When do you upgrade?

[KvHagedorn]

I was wondering when people here find it necessary to go to a higher speed grade of CPU. I noticed a pretty regular pattern to my upgrading. Seems like every 3 years or so I feel compelled to get a faster machine, and it is usually about 3x the speed of the previous one. Let's see.. these are my main machines over the years:

1990/91 (not sure which exactly) Mac SE/30 16MHz
1993/94 Upgraded to 50MHz with cache memory and math coprocessor
1997 Pentium Pro 150@166 (later 200@233) (Millennium 1 4mb, later Millennium 2 8mb)
1999 PentiumIII 600 (now dual) (G400 Max)
2002 AthlonXP 1800+@2000 (Parhelia)

[GT98]

Hmm hard to pin this one down for me. I usally get a whole new system every 2-3 years..usally when the techongy in it has its limits and they move onto a new memory/cpu type and I can't upgrade it anymore. With the way prices where back a year or two ago with AMD products it was no brainer to upgrade with the CPUs being so cheap. I usally upgrade the Video card once a year, though over the past 2 years I've gone through 5 video cards (Radeon AIW, Kyro2,Radeon 8500,Parhelia and now the Radeon 9700), but I think that will come to a stop with the Radeon 9700, since it doesn't have any driver issuses for me and the performance with my current system is fine. My next system will be an AMD Hammer setup, but I don't think I'll get one till next year some time since my Current AXP is fine with gaming and everything else I do.

[az]

I have upgraded every 3-4 years, but I would do more minor upgrades once a year or so if I had the money - always getting last year's fastest gear.

AZ

[Jammrock]

It used to be 1-2 times a year. Now that I'm married and bought a house ... maybe once every other year or more.

Jammrock

[Sethos]

I'm a poor student soon to be even more so, and hence I only get to about every year or two...*Sigh*

~Sethos

[Sasq]

KvH, you forgot the option of "When your wife lets you" *sigh*
Dan

[Ajax]

I'm in the "When your wife lets you" category as well. But even then it ends up being about every 2 years... not bad.

[VJ]

Well, I voted for the last option...

But it is very hard to say: my previous system (a PII-450, bought in August 1999) lasted till last weekend. It would have lasted longer had I not taken up digital photography (12 MB rawfiles -> 36 MB tiff ). It currently will be my 2nd system.
However, the computer had been upgraded regarding memory (from 128 -> 384), disks (from ide -> 10k scsi) and dvd drive (after cd-drive failed).

Basically, my answer ought to be: when there is the need for it, and it has be a justifiable time (allthought I now hope to get back into gaming as well )


Jörg

[SpiralDragon]

i up my system every year ... but recently i have slowed down some.... havent had a GFX card other than matrox since the melenium one... been planing to move on to the pharelia but i thought i would wait it out a while.... what i realy want to upgrade is my sound card.... have an audigy and i want a more pro card like the aardvarq direct pro Q10.. ($1000) usualy i upgrade as a cause of some "free" work that i do for a company (now bankrup ) was going to upgrade my raid config from 4x 40GB 7200rpm to 4x200GB WD SE.... main drive to an 80GB WD SE and secendory to a 200GB WD SE .. was going to get a DVD+rw ... but after the anouncment of SATA i thought i would wait it out and see what hapenes.... for the time being i think i will just upgrade the sound card... when i save enugh money....

[Strahd]

I've really only had 2 systems. First was a K6-2 400MHz and now an AthlonXP 1800+. I would have to say every three years. But it seems like something is changed once a year. New soundcard, new hard drive, oops time for a new computer.

[GNEP]

Just the CPU? When I feel the need - every year or two.

But the rest of the machine kind of continuously "evolves" bit-by-bit when more space/speed/reliability/features/quietness/coldness are needed. Or when things break (which annoyingly seems to happen more often these days). That way the expenditure is less painful as well than completely replacing the system, and it never gets too out-of-date.

[Goc]

I used to upgrade my machine every month when I was in hardware business and had the opportunity to get new stuff at ridiculous prices, if not for free... Sometimes changed components on weekly basis.
Now that I'm doing something else, upgrading slowed down so I use the same machine for over a year now. Looking forward to building a dual AMD rig. This month or maybe next...

[Gurm]

I'm with GNEP.

I have spoken.

- Gurm

[GNEP]

No you're not. I'm with me.

[Ozbreeze]

i upgrade the motherboard and processor about every 2 years....and the rest updates from time to time as extra cash comes handy or i "have" to have things for my games to play better