How long do you typically hold onto your GPU?

[hex4]

Well for me this is the first time i have gone so long with 1 GPU, my 580 was highly overkill back when it released, even fighting off 1440P on maxed settings n 98% of games back then, it's now a decent contender for GTX 900 series mid range cards when overclocked, so i am happy i stayed with it, so almost 6 years.

 

RX 480 for me.

 

what about you?

[GreezyJeezy]

till it dies 

[AnnoyedShelf]

Pretty much as long as it can still play modern games.  I know I've got a 980m which is half decent, I may consider doing a build with Vega when it comes out.

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

Until it is dead.

[S1lent_5am]

normally till they die. 

[Tom is a Door]

Once buying a new gpu won't mean I have to starve for 3 days

[byalexandr]

Probably half a year.

[Brandonsr]

I use a card until it can't do what I want it to do. I usually keep my cards even after they become obsolete, just as back ups. I still have a Gigabyte 6850 being used in another build.

 

However, my R9 290 is being replaced with a GTX 1070 due to it dying on me.

[hex4]

1 minute ago, Brandonsr said:

I use a card until it can't do what I want it to do. I usually keep my cards even after they are obsolete as back ups. I still have a Gigabyte 6850 being used in another build.

 

My R9 290 is being replaced with a GTX 1070 due to it dying on me.

Still got a 512MB 9800GTX and 512MB Radeon 4870

[Megazero]

Until next gen for me My first actual self-bought GPU is a GTX 660, but at that time I know barely anything about hardware and someone else choose that GPU for me. next one I got was a reference 780, which last quite well until the 9xx series come out, at which point I also upgrade the whole PC from an i5 first gen or so to the i7 4770k, so I took the chance and also get a MSI 970 to fit the color scheme and everything. And I'm about to sold my 970 to get a 1070 soon so... pretty much every gen.

Ofc I dont need to upgrade every gen, but I like it and I cant help doing that Plus I usually buy/sell stuff second hand (my 970 is secondhand which I bought around December of 2014) so upgrading dont cost all that much more to me.

[N.E.A]

The only reason I'm upgrading from GTX 275 to GTX 1070 is that I got a new monitor and it only has HDMI and Display Port. Other than that, I think I would have lived fine with the GTX 275 for another year or so. But as I learned, upgrading every 3 years if you can is better than holding on to old components like I did. Unless there comes a time which you stopped gaming like you used to. 

 

I stopped gaming in 2012 and I'm back now, so probably that is also a factor why I'm upgrading. So I guess 3 years is a good amount for holding on to components because sometimes, not every new generation is a worthy upgrade from the previous one. But in my case I think I'd be getting at least 700% performance increase in GPU power.

[JanFrode]

How people are killing their graphic cards are beyond me.. something tells me they are doing it wrong
But I usually swap graphic cards around ever second generation.

[R3KT]

To be honest I'm that guy that spends way to much money every time a new generation of GPU' s is released, just because I want the best available...

[palito]

It's better to buy a mid-high level card and use it the full 3-4 years rather than buy a low-mid level and regret it and having to buy the next incremental rebrand just a year later.

[alphaproject]

Yea, pretty much I upgrade when the card dies, or... when the games I like run below 45 fps. Lucky enough for me the 970 is still a great card and 1080p gaming is still great on it.

Would I perhaps like a 1070... of course.... but... I don't really think it's 100% necessary right now.

 

The RX 480 looks interesting because it should be "above" the 970 in every game but for cheaper. I could technically sell this and get that at no loss in money. Not sure if I will until I see real gaming benchmarks.

[Delicieuxz]

I haven't had a GPU die on me before, but I upgrade when there's value in doing so. I'm running an R9 280x OC right now, and before the 1070 / 1080 / 480, I haven't seen value in upgrading, due to the meager performance improvements that have been presented by Nvidia and AMD over the previous many years. I'm still debating holding out for Vega.

 

Nvidia and AMD would have gotten more money from me if they'd been making meaningful performance increases to their GPU hardware throughout the last 5 years, instead of rehashing the same tech and performance. No one should think the slow pace of GPU performance over the recent years was natural - Nvidia and AMD turn their performance increases up and down like a tap to coincide with market influences, like the PS3 and 360 consoles bring game graphics progression to a near halt for 5 years, and like Nvidia making large strides once VR, 2k / 4k / 144 Mhz frequency monitors come out. Sure, they spend time and money developing new tech, but any time they want to make a leap in graphics performance, they already know how to go about accomplishing it, and it'll take them only as long as they feel will best allow them to capitalize on it.

 

Nvidia and AMD should be pushing graphics development in games, IMO, by funding the development and inclusion of envelope-pushing technologies, as an additional upper layer to a game's graphics. That in turn would push graphics card sales, while not alienating the more mainstream market audience, and while not costing the developer time and money for low-return endeavors. The GPU manufacturers would see the benefits in their own sales, and the developer would be paid for their work by the GPU manufacturers.

 

This would be the opposite approach to capitalizing on GPU hardware as the one which Nvidia and AMD have been engaging in... which has been to slow down their performance gains across hardware generations to keep a release-pace that doesn't get ahead of games' slow-progressing graphics standards, which, themselves, have been slowed in order to keep pace with consoles - although, game graphics progression seem to me to be less restrained by the Xb1 and PS4 consoles than they were by the PS3 / 360 consoles.

[Bl00dgod]

depending on the rig i keep mine for 4-5 years, as long as it can take the high settings i want or mediocre settings

but another important thing to think about is the display, if you change from 1920x1080 TN 60hz to 3440x1440 IPS 60hz i had to go for a stronger gpu

or swapping the display for a higher hz

 

[LordZanshin]

approx 4 years, never had a card die how do you even manage that?, next upgrade around Christmas when I'm sure how Polaris and Pascal are doing from 660 Ti's in SLI!

[LooneyJuice]

Until the incessant swearing at the screen starts. Or approximately ~4 years depending on the tier. Remember children, buying super cheap (unless you really really have no other option) means you'll have to upgrade sooner. So ~$500 card for 5 years f.ex may sound like a huge wad of cash for a component, but divide it up over the course of 5 or 6 years and it basically costs you <$100 per year. Whereas a $200 card that's obsolete within a couple of years (depending on what you do with it) may cost you about the same, if not more over the course of time.

[Megazero]

15 minutes ago, LordZanshin said:

approx 4 years, never had a card die how do you even manage that?, next upgrade around Christmas when I'm sure how Polaris and Pascal are doing from 660 Ti's in SLI!

After a long time I'm pretty sure card will just die on its own or due to dust or many other reason. I have 1 die on my because the heatsink of the RAM somehow fall off the card, so the RAM burned. I have to bring it to the shop and get a new one.

[LordZanshin]

20 minutes ago, Megazero said:

After a long time I'm pretty sure card will just die on its own or due to dust or many other reason. I have 1 die on my because the heatsink of the RAM somehow fall off the card, so the RAM burned. I have to bring it to the shop and get a new one.

Perhaps I'm just lucky;) I must admit I always overclock them, but never too much.

[ClownFace1511]

I usually get a new one every second generation. So like going from a 980ti to like a 1180ti type of thing. My old ones i give to my brother or pass them on to friends.

[MilkJugg24]

Until it turns to ash. 

[ohitsluca]

for as long as it takes me to install it and then I stop holding onto it

[sof006]

Until I can't get FPS above 60 FPS at max settings...