Do you keep upgrading your computer to....

Hyperblaze

Lifer
May 31, 2001
10,027
1
81
the "bleeding edge"?

I used to upgrade my computer specs to the cutting edge or bleeding edge.

Now my hardware is several years old and not considered upgrading it.

It's perfectly fine for what I need it for. Why upgrade?

What are your specs? Do you feel the need to upgrade?

 

monk3y

Lifer
Jun 12, 2001
12,699
0
76
I haven't upgraded in a while. I used to regularly upgrade to keep up with the new games. I've stopped playing games so...
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
cutting edge, no
somwhat current, yes

can't afford to upgrade to cutting edge all the time
 

Conky

Lifer
May 9, 2001
10,709
0
0
I like to say I am on the bleeding edge... the back side of it. ;)

I upgrade as needed for the games I play. I recently got a newer videocard(X850XT) but not state of the art because I have found so many other things(like my gf, for instance) to spend money on. I am more into the games than the hardware these days.

 

meltdown75

Lifer
Nov 17, 2004
37,548
7
81
i go by something i like to call "critical upgrade status".

said status is reached when a game i have been looking forward to is released such as HL2 and my rig can't run it good enough.

specs in sig... still running recent games decently and was originally built to be a budget setup that could run HL2.
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
62,943
19,181
136
Let's see... 768MB RAM, Athlon XP 1600+, and AIW 9800 Pro.
I think it's safe to say that I do not :p
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,152
635
126
Don't really care anymore. Last computer I bought in February....has whatever the cheapest PCI-X card with DVI they offered at the time:p
 

loic2003

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2003
3,844
0
0
until I can't play a game I want to (with acceptable res + fancy gubbins), or hardware failure, I have no need to.

Having said that, my machine was pushing ~37fps on the lost coast at a mere 1024 x 768, so maybe when the new HL addon using HDR or the next UT engine arrive I'll throw some cash at my box.
 

Looney

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
21,938
5
0
I only see one more game in the future i'll upgrade for, and that is Vanguard. And i'm REALLY REALLY hoping my current laptop can do well on it (iXPS2) so i won''t have to.

Although i do plan on building an HTPC just before summer.
 

Crescent13

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2005
4,793
1
0
I almost never am on the bleeding edge, most of the time I'm on the front edge of the mid-range. Madly overclocked 6600GT on zalman vf-700Cu, 3200+ winchester, etc. I want to get a bleeding edge computer when Vista comes out though.
 

batmang

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2003
3,020
1
81
i just bought a new video card just for quake 4, and i built my a64 3000+ system just for half life 2. so im starting to see a trend in myself which i want to prevent.
i hate having to buy new hardware just to play a certain game, but that what it is coming to for me. as for class, i stay in the mid-range class. i dont like spending THAT much money.

im prolly going to hold off on upgrading for a while, but im pretty sure i wont once the new unreal tournament comes out.

my specs are in my sig.
 

IonBlade

Member
Oct 22, 1999
191
0
76
Nope - I used to stick to a schedule of hitting the vid card refresh cycles every year, processor whenever the top end got to 2x the clock of whatever I had in the rig at the time, and mobo as necessary.

After grabbing the Athlon 64 a few months into its life and then being left with no upgrade path for video or processor (AMD ditched 64-bit 754 right after debuting it and vid companies went to PCI-Express), I decided I'd had enough of constant upgrades and moved to consoles for gaming, with my PC taking a media-centric role. Don't plan to upgrade again until an A64 3000 w/ 1GB and a 6600GT can't cut it in the few games I do still play (WoW).
 

bigrash

Lifer
Feb 20, 2001
17,648
28
91
I used to update all the time, but it's been a couple of years since I've been on the bleeding edge. I just don't have the interest as much as I used to
 

batmang

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2003
3,020
1
81
Originally posted by: IonBlade
Nope - I used to stick to a schedule of hitting the vid card refresh cycles every year, processor whenever the top end got to 2x the clock of whatever I had in the rig at the time, and mobo as necessary.

After grabbing the Athlon 64 a few months into its life and then being left with no upgrade path for video or processor (AMD ditched 64-bit 754 right after debuting it and vid companies went to PCI-Express), I decided I'd had enough of constant upgrades and moved to consoles for gaming, with my PC taking a media-centric role. Don't plan to upgrade again until an A64 3000 w/ 1GB and a 6600GT can't cut it in the few games I do still play (WoW).

same thing happened to me. i upgraded my motherboard for pci-express, and upgraded my video card as well. but i think i am DONE, cause its getting ridiculous having to upgrade every 6-8 months just to keep up. i almost want to buy an xbox360 over upgrading my pc.

as for gaming, ive been playing only quake 4 on the pc, but ive been playing all kinds of stuff on my modded ps2. resident evil 4 is awesome btw. :)
 

Megatomic

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
20,127
6
81
Nope, not any more. I do bang for the buck upgrades to keep me gaming. A quick look at the rig in my sig will prove I don't keep up with the bleeding edge.
 

trmiv

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
14,670
18
81
Last upgrade I did was a Radeon 9700 Pro quite a while back. I got it for like $100. Other than that, I'm still on my Athlon XP 2400+ (that I got for free when my mom still worked at AMD), and 512 megs of PC3200.
 

jcovercash

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
9,064
0
0
For some reason about once a year I upgrade just under top of the line, like the last months aprts that are now the price they are supposed to be, then about 2-3 months later I end up trading it off for something slower......

I have no idea probally because I like gaming on consoles so much better.
 

Patt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2000
5,288
2
81
Never on the bleeding edge. I like a budget machine, though I have been upgrading certain components to better standards recently (FPW2005 & X850Pro (modded to X850XT)). I can't ever justify spending so much extra on something already technically obsolete. I'd rather buy 1 or two steps back for budgetary reasons.
 

luckysnafu

Senior member
Jul 11, 2003
546
0
71
Haven't upgraded in awhile, but considering it soon. I was playing NFSMW last night and my computer froze...lol. I have an athlon xp mobile OC'd to 2.2ghz and a 9500 pro video card. I was surprised at how good the game looked while I was able to play it. I doubt I will upgrade though...since I got my car last year my computer has dropped down in the priority list to spend money on.
 

WT

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2000
4,816
60
91
BB4TB .... Best Bang for the Buck !! I end up needing to upgrade my vid card once a year and looking for an overclockable cpu. With the yearly price to me of a vid card raising from $200 to $300, I have had to stretch that card longer than I wanted to, but it would only affect me if I had a high end game that was worth the extra eye candy. I'm playing CoD2 now, and I don't even bother with 1024 res as thats not gonna happen with my GF6800NU. So I look for a nice board/cpu combo to tide me over, which just happened to be the Asrock S939/Opteron 144 setup. I am suitably impressed with the setup and it is just bulletproof. I previously had an NF3 250 with AMD64 3000+ so I wasn't completely out of the gaming loop either. The next step would be a 7800GT which hopefully will be had for $250 by late April/May.
 

BriGy86

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2004
4,537
1
91
i built the best that i could afford when i built my current one, im probably going to wait until this one is completely obsolete, for what i need and then i build another one that is the best that i can afford.

i built this on in feb and i figure it should last me until at least 2 years if need be