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Geek Culture / how often do u buy a new pc?

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David iz cool
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Posted: 9th Jun 2007 19:41
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just curious
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Raven
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Posted: 9th Jun 2007 19:54
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whenever there is new tech :p

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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 9th Jun 2007 20:08
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Depends - I usually aim at the 3-4 year mark for a complete overhaul, but depending on funds or new tech, I might upgrade a component once a year (maybe more).

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Seppuku Arts
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Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 9th Jun 2007 20:27
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I got this computer in 2002...sooo...a long time But it still trails on, but I'm think I'm at my limits upgrade wise, all I can do is upgrade my ram again (This time to 1gb and not 512mb) and my CPU...But even then it'll be behind on the new games, so the biggest technology that will work on this thing are games like Prey (Med Settings), Half Life 2 (High Settings) and maybe FEAR.

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Josh
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Location: Pompey, Great Britain =D
Posted: 9th Jun 2007 23:20
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I'm not much of a PC gamer so not very often, so long as I can run SpidaHost effectively I'm set.

My 6 year old PC which my sister is using runs Sims 2 at medium/high settings perfectly, so she's happy. My laptop is almost 3 years old now so it'll be due for an upgrade anytime soon. Just depends when I can get hold of the money.

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Shadow heart
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Joined: 2nd Dec 2006
Location: US
Posted: 9th Jun 2007 23:48
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let's see I've had this one for about 3 years. And now i'm getting anew one. Need lots of new room.

to the ones thats trapped inside of you, this is it!!
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spooky
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Joined: 30th Aug 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:20
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I bought my first PC in 1995 which was a P133 (fastest processor available at the time) with a massive 1GB hard disk, 8MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, soundblaster AWE32 sound and top of the range 14" monitor! How much did it cost you may ask. Exactly £2337.11 - Can you believe how much pcs were in those days. Anyone remember Escom?

A few years after that I got a P500.

My current computer I bought 5 years ago but only has 4X AGP graphics and Athlon XP processor but I find it plays most games just fine.

Hopefully current PC will last another couple of years and then I'll replace the whole lot.

Boo!
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Oolite
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Location: Middle of the West
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:27
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Every 2-3 years for a complete overhaul but sometimes i just decide i want a new part for my pc and if money permits i just get it.


[Looking for work]
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Seppuku Arts
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Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:31
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Quote: "P133 (fastest processor available at the time) with a massive 1GB hard disk, 8MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, soundblaster AWE32 sound "


Same as my first PC...except that was in the year 2000 and cost a lot lot less than that Also with a 3DFX 1mb graphics card, it was pretty kickass, despite what other computers could do (It played Gabriel Knight 3 quite well )

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Fallout
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Location: Basingstoke, England
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:38
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The last 4 or 5 years, hardware was racing ahead of software. So I've had my current PC for over 3 years, and it'll still run most stuff. Before that, 2 years was about all you got out of a PC before the spec was seriously hindering what you could run.

I think the way the game market is going and the trend in people owning top of the range PCs, dev teams seem to be aiming their specs quite high (especially to compete with consoles and run console games). So I think it might flip back to how it was before ... so you'll have to upgrade more often again.


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Raven
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Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:41
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I've never really done the whole "full upgrade"
Always upgraded one aspect, despite it has nothing original in it; my current system I still see as my first system.

quite a step from it's 80186 XT roots to it's current Core 2 Duo, but cause I tend to upgrade one part at a time; I consider it to be the same system.

what's possibly more interesting is it's changed between Intel, Cyrix and AMD during it's lifetime. lol

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John Y
Synergy Editor Developer
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:47 Edited at: 10th Jun 2007 01:48
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I never do the upgrade one thing at a time, because you end up with a frankenstein computer that is being held back in performance by the older hardware.

I prefer a custom rebuild every couple of years, using the components that are 2nd to the top e.g. I bought the 4200 X2 for a couple hundred less than the then current 4600 X2. You get value for money, and good performance.

My laptop gets completely replaced. I always have a windows PC, and an apple laptop. My current MacBook Pro runs Windows XP as well though, which is handy. I purchased Parallels 3 yesterday, which allows me to play Windows games in Mac OS X, very cool.

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Kevin Picone
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:51
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Quote: "how often do u buy a new pc?"


When I need one.


PlayBasic.com Presents - Ballistic Blasters - Opening May 2007 - Fear Optional!
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 01:52
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Quote: "The last 4 or 5 years, hardware was racing ahead of software. So I've had my current PC for over 3 years, and it'll still run most stuff. Before that, 2 years was about all you got out of a PC before the spec was seriously hindering what you could run."


Indeed, Rayman 2 was the game that came with my computer, yet it has actually be pushed to F.E.A.R (I tried the demo this evening) I am yet to see how far I can push the graphics, but it is at a good looking detail - So 3-5 years is actually a good point for switching comps. If I got a new computer now, lets say a dual core 2ghz, 1gb ram, 768 GeForce 8800 - that would last ages - I mean the chances are the motherboard will survive a few upgrades to stretch it out for a few years (Some new ones will handle up 16gb ram and the best graphics cards. )

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GatorHex
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Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 03:02
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Whenever it breaks or I find a piece of software i cannot use/is too slow.

War MMORPG http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=106577&b=8
DinoHunter http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=98385&b=8
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Shadow heart
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Location: US
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 03:15
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Quote: "When I need one."

lol. That's the truth. But I need one, but i need cash.

to the ones thats trapped inside of you, this is it!!
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Phaelax
DBPro Master
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 03:51
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3-5 years. Sometimes sooner in the event of a major catastrophy, such as when a dual athlon server board from Gigabyte blows have its capacitors.

I think I've had my current PC for about 3 years now, P4 2.8e


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Silent Thunder
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 04:04 Edited at: 10th Jun 2007 04:05
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3-4 years for me, or whenever they come out with a new slot for the graphics card.



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Zaibatsu
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 04:11
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whenever I can afford it

"I admire its purity, a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality"

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Randomness 128
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 05:10
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I got my first one in 1999.

Pentium 3 500mhz
256MB RAM
ATI Rage Fury 32MB AGP


Then my next one in 2004.

Pentium 4 HT 3.0Ghz (overclocked to 3.15Ghz)
1024MB RAM
NVidia GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E x16 (overclocked from 500mhz to 575mhz)

I'm hoping to get a new one soon. I'd want to as soon as I find a PC game whose requirements it won't meet. Although my old one couldn't run any games from after 2001 but I had to use it for another 3 years.

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Agent Dink
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 05:11
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I got my last PC about 2 years ago. No real future plans to upgrade yet, at least not till I'm ready to take the plunge and get Vista and a DX10 card. Not really in the forseeable future though because Vista is too expensive for another OS that really isn't offering me anything that I don't have that I want aside from DX10 gaming :-\ I'll be forced to get it someday though, just not now, maybe if the price comes down I can justify it.

I think if I upgrade I'm going to go all out and get a processor, new motherboard, at least 1 video card, case, power supply, more ram, etc.

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Matt Rock
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Location: Binghamton NY USA
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 06:29
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I buy a computer when a new game is released that I want desperately that makes short work of my system requirements. I've had this computer since summer 2004, and still it pulls down the pants of every game I install on it. I'm sure there's a game out there that would possibly max it out, but I haven't seen such a game yet. I predict I'll end up getting a new PC in 2009 or so, maybe even 2010 if no decent games come out between now and then (a mathematical impossibility, hehe). But then I'm upgrading my Vaio this summer with 2 Ghz of RAM and a new video card when I have the money to do so, so who knows, maybe I can make it stretch to 2011. Ultimately I'd like to avoid getting Vista if humanly possible... probably a pipe dream but eh. Mostly it's just an issue of battling the temptations of DX10


"In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe"
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Raven
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 06:47
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well if you want a realistic answer.
provided you buy top-end hardware, every 5years you will *need* to buy a new system to play current games.

generally what you want to do is buy when the new consoles are released. as they will always set the benchmark curve for games, and most will then be ported between formats; so you know the scalability will be there for this reason.

graphics-wise though, new Shader generations are released every 18-24months.

i mean somethnig to remember is after hardware hits the market, it takes a few months for developers to catch up; and while yeah they develop in terms of "there will be more powerful hardware", there is no way to get a jump on new Shaders, or that Multi-Cores were going to be released, etc. Hardware that really breaks new ground in terms of what can be achieved. In that respect developers will always be behind.

So yeah, every 5years. Provided top-end purchase.

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Deathead
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 14:03 Edited at: 10th Jun 2007 14:03
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Still have my nice PC.
I'd never buy a new one but probably if i have the money for a descent one then i'd buy it.

My Avatar is copyright to John F's Wick Models
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indi
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Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 10th Jun 2007 14:52
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I rent the companies mac with a rentsmart plan. When the rent plan is over i buy it out.

I buy a new pc outright for each box and leave the old ones intact as it greatly improves
testing on older systems.

Once they get too old I turn them into text based linux / free bsd boxes.

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Code Dragon
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 15:10
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Every 6 or 7 years, when Windows gets so slow buying new RAM or deleting lots of stuff doesn't work.

You never really know a person until you look at their google autocomplete entries.
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heartbone
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 17:49
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1997 333Mhz Pentium MMX 256MB RAM Windows 95 OSR2
2002 1200Mhz Athlon 512MB RAM Windows 98 SE
2007 3000Mhz Pentium 4 1024MB RAM Windows XP SP2

Extrapolating to 2012 (if there isn't a pole shift)

2012 5500Mhz AMD 2048MB RAM Intuition LX

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
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Fallout
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 19:24
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Quote: "I mean the chances are the motherboard will survive a few upgrades to stretch it out for a few years (Some new ones will handle up 16gb ram and the best graphics cards. )"


Yeah, that's the key. You can push the compo out for another year, just by getting one or two key components, and then I reckon it's time to build a new one.

Like I said, I've had mine 2-3 years. Can't remember exactly. Think it'll be 3 years this August time. It's an AMD4000+ and 2GB RAM, so I really don't need to change that for a while. It's got a dual GPU 5600 in it. Some weird hybrid thing from Gigabyte. I'll wait until that's lagging and upgrade that. I reckon 6months->1 year depending on how many games I buy and how willing I am to run on low graphics, then upgrade the GPU and get another year. Possibly another 2 years on this setup yet.


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Trinity Pictures
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 22:44
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I do it every year....except when new tech comes out....like I bought a laptop in febuary and now I'm selling that to get an x10 desktop.

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 10th Jun 2007 23:51
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And unfortunately, I can't push mine for another year...unless any one knows of a decent 3.0 shader graphics card that'll work in AGP 4x

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