Did your last PC fail or become obsolete?

[Childs]

I just decided to upgrade my system this afternoon. Nothing wrong with it, and no major games coming out anytime soon needing an upgrade, but there are aspects to my system that need updating, and it requires a platform upgrade. Plus, its nice to start fresh every couple of years.

[Kingbee13]

My last PC neither became obsolete nor failed. I just decided to upgrade and I always retask my old top end PC for a secondary use. Over The years I've had PCs fail but it's been rare. My first PC, a 286 still booted the last time I tried

[omek]

Obsolete is becoming obsolete when it comes to computers imo.

Core 2 Duo's can still open email, browse facebook and run 720p flash without dropping frames. That's perfectly sufficient for the masses and Joe Shmoe.

It's getting to the point where 10 year old PC's can still serve some purpose and will continue to as long as they run. So yeah, my answer is that I've had computers which have become insufficient gaming machines but demoted into being A1 excellent media servers, whilst never really obsolete.

[JimmiG]

My previous system died. One day it just wouldn't turn on any more. But it was obsolete, too - Athlon 64 single-core, Radeon X800XT which I replaced with what I have now.

I plan to replace my current system this summer. So far it's holding together nicely. Would be typical if it failed now, months before Haswell comes out.

[pandemonium]

My current CPU (Q9400) is obsolete by today's standards, but I've overclocked it to help keep up with current generation games and my GPUs. At this point, I'm pretty much just waiting for my CPU either die, heavily bottleneck my system, or large amounts of extra cash in my bank account. The latter is doubtful. Especially since I could think of many other ways to spend a surplus of credit.

The poll is somewhat ambiguous since more people on these forums probably build their machines by part instead of buying a pre-built machine. With that said, having an entire machine become obsolete or fail is unlikely, and more people will diagnose the part that failed or is obsolete and replace it (unless it's a primary component, such as MoBo, which can also mean replacing CPU and RAM as well; at which point would probably qualify for obsoletion or system fail).

Of the 4 machines I've built for myself in the last 15 years, all were used until they became obsolete (again, focusing on gaming, the threshold for gaming machines at most is about 4 years IMHO). Personally, I've had 2 video cards and 1 power supply die on me (beyond the warranty time limit).

[Gustavus]

I never get rid of anything. Just completed a 260 hr 50 min backtracking run on an old Abit TH7 II running at 2.4 GHz (overclocked!). Just put it on a good UPS and check every morning to see if it has completed. Of course if it had more memory -- it only has 1 GB of RDRAM -- I could speed things up with a time/memory tradeoff -- but I have the answer which is easy to verify once you get it. Sort of like factoring very large numbers -- exceedingly difficult to do and trivial to verify once you know the factors. The machine is probably 14 years old and still going strong, so why get rid of it?

Obviously I have newer machines too.

[dkm777]

My last PC was becoming obsolete, so I gave it to my brother and built a new one. My current PC is also becoming obsolete, but it's plenty fast and I don't see replacing it for another two years at least. However I had a PC fail (motherboard problems) after it became obsolete, although I insisted on using it. The breakdown was just the kick I needed to build a new one.

[jkauff]

My last PC was a Pentium 4, which I built myself using an Asus motherboard. It worked fine (after 8 years--thank you Asus), but was all IDE and PCI, and I wanted to go SATA and PCIe, so I built a new one with an Asus P8Z77-V LX.

I had two legal copies of Windows, so I left XP on the old machine. I offered it on Freecycle, saying I'd give it to the person with the most need. It went to a young boy with autism who loved computers--the family had a laptop, but couldn't afford a machine for the boy. They could afford a monitor, though, and I bought a basic keyboard and mouse. The father reported back to me that his son was totally thrilled.

I encourage everyone who's replacing their "obsolete" PC that's still working to donate it to someone in need. Your old clunker can still provide a lot of value for someone.

[VirtualLarry]

Originally Posted by jkauff

I had two legal copies of Windows, so I left XP on the old machine. I offered it on Freecycle, saying I'd give it to the person with the most need. It went to a young boy with autism who loved computers--the family had a laptop, but couldn't afford a machine for the boy. They could afford a monitor, though, and I bought a basic keyboard and mouse. The father reported back to me that his son was totally thrilled.

I encourage everyone who's replacing their "obsolete" PC that's still working to donate it to someone in need. Your old clunker can still provide a lot of value for someone.

That's a very good idea. I gave away some of my really old (single-core) machines. I also gave away two AM2+ dual-core rigs, which I now regret slightly, because I have a client was a couple of AM2+ rigs that may need mobos.

[Magic Carpet]

Computer programs make computers "obsolete". With the right software, any computer is a pleasure to use.

So, my last computer neither failed or became obsolete, it's just got re-purposed.

[Shephard]

um I don't think I have actually had an entire PC fail.

I have bought many cheapo power supplies that have died with 5 months - 1.5 years.

I have had a few gpu dies, but revived a few by baking.

I have had 2 IDE hard drives die. Never a SATA one.

Never had a CPU, motherboard, or ram fail on me.

I always sell my old computers or parts. I have nearly paid off my new computer just by selling old stuff!

[dave_the_nerd]

Is a Q6600 obsolete?