Other How long has it been since your last build?

Over the last few years I have seen a decreasing need to upgrade/replace computer systems for many users.

My PC is an old i5 750, 8gb Ram, 512gb SSD & GeForce 750 Ti and apart from it's impending death due to random stalls & blue screens.

It has been at least 7 years since I built this machine, if not more, but I feel there is no great need to upgrade just yet.

Is anyone else embarrassed at how long it has been since their last upgrade/rebuild?

 

I ordered my laptop on 25/10/2013 and it arrived about a month later. In the meantime I've put in an MSATA SSD, replaced the i7 4700MQ with an i7 4930MX, had replaced the GTX 780 with a GTX 980 until I crisped it (such a dumb thing to do).

I miss building a desktop. I've got a brand spanking new case I got for christmas and PSU, but won't be able to put hardware in it for at least 2 to 3 years (if at all) due to circumstances.

One of my pass-time is creating hypothetical builds on pcpartpicker that I will probably never own. A bit sad really.

 

About 12 minutes and 20 seconds I'm literally just finishing a complete rebuild of one of my rigs so I can take it to my mother's and set an office up there

 

I built the rig in my signature about 8 months ago - 2 months later it was broken down and sold off (if only I waited, GPU and RAM would have worth twice as much!) due to a lack of use.

I don't think i'll be building another PC for at least another year, possibly 2. The only thing that will shorten that time frame is Borderlands 3. I WILL be playing that at launch.

 

Full build? God knows.

Last week a stand in PSU went in. Sunday the replacement PSU went in. Yesterday 2x120mm front case fans went in to replace the 140mm fan that I hadn't noticed wasn't even working! (and yet temps were pretty ok)

Last year extra RAM then a GTX1080.

Besides that, nothing.

Edit: Oh hang on, 4 SSDs as well

 

2010, but with upgrades since.

 

Built a WC PC from reused mini-ITX components as a work machine recently. Otherwise I upgrade something every few months more or less. Cooler was B-grade discount in ~Nov, GPU was Jan - picked it up pre-miner price and sold my 1070 for good money, then I needed a new PSU, then I wangled a free case last week. I've had the MB/CPU/Memory for almost 3 years, though, which is a record for me. I have to satisfy the itch.

 

2013 - Keeping with the same Z87 platform till we start getting some new processors without the latest security flaws.
Though I've upgraded the CPU recently from a 4670K to a 4790K for a mere £55 (After selling the 4670K) Also grabbed a unused 850 EVO 256GB off the same chap for £40, so I couldn't refuse.
Other than that, a GTX 1080Ti back in August, which was a big upgrade from my 2x R9 280X which struggled with 4K in more demanding games.
Finally, a NZXT S340 case, to downgrade from a Full tower to a Mid.

 

But you get to play with maker tech. That satisfies your itch. If I was reviewing again I'd never upgrade.

You won't need another GPU for several years. That was my justification. 7nm is a big jump next year, but it won't make the 1080 redundant.

 

This is true, but if Nvidia or AMD bring out a single card that can run AAA games at 4K 120Hz+ in the next year or two, which is when I plan to upgrade the monitor. Then it will make it a justifiable purchase.

 

A year for drivers? Spot the sysadmin. Embrace THE NOOOOOOWWWW

Plus you're MB is already old enough I doubt you've got Spec/Melty BIOS mitigations for that MB so it's kind of a false economy, no?

 

It's a bit like going over the grandparents house, and they're still rocking the old vacuum tube TV with VHS... "If it's not broken, don't fix it"

 

Apart from Gaming/Photoshop do any tasks really challenge a 6 - 7 year old PC to warrant the need to upgrade? Is this why the desktop industry is slowing down?

I don't plan on upgrading my PC anytime soon to be honest, my laptop has more than enough grunt to do the majority of tasks apart from video encoding which to be honest, isn't time sensitive.

Put it this way, the latest game I play is CSGO and TF2.

 

Built a new PC so my brother could have my old one basically a bit under 2 years ago I think, but it wasn't a big upgrade.

Buying stuff to overclock scratched the 'upgrade itch' that I used to have

 

Build of a main system - 11 years. I've put together a few servers and HTPCs since then though.

My last upgrade (sidegrade really) was a year ago - lateral move in terms of speed/capacity etc, just from a desktop to a laptop.

 

Still on X58, so around 9 years (and its been on 24/7 since the beginning). Though the only original components are the motherboard and PSU, don't know if it still qualifies. Also haven't reinstalled windows since then - only upgraded, that has to be an achievement on its own.

Current config:
P6T Deluxe V2
HX750 PSU
x5650 WC
GTX970 WC
24GB RAM
256GB SSD RAID1 + 1TB HDD RAID1 + 3 TB HDD

 

To be honest, I have been thinking the exact same thing of recent. I used to upgrade my machine every year when the latest and greatest parts came out as I had to have those extra loading speeds / fps when gaming - ahh the days of BF2 when I was taking the first flag and most were just spawning.

The bulk of my main machine machine is now 3 years old. I have replaced the GPU and main HDD (but only because I needed parts for another machine I was repairing - might as well get the new parts for my main machine).

I really don't feel the need to upgrade as my main PC still does everything I need it to and more than fast enough. At first I put it down to getting older etc, but the truth is I miss upgrading; the new hardware just isn't making a wow with me anymore, yes there are improvements, but they are minor.

I don't see anything in the pipelines that interests me and until software (especially games) start demanding high speed multicore CPUs then I don't see anything really changing.