techsoldier
Thanks guys. I think I'm looking at this very close to how you guys are. I'm actually considering picking up a good used bundle 2021 MB/CPU then slapping in a 3060ti and calling it done. I would think it should last me a good while and allow me to play recent games and run win11 when it comes time. Might put me around $1k but I figure if it bought me about the same amount of time I've had this computer setup, that's relatively cheap.
That's generally my personal PC building philosophy. Spend a bit more for the high end, then just hold onto it forever. A modern CPU today would be good for a decade easily, so would the board and RAM and SSD. Practically the only thing that would need an upgrade is the GPU, but I'm still using my five year old 1080 Ti and am happy enough with it that I will take my time seeing what the GPU market shapes out next year.
A 3060 Ti will outperform a 1080 Ti while the 3060 would not, so I would definitely recommend the 3060 Ti route for you. You don't want to be spending $500 on a GPU but still be getting five year old performance. You might also keep an eye on ebay for brand-new unopened EVGA 3060 TI cards, scalpers are still unloading unopened cards there for less than what they're going for in EVGA's store right now (especially after taxes). Non-refurb/non-OEM EVGA cards carry a 3 year warranty from the date of manufacture.