Is there such thing as upgrade after 2 years today?

[Jerboy]

I have an Abit BE6 from two or three years ago with PIII 600 and also a new Athlon 1.4GHz system. My original intention was to upgrade my first system to something up to date. The update required was so extensive, that I didn't even bother upgrading and end up building a whole new system. It seems like every time you want to upgrade a CPU, you have to get a new motherboad, new memory. For most people, they get new videocards as well. I call this reconstruction rather than upgrade. Are we gonna ever have a day where upgrade means upgrade and not total rebuilding?...

I spent like $800 on my new system.. Thats $500 over my original plan and one extra machine. Oh well at least my parents paid for everything. My parents wanted to keep my old machine in operable condition if I was gonna strip it to skins and bones for upgrading my new system.

 

[Mitzi]

Are we gonna ever have a day where upgrade means upgrade and not total rebuilding?...

Yes and no, I guess. I haven't bought a full machine since my Pentium 60! All my machines to date have just been evolutions of this original machine - upgraded the cpu/mobo/ram, next upgrade graphics card, next monitor, next case etc etc etc. Granted, not one part of the original machine is still in use (except the AT keyboard - I put an AT->PS/2 adaptor on it and use it for testing).

 

[damocles]

I usually get about 2 processors in to each motherboard. To be honest, the only thing I can see myself upgrading in the nesxt 6 months is Ram/Soundcard and Videocard

 

[Migroo]

Like Mitzi said, yes and no.

I find that a lot of people, who arent part of the tech scene (ie: non-enthusiasts) upgrade to a new PC once every 18 months to 2 years. Then there are people like us, and you cant deny that we dont have a very expencive hobby...

I think that spreading the cost over a few months is a good way to upgrade a PC. You can save for a while yes, and then finally upgrade all of your makor components, OR you can just buy the components you can afford now, and suffer a slow graphics card for 2 or 3 months. Thats what I thought I'd do at least:

Quick story:

I had, as the second incarnation of my PC:
AMD K6-2 350
128 Mb
10 Gb
ATi Rage 128 Fury
15" Iiyama monotor.

I was sick and tired of only getting decent CPU performance in games, I know 3d-now worked wonders, but I wanted a fast(er) machine in a desktop environment too. The upgrade was a P3-667 (133 bus), 128 Mb memory (133) and a new Mobo. This sorted me for a while.

About 2 months after the CPU/mobo/ram upgrade, I finally could afford a new drive, at last! Maxtor 30 gb @ 7200.

Idealy the graphics card needed to be upgraded too, but I lusted after a bigger monotor like the one I have now: I upgraded to that about 3 months after the hard drive upgrade.

The monotor is a Sony Multiscan E400 (19" Trinitron Flat-CRT). This set me back a lot... a lot of money for someone who used to be a college student anyway.

That was about a year ago... And I havent upgraded my graphics card yet LOL Its not because of money, its because I want to upgrade everything now anyway (CPU / RAM / Mobo and graphics card)... and I dont want to get a half-way-house solution like a GF2 MX.

Anyway life story over. Hope it gives you some idea why somethings arent upgraded, and some are

 

[oo00MaRcHaOs00oo]

I believe that this is a marketing strategy by mobo/cpu companies...most standards are changed about every 6 months which would mean that With a CPU upgrade in mind, woul also have to entail a mobo upgrade. The different Frequencies that CPU's run at does not make a significant enough difference when we are talking about 100 - 200 MHZ, therefore we are only enclined to upgrade when the MHz difference is significant -> when this is so, a new standar arrives, meaning new CPU/MOBO combination. These manufacturer boys are smart!

 

[cavingjan]

I buy a motherboard with the intention of putting in a slower processor that what the motherbaord can handle. (Example: I have the AbitKT7 with a Duron 650 and will be upgrading to a Tbird 1.2 sometime in the future) I can alwasy put in the max processor before having to upgrade the motherbaord (along with memory) Video cards for me last two years. (virge w/ voodoo1 to banshee to Radeon)
And after 4 years, I think I'm finally going to upgrade sound cards. I still haev one of the original Ensoniq PCI sound cards that I boguht for $40. I think I'm picking up the Fortissimo II.

 

[GregMal]

I upgrade every year and spend about $2-250/year.
This year I upgraded my harddrive and my son's college PC.
Next year (Feb-Mar) it will be a new MB w/CPU and memory.
And 2003 looks like a new monitor with maybe XP OS........
Greg