How much money do you sink into your computer(s) each year?

PascalT

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2004
1,515
0
0
I'd say about 500.00 per yr on various upgrades/replaced hardware.

you?

I am sure we'll see some scary figures for some ;)
 

WackyDan

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,794
68
91
Every three years I build a new one on average.

I might spend a few hundred to 500 on various software, and misc periferals.
 

jadinolf

Lifer
Oct 12, 1999
20,952
3
81
Probably $300 but I have three computers.

Haven't upgraded the CPUs in a couple of years.
 

halfadder

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2004
1,190
0
0
I spend probably $5K a year. But that's to maintain/upgrade 3 PCs and all of the software / games / acessories I buy. Plus I bought a PowerBook last year too.

So, yeah, it's probably somewhere around there.
 

raanemaan

Golden Member
Feb 14, 2004
1,774
0
0
200 or 300 per year. I am slowly upgrading mine and my wife has been getting my handme down. Sell her items in cheap setups at garage sales.
 

Lokasenna

Junior Member
Feb 6, 2005
2
0
0
To keep one fairly decent system up and running, and 5 older (from P2 to AMD Duron) systems I use for hosting and networking purposes....anywhere between $1,000 - $2,000.
 

DEredita

Senior member
Dec 24, 2004
349
0
76


I buy a good system every 3 to 4 years, and the old one I was using I pass on to another family member.

- Mike
 

HamburgerBoy

Lifer
Apr 12, 2004
27,111
318
126
Because upgrading isn't constant every year for me, I'll just list each year starting from the one I got my first computer. So on average, $308.33.

2000: $800: P3 750Mhz, 128MB SDRAM, Viewsonic A90, Keyboard + Mouse, Creative 52X CD-ROM, Case, Westen Digital 4GB, (absolutley horrible) 200 Watt Power Supply, Voodoo 3.
2001: $600: (Just so you know, the power supply killed my system so I had to get another) Athlon Thunderbird 1.4Ghz, Voodoo 3, Creative 52X CD-ROM, Western Digital 4GB.
2002: $200: Hercules Prophet 4000 64MB, Western Digital 40GB.
2003: $150: 300 Watt Powmax Power Supply, 512MB SDRAM.
2004: $100: ATi Radeon 9200 128MB, Optical Logitech Mouse.
2005: $0: Nothing so far.
 

sharkeeper

Lifer
Jan 13, 2001
10,886
2
0
When you work on computers that are on ships/boats, one prefers to leave "sink" out of the discussion!

Cheers!
 
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
2
71
I've really only started the semi-frequent-upgrade thing in the last year or two, now that I am not always broke. :p

In the past year, I spent $70 on a DVD burner, $120 on a new printer, $337 on a 6800GT, and $564 on a 2005FPW. Total - ~$1100

The year before, I actually built the computer I'm using right now, at a cost of roughly $1050.

And, I'll probably end up doing an Athlon 64 upgrade/SFF build within the next few months, at a cost of at least $500 (I'm recycling a few of my current parts). Oh, and no matter what, I'm also buying an HDTV tuner within a month, so there's another $250. :p

I never really added it up like that and realized how much money I spent, lol :Q
 

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,094
1
81
To much for a college student who only works part time !!! nah haha. Within the last year a bought a
6800 GT for $300,
3200+ A64 + mobo for $192,
Dell 2001FP for $300,
Seagate 200GB SATA drive for $100,
1GB of Kingmax PC4000 for $210,
Zalman 7000B HSF for $40,
AC Silencer 5 for $25, and a
Seasonic 460 watt PSU for $90

So from just that about $1250. I am sure I have probably bought more than that but I can't think of anything else ATM. All my buys are ussually "hot" deals and I sell off my old Parts when they are still worth some money. So not all of it is just a sunk cost I sell my stuff for a good price and buy newer stuff for cheap.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,574
10,211
126
I'd say, probably $300/year, more or less depending if it's a "major platform upgrade" year, or just an interim/peripheral-upgrade year.

My current AMD rig, cost ~$145 for the MSI KT4V-L mobo and retail XP1800+ CPU, 256MB PC2700 was a present, but it cost ~$70 or so I think, HDs I had before, and pick up occasionally on sale when I'm out of room, monitor/keyboard I had, new "moddable" case with built-in blowhole was ~$40. A year later added 2 x 256MB PC3200 to the mix for ~$90, 4X DVD burner for $35, DVD discs... well, I assume that we're not counting software and blank media costs in this, just hardware upgrades, right? I probably spend $100/year on media too. I can't recall the last time (if ever) I bought a "complete" system. I've always done things piecemeal. Sometimes you save money, and sometimes you waste money, as the components that you've already purchased are devalued, while you wait for the "perfect" matching component and price to go with it to finish the build.

Recent additions to the collection include a full-tower Chieftec case ($45), 360W + 520W PSUs ($60), mobo and asst ($45), so it looks like 2005's computer hardware budget is half-spent already. The 2005/2006 timeframe will be my next scheduled major platform upgrade most likely. By then, PCIe perripherals, and chipsets with SATA-2 should be in full swing, and possibly consumer-level dual-core CPUs too. I'm going to try to get by and bypass the first-gen PCIe-capable systems and bypass SATA, and wait until things mature a bit more. OTOH, my PC has never been a "gaming rig" for me, I'm more of a game-console + arcade person. (Shock, horror, to those that live and die by their gaming PC rigs. :) )
 

Wadded Beef

Banned
Dec 15, 2004
1,482
0
0
I've been holding onto my old athlonxp and 9800 pro since 2003, proabably average about 200 a year with all the games i buy alone, heh
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
106
I'd say about $500 a year on it, but I usually get about 2/3 of that back from selling things I had replaced. Plus, whenever I jump on a super hot deal, if I ever order anything extra that I wind up not needing, I'll sell it on eBay. That about covers my $500 expenses.

:p
 

Amaroque

Platinum Member
Jan 2, 2005
2,178
0
0
Probably about 5-6k a year. But, that is over a half dozen computers kept close to top of the line. ;)