PC Gaming

The Long Dark Interloper Guide

Last updated on August 9, 2019

The Long Dark interloper is quite possibly the toughest survival challenge you’ll ever face. I mean, there’s an achievement for surviving a single day on this difficulty. And those who survive are not the strongest or most intelligent, it’s those who adapt to change.

We’re not part of mother nature’s plan. We’re interlopers in this cursed, cold land, and we’re about to experience her wrath!

1: Priorities

First things first, if there is one huge difference between Interloper and the rest of the difficulties, then that would be the tools and weapons. In every other mode, you can look for hatches, knives, bows, rifles, and even pre-crafted bows with arrows.

This doesn’t happen in Interloper. Ever. You need to craft everything on your own. And for this reason, there are a few things that you must absolutely find and hold on to:

A heavy hammer
Coal
Scrap metal
Firestarters

Those are absolutely necessary for crafting all the tools and weapons that you’ll need for survival later on. So, your main priority upon starting is finding those ingredients and tools, holding on to them, and heading towards a forge.

Heavy hammers are most commonly found next to forges or crafting tables. Update: turns out that Interloper, unlike other difficulties, rarely ever drops hammers in forge areas. So, do keep that in mind.

Pieces of coal can mostly be found in caves or next to a fireplace, while scrap metal spawns all over the place. Obviously, scrap metal is much more scarce on Interloper.

You’ll also need a bit of wood to get a fire in the forge going. But, that’s the least of our worries here. Firestarters like matches are much more important to find as early as possible as they can help you with both food and water.

2: The Long Dark Interloper Guide: Starve To Death, But Don’t

For the first few days, every other game mode gives you enough food to survive easily for the next few weeks or so. Not Interloper, though. In-game loot is very rare and definitely not enough to keep you from starving. And that’s precisely what we’re going to do!

One very popular technique of dealing with the lack of food on Interloper is by not eating anything until you go to sleep. That’s because the lack of food doesn’t punish you nearly as much as not sleeping, not drinking water, or freezing.

You can spend the biggest part of the day without eating anything, losing a small percentage of condition, and then gaining it back at the end of the day with sleep.

Of course, there is the relatively new food buff mechanic which gives you extra capacity as a reward for continually avoiding starvation. But, my recommendation is to not think about it until you get your tools and weapons crafted.

When you first spawn on The Long Dark Interloper, a few pieces of cattail should be more than enough to get you through the night. Plenty of them can usually be found on lakes and rivers. So, do keep that in mind!

3: Navigation Is Key

As I’ve previously stressed on my “normal” guide for TLD, navigation is extremely important. It can make the difference between life and death and that’s especially true for Interloper playthroughs.

If you don’t know all the maps like the palm of your hand, then I’d suggest stopping here now, going back to something easier, learn the maps there, and then come back to Interloper.

The reason that navigation is so much more important here is because:

You don’t get to choose the map in which you’ll spawn
The weather is extremely deadly

That’s why most people never make it past day one. They commonly spawn somewhere in Timberwolf Mountain, Pleasant Valley, Hushed River Valley, or any other place with almost no shelters, and they freeze to death because they don’t know where to go.

How you navigate and where you go is completely up to you. But, do keep in mind that most people prefer using the landscape to tell where they are while Mystery Lake is generally considered to be the most favorable region. Quite possibly because it has lots of shelters while also being connected to numerous other regions at the same time.

4: Hunting

After you’ve crafted everything that’s necessary, hunting is the next big thing on the menu. And it works a bit differently on Interloper:

Don’t go after wolves and bears
If there are signs that bad weather is approaching, consider leaving the task for another time
Understand that your tools are extremely precious. Use them with care
Consider lighting up a fire next to you while harvesting a body

In other difficulties, going after predators isn’t a horrible idea. Bears provide enough food for numerous days while wolves can be taken down for safety. But, on Interloper, there’s the risk of intestinal parasites, and there’s also the fact that your tools are very precious.

You don’t want to waste arrows, bows, or knives and hatchets for no reason. After all, crafting can be tedious and even dangerous due to the distance that must be covered.

Then there’s also the weather. If you shoot your prey and a storm sneaks up on you, then you probably just lost a valuable arrow. So, be careful with that. A cloudy sky and small winds that get increasingly stronger are often an indication that things are about to get rough.

One other major difference between Interloper and other difficulties is that you can get mauled while harvesting a carcass. So, consider lighting up a fire next to you every time you want to harvest. This won’t save you from bears, but it will keep wolves at bay.

5: The Long Dark Interloper Tips: Adapt To The Situation At Hand

Now, when everything is said and done, do understand that TLD is a situational game. Even more so on Interloper which tries its hardest to kill you.

So, do keep everything that we’ve mentioned in mind. But, don’t follow everything by the letter. Judge every situation carefully and proceed to make the right decision for that particular situation.

For example, one very good point that one of my readers made on the last guide is that cold kills condition much faster than anything else. So, if you’re starving during the sunset with low condition and you don’t have food, then it makes sense to just abandon your prey since starvation won’t kill you as fast as cold, right? Wrong!

That’s precisely why I’m saying that TLD is a situational game. In the above case scenario, if you go to sleep starving with low condition, you’ll wake up to hunt in the coldest part of the day while being close to death.

So, the best idea would probably be to sleep for an hour or two until the storm goes away and then proceeding to hunt during the night. It’s not ideal. But, you gotta do whatever is necessary to survive.

The Long Dark Interloper Guide: Wrapping Up

That’s all I’ve got for now. Of course, if I were to mention every tiny detail that there is for Interloper mode, then we’d be here forever. So, I only mentioned everything above by taking into account the fact that you’re already familiar with the game.

If you’re relatively new and/or inexperienced, take it back a notch and play Voyager or Stalker until you’ve got a solid grasp of the maps and mechanics of the game. Also, consider reading my other guide which was made for your average player and not Interlopers.

As for those who are about to get started with the hardest difficulty of the game, here are some final The Long Dark Interloper tips for you:

Firestarters are a treasure here. Don’t use one unless you absolutely have to. It’s best to rely on the magnifying lens since it never breaks
When lighting a fire with a match, always prefer using a torch since you won’t have to waste a second match in case the fire doesn’t light up in the first try
After lighting up a fire, get as much meat and water as you can out of it to save up matches
Intestinal parasites are a massive pain in the butt. Try to stay away from predator meat
When it comes to avoiding cabin fever, a snow shelter is a much better solution than a bedroll. After all, as long as you tend to it regularly, you only need sticks to maintain it. Not to mention that it’s much warmer
Try not to use your tools unless you absolutely have to in order to keep them longer

My Gaming Rig:

Dark Souls 3 Bosses And How To Beat Them

Last updated on June 18, 2019

I just finished Dark Souls 3 for the 5th time and came to notice that all the Souls game are on sale. That explains the sudden rise in host of embers and the inexperienced invasions. So, I thought, these guys will probably have a rough time with some of the Dark Souls 3 bosses – why not make a guide to help them out? And here we are.

For now, I’m not going to include the DLC bosses. But, if you like this guide and want more, do let me know about it in the comments. Just don’t be surprised if I can’t reply because the comment system is more bugged than the remastered DS1 release for computers.

1: Ludex Gundyr

Luded Gyndyr is the first boss of the game and by far one of the easiest bosses in the whole DS franchise. If you’re new to the game and you’re getting your butt kicked by him, no need to worry. We’ve all been there.

It’s natural to feel intimidated by his long reach and destructive second form. But, remember, he is:

Very slow
Has ridiculously long recovery times
Can be parried
And is weak to fire

So, be brave. If you’re new to the series, do keep in mind that apart from timing, the dodging direction is very important as well. Try to get behind him as that slows him down a bit more and limits his moveset.

As for his second form, try to keep a bit of distance before dodging and counter-attacking as trying to identify his attacks up-close is a bit tough when he is so big.

2: Vordt of The Boreal Valley

Vordt is all around another easy boss. All you need to do is dodge around him and smack him in the butt. Not much that he can do about it.

Do be very careful of his second stage charge, though. It causes a lot of damage. His icy breath is something to look out for as well but it’s very slow and can easily be dodged. You can also use the time that he takes to cast it in order to safely deal massive amounts of damage.

He seems to be weak with lightning, but the Wiki page only mentions that he is weak only to melee and dark. So, go figure. Not like you’ll need that extra damage. But, just saying.

3: Curse-Rotted Greatwood

If you don’t know the secret to beating this boss then you’ll never manage to do it. But, it’s simple really. See these sacks that are hanging on his legs, back and crotch? That’s his weakness. Simply try to smash those without dying and you’ll be good to go.

Be careful of his middle hand while he is on his second form. If it grabs you it may result in instant death. And that’s all there is to it really. Curse-Rotted Greatwood is an optional boss. But, you’ll need him if you wish to turn the souls of bosses into items by relying on Ludleth.

4: Crystal Sage

The Crystal Sage can be a massive pain in the butt for Knight builds. Especially during the second stage where multiple clones come out.

Some people say that the best strategy is to take out the clones one by one before attacking the Sage, preferably by using knives. But, I personally found it easier to just rush straight into the boss and deal enough damage so that he’ll go away before the close have any time to do anything.

He is weak to pretty much everything except magic, fire, and dark. At this point, you can probably rely on the sword of Irithyll to deal extra frostbite damage.

This one seems like an optional boss, but he is not. You’ll need him later to progress through the Deacons of The Deep and thus through the rest of the game as well.

5: Deacons of The Deep

Find that one guy who has red LEDs
Beat him to a pulp
Repeat with the new guy
Done. Easy

That’s all there is to it with this boss. They can instantly kill you with their curse attack but if you move fast they won’t have time to do anything.

6: Dark Souls 3 Bosses: Abyss Watchers (Lord of Cinder)

The Abyss Watchers are the first real challenge on your path and the first Lord of Cinder. They are fast with small recovery times and big combos. Beating them is a bit of a challenge no matter what.

You can both parry and backstab them. But, I wouldn’t recommend the first choice. They are way too agile and not worth the risk. And since they are so fast, your best bet is probably dual wielding a relatively light weapon in order to take advantage of the low poise while having time to counter-attack as well.

On the first stage, you don’t have to fight everyone. Once a third watcher comes out, at least two of them will start fighting each other which gives you space to do whatever you want.

On the second stage, just be careful of the after-attack flames, dodge consistently, and you’ll be good to go. If it’s any help, they are weak to lightning and frost.

7: High Lord Wolnir

Wolnir is an easy one. Simply smash his bracelets and that’s all there is to it. Try doing it before all the skeletons spawn cause they are very frustrating and a pain to deal with.

Other than that, stay away from that smoke behind him and you’ll be good.

8: Old Demon King

Not much to say about this optional boss. Just dodge consistently, avoid his ranged attacks, and you’ll be good. He is weak to dark but it’s not like that will make a huge difference.

One thing that must be noted is that he is rather slow. So, you can take advantage of that to use a big and strong weapon if you can.

9: Pontiff Sulyvahn

Pontiff is where boys become men. His combos are insanely long and deal massive amounts of damage while he leaves very little room for fighting back.

Thankfully, you have the option of parrying most of his attacks. Most people say that this is where you learn to parry or you go home. But, honestly, I found parrying to be insanely tough with this guy. So, I just went with a lightweight sword, dodged consistently, and did as much damage as I could.

In his second form, he will spawn a clone of him which mirrors his attacks. At this point, he’ll start using ranged magic attacks as well – do be very careful with them as they deal massive damage.

Killing the clone is probably not worth it since another one will spawn shortly afterward anyway. Just focus on killing the main boss.

10: Dark Souls 3 Bosses: Aldrich, Devourer of Gods (Lord of Cinder)

As a Lord of Cinder, Aldrich can be a bit of a pain. He launches numerous attacks at once with the rain of arrows being by far the most dangerous one.

To avoid the arrows, run into zig-zag motions and not in a straight line. Also, try to keep your distance when he launches the arrows or leap behind him if you can since that’s a safe zone from them
The ranged blasts are highly destructive. Try to keep your distance where he fires them as that makes dodging easier
You can safely hit his tail while he is teleporting
Stay locked on while he fires his arrows as he can still attack you in the middle of the rain
Don’t be too scared of the fire in the second stage. It doesn’t deal a lot of damage

He ate my waifu, so I ended his laifu.

11: Dark Souls 3 Bosses: Yhorm The Giant (Lord of Cinder)

Yhorm is easy. You just need to know his weakness. Have you noticed the weapon that lies beside his throne? That’s what you need to bring him down.

All you need to do is fully charge it, aim at his head, fire, repeat. His second form is highly destructive. But, if you can dodge his attacks successfully then he really is the one of the easiest Dark Souls 3 bosses – especially if you consider that he is a Lord of Cinder.

12: Dancer of The Boreal Valley

Hands down one of the best fights in the game. The Dancer is insanely difficult not because of the destructive attacks, but because of just how unpredictable she is.

Compared to the rest of the bosses, she is moving at a much different pace with weird combos that are tough to memorize. But, once you do memorize them, that’s all you really need.

Do be very careful of the grab attack as it can kill you immediately – depending on how much you leveled up your health. Other than that, get your dodging game on point and you’ll be good to go.

If it helps you, she is weak to lightning and dark.

13: Oceiros, The Consumed King

I’ll never understand why so many people struggle with Oceiros. All I had to do was move behind him and smack him to oblivion. This technique got me through him numerous times almost always with the first try.

Just be careful with his second stage charges and you’ll be fine. Consider using a light weapon with fast attacks since he is moving a little bit unpredictably.

14: Champion Gundyr

Champion Gundyr is basically Ludex in his prime and we can safely assume that we’re fighting him on an alternate dimension/timeline. He is basically the same thing but with more combos, faster attacks, and much smaller openings than before.

All you need to do is memorize his moves and you should be good. You can parry him, but, good luck doing that with his fast attacks. I personally felt safer just dodging and counter-attacking.

Other than that, just keep a bit of distance when you want to drink an Estus cause he doesn’t give you a lot of room.

15: Dragonslayer Armour

This guy took the saying: “The best offense is a good defense!” a bit too literally. It’s shield bash after shield bash.

No special tactics are required in order to beat him. Just dodge, hit, dodge, hit. Be careful with the dragon attacks on the second stage, and that’s about it.

16: Dark Souls 3 Bosses: Twin Princes (Lord of Cinder)

Ever thought you’d feel good about beating a couple of cripples? Yeah, me neither. Darn you Dark Souls.

Beating the Twin Princes is easy. All you need to do is start predicting and avoiding the teleportations and you’re set for a victory. Other than that, careful with the ranged attacks as well.

Last, but not least, do keep in mind that you need to defeat both of the brothers in the second stage or Lorian will keep on getting revived time and time again. So, try hitting from behind.

17: Soul of Cinder

Soul of Cinder requires a ton of patience. His attacks may be easy to dodge, but they deal a lot of damage.

It’s best to attack him while he is on mage form. Especially while he is casting soul stream which leaves him wide open. If you don’t feel comfortable fighting him in the other forms, there’s nothing wrong with holding back till he switches.

As for the second form, just try to stay away from the massive combo which can kill you instantly and the grab. You can tell when he is about to launch the combo since he is taking a ton of time to begin.

The lightning attacks may be intimidating. But, if you stay calm, keep your distance, and dodge correctly then there’s nothing to worry about.

18: Ancient Wyvern

Climb to the top of the wooden platform, move over where the pre-installed messages are, then jump down and kill him with a plunging attack. Probably one of the most boring fights ever.

19: Nameless King

One of the toughest bosses ever. The reason that Nameless King is so tough isn’t because he has a variety of moves or anything. It’s because he deals so much damage and leaves very little to no room for healing.

If you manage to learn his moves and dodge accurately, then he immediately becomes an easy boss. The hard part is gathering the patience to get through him because it’s such a long fight.

He is weak to fire and dark. But, again, those don’t make a huge difference anyway. Again, I’d recommend using a fast weapon because a single mistake can cost you more than half of your life.

That’s all for now. Sorry for the short tips but the list is a bit too long to get into detailed descriptions.

Personal Setup:

Gamepad: GameSir G3s Headset: HyperX Cloud 2 CPU: Ryzen 5 2600 GPU: GTX 1060 6GB RAM: 16GB DDR4

Recommended Specs:

Gamepad: GameSir G4s Headset: Anything will do
CPU: Ryzen 3/Core i3 GPU: GTX 1660/RX 570 RAM: 8GB DDR4

The Long Dark Tips: Survival Guide

Last updated on May 30, 2019

The Long Dark’s permadeath mechanic makes it a truly unforgiving game – especially towards newcomers. All you need is one wrong move and you’ll be forced to start a new playthrough all over again. For this reason, as someone who has more than 200 hours into the game and more than 300 days of survival on a single playthrough (ongoing), I decided to give you a few The Long Dark tips that will help you survive for one more day – or a hundred… Depending on how vigilant you are.

That being said, those tips aren’t necessarily meant to be read only by beginners. Even as a veteran player, you may be able to learn a thing or two. So, let’s dig right into it!

The Long Dark Tips 1: Navigation is Important

Navigation is an extremely important aspect of survival that lots of people neglect. In a world where blizzards can kill you in a handful of ways and the weather is changing from totally fine to a death trap in mere moments, knowing how to navigate means the difference between life and death.

As we all know, there are no maps, a compass, or any means of “normal” navigation in this game. And although you can spend time and effort into drawing your own map, I’d recommend against it since it wastes precious time and puts you at risk of getting hurt without getting much in return.

So, how do we do it then? Well, while each player has his own way of understanding the game’s world, there are primarily two ways of navigating in this game:

Using the landscape
Natural game-sense

Using The Landscape

The first way is the easiest to understand. You simply need to look for visual or even aural cues into the surrounding environment that will help you understand where you are and where you are heading.

Those cues can be anything from mountains and buildings to the location of the Sun and the sound of a rushing river. Take Desolation Point as an example.

The lighthouse is visible from a big part of the map. So, it makes for a good reference point. Speaking of which, make it a habit to always know where your nearest shelter is relative to your position. Because when a blizzard kicks in, you won’t be able to see a thing.

As mentioned in the beginning, you can also use the overall landscape, position of the sun, the surrounding sounds, or whatever makes you feel more comfortable. It’s a matter of personal preference.

Natural Game-Sense/Navigation

There is not much to say about this one. Natural navigation is just that – natural. Most people gain it naturally by playing the game, learning the world around them piece by piece, and thus they know where they are at any given point.

However, this is only useful if you’re venturing into explored areas. If you’re still exploring the maps, then it’s pretty much useless. Still, do try to learn the maps as you play. It’ll make your future playthroughs 10 times easier.

The Long Dark Tips 2: Manage Your Resources

The Long Dark doesn’t give you a lot of room for carrying stuff. There are more than 60kg of equipment that you can use but you can only carry 30 or 35 if you’re well fed and 40 if you’re both well fed and have the carrying satchel.

So, you do need to leave some stuff behind and for that reason, you need to learn how to manage your resources. Again, each player has his own way of managing resources – different playstyles and everything. So, even though I can give you a few tips now, you’ll need to develop your own personal style over time.

Personal Setup/Sample

From category to category, this is what I normally carry:

Firewood: Little next to nothing. Usually only matches. There is a lot of firewood everywhere along with sticks, crates, etc.
Meds: A little bit of everything. They are very lightweight and can make the difference between life and death when you’re injured.
Clothing: A mix of crafted stuff and “normal” clothing for the ultimate balance between mobility and warmth. Bear’s coat is a must.
Food: 2 liters of water and maybe enough food for a day while traveling or in case of emergency. Sometimes little pieces of meat for bait.
Tools: Two empty cans for boiling water, a knife for quick harvesting, hatchet for protection and chopping wood, sewer for clothing, whetstone for sharpening, and a flare or torch for crossing caves or protection against wolves. A bow and a couple of arrows is usually the best weapon choice.
Materials: Usually a few pieces of cloth and leather for repairing clothing.

This setup is usually enough for surviving while also leaving enough room for carrying meat when you’re out hunting. It will definitely carry you as a beginner. But, you’ll want to adjust it to fit your own style as you progress through the game.

The Long Dark Tips 3: Set Up A Base And Be Efficient

First of all, set up a base. You don’t need to stay there or anything. But, have a place, two, three or however many you want where you can gather extra tools, food, meds, anything that may come in handy that you can’t carry around all the time. This way, you’ll know where to find meds when you run out. You know where there is food when your hunt didn’t go as expected.

Other than that, be efficient and learn how to prioritize. Time isn’t just money. Time can make the difference between having food, water, or the necessary tools available to you, the difference between being stuck into a blizzard and arriving safely to shelter, etc.

Your time is important. So, don’t waste it! Multitask! While you’re waiting for water to boil, meat to cook, a storm to pass, don’t just sit there twiddling your fingers. Use that time to repair your clothing, read a book, craft something, maintain your tools.

The Long Dark Tips 4: Prioritize

And that brings us to the last point: prioritization – it’s definitely one of the best The Long Dark tips that I can give you. This is a game that relies heavily on choices. Both in real-life and in-game, you don’t always have the luxury of choosing between right and wrong. Sometimes you only have two bad choices and you need to decide which one is the worst.

You may find yourself in such situations more often than you may think. So, prioritize. For example, it’s nighttime, lots of things happened and you couldn’t get food for the day. You just ate your last provisions so you need to go out hunting – despite being tired.

Then you see the deer. You pull out your bow, ready to fire, and a blizzard kicks in. What do you do? Keep on hunting despite the cold and darkness? Go to sleep and leave it for the morning? Hide and wait for the storm to pass?

In this situation, no matter which way you go, you’ll put yourself into a difficult situation – each one with pros and cons. And each one with its own chances of something going horribly wrong. So, learn to prioritize what you need the most. In that example: is it food? Rest? Warmth? The answer will differ from player to player and the exact situation.

Extra Tips

Leave cooked meat outside. It loses condition much slower.
Try to avoid wearing out your tools and fire-starters for surviving longer. Ex: use a magnifying lens instead of matches, harvest with your hands instead of a knife, smash furniture and pick up sticks instead of chopping wood with the hatchet, etc.
Use a headsetto locate wildlife with sound.
Open your ears. Sit still every now and then and listen for the footsteps of a bear, the howling of wolves, etc.
Stay calm. Fear and anger can mud your thoughts.
Understand the risk and reward ratio. Do you really need to hunt down that bear? Is it really necessary to carry that extra gear which slows you down and puts you at risk of spraining? Understand how much you may lose and what you may get in return.
Learn how to hunt. Bad weather can erase the footsteps of animals, cover blood tracks, and prevent crows from gathering above a corpse. All of which make tracking very tough.
Stop being a scaredy cat. If you camp indoors all the time, not only you won’t be able to get equipment which will save your life later on, but you’ll also develop cabin fever which can be the death of you if it catches you unprepared.
Plan ahead. The Long Dark rewards those who are living in the future.
Always assume the worst. Especially when you’re traveling. This is not a world for the optimistic.

Minor Tips For Longevity

Conserve your fire starters. Every time you light a fire, cook as much meat and melt as much water as you can.
Careful with the ammo. If you’re using the rifle and/or the revolver, do understand that ammo is scarce and limited. One bullet should be enough to take out most targets with a couple of exceptions.
Bears are not afraid of fire or rifles. Only a revolver or a distress pistol has a chance of temporarily stopping a bear charge.
Do NOT run away from wolves. They smell fear and weakness. Keep your eyes on them and only run once you’re out of sight.
Make sure that every time you light a fire outdoors, it’s covered from the wind. Try to make it so that the wind can’t get at it no matter what.
Blizzards can damage your clothing. Just because your clothes are warm enough to withstand the cold, doesn’t mean that you should sit and “chill” outside.
Do not forget to clean your rifle and maintain your tools. You don’t want to experience a jam while a bear is charging at you.
Don’t walk on steep surfaces unless you absolutely have to or you’re risking getting a sprain
Choose a snow shelter over a bedroll. It only asks for a few pieces of cloth once and then you can maintain with sticks after that. Not to mention that it’s much warmer.
Extreme draw distances will kill your performance/stress your GPU without making any difference. Turn them down to where you actually see a difference. (PC only)

Conclusion

When it comes to The Long Dark tips, that’s all we’ve got for now. Feel free to let me know about your tips in the comments section.

My Specs:

Recommended Specs:

How Long Do Computers Last? + Tips

Last updated on May 24, 2019

So, you just got that brand new PC; or maybe your old one is getting a little bit old and you can’t help but ask yourself: “How long do computers last really and what can we do to improve their overall lifespan?”. We’ve got the answers to that and they may be a bit more complicated than you may think. But, no need to worry. We’ll make it as simple to understand as possible – even if you’re not a tech-savvy person.

With all of that being said, let’so move on with the article!

How Long Do Computers Last? The Short Answer

If you just want a quick answer without getting into technical details, well, you can expect your average PC to last about 3-5 years with laptops being closer to the 3-year mark. There are lots of factors that will determine the lifespan of your PC. But, even without touching anything, you can expect at least 3 years – assuming that nothing goes horribly wrong, like a local lightning strike or whatever.

With that being said, most of the time, computers don’t just completely die. Chances are that you’ll be able to have someone repair your PC and it’ll keep on working after the 5-year mark like nothing ever happened. Assuming, of course, that your hardware isn’t getting too old for new software. But, that’s an entirely different matter.

Laptops will generally die sooner and repairing them is both harder and more expensive. That’s due to the fact that most of them overheat way too easily and are not meant to be upgraded.

So, there you have it. If you don’t want any technical details, that’s your answer. 3-5 years is the average lifespan that you should get out of a PC. That lifespan can greatly vary depending on various factors including how well you’re taking care of the computer. If you care about such things, then keep on reading!

How Long Do Computers Last? The Long Answer

The real answer is a bit more complicated. You see, a computer isn’t a single unit – it is working with numerous individual parts which are operating together in order to make one full unit.

So, when your PC finally decides to give up on you, it’s not actually the whole PC that gives up on you, but only one part – HDDs are usually dying before anything else. If you replace that broken part, your computer will be back and working in no time. That is unless your power supply died and took everything with it. But, more on that later.

At the end of the day, depending on how much you know about computers (Or how much you’re willing to learn), how well you take care of your unit, and how lucky you are, a desktop build may as well last forever.

Laptops, on the other hand, are a different story. Not only they run much hotter, which shortens the lifespan of your components, but they often hard or impossible to fix and/or upgrade in case that something goes wrong.

For example, if your motherboard decides to give up on you on a laptop, then you may as well throw it out the window and get a new one. While on a desktop, all you need to do is get a new one and put your old components into it.

So, generally speaking, laptops don’t last as long as desktops. Chances are that you will be able to replace a faulty drive or RAM module. But, even then, it’s not going to be easy.

And with all of that being said, what can we do to improve the lifespan of our computers? Well, let’s find out!

1: Do NOT Cheap Out On Your PSU

Your power supply is one of the most important parts, if not the most important. Because if you’ve got a bad quality PSU and it decides to give up on you, then there is a small chance that it will also destroy the rest of your components.

So, by cheaping out on your PSU, you’re essentially putting at risk hundreds or even thousands of dollars just to save 30-50 bucks. I don’t know about you, but that sounds insane and unreasonable to me.

That being said, if you have a crappy power supply, do seriously consider upgrading. It may save the life of your whole build. And while we’re at it, don’t forget that power supplies wear out with time. It’s kind of good practice to replace your PSU every few years – just to be safe.

If you don’t know which power supply to get, you can find a list of reliable power supplies on the Linus tech tips forum. Based on that and numerous positive Amazon reviews, we can safely recommend the Corsair TXM 650. It’s one of the best mid-range PSUs and it should serve the vast majority of users out there without any issues.

In case that you have a very beefy PC, you may want to consider something with a higher wattage. But, most of us don’t need more than 300 to 500 watts – never mind 650.

Bonus tip: head to the local store and ask for a UPS. They can supply your PC with power in case of a power outage which can be a lifesaver for your drives or even your PSU and build.

Laptop users don’t really have to worry about that. After all, most laptops, if not all, come with their own proprietary power supplies and using 3rd party choices isn’t really recommended. Not to mention with their own battery.

Get the Corsair TXM 650 from Amazon

2: Stay Cool

Computers really don’t like heat. It’s not like a hot running PC will instantly die once it gets hot. But, heat is definitely something that will shorten your CPU, GPU, or even motherboard and PSU lifespan over the course of time.

One of the easiest ways to cool down your computer is by having a case with lots of intake and exhaust fans as that increases the overall airflow which brings down the temperatures. If your case doesn’t have room for fans, get something like the Thermaltake V200. It comes with 4 pre-installed fans and has room for 2 more on the top. Not to mention that it’s relatively cheap. So, when it comes to cooling? Hard to go wrong with it.

That being said, don’t forget about your CPU cooler as well. That can make a huge difference in cooling and stock coolers will usually leave a lot to be desired – especially if you’re into overclocking. Now, there are various choices out there for each individual CPU. So, you’ll have to make your own research on that one.

However, that’s not to say that there aren’t universal solutions. The Deepcool Gammaxx is a CPU cooler that works with most mainstream sockets and provides adequate cooling. So, do check it out.

While we’re at it, you can also try replacing your CPU’s thermal paste every few years. Sometimes it kinda dries out which brings the temperatures up.

We haven’t forgotten about you, laptop users. An easy way to ensure that your laptop isn’t overheating more often than you’d like to is to place it on solid surfaces for increased airflow and/or using a cooling pad.

If that’s not enough for you, then you can go all out and get an external cooler which sucks, quite literally, air directly out of your CPU pipe. This is definitely a bit more inconvenient and often noisy but it can make a huge difference in temperatures. Or at least it did for us.

3: Keep it Clean

Accumulated dust can completely ruin your airflow and it makes it easier for your components to overheat. So, it’s highly recommended to use a case with good dust filtering and to clean your PC every now and then.

Using compressed air cans is a very cheap and easy way to get rid of accumulated dust. You should be able to find plenty of options at your local store. Amazon doesn’t seem to give any valid options. So, heading out seems to be your only choice for this one.

There is no set frequency to cleaning your PC. But, why don’t you take a look every month or so? Taking off the side panel is a breeze with most cases. So, it’s not like you have much to lose.

This is much tougher on laptops since you can’t really put a different case to it and getting access to the innards of a laptop is several times tougher and riskier than simply taking the side panel off a desktop. So, before opening up your laptop, check out a YouTube tutorial for your specific model just to make sure that you’re not going to rip-off a cable or something.

Pro tip for laptops: if you’ve got an HDD in your laptop, do NOT move it while it’s powered on. Like, not even from couch to couch or shaking it.

Put it to sleep or turn it off, and then go on your way. The reason being that HDDs have mechanical parts that are moving at very high speeds and there is a small chance that you’ll damage them if you move while they are powered on.

How Long Do Computers Last? Conclusion

So, to summarize, desktops can last about 3-5 years with little to no maintenance while most laptops are flirting with the 3-year mark before having to ask for repairs.

If you take good care of your computer, then there is a good chance that it’ll last forever with minor upgrades and repairs that need to be made every few years. Laptops are a little bit more prone to dying. But, again, do take good care of your machine and it’ll last you so long that you’ll have to upgrade to a faster model before it comes close to dying.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m well aware that some computers have managed to live for more than a decade. In fact, I’ve got a Pentium 4 desktop which is probably half my age and it still works. Still, we’re only talking about the average user here along with the odds of something going wrong. And the truth is that most HDDs and PSUs won’t live for more than 5 years before starting to show signs of wear and/or completely giving up on you.

If you liked this article then don’t forget to share it with your friends. Feel free to come back for more tech tips as we’re usually posting one new article every day.

In case we forgot something important, then don’t forget to let us and everyone else know about it in the comments section. Speaking of comments, feel free to ask any questions if you need anything and we’ll be happy to help.