how often do you guys replace your GPUs?

[chuckshissle]

I only have to upgrade depending on what kind of games out there. Like when my graphics card can no longer achieve great quality and performance on newer games then it is time for me to replace it. My current 7800GTX 256 SLI can play the most demanding games to date with over 60fps and high settings. Comes next year when it cannot play the latest games with high performance and quality then I would have to upgrade.

 

[bluntside]

There is always something new on computers almost every 6 months,
So if you got a stable job, you can affort new equipment every 6 months :twisted:

 

[bluntside]

Pc's for every1 :twisted:

 

[PX7800GT]

OK , In My Generation :
Voodoo 3 2000 16Mb --> Voodoo 5 5500 AGP 64Mb ( Very Nice Card ) --> GainWard GeForce 4 MX 440 ( Very Poor ) --> Leadtek GeForce 4 Ti 4200 AGP 8X --> Sparkle GeForce FX 5900 128Mb Platinum Edition --> Leadtek A400 ( 6800 128Mb AGP 8X ) ( Not Bad ) --> And Now ! Leadtek PX7800 GT PCI-E ...
Personaly , I Upgrade My Video Card When I Can Afford A Better Card , No Matter How Much Performance Difference Is Between The New Card & The Old One ... For Example : I Only Had My FX 5900 For A Month Before I Changed It To Leadtek A400 ... Money Is The Matter :twisted:

 

[xwar]

ATI Xpert@Play 98 -> 2 x Voodoo 2 (12 MB) -> GF2 MX -> GF3 Ti200 -> GF4 Ti4200 -> ATI 9800 Pro -> ATI X850XT PE ....

I change my card approximately every 2 years.

 

[samir_nayanajaad]

Well I am new to the gaming on a pc thing; I just built my first system a little over a year ago. I had $200 for my vid card and I got a ati x700pro.

What I am planning to do is run this pc into the ground (hope to get 4 maybe 5 years out of it playing games). I figure that is stretching it a lot, but back to the point, Ill just build a whole new pc after that first one can no longer hold up to the games, then cram a sh!t load of hdd into it and use it as a file server until it has a major meltdown like mobo shot or cpu cooked.

This first one was a good "budget" game rig, I spent about 1k on the pc it self then monitor keyboard ect. on top of that. I say budget because you can't have a cheep-o pc intended for games that cost less than a Dell and then expect it to last for 4 years.

So to sum this up I hope to only have to upgrade once every 4 years. This may be quite delusional of me but hey Ill cross that upgrade bridge when I get to it be it 3 years or 6 months.

 

[Heyyou27]

Every 1-1.5 years.

 

[delanooch]

Its time again! Run out and get that x1900xtx !!!

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

There is always something new on computers almost every 6 months,
So if you got a stable job, you can affort new equipment every 6 months :twisted:

Well for me the problem was I usually upgrade desktop one year laptop/notebook the next. This has been my method for some time.
However I was planning the new desktop and was so dissapointed with the previous laptop that I decided I needed to upgrade that, now that it's time to upgrade desktop again (Oblivion was the target date), I've decided to forget Desktops all together considering the strength of current laptops, and I mena laptop, not desktop replacements. The DUO has performance and low power, and the X1600, GF7600GO are nice (X1700 looks like it'd be better) and don't use too much power. So I find myself asking why do I need a desktop which I don't use much anymore. Now I'm going from 3 computers to 1, with everything I want from all three: Gaming, Editing Power, Portability w/ Battery use and without.

So now it's likely an upgrade to a new laptop every 12-18 months, unless I'm truely content and there's no solution I like on offer (seriously if they only had power hungy X2s and X1800/GF7800s for laptops, I'd return to desktop and cheap ultra-portable). I think the Merom+X1700 w/ HDCP enabled DVI/HDMI support will last me for quite some time for everythign but gaming. It's like the perfect laptop for me... I hope. 8)

Maybe to spice things up I'll need to get a MAc and then have every other year be Mac/PC. :twisted:

 

[delanooch]

Once you go notebook you never go back! Bah, you'll be back. 😀

I thought about this, but I have'nt been able to get a straight answer from Alienware or Dell about upgrading GPU on a notebook , if I could upgrade at least 1 time per/lifespan of notebook I would consider going portable.

 

[AntiHax0r]

I went from S3 Savage4 8mb (1999) / Radeon 7000 (2002) / Radeon 9200SE (2004) / Radeon 9700Pro (2005) -----> Present

I tend to stay a few generations back from the current one.

Right now I <3 my 9700Pro even though its a 4 year old card, it runs games like BF2/Halo/COD2/Quake4 pretty good, some you have to tweak setts a little to get the performance you want, and the card with my current system is like a perfect match (even though my cpu probably overpowers it and can probably handle up to a 7800/X1800), it is the most stable system I've ever had.. I don't believe I've encountered a lockup at any time.

 

[Mobius]

Voodoo II --> Matrox G400 --> ATI8500 --> ATI X800XL

So, about every 2.5 years I suppose.

 

[pauldh]

Basically any time I see an irresistable sale late at night. 😳

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Once you go notebook you never go back! Bah, you'll be back. 😀

Funny thing is I've been at the dawn of both, I've owned (well alot of it parents for early stuff, but I was primary user);

Desktop: Commadore PET, Apple ][, Vic-20, IBM PC twin floppy + CGA, COCO, TimexSinclair, C-64, PCjr, Mac, PS/2Model 25 - 286, PS2 Model30 -386, PS/2 Model 50-486, IBM 300GL, Then build your owns.

Noteboook/portable: IBM 5155 twin floppy, IBM convertible (still to this day my favourite 'whoa' factor PC), PS/2 Model 30 Note (386), Thinkpad 700C (486SL), Thinkpad 380ED (P166MMX w/ 2MB NeoMagic), ThinkPad 390X (PII-366 w/ 7MB Neomagic), then the Dell 5150, and now the Gateway NX850Z. Next who knows.

Plus I've used a TONs of gear my dad brought back as product planner for IBM including a PowerPC (IBM, not Apple) desktop and Laptop (never really made it to market), compaqs a few more Apple products like the LISA.

Funny for an IBM guy his last 4 computers have been iMac G3 Tangerine with DVD, iBook (plain white 12"), G4 iMac/DeskLamp 17", and G4 PowerBook 12". 8O

I thought about this, but I have'nt been able to get a straight answer from Alienware or Dell about upgrading GPU on a notebook , if I could upgrade at least 1 time per/lifespan of notebook I would consider going portable.

Depends on the model, thetop models of Alienware and Dell ARE upgradeable, but I know those two use proprietary interfaces, thus you need to buy from them, and therefore might as well have them install it (free with purchase). I know Voodoo does offer upgrades too, but I think their are straight unchanged Axiom and MXM solutions, so easier upgrade path (if you can find the proper parts yourself).

For me upgradability seemed like a great idea, but like I mentioned,probably cost so much, might as well sell the whole laptop and then take that money and get all new gear plus warranty. Like right now, instead of addin a 2GHZ PM and X800 to my rig, I'd prefer a DUO core (or better) plus X1K or GF7 series part with the support for DDR2-667 and slightly larger HD (mine's 100GB new standard for this specific laptop 120GB), plus better LCD, new standard is WSXGA instead of WXGA for this laptop. Right now the sweet thing is the NX860 uses the same battery (I have 2) so I could keep my extra one. I just hope gateway keeps the same connector one when they upgrade to the merom version, or else they lose oneof their biggest benifits to me right now. 2 batteries let's me actually game on flights 2+ hours of HL2/FartCry , 3-4+ hourse of Morrowind using both batteries. Haven't played Oblivion yet, but probably similar to HL2/FartCry.

 

[Human1]

I'm still sitting with socket A, AGP, too. Since I've only got a year of school left I think my next upgrade will be when I get a real job. 😀

 

[EllisD420]

If i can remember correctly...my upgrade path went from Ati Rage Fury 32MB , to an ATi Radeon 8500 64MB, to an ATi 9800 Pro AIW 128MB, to an ATi x1900XT 512MB. I just upgraded when i couldnt play the games that i wanted, how i wanted them to look.

 

[Qwertyleo]

when there is a decent gain.


voodoo banshe to voodoo2 (with the banshee) to TNT riva1 to g2 gtx to ati 8500 to ati 9600 to g6600gt (current)

most the cards below the 9600 I was given though so its more like


banshee to tnt2 to 9600 to 6600gt

 

[WOWchamp]

I upgrade as my budget will allow, and since im going to college... it will be about 2 years.

Im building a brand new rig from the ground up that shouldnt need any parts replaced for atleast the first year. The first thing to go should be the X1800XT... Ill just ebay it off for whatever I can get and upgrade the GPU first.

I will probably upgrade this video card twice in the computers life, and then ditch it for a whole new setup. But by then Ill be out of college with a degree and a much bigger budget for my toys. :twisted: 😀


I went from an intergrated Intel Extreme graphics 1 to a 256MB PCI Radeon 9200 (64 bit bus) to a Radeon X1800XT 512MB.

I wont drop this X1800XT until atleast this time next year and hope to hold on to it for about another year to 1.5 years. But with college, the part time job I have and the half an hour I spend every day at the gym Ill have little time to game, if any. But Ima run the circuits off this new rig (which the parts will be here tomorow!!) until I go off to college and then dedicate a single day each weekend to her.

 

[FatFunkey]

i ran my geforce 2 till it diead....yea call me cheap but 30 frames on CoD isnt bad.....im not insanely crazy about frams as long as its above 30....yep

Geforce 2 MX440 -> ATI 9800 Pro -> Direct X10 Card

however im going to college hopefully to Embry-Riddle if i can get money T_T
ahem anyways looking at an ABS Labtop with a 6600 in it so meh its a little better then a 9800 Pro and should last a while ;P Plus u can upgrade your card or something with the labtop im looking at

 

[RichPLS]

It should last till it either dies and replacement is recommended or the games you are playing is dropping below acceptable levels with max details enabled and you start to become irratated with its performance lagging.

 

[PICLARK]

Mine have been....

TNT, GeForce2, GeForce3, X800 XT...

I tend replace the cards with a new system when a specific game demands it (last one was Doom III). Not sure what the next killer game will be...but it could be a tricky one as my current system is AGP, let's hope they bring out some better AGP solutions in the next 6 monts as my X800 will start showing it's age soon!

PS Good thread by the way!

 

[GeneticWeapon]

[(well alot of it parents for early stuff, but I was primary user);

I'm always amazed(seriously) at the computer heritage you grew up with. It's no wonder you manage to juggle all of the different tech these days, and are able to relate to or give insight to most posters questions/problems.




On top of all of this though, your oppinion can be skewed at times :tongue:

 

[sojrner]

that is freakin cool man... I cannot come close to that history... how cool that must have been.

before graphics cards I startded piddling around on a texas instruments (TI99?) comp in school, and then went to an appleIIc. I did basic on both, and had a tandy trs80 at home. Played games on data cassette tapes, all text rpg's that sucked me in. That is about it while the console dark side swallowed me in for years. Wasn't until GLquake (that i mentioned earlier) that I came back to the light. 😉

Still cant pretend to have that deep of heritage in comps. rock on grape.

 

[angry_ducky]

Personally I think it's best to skip generations... I went from a ATI 9600 Pro all the way up to a 7800 GTX shortly after its release... the ATI did everything I needed it to do right up until it was retired... it was getting a little weak in the gaming department but still played the games I was interested in.

Anyone who buys every current generation card is crazy... no way did I even consider buying a 7900 GTX when it was announced over 7 or 8 months after I had my card... however, I am looking ahead to the next generation cards from ATI/Nvidia.

7900 isn't exactly a new gen; just a die shrink and higher speeds. 7800GTX will run games nicely for quite a while, though; I'd say the next 1-2 years.

 

[angry_ducky]

Gotta love the 9700 PRO.

It has to be the best, longest lasting viable videocard the planet has ever seen...

It's pretty sad how 4 year old tech beats the hell out of my x600. I went from a GF2 with a P4 1.6, 256MB DDR266 to that, so it was a huge upgrade. I'll see how much more speed I can get out of mine, and upgrade to DX10 and Vista in like a year or so.