How much do u spend, how often do u upgrade, and what do u do with old hardware?

[MysteriousRJC]

Hi,

Was just curious on average what most of u guys spend on your systems and how frequently u upgrade... ie: about $500/yr or a new sys every 2 yrs for ~$xxxx, I buy the latest and greatest immediately, only upgrade when absolutely necessary, etc.

I bought my current sys a p3-866 back when it was the tops almost (gigahertz was just coming out) along with a buncha top components dropping almost $4000CAN.... still milking it to get my dollars worth. I think in another year I'll do the same, buy for whatevers the high end at that point.


What do u guys do with your old hardware? Do you trade it in? Sell it? Just shift your old system over to the side as a server or something?

[vinteg]

i just did an update, i always keep my old hardware for another pc, but i kept the gfx card this time so i went out en got a fx5200 for free from a friend now i only need a cheap hdd (40gig's) and voila i have a new pc, i curently have 6pc's but 3 of them are realy old like pentium 2 AMD K5 and P3 the rest is a P4 and A-xp 2400+ and an new A64. but i just borrow them to friends when i have to fix there pc and stuf so they don't need to go trhoug a day without a PC:)
the P4 is now actualy for when friends come over we can play in lan and stuf, the P3 is my fileserver and the AMD K5 is my dad's mail server, the pentium 2 is for interneting from my mom and the AMD 2400+(it's been with everybody as a replacement to) is the alaround pc. but i think if i upgrade now the P2 is gonna go away to an orfenhouse or something like that. The P3 is still turning good same for the A-XP but the K5 is to slow, so i am gonna dump that one. also saves me some money on the electricety bill:D

[Rukee]

Don`t drink, don`t smoke, don`t party...I got lots of cash for upgrading! :D
I upgrade all the time and have piles and piles of spare parts, i could build at least two complete system, and have about three VCs and other parts left over. :p


That`s besides the 5 running computers I have. :o

[MysteriousRJC]

Originally posted by Rukee
Don`t drink, don`t smoke, don`t party...

i'm the same but i'm also a cheap SOB so spending $$ isn't the easiest :D

[Rukee]

I use to drink and used to smoke, but luckly I was smart enough to quit, so now, all that money I was spending on bad habbits....I now just put into a MADD Money fund....and I go MADD with it. :p



I`ve never had so much cash sense I quit drinking and smoking!! :p


Plus, I`m a hellovalot healther for it too.

[TAZTG]

Theres no specific time for upgrading or modding.
I usually wait til the moneys available and then get Modding Gear and upgrade my system. Then I have to wait a long spell to do it again.
Modding Its an Addiction! :p

[bahocale]

First off i am only 18. I've had the same job for about 2.5 yrs. Until i turned 18 i used to spend every check on computer stuff and other stuff that i really didn't need. When i opened a checking accont and got a credit car i became aware of what money i had and what i was spending. Also, I just started college. I just dropped about 400$ on books alone.

I was going to upgrade to a A64 system about a month ago. I am glad i didn't, because I really don't play many games(one game about every 10 months). Computer illeterate will spend a couple thousand on a prebuilt system from sony, hp, etc. Then they only use it for the internet and word processing. You don't need a fast system for the internet.

I'm with taztg on upgrading. I don't have a certain time i updgrade. It is just a matter of extra cash and the time.

[talldude]

When I feel my old system is too slow. I'm contemplating buying a desktop to go with my lappy, but I think I won't do that till next year. My lappy still plays pretty much all the games out there, albeit Doom 3 is really dragging it down to unplayable levels at certain points, but computers have gone down on my list of important things since I started college. So much other stuff to do, gaming's really taken a backseat for a while now.

[sabrewolf732]

I spend a total of probably maybe around $100 including shipping. I sell the old stuff and buy new stuff. Good upgrade for $100 IMO, This is my first 6 month upgrade as I got my comp 6 months ago :D

[zackbass]

I do a big upgrade around every 18-24 months. Since I'm into building cases I usually spend a ridiculous amount of money on a case and then put the best hardware I can bear to pay for in it. I've got the money to buy just about whatever hardware I want but I don't like to spend it so I usually end up spending around $1000-$1200. Last septemeber that $1100 got me the machine in my sig so I think I made out very well for the money spent.

The machine the new one replaces becomes my backup machine, and any oler ones are taken apart and given away or sit in my closet. By the time a machine is releived form backup duty it is thourghly worthless to me and devoid of any cash value (good luck trying to sell a Slot 1 Athlon 900 based system that's been kicked around for 4-5 years.

[Mrfreddio55]

I've had all of my stuff for about a year, only added a dvd-rom drive and modded the case. Oh and a new monitor.

So I wouldn't say i've spent more than $100 in it so far since I first bought it.

I'll probably upgrade next summer or something. But not because I need to... probably more just to keep up with technology. :o

[Ashpool]

I spend: However much is necessary
I upgrade: Whenever it's necesary
Old Parts: I dump them in my closet

I don't bother selling parts. Every time I do, degradation has dragged it's value to almost jack crap (Ti4200's sell for about ~$70, and that's the newest part I've got in storage)

Just recently the newest thing I've got inside is a 9700 Non-Pro that I got from these forums. Since my case cooling sucks, I've got a gob of cooling goosh on the way from SVC.

[PCJ]

Whenever I can't play my games the way I want to play them. I believe I'll stay with my 2500+/9800pro/1gb for a while, I can play farcry at 1280, 60fps. Ut 1280, 60fps. Doom3, 1024 medium, 45fps. I'll prolly keep this stuff for at least another year.

[drdoom]

I upgrade maybe every two years. I collect the old parts and when I get enough I build a system with them just for laughs. I am thinking about building one and installing DOS so I can play Crusader:No Remorse
again. I loved that game.

[hongsc]

I do major upgrades every year but if I happen to walk into Fry's I always have a bag or two of stuff I don't need or want that I just happened to pay for and then I go home and say what was I thinking. I spent around $2000 to $3000 sometimes more a year. I have a P3 800 I let my friend borrow, spare parts for a P4 1.6A, selling the P4 parts in my sig and upgrading to A64, which should arrive this week:D.

[LordOPain]

Id guess i spend around $750 to $1000us a year..
i end up with enough parts to have backups for most components..(i always run short on good harddives..)

Ive actually got 6 pc's in use, but the 6th pc's parts were originally going to be pitched.

its a: tyan tsunami w/p3 600 CuMine & 128mgRAM, voodoo3 2000pci, 24x cdrom, hdd etc. win98se

the rest are in my sig.. typically ill get a new part and hand down the old one..

the biggest single expense over the last 12 months was new liscenses for XP..

[Xiode]

I just dropped $1200 on a new system (upgrading from a P4 1.6), but I normally don't spend all THAT much because I'm only 14 and money is hard to come by.

I just downgraded to 512 RAM and sold my Xbox giving me enough money to build the custom watercooling setup that I want, so I'll probably spend another $300 or so on that.

I'd say I normally spend $500 a year on average. The graphics card usually conributes most of this, and maybe a new HD or so.

[as good as it gets]

bit and pecies here and there

ie today i moved some gear into some new caes i got from work free (yehe)

so i will make a server so i can fiddle around with isa/exchange/sharepoint/etc instead of my server at work

so ill use all my old hdd about 5 (20x3 30 40) when i get a 200jigabyte hdd


and ill use any left over to make afaster router for my internet

but the $%^^$$ ps2 keyboard wont work %^&*&^%$

so ill "borrow" a old compaq from work and use parts to make somthing

[ralfyboy]

well, i'm gonna spend prolly a lil less than $2500 on an absolutely awesome pc! (gonna build it myself! duh!)

i dont have time for ANYTHING now that i have a job, so once i can gain enough money for this, i'm gonna quit. (unless i become assisten manager :D )

i can see myself spending around $500 for the first 1 or 2 years, and then prolly around $1000 or more the 3rd year, and then again $500 1 or 2 years, and then again $1000 and so on and so on....

HUGE GAMER! (with a complete crap *** system at the moment)