How long do you keep your video card?

When do you upgrade your video card?

  • When a new model comes out (~6 months)

    Votes: 16 5.4%

  • When a new generation comes out (~1 year)

    Votes: 62 20.8%

  • Every other generation (~2 years)

    Votes: 93 31.2%

  • When I can't play the latest game at full settings

    Votes: 22 7.4%

  • When turninng down the settings still won't let me play the latest game

    Votes: 64 21.5%

  • When I have the money

    Votes: 41 13.8%
  • Total voters
    298
unless you have that burning itch to always be on the bleeding edge....not to mention doing a rain dance combined with a voodoo hex in hopes of decent drivers....


about 18-24 months. :eek:
 
I had a nVidia MX 400 something PCI
Then a Voodoo 4 4500 PCI
Then a ATI 9600 Pro AGP
Now I have a PNY 6800 GT AGP
My next cards will be DX10 ATI CrossFire PCI E

I voted when I have the money.
I would like to upgrade now to X1900s, but money is an issue, and soon new stuff will be out.
 
A mixture of needing the performance, and having the money. Around a year, but recently its has been 6 months :D
 
right now I've got a GeForce FX5200 :mad: in my current rig, and in my new rig, which hopefully I'll receive by summer's end, will have a 7950 GX2. :D :D

howzat for a GPU leap? :p
 
I don't play games all that often, so I'd say, basically when a new video card slot comes out... I've only really have 3 or 4 different video cards in my life. I'm due for an upgrade from the FX5700 that I have now. PCI-E and socket AM2 should be nice.
 
I usually wait til the newer parts come out and then get the best bang for the buck good performing card thats out.
 
The release of Doom 3 caused me to upgrade after like 4 years....

Geforce 2 mx =======> Geforce 6800nu
 
I went Geforce 2 MX200 > Geforce 4 MX 440 > Radeon X600 (temporary, hated it) > Geforce 6800GS. Each time I upgraded it was to play games at higher settings, because the old card just wasn't cutting it. I'm skipping the current generation of video cards till the new directx 10 cards are available, my 6800GS will hold me over till then.
 
My last three cards have been sequential generations; however, this is not really planned. I have a card, it was high-end when I got it and I'm still happy with it, but then I catch a newer gen. card for cheap, and I buy it. Perfect example is my most recent video card upgrade, replaced my X850XT PE with a X1800XT I got for $300.
 
I said "Every 2 years" cause thats what its been in the past:

Diamond Viper (VLB) -> GeForce 2 GTX -> GeForce 4 Ti 4600 -> 7800GTX (which I won btw)

But with DX10 and now a steady job, I may just bite on launch day, but hopefully my 7800GTX sli setup will tide me over. Seeing as how I'm gonna go Conroe...and then after that maybe the refresh of nvidia's next gen...possibly 8950GX2 if nvidia sticks to its current naming system).
 
I voted for "when turning settings down still won't let me play".

This applies mostly to my competitive/multiplayer game addiction. If I feel like my hardware is cause for my poor performance (aka I get 30fps all the time and it's hard as hell to aim and hit people) then I usually upgrade.

It is for this reason that I believe my next upgrade will come with either ET:QW or UT2007.

In the past I've done pretty well with going for "every other generation" with little mixes inbetween.

Barring very old cards (ATI Rage 128) my first PC that I built myself had a GF2 MX200 in it, then I upgraded to a TI4600, then the TI4600 died and I got a 5200Ultra to replace it, but the 5200 sucked so much that I borrowed a friends 9700 until I fully upgraded to my 6600GT. So basicly every other series seems to be my going style, but I usually upgrade when I "need it".
 
hmm...
If we go by 3Dcard alone:

Orchid Righteous Voodoo I
Orchid Righteous Voodoo II
Geforce 256
GeForce2 Ti
GeForce 3 Ti 500
GeForce Ti4600
Radeon 9800 Pro
Geforce 6800GT
Geforce 7800GS(GT)

Terra - I'd had to say every generation :eek:
 
for each fresh computer I build... I usually go through 2 video cards on it before dumping the whole system.
 
i upgraded once to a voodoo 2 card, but it is so outdated it won't play any of the recent games.

for the people who do upgrade often, is it easy to sell your previous card on ebay?
can you get a fair price for your old card?
 
about every generation
9000-9600-9800-X800XL-7800GT-X1800XL

ok maybe not, but there have been a few system dumps in there.
 
What I do is wait for a good deal vid card... top of the line is always waste of money.. I remember when the 6800 during the whole 6800GTX intro... also it overclocked well too... I also got mine to unlock pipelines and overclock to GT performance...

so if something like that shows up again I will be on it.. of course whatever it is... I want to make sure that the performance increase is worth it
 
well here's what i think. i had a nvidia riva 128 back in 1997. which ran alot of new 3d games like need for speed and quake 2. then in 1999 i bought a geforce 4600 which ran all the new games like enclave and even ut2004. then just recently i bought a 7800 gs. which runs all the new games. so if you look at it, you have to upgrade about every 2 years. when doom 3 and half life 2 came out, i had to buy a new card. so it all depends on what games are out and what their requirements are. so when crysis comes out, you know you are going to need a new graphics card!
 
pretty much every new Mod build ends up with a new GPU (and everything else).

Nvidia Ti4200-died me
Nvidia 5950 Golden Sample-still running in Gluttony case
Nvidia 6600GT (my first PCIe card-put in Lubic Zen-Case, then won a 7800GTX with it)
Nvidia 7800GTX (only time I changed out cards...since I won it)
Nvidia 7800GTX 512Mg OC (in Loch Ness case, and watercooled)
I won another 7800GTX with Loch Ness, but didn't SLI, I sold it here
My next rig (see Project:BloodMoon) will have at least a GX2 depending on when the next card cycle comes.
 
I plan on keeping my XFX 7800GTX (that I won) and my eVGA 7800GTX (that I bought from [H]ere) because of their lifetime warrenties I welcome the day that these cards become my back up spares that I toss in the closet...or RMA them in hopes of getting a free upgrade! :D
 
Let's see, I went:

Geforce 3 Ti200 (Gainward)
Geforce FX5600 (Albatron)
Geforce 6800GT (BFG)

I managed to get an okay deal on the 6800 right when it came out because I had one of those 10% off coupons at best buy.
 
I've only every upgraded my video card once, and that was from a Geforce2 gts to my Radeon 9500 pro, and i have no plans on upgrading again Q1 07. I did have plans to upgrade a year or so ago, but i needed new golf clubs so there went that idea, and now its time to start saving for a complete system overhaul.
 
mostly every generation buy more towards when i need it and have money to blow

4mb PCI card and Voodoo 12mb accelerator card > Geforce 2 MX 200 > Geforce 4 TI 4200 8x > radeon 9800se > Radeon 9700 pro ( the SE sucked so bad) > then the x800xl > 7800gt then another for SLI.
 
My main desktop has really evolved over the years:

October 2001:
Pentium 4 2.0GHz
512MB RDRAM
64MB GeForce2 MX 400

February 2003:
Penium 4 2.0GHz
512MB RDRAM
128MB ATI 9700 Pro

February 2004:
AMD Athlon XP 2600+
512MB PC2700
128MB ATI 9700 Pro

June-August 2004:
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1024MB PC3200
256MB 6800GT

September 2005:
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1024MB PC3200
256MB 7800GTX

March 2006:
AMD Opteron 146
2048MB PC3200 LL
256MB 7800GTX

June 2006:
AMD Opteron 170
2048MB PC3200 LL
256MB 7900GT -- soon to be volt modded

I remember being King Shit when I bought that 9700 Pro. After upgrading to that I became a speed junkie and upgrade my system at least once a year, including the video card.
 
I'm not too into the latest and greatest. As long as it runs what I like to run (flight sims for the most part) I'm fine.

I still run a 9800PRO :) Waiting for Vista/DX10 Even though I'm running the Beta now. Haven;t tried gaming yet, I just installed Vista last night on a spare HDD.
 
I generally try and build a completely new computer in the 18-24 month period.. the advantage of this is my computer that is being replaced is just an upgrade to a better file server or HTPC or something...

I also bought a 2005fpw a while ago so running games at 1680x1050 makes me want to upgrade more often... Im also tempted to buy a 2407 and use dual display with the 2005fpw, so with the higher resolution i'll probably want to upgrade even more often... I feel bad for those with the 3007, you'd need the latest SLI just to get decent frame rates on that beast..

oh yeh, i currently have a x800xt, gig of memory and a p4 3.2ghz... next upgrade will probably be conroe, 2 gigs + and whatever $500 video card performs best around christmas time
 
I usually upgrade every 1-2 years, as I had my upgrade path went.

32 MB - S3 Graphics onboard-2000
Geforce 4 MX440, 64MB - 2002
Radeon 9550, 256MB - 2004
Geforce 6800GT, 256MB - 2004 - few months later then I got the 9550
Geforce 7900GT SLI, 256MB - 2006 - Upgraded in march 06
 
I ussually wait about 2 years, or if I have money, and nothing better to spend it on. :D
 
I'm still on a 9800Pro 256mb. Still runs every game I throw at it just fine, I see no reason to upgrade.
 
i upgrade my video card about every 4 months. back when i had my 6600GT literaly 4 months later it was X850XT then 4 more months now its X1800XL :D
 
I went from some 1MB ISA POS video card, to a Matrox 4MB PCI card (forget which), to a Riva128, to a GeForce, to a GeForce2, to a GeForce4 (ti4200), to a 6800GT.

I currently have neither the money nor the inclination to upgrade from my massively overclocked and watercooled 6800GT. In about a year when I graduate college and land myself a decent job, I plan on building a new gaming system complete with new-gen video card, but until then, my 6800GT is perfect.
 
Recently I've settled into a pattern of buying the mid range option yearly (like the 6600GT and 7600GT), because it takes about a year for games to outrun the midrange cards.

At that rate, the higher end cards have between a $100 and $150 price premium for lasting another year longer, so things like the 7900GTX just seem impractical (price wise) to me when I play all my games at on a 19 inch LCD (1280x1024)

Lets see, I think I went:
GeForce 2 MX 400
GeForce 4600 Ti
GeForce 5200 (the 4600 blew up)
GeForcece 6600GT
GeForce 7600GT
 
TNT 2 --->
GeForce 2 GTS --->
FX 5200 --->
9800 Pro --->
6800GT.

Probably going to be a 7900GT next, have to wait and see when i get some money...
 
every 6-8 months i upgrade the videocard, and once a year i do a full system rebuild.
 
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