How often do you upgrade your PC?

[Aranarth]

Right now I'm every other or third cpu generation and about the same for GPU's.

I have a 7800x3d and 7900xtx and I guess I'll skip the current generation and go to the next dependin on prices and system performance.

my son has my previous machine with 3600 and 5800xt I'm betting he will get my current machine when I upgrade.

my budget is usually around $2500 and I see no reason to always have the absolute latest of everything, wait for the prices to drop.

 

[Hanzi]

Coming after 14 years of using a Mac, I built my current PC in 2023 (5600X + 6750 XT) and have been adding bits and pieces ever since e.g. second NVMe drive, doubling the RAM, WiFi+BT card, and repair/replace faulty GPU. I intend to upgrade to a 5800X3D and 9070 XT to get a few more years out of it before doing a full-blown system upgrade to something like Zen 7. I'll pull the trigger soon on the GPU but I'm waiting for official confirmation on the 5800X3D 10th anniversary edition rather than forking out more than AUD750 (over USD500) on the secondhand market.

I upgraded Ryzen 5600X (cooler SCYTHE Mugen 5) to 5800X3D (cooler DEEPCOOL AK620)
Be careful with the CPU cooler.
Cooler DEEPCOOL AK620 is the minimum for Ryzen 5800X3D.
Too bad I didn't buy Noctua NH-D15.
I used Ryzen 5800X3D on RX6600XT, GPU came to life as if I poured "living water" on it.

 

[gamerk2]

I generally only upgrade the GPU once every 2-3 generations, then junk the entire build once a CPU refresh is necessary.

Sandy Bridge (2600k) was the only exception, since it was easy to OC and keep competitive @1440p for a long while with GPU upgrades.

 

[LooseBowels]

I upgraded Ryzen 5600X (cooler SCYTHE Mugen 5) to 5800X3D (cooler DEEPCOOL AK620)
Be careful with the CPU cooler.
Cooler DEEPCOOL AK620 is the minimum for Ryzen 5800X3D.
Too bad I didn't buy Noctua NH-D15.
I used Ryzen 5800X3D on RX6600XT, GPU came to life as if I poured "living water" on it.

I have a Cooler Master ML240L V2 ARGB AiO. There are better AiOs and air coolers on the market, but anecdotal reviews say it's up to the task when paired with the 5800X3D, so I'm happy about that.

 

[fadingfool]

Used to go best bang for buck - picking up an outlet pc, upgrading the innards until a full platform refresh was required - used to be a four year platform cycle with the gpu on a three year cycle. I'm at the end of what I can do with my current PC (i9-7980XE, RX 7800XT - guess I could take the ram from 48 to 64 GB when prices normalise) but as it has a 1500W PSU I can see me not starting totally from scratch unless I sell it as a complete machine. I guess that makes me a tweaker - but a bargain conscious one.

 

[kschendel]

With the caveat that my primary computer isn't a gaming machine, history since about 2000 says an average of about 4 years between upgrades. Last upgrade was in 2021 and I'm not in any rush to upgrade again. Maybe when Zen 6 comes out if it's enough of an improvement and if the DDR5 apocalypse has eased up (yeah right). I could easily see my current machine taking me for another 3-4 years and at that point I should be easing into retirement.

(Before 2000 I was generally using remote hardware.)

 

[onebignerd]

My last upgrade was near the end of 2022, to a 13 gen i7, DDR5 RAM and a 4060 GPU. There has been little performance improvement in newer components. With the datacenters being little piggies about CPUs, memory...etc. and the FCC banning any new networking gear being imported, it will probably be several more years before I even consider upgrading. We'll probably be back to dial up or smoke signals.

 

[onebignerd]

Postponing the next PC upgrade indefinitely.

There is however a chance I'll get an Apple Mini later this month for desktop use, IF I can lay my hands on one. I'm willing to accept an M1 but I do want at least 16GB RAM.

I owned one of the original Macs and loved it! Last year I bought a Apple Mini M1 and hated the experience. If you think Windows 11 ugrades take a long time, wait 'til you update a Mac mini, many more reboots also! Hope your experience is better.

 

[Anton Longshot]

I owned one of the original Macs and loved it! Last year I bought a Apple Mini M1 and hated the experience. If you think Windows 11 ugrades take a long time, wait 'til you update a Mac mini, many more reboots also! Hope your experience is better.

I actually like the Apple ecosustem in spite of the built-in shortcomings. As for update speed, I've never timed an update and don't GAF how slow or fast it happens. I have zero experience with Win11 as I immediately upon release noticed it's a trashy ad platform, not really an OS. So I have never installed it and never will. Microsoft refuses to (or can't) fix it and that's why I want out.
Look I've had quite a few machines (and yes, also an early Mac) and perfect computers do not exist. It is however very possible to like certain machines and the software they run but that's a very personal thing.
So that's how things stand. My Mini experience is better than yours because I like these boxes and as implied that's not because they ARE better than my Windows machines. It's about taste.

 

[Gezzer]

My last "new" system was a R7 5800x3d about 3 years ago when they were heavily discounted. I paired it with a RTX 4070 because I don't like the idea of a ticking bomb plugged into my GPU. But the one previous to that a i5 10600KF paired with a 3080ti still runs the vast majority of my games so it still sees as much if not more use than the newer one.

The main difference is the R7 system has a OLED HDR 1440p monitor, and the older system 3 IPS 1080p in a Nvidia surround resolution of 5840x1080 bezel corrected. As for updating? Why? All my games run fine so there's no need. When I eventually make the jump to Linux I can see it extending they're life even further...

 

[GoldenGoat]

I have bought a new video card every generation but skip a generation on cpu. I’m not going to do that anymore though. I know it’s necessary and it’s getting too expensive and is silly

 

[scavengerspc]

Tired of MS nonsense, plus Macs are way cooler.

There are certainly advantages to a Mac. Coolness is definitely not one of them.

Anyway in my previous post:

How often do you upgrade your PC?

Is it me, or did PC gaming used to move faster? In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a graphics card could feel outdated within a year,...

www.techspot.com

I forgot to mention that I sell my previous laptop when I buy the new one, and
easily get back 75-80% of the original price I paid.

I have bought a new video card every generation but skip a generation on cpu. I’m not going to do that anymore though. I know it’s necessary and it’s getting too expensive and is silly

My son is doing something similar. He is still using his 5800X3D and 3090ti.
Funny thing is, he is definitely not suffering!

 

[Gravitytr1]

Based on my gaming, it is now never again unless something fails

This is the way. Except for planned obsolescence.

 

[Gravitytr1]

I upgrade when something breaks. Unfortunately, this has been the week that multiple things did

Sorry man. What are your favorite brands?

 

[CMP01]

Hmmm. 3-5 years, give or take or bar x or y is the rough standard established for me.
That's been since 2016 though so not a rule as such, more finding the best to fit an expected target or whatever... nm going forward.

Suffice to say I've had limits as to what I'll pay for what outcome vs preferences, at least re the core PC build as the centre of whatever else is added. Currently that's some £2000, give or take, to secure solid 3440x1440 performance with what was, I guess, the cheapest '4K' GPU last gen. As that resolution is where I prefer to be, even with a 4K option rn, I'll aim for much the same average performance for the resolution next time around plus whatever for new peripherals etc as and if necessary. I could say I won't pay more for a GPU than £1200 or £400 for a CPU or (especially) more than £175 for a 32Gb RAM kit (ouch) but that's only cos that's been about my limit so far... who knows what the future might hold though...

Disposable income isn't always great for me (being disabled unfortunately) so I tend to go for bang for buck options, nearly as good for way less aso (like the 6800XT and 7900XTX vs the 3080 and 4080 when the latter were £500+ more) and per my gaming library/backlog being a mix of AAA's indies and the strategy games that consoles don't cover, up to a decade old. Looking ahead I can see that RT and DLSS/FSR aso will actually be a compelling feature for me more than before but I think AMD are still doing well enough in that respect for the price difference.

The very recent news re FSR4 has been gratefully received as it gives me some leeway in time at least before looking again at upgrades, incremental or otherwise. Likewise the possibility of a rerelease for the 5800X3D to better my old 5800X for a while.