QOTD: What Determines Your Upgrade Cycle?

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1.5 - 2yrs. I've tried to jump in after a major platform shift in order to get the previous platform in it's most mature state at it's best price. Money is a factor however as a self employed media developer I have a separate account for hardware/software purchases that I only dip into during tax season if necessary.
 
only if it not suffice / too slow for crucial task.
or when something is broken...
 
Application performance drives my urge to upgrade. Considering the whole cloud computing extravaganza currently going on, PC gaming is what drives me to upgrade. AA3 FTW!

 
same with me my last computer was slowing down big time and when i tried to format and reinstall windows the performance was still not good. guess there were too many programs i couldn't live without on my PC. oh and when a new version of unreal tournament comes out. my old rig can still play half life 2 though.
 
Full cycle is usually when I feel that my current computer just isn't cutting it speed wise. Usually games and applications are the sign. It isn't just one game, but if all of the newer games won't run at medium settings on the 22" or if Photoshop, Lightroom, or whatever app I need to run fast is feeling sluggish, I really start to think about it. Any upgrade at that point has to be "significant." I know that is vague, but that is how I do it. I will look at the mainstream components, not top of the line, and see if that part will get me a significant increase in my experience. To me that isn't anything less than 50% increase for most things.

I also try to make smart decisions. For instance, right now for building my new machine, getting a Core 2 Duo for $120 vs. a Core 2 Quad at $220 doesn't make sense because I know I will want to upgrade to the quad in a year (my uses take advantage of quad). Even if the quad drops to $100, it still would have just been better to get the quad in the first place and enjoy the speed for the whole time. Core 2 Quad vs. Core i7 has been a little harder for me to decide, but right now I'm going to go with the Quad because it will give me a machine that will meet what I need for the next years and the extra $200 to get the DDR3, X58, and 920 just didn't seem worth it now, although I could change my mind... =)

SSDs are the thing I am most anxious about. I do a ton of HD intensive stuff, so I am looking forward to them getting those at the mainstream level with good read/write performance.
 
i usually do a component every 6 to 8 months. lately it's been hard drives (never enough space). Last major upgrade (board, cpu, ram) was dictated by lightning strike. the core parts tend to keep for an age. last was athlon 64 on a 768 socket. It worked until last july; had it not gotten fried i would have helled out for an i7 instead i got a q8200 and i find it to be plenty of power to run pretty much everything.

now the upgrade cycle is far more complicated then it ever was. i have 3 computer to update rather then 1. next upgrade is a new netbook (T91) then is raid controller + drives to build a file server.
 
my box:
p4 2.66ghz (506) on an ECS P4M800PRO-M (V1.0) board...(pretty crappy huh?)
ddr2 533 mhz 2048 mb
ATI Radeon 9550 256mb Video running dual monitors
2x 400gb SATA Hitachi DeathStars and a WD 250gb external

This setup barely passes for a Digital Audio Workstation. I use Sonar 7, Reason 4...and a buttload of plugins...occasionally the CPU craps out and I might lose some work...(can you say save often?)...Problem is, I don't have the money for upgrading because this box is maxed out...an upgrade for me is a new rig. Bummer...even if hardware prices were halved I couldn't afford to build a new system. So, I trudge through it and live with what I have...until a piece of hardware breaks...then I have to hunt for used crap on craigslist...
 
When I spend more time be frustrated with my computer than enjoying it. That just happened so I upgraded.
 
I think, for me at least, the biggest decision gate for deciding to upgrade or build from scratch is the capability of my motherboard. I had a P4 with AGP up until about 3 years ago. PCI-E was out and new CPU slot standards were emerging but there were still options for me to upgrade. When Core 2 Duo came out and AGP upgrade options essentially stopped it was the right time to build from scratch with a new platform that would allow for at least 3 years of upgrades. I am on year 2 of my new machine and I would guess that it has about 2 more years left to it. New upgrade will be CPU. After that it will all depend on what the newer hardware will feature and what the future path of upgrades will be like.

Noone wants to invest in hardware that will be obsolete and not able to be upgraded to newer hardware. Luckily PC hardware hasn't had the type of format battles Blu-Ray and HD-DVD had. Luckily socket types tend to stick around for a while and standards don't change too often for most major hard components.
 
[citation][nom]the_one111[/nom]If I can play games at "medium" settings and have no lag than I am good. When my system is unable to play games at medium settings it is time for a upgrade.[/citation]

Yep. I probably won't be upgrading for a good long time. It's soooo much fun upgrading computers and choosing the hardware, but I simply don't have the money, and my financial state is less then favorable.
 
I buy a new computer when I must have new apps or incompatible hardware. I bought one computer since 1997! (But I also threw Linux on an old box my son discarded.) After about a year, the upgrades begin. The next upgrade probably involves a SATA hard drive, so that will mean a whole new computer. I just wish I could get more than a 60% CPU speed increase. That's squat over six years.
 
Price determines it. If ATI and Nvidia are being assnine and charging a small fortune for a video card, I just don't upgrade the PC for years. I went from a P4 2.6ghz to a Core2Duo with a $135 nvidia graphics card which is far superior to any overpriced garbage that was available for AGP slot. In the mean time, I bought an xbox360 and I have seen that the I wasn't the only one following that trend, must have been for the same reason.
 
I live in Romania and I want to make an S.O.S. Recently upgraded my CPU, mobo and GPU (that was replaced with a Radeon 4770 when came out). I am satisfied partially with my X38 mobo (no DDR3 support) and GPU, finally. I wanted to buy an E8400 and get an E7500 instead because of prices here. So why on Earth the prices in Romania's e-stores are much higher than newegg...? Cuz' the wages here are4 to 5 times smaller than US and still retailers are robbing us...Shipping is like in-state comparing to US...Why than...? I ask kindky tomshardware to check hardware prices in Romania's e-stores and convert to USD or EURO (there are exchange rates at BNR-national bank). I suggest manufacturers to establish a "highest price limit" to their hardware here cuz this is PIRACY not BUSSINESS...
 
For example the E7500 was $133 when came out and I bought it at cheapest with $185 equivalent...That's more than surreal...Monopoly or what I can't understand. E8400 at $215 the cheapest in February. I have to go smoking to get down...
 
I run a new build as often as my financial priorities dictate that I can. I usually like to wait for a large increase in performance, 2x is minimum, and capabilities from build to build. Generally my upgrades include mostly things outside the case or an addition that will add a new capability not just one that increases performance. eg: tv tuner. This allows my entire system to become more well rounded and the extra components aren't dictated by the platform so they can be used with/put into a new build.
 
Update for today:
E7500 Romania $170(includes shipping)-newegg $140(free shipping)

E8400 Romania $220(i.s.)-newegg $168 (f.s.).

I earn $600/month in Romania and want to pay the manufacturer (developer) not the greedy merchants.
 
I need enough money on my pocket to buy what I want, and spares (IE, if one of my RAID disk fails, I need to be able to fix it).

Also, I need to get an important enhancement on computing power. I do not upgrade to get 40% extra performance.

And I ever want a good deal. Good bang for the buck and satisfactory power.

I notice that each upgrade cycle I had more money on my pocket, so I are turning a bit more power hungry each time, but still I grown on scarcity, so I don't like to waste money on small enhancements, like really fast memmory returning little extra real world performance, or spending on top video card/processor who only give es 10/30% more fps.

Also, I have developed a tendency to invest extra on those components that caused me frustration on the past. I absolutely CRAVE for a RAID of SSD, altought I suspect that I will no notice the difference between one fast SSD and a RAID 0.
 
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