Who's struggling to justify upgrading their CPU?

[Skitzer]

I do not game at all. I'm still using the same computer I built in 2007. It is an Asus barebones with an AMD dual core Windsor CPU at 2.8Ghz. It still has the same GeForce 9500GT video card. Only things I have upgraded have been the Hard drive, (went from a 250GB to a 500GB), and the memory, (added 4 more gig for a total of 8). Oh and of course upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit from XP Pro.
It still does everything I need it to and seems to be plenty quick and responsive.
As far as building a new one ... I do have the itch and money isn't a problem but I want to wait and get the next generation AMD or Intel, (really which ever is cheaper).
I keep my stuff for a long time as long as it runs good. I can see my next computer lasting for at least 4 or 5 years.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Considering my only "rig" is an N270 Atom netbook, upgrading has been about the only thing on my mind for the past month or so. I just bought a "stop gap" solution in the form of a pre-built HP (great deal) that will certainly last me until socket 2011 or bulldozer.

http://www.staples.com/HP-Pavilion-p...mArea=CIRCULAR

This one? It's a pretty darn good deal on a pre-built quad-core. I could build one for the same price, but that's only if your time is worth nothing.

 

[exar333]

Same CPU here for 2 years+ now. There just are not CPUs a lot faster than the good ol' 920 OCd. I need 6 cores at 5ghz to really make me bite.

 

[KeypoX]

Yeah for sure, my sub $100 amd athlon x4 does everything i need including game at 1920x1200.

I need a SSD more than anything but those are hard to justify if you use suspend/sleep.

 

[BD2003]

Yeah for sure, my sub $100 amd athlon x4 does everything i need including game at 1920x1200.

I need a SSD more than anything but those are hard to justify if you use suspend/sleep.

What's sleep got to do with it?

 

[ensign_lee]

What's sleep got to do with it?

I think he's saying that the decreased boot up time is not a problem for him when he doesn't shut down his machine and uses sleep instead.

 

[drizek]

Also, the sandforce drives have sleep issues.

 

[nyker96]

Yeah for sure, my sub $100 amd athlon x4 does everything i need including game at 1920x1200.

I need a SSD more than anything but those are hard to justify if you use suspend/sleep.

I'm in the same boat, more CPU don't do nothing for my daily web browsing or occasional programming tasks. I just used the money which I'd spent on upgrading cpu this year on a new kindle, I'd say that's more useful for me. also maybe a new SSD later when I can afford something like a 200GB model, still too expensive now.

 

[Hulk]

I'm absolutely not having for reasons to upgrade. I'm hurting for more CPU power. I do a lot of video editing but believe it or not my audio work is where I really need the extra power. I do a lot of multitrack audio with Presonus Studio One and I'm always on the verge of not being able to playback a mix with all the plug ins I want on it without glitching. In addition, when mixing down both cores are floored and the computer is useless to do anything else during the render period, which can be 10 or 15 minutes.

Yeah, as soon as the new mobos are out I'm upgrading to a Sandy.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Yeah for sure, my sub $100 amd athlon x4 does everything i need including game at 1920x1200.

I need a SSD more than anything but those are hard to justify if you use suspend/sleep.

Hmmm. I've seen people around here reporting problems with sleep mode and SSDs. My setup (knock on wood) has been working flawlessly for four weeks with sleep mode.

I'm absolutely not having for reasons to upgrade. I'm hurting for more CPU power. I do a lot of video editing but believe it or not my audio work is where I really need the extra power. I do a lot of multitrack audio with Presonus Studio One and I'm always on the verge of not being able to playback a mix with all the plug ins I want on it without glitching. In addition, when mixing down both cores are floored and the computer is useless to do anything else during the render period, which can be 10 or 15 minutes.

Yeah, as soon as the new mobos are out I'm upgrading to a Sandy.

Multitrack audio is one of the best possible reasons to upgrade CPUs. I'd definitely encourage you to do that.

 

[Martimus]

I don't mean this to be insulting, but if you are still on a mid-level S939 dual-core, it seems like you are not really a hardcore gamer, or if you are, then you tend to stick to older (2+ years old) games. (Or you have a tolerance for really, really, low framerates.)

That said, why do you feel you need SB? Just because it's the newest thing out there? Or because you only upgrade once in a blue moon, so that when you do upgrade, you want the latest and greatest, so that you can ride out the lack of upgrades for a longer time? (Edit: Or perhaps you want the good idle power consumption, combined with the good overclocking with the 'K' chips.)

If I were you, I would (especially if you have a Microcenter nearby) think about picking up an AMD rig on the cheap. A quad-core, or possibly even a hex-core. It would cost a bit less than a SB, you wouldn't have to wait as long for it either.

Then again, that would be much more solid advice, if only AMD had stuck to AM3 for BD, or if they had released AM3+ mobos already. Then you would have had an upgrade path to 8-core BD, which will likely be as future-proof as anything else out there, as far as CPUs go. Hopefully it will be the cheapest 8-core CPU on the market. Then again, if AMD is going to label them as FX CPUs, they might not be cheap overall, although I'm pretty sure they will be cheaper than Intel.

I have a 19" CRT that I bought when I was still in College (a Mag V90 or something like that). I can run it at whatever resolution I want, since it doesn't have a "native" resolution like LCDs. The other reason I want a new computer is that I want to buy a new 24" LCD (I am likely going to get the ZR24w). Even Crysis runs fine at 1280x1024 on my crappy computer, but at 1920x1200 it probably wouldn't be playable at all.

 

[Sephire]

Socket 775 motherboards are doing well at Ebay.

 

[badb0y]

I just want to see how Bulldozer turns out before I upgrade my computer.

 

[Sephire]

Why? You have a very fast system.

 

[badb0y]

Why? You have a very fast system.

It's the itch man it never goes away.

 

[happy medium]

NO reason to upgrade for me yet. Looking for a Z68 motherboard and a six core over 4 ghz to make me bite. Mabe by the end of the year.

 

[slz]

I just upgraded to sandy bridge from an i5 750, but only because I was able to sell my old motherboard and processor for practically the same price as the new gear (only out $35), but if I had a q9550 and it was going to cost a lot to upgrade, I wouldn't have done it.

A q9550 is fast enough for almost anything you can throw at it.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Still sporting a stock speed Q6600... still happy with it. *shrug*

 

[Tanclearas]

Approaching year 4 with my Q6600... at stock! Actually, not exactly "stock". It is considerably under-volted.

I do plan on upgrading this year, but that has more to do with a particularly annoying VTx BIOS bug in my 680i SLI motherboard that requires me to restart my system almost every time I run VirtualBox. Honestly, I think the bug is just an excuse for me to upgrade simply because I haven't been able to justify it any other way.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I'm still using the X2 5200+ I picked up on Fall '06 in a $350 Dell. (I think they made a little whoopsie on the website, as they normally don't allow you to choose the top-tier processor in the ultra-budget system, and especially not for only a $40 upgrade. The option lasted only two days.)

I just don't need any more. PC gaming is a wasteland compared to '97-'05 -- there's no reason to be spending $1000 a year in hardware just to play bad ports and horribly optimized tech demos. Consoles have won the gaming war. My X2 with 9600GT is more than sufficient to play every god-tier game, so unless a new crop of designers come out with some original ideas and make up some new ones, there's just no need to upgrade.

The X2 5200+ can play 1080p unaided. It's more than enough for the minor image editing I do. If I used Failfox I'd be screaming for a 5GHz 2600k, but with the speed of Chrome there's just no need.

I could stick a X3 450 in for $80, but there's just no point in even spending that. I'm not CPU limited in day-to-day tasks. My best upgrade would be to get a SSD.
$1/GB is when I'll bite.

 

[Vdubchaos]

then you are not playing every game out there. my old gtx260 will match your 460 in several games just because of your cpu.

Of course I'm not. I have 4 kids and family, I'm an ocassional gamer...play here and there, mostly BC2, MW2, SC2, Unreal 3...and few others. My 460 does everything at max.

Like I said, there is no need for me. If BF3 and Crysis 2 is any good and i makes sense...I might do something in the summer/fall.

Red Orchestra Stalingrad might be another one, but since its based on Unreal 3 and my current rig maxes it out.....I doubt I will need an upgrade.

 

[MustangSVT]

I thought my c2q would be able to be fine for years...

until i met sc2. god damn it.

but then I wont be upgrading at least for a year anyway. oh well.

 

[pitz]

Phenom II X2 550, under Linux. Run a WinXP VM (virtualbox), and the CPU just doesn't have enough 'oomph' to run it. Have a 5-bay hotswap mobile rack in there and the motherboard only has 5 SATA ports, leaving me deficient 1 port for the CD-ROM.

Basically put, I need to move to a 890GX motherboard + 6-core AMD. Luckily a friend is selling me one cheap. And I'm selling my existing board + CPU to another friend. So yeah, free upgrade for me.

I will probably buy an upgraded laptop come the middle/end of next year. The Dell Latitude D830 w/T7500 CPU I have still works remarkably well and I've upgraded to SSD, 4gb RAM, etc. Don't have many (or really any) compelling reasons to upgrade the laptop, although at 5 years old, it will be pretty long in the tooth. I'm hoping that the successor to 2560x1600 is out by then, or at least the underpinnings of the electronics to run it are cheaper. That is what annoys me about my laptop right now; limited to 1920x1200 monitor tops.

 

[-Slacker-]

I'm not. I have a tri core cpu and I probably won't ditch it for another year.

 

[pitz]

How long till the retail on the DDR2 LGA775 gets knocked down to reasonable?

Its a little ridiculous seeing Q6600's on eBay used get bid to $130. Especially when the boards are ridiculous, DDR2 4gb modules cost a fortune, and someone could typically be on a new DDR3 platform simply by selling off their old gear in many cases. Its absurd.