How often do you upgrade your rigs?

[LouPoir]

Originally posted by: BentValve
Once a month.

Yup

 

[BFG10K]

Usually every 12-18 months.

 

[flexy]

when i think that an upgrade would give me a *significant* performance gain.

Eg. my old system i built in 2001 (if i remember right)....so basically i used this computer for almost 4 years now. XP1900, 384MB DDR 2100. I had a Radeon 8500 and upgraded to 9800 Pro...and i upgraded some stuff like HD.....but basically the system is still the same what it was.

Now i am getting A64 3500+, 1gig OCZ ram and X850XT....and the performance gain will be a KILLER Also, the old PC is a really bad overclocker, and the new system i chose HQ components with an eye on overclockability,

That's what makes it so exciting. I rather wait one/two years and do a mega upgrade instead of a new PC every 6 months...

 

[Rhin0]

I built my last computer in Dec. 1997 and I just built this one one Dec. 2004.

Ouch... LOL

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: Cook1
Once or twice a month for me....and no I'm not rich.

What do you upgrade, IDE/SATA cables?

 

[halfadder]

I built my 3 GHz P4 PC about a year ago, but last month I upgraded the RAM from 512 MB to 1 GB. This past summer I upgraded to a DVD-/+RW drive. The older parts trickle down to my other 3 PCs. I would say that I'm tinkering with one of my PCs each month.

My PowerBook is now 13 months old and I haven't done anything to it. Partially because there's not much I can do with it aside from a RAM or HD upgrade. But also because it's working fine. I'm still using the original installation of Mac OS X that it shipped with. I ordered it with Final Cut Express and Keynote, but have also bought and added MS Office 2004, Photoshop CS, UT2004, Sim City 4, and a few other applications over the past year. But not hardware changes and the only OS differences are that I have run the Software Update utility every now and then.

 

[Cook1]

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: Cook1
Once or twice a month for me....and no I'm not rich.

What do you upgrade, IDE/SATA cables?

CPUs, Motherboards, Cases, Video Cards, Harddrives, Memory and etc. For example, if you check out my current set-up right now, which isn't even built yet, I've already made an upgrade to it. Got another gig of RAM to go in it and have a silver DVD burner on the way as well. Will mostly likely be upgrading to an Nforce 4 board or a 3800+/4000+ sometime in the near future as well.

 

[justly]

Originally posted by: Cook1

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: Cook1
Once or twice a month for me....and no I'm not rich.

What do you upgrade, IDE/SATA cables?

CPUs, Motherboards, Cases, Video Cards, Harddrives, Memory and etc. For example, if you check out my current set-up right now, which isn't even built yet, I've already made an upgrade to it. Got another gig of RAM to go in it and have a silver DVD burner on the way as well. Will mostly likely be upgrading to an Nforce 4 board or a 3800+/4000+ sometime in the near future as well.

No wonder your not rich, your spending like crazy...lol

 

[Cook1]

Originally posted by: justly

Originally posted by: Cook1

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: Cook1
Once or twice a month for me....and no I'm not rich.

What do you upgrade, IDE/SATA cables?

CPUs, Motherboards, Cases, Video Cards, Harddrives, Memory and etc. For example, if you check out my current set-up right now, which isn't even built yet, I've already made an upgrade to it. Got another gig of RAM to go in it and have a silver DVD burner on the way as well. Will mostly likely be upgrading to an Nforce 4 board or a 3800+/4000+ sometime in the near future as well.

No wonder your not rich, your spending like crazy...lol

Lol, nah. I'm a full time student, working two part time jobs and paying for my schooling myself. No real extra cash, it's really easy to upgrade. For example if I want a new $150 CPU, and I have a CPU that I can get $100 for, I'm only shelling out $50. Here just to prove my point, here's what I have done in the past 4 months or so, upgrading wise.

CPUs: 1800+ -> 2200+ -> 2500+ -> 2800+ -> 2400+ XP-M -> 2800+ (S754) -> 3000+ (S754) -> 3500+ (S939)
Video Cards: Geforce2 -> Geforce 4 MX -> 9000 Pro -> Ti4600 -> 5700U -> 5900U -> 9800 Pro -> X800XT PE
Memory: Started with 512MB, had 1.5GB for awhile before going back down to 1GB, have high quality 1GB now, but having another gig coming in by Thursday/Friday
HDs: Went through IDE from 80GB to 160GB, have come to love my new Seagate Barracuda's SATA style
Cases: Antec Lanboy, TT Tsunami Dream w/window Silver now with a Lian Li PC-60
Motherboards: Too many to list

I'm a hardware freak, what can I say. All the guys look at me funny when I tell em a turn on is what's inside thier case

 

[JC]

My main box has been in a continual state of evolution since it was a K6-300. I try to get at least 2 CPUs per mobo.

 

[mdaniel73]

I don't play games so my systems usually last 3 years. After two years I usually add some RAM and maybe reformat and load a newer Windows. But this system will break that cycle. I built it as a P4-1.8/512MB/120GB (mirror)/XP Pro almost three years ago and all I've done is add a DVD burner and a firewire card for an external backup drive. Windows still feels pretty snappy so I'm in no hurry to reformat.

 

[jspeicher]

i play a generation behind. (1GHz behind)

 

[Edward Lee]

Good thread.

I upgrade about every 3 years. I'm on my 4th build right now. St

 

[Winchester]

It has been 2.5 since I upgraded, but I might get a internal DVD burner, I have an HP 4x external.

I have had these since 1995-6ish
100mhz (Intel) Laptop
233mhz (Cyrix)
333mhz (Pent II)
750mhz (Athlon)
950mhz (Athlon)
*366mhz (AMD K-6) Laptop
*900mhz (Pent III) Given to me
*1800+ (Athlon XP)

*=Current

 

[beatle]

I used to be every 2 years. I got antsy in 2003 and upgraded 3 times (1700+ -> 2500+ -> 2.6C). The 2.6C wasn't much of an upgrade, as I had stability problems with it, so I upgraded a year later to a 939 3200+. Unfortunately this also has stability problems.

 

[troligt]

Major system overhauls every 2 years or so. Individual upgrades when I can afford it, once per 6 months or so. Usually go with 2 cpus and 2 video cards per motherboard. More drives/memory when I find the "spare cash". When I do the major overhauls I try to get as high up on the ladder as possible tho.

 

[Gumby84]

I usually just wait for the big overclocker to come out to upgrade. In 2004 it was the a64 3000 939 and 6800GT. The a64 is at 2.6ghz and the 6800GT at 420/1100. That way I'll be set for awhile. I've got a friend who has a mobile athlon xp barton he's had overclocked forever and it still plays the newest games pretty well as long as he upgrades the video card every once in awhile.

 

[ChocoboFarm]

I upgrade every two generations, which comes out to about every 2 years now. I've had my current system for a year, and before this system, I had a new system every 6 months, because I couldn't figure out what I wanted. But I've found something I'm keeping now. And I do upgrades when I need them... Mostly adding hard drives--when any of my partitions get at 50% capacity, it's time to upgrade.

 

[TStep]

My comps are in a constant state of flux. If I see a good deal or get bored; they get upgraded, downgraded, or lateraled. Easy to change stuff (memory, video cards, cpus, etc) comes and goes quite often. Motherboards and harddrives spend much more time in my systems as they are a PITA to swap. Microsoft loves me as we get to exchange 42 and 54 digit number strings quite often

Only the floppy stays constant long live the floppy.

 

[Gerbil333]

I do a major upgrade every 2-3 years, but I always end up doing plenty of small upgrades during that time. I built this in June of 2003:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0
Athlon XP 2500+ w/Retail hsf
Corsair 2x256mb TWINX3200LLPT
GeForce 4 Ti 4600
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
Western Digital 40 GB WD400JB hd w/8mb cache
Black Lite-On 40x12x48 CD-RW drive
Black Aluminum Chieftec Dragon Server Tower w/window
Blue 6" Cold Cathode
Black Rounded IDE Cables
Enermax 460W Blue dual fan power supply

The SoundStorm analog audio had a terrible SNR and I could hear background noise all the time. I'd switched to an old SB Live 5.1 days after building the machine and that sounded much better. So, my first upgrade (about 5 months later) was an Audigy 2 ZS.

Only a month later, I bought a 9800 Pro since I needed better gaming performance.

This summer I decided I needed 1 GB of memory. That helped in games a lot.

About 3 months ago I threw an NEC 3500A, but found that it burned CD-Rs too slowly, so I added a fast Lite-On combo drive.

This past Christmas I upgraded a WD 74GB Raptor, and since I had to reinstall everything anyway, I swapped motherboards with one of my other computers because I liked the NF7-S better. Now I have this:

Abit NF7-S 2.0
Athlon XP 2500+ w/Retail hsf
Kingston 2x512mb HyperX PC3200 @ 2-2-2-11
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Western Digital 74gb Raptor
Black NEC 3500A 16x DVD+/-RW
Black Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive
Black Aluminum Chieftec Dragon Server Tower w/window
Blue 6" Cold Cathode
Black Rounded IDE Cables
Enermax 460W Blue dual fan power supply

So, I've replaced EVERYTHING except the case + fans + cathode, my CPU, and the PSU. The motherboard swap hardly counts because they're essentially the same board, and I already owned it.

I guess that means I upgrade all the time. I'm going to upgrade to a socket 939 board and PCI express this summer.

 

[Budmantom]

Every 10 months.



Tom