|
Does "replace everything but the case" count? I don't normally upgrade bits and bobs. Just build a new one every few years.
|
|
|
|
|
My most recent upgrade to the build I did a few years ago was;
Added a 2nd 1TB nvme ssd
Added an additional 32GB ram to take it to 64GB
Replaced one of the monitors with a new 32" 4k display, to make it now 3 x 32" 4k
Think that will do this one, next one will be a complete new build.
|
|
|
|
|
3-4 years cpu overhaul, motherboard.
m.2 storage could be upgraded - using a lot more of that storage for the games then thought.
storage expansion seems to have halted compared to 8 years ago when, uhm, fewer netflix streaming services existed.
GPU maybe seems around the 3 year mark. tend to get high performance for a year old model, which last around 3 years.
|
|
|
|
|
maze3 wrote: m.2 storage could be upgraded - using a lot more of that storage for the games then thought.
I bought 2 TB M.2 for that reason 
Data is in a usual SSD and backed up in a couple of usual HDDs
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
This time I have been using my previous hardware for about 10 years. But that was Intel's fault, that there was little point in replacing 2nd or 4th gen core i5.
I wonder how long will I use my current AMD desktop.
|
|
|
|
|
Never, new Laptop every 3-4 Years, Work supplies Azure VDI's different sizes depending on role/requirement.
Personally, I do the same for side projects payg is reasonable so long as you start/stop, then it s just the VM storage (even better if you can use your MSDN Credit's)
|
|
|
|
|
"Standards" ain't.
I never could upgrade a CPU to a new one using the same socket (well, maybe you still could buy CPUs using the socket of my old one, but performance improvement would be a small fraction of what CPUs for a newer socket can offer). Every new CPU I have bought over the last 35 years has required a new socket - read: a new mainboard.
So the MB must be upgraded. But memory "standards" turn obsolete so rapidly that the chance of reusing your old RAM is epsilon squared. Every new mainboard I have bought over the last 35 years has required newer RAM chips than my old board.
I've got a pile of 6-8 retired (or 'deceased'?) display cards in my 'museum', every one to its own 'standard'. The oldest one is an ISA card, and if my memory is right, it lived through two MBs. The rest have had a rather monogamous, faithful relationship to their MB spouses, for simple compatibility reasons.
My museum holds maybe twenty extension cards for peripherals such as handhold scanner, Travan tape station (remember those? There was a multitude of formats - never trust that your old format tapes would be accessible through a newer Travan station!), printers, video camera inputs, ... A few of them were usable across two mainboards; bus standards were fairly stable in the early days. Then came USB solving a lot of the peripheral problem (you had to thrash your old stuff, but the new stuff was more portable), but gave mainboard bus standards the freedom to mutate far more rapidly.
Power supply standards are not quite as volatile as some of the others: I have had a couple PSs surviving a transfer from one MB (+ CPU + RAM + display card bus) to another, but I understand that for my next upgrade, there is yet another extension of the PS standard, so my old PS won't be useful for MB and display card.
I once was eager about the SCSI 'standard'. When I paid about 50€ for a cable to connect the ninth SCSI plug alternative (I refuse to call it 'standard'!), I complained to the salesman. You're lucky, he said, there are fourteen different SCSI plugs! (So I am decided: The day the USB community comes up with yet another USB so called standard plug, I am through with USB! It looks as if USB C may hold for at least four or five more years, though.)
Disks are the most durable 'standard' there is. My old disks are spread over no more than six or eight different 'standards'. Just like USB and Ethernet, even though they are quite different 'standards', they may use the same physical connector, so as long as your electronics can handle both (or the three or four alternatives!), you won't, as a consumer, notice that under the cover there are several standards (except that sometimes performance is much lower, and you don't understand why).
You may extend (the capacity) of what you've got - more RAM, more disk space, ... (I just ordered another 2 * 16 TB disks for my PC - I am in the process of loading my entire BD/DVD/CD library onto HD.) That neither extends the functionality nor improves the performance of my PC. So is it an 'upgrade'?
When I upgrade my CPU, RAM, MB, PS and display card (there are new standards for all of them), I do retain the hard disks. The system disk will be new - I currently have no M.2 disk. I probably can retain the case. If I replace everything within that steel box, would you really call it a 'PC upgrade'? Isn't it more like reusing a few basic components to build an all new PC?
|
|
|
|
|
Will the data on your disks still be readable after the next upgrade or has Microsoft's dalliance with TPM scuppered that as well?
TPM scares me ... in the past, if you got a new PC / processor, you could at least feel safe in the knowledge that your old data was still recoverable; now TPM means that that is no longer the case.
Ah! I hear you say, what about backups? But what happens if something spikes your PC and the backup device simultaneously? Then, even if the disks are untouched by the disaster and it is only the processors, you will have lost everything as they will no longer be readable on any new kit.
|
|
|
|
|
jsc42 wrote: Will the data on your disks still be readable after the next upgrade or has Microsoft's dalliance with TPM scuppered that as well?
I am not into TPM yet, partly because I share your worries (and partly because my 2014 vintage PC still satisfies my needs).
jsc42 wrote: But what happens if something spikes your PC and the backup device simultaneously?
A few years ago, I read this absolutely crazy article presenting the idea of "offline backup". I know it seems meaningless and silly to have backup disks that are not plugged into your PC, but I tried it out, and it seems to work, plugging them in only when they are in actual use for backup purposes, surprisingly enough.
This article wet even further, introducing what was called "offsite backup", claiming that if your house burns down, a backup located in a different house (that is not burning down), the backup is safe. I haven't had a chance to verify that in practice, but they may be right. So I carry incremental backups on a memory stick from home to the backup site, plug in the backup disk, enter the modified files from the memory stick, and disconnect the backup disk.
If the backup site burns down, is washed to the sea or burglarized, I risk loosing the previous generations of backed up files, even if the working copies are intact. But fact is, I rarely have the need to go back to previous generations.
|
|
|
|
|
I honestly don't which is the oldest part in my everyday desktop machine, but an 80 gigabyte boot drive says it has been powered on and spinning for 16 years (and 18 days).
Many other parts are newer.
|
|
|
|
|
Has that 16 yo boot drive survived two or more mainboards?
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, I had a CPU that was on an edge mount card, and the connection to the mother board failed.
Replacing MB and CPU together was one of its more expensive upgrades.
|
|
|
|
|
It's been live for 16 years? Zero downtime? 
cheers
Chris Maunder
|
|
|
|
|
The desktop computer has been turned off, for days even, upgraded, rebooted, all with the same 80 gig drive in it.
The drive held the OS and page space until the most recent upgrade.
The years and years number comes from the S.M.A.R.T data.
|
|
|
|
|
My current w10 install dates back to either w7-64 or vista-64. GPU swap generally every 2 years. CPU/mobo every 5-8. Prior to the last build I'd generally upgrade ram and storage at least once. This time I haven't, but only because 8 years ago I splurged out on 32GB of ram and a 1 TB ssd. The latter cost something like $500 but let me exile spinning rust to my NAS; not having to deal with multiple local storage locations made life so much easier.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
|
|
|
|
|
Dan Neely wrote: GPU swap generally every 2 years.
You a gamer?
If you primarily use your PC for stuff such as software development, document production, economics, even media production, I am surprised that updating the GPU every two years reflects a 'need'. So I am curious: If you are not a gamer, what are your needs that justifies a new GPU every two years?
|
|
|
|
|
Yes I game.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
|
|
|
|
|
I like to play games too, and I have bought only 2 GPUs in my life.
One when the built in of the previous pc died, and the second one last year along a full new PC
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
My work machine is a Mac so it is what it is.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
|
|
|
|
|
Goes under the first alternative.
|
|
|
|
|
D'Oh! Not my best mental moment.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
|
|
|
|
|
My laptop would run much better with a SSD and a fresh battery would be nice too, but I'm not sure if it's worth upgrading the existing one or just getting a new one that has TPM2 support (if I decide that I want W11) and working Bluetooth.
I haven't built up a PC in a while, but I have no problem with swapping out components, it's not that tricky. The tricky part for me would be picking components as I'm a bit out of touch wrt what to pair together, etc.
|
|
|
|
|
Jacquers wrote: The tricky part for me would be picking components as I'm a bit out of touch wrt what to pair together, etc.
THIS!
I rebuilt my desktop in January -- either the MB or the RAM was failing, and at 8 yo it made sense to replace the CPU/MB/RAM. It took many hours of reading to make a decision on what to buy, initially figuring out what the products are and how they compare, and later getting a good balance of price & power as anything good-n-cheap was out of stock.
The list of CPUs alone is daunting.
In your case I'd upgrade to an SSD. Unless you need a really large one, you can get one for under $100 USD and it will dramatically improve your speed.
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh battery? I can't imagine how that would improve you PCs performance.
Old MBs used to have replaceable batteries - but I never had to replace one! Maybe that is why many newer MBs won't let you replace it - or more likely: The battery backed CMOS has bee replaced with flash memory. If your MB still has battery backed CMOS, the battery os recharged whenever power is available, so unless you deprive your PC of power for months or years, it will keep up.
|
|
|
|
|
about half the 3-4 year old MBPs my work bought have had their batteries bulge and require mail in replacement service. 
To minimize disruption, everyone whose battery pops gets given the repaired laptop originally issued to the last victim, then theirs becomes the spare when returned.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
