Poll: How many of you get bored of your 'future proofed' setups?

[arc@css]

It's hard to say where I fit, perhaps to the nearest would be the second option. I always try to buy a setup that will allow me to play the top titles with everything set to the maximum (I am happy to be more forgiving with AA since it can bring even a very powerful system to its knees on some games).

When the number of titles that I can't run as I'd like starts to grow, I look at a new video card. Though when I've reached the end of the line with eeking out the rig as much as is possible then a complete (or near enough) upgrade is the next move.

I usually make major changes to my rig around every two years or so, I have managed to last for about three to four years before but by then it can be a bit painful, lol. At the moment I see little reason to change much of it all, if at all. I might decide on a new graphics card around the time fermi comes out.

 

[keyser]

I last upgraded (i.e. completely changed) a year ago, so games like TF2 and L4D ran fast enough. Fast enough = 60fps at the moment, but one day it will need to be 120fps for new gen LCDs. I'll get a SSD too when they're about half what they are now.

I like to buy decent kit that lasts 2-3 years, my previous PC was AMD 939 X2, I'd upgraded from single core cpu before that. But most games still only use 2 cores, not 4. When there's a game worth playing with 4 cores I'll upgrade again.

 

[Jaffacakekilla]

I tend to stick with an affordable value for money set up.

I like to think its a little future proof in so much as adding more memory or a better card, and also having a mobo that could could fit a better cpu.

Example,
when I bought my current set up it was

GA-8N-SLI (Rev 1.0)
2gb ram
P4 3.0 630
6800 GLH

I upgraded the memory 4gb later
the card to a 7800 GLH because it was cheap off fleabay, and I put my 6800 in my other pc.

Changed the cpu to a 3.6, again cheap option from ebay.

But now it has come to the end of the line for it, and will be relegated to my second 'surfing' pc. My ex 'surfing' PC will go to the kids for them to mess with, and I have just ordered my 'hopefully' futureproof parts

hopefully will last for a while, and have a margin of upgradability

 

[Phil2008]

These are my gta settings/benchmark, the texture wont go to high for some reason and all the sliders are to the max accept for the view distance cos I run out of gpu mem any higher then 40.. To be honnest the graphics arent all that great anyway.

 

[ghop]

I tend to stick with an affordable value for money set up.

I like to think its a little future proof in so much as adding more memory or a better card, and also having a mobo that could could fit a better cpu.

Example,
when I bought my current set up it was

GA-8N-SLI (Rev 1.0)
2gb ram
P4 3.0 630
6800 GLH

I upgraded the memory 4gb later
the card to a 7800 GLH because it was cheap off fleabay, and I put my 6800 in my other pc.

Changed the cpu to a 3.6, again cheap option from ebay.

But now it has come to the end of the line for it, and will be relegated to my second 'surfing' pc. My ex 'surfing' PC will go to the kids for them to mess with, and I have just ordered my 'hopefully' futureproof parts

hopefully will last for a while, and have a margin of upgradability

My current system is pretty much the same. My old old system (the one before my last one) is actually very similar to what you upgraded to. I got it in 04. P4 530 and the best motherboard I've ever owned. An Asus P5GDC Deluxe. It supported DDR1 and DDR2 and also PCI-E so I got loads of decent little upgrades out of it. It lasted me till 08 (and it still runs perfectly ) which is when I got my E2160 'budget performance' system which has lasted me till now. Now I'm hoping this current system will last me another 4 years

 

[Redmint]

I tend to go for a mix of mid/"bang for buck" stuff and try not to upgrade for at least 2.5 - 3 years, my E4400 cpu, 8800gts and old mobo I had lasted me quite a while at least.

 

[milkinc13]

i'm a sort of mix, I buy the best I can afford then keep it going as long as possible.
I did CPU, Mobo, & RAM upgrade last year from previous system that I built in 06.
1 part that upgrades more frequently is GPU, as had 1 lasted 18ish months, replaced when it went, then after roughly 6 months the replacement went so it went back so on 4th card in 3 years but this one didn't didn't cost me anything.

Some of the parts I've kept such as optical drives, PSU & HDD's.

 

[stevogums]

Number 2 for me...

 

[Coomber1]

I only change my stuff when it breaks usually. I had an advent p dual core 2.1ghz that died after 2 years didnt bother fixing that. my celeron 2.1ghz in an old dell dimension was more stable than that for some reason. My current build is kind of mid range (currnt build in sig) should last me for a while, I have got over the laptop novelty, after using one everyday they arent that great.

 

[xb8browney]

Option 3 I think for me.

I had a tight budget and over the past 21months I've slowly built it up.

Adding things like G15, G5, 22" screen...etc

 

[VTR]

Bought the rig in my sig 18months ago now and haven't had to upgrade at all, usually upgrade atleast something every 6months-1year but this system has lasted really well, plays pretty much everything maxed out. Will probably upgrade the graphics cards when I can pick something worthwhile up 2nd hand.

 

[ViperZS]

im probably in between 1 and 2.

I bought the higher end stuff nearly 3 years ago. But I haven't upgraded the system (just RAM), and I don't intend to. I can do all the gaming I want (not much now) and photoshop has run fine for me too!

 

[Maccy]

Poll requested guys

 

[PhoenixUK]

Poll requested guys

Cheers,

was too lazy myself

 

[Audigex]

I'm very much in the "buy it cheap now, upgrade it later" camp.

Why? Because I don't ever have 2 grand to shell out, but I can scrape together £500 once, then £100 every few months.

That way, I'm always up to date (ish), I've always got a new toy to fiddle with and most importantly; once I've upgraded the entire rig, I can rebuild the original and use it for something else.

 

[Fob]

Option 4 i suppose i no longer trust high end gear like mobo with vertical heatpipes dying on me etc i am fussy with noise now too.

I now look at high end gear and think yup i will have that for my new comp for half that price in a bout a year.

 

[SMAndy]

I don't know what i fit into. Possibly a mix of option 1 & 3, since by no means am i buying literal top end stuff (since you have to buy Intel to get to the "top end" range) and I'm not always buying the "bang for buck" stuff, since i have an nVidia gpu.


My rules are this: If I can't run my games with *at least* textures on full, i will upgrade. Shadows are always the first to go, but I will never sacrifice texture quality. If I get low FPS because of that, then it's time to upgrade. Had this PC for 6 months, and never seen a slowdown yet. I like to thank my monitor though, for giving me better colour definition and making everything look shinier than it would have been on my old monitor.

Dell IPS panel ForTheWin.

 

[Marine Iguana]

#1 everytime i will upgrade this rig i currently have for something newer when its out i hate having old stuff around me.

 

[doozer]

When I last upgraded I ended up getting a low end cpu that I could overclock. A huge case with 6 fans and a new gfx card.

Spent a few weeks messing around overclocking it before I then just set it all back to stock.

Now this 500 quid upgrade is used to use facebook which my old rig ran perfectly happy.

I still play games now and then but it makes me think sometimes I should have just bought a small pc like a reco and saved some bucks.

 

[UncleBensSauce]

I upgrade in a trickele - though I never buy bleeding edge - but can get propper bargains on last quarters HW.

Some real perfrmance parts available in enterprise servers second hand off the bay though. I got SAS 15k disks on a proper array at home for less than a sata raid 5 setup full of raptors. Got redundant PSU's too.