QOTD: What Determines Your Upgrade Cycle?

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Typically for me it's on a 3 - 4 year cycle, depending. I find a good benchmark for what I'm going to do and build my PC to run that at optimal settings. With my gaming machine its typically the latest and greatest game that I know I'll be playing a lot. With my HTPC it's noise, power consumption, and size.
 
I'm totally addicted to hardware, I buy new stuff, new systems whenever I can afford it. I'm going to say every year or so.

Addicted though, really addicted, newegg is my crack.
 
Assuming the parts in my main rig hold up, I won't upgrade until I can build an affordable ($1500 tops) rig that will be noticeably (about 50%) better with the games I play.
 
When I stockpile enough hand-me-downs to build a whole new machine 😉

Honestly though, for me it's like a a bi-annual flu, and once I get the bug, I can't be satisfied until I've built a new monster. Sometimes it falls in a great time to upgrade and sometimes it doesn't, but for me it's a fun and challenging hill to climb and I can savor the fruit of my hard work for a couple of years before the bug hits me again; and when it does, it's instant.
 
When I have either maxed out my current motherboard, or when doing so would not provide significant enough performance gains for the cost.

If there is a significant change in the use of the computer from its original purpose (like the need to output to a significantly higher resolution), I may build a new machine and relegate the old one to backup duties.
 
When I need a new socket. Otherwise, I upgrade parts as they are needed. Complete new builds are every 5 years for me.
 
Money available, and the difference in performance benefits. Like doing MB,CPU, Ram at once because the graphics I have don't benefit fully from the current one and vise versa. Sometimes do HDD and ram upgrades at random when there are really good deals. Same goes for acessories, monitor keyboard etc. But it all hinges on the money =/
 
I do mid life upgrades and buy a new machine always on the limit. Usually i don't upgrade de CPU and rather prefer to buy a good CPU that seems to last a few more time.
The upgrades are always dependant on budget and need to buy versus the impact of not buying promptly!

My recent activity:
P4 3.0GHz new with 512MB OEM, MB Asus, WD 80GB 7200, NVidia N6600GT 128MB, PSU 300W.
Upgrade: Patriot 1GB DDR400 CL2.0 DC.
Upgrade: +1 WD 80GB 7200, RAID0.
Upgrade: NVidia 9650GT 512MB.
Upgrade: 2x WD Raptor 74GB 10000, RAID0 (later RAID1/Mirror).
New PC/Upgrade: I7-920 2.66GHz, 6GB DDR3 Tripple, MB Asus, PSU 650W.
Planned: TFT 22" and later Graphics (not decided yet).
 
wow a lot of posts already! for me I think it revolves around 3 things -

1) can I play the games I'm interested in playing at the settings I want to play them at

2) if there is a piece of tech coming out I have been reading about and just have to have because I like what I read or have a good feeling about it (example: I waited forever for a gtx 280 to come out then when I was getting ready to get that I kept reading a 55nm version was coming so I held off for what seemed like forever)

3) if something breaks, well that's a pretty darn good time for an upgrade if it can't be handled through a warranty


and of course there is what I guess I would call the sub-factors that apply to all 3 situations - cost & how long do I think it will last me & what kind of future upgrading possibilites would there be (upgrading possibilites don't apply to everything but for example: motherboards - how long is intel sticking with socket 1366 would be a question or back when going from agp to pcie; power supplies; cases, etc.)

as for a complete overhaul - well that eventually gets decided on its own in my book - you know? depending on the upgrades you eventually get - getting a pcie graphics card when you had an agp motherboard pretty much forced one - if I decide to try out a core i7, well that will pretty much force one or most of one (true you could port some things over like a video card - but how many people here actually don't port things over even in a major overhaul? like CD/DVD drives? power supplies if they can? cases if they have a good one already? I would think for most of us posting here it would be a rare day that we just completely start from ground zero/scratch even in a major overhaul)
 
I upgrade when my motherboard is maxxed out and there is nowhere left to go. If you have to upgrade the mainboard, you might as well NOT try to make all your old components work around it.
 
Has to be a major upgrade, and the price on those parts has to have recently dropped. I'm usually forced to upgrade my motherboard inbetween whole computer replacements, for more RAM, or it gets unstable.

Went from Celeron 1.8 to Pentium 3.4, and from 128mb PCI to 256mb AGP three years ago.

Definitely time to upgrade again, but will go for Core 2 Quad and maybe 3d Vision from nVidia! It will be cool to go from one CPU core at 90 watts, to four at 65 watts!

I always hang on to my old computer stuff, and try to upgrade to the same socket, but it hasn't paid off yet.
 
[citation][nom]deuce271[/nom]When I need a new socket. Otherwise, I upgrade parts as they are needed. Complete new builds are every 5 years for me.[/citation]

I'm with deuce on this one. I've been doing and will keep doing what he said. I will go out and buy a top of the line system and go all out. Between the 5 years of the next replacement things I tend to replace are the GPU/Power Supply and HD's.
 
Games running @ native resolution on medium or high settings with a few bells & whistles (some games really don't have that much more to offer between medium & high) is the only thing driving my upgrade path.

Upgrade paths were a bit more "confusing" when CRTs were still the standard, because they could accept so many resolutions without looking like crap, so I have to say I upgraded less back then; seems I was content with 1024x768 or 1152x864.

When I jumped to LCDs, I went from 17", 19" & now a 24", and they all had different native resolution that would push most components past my comfort zone (anything under 40FPS and I'm unhappy).

The good thing was that each upgrade cycle cost less & less, thanks to competition/technology breakthroughs & me getting better at pinpointing the "sweet spot" hardware; a small step above the price/performance index... game me a bit of a cushion when it came to new game releases that needed more power.

Oh, and staying away from the insanity that is Crysis... my bank account still thanks me for that one 😛
 
Last time I upgraded, about a year ago, I did so because my Shuttle SN95G5 with a 3500+ and X800XT broke down. It simply wouldn't POST no matter what I tried.

Before that machine, I usually upgraded when some new tech came along (Socket A, DDR, DirectX9) which meant once every 1 to 1.5 years.

Currently my upgrade cycle is a lot more relaxed. I will keep my Phenom X4 at 2.7 GHz and 4850 512MB until I simply can not enjoy the latest games or do the other stuff I use the computer for. I expect that will be some time in mid to late 2010.
 
It is a combination of things. The capability of my hardware versus what I want to do, hardware failures, and my budget. I have stopped trying to build high end systems - they devalue too quickly and their useful lifespans are shorter than they used to be. If I am going to throw away my money I would rather do it on a lower cost system.
 
I try to go about 4 to 5 years before a total new build. My last build was done at the beginning of 2007, so I still have a ways to go before I build a new system. I have upgraded a few things since I built it though, for stability and keeping up with the ever-changing gaming requirements.

System as built in 2007 (main components):
MSI K9A Platinum 580X motherboard
AMD Athlon 64x2 5200+ Windsor (2.6GHz 2x1MB L2)
G.skill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800
Sapphire X1950Pro 256MB/256-bit DDR3 GPU
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w PSU
Rosewill R604-P BK Case
Lite-On 22X SATA DVD Burner
Western Digital 160GB SATA HDD

Upgraded since Then:
Corsiar 550VX 550w PSU
VisionTek HD 4850 512MB/256-bit DDR3 GPU

I play all my games just fine right now and haven't run into a wall yet to justify building a new system anytime soon. I play games such as FC2, COD4, L4D, Oblivion and many more at high-max settings depending on the game.

I will most likely add another 2GB of ram, but that will be it for this system until I build my new system in about 2 years or so. (but who knows... hardware and hardware requirments change so fast these days.. I might upgrade sooner then that.
 
If something breaks after a long time of use I upgrade it. If I start running sluggish in any particular area, (rendering = GPU, CPU usage constantly 90-100% = CPU, and sluggish operation due to RAM = RAM.)
 
Improvement.

I buy an Tbird 1.4Ghz in 1999 and I finally change it for an Duo Core E6600 in 2008.

I upgraded because SSE x.x support become an issue with some softwares.

I upgraded my AGP video card few times for more performance but PCI-E worth it. The DirectX x.x support change every year so you have to change your video card at each 2-4 years.

Dual Core was an major upgrade too.

So, I think if you upgrade your pc, you have to change it completely only every 7-9 years.
Else you could need a new one every 3-4 years.
 
Usually, my average is roughly 3 years, give or take 6 months. This usually works well since it gives that WOW type of performance improvement. Of course money makes a difference but I've been fortunate to upgrade every time within a tight budget. So the final answer would be TIME.
 
Last system was a celeron D 2.66ghz 2 gigs ddr 400 and geforce 6600GT, it could handle games alright on medium like Quake 4 Doom 3 Prey.

I upgraded to my current Q6600 And i will upgrade if the same happends to my Q6600 This one is already a year old. This thing plays everything flawlessy on most max settings so I won't see an upgrade soon.

Not until I see 200% in performance at the same price which is 750 USD
 
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