How do you determine when to upgrade?

Coldblackice

Coldblackice

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 14, 2010
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Subjective question, I know.

How do -you- determine when you're going to upgrade, like your video card, for example? How much weight do you put on the future lineup that hasn't come out yet, vs current game playability with your current card, vs your personal price/cost/benefit worth -- all that equate to that upgrade "switch" finally getting flicked on?

Answers are welcome to get as mathematical as desired, but don't feel that you have to present a complex, detailed, meticulous system.

For example, my loose upgrade function/system --

I typically buy one year behind the newest model release, and I wait for the window to buy around when the new line drops, into the ensuing months, when it seems that the last generation's card prices really start to drop, amidst the wave of those jumping to the new line.

I don't really ever upgrade for a game -- I'm permanently strapped for cash and cheap :) I'll put games on a shelve to play down the line when I'm able to upgrade.

I'll usually hold onto a card for 1.5-2.5 years, aiming to sell while it's still a third generation card, before it becomes a fourth gen.

I've stayed on AMD's side of the line for the past few years, mostly because of cost. I'll go wherever I can maximize my cost/benefit ration, so the only allegiances I hold are for the greenbacks :)

Anyway, that's my loose upgrade philosophy, and it generally holds the same for other computer parts. I'd like to be more knowledgeable about future product lines (like CPUs/GPUs), and so I'm interested to see what main resources other use in determining upgrade paths, like deciding how/when/if a future line is going to be worth waiting for, or battening down the hatches and waiting it out until the following release iteration.
 
I just upgraded my 280 GTX to a 480 GTX to power the current setup 2x 30"... By the time I get to spend money to upgrade my video card (I hope to have 3 dedicated cards for each monitor, purchasing new monitor monday) the 700 series will be out.

I tend to hold onto cards for 3 years, or more. I don't play as many games as I once did, but when I do, I like to atleast semi-enjoy the new eye candy... Playing Borderlands with PhysX at my native resolution was a pretty horrible play experience.

I might have to go on and upgrade every year. :(

I've had ATi cards, but then I bought the high-end card and got crapped on by blowing my work money (Worked during high school), and needed to find a cheap replacement at Best Buy. It left a horrible taste in my mouth. I had to use a warranty before, and it was awesome with EVGA. So I've stuck with them just based on that.
 
When I can't play new releases at 40+ FPS consistently and the check for selling a kidney has cleared.
 
Back when the 6800GT was the card to get I upgraded every gen. Now, every other. Part of me just wants to wait until I can get a single GPU card that will be noticeably faster than my 580's in SLI, and then run that in SLI.
 
I upgrade when my computer cannot handle what I ask of it.

I don't expect to upgrade my i5 2500k until at least Broadwell (maybe even longer), and I'll use my GTX 460 for at least another year or two. I don't game that much anymore and when I do, I play actual fun games that are fun, as opposed to stuff that Crytek makes that I swear people only play BECAUSE it's a GPU killer. Strike Suit Zero runs great with my current setup for example. People here are always talking about upgrading and they can only name like two games that really stress GPUs. If you guys ALL play BF3 and Far Cry, whatever, but I really, really doubt that.
 
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RogueTadhg said:
I've had ATi cards, but then I bought the high-end card and got crapped on by blowing my work money (Worked during high school), and needed to find a cheap replacement at Best Buy. It left a horrible taste in my mouth. I had to use a warranty before, and it was awesome with EVGA. So I've stuck with them just based on that.
Click to expand...

huh? you bought a high-end ATI card and "got crapped on"? needed to find a replacement implies that the ATi card died?

I've used EVGA's warranty before as well. It's funny, but the only cards I've had die were Geforce cards. Back in 2005/2006, I had a Geforce 7900 GTX that died, the replacement EVGA sent was also defective so the second replacement they gave me was a 7950. I was also a victim of the 7600m gpu solder fiasco with two laptops. The only time I will buy a Geforce is if there's a killer deal. I've been burned 3 times by them. Frankly, I'm surprised my GTX260 and 8800gt are still alive.

The fact that they sent me a defective card really pissed me off. The downgrade to a 7950 irritated me as well. I've only had one EVGA card since then, and unless there's a screaming hot deal, I won't be buying one again. I'd rather buy a Galaxy seeing their Rep. support [H] users. But in the meantime, I'm happy with my Radeon 6950.
 
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When the games I want to play run too slowly for me when I try playing them. Then I upgrade, pretty simple.
 
When one piece of hardware becomes incompatible with another.

Example:

My tv has only three hdmi ports and no vga/dvi ports. I still need to make my upgrade.
 
now I tend to update video cards more often than most , but for a long time my own "rule of thumb" has been the wait until the techonology gets close to double the performance of of what I had . Of course technology leaps would easily make you consider a change at any time
 
For me its when I can't run games at respectable frame rates anymore. I'm married so I can't spend like I used to. Gotta "pay bills" and "save".
 
When games aren't playable with the eyecandy I want at 1080p with a good (30 FPS) framerate.

My shader unlocked 6950 is still doing me well.
 
Regularly, and usually two cards at a time, since I went triple monitor. Every year to 18 months. Refuse to spend more than $900 to $1K on card(s) though. Rest of the PC usually lasts 2 or more years. Still on an I7 920 in fact.
 
I have a rule about upgrading when I see a speed increase of at least 3-4 times what I currently have in games I actually plan to play or play in the very near future. I also have 6950 unlocked and overclocked to 6970. It be at least another year or two before I uprgade, so I guess that works out to a typical 3 year upgrade spread for me.

Lately I have had more fun switching from AMD to Intel and then upgrading from z68 to z77 on my 2500k. Lately features seem to matter more to my than pure speed. It's a trend I see AMD and nVidia playing into as speed increases between generations slow down a bit as process shrinks become less common.
 
I usually use playibility as the big factor but sometimes I upgrade when the performance jumps significantly. Really the biggest factor is if I want a new toy, I had a 5970 and jumped to 2 7950s. The 5970 still performed like a champ buuttttt a new toy was calling my name.
 
I wait for the new GPUs to be reviewed......(generally you can't buy what you want for a couple months anyway).

Look at the games I like to play the most, or new releases and see what the frame rates and graphics settings reveal.

If it's better than what I've got......sell the old ones and buy a couple new ones.

I also tend to upgrade based on what GPUs are selling for on the used market. If I think the timing is right, ie I can fetch a pretty good resale, then I tend to do that before the market is flooded.
 
I determine it when a graphics card is released that can run the most powerful game at the time at full specs on the accepted resolution at the time. This is why I didn't upgrade my Celeron D until the GTX580 came out, which ran Crysis at 1080p smoothly. My next upgrade will be required to run Max Payne 3 at full speces on a 1600p resolution.
 
I generally upgrade gpu every two gens unless theres a significant need to for some reason. CPU and MOBO 2 to 4 years depending on cashflow and architecture.

I always buy a high end GPU so it lasts a few gens and high end cpu/mobo but not necessarily ridiculous top of the line, there reaches a point when you dont get much return on investment for example a six core intel chip or a 680. I went with 3770 and a gtx670.

Monitor 4 to six years

Speakers: still on my altecs mx 5021's and sound card? not very often, using xfi forte right now.

OS? usually every upgrade unless it sucks like vista.
 
When you look around and your e-peen is deemed (by you of course) to be insufficient.
 
When older components bottleneck the others. Right now my 670 is BEGGING for more power. I'll upgrade my cpu, memory and mb in a couple months. Then a year or two from that, I'll upgrade the graphics card. Then, the cycle starts again like it has for the last 10 years.
 
Here is a idea why don't you upgrade when your current system is haveing issues running software at a acceptable rate!?!?! wow I am a genius to think this
 
When the card I have won't play the games I want at the settings I want. Also when I feel like it :)
 
Mister E said:
When older components bottleneck the others. Right now my 670 is BEGGING for more power. I'll upgrade my cpu, memory and mb in a couple months. Then a year or two from that, I'll upgrade the graphics card. Then, the cycle starts again like it has for the last 10 years.
Click to expand...

What do you have now?
 
yelsewshane said:
Here is a idea why don't you upgrade when your current system is haveing issues running software at a acceptable rate!?!?! wow I am a genius to think this
Click to expand...

Define "acceptable".

There's also a little minor variable that factors into the equation called "financial stability" (or ability), thus requiring a bit of economic theory called tradeoffs and opportunity costs. Is >30fps the "acceptable" cutoff? What if you're pulling in $80,000/year? Would ~>60fps be the "acceptable" cutoff?

Thanks for playing.
 
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I upgrade every generation, sometimes more than one time per gen. It's a disease. But in all honestly my budget can handle it... For example; at the beginning of 2012 I had x2 560 ti. Around june I upgraded to a gigabyte windforce 670, in october I switched to an EVGA 670 4gb, in september switched that out for a galaxy 670 4gb, and later that month I got another 670 4gb. Yeah. I like the upgrades XD. Planning on upgrading either with Titan or the 780 and I'll definitely be going with a haswell upgrade as well, putting everything underwater.
 
When the new gpu performance is roughly double what my current gpu can do.

Could happen this year, I typically upgrade every two years or so... though nothing beats the six years or so I hung on with a Radeon 9800 Non Pro. I upgraded to a X1950 from that, then 3850, 4980, and finally the 6970 I use today.

It's still a really good card at the 1920x1200 I do, but next upgrade I'm seriously looking at 2560x1440 which'll need a bit more pixel power oomph. Maybe a 8970.
 
Seconded to the "double" suggestion. My upgrade from 6950 to (still in delivery) 7950 is right on the cusp of that 2x performance. Previous upgrades have been that or more (8800GTS to 6950, 6800GT to 8800GTS, 9700PRO to 6800GT). I didn't really want to upgrade, but the delayed release schedule, the fact that the next gen 28nm cards won't offer the increase that 40 > 28 offered, and the free games (worth $70 or more) eventually made me decide.

To be honest, PC as a hobby is relatively cheap compared to most other hobbies. A fully maxed out Quad SLI setup (the best that you can possibly get) might run $2000 or more for the cards. That's the price of a pretty midrange preamp, a mediocre paint job for a car ... some people's audio cables cost more than that (not that they're appreciably better). At the ultra high end, some people's speaker setups cost more than houses; there's simple no comparable thing for PCs, even if you stuff your computers with a 2TB ramdisk (a "mere" $10000 last time I checked).
 
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When the hardware becomes incompatible with some else, it is my time to decide to upgrade.
 
I will upgrade video cards if I can't run my games at native resolution with medium to high settings and maintain 40+ FPS average.
 
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