How long do you wait before upgrading?

[RayEarth]

I'm just wondering what the adverage waiting period is before people start upgrading their computer system. I normally upgrade my whole system once a year, I sell my old one 1st before I start building a new one, but I started to think if I am wasting my money upgrading each year, also I am running out of people to sell my old computer system to. I have a cousin who is still using their very 1st & only computer, which is a HP 200mhz pentium, with 48mb SIMM, it's only 48mb because I gave them memory from a old system i didn't even use anymore, with an onboard ati card & onboard sound. Their system is so slow they use my system very often to play games they buy. Now that DDR systems will be here pretty soon, does anyone that just built a new system plan on upgrading again or will you be able to wait & use your computer, like my cousins is doing, to the point where it will be so slow that you have to sleep between each operation? I'm thinking right now that i might actually wait another year or more before upgrading my whole system again, since cpu is doubling too fast to keep pace with, I'm thinking with a 900mhz PIII & 384mb of pc133, my system still looks like it has a long life, the only thing i might upgrade my tnt2 ultra card when the matrox G800 comes out.

 

[dcdomain]

G800 where are you??? Direct X 8.0 is out... what are you waiting for??? Ok, enough. Anyway, the general rule I've seen some people follow is the following. If you spent $3000 on a system, you probably have three years before you have to upgrade, $2000 buys you two years before an upgrade, $1000 is one year and whatever, you get the idea right? In addition, try not to jump on first generation stuff. Even if it's time to upgrade, wait a while longer to make sure the technology has a chance to mature before jumping all over it.

 

[Linh]

I'm sure about the 3 year thingy for a $3000 system. If I recall, the pII was introduced ~3 years. Any 3 year old system would have problems running any of today's games.

 

[Blain]

I never wait! I'm always looking for the "next component".

If I could get away from this BBS, I would probably be happy with what I've got

 

[Tonec]

$150 is my cutoff for any single upgrade.

 

[Jeff H]

I've gotten into the component upgrade routine, rather than whole system upgrades. I wait for either of two things to happen: either I need/want a part to do something that's become too slow, or faster/larger parts have forced the price of what I want down to a level I want to afford.

Examples: in June I upgraded my iPII-300 (SL2YK) @ 450MHz to an FC-PGA P!!!-650. I waited for the price of the 650 to get below $200. Last week I added another 128MB of PC133 SDRAM, since I was able to pick it up for $75 retail.

More of my upgrades are want-to's, rather than need-to's, since this is my hobby. Plus, keeping up on hardware and software keeps me in good stead in my job.

 

[Mem]

I have just upgraded,I will probably upgrade next in about 18 months for board & CPU with new ram ,by then QDR boards should be out (I will skip DDR) anyway my next upgrade will probably be a NV20 graphics card.

 

[OldCrow]

I've always figured that I followed the "upgrade only when there's something really neat that you can't run" rule. After my latest upgrade, however, I finally saw a true pattern. Over the years, I've hit the "need to upgrade" point when I could triple the processor speed. Here's the pattern:

Computer 1 - 8MHz Z80 based
Computer 2 - 25MHz 386
Computer 3 - 100NHz Pentium
Computer 4 - 333MHz PII
Computer 5 - 1.1G Thunderbird

I have a strong feeling that whatever the chip, the next PC in my future will clock out at around 3-4G.

Crow

 

[dcdomain]

Back again... I generally don't upgrade... but what I'm doing now is slowly buying parts for my new computer (this December). As I acquire the parts, I just add them into my existing system, and use it until I'm ready to build the new computer. At that point, I swap out the parts and place the original components back into the old system...

 

[jmcoreymv]

My rule is that the speed has to be at least 3-4x my current speed, so until its between 1.5 gig and 2, i aint upgrading.

 

[randomlinh]

my rule is when i have cash

 

[trenchfoot]

best advice i could give is follow intels' and AMDs' roadmaps and plan ahead and be patient. do your homework. stay on top of their developments and tune in to how the rest of the 'puter related industries are adjusting to them. when you see a major shift coming like the pentium4 or AMDs' new 760 chipset supporting ddr, you'll know that opportunities will surely follow. find out when the implementation is supposed to take place, wait for the dust to settle (about a month), and check how the market is adjusting, especially on those items that you really want to see in your new setup. weigh carefully your personal wants and needs as we're all different in what we think we should, want, need and absolutly have to have when that window of opportunity presents itself.
the idea is to hold out until "point of best value" for the setup that you want appears. this "point" happens when the setup you want still has good longevity technology-wise, yet the prices on the components that you wanted in your setup have nearly bottomed out. if you follow the price trends on your components closely enough your gut-feeling will automatically tell you what an when to buy. you'll also know if you should buy your setup but hold off on an item or two because their prices will be dropping just after you get your rig. (almost like playing the stockmarket huh?).........twks2

oops, forgot to add that this advice is general in nature, and i left alot of stuff out. its a strategy for buying a "value" setup. the strategy changes depending on how much money you're willing to "waste" to get the latest stuff out, or how much money you're willing to "waste" buying obsolete technology that nobody wants or uses.

 

[Ben88]

Buy a generation behind. Right now the best system is a Tbird 800-1000 and a geforce 2 gts or Radeon. You'll have a fast system and wont feel like crap because you won't have to blow massive amouts of cash.

 

[Eli]

Basically whenever I get the money to do it. I'm feeling the age of my current system, a K6-3/450. Now that I'm working, I plan on keeping up though. I'm saving up for a MSI K7T Pro2, a Thunderbird 800, 256mb Kingmax PC150 and an IBM 75GXP 45gb. Another couple weeks

Speaking of the Pro2, anybody know where to get it? :Q

A bit after DDR boards have come out, when I learn a little about them, I'll get me one and some DDR ram

 

[HellRaven]

I agree with Ben88 and disagree with tweaker2. I never buy a piece of hardware even a month after it is first introduced.

Not only are the kinks still not worked out (even a month after), but the prices are inflated. For example, When Tbirds and KT133 motherboards first hit the market - The motherboards were around $180 and the processors were expensive. Now, many months later you can get a good motherboard for $100-130 and AMD has cut the prices on Tbirds several times. Now, some would say if your always waiting for the prices to come down you wont get to enjoy the product. That is in some ways true - but I prefer to be patient, buy in the sweetspot when the bugs are worked out and the prices are good, then enjoy.

Staying on the bleeding edge is just not a good idea. It is better to stay a little behind. I think it is the best way to go, even if your one of the people that buys something only once every few years.

[edit] I forgot to add - It is the same deal with DDR. Some people are going to rush out and spend $200+ on a DDR motherboard and then alot on RAM. I think it is better to wait for the motherboards (and memory too, though how much they will drop is questionable, the memory market is a funny one) to drop to more reasonable prices. By that time any bugs will be worked out too and new BIOS improving performance will undoubtably be out.

 

[PliotronX]

I look for upgrade path, longevity, and especially price at the time.

This leaves me with CPU upgrades.. maybe once every two years, vid card, about the same. There's just no point in wasting money for technology (except for maybe bragging rights), it's always progressing, and not even slowly. Just in August I upgraded to a 700E from a Celery 300A @ 464, because I saw that it would offer me a nice upgrade and still be compatible with this BH6.

 

[Lalakai]

consider why you need to upgrade???? If you're experiencing a bottleneck in your current system then an upgrade is warrented and can usually be done by components. On older systems an entire upgrade may be the most cost effective route. Bottom line though: what is driving the upgrade need???


soyo 5EH mb
K3-400 oc'd
ibm ATA66 13.5 gig
128 mushkin/samsung PC133
V3-2K
vortex 2500
KDS 19" AV
promise ATA66 control card

 

[Spook]

I usually can wait a few months for the latest and greatest... But I'm a big sucker for Video boards.... I will read the previews, and reviews... But when I've made a decision on a video board, get out of the way... I gotta have it... $500, slap, no problem... I'm much more cautious with the rest of the hardware I buy... For Instance, I'll bee waiting a couple of months after DDR motherboards a out, before I buy one... I want to see what kind of bugs there are, and which ones are most stable. Thats not something you find out by being first in line...

 

[Muadib]

Upgrading is like crack to most of the guys & gals on here Ray. Heck, I'd bet dinner that 90% of the people on anand have systems faster than their friends or relatives. It's a drug man!!!! Can you really go a whole year???

 

[ModemMix]

if your a junkie like me you upgrade somthing everytime you have some extra money, im sick, i cant stop, i upgrade even when i dont need incresed preformance. I CANT STOP!!!!
PLEASE HELP ME.....give me free cutting edge parts...

 

[glen]

When ever a sweet spot in chips comes out, I up grade the CPU. For example, the P3 700, which could be OC to 933, was a great deal, ESPECIALLY after it had been out a little and the price dropped even lower.

GPU each year.

 

[Shockwave]

I generally upgade whenever I have aquired enough money from blood donations/ medical testing/ paycheck from normal job/working streets at night to afford the newest coolest stuff...