How often do you upgrade your PC?

[Juniiii]

I personally upgrade whenever I see something and I can genuinely afford it. B550 motherboards for example became ultra cheap out of no where, and so did the 5600x. Honestly rn, my system is overkill for me so I don't see the need to upgrade for another 3-4 years.

[Frissiw]

Depends honestly. 

 

If something fails, then of course I replace it as soon as possible. 

But otherwise I only upgrade as need be. Most of what I do on my machine is AAA & Indie games, so the upgrades I do is often linked to that. (GPU and SSD's).

I recently upgraded from a RX580 to a RTX 3060, which feels amazing!  

[LogicalDrm]

Usually when performance is lacking and I have money for it. Next upgrade is scheduled to next summer/fall. Last was year ago winter. Though platform upgrade seems to be that 5-10 years currently. By platform I mean mobo, RAM and CPU. Bought first own set 2008, upgraded that 2013 and still using that upgrade now.

[Bitter]

Pentium 4/FX 5700 LE then 6800 Ultra to a Core2Duo E8400/SLI GTX 7800 then 9800GT then GTX 650 to an i5 4590 and RX580 to a 2700X and RX580 then a Vega56 which is where I'm at now. So I guess like every large generational shift. I've had other systems but they weren't my main PC, some 1st gen Core-i stuff, other Haswell, other Ryzen, a variety of other graphics cards.

[SteveGrabowski0]

1997 - Built a system with an AMD K6 200MHz

2001 - Upgraded to an Athlon XP 1800+

2006 - Upgraded to an Athlon 64x2 (forget the model number)

2014 - Upgraded to a Pentium G3258

2014 - Upgraded to a Xeon E3-1231v3 (the G3258 was when I didn't think I'd be gaming on PC, then gpus got cheap so needed a gaming cpu)

2022 - Upgraded to an i5-12400F

[Fluph]

When something fails or when it doesn't run a game well enough.
GPUs every 2-3 years, CPU as and when but they tend to outlive a few GPUs (and then I use them to upgrade my Plex server).

[rikitikitavi]

For the past ~15y my main laptops/workstations (MBPs) have been serving me for ~7y. My current gaming rig is ~2yo (3700X, 3070) and it doesn't look like I will need to upgrade it any time soon.

[aisle9]

G3258 (2015) > i7-4790K (2016) > Ryzen 7 1700 (2017) > i7-8086K (2018) > Ryzen 5 5600 (2022)

 

My laptops last forever.

 

So on average every couple of years? I wouldn't have upgraded to the 8086K if it wasn't, you know, free, and I still use that 8086K in a secondary PC. I switched to the 5600 because it's somewhat better performance at a much lower TDP, meaning less heat and better efficiency. Both important when you're using an SG13 as your case. That sucker's a little hot box. I anticipate staying with the R5 5600 for a good long time, as I don't have another total platform switch in my anytime soon.

[Neroon]

Every 5 years or so, 15+ years ago I kept updating every 2 years, but I used older second hand hardware. Once I start spending more, my PC's also kept running properly longer.

 

I do also play games on consoles, so even when my PC feels outdated, I just play games on there.

 

I currently use a Ryzen 9/3070 laptop, I will use it for a long time, but who knows, maybe I will replace it as my main gaming machine in 2 years with a desktop.

[mr moose]

8-10 years too,  I looked into the average upgrade cycle for tech nerds back when there was a nicker bunching ceremony over Intel dropping support after 2 releases.  It worked out to be about 5 years for majority of users and fringe minorities  either slightly longer or slightly less.    Generally speaking most enthusiasts upgrade the 3 core components (mobo, CPU and RAM) every time because 1, their current mobo does not support by anything worth upgrading to (regardless of brand/color) and 2, why would anyone want to pair a brand new CPU to last generation ram and PCIe etc?

 

 

[Alcarin]

I upgrade my main system approximately every 2 generations, or if there's a dire need for an upgrade. CPU usually lasts 3-4 generations though.

 

CPU History over the last decade is: 2600K > Ryzen 1700 > 3800X > 10850K.

GPU History in the same timeframe: GTX 570 > R9 390 > GTX 1080 > RTX 3070 (wanted a 3080 but scalper pandemic said otherwise)

 

I am planning a new full build later this year. 8GB VRAM on my 3070 is beginning to become an issue, and my motherboard has some significant technical issues. CPU would probably be sold to my cousin and everything else goes to GF.

[IkeaGnome]

Way too often. 
7700k>8700k>9900k>5800x>12900k>13900k. 
1070>2070>6800xt>4090. 

[Bitter]

18 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

Way too often. 
7700k>8700k>9900k>5800x>12900k>13900k. 
1070>2070>6800xt>4090. 

Thank you for keeping Intel and AMD in business.

[SprinkledDount]

I don't upgrade on a set schedule, so I usually upgrade when I have money and there is a technology that I find cool or just need better performance.

[KnoT]

When I need more perf and have the money

Duron 800>Some athlon/s> ??(dont remember)> q9400>FX-8350>7700K>R9 5900X

Riva TNT>GeForce 2> GeForce 4> Some ATI GPUs> Nvidia 6600GS >??> Nvidia 260 216SP > GTX 670 > GTX 970 > RTX 2070 Super > RTX 4090

[Radium_Angel]

On 2/1/2023 at 2:17 PM, mdk777 said:

When was the last time you saw a new CPU that took your breath away with the difference in performance?

This:

 

but not in the way you meant 

[IkeaGnome]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

Thank you for keeping Intel and AMD in business.

Gotta subsidize their RnD somehow.

In all reality parts get passed down to different builds or to different people. I sold the 12900k and an Arctic 360mm to a friend from work for like $400 to subsidize the 13900k. The 9900k runs my F@H rig which also happens to host our bot for a server my fiancee and I have as well as a couple other small things. It got to where the 8700k just didn't quite have enough cores or threads for what it gets used for. The 5800x went to a friend who went into IT and needed a rig but didn't really have a servicable computer. She got my 1070 too and a b550i motherboard. She got them for super cheap because she's a long time friend. 

The 7700k, 8700k and respective motherboards both went to people on here that for different reasons couldn't afford to replace broken components. 

It looks really eclectic, and is, and I've ended up with a mass of parts, but they get used and some are ear marked for that exact occasion above. 

[cmndr]

It'll depend. 

At the moment this is the age of my stuff.

CPU  - 3.5 years old. Previous CPU was from 5.5 years ago. 
RAM - 3 years old (including upgrade) - first bit was bought 5.5 years ago.
Motherboard - 2 years old. Previous board was from 5.5 years ago.

GPU - 4 years old
Main drive - 3 years old
Other drives... uhhh
NIC - 2.5 years old

I'm probably going to hold out for Zen 5 or Meteor Lake, possibly the extra cache version. By then DDR5 should be mature and the early adopter tax for PCIe 5 should be done with. 
Same story goes for GeForce 50/Radeon 8000.

[8tg]

I change my computer around so often and build systems for fun all the time, I’ve got all kinds of hardware just lying around.

Part of my living room hardware collection is an Asus ROG Z590 board I used for maybe a few weeks, along with its 32gb of adata Gammix d45 ddr4

because I moved to an itx system, so this transition also including putting my Lian li galahad aio into a spare system, putting a 3070ti on a shelf, and tossing my old atx case

It’s not always an upgrade, this time around it was just moving to itx, but I’ll probably swap out that Z590 itx board and 11900k and 64gb of ddr4 for a 14900k and ddr5 in the future 

[8tg]

It’s dumb by all means

the 3070ti in the top left has probably been actively used for less than 40 hours

there is an arc A380 in the box there which I used twice to test out arc drivers before buying an A770

Theyre probably the most egregious examples in what’s visible of modern hardware sitting around, but I’ve also got partial systems with things like 32gb ddr4 kits in them, a lot of different CPUs, a bunch of liquid coolers, a variety of pascal cards from a 1060 to the 1080 visible in that picture

and then also like a dozen laptops, many of them old and cool, some of them modern and extremely capable like a thinkpad P50 with a Xeon and 64gb of ddr4 I don’t use.

 

So fairly often but not so much of full upgrade as system changes, and then full platform upgrades every few years or so.

[IkeaGnome]

6 minutes ago, 8tg said:

It’s dumb by all means

-snip picture-

the 3070ti in the top left has probably been actively used for less than 40 hours

there is an arc A380 in the box there which I used twice to test out arc drivers before buying an A770

Theyre probably the most egregious examples in what’s visible of modern hardware sitting around, but I’ve also got partial systems with things like 32gb ddr4 kits in them, a lot of different CPUs, a bunch of liquid coolers, a variety of pascal cards from a 1060 to the 1080 visible in that picture

and then also like a dozen laptops, many of them old and cool, some of them modern and extremely capable like a thinkpad P50 with a Xeon and 64gb of ddr4 I don’t use.

What are the two orange cards next to the 3070? That's a really odd color on a gpu and I like that! Also what is the white one in the middle in your living room with the little display?

[8tg]

1 minute ago, IkeaGnome said:

What are the two orange cards next to the 3070? That's a really odd color on a gpu and I like that! Also what is the white one in the middle in your living room with the little display?

Two of my favorite designs, an MSI Twin Frozr GTX 970 Golden Edition and a Sapphire Toxic R9 280x

The one in the middle is a pixelview PDFII nvidia FX 5900 XT

[Coaxialgamer]

When I have money to spend and a need to do it.

For the last three years I've been too busy to game all that much, didn't have much of a PC upgrade budget to spare, and in any case most of the games I was trying to play on my rig were indie/low requirement titles that my existing hardware could easily handle.

 

This year I have a lot more free time and some fooling around money (courtesy of a paid internship), so I started playing again. Some titles simply wouldn't run decently on an R7 1700/R9 290X and I also was getting into VR, so I slowly swapped out the CPU and GPU.

[it_dont_work]

I've no idea, gets less likely I'm going to upgrade as I get older and basically don't play new titles, most recent upgrades I can remember was only a gpu few years back.

 

PII 233 > Athlon 1600 > FX 6100 > FX8300 

 

It's not that I can't upgrade it's just I prioritise other things in my life, like my hobby machine shop just got a really nice new horizontal bandsaw 

 

 

[12345678]

each time that I get sucked in comunity bs

 

exiting from smartphone "entusiast", getting in pc exiting from pc, getting into cars, exiting from cars getting, in some other random shit with shillers being gurus of sorts

 

idk if a lack of affections or trust causes me to get in such bs, I end up wasting money and time