How frequently do you upgrade your PC and graphics card

How frequently You Upgrade your PC/Graphic Card

  • Immediately upgrade to whatever is latest and greatest

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Wait till technology matures and upgrade

    Votes: 2 9.5%
  • On a 1-3 year upgrade cycle

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Upgrade once every 3-5 years

    Votes: 10 47.6%
  • Upgrade only if I really have to

    Votes: 5 23.8%

  • Total voters
    21

Archean

Posts: 5,650   +102
Generally I am on a 3-5 year upgrade cycle for last many years, and as I am in fifth year since my last major upgrade, I have started planning about the next system upgrade. With this I also plan to change the graphic card which may be a mid-range card (as I am not a regular gamer, at best a casual one). So I thought it may be a good idea to know how often others manage their upgrade cycle, and what are their considerations when it comes to making choices for their PCs.
 
In the past I've been on a 1-3 year upgrade cycle but may now be looking at 3-5 years with my current graphics configuration.
 
I'll go for the 3-5 year cycle myself.

There's not really any big point to immediate change if i don't run the latest games through it, plus the fact I have a console for that kind of work.
 
Whenever I get within a 5 mile radius of MicroCenter....or when someone says the word 'egg'.
 
Haha! Does that affect your driving patterns Red? I've heard rumors about Micro Center but I've never actually seen one. They seem to have the most amazing deals, but for in-store pickup only.

The egg gets all my money. I've even moved a bunch of the business from my job over to the egg since they've treated me so well for so many years. Let's hope that doesn't change - like my current boycott of XFX stuff for the recent crappy warranty support I got from them. They just didn't realize how much of their stuff I was buying through my job.
 
Haha! Does that affect your driving patterns Red? I've heard rumors about Micro Center but I've never actually seen one. They seem to have the most amazing deals, but for in-store pickup only.

The egg gets all my money. I've even moved a bunch of the business from my job over to the egg since they've treated me so well for so many years. Let's hope that doesn't change - like my current boycott of XFX stuff for the recent crappy warranty support I got from them. They just didn't realize how much of their stuff I was buying through my job.


Yes it does Papa!
Micro Center has great deals. i am not sure how they compete with the likes of the Egg, but they manage to on a lot of items. I ended up getting my three monitor set for eyefinity from MC, they just had a better deal. The only drawback is that you have to on the ball, the quantities can be limited. A sales person named Gary is pissed because I talked another sales 'associate' out of four of the 9 monitors that he put the grab on for an 'internet sale'. But being such a regular customer, he filled up a RR cart and quickly ushered me through check out and out to the parking lot. :)
 
I voted "Wait till technology matures and upgrade"...unfortunately, it's pretty much a lie- though I do have good intentions. Shortly before I joined TS I upgraded both rigs ( HD4890 and GTX280 SLI) and vowed (albeit not strenuously) not to upgrade again until ~32nm (i.e. half the 65/55nm process of my then present cards). Since then:
(AMD Rig): HD4890 >>HD5770 (prize) >>HD5770CFX>>HD5850>>HD5850CFX>>HD5850 3CFX (now back to 2)
(Nvidia rig) GTX 280 SLI >> GTX 580 + GTX 280 PhysX -and possibly will add a second 580 to the rig if I can source a good 1200w class PSU relatively quickly.

I do however have good intentions of not jumping on the HD7xxx and GTX6xx when they arrive...............................................................unless I get really good deal
 
I voted "Wait till technology matures and upgrade"...unfortunately, it's pretty much a lie- though I do have good intentions.

I just take the lumps with the new stuff....like the HD 4850 x 2.....the crosshair IV Formula (NB issue) quadfire in general

2009 AMD Phenom II x 720 w 4 x 4850's....2010 AMD 4 x 5850's (Gigabyte) ....2011 AMD Phenom II x6 w/4 x 5850's (Asus EAH DirectCu) +Eyfinity
Next up is a AMD FX 8130P w/4 x 7950's......if they ever get here...
 
Okay, I am thinking more along the lines that if the current LGA1155 boards will support Ivy bridge processors as well, I will jump the ship and get this upgrade sometime soon (hopefully):

CPU: i7 2600 + 8GB DDR3 RAM (although it may be prudent to wait till Ivy Bridge is launched)
GPU: 560 Ti or HD 6950
SSD: 80 - 160 GB (whichever fits the budget).

Well funnily enough, I was about few hours away from buying an SSD when I ended up having to replace my older notebook due to display corruption issue of GPU.
 
Mine depends really. I'm running LGA775 (Q6600) and AM3 (1055T) right now, but I'll be upgrading to BD later in the year. Major chipset upgrades are usually 2-3 year cycle, but the other aspects of my hardware are continually updated as required. Only the motherboard chipset, and the CPU remain for that 2-3 period, everything else is changing as I upgrade, or rather "evolve" my PC.

I'm currently living between two cities after recently splitting with my partner of 3 years, so until I fully move back home (living in my old house right now, but spending time in my home city every week too) I won't be bothering with a new system.

So for now, I'll be running my life off of an Alienware lappy... Unless I plop for a MBP.. Not sure yet...
 
I just take the lumps with the new stuff.
I'll be doing likewise with X79/SNB-E I think. The venerable Q9400/P45 is due for retirement (while there is warranty left on both CPU and mobo) in Q3/Q4. Was thinking Bulldozer myself but signs aren't promising at this stage- AMD talking up Trinity (Bulldozer rev.2 ) and positioning the server (Orochi- low clocks) segment for initial launch doesn't auger well.
 
SNB-E will be launched on 32nm node; I wonder if they replace it pretty quickly with something as soon as Ivy Bridge is out? IMO it makes lots of technical and business sense.
 
Unlikely imo unless Ivy Bridge brings something special to the table that compromises Sandy Bridge-E's "E(nthusiast)" positioning in price/performance. Intel still need to recoup SNB-E's ROI, so the only thing that I can see that will accelerate Ivy Bridge's enthusiast lines adoption will be competition from Zambezi (Bulldozer)- and reading between the lines, Bulldozer is going to have stiff competition from Sandy Bridge mainstream, let alone SNB-E. There's also the probability that Ivy Bridge-E could be a drop in replacement for LGA2011 sockets in much the same way as IB will be socket compatible with Sandy Bridge (firmware updates notwithstanding)

At this stage, Intel's rate of introduction is dependant upon how creditable a threat AMD presents. I see Intel scrambling on the ultra low voltage Atom PR trail, I do not see Intel overly perturbed in either server or mainstream/enthusiast desktop...and the chance of Intel not having access to Bulldozer CPU's is probably approaching 0%.
 
Having gone through few bits and pieces here and there, I think AMD may probably go with the old formula in case their new FX line isn't upto the competition, i.e. throw in more cores/unlocked CPUs etc. and hope that enthusiasts on restrained budgets will at least have a look at their offerings. But personally, I'd like them to close the gap and at least give Intel run for its money.

About your point on IB-E (which make lot of sense), I think/guess that they will probably launch it around end of 2012, mainly because otherwise they may have to skip to Haswell-E (or whatever they end up calling it). I am assuming this based on the fact that SNB mainstream high end processors are superior performers than the older 9xx series i7s; so if the history is to go by, Haswell mainstream processor probably will be comparable to IB (High end offerings), not to mention addition of new features like FMA3/on core vector processor etc. and a shift to 22nm process as well.
 
I'll probably jump on Ivy Bridge right when it comes out - it's the next big move I see myself making. I'll also get an X6 to put in my daughter's AM3 board when the cost becomes trivial.
 
I've stamped a date of late 2011 for me but that was before my purchase of the 980 on ebay which was 130 usd chapter than at the egg. After installing I have been focusing on upgrading other parts. My old psu died so had to shell out 300 usd for a strider.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
I wonder if LNC's is the most 'technologically' equipped household on TS ?

Doubtful - but I really do love technology and it's my job as well as my hobby. If I had more money I'd definitely make a go of it though. I have a mini-me (6 year-old-daughter) who is turning out to be very, very similar to me and is really into her computer now too. She plays Rift with me, has her own Nook Color and DSi an LCD TV and other tech goodies and my 4 year-old (she will be next week) doesn't want to be left behind so she has her own computer and set of tech goodies too.

In this day and age I just don't want them to be afraid of the tech and I want them to see now how quickly things change in this field so they get used to the change. I've worked with several people who have worked in IT for a very long time (30+ years) but they forget about keeping up with the change and lose their advantage due to experience. Not gonna let that happen in my household.

I also like Audio/Video so by the time I had graduated high school I had already spent over $8k on my stereo alone. Living in the UK back then I didn't have much to do with my money except drink and buy gadgets, but I still worked all the time.

That kind of tells the story of why my home is the way it is now.
 
Cool :D

Its 23 (+/-) years since I developed interest in computers, and although I switched job from an IT to a management one few years ago, I still have lots of interest in tech stuff. In fact, I end up advising to colleagues/friends/family etc. alot about their purchasing decisions when it comes to what to and what not to buy about computers. By the way I recently helped a friend purchase/assemble an i7 2600 based gaming system which actually got my attention to that fact that I have an almost 5 year old computer :(. But TBH even my current system is adequate for my needs. I guess it is more like a habit to change/upgrade a system when it is this much old.
 
Haha! like my current boycott of XFX stuff for the recent crappy warranty support I got from them. They just didn't realize how much of their stuff I was buying through my job.

Boy I'll join ya for sure. 4 XFX cards between 2007-2010, all died within 6 months of each other. They weren't all enthusiast cards and they all ran under 50C in units ranging from media centers to entry level pc's. My 8800 ultra was immediately equipped with a thermalrite cooler and still died, never moving above 60C. *Shakes Fist* I'll never buy anymore of their products
 
Only XFX cards I bought were couple of 9xxx series Geforce cards, and they are still working. However, I bought eVGA 9600GT card for my PC few years ago, and it went bust in 2 days, then they replaced it, and the replacement card has some more issues (display getting corrupted etc.); so they replaced it with another ... which is working perfectly in my younger brother's system, as his older gfx card died of some 'un-natural causes'. These are the only few incidences when I did not bought an MSI card, luckily, so far, none of their graphic cards I bought have ever failed, even the good old 7600GT still works.
 
Well Papa,
tomorrow my travels will take me inside the 5 mile MicroCenter radius....so I am stopping in to get a Thermalright silver arrow and Patriot 2000Mhz Ram...see what enthusiast OCD does to you?!
 
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