How often do you guys need to update your graphics cards?

[Inspector Jihad]

cause i'm looking into it and it seems like such an expensive hobby.

 

[Dman877]

I try to go about 2 years per card. I've been on a 9700 Pro now for 2.5 years though, still haven't seen anything worth upgrading for. Before that I'd had a GF3 Original for 2 years, before that it was a voodoo3 .

Got the 9700 Pro for free, the GF3 was 300 and the voodoo was 150 iirc so thats 450 for about 7 years of gaming at this point. Before that I wasn't into 3d games, just played simcity, civilization, warcraft, etc.

 

[KoolDrew]

Whenever my games can't run optimally.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

so approx. how long will a 6600gt last me?

 

[Dman877]

Depends on your monitor, gaming tastes, quality settings etc. If you don't have a super-high res lcd and don't need aa/af to have fun gaming, a 6600GT should last a good while, maybe 2 years or so if 10x7 gaming is good enough for you (I don't mean now but in 2 years you might have to play games at 10x7 to get decent fps).

 

[christopherzombie]

PNY GF 2 MX - SEP 2001
ATI 7500AIW - FEB 2002
Leadtek ti4400 - AUG 2002
Sparkle 5600Ultra - FEB 2003
Suma 9500pro - AUG 2003
Suma 5900XT - JAN 2004
eVGA 6800Ultra - NOV 2004

It looks like I update about once every 6 months. I'm keeping the 6800U for a while.

 

[kurt454]

I upgrade when a favorite game cannot play at my preferred resolution and framerate. That said, I am about to get an X800XL or 6800gt.

 

[BFG10K]

Usually every 12-18 months.

 

[housecat]

The new cards can never come soon enough.
When not running SLI, I just dont have enough horsepower. It makes 1600x1200 and higher playable with AA/AF.. or just extreme resolutions.

I'm looking forward to the next gen Nvidia in SLI.

But it depends on the person, I can't be fed enough power though.. if they release something with the efficiency of NV SLI with a 4-card setup, I'd buy it.

I would be interested in "SLI"'d ATI cards if they offered more than 2 cards at once.. but the current motherboards wont allow for that. Plus I dont think it will be as efficient as SLI. We'll have to wait and see.

So dual video SLI is where I'm at now, and I will be getting two top cards every year from here on out.
Its not that bad when you have two gaming rigs and you can always divide up the cards if you wish, or put them back in your main.. and sometimes you can get a discount for buying two at once. You just need either a lot of money or a good job and good saving habits.
Not recommended for kids in high school.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
cause i'm looking into it and it seems like such an expensive hobby.

Every three years for me, but then again I find anything above fifteen frames per second playable.

 

[JBT]

For the average user I think around 2 years is good for video card upgrades. I upgrade mine to play with new cards and see how they perform/overclock. While it may seem expensive it is cheaper than alot of other "hobbies" I can think of.

 

[VIAN]

About every new generation, I spend 200-300 bucks.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: housecat
You just need either a lot of money or a good job and good saving habits.
Not recommended for kids in high school.

regardless of finiancial status, its expensive...and i guess its not for hs students and definetly not for us college students. anyway consoles seem to make more sense when you think about it.

 

[JBT]

Spending a couple thousand on something you really like itsn't that expensive. Look into cars or something then you will really see some expensive hobbies...

There are alot more things out there that require more money than computers. With computers you can get TOP of line stuff for a few grand. With other hobbies it can be MUCH more...

 

[Schadenfroh]

once every 3 years or so

TnT > Voodoo5
Voodoo5 > Geforce4 TI 4200
Geforce4 TI 4200 > Geforce 6800GT

 

[housecat]

Originally posted by: JBT
Spending a couple thousand on something you really like itsn't that expensive. Look into cars or something then you will really see some expensive hobbies...

There are alot more things out there that require more money than computers. With computers you can get TOP of line stuff for a few grand. With other hobbies it can be MUCH more...

ditto.

i try to keep this my only hobby that i spend cash on because i want to keep my main hobby a cheap one.

if i got into some of the stuff i would like to, i could spend hundreds of thousands.. and i just want to get addicted to spending that much. my father has 2 helicopters (an ultra light and a fullsize) and while it would be fun, i just dont want to spend the money on training and buying one. though i might get an ultralight for myself sometime.
i also love speed boats and i want a new Fountain i have my eye on but im holding off on that stuff as much as possible.
wait till we move to the lake of the ozarks for that.

that said, its not for those without at least some money. if you are dead broke in college or HS.. not recommended because its futile. but you can still get some great hardware off of a part time job easily.

thats why we have x800xls and 6800gts, even i use a 6800gt (kind of).

im ordering a new venice core tonight and a SATA dvd burner, a new CPU cooler and another DFI NF4 board and another gig of ram, cant wait! weeeeeeee!!!!
and its all relatively cheap. venice core $200, plextor burner $130, cpu cooler $50, dfi board $150 or so.

thats pretty cheap for a hobby really man.

my other hobby is learning java programming, its free completely (the software is all free) and its hella fun! you cant go wrong with computers, they really open doors.. so that money spent on building machines gets you experience and you can dink with network software or program!

i'm goign to be buying my kid all the computer crap he wants, its better to be a nerd like me than into drugs.

 

[Brian23]

Originally posted by: housecat

Originally posted by: JBT
Spending a couple thousand on something you really like itsn't that expensive. Look into cars or something then you will really see some expensive hobbies...

There are alot more things out there that require more money than computers. With computers you can get TOP of line stuff for a few grand. With other hobbies it can be MUCH more...

ditto.

i try to keep this my only hobby that i spend cash on because i want to keep my main hobby a cheap one.

if i got into some of the stuff i would like to, i could spend hundreds of thousands.. and i just want to get addicted to spending that much. my father has 2 helicopters (an ultra light and a fullsize) and while it would be fun, i just dont want to spend the money on training and buying one. though i might get an ultralight for myself sometime.
i also love speed boats and i want a new Fountain i have my eye on but im holding off on that stuff as much as possible.
wait till we move to the lake of the ozarks for that.

that said, its not for those without at least some money. if you are dead broke in college or HS.. not recommended because its futile. but you can still get some great hardware off of a part time job easily.

thats why we have x800xls and 6800gts, even i use a 6800gt (kind of).

im ordering a new venice core tonight and a SATA dvd burner, a new CPU cooler and another DFI NF4 board and another gig of ram, cant wait! weeeeeeee!!!!
and its all relatively cheap. venice core $200, plextor burner $130, cpu cooler $50, dfi board $150 or so.

thats pretty cheap for a hobby really man.

my other hobby is learning java programming, its free completely (the software is all free) and its hella fun! you cant go wrong with computers, they really open doors.. so that money spent on building machines gets you experience and you can dink with network software or program!

i'm goign to be buying my kid all the computer crap he wants, its better to be a nerd like me than into drugs.

He could end up being a drugged nerd like most of the people on Anandtech!

 

[housecat]

ROFL!

A drugged nerd? Oh the horror!

 

[cubby1223]

Roughly speaking, I buy a $200 video card every other year, so figure $100 / year I spend on video cards.

 

[imported_Noob]

Usually ever 1-2 years. But I will buy the Pro or GT version of every card now because of the increasing games' demand for good video cards.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Lately I've been on a once-a-year upgrade habit. Got a Radeon 8500 in September 2002, then a 9700 Pro in August 2003, then a 6800GT in July 2004. Probably will upgrade to R520 or similar in a few months.

 

[essasin]

When i can't play the games i want to play anymore within reason, which is usually about 2-3 years.

 

[Elcs]

I upgrade when I cant play games acceptably at 1024x768 with reasonable eye-candy.

 

[apoppin]

from 1 to 3 years . . . . and i generally sell my old video card to defray the expenses of the new one.

for me it's averaging close to "every 18 months" . . . .

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: housecat
You just need either a lot of money or a good job and good saving habits.
Not recommended for kids in high school.

regardless of finiancial status, its expensive...and i guess its not for hs students and definetly not for us college students. anyway consoles seem to make more sense when you think about it.

Console games are much more expensive and not discounted until the game is ancient. OTOH, you can usually get a 'just released' PC game (on sale ) for less than $39 and within 6 months is usually "bargain bin" - $20.

finally you toss your old console in the trash and buy a new one . . . . otoh you UPgrade your PC bit by bit . . .

 

[nRollo]

Twice a year at least.