How often do you guys upgrade?

Not very often, I just upgraded from the Athlon XP-M 2600+ to a C2D E6600 PC. My Athlon XP-M rig is over 4 years old. the newest part in that rig is the Radeon 9800Pro; 3+ years.

Next year I may upgrade my HTPC. Again it's an Athlon XP-M 2600+, but it's only 3 years old.
 

JonathanDeane

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To quote weird al "upgrade my system at least twice a day got a T1 line in my hizouse" Just kidding I upgrade when money allows it (or you could replace money with wife lol)
 

3lfk1ng

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I upgrade every 4-5 years...with minor upgrades when needed.

Check my sig, you'll see I have mixed the old with the new.

But I will be doing a full upgrade (except the case, mouse,mousepad,keyboard, cd rom drive and monitor) come this December.
 

GherkinPekul

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I wait until it drives me completely mental, and then wait 6 more months.
3-4 years is the short answer.

My other trick is to tell my wife that part I'm having the most trouble with is hosed to justify an incremental upgrade.
 

blade85

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I still havnt upgraded yet :lol: :lol: .....

my pc is just about 6 years old now ( P4 2.5 ghz basic, 512 mb ram). the only thing I upgraded was my gfx which went from the geforce mx 440 to a 9800 pro.

has served me well for the last 6 years....been able to play just about everything ( not at max settings ofcourse, but good enough). However I guess its time is finally up!

gonna go for the C2D E6600 in the next month of so.

I would upgrade more often....if i could spare the cash.
 

harmattan

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New components about every 1 1/2 - 2 years. I've found that's about the interval it takes for PC and VGA power to double. That's also about when my old hardware starts to show its age on new software.

As for the case, I've had mine for about 2 years now and it's still got lots of life.

I'll be due again in January...
 

haywood

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Upgrade? My eight year old ABS desktop just died and I have three laptops. Laptops don't upgrade well so I will be building a new C2D box in the next couple of months.

wood
 

kamel5547

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Once every three years for the "whole system" (which I define as things that fit into slots on the mobo), thats about when the software starts to catch up... maybe a video card upgrade half way through that depending on game requirments. Other parts (HDD's) as needed. Luckily I get the urge to buy stuff I don't need out at work so I don't find myself buying stuff just to have new stuff. ;)
 

Nitro350Z

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I Dont upgrade that much, I only upgraded my current rig when my old G4TI4600 blew up( pc wouldnt turn off so I yanked the power cord out, blew a few caps on the G4, replaced the caps, still works but has 3 pixelated lines going down the side of the screen nonstop) so I replaced it with the 9800pro. Also added hd's when I ran out of space.

Now I'm just waiting to make a dual 5160 Xeon workstation, can't decide what exactly to get tho and waiting for DX10 if it ever comes out...
 

30below

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I try and make it too the next direct x like from 8.0 to 9.0 my 9700pro didnt quite make it to direct x 10 but my socket a athalon and the rest of my pc is still hangin in there..
 

choirbass

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incremental performance upgrades every 6-8 months or so, give or take... usually every 1-3 years or so is a replacement of various parts, either as upgrades, or because parts have broken
 

ira176

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I have added an extra 512 MB stick of memory, to enable dual channel, updated my cpu from 1700+ to 2500+ about 1.5 to two years ago. Most everything else is stock from my original build.
 

p90m16mp5a4

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I hate it when you buy something really cool and hip that just came out only for it to be old and lame the next month. I always buy the current "cool/hip" stuff the second it gets a price drop and instantly becomes "old/lame"

Example: the x1800xt. 5-7 months ago it was latest/greatest/cool/hip and 500$ I got it for 300$ about two months ago. 1900xtx was 400$ a few months ago, now it's around 300$ and I have one. I also immediately switched to c2d when it came out, only a few months after I built my nf4.

I really hate the way stuff moves so fast, but that is what keeps prices low for performance products (a643000+ for 55$??? omfg) The industry keeps us computer hardware lovers like junkies with all of the new products that come out, I can't seem to break the addiction :p
 

MacDuff

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I do a complete system replacement about every 2-3 years. I usually wait until I can afford to buy a system with around double the performance of my current. I just got an E6600, replacing a 4 year old P4 2.8GHz. Otherwise, odd parts probably every 6 months or so.
 

mabaty

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Well I just built my new AM2 rig about 3 months ago, and I am ready to switch out my mobo for one of the NF500 series C2D boards(when they come out) and a core 2 cpu. I just figure I will use my M2N-SLI and AM2 proc for a HTPC (just what I need..) plus i will be upgrading my PSU when i switch to DX10 from the looks of things and I can use the still fairly new Antec 550w, and 7900GT for my HTPC (would make a pretty good HTPC i think)
 

oaksmokedbacon

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I upgrade when I can afford to and when its necessary.

the Pc below will do me for aleast another year or 2 which will allow the new DX10 hardware to mature into stable systems.

for reference the CPU was off Ebay for £60 when they cost £120, the GFX card was off ebay for £150 18months ago, mobo was a b grade board only deal from overclockers.co.uk for £35 - took me a while to hunt the bits but saved shitloads for a PC that does the job well. The CPU can be nicely OC when i can be arsed.

Just need to save for a whole new PC, and turn this into a media centre for the living room (a while yet tho :( )
 

thechristopher

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Keep the case until they change form factor!!!

It and the monitor are the only things in a PC that you actually get value for money from.

I have a 5 year old sony 19inch. I am yet to see a panel that even comes close to a good CRT at a reasonable price
 

Robovski

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For me it's a new build every 2-3 years, depending on cash and how badly things are ageing. Upgrades happen at need (with available cash) or get held off to the new build - I may not need a new build if a vid card and/or memory can fix my problems for a year.

What usually drives upgrades and new builds? Games. If it weren't for games I'd still be happy with the machine I have from 4 years ago. It still can run certain games (like Civ 4) and is just fine for productivity and internet. It's only my want to play those new bright and shiny games (like Oblivion) on nice looking settings that keeps me going forward.
 

mkaibear

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I try to upgrade my CPU one year and my graphics card the next - 2 year rolling upgrade cycle.

Old parts trickle down to wife or parents.

Other things get upgraded as and when necessary.
 

unbiased4u

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Every 4-5 years at most for the whole platform. I might upgrade more often if I can get a better income 8O

edit: I don't plan to keep my computer case, as it is crap. I plan to buy a high quality one and keep that for many years. I will just replace mobos as needed.

I just got a Ti4200 a couple of months ago, but I hadn't upgraded anything else since I built it in 2002.
 

Dumbguy

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I hate it when you buy something really cool and hip that just came out only for it to be old and lame the next month. I always buy the current "cool/hip" stuff the second it gets a price drop and instantly becomes "old/lame"

Example: the x1800xt. 5-7 months ago it was latest/greatest/cool/hip and 500$ I got it for 300$ about two months ago. 1900xtx was 400$ a few months ago, now it's around 300$ and I have one. I also immediately switched to c2d when it came out, only a few months after I built my nf4.

I really hate the way stuff moves so fast, but that is what keeps prices low for performance products (a643000+ for 55$??? omfg) The industry keeps us computer hardware lovers like junkies with all of the new products that come out, I can't seem to break the addiction :p

Couldn't have said it better myself. My pc is old/lame, but it's a fast(er)/old/lame.

I'm hanging on to the notion that AMD will revive S939...Because I just upgraded to it.