How often do you replace your computer?

[Unearthed]

I upgrade every 3 years. I upgrade my graphic card every 2 years to catch the new refresh. I've only recently upgraded my monitors after 7 years of use.

 

[namesrejected]

I don't remember all the details because it was a long time ago, but I spent over $10,000 on a Pentium 4 system when they first came out. Now I have a wife, and my first child 5 weeks old and really wish I had that money.....

TO BUILD A NEW COMPUTER!!!!!

Goodness, what a system $10,000 would build. However, I would wait for Cannonlake. Now I just dig through the dumpster at work, and pick out what they throw away. I have an AMD core2 duo or something, with 8 gig of ram, some GeForce with no fan, and somehow found a Samsung 840evo, the 500gig one. I think they tossed it when it started having the slow reads on files not frequently refreshed, I'm so heart broken it was in the trash.

ERR: Wont let me edit my post. Its an AMD 64 Athlon X2

 

[Raoul Duke]

Surprised by the number of decrepit computers considering the nature of this website
maybe the question should have been "How many of you spend more on your phones than on your computer?"

 

[SirChocula]

3 years religiously - until now with my current rig. I also am running the i5-2500k and it's coming up on 5 years since I did a major overhaul. I have replaced the power supply and the video card(recently) in that time. Also went to an SSD for the boot drive. Now I am in the process of replacing the hard drives with more TBs. This computer still runs my Steam games and other games just fine, encodes my media just fine, but I can tell it is about time. Not sure what I will build next just yet but I figure it will happen within the next 6 months. Cannot believe I got 5 years out of a system but it has been a workhorse. I usually replace a system when it no longer runs well what I need to run or every 3 years, but this system has surprised me.

I'm on the same boat as you. Still running my i5-2500k. I'll be waiting for Zen to come out though (which is also within that 6 month period) to see if AMD can give Intel a run for its money, or at the very least, drive Intel CPU prices down and I'll decide from there. Gonna bring this computer to my parent's house and use it when I come visit every now and then; new future comp will be with me 24/7 of course

 

[dob_1]

I have only rarely replaced the whole computer, generally upgrading along the way adding more memory, or new hard drives or SSDs in recent years, sometimes the monitor rather than the computer.
Currently a Core i7-6700K, 16G DDR4 3200 RAM, GTX 650Ti, Samsung 950 Pro M.2. 512G SSD, Samsung 840EVO SATA3 512GSSD, Seagate 2G and 4G storage drives and two 22" monitors (can't fit bigger ones)

These have been updated 6 months ago from a Core i7-860 with a GTX240 and 8G DDR3 1333 RAM 5 years
Prior to that a Celeron 1000 with 4G of RAM lasted 6 years
Prior to that a Pentium II lasted 4 years.
Prior to that a 486 lasted 5 years
a 386SX (with a 3.5" floppy) lasted 5 years
and a trusty old XT (8088) lasted about 4 years from 1987 when I got my first PC.
It had a Hercules graphics card and a monochrome CRT monitor, 640KB of RAM, a whopping 20M Hard Drive. and two 5.5" floppies.

Some had new boxes, but nearly all kept a graphics card or hard drive or monitor.

 

[DaveBG]

Never replace entirely only upgrade. By the time I replace everything it usually takes more than 5-7 years

 

[RobStow]

Surprised by the number of decrepit computers considering the nature of this website
maybe the question should have been "How many of you spend more on your phones than on your computer?"

Comparing phone replacements to computer upgrades/replacements is in many ways an apples/oranges comparison. I've been replacing my phone about every 2 years vs. doing occasional upgrades to my three 4 and 5 year old computers ... but phone technology and software has evolved a LOT more in the past 5 years than PC technology. As well, computers are far more upgradeable or user-repairable than are phones: I can easily replace everything in my desktop, and a few things like RAM, storage, PSU, and GPU in my all-in-one and my laptop ... but I can replace or upgrade next to nothing in my previous and current phones - not even the battery. Thus it is very practical to have a 5+ year old computer and maintain it a satisfactory level of performance with upgrades/repairs ... but phones usually have to be replaced.

However, having said all that ... I am currently reaching almost 2 years with my current phone and for the first time I'm not feeling any huge urge to replace it with something newer because the bang/buck ratio for phone replacements is not what it used to be. My 50-year-old eyes would love to have a bigger screen but that can wait until the I crack the screen on my current phone or until the battery has just gone through to many charge/discharge cycles.

 

[GhostRyder]

2 - 3 years normally before an overhaul. However I will be keeping this board CPU, and ram for at least 5 years.

 

[Raoul Duke]

You're absolutely right @RobStow. I'm amazed at the effort companies are putting toward smaller devices, CPU progress for desktops seems to have seriously slowed down and usually you can improve PC by part by part. Only in years do you need the whole upgrade (mobo, cpu, ram)

 

[mailpup]

Surprised by the number of decrepit computers considering the nature of this website

It's a bit analogous to automobile repair forums I frequent. A number of participants including full fledged professional mechanics have old beaters as daily drivers instead of the latest and greatest. Not all, of course, but a lot.

 

[KiwiDave]

I have had my AMD rig for 5+years. In that time I went from a 1100T to a gx9590 and from Cfire 6950's to a 7990 but essentially the same systems.

Am going to upgrade once Zen becomes available and I see what it has to offer versus Intel. I haveno particular preference either way but will look at price/performance.

Prior to the AMD rig I frequently upgraded as I was into overclocking big time and gaming. These days I mostly use for media and general internet use which my 1100T has been perfectly good for.

 

[tlpmidlandtx]

I still use my ol' gateway mx8711. Slow, but sure. I am not cheap, but it still works so why panic over getting an i7 6th gen pc ???

 

[mailpup]

I still use my ol' gateway mx8711. Slow, but sure. I am not cheap, but it still works so why panic over getting an i7 6th gen pc ???

Well, I am cheap. However, I used to build an all new PC about once a year but now I haven't for the past three or four years. I guess I haven't bought any new PC games in that time so there has been no need.

 

[rvnwlfdroid]

For me I will just replace parts on the mobo if they fail until the become harder to find or start to increase in price. That's when I look to do a complete upgrade. Until that time I put my money towards HDD replacement/upgrades every 3-4 years. I lost 1 drive/data many years ago and have switched to raid but still cycle through replacing them with larger drives. A little over cautious but I'd rather be proactive rather than reactive.

 

[Arris]

Been 5-6 years for the last two machines, although sometimes there are a few upgrades before the whole machine is replaced. Still running overclocked i7 2600K machine with no strong reason yet to upgrade.

 

[Thannos]

I'm currently still using the following from almost 7 years ago:

ASUS P6X58-E
Core i7 - 970 @ 3.6GHz (stock Intel cooler)
12GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz
850W ThermalTake PSU

Only upgrades I've had over the past couple years is getting a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD and an MSI Geforce GTX 780 Ti.

Although I still get 40-60 fps in DOOM with everything at max (besides textures - nightmare requires 5GB vid mem) and 35-50 fps for Rise of the Tomb Raider at max, my time to upgrade will be the end of this year. I'll be moving up to:

MSI X99A Gaming Pro mobo
Core i7 6850k (Corsair H1110i GTX)
32GB G.SKILL TridentZ DDR4 3400
512GB Samsung 950 Pro M.2
2x 500GB Samsung 850 EVO (for games)

 

[atcapistrano]

I am contemplating of upgrading my two budget computers (Pentium G630 and Pentium G2030) to i3-3240 cpu, still available at my local pc store (Philippines). I also have an EVGA NVidia gtx 650ti 1GB lying around given by a friend (blank screen when paired with ECS H61H2-M12 using dvi or dvi-vga adaptor).
I don't game that much so my gaming needs are minimal.

 

[supyo]

From 1998 - 2013 it was every few years but in 2013 when I splurged and got my i7-3770 w/ 32GB the only thing I replaced was the video card. This machine will probably be with me for another 2-3 years. Processing power over the past 5 years has gotten to a point where upgrades are marginal and only the graphics card results in true real world performance.

 

[Yuasd]

I never replace my computer(s), it just moves on to a LINUX OS.

 

[Jeffrey S]

My systems are never officially finished, so I've never replaced an entire build. I'll just upgrade a part or two and sell the old ones as I go. I'm also still on the 2500K, but hope to bite the bullet when Cannonlake comes around.

That's how I do it. To me, buying a "new pc" is rather silly when you want certain next gen features like SATA 3 support or more connectivity options. You don't buy a new car when only tires are worn out. You can upgrade/replace critical hardware as needed.
Purchased a AMD Athlon 64x2 5000+ 2.6ghz system with integrated motherboard GFX way back in 2008. Since then I have replaced every last part at least once including the case twice. It is now an Intel Core i5 2500, 16gb RAM, EVGA GTX660, 1x Samsung 850EVO 250gb (SSD), 2x Kingston v300 120gb (SSD) in RAID0, WD Black 1tb (HDD), Toshiba DT01ACA200 2tb (HDD), WD Green 3tb (HDD).
I call it an "Evolution in Progress"

 

[Mithan]

I used to upgrade every couple years, but there is no point anymore. I too have a Core i5 2500k, that I bough on launch date, so its about 5.5 years old now as it came out Jan of 2011 if I recall.

Anyways, I do upgrade the Video Cards as I am currently paired to a 980 Ti and I had a 580 at the time, which died so eVGA replaced it with a 670 FTW which I then bought a second one to try SLI on...

I am waiting for Kaby Lake and will get the Core i5 or Core i7 version of that when it comes out, and probably upgrade to a 1080 Ti if needed. I play at 1440p on a 144hz IPS Acer Monitor, and need a bit more juice, so we will see.

I know from looking at benchmarks, my 980 Ti will probably push a bit more fps out if I go to a faster CPU.

Kaby Lake looks better than Skylake, primarily because of the Motherboard features its getting.

If Zen is out by then and worth it (doubt it), I may look at that, but I doubt AMD is going to eclipse Intel. Who knows, it happened before. I had an Athlon 1300 that eventually tuned into an AMD 64 3500 for a while.

 

[Boilerhog146]

$1000.00 per year. like a used car, if I spend 1000 I expect it to last a year .if I spend 5000 ,5 years, on the high end would require a gpu upgrade or 2
..built the QX9770 rig ,including my 30" Dell,started with 2 x 9800 gx2,then 3 x GTX 280, then 2 x GTX 480,it was the most I'd ever spent on a rig,so I maxed it out to 7 years then built the 3930k rig .almost 3 years ago, so I want another 3 out of that except for the GPU 2 x 670 will be 2 x 1070 real soon I hope..and the 2 x 670 will replace the 2 x 480, in the backup rig..and so on..thats the green side .

on the red side .I built the QX6850 rig shortly before the QX9770,on a Gigabyte x48 DQ6 with a pair of HD 3870x2's .which went to a pair of HD 4870x2's, again about 5 years,,I haven't built a Radeon rig in a while ,maybe get a pair of the new R480 to replace the 2 x 4870 x2's in that rig...either of those QUAD Extremes can still play games with out too much effort.

 

[Victor38077]

Like the author of this article, I too have an i5-2500K, 16GB of RAM, with a Geforce GTX 285, a 480GB SSD, 300GB HD, and 1TB external HD. I still think my system is still awesome. I only need to replace my system under two conditions: 1 It dies. or 2. I want to play the latest awesome game. Outside of these two conditions, I don't see the need to change my machine. I am mostly a multimedia junkey and casual gamer. If I want a slightly better performing system, all I have to do is upgrade my system to 32GB RAM.

 

[JamesandBennie]

Until it won't work . I used it for 4 years

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

Aside from a power supply, I haven't upgraded my machine since 2007, but I built it myself and I can run 99% of the games out today. Ones that tend to give me issues are ARK and Batman.