Does anyone think the desktops we have now might be the last we have?

[HeXen]

Only thing I use a desktop for is Steam and it's barely even considered a desktop.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

ITX is the future.

 

[Highmodulus]

4K gaming is going to require some hefty hardware. So if/when good 4K games are out, that will push upgrades for a while.

 

[piasabird]

You will continue to see computers. I use my present computer to watch shows on the Internet like Hulu Plus, and Youtube, etc. I have a Mini-ITX Centrino wireless card equipped desktop, So I can put the computer/TV in any room. I use a wireless keyboard/touchpad. I think you may see a lot of smaller computing devices. Maybe Intel will make the IGP better than video cards and video cards will disappear.

 

[piasabird]

If Intel can shrink down the IGP and put it on a CPU die, then how come video cards are so large? That is what I think is silly.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

If Intel can shrink down the IGP and put it on a CPU die, then how come video cards are so large? That is what I think is silly.

Completely different animals.
Completely different power requirements.

Video cards include all sorts of additional circuitry, RAM, etc. The GPUs themselves are similar in size to a CPU (taking into consideration transistor count and process tech.) Video cards should be properly compared to a motherboard.

 

[Omar F1]

Until they bring a 27" screen-sized smartphone, tablet, or laptop - personally I'd continue to use and upgrade my desktop PC.

 

[Charlie98]

ITX is the future.

You stole what I was going to say...

What I see is the desktop market getting smaller and smaller; even the gamers are trying to cram gamer builds and water cooling into smaller and smaller cases. Gone are the days of cumbersome desktop towers purely for the sake of space, but I don't think the desktop is dead... or ever will be in one form or another.

As far as upgrading, I think component performance has hit a plateau, at least CPU performance. Where I see breakthroughs now is in storage... big TB HDDs and affordable, readily available SSDs. Eventually this, too, will pass, and by that time, the Next Big Thing in CPUs will take off, etc, etc, on and on.

Personally, I'm still working my 2500K and, in fact, in lieu of upgrading my Haswell Pentium machine... I took the retrograde step and got a used 2500K to put in my leftover Z68 board, turning it into my gaming rig, expecting it to carry me at least 4 more years down the road, with maybe a suitable GPU upgrade in 2 years or so.

Will I ever gut my main desktop and build it back up from scratch? Probably... but not in the near future...

Edit: Actually, if I ever rebuild my main desktop (or, possibly, even my gamer) it'll be mITX. Because I like to tinker, that may happen sooner rather than later... but because I enjoy the engineering challenge, not for any limitations of the PC itself.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Gamers who make the move to 4k pretty much could grab a i7 and in singe gpu situations be pretty much gpu bond for quite some time.Not exactly the way to go but 4k may bring in longer longevity to cpu platforms with pretty much any recent game demanding more gpu.

If i moved to 4k tomorrow i am guessing i could pretty much come to a point where a gpu requires a whole new type of slot and motherboard.Like AGP to PCI-E i think this could happen again and may be the biggest type of push.

General usage i wouldn't be surprised if my i7 3770+ ssd could get me by for another 5 years easily.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

Of course that 3770 will last a while. We still have people using C2D and C2Q some of which are almost 8 years old now. They still work in most games perfectly fine.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Of course that 3770 will last a while. We still have people using C2D and C2Q some of which are almost 8 years old now. They still work in most games perfectly fine.

Got a x4 9150e from about the same time period,matched with a ssd it still handles the most basic of tasks with ease.Some flash based games like on Facebook cause slight slowdowns but what do you expect from a first generation phenom quad at 1.8ghz.Works great for pretty much anything but games.

 

[escrow4]

Of course that 3770 will last a while. We still have people using C2D and C2Q some of which are almost 8 years old now. They still work in most games perfectly fine.

Most games being 2012 era or earlier. Anything from this year, they are obsolete.

 

[Red Squirrel]

This is a real dilemma: do you have a rolling upgrade cycle over time, a few hundred dollars every 12-18 mos? Or do you stretch each build until it no longer is fully functional and then do a whole new system? I find myself now in a position where the full rebuild makes more sense. Just hoping that my investment will last for more than five years.

That's the funny thing, I always build with upgradability in mind, but TBH, I rarely upgrade. I keep what I have for years then build a new machine when I feel I need to or simply want to.

Sometimes I use some of the old parts though, so the modularity of PCs is still very important to me. The day that the concept of building a PC is no more and that the only option is embedded/single board stuff, it will be a sad day. That said, smaller single board PCs have their place too.

 

[sm625]

The case I have might be the last one. But I'm sure I will change the guts. I wont be moving to a smaller form factor, because my tower case makes for an ergonomically perfect mouse pad stand.

 

[Yuriman]

Biggest reason I'll continue to have a desktop is the user interface, even if that desktop is eventually mATX or ITX. I like my full size, full depth mechanical keyboard. I like my Logitech G500, my dual 24" screens, and my 500w sound system. I like my oversized desk, which has room for blueprints, diagrams, and dinner.

Secondarily, I like my local storage. I could get away with having an external drive, but I don't plan to pay monthly for cloud storage.

I'd be happy with the performance provided by mobile devices, but the upgradability and lower cost of desktop components is just icing on the cake.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I hated mATX boards. Not being able to upgrade to several internal improvements sucks. You can slap in a video card and maybe a sound card and you're done.

 

[Yuriman]

I hated mATX boards. Not being able to upgrade to several internal improvements sucks. You can slap in a video card and maybe a sound card and you're done.

In my particular case, I haven't used an add-in card other than a video card and a sound card in around 8 years. My last sound card died 2 years ago and I haven't replaced it yet. Cavernous mid-towers are a waste for me.

 

[Cerb]

I hated mATX boards. Not being able to upgrade to several internal improvements sucks. You can slap in a video card and maybe a sound card and you're done.

What, aside from more USB 3.0 ports, or a different drive controller, needs adding? Uusually, nothing to not much. A replacement NIC, occasionally.

Sound card? No need to waste an internal slot for that, especially with a video card right near it. Which reminds me, I need to get a USB to I2S board, and kit up one of mine that's sitting in a bag...

 

[dave_the_nerd]

ALC1150 is virtually indistinguishable from the expensive stuff in blind tests. Your sound cards are as obsolete as your PCI NIC.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Tv tuners, capture cards, professional sound cards, additional USB ports, raid controller, and more. Once HSA really takes off you'll add in a dedicated gpu for compute.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Tv tuners,

USB

capture cards,

USB

professional sound cards,

Something like this? USB.

additional USB ports,

USB Hub

raid controller,

You use a rackmounted server for audio production?

and more. Once HSA really takes off you'll add in a dedicated gpu for compute.

Why, will HSA only work if I have two?

 

[Cerb]

Tv tuners, capture cards, professional sound cards, additional USB ports, raid controller, and more. Once HSA really takes off you'll add in a dedicated gpu for compute.

That's all of 1, maybe 2 slots (1 for the HBA/RAID card, and one for the added non-hubbed USB 3.0 ports).

Tuner and capture is done with USB, these days, even for radio (usually using the same chips as TV tuners), and even on Linux. Professional audio interfaces used to be internal+external, or Firewire. Today, it's generic USB, proprietary USB (Windows doesn't support async USB audio), or Thunderbolt.

And no, once HSA takes off, nobody will add a non-3D card. If it even takes off, they'll get more use from whatever they already have, IGP included. Those that buy dedicated are the same that buy dedicated ones today, they'll just end up with more time savings from it. Intel and AMD IGPs are quite suitable for GPGPU offloading.

I'm not saying nobody needs more than 4 slots, but only a very small number of people, even amongst professionals that use peripherals; and among them, they usually don't need all the slots, so much as a slot layout that allows space between certain cards, and certain minimum card counts amongst that number (IE, 1 PCI, but then also 1 or more PCIe >1x, or something, rather than a full 7 slots to fill up).

 

[escrow4]

I always get ATX by default unless there is some sort of need for smaller. Easy to upgrade, easy to work with, and easy to find.

 

[denis280]

I use my desktop for photoshop and work.But wen i see the requirement for new games.Just cant believe it!

 

[Charlie98]

Someone should start a poll.... 'How many unused expansion slots do you have on your mobo?'

I have GPU and USB3 cards in both my desktops... and still have slots leftover!