Question Just for fun - How old is your daily driver?

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pcm81

Senior member
Mar 11, 2011
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I joined AnandTech forums while building a computer in 2011. I am writing this post on that same computer now, 14 years later.
The only thing failed during that time is i had a water leak in 2014 and that killed by PSU. Rebuilt the loop. Have been running since 2014 with no leaks or coolant flushes. CPU and video cards are water cooled.
 
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jmagg

Platinum Member
Nov 21, 2001
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I'm still sporting a Core 2 Duo with a Gigabyte Ultra Durable mobo (solid caps) circa 2008. The only prob was dried thermal paste and oem fan fixed last year.. I wouldnt say its my daily driver but it could be, i mostly use a cheap laptop as a desktop from my sofa seat.
 
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mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
20,442
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@jmagg why haven't you picked up a C2Q second-hand for next-to-nothing?

---

I was using Haswell until late 2023. I figured that any modern AAA-type games on it are going to perform as badly as CP2077 did (~30FPS at best), so if I wanted a fair chance to play anything newer then it was time to upgrade. I upgraded to a 7800X3D, which carves from DVD rips like a hot knife through butter and BR rips in at least real-time (unless I'm using unusual settings).
 
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jmagg

Platinum Member
Nov 21, 2001
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mikeymikec said:
@jmagg why haven't you picked up a C2Q second-hand for next-to-nothing?

---

I was using Haswell until late 2023. I figured that any modern AAA-type games on it are going to perform as badly as CP2077 did (~30FPS at best), so if I wanted a fair chance to play anything newer then it was time to upgrade. I upgraded to a 7800X3D, which carves from DVD rips like a hot knife through butter and BR rips in at least real-time (unless I'm using unusual settings).
Click to expand...
The machine s purpose was mostly used for photo processing and browsing so upgrading was/is never an issue, and used now only when we need a large screen.
 
Amused

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,140
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I came here in 2001 for help in building a Pentium III build. My first 1 GHz build.

Remember these funny looking plug in Slot-1 things?

1011465390__54313.jpg
My daily driver now is a 13900K with an RTX 4090.
 
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GodisanAtheist

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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I have my main and Steambox in my sig.

Basically "new" parts flow into the main rig, the replaced part goes into the Steambox, and then the Steambox parts go out to friends/family if they need them.

Last full top to bottom rebuild of my main was in 2022, but using exclusively used parts throughout to keep the cost down and because the act of getting a good deal is a big part of the fun for me.
 
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tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,895
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A few months ago I finally retired the Haswell DDR3 machine for AM4 Ryzen 7 5700X DDR4 (which itself was a couple years dated already). Used all different chassis and psu, still keeping the Haswell box for backup PC.
 
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BonzaiDuck

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,359
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I do not have the endurance that some here display.

My "daily driver(s)" are twin i7-6700K / and/ i7-7700K in Z170 motherboards, one of them the ASUS Z170 WS board. They both have 64GB of dual-channel RAM.

When I built these, I literally planned and plotted to use the Shanghai software PrimoCache. Still configured; still running; caching my slowest devices to RAM. They both have NVME boot disks.

Because these systems have been essentially stellar for so long, I've put off upgrading to Win-11-compatible hardware.

But now I'm planning two courses of inevitable action. I will preserve the Win-10 installations on the Sky and Kaby systems while imposing security improvements such as the ESU (promised by M$) and 0Patch which I plan to buy. I will also build and buy two more systems -- one purchased as the Dell-Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop, and another as a DIY build with an ASUS Z890 motherboard. That is, I'll buy the Alienware first, and if not fully satisfied, I'll plan a project for myself with the ASUS board.

But point being, here: I don't need to spend money until year's end, and then some. I could probably hold off with either type of upgrade for a year or so.
 
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igor_kavinski

Lifer
Jul 27, 2020
26,250
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Work PCs:

i5-2400
i7-4770
i5-10505

Home PCs:

i7-3720QM Thinkpad (I seriously would retire it if the dang newer Thinkpad with i7-10750H would pass y-cruncher successfully. I think it's one or more of the 32GB RAM sticks in it. I would be done already if they hadn't bloody put two of the sticks under the keyboard)

i3-1125G4 HP 17-inch laptop (strictly for work purposes. Mostly on standby and in sleep mode)

i7-10750H HP Omen 15.6 inch gaming laptop with Geforce 3070M. Pretty great but I have no time to use it :(

Macbook Air M1. Only using for watching movies on VLC player. Battery life isn't as awesome. Depends on the codec I think. Some movies will hardly drain the battery while others totally trash the remaining battery life.

Epyc Zen 2 128 thread. Supposed to be the current AI rig but haven't powered it on in a while because no time :(

i7-5775C PC. Haven't powered it on for almost three years now I think. You know why.

Ryzen 2700X. Haven't assembled it yet.

12700K PC. No one wants to buy it :(

245KF. I turn it on every once in a while to run some interesting benchmarks.

9950X3D. Paired it with a cheap mobo. Can't make it hit higher than DDR5-7200. Bought another cheap 1DPC mobo to try my luck. But haven't gotten around to it. Coz...

And a whole lot of other stuff that I haven't been able to touch in ages.
 
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igor_kavinski

Lifer
Jul 27, 2020
26,250
18,079
146
BonzaiDuck said:
My "daily driver(s)" are twin i7-6700K / and/ i7-7700K in Z170 motherboards, one of them the ASUS Z170 WS board.
Click to expand...

Purposely chose a badly performing 245K for the comparison.

I thought the 245K should be 10 times faster than your CPUs but no. A great performing 6700K puts up a great fight and even beats the 245K in one test.

You can run Geekbench on your PCs to compare them to the 245K in the above URL. Just replace the baseline number with the one from your score.

Much longer and better bars with 7950X3D: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/12808248?baseline=12793929

Personally, I think you could wait until Nova Lake. Your CPU models still seem to pack more than enough oomph for typical needs.
 
BonzaiDuck

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,359
1,895
126
igor_kavinski said:

Purposely chose a badly performing 245K for the comparison.

I thought the 245K should be 10 times faster than your CPUs but no. A great performing 6700K puts up a great fight and even beats the 245K in one test.

You can run Geekbench on your PCs to compare them to the 245K in the above URL. Just replace the baseline number with the one from your score.

Much longer and better bars with 7950X3D: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/12808248?baseline=12793929

Personally, I think you could wait until Nova Lake. Your CPU models still seem to pack more than enough oomph for typical needs.
Click to expand...
Almost didn't catch your post here, but I reviewed the thread today.

I think this discussion has another parallel path I created in Cases & Cooling, and I just posted "alternatives" to the loss of Win 10 support. From what you say, I shouldn't move too fast to pull the string on new parts and get ready to put a Core Ultra system together. And of course a person might wait for the Nova Lake release, but I'm more comfortable picking something that has a lab-test review history and mature motherboards and BIOS.

There is an Arrow Lake refresh due for release later this year, but the reports suggest only a slight increase in clock speed -- the rumored NPU improvement may not materialize. I can go forward with a building project and still pull that string by mid-December. I really should give some attention to AMD Ryzen possibilities, even so.

I'm going to do a search here and elsewhere to see if anyone has kept track and chronicled "developing problems with Win 11 work-around installations". If anyone knows anything "off the top of their heads" -- encourage you make mention of it here. But I intend to try a retail-box Win 11 Pro purchased for ~$50 on one of these systems just to "see".

IN support of what you (igor) say about the old SKY and KABY processors, I confirm these suckers are more than fast enough for my daily needs and even the old-generation fright-stimulators and racing software I'd accumulated.
 
BonzaiDuck

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,359
1,895
126
UPDATE ON WIN 11 INSTALLATION ON "INCOMPATIBLE" HARDWARE

I recently read -- wishing but sorry that I can't remember the online source -- that if Win 11 installed on eligible hardware proves 98% stable and reliable (or only 2% of such installations have problems of any kind) -- the hacked installation on "ineligible" hardware compares at 97.7%. So it is a viable option, despite M$'s cautions. You may not know, even so, how long it would be before Windows Update shows a problem.
 
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