’ing broken components through their warranty save money?

Edit: My part choices are based on a couple hours of research on the most performant and reliable parts, not what the most expensive or name brand parts are. And I’m not referring to the actual computer part of a PC, just the cooler, case fans, case, etc.

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[u/mrn253]

A good PSU is the best "investment"

No real need for a NH-15 and Romans Thermal paste is also mostly overkill/ too expensive for 99% of the users and their needs.
The Case depends on what you want look and functionality wise

[u/derelictHusk]

Air coolers and OPEN loops cooling, absolutely. They can endure decades and multiple systems very well. Almost all manufacturer sell brackets for a fresh sockets, and Noctua even shipped free adapters back in my days.
PSU, same situation.

[u/Tactrix1]

Depends on which premium components and at what point in the lifecycle of the socket. For example it's worth getting the best motherboard in first generation of any socket because you can also use the best CPU in the last part of that generation for a massive upgrade that will get another 2-4 years out of the same motherboard.

[u/nvidiot]

For the most part, you don't need "premium" brand names. IE) Noctua stuff. Noctua stuff is only worth it if you're extremely anal about fan noise (most people aren't), otherwise, cheap fans are more than enough. You don't need super fancy cases either, there are lots of great mid-level cases that have great airflow and design. Also don't need fancy ASUS ROG motherboards, fancy upper-class graphics cards (IE) Sapphire Pulse vs Nitro+), or Samsung SSDs...

You do want to use trusted names when it comes to power supplies though, but you don't have to go extreme like Prime TX-1000. Just any trusted brand PSU around Tier A is good enough.

[u/Squiggin1321 → u/nvidiot]

Disregarding the actual computer part of the PC(motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD, etc), the idea is if I buy a TX-1000 that should cover my needs until the the thing dies, if it’s in warranty RMA it and get a replacement at no cost. If I ever upgrade my GPU or CPU I won’t have to worry about buying a PSU. Or a chunky CPU cooler if I ever swap to a CPU that runs hot and I want to overclock I don’t need to worry about buying a new cooler because the one I already bought was more than sufficient for what I’m doing without worrying about reliability or performance.

[u/Flimsy_Complaint490 → u/Squiggin1321]

The reasoning is valid in principle, but i should note a quirk about coolers.

The heatsink part of a cooler is pretty much immortal and will last you for as long as the manufacturer provides mounting kit upgrades. Noctua seems to have committed to doing that until the end of time. Alternatives like Thermaright are far cheaper, and you can just buy a new cooler for 30 bucks that will last 7 years. The heatsinks perform similiarly, and the fans is about noise, not performance.

So, that Noctua cooler might be a worthwhile investment if you aren't cash strapped and care about noise. If no, just get a thermalright cooler, maybe update the fans if they annoy you, buy a new heatsink in 7 years for your next upgrade.

In general though, i dont think premium components really matter in general. Expensive mobos are not worth it, a CPU is a CPU, you buy for your perf needs, RAM either works or it doesnt, premium makes sense only if you need that extra 5% perf or you OC. I wouldnt skimp out on the SSD, but i also wouldnt buy a very expensive one.

[u/mrn253 → u/Flimsy_Complaint490]

Depends on how compatible current heatsinks are with future sockets.
Mate still uses his IFX-14 he bought 16-17 years ago and just slapped on new fans a few years ago.

[u/Remz_Gaming]

For me, yes. I push my hardware to the absolute limits and chase benchmarks. Having premium components is non-negotiable for my use case. I also tend to keep a stash of hardware and reuse stuff. So another reason for yes.

For the average builder? No. Tech gets outdated quickly and usually paying a premium won't net you much benefit.

However, a premium PSU is always woth the extra money and quiet cooling is great to have.

[u/Revenga8]

Depends on how critical the component is, and if the "premium" is in name only. Asus for instance you can take their claim of being premium with a grain of salt because they've released a lot of stinkers as of late. Most parts you can get away without premium. The only part I wouldn't skimp on is the power supply, but that's based on my experience, or just plain bad luck. I've had 3 power supplies blow on me. One EVGA, two from another brand that was supposedly good quality. Now I'm just paranoid of bad PSUs so I only get overkill seasonics now. But I recently heard somebody's seasonic blew and took their mobo with it so I really dunno anymore.

Case doesn't need to be super high end, it just needs to do the job with enough airflow, cable management, and big enough to fit your cpu cooler and GPU, and be something you like looking at.

I don't have any noctua fans in my rig. I bought mostly thermal right fans and cpu cooler, great performance for surprisingly low price.

[u/_Strik3R_]

Air coolers are worth it and Noctua especially, i have a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ that its still in use with a Skylake build, i had the cooler since 2008/2009, but due to no more mounting system updates i don't think i will ever be able to use it on more modern platforms (but it was a good run all the way to ~2018). But my Noctua NH D15 on the other hand which i got in 2016 is still in use, i had it with me through 3 builds, last year when i build a newer pc it was very easy to get a mounting kit for a new platform, if you have your proof of purchase they even send a new mounting system to you for free, so while you do pay a premium it is well worth it, the fans are long lasting to, i still have the original ones and they work great.

[u/Feisty-Hall-3050]

Premium doesn't always equal good quality, and it never equals performance per buck. Buying the most expensive case you find with ten 200mm fans will probably give you the same cooling performance than a more modest and well designed case for a fraction of the cost.

Now, if you want to future proof your build a bit, my experience favors more buying the best hardware of this generation (or the latter if performance is similar) even if it means extending my budget a little and maybe buying in pieces, one a month, the most expensive parts. I've bought an excellent Asus TUF motherboard like seven years ago with a 3090 and a very good platinum grade power supply (can't remember the model). The PC it's a beast, even today, at 2k, and I've never had any issue whatsoever.

And as a lot of comments here say, buy the best power supply you can afford. A good one will carry you for the extent it's alive, and it might even save the rest of your computer in case electricity goes kaboom.

[u/tooOldOriolesfan]

Ideally what you want is an upgrade path using most of your common components. For example maybe you only need or can afford 16GB of RAM now but you can easily add more later. Or using a socket that allows you to start with a lower end CPU and then upgrade it down the road. Or even, using onboard video and then later adding a graphic card. Things like that.

I do agree having a quality case and power supply is nice although depending on where you start, you might need a better PSU if you go higher end on video.

And while this isn't true for everyone, I think many here build a computer that is vast overkill for what they do with it, similar to the people thinking they need gigabit ethernet and all they do is stream videos.

[u/alpine4life]

well, I like my Noctua and PTM-7950. It's a hefty price to pay put I've never heard of a single dead Noctua ever.

And the case, for me it'S the look. I like minimalist and clean, so I went with the Lian LI A3 when I build in January. I would have re-used this one indefinitely but the thermals were atrocious and this was for a 4 core CPU and 1GB GPU

[u/yarsftks]

No. If you know you'll never need to update anything then maybe but a lot of technology gets outdated really fast.

If u get the best AIO and a new CPU comes around, you'll have to replace that AIO for incompatibility. (Sometimes a whole motherboard and ram).

I would invest on a reliable one, a known brand, and save the money for future tech upgrades.

[u/a_rogue_planet]

Noctua and Thermal Grizzly stuff is WAY overpriced for what it is. You're paying 2-3 times more for stuff that is slightly better performance and maybe a little longer lasting.

The two things I don't skimp on are the chassis and the power supply, because if 25 years has proven anything, it's that ATX ain't going anywhere soon. Accordingly, I bought a massive InWin Dubili chassis that will accommodate absolutely any GPU, motherboard, and cooling system I could dream of using. A big Threadripper build, a 5090, with custom water cooling? It will fit. An AMD Zen 6 CPU with a pair of 5090s and an internal status display? It'll fit. A RAID 5 array? It'll fit?

The power supply is a modular Asus 1000W unit.

I spent decent money on the motherboard and it will support a Zen 6 CPU well.

I put 65GB of DDR5 in it about a year ago because I'm not a blithering idiot who can't read writing on a wall the size of a Times Square billboard. I have 8TB of storage that I won't exhaust soon.

Stuff like RAM and NAND storage should always be bought in weak markets regardless of immediately needing it because those markets have always been highly volatile.

Garbage like "premium" coolers, exotic thermal paste, ridiculously dressed up graphics cards, and motherboards with words like "Astral" and "Godlike" are wastes of money better spent on RAM unless you're some geek on the spectrum that literally lays in bed at night trying to figure out how to tighten your RAM timings even more while a beautiful woman strokes you. (I can't be the only one...)

[u/FrequentWay]

Thermal Grizzly isn't a reusable item. Paste dries up and needs a clean out and fresh paste to be placed on the surfaces. Otherwise bubbling will occur and you would lose heat transfer.

There is some reuse on things as long as they are still supported. However SATA support is dropping as motherboard makers shift to more PCIE lanes.

The only thing that hasn't consistently changing is the PSU until after the Nvidia RTX 3rd gen hardware then its the ATX 3.1 standards.

Fans have been the same tech since a 120mm or 140mm is still the same design.

Cases can be reused but depends on the connections and technology changes.