My next computer build: Part 5 (Future Proofing)

Can you future proof your computer build? If you ask a computer nerd of the vitamin D deficient basement dwelling variety, you will often get a snarky response that goes something like this: "For the bazillionth time, NO!" On the other hand, if you ask someone who is both knowledgeable and a civilized surface dweller, you will get a response that goes something like this: "While it is impossible to completely 'future proof' a computer build, it's complete lunacy not to give some consideration to mitigating future compatibility issues. You have to do your homework." Thank you, wise, gentle and conventionally pigmented computer nerd, for your reasoned and informative response.

I think I'm doing okay, so far, but what about the motherboard and CPU? Intel's Haswell reviews have been slightly disappointing as far as this desktop build goes, but I think that's due more to inflated expectations rather than the actual performance of the CPU. I had hoped it would have more headroom for overclocking on air than it appears to have. That's OK. I wasn't planning on doing any crazy overclocking (probably just bump up the multipliers to 42 and see what happens) and the real jury is still out. The so-called "expert" reviews from monetized websites are one thing, but I want to see more end user comments from the enthusiasts. There are other good reasons to wait a little while longer too. Namely, Kaveri.

There are a lot of rumors swirling about Kaveri and the FM2+ socket. Some include DDR4 compatibility. AMD doesn't get as much love as Intel, but an overclockable APU with superior graphics and DDR4 capabilities would be a boon for AMD and help take the wind out of the sails (and sales) of Intel's upcoming Broadwell launch next year.

Intel has announced that socket 1150 will be compatible with Broadwell and the 2011 socket will still be a viable option through at least 2015, but, seriously, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by being disciplined and waiting a few months for Kaveri to launch. It might not pan out. So what? It will just give me that much more information from Haswell end-users about any bugs that may not have been picked up on yet. Enthusiastic overclockers will undoubtedly try some crazy stuff the engineers didn't even think about and some of it is bound to yield useful information.

Again, those snarky basement dwellers will say that if you wait on the next big thing to be launched, you will never finish your build because there will always be another next big thing just around the corner...yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I get it, but I don't think the next couple of months is going to see any imminent earth shattering motherboard or processor news. If I'm wrong, I still haven't lost anything with the exception of possibly losing the ability to RMA one of the products sitting in my closet that could be, unbeknownst to me, DOA.

In the meantime, I'll squirrel away some more money and I'll keep an eye out for exceptional sales on the 4770k and the Z87 Sabertooth or Maximus VI Hero because it would be my luck, since I mouthed off, that Intel would announce DDR4 capabilities with the launch of Broadwell. It's always good to  temper a hair trigger by keeping some options open if you can. Let the waffle dance begin.

Maybe this will give me the impetus to write about something more important than this decidedly insignificant computer build.