Do you feel a compulsion to constant hardware upgrade?

[Ol' Willy]

It's good not to be a graphicsfag. Playing the latest popamole on the highest settings is something I can live without, and I'm looking to buy a capable laptop that will run some more recent titles, to keep chilling out in the bed with some prestigious games and six-pack nearby.

 

[sser]

I hate good graphics.

 

[Ismaul]

When I play video games, I smear my monitor with shit so I'm not distracted by good graphics.

 

[Doktor Best]

Been pretty lazy with upgrades in the past years, but VR kinda changed that. You need those perfect frametimes or your experience will become shit very quickly.

But well covid turned out to be a money saver so my "luxury expenses" budget still decreased over all.

 

[gurugeorge]

Since 1992 when I got my first PC (all self-built since then), I've upgraded less and less regularly over the years, just graphics cards basically. My current PC I've had for about 4 years, the one before that was about 6 years.

IOW, whereas before I'd be gutting the system, replacing motherboards, CPUS, every couple of years, nowadays most stuff except graphics cards seems to have plateaued out.

I think it's also because I'm dirt poor and have been for a while now. I think if I had more money to spare I'd probably aim for the bleeding edge, but I have to make do with what I've got - and that basically just means upgrading the graphics card now and then. I may do a CPU upgrade in the not too distant future (the high end CPUs for my chipset still exist).

 

[commie]

I had a compulsion...back in the 90's and till mid 2000's when the Core 2 Duo came out. Though particularly in the 90's, upgrades weren't just a luxury, they were essential at most every couple years as PC's just wouldn't run anything at all if they were even a couple years behind the curve. Nowadays you can still get a good gaming experience with a budget video card and a Sandy Bridge processor from 2011 for 80-90% of games. It suits me fine as I don't feel the need for spending money on a new system since almost all I play runs perfect on my i7 4820k from late 2013 and a GTX 1080 ti that I bought from a miner in 2018(I wouldn't have gotten that to replace a GTX 950 except that the price on the back of the mining collapse made it cost the same as a 1060 from a shop).

I sometimes have an itch to get something new just to tinker with it, but this thing is still going strong and will do so for another couple years. I tend to play less now anyway so can wait to see if there's a next 'big thing' on the horizon or not. Maybe a couple more generations of VR, as that's about the only thing I'm interested in(for sims) that will require a new investment.

 

[Ovplain]

Went a bit crazy last year. Ended up upgrading my computer in the worst way, without a plan. First I just got an itch to buy *something*. Bought an SSD for games. A week later I bought a new mobo & cpu. 2 weeks later I bought a new graphics card. A week after that I bought a new monitor and more ram. Ultimately spent around 2000 eur. All I wanted was an SSD! But I went crazy. I like my computer, it's a nice computer. Buying an ultrawide monitor was the single greatest decision I've ever made gear-wise. But, yeah, should've had a plan!

Still got the itch to keep upgrading, still look at hardware every couple months or so but...

What the hell am I gonna buy? Not gonna spend a grand or whatever on a new graphics card. Not that nuts.

I did buy a lovely (and pricey) Spinalis chair, does that count? Bought a pretty sweet height-adjustable desk too.

Hopefully that's it for a while. Should be it. Still got the 'compulsion,' but there's just nothing left. Not unless I really lose my mind and all of a sudden wanna go all out. Doesn't seem very likely, thank the F Christ.

 

[GarrisonFjord]

I try to rely less and less on specific hardware/software, as time goes by.
Currently working with a NUC, *under*clocked to 2 cores x 800MHz.
Using the lightest Linux distributions I feel comfortable with.

Works great. But there is much room for improvement.
(Considering going full-time Raspberry Pi at some point.)

 

[Great Deceiver]

I upgraded again this year since the last time I posted in this thread (in 2013), so 7 years. I upgraded from a i5 3570k to a Ryzen 7 3800x. To be honest, it didn't really feel very good at all. I could have probably stood to wait awhile longer, especially since the videocard I had planned to pair it with (the 3080) can't be found anywhere so I'm stuck holding my dick with a 1070, which is severely bottlenecking the system.

It was an unjustifiable purchase, really. I feel kind of ashamed. I don't give a shit about new popamole games and 90% of my playtime is with emulators and dota 2, both of which ran perfectly on my old rig. I guess this is the last time I spend good money on computers after 25+ years of upgrading stuff.

 

[Ezekiel]

Will probably stick with my GTX 1070 and Ryzen 5 2600X for a long time to come. The games coming out just bore me. My last card was a GTX 780, so I don't go as long without upgrading as many here. But again, AAA gaming is boring, and the smaller games rarely require that much power, so I can't see what I would possibly upgrade for unless this card died. Most of my gaming now is either older PC games or the occasional Switch game. I'm more interested in putting together a NAS backup for all my Blu-rays and DVDs, which will cost me almost 2000 dollars.

 

[Irata]

I'd like to upgrade, but I'm at the stage where I'd have to buy pretty much everything (motherboard, memory, cpu, etc.) and I don't play many games that would justify it.

 

[Kev Inkline]

I finally build a new system to replace my trusty old Q6600 (13 years and going, though I had upgraded to an SSD and gtx660), and so ended up with a r5 3600 and 2070S last March. Now, in a week there comes out the last batch of cpus for AM4, ryzen 4000 gen. Which makes me feel that that I should get a 8C/16T system just to have a future proof rig.

But future proof for what? I've been mostly playing old stuff ever since I did the new build, and in fact building it was so much fun (perhaps more fun than playing games) that I got a 2nd hand system for my kids, paid 100 eur for a mobo, memory and a 3570K, and a friend gifted me a gtx770. In fact, that would have been sufficient for all my gaming needs.

Anyways, what can I say, the greatest difference to the old is the complete silence, no more feeling as if a jet fighter was about launch when I play more graphics intensive (relatively speaking) games.

I'll still probably get that new cpu, and once Hopper comes out, I'll buy some mid-to-high range from, like 4070 or whatever it'll be called. Then I bet I'm set at least for another 8 years.

 

[Pegultagol]

Was looking into a new GPU (currently on RX 580) but with Cyberpunk2077 requirements being what they are and supersampling/image sharpening available now I'm not too sure. I don't have a lot of compulsion to upgrade per se but do have tendency to compulsively maintain and see to the system working as it should. So if let's say there's a nvme drive that drops connection for no reason during normal usage it drives me up the wall to no end. Might have to try to disassemble everything and build the same system from ground up, and reinstall a fresh copy of Windows.

 

[gurugeorge]

Reading all this, I wonder if the sliming of AAA gaming is going to have an adverse effect on hardware?

What I mean is, a large part of the advances in commercial CPUs and GPUs for the past few decades has been driven by punters eager to get onto the next stage of graphics, better photorealism, etc. But if AAA games keep getting shittier and shittier like they are doing, people are going to quietly drop their hardware mania (as many of us evidently have here).

 

[Ismaul]

people are going to quietly drop their hardware mania (as many of us evidently have here)

I think you vastly underestimate the human need to prove you have a bigger, longer, stronger hardware than your fellow man.

 

[Goose]

All the best games have already been made, what's the point of upgrading?

Cyberpunk? VTMB2? Not worth it.

 

[Watser]

Not at all.

Still using my i5 2500k from 2011 and my GTX 970 from 2014. I might replace my PC next year though. Ran Doom Eternal on Medium and it was good enough for me.

Same setup I have. The i5 2500k is a real trooper, fantastic performance after a decade of use.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

The industrial revolution and its consequences...

 

[Average Manatee]

Not at all.

Still using my i5 2500k from 2011 and my GTX 970 from 2014. I might replace my PC next year though. Ran Doom Eternal on Medium and it was good enough for me.

Same setup I have. The i5 2500k is a real trooper, fantastic performance after a decade of use.

Almost the same here, i7 2600k and RX 480. Figure I'll upgrade early next year. At this point its actually the 8 GB of memory that is most often the problem with running a basic browser + OS taking up 3 GB or more

 

[Ismaul]

At this point its actually the 8 GB of memory that is most often the problem

Yeah. I wonder if I should upgrade my RAM to 16GB DDR3 now and stick with the old girl a while, or refresh my whole setup earlier.

 

[Sensuki]

i7 4790K for me, I don't see myself replacing it any time soon.

I considered upgrading my GPU (Radeon HD7970) but decided against it as it's a shit time to buy. I've had the same screen for 10.5 years now as well.

Colony Ship RPG and the next Expeditions game are the only games I'm looking forward to in the next few years, I would probably upgrade my GPU for the next Expeditions game if I had to.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Nowadays, in the era of PS5/Xbox/PC parts shortage, there is a chance for more people to realize that the don't need all that fancy shit and even cheap +20 year old laptop can privide infinite dose of fun.

PS5? Is just a collectible item, utra rare console with no games, can we fall any lower than that?

 

[DemonKing]

Back when PC was the dominant platform I remember upgrading my graphics card every 18 months and my entire PC every 3 years or so. Now that most games on PC are console cross-platformers there's no PC-exclusive Crysis-style releases to really test your hardware as everything needs to run on whatever console is current, so no incentive to upgrade that often. My last PC lasted from 2012-2019 and I only changed the graphics card once.

I did get a launch PS5 to replace my PS Pro but mainly because my wife whinged so much at the jet-engine fan whenever anyone played on the Pro.

 

[Kev Inkline]

In a way, CP2077 was pc exclusive

 

[Stavrophore]

No.