My friend is buying a gaming rig and putting it together himself and he has told me the parts he is using. I want to know how long he will be able to run games like Crysis, ARMA III and BF3 on ultra with smooth FPS. These are the componants.
CPU: i5 2500k
RAM: 8GB 1333 (didnt name a brand)
Motherboard: Didnt specify but probably an ASUS one.
PSU: HX 650
GPU: Radeon 7770 1Gb
HDD: WD Blue Caviar 1TB
SDD: 120GB did not specify brand name but most likely Samsung 840
I suggested a better setup, which when priced was about the same price. This is what I suggested http://pcpartpicker.com/user/INKY8U/saved/1FJD. The mouse, keyboard and speakers didnt matter to him so I just picked up some random ones, but the main focus here is the parts.
Let me get a better understanding of this. Your friend wants to cheap out on his build, and you're suggesting he should invest a little more? Do we have any idea of his budget or what kind of experience he wants?
At the end of the day, different people have different needs and wants.
To answer you question directly: His rig will play games for as long as he is happy with it. He may need to upgrade the GPU to get a bit of extra longevity out of the system as a whole. I'd predict a year or two with the 7770. Other than the GPU being a little weak, there isn't an awful lot wrong with his system. The RAM could do with increasing to 1600, but no more than that... not for gaming.
The 8350 rig, perhaps 3-4 years without upgrades, more if it suits his needs. I can't say those predictions are accurate. We don't know what hardware developments are going to occur, nor the state of the games industry in 5 years.