Backwards upgrades

[salty0213]

Morning all,

 

I'm curious as to what people think is the limit to upgrading to older hardware? Nothing new buying something older second hand in most cases you can get more for your money than buying something new at the same price, Warranty support aside. 

 

For example as it stands I'm going backwards (chronologically) from a gt1030 to a hd7950. The only thing on paper which appears lacking in the upgrade is the memory clock speed however I appreciate real world performance has more variables than a side by side comparison. Obviously there is the driver support or lack of depending on when hardware was released but is there anything else that could have an impact?

I understand the conditions the card was used in will have an impact but say if it was new what would make the difference? Is there that much of a performance hit that age would impact the hardware im guessing the way the memory was designed for example?

 

Just something I've been thinking of if anyone has a bit of knowledge on the topic I'd appreciate it. 

 

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[Fiskelord]

Buying second hand is sometimes the sensible thing to do, but remember that with old hardware, you lose support for newer software standards, like DirectX. That, and the things you have already mentioned are the caveats, but sometimes you get more bang for your buck by getting used hardware, and chances are the used hardware got all the power you need anyways. Its all about what you want to spend your money on

[LukeLinusFanFic]

If I had to pick my old GPU of choice, it would be a GTX 970 (90$). I wouldn't buy a GPU about to celebrate it's 7th birthday, because while it is cheaper, the performance is just not enough to run everything well.

[salty0213]

Don't get me wrong I've seen a lot of people reccomend the 970 on diffe3ent platforms and I can see the argument for what is, in the UK, a £20-30 difference.

For me the 7950 costs what my current card and other odds and ends are worth trade in, so it costs nothing get a minor performance so the usual just save argument is mute. 

 

It was really is there that much a difference when it comes to age in hardware architecture I think is the word for it. So older but more power v newer and more efficient. I didn't know if there was a golden rule or something to look out for that hasn't been mentioned. 

 

If I'm completely off my head here please tell me it wouldn't be the first thought I've had that's turned out to be completely pointless.

 

Cheers

 

Dave