How long do you use your pcs?

[Retro_R]

I was chatting with someone about console vs pc gaming. He said "Yeah, you can keep a good gaming pc for 10 years" I was very skeptical, since i'm pretty sure no one uses a 10 year old pc (at least for gaming). So, how long do you guys use your pc before an upgrade

[Mister Woof]

I go the 5 year route with a new GPU mid-way through. It has worked fine for me since like 1999.

[Tristerin]

I retired my 2012 AMD build this year.  Didn't HAVE to but really wanted to.  And that was the AMD top end stuff.  If it was built around Intel and NVIDIA it likely would still be doing very well.

 

I also keep all my computers anymore...I have 3 in this room, 3 in my living room, 1 in the kitchen and I could put together a couple more from the parts pile lol.

[Fasauceome]

6 minutes ago, Retro_R said:

I was very skeptical, since i'm pretty sure no one uses a 10 year old pc (at least for gaming)

My Linux PC uses some 10 year old hardware, still useful as a gaming PC

[Automobili3XF]

Current config, since yesterday.

Usually around a year or less.

[Turtle Rig]

21 minutes ago, Chevy_Monsenhor said:

Current config, since yesterday.

Usually around a year or less.

I have been going strong since 2012 and I have yet to max out CPU at 100 percent.  My projects take up avg 25 percent with sh*t load of plugins and what not.  Games take up avg 40 percent CPU usage.

[AiSW]

For as long as possible or every few years, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

[Guest]

Used to be 4-5 years.

Now it seems like every 5 mins...

[PopsicleHustler]

I don't think that most people build their rigs and leave them alone for 10 years. Every now and then you have to upgrade something, replace something etc. 

 

PC is like a car, it always requires attention and care.

[kirashi]

58 minutes ago, Retro_R said:

I was chatting with someone about console vs pc gaming. He said "Yeah, you can keep a good gaming pc for 10 years" I was very skeptical, since i'm pretty sure no one uses a 10 year old pc (at least for gaming). So, how long do you guys use your pc before an upgrade

Usually until something newer comes along that offers better price to performance for my needs. Right now I'm still using an i7-4790K & GTX 950 because I can't justify wasting money on anything newer, even though I do have an ASUS Maximus something Z370 board lying around, and my brother is still running an AMD FX-6300 system alongside a GTX 750 Ti because he hasn't put together what he wants me to build him in a PC Part Picker list yet.

 

I envy those who have the cash to throw around when the latest CPUs / GPUs come out, but at the same time, can't help but think of how much money is wasted by consumers as a whole (not just in the PC industry) simply because people think they need the latest, greatest, newest products. Not judging; if you have the money, sure, buy a new McLaren every year. But at the same time.... WHY.

[Uttamattamakin]

I have a Suraface Pro 3 that still works but was showing its age when I retired it.   It would still likely be able to play games like GTA V on low settings.    Had a pro 1 that I gave to my little sister which she broke.  It would still be working right now if not for that.   Right now I have a SP 5 LTE a gaming laptop and a backup laptop.   

 

I see no reason to throw away a computer IF it can still do what you need it to do.  

 

i.e. I have considered setting up the SP3 as a media center PC.  Smart TV is nice but nothing beats the power and flexibility of a general purpose computer. 

[Arika]

until it no longer does what i want it to

[Crunchy Dragon]

As long as it lasts me.

This could mean hardware fails, or my demands exceed that which the system is capable of delivering.

 

That said, I'm running a 6 year old graphics card in my main rig, and will likely continue to use that for another 3-4 years before upgrading it. I may not necessarily run games on it, but I can still use it for other things such as encoding.

[DesolationGod]

For me i look to get a few years out of each, not 10 obviously but 3-5 perhaps without a full rebuild. For me Ill try to get a CPU in a new build thatll last 3-5 years(maybe more) and just upgrade the gpu when fps starts dipping on newer games... Honestly if my last mobo hadnt died on me id probably still be on my 3570k just with a new gpu lol

[TheKDub]

I built my first (low-med tier) pc back in 2014, then replaced everything except for my gpu in 2018. Could have easily gone longer before upgrading, but 16GB of RAM just wasn't enough. (Had 4x4GB, so no more slots available. Moved to 2x16GB in the new build, that way I can expand if 32GB ever becomes too little :D)

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

I upgraded from my Sandy Bridge machine (i5-2500, Z77A-GD65 Gaming, 8GB DDR3-1333, 770s in SLI) to my current X99 rig after roughly 5 years. 

 

However it is still used as a secondary PC (including gaming).  It's 8 years old and still plenty good enough for 1080p (and even 1440p) gaming.  If my main rig dies tomorrow, I would be perfectly happy using the old one for a couple more years.

All I really did in recent years (apart from a case swap) was install a 1070 because the old 770s both had fan problems. 

[The King of the Undead]

I'm on Sandy Bridge! I'm on a laptop! That laptop is all I can afford! Upgrade the ram add an ssd and it will successfully do most things I need it for!

[Giganthrax]

I use my computers as long as I can game on them in 60fps on 720p-1080p with non-potato graphics settings. I hope to use my current Ryzen system without any (or minimal) upgrades for at least the next 3 years. 

 

I used my FX-8150 system for 5 years, and retired the mobo, cpu, and memory last September. Now I'm actually going to use them as the basis for a secondary system to have at my parents' house. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up using that revived system for another 5 years after that.

[Roschlynn Dsouza]

4 hours ago, Retro_R said:

I was chatting with someone about console vs pc gaming. He said "Yeah, you can keep a good gaming pc for 10 years" I was very skeptical, since i'm pretty sure no one uses a 10 year old pc (at least for gaming). So, how long do you guys use your pc before an upgrade

I still remember my first gaming pc. It survived from 2006-2018. 12 yrs and it was my favorite pc yet. It was a pentium e2140 dual core with 1gb ddr2 667mhz ram. It was in 2016 that i swapped the 1gb ram for a 2gb one. I also got the 120gb toshiba hdd changed for a 1tb WD blue HDD. Just a few months after that, the gigabyte ga-945gcmx-s2 motherboard was swapped out for a chinese brand zebronics. The gigabyte board died due to a shoddy capacitor which i tried soldering back on. This was one of my favorite systems till date. It survived numerous windows installs also. Windows 95,98,ME,2000,XP,Vista,Windows 7,Windows 8,windows 8.1 and finally windows 10. Fascinating, i even ran virtual machines on it but those were for old operating systems. It was in 2018 that the chinese board also died and i was not getting a board for my system. That is when i purchased an AMD ryzen for my daily work. 

 

On that 12yrs old system, I used to play Halo,nfsmw,nfsu2,cs1.6,cs source,half life 1 and 2. It was a pretty good experience with the 640*480 resolution and the lowest possible setting.

And till today, i miss that system very much. I still have the cpu and ram working actually. So if i get a board, im ready to bring it back to life and make an arcade emulation box or htpc. 

Windows at that time had good ram management tricks and took up only 619mb out of the 1gb installed. 

XXXXDDDD

 

[Roschlynn Dsouza]

5 hours ago, Retro_R said:

I was chatting with someone about console vs pc gaming. He said "Yeah, you can keep a good gaming pc for 10 years" I was very skeptical, since i'm pretty sure no one uses a 10 year old pc (at least for gaming). So, how long do you guys use your pc before an upgrade

And i forgot to mention, a PC is just like your girlfriend. If you don't take care of it, it doesn't last for how long it is expected to last.

[PlayStation 2]

...eh. Haven't really used my hardware long enough to tell, although I think my PC will give me a good four years of usage before I fully replace everything. Unless I can afford a Ryzen CPU with a higher core count than my 1700X.

[mr moose]

Most wouldn't make 10 years without a GPU upgrade, but for 1080p gaming and decent results I am coming upto 8 years with only a single A$200 GPU upgrade.  Total cost of my system over the last 8 years is now A$1000 or ($125 a year). 

 

 

[jones177]

I bought my first true gaming PC in 1993. I upgraded it until I got tired of the color beige.

 

My oldest case now is 8 years old. The only original part left in it is the Blu ray player. The motherboard and CPU lasted from 2011 to 2018. I don't expect that to happen again for a while. 

 

 

[circeseye]

my 8350 system  is 6 years only upgrades were gpu.....but the gpu now is max what cpu can handle (amd 590)

[Sauron]

11 hours ago, Retro_R said:

since i'm pretty sure no one uses a 10 year old pc (at least for gaming).

My desktop is 8 years old. For games it still works just fine, though of course I upgraded the graphics card. If you don't upgrade your graphics card there's no way you'll have a good experience with new "AAA" games in 10 years - the best single gpu card in 2011 was the gtx 580 and on modern games it struggles to get over good framerates at 1080p on medium or even low settings despite costing over 600 bucks on launch - but that doesn't mean you can't use it if you mostly play old or light games.

 

Also being able to upgrade individual parts greatly increases the longevity of a system compared to a console which, regardless of power, will eventually be replaced by a new model and no longer allow you to play new titles. Of course this comes at a price premium - upgrades aren't free.