How often do you upgrade your graphics card?

[Guest]

Title says it all. I am thinking of upgrading myself, but I believe I have a lot more benefits in upgrading than most other people, as I have a Quadro FX 4600 lying around which I can use for Physx if I get one high-end card (case doesn't have enough space for CFX + Physx card), and since I have 2 x 1280 * 1024 and one 1920 * 1080, I use SoftTH which doesn't work with multi-GPU (it ends up using only one card).

I believe my next card will be the Radeon 8970/9970, but if it really only has a minor upgrade (ie. 2304 cores) and 20nm is just around the corner, I might hold out a bit (Or get a 7970 used).

I'd like to gauge the average upgrade path for people; maybe in doing so I can hold off my upgrade itch.

 

[DjDafiDak]

i had a pc with a gtx 275 for like for 3-4 yrs, then i got a new pc with hd 7850.
after like 10 months i switched to a gtx 780.

 

[hizodge]

You can stick to a graphics card for 4-5 years until nobody wants it and it ultimately dies out or becomes obsolete and then pay full price for a new one. I personally think that the wiser thing to do is to sell my old graphics card every time I upgrade about 1-2 years or so. I get to stay on top of the game and don't have to pay the full price every time I upgrade, only about half if that. Is it more expensive in the end? Probably, yes, by a little bit.

 

[sam_p_lay]

You can stick to a graphics card for 4-5 years until nobody wants it and it ultimately dies out or becomes obsolete and then pay full price for a new one. I personally think that the wiser thing to do is to sell my old graphics card every time I upgrade about 1-2 years or so. I get to stay on top of the game and don't have to pay the full price every time I upgrade, only about half if that. Is it more expensive in the end? Probably, yes, by a little bit.

I think there's wisdom in that. I always used to wait until the card was pretty much obsolete, but I think selling while it still has value and then upgrading is a good idea. My only concern is actually being able to sell the card (or getting a decent price for it). Comes down to your confidence in your selling ability I suppose There is the drawback though of the improved efficiency of newer technology. Two generations ago was still Fermi (GTX500) and most people on here would advise avoiding that in favour of newer models. That might make it harder to sell. Even in cases where the old model is actually pretty efficient, as long as people have the perception of "old, hot, power-guzzling and loud" it'll be detrimental to the sale potential.

 

[stedaley]

went from 8800gts > 460GTX > 670GTX

 

[hizodge]

You can stick to a graphics card for 4-5 years until nobody wants it and it ultimately dies out or becomes obsolete and then pay full price for a new one. I personally think that the wiser thing to do is to sell my old graphics card every time I upgrade about 1-2 years or so. I get to stay on top of the game and don't have to pay the full price every time I upgrade, only about half if that. Is it more expensive in the end? Probably, yes, by a little bit.

I think there's wisdom in that. I always used to wait until the card was pretty much obsolete, but I think selling while it still has value and then upgrading is a good idea. My only concern is actually being able to sell the card (or getting a decent price for it). Comes down to your confidence in your selling ability I suppose There is the drawback though of the improved efficiency of newer technology. Two generations ago was still Fermi (GTX500) and most people on here would advise avoiding that in favour of newer models. That might make it harder to sell. Even in cases where the old model is actually pretty efficient, as long as people have the perception of "old, hot, power-guzzling and loud" it'll be detrimental to the sale potential.

This all comes down to choosing good products that will still be viable years after. Keep the box, keep the receipt and it's pretty easy money.

 

[jaguarskx]

I generally upgrade about every 4 years.

My Radeon HD 5850 still serves me well so I have not upgraded since I bought that back in Sept / Oct 2009.

On the other hand, I have a nVidia 9600 GT purchased back in May / June 2008 in my HTPC that I don't really plan on upgrading just yet.

 

[mohit9206]

I bought 5450 in 2011 november and then 7750 in October 2012.