When does your current CPU/GPU become unbearable?

[imported_X]

I'm curious on where -you- draw the line. At what point does your CPU/GPU become slow enough to motivate you to upgrade? Let's talk in terms of what is available today.

Personally, I have an Athlon 1800+ and a Radeon 9800 Pro, and I'm not quite there yet. I think I can squeeze out a few more months at least. I still get acceptable frame rates at decent settings in every game I play.

So where do you stand in terms of your minimal CPU and video card requirements?

 

[meltdown75]

For me, it has everything to do with what I'm playing at the moment. Since I'm primarily a gamer, I felt the need to upgrade when I didn't have faith in my old Duron 900 to run HL2 adequately. I didn't even try it out - I upgraded even before I bought the game.

 

[deveraux]

For myself, I would say that the GPU becomes unbearable much more quickly than the CPU. I tend to upgrade my GPU every other cycle while I haven't upgraded my CPU (from AthlonXP 2000+) until very recently. However, what I dislike about performing a full rig upgrade is that you tend to have an "old" rig lying around not doing much. So, from now on, I inted to upgrade my rig very often (say every 4-6 months) so that I don't throw away an entire old pc every 2-3 years.

My 0.02.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Oddly, I'm upgrading every 2 weeks or so. Though only minor, it's still an upgrade.

 

[SynthDude2001]

My 6800GT is slowing down a lot more than I'd thought, since I recently (2 months ago) bought a new LCD monitor - I tend to run all games at native resolution, 1680x1050. I used to be on a 17" CRT, and used 1024x768 for everything.

Basically...when I can't maintain at least 45-50fps in the games I play (and without having to drop down too many settings), then it's time to start looking for an upgrade.

Edit: I'm still on an Athlon XP too (although at 2400MHz), so that's likely holding me back more than anything. I am thinking of doing a full upgrade (Athlon 64, new video card) when said video cards are available a few months from now.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
My 6800GT is slowing down a lot more than I'd thought, since I recently (2 months ago) bought a new LCD monitor - I tend to run all games at native resolution, 1680x1050. I used to be on a 17" CRT, and used 1024x768 for everything.

Basically...when I can't maintain at least 45-50fps in the games I play (and without having to drop down too many settings), then it's time to start looking for an upgrade.

Edit: I'm still on an Athlon XP too (although at 2400MHz), so that's likely holding me back more than anything. I am thinking of doing a full upgrade (Athlon 64, new video card) when said video cards are available a few months from now.

I'd consider replacing that cpu first. I get ~100 FPS in BF:V with everything cranked @ 1280x1024 (yes, I know it's not in the list of official resolutions). I think your CPU might be holding you back.

 

[klocwerk]

About a year ago I went from my tbird 1ghz/geforce2 to a barton 2500+(oced to 3200+)/9800pro.
My machine before that was a p2 333mhz.

I don't upgrade often, it's too freakin expensive, and there are other things I prefer to spend my money on.
Plus I just don't game as much these days as I did in college, so there's less push to get to the top of the heap.

For my next upgrade, I'm predictably going 64bit.
Probably looking at 6mo.-1yr, waiting for the need. My OCed barton isn't holding me back yet. By that time, I should be able to get a 3gig athlon64 at about the sweetspot of price/performance.
GPU wise, I'm going to wait for the next crop of video cards then probably pick up a radeon x800xl when the prices fall to a reasonable level. (I could buy a gamecube and an xbox with a nice selection of games for each for less than the price of a 6800 ultra, just not worth the cost to me.)

 

[MTSteel]

When my games play like crap at 1024x768 and most details are down. Still crappy, time to upgrade Just upgraded my 1600+/8500LE to a A643000/6600gt. WOW, HL2 all details on high I get 60+ extremely easy!
This will hopefully last me another 3 years, hehe!! At least with this setup I have a decent option to upgrade the CPU/GPU. FX chips down the road, or some new PCIE video card. My old setup being a KT266a mobo had no upgrade option for the cpu, think it was a 2100+ tops, not worth it.
The one thing I do hate, is how quickly the price of parts drops..... have not learned to stop looking at the stores after I make a purchase! Friggin Corsair Value Select dropped from $183 to $149 this week!!! ACK!!

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: X
I'm curious on where -you- draw the line. At what point does your CPU/GPU become slow enough to motivate you to upgrade? Let's talk in terms of what is available today.

Personally, I have an Athlon 1800+ and a Radeon 9800 Pro, and I'm not quite there yet. I think I can squeeze out a few more months at least. I still get acceptable frame rates at decent settings in every game I play.

So where do you stand in terms of your minimal CPU and video card requirements?

Mine never get to the point to where they're too slow, when I upgrade.
I upgrade when I'm flush with cash AND the deals are too tempting to pass up

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
My 6800GT is slowing down a lot more than I'd thought, since I recently (2 months ago) bought a new LCD monitor - I tend to run all games at native resolution, 1680x1050. I used to be on a 17" CRT, and used 1024x768 for everything.

Basically...when I can't maintain at least 45-50fps in the games I play (and without having to drop down too many settings), then it's time to start looking for an upgrade.

Edit: I'm still on an Athlon XP too (although at 2400MHz), so that's likely holding me back more than anything. I am thinking of doing a full upgrade (Athlon 64, new video card) when said video cards are available a few months from now.

I'd consider replacing that cpu first. I get ~100 FPS in BF:V with everything cranked @ 1280x1024 (yes, I know it's not in the list of official resolutions). I think your CPU might be holding you back.

I agree, there have been a lot of tests showing that any CPU less than 3GHZ is a bottleneck on the 6800's/

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: Griffinhart

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
My 6800GT is slowing down a lot more than I'd thought, since I recently (2 months ago) bought a new LCD monitor - I tend to run all games at native resolution, 1680x1050. I used to be on a 17" CRT, and used 1024x768 for everything.

Basically...when I can't maintain at least 45-50fps in the games I play (and without having to drop down too many settings), then it's time to start looking for an upgrade.

Edit: I'm still on an Athlon XP too (although at 2400MHz), so that's likely holding me back more than anything. I am thinking of doing a full upgrade (Athlon 64, new video card) when said video cards are available a few months from now.

I'd consider replacing that cpu first. I get ~100 FPS in BF:V with everything cranked @ 1280x1024 (yes, I know it's not in the list of official resolutions). I think your CPU might be holding you back.

I agree, there have been a lot of tests showing that any CPU less than 3GHZ is a bottleneck on the 6800's/

AMD does not produce a 3Ghz chip.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Griffinhart

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
My 6800GT is slowing down a lot more than I'd thought, since I recently (2 months ago) bought a new LCD monitor - I tend to run all games at native resolution, 1680x1050. I used to be on a 17" CRT, and used 1024x768 for everything.

Basically...when I can't maintain at least 45-50fps in the games I play (and without having to drop down too many settings), then it's time to start looking for an upgrade.

Edit: I'm still on an Athlon XP too (although at 2400MHz), so that's likely holding me back more than anything. I am thinking of doing a full upgrade (Athlon 64, new video card) when said video cards are available a few months from now.

I'd consider replacing that cpu first. I get ~100 FPS in BF:V with everything cranked @ 1280x1024 (yes, I know it's not in the list of official resolutions). I think your CPU might be holding you back.

I agree, there have been a lot of tests showing that any CPU less than 3GHZ is a bottleneck on the 6800's/

Yes, I do realize my CPU is a bottleneck.

My main problem is that if I upgrade now, I'd have to get a motherboard with an AGP slot - but then if I wanted to upgrade the video card a few months down the line, I'd almost certainly want to switch to a PCI-E board - and I'd rather not have to upgrade twice in a short amount of time if I can avoid it.

 

[Bozo Galora]

upgrading is a matter of the mind
if you dont mind, it doesn't matter

 

[n0cmonkey]

I don't generally upgrade, I add to the collection.

 

[D1gger]

I tend to buy a complete new system every 3 years or so, with an mid term upgrade to the GPU. This keeps my system fresh enough to enjoy the newest games and other software trends such as the current move to 64 bit O/S's.

The only challenge I will face this time is the move from AGP to PCI-E may mean a mid-term motherboard upgrade as well as the GPU, but for the time being my 6800Ultra is plenty fast enough.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
My main problem is that if I upgrade now, I'd have to get a motherboard with an AGP slot - but then if I wanted to upgrade the video card a few months down the line, I'd almost certainly want to switch to a PCI-E board - and I'd rather not have to upgrade twice in a short amount of time if I can avoid it.

It's a tricky question. It really depends on when you want to upgrade your CPU/MB again.

PCIe is definately the in thing at the moment. The industry seems to be pushing more of them out than AGP right now. Realistically, video board manufacturers would be stupid to out right abandon AGP over the next few years. Just like they still make PCI video boards, they will still need to make AGP version for a while yet. PCIe is still only on a minority of installed computers.

An AGP based board may still be for you if you can live without SLI for a while. Just go with 939, then you still have more options later, anyway.

And Dopefiend, yeah I know AMD doesn't have a 3Ghz chip, but the 3ghz range is what most people use as the standard. So, yes, anything AMD 3000+ and beyond would be considered 3GHZ or better.

 

[robcy]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
upgrading is a matter of the mind
if you dont mind, it doesn't matter

I could not have said it better.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Griffinhart

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
My main problem is that if I upgrade now, I'd have to get a motherboard with an AGP slot - but then if I wanted to upgrade the video card a few months down the line, I'd almost certainly want to switch to a PCI-E board - and I'd rather not have to upgrade twice in a short amount of time if I can avoid it.

It's a tricky question. It really depends on when you want to upgrade your CPU/MB again.

PCIe is definately the in thing at the moment. The industry seems to be pushing more of them out than AGP right now. Realistically, video board manufacturers would be stupid to out right abandon AGP over the next few years. Just like they still make PCI video boards, they will still need to make AGP version for a while yet. PCIe is still only on a minority of installed computers.

An AGP based board may still be for you if you can live without SLI for a while. Just go with 939, then you still have more options later, anyway.

Yeah. It's not really about SLI for me though, as I don't see myself dropping $800+ on two video cards any time in the near future. (Buying a next-gen ~$400 card is within reach though, given that I can still sell my 6800GT for a decent amount of cash.) It's just more of a concern that the next-gen video cards will be primarily PCI-Express. We're already seeing this to an extent, with the X850 series (and X800XL, although in theory there is an AGP one on the way - but when?).

If I upgraded to A64 right now, I'd definitely get a decent boost in gaming, which I could really use in newer games like FarCry and Half-Life 2. In theory, there aren't any "big" games coming out this year that I'm that interested in (or have read about yet, anyway) - so maybe I could just keep the 6800GT for a while and buy a new A64 and motherboard (which I could do for under $250 probably - and I already have a friend lined up to buy my current CPU and motherboard for $100).

I guess the main question is whether or not anything is coming out in the next 6-8 months that will really stress the 6800GT. Maybe it would be better to upgrade when the UE3 stuff comes out next year? But then, would the new video cards be bottlenecked by today's Athlon 64's just like the current-gen stuff is bottlenecked by Athlon XP's?

Such decisions...

 

[imported_Mitchell]

If I get a game and it's slow, really slow, then I think it's time to upgrade.

 

[Dman877]

My upgrades have less to do with the performance of my current rig (because I don't mind turning graphics down, I don't notice details when I'm actually playing games anyway) and more to do with the price of current hardware. When there's a card that out-performs my 9800Pro by a factor of 2 and it costs around 200$, I'll upgrade, whether I need to or not. With cpu's, I like to jump on the overclocking bandwagon after a certain core has proven itself, ie mobile bartons or winchesters (though I can't really see a point going from a 2.4 - 2.5 barton to a 2.4-2.5 A64) but I'm waiting for dual core stuff now...

 

[mooncancook]

I upgrade my CPU/GPU from P3 to P4, GF2GTS to 9500Pro when DX8 games look like crap on the DX7 GF2 card. I remebered snow effects looked like screen artifacts in Ghost Recon. I would have stayed with my OCed 9500Pro if I've not decided to build a new A64 system since most games are still quite playable on it.

 

[Infohawk]

When I can't play a game and I actually have a strong desire to.

 

[raanemaan]

Whenever I get a little extra cash saved up I try to upgrade. In the last year I have gone from from a E-Machines 1.2 ghz to building my own. Now have a 3000+ AMD and Asus K8V deluxe with a 9800 pro.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Once I can't play games that would actually worth playing. Right now I have a 1.4Ghz Athlon Thunderbird and an ATi Radeon 9200 128MB, but it still plays even the newest games ok so there's no point in me upgrading. Maybe I'll upgrade a few months after the next generation of video cards are released.

 

[BFG10K]

Either when I get a game that runs really poorly or whenever I get a general upgrade urge, whichever comes first.