how often do you upgrade your gpu?

kinda in the same boat....but even when i was on 13-16k (GBP) a year Id spend a lot of money either upgrading or just building a new rig then after that I wouldnt upgrade for the rest of the year. the card ive probably owned the longest period of time or still own is my AGP x850xtpe in my back up rig. I wanted to upgrade it to one of the newer 7900GS+'s when they were released but they were going for around £30-60 more then the 1900XTX which was like the best card you could get back then....

ummmm since ive got 2 4870's crossfired id say i wouldnt have to worry about upgrading for another year or so at least & thats probably the way its gonna be until they start releasing more demanding games & that was what my rig was struggling a little with in some games, my rig was good enough but it wasnt exceptional & since Ive refined my overclock & put in the 2nd 4870 everything is effortless.

Unless im really depressed & I want to spend ££££££ on material goods to cheer myself up - no i wont be upgrading my graphics for another year or so if i can help it.

 

When my computer gets how it is now.














<--------------------------- See Specs

 

Every month. I've signed up to this




I wish

.

 

ok so its a want. But dont you feel a bit sick when youve spent tones of cash just to hear of the next best thing comeing out?

 

Personally I tend to stay 1 generation behind.

 

I upgraded from a Radeon 2600 Pro to a 3850 to a 4850 to two 4850s to two 4890s when they came out in a matter of months. However my money priorities have shifted (new car), so I stopped upgrading in general for the time being. Also I anyway wait for the new generations. And for the future I won't be upgrading that much. Like stated somewhere above, you get a good card, and not a week has passed until you read about that new, totally better card that comes out soon.

 

im kinda the same i had a 2600 for ages an then the 4850 an only when my 4850 performs the same as the 2600 in the new games will i upgrade. i gues im getting why you guys do it.

 

staying a gen behind seems to be the best.
Unless I can get a HD 5 series card that is better than the 4850 for under $100 (or close to).

Then I would do that.

 

Too often.

 

Every two years, approximately. I game a lot so I try to keep it more current than the rest of my hardware.

Diamond 2 MiB -> don't remember 4 MiB -> NVIDIA TNT2 16 MiB -> ATI Radeon 32 MiB (R100) -> ATI Radeon 7000 64 MiB -> ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MiB -> ATI Radeon X800 256 MiB -> NVIDIA 8800 GT 256 MiB (should have got 512 MiB) -> due for update

 

Old agp stuff->7900gs->8800gts->4850

Yeah every year/2 years. As soon as these ati 5xxx series come out , imma upgrade again. I get lag in cryostasis and gta 4 and it annoys me. Usually I go with the cheap option as you can see , but I think imma splurge this time.

 

I usually get 2 to 3 years on an upgrade. I almost always start out with one card, then do sli or crossfire to stretch my upgrade span.

 

Lol too much, every couple months I try something new just for fun.

 

Every time a vga like 4850 comes up i sell or RMA!!!! my previous card and buy the new one!
In general when a BUNG FOR BUCK vga comes out i buy it!

 

I have one (a FOXCONN) just sitting in all it's original packaging in the closet...ran great, looks awesome, will probably just keep it because of what it is and represents....

I usually think about upgrading after the next generation of cards have been out for a while. I feel it gives some time to test actual performance and to tune the drivers a bit since the actual realease....also price starts to drop a bit by then sometimes.

 

Hmmm...

Trident Something -> S3 ViRGE -> Savage3d -> 440MX -> Ti200 -> X800GTO -> 3870 -> 9800/4850...

Does anyone else notice a trend? I'm likely getting the 5850... eventually... I mostly upgrade when I find a good deal.

 

I might upgrade my gpu once the successor of nvidia 300 series are out

 

For this generation of GPUs I feel like they are little in front of the games. For the first time with average GPU 4770-4730 you could play almost all games at max settings. That was not possible with previous generation. And I`m talking in time not in the begining of generation but in the end just before new gen is going to comeup.

 

I personally like to stay a few cards behind bleeding edge, saves money

Come i5 ill get an i5 / board with a hydra chip and possibly a 4870X2 / 295, get some bargains whilst everyones dumping there old stuff in favour of the GT300 / 5xxx cards. Good plan tbh

I may skip i5 / i7 / i9 altogether an invest in some 45nm yorkfield yummyness, who knows

 

Excellent reasonings...unless your a person that has gobs of disposable cash, then these are very sound ideas on how and why to do one's upgrading....

*+

 

I used to wait until my equipment died before I would upgrade. Then I found TPU. Since then, I've upgraded every 6 months, mostly because I've tweaked the crap out the PC, get bored and want a new challenge.

I had to impose limits on myself: I will not pay more than $200 for a motherboard, CPU, or GPU and try to keep memory and PSU below $100. I buy the cheapest case I can find, because I cut them all up anyway, and cheap, thin steel is easiest to deal with. Right now I'm waiting to see what happens with i5 motherboards before I upgrade again.

 

wow thats exactly what i plan on doing...i might go phenom II 955 on the processor but it really depends on the i5's price/performance.

 

Well I earn £60 - £120 a week, so money is tight and I cant go buying 'x' graphics card when I please, I have to plan upgrades.

 

I use three rigs atm...24/7 - Gamer - Bencher. I only buy cards when I can no longer make boints with the ones I own on hwbot. Same goes for cpu's. I use two old Zotac 8800 GT's in the gamer because I just prefer them over all else, even the GTX 295's.