PC-savvy Ozbargainers - how often do you upgrade your PC, and what do you upgrade?
I personally upgrade my GPU every two years to keep up to date, CPU/mobo every 2-3 years (and mobo normally only if a new socket is required), PSU when it breaks or I need more power (almost exclusively the former), RAM only when it breaks or I make the jump from one iteration to the next (e.g. DDR3->DDR4) and the case whenever I get sick of looking at it.
Initiate friendly discussion!
Agreed - wholeheartedly. Though do you mean from 22nm to 14nm? I really don't see myself upgrading my two year old 3770K to a Broadwell chip next year. Even with the huge range of tasks I use my PC for, I just don't need it. I think my 2 year GPU cycle will remain in place, games are a big part of my life and I hate not being able to run the latest and greatest as well as possible.
I think a big reason for the slow-down in advancement is the lack of necessity. People's basic computing needs have not changed in… decades. Sure, Facebook and Youtube are relatively new and take up a huge chunk of people's PC time - but they are not hardware intensive. I challenge you to find me a new PC/laptop/phone that can't take care of the "necessities" (general net browsing, email, word-processing etc). And the people who spend 99% of their computing time doing these basic tasks, make up the majority of PC users.
Maybe the next big push will come from a new, hardware intensive "need" that we humans manufacture. I don't know if you've read Tad Williams' Otherland novels, but hyper-real, multi-sensory VR systems becoming mainstream is a good example.
Doesn't need to be hyper-real, multi-sensory to need a hardware upgrade. I'm upgrading my old Q6600 based rig from 6 years ago to support my new Oculus Rift.
The Q6600 is still a great processor from what I hear - though the fact that you're running it probably means the rest of your setup is getting a smidge long in the tooth haha. You're going to love your new setup - not an IDE cable in sight!
It seems like every other day I have an internal debate with myself about whether to not to pick up the DK2 or just wait for the CV. I hope it's excellent!
I built my current rig back in 2011/2012 I believe using second hand parts to save money. Before that I had built my PC in 2009 beginning, 2010 end, 2011 mid year (a $400 PC using the money left over from selling my 2010 one) and then the end of 2011/2012.
I just ordered a new rig on last Friday which just shipped today. This rig will not see an upgrade for at least 5 years, it may get an additional GPU to extend its life, but a total rebuild won't be happening unless I come into a bunch of unforeseen money.
I would like a 4-5 year cycle, but financially I feel this is a little irresponsible. Around 4 years seems like a decent cycle assuming you don't use older technology in your build (like I said, my current build used second hand parts so I could save money, but, it also means that tech wasn't as good as I would have liked in the rig but well worth the saving).
Upgraded my 2008 pc in early 2013 because it was not keeping up with games.
I don't think I'm going to upgrade soon as GTA V should run fine enough on GTX 670 and I don't play games as much anymore ;(
I'm also running a 670 which gets most games going at a decent frame rate at the highest settings on my 1200p monitor. I'd like to be getting a solid 60FPS on Ultra (or equivalent) for everything, so I'll probably upgrade to a 970/980 sometime next year.
I generally only upgrade parts if I find I can no longer play the latest games on high specs. Which is about 2-3 years. My current build is nearly 3 years old, and I'm looking at upgrading the graphics card and also upgrading to SSD.
I had my previous build for approximately 3 years before I built the current one as well.
So on average, around 3 years. When I look into parts for a new build, I look for it to last 2-3 years in terms of being able to keep up with the latest games.
I usually don't upgrade. I cycle them through. I build a gaming PC then turn my previous gaming PC to a media PC for my room and then my old media PC I ship to my mum to have. She only uses it to play mahjong, solitaire and bejeweled. I will also give her my old gaming monitor if I upgrade that as well.
The only thing I really upgrade is the HDD if I run out of room.
There is a big difference between Haswell and Sandy especially on the video side. The gaming side is a few minimum FPS just from the CPU. Both my boxes have 4770s and 16GB of RAM. The work box has 2 x 1TB EVOs, and the game box has a 780Ti GHz. And Core 2 is rubbish in 2014. An Haswell i3 is faster than any but the top end "X" Core 2 Quads and even then it comes very close. I upgrade the GPU and CPU every year if required.
I must be the weird one here! I have too many computers I am currently downsizing at the amount.
I have spent the last few years bargain hunting,for parts to building pc computers and servers to be as efficient and reponsive as possible. I don't game much and often don't mind playing at lower settings when I do!.
Running 3 servers at roughly 110 watts combined is great longer term for 24/7 operation.
Updated in 2004, then nine years later in 2013. Don't fall into the trap of upgrading every year or second year.
It depends on what you use your PC for, I guess. The force that drives most people to upgrade is gaming - proper hardware intensive gaming. A nine-year cycle works for you, because these sort of games are obviously not your priority when it comes to computing (which is totally fine!) and you don't mind having a comparatively sluggish machine (assuming your 2004 PC was pretty standard when you bought it). I, on the other hand, would have hung myself from the nearest ceiling fan if I attempted to use a nine-year old PC for anything - let alone gaming.
i have an old 2009 spec i7 920 on an x58
i havent turned the bastard on this year… no i lie, i bought a new video card (ATI 7870) and played one game (Metro Last Light) and thats it
dont see the point of a new pc but i admit, i do like new tech so maybe i dunno? a new z97?
I have similar. I built it with the ASUS P6X58D Premium (of course 1366, the socket killed immediately afterwards- lol) paired with the i7-930.
I've upgraded to 18GB RAM & am about to install an SSD gotten on a recent deal here. My 1GB VaporX graphics could be upgraded, but I really don't game so not much point.
In addition to the SSD, I'll be installing a second data drive using the WD Velociraptor 600GB. My current TB drives will remain as storage.
It's still a very powerful machine for my uses- VM's, 2ndLife, ripping CD's, having 40 tabs open in Firefox…
OS of choice, Linux Mint 17- FTW!
:)
Does anyone upgrade their monitor? I mean aside from 1080 to 4K, I don't see any real need to…
Originally I had a 24" 5ms 60Hz but upgraded to 27" 1ms, 3D 144Hz. Depends on what you do I guess.
i tend to buy new monitors for different rooms but my mains are still a pair of Dell 24s at that wonderful 1,920 x 1,200
but monitors tend to last ages
i find 24s big enough really
I haven't upgraded my monitor for a long time, but I probably will when I get a new 900 series GPU next year. I currently have a 1200p 24" 60Hz Dell which is fantastic, but I would love a 120Hz with G-Sync. I don't personally feel like I need 4K just yet, but I'm pretty confident that my next next monitor (in five-ish years) will be 4K. Hell, it will probably be standard then.
I just did about a week ago.
I just repaint my PC every second year and it's as good as new…. Still using my PC-XT…
Surely you wouldn't repaint the the whole thing, you'd just touch up your red paint job right? No point in using any other colour as that would just slow it down.
Regarding the CPU.. if you're on Sandy Bridge there's really no compelling reason to upgrade to IVB or Haswell as there hasn't been a major advancement on CPU power (IPC). 2 Possible reason for this is due a) increasing costs of production and b) Moore's law is collapsing and we're seeing fairly long delays to get from 28nm fab processes to 20nm. That's just my hypothesis, but AMD themselves have noted that the end of Moore's law is on the horizon.
Your upgrade cycle of 2 to 3 years might make sense in the past decade or so since each new architecture was based on new fab processes, but I think within the next half decade we won't be seeing major advances in every iteration like we saw with P 4- Core 2 Duo -> Nehalem -> Sandy Bridge. Not unless we can find a way to produce better stuff at a lower cost.