How often do you replace your desktop

[buyshirts]

I work from home trading markets i currently have Intel i7 2600k with 8mb and my PC is being used 7 days a week.
At the moment it is working fine but i wondered What timescale do others use so that im getting improved performance/features without just paying to "keep up with the Jones"

 

[getochkn]

When it doesn't do what I want to anymore. If I want to play a new game or new software and it lags, it goes. lol.

 

[USAFRet]

^^^ This

When it no longer does what I need it to do.
or
When something major breaks, and the replacement is not cost effective.

 

[getochkn]

^^^ This

When it no longer does what I need it to do.
or
When something major breaks, and the replacement is not cost effective.

Or that. When my old DDR2 based board died and I couldn't find a new board, or when another pc, the RAM went and it was 5x as much to find DDR for it than DDR2 at the time.

Otherwise, I don't care about keeping up and upgrading every year for a small, tiny change. My current rig does what I want, I'm happy, no need to dump another $1500-2000 to get a few more FPS in the little amount of gaming I do.

 

[buyshirts]

Thanks for your replies.
Pretty much what i thought but always good to get others opinions as i don't keep up to date with all new stuff. I could easily miss an new "super performance enhancing" processor or some other improvement

 

[Eximo]

I replace parts, not usually whole systems, at major technology changes. New GPUs for gaming being the most common (try to keep up with Direct X mostly)
Solid State Disks were a big deal and right when they went under $1 per GB I dropped some cash there, and I decided to give Windows 8 a go at the same time. New drives, fresh install on the same motherboard and CPU.
CPUs, Motherboard, and Ram generally when something that comes out intrigues me. This time around it was native Intel Sata III to go along with my new SSDs (about a year later when Haswell came out)
Most recently to a new GTX980 for G-Sync, HDMI 2.0, and DX12. (Shopping around for a new monitor, playing the waiting game with G-Sync)
I think I am leaning towards waiting it out for a consumer class DDR4 system as the next big thing.

I try to limit myself to about $1000 a year though, so I may not be the right person to respond.

 

[ssddx]

i typically keep systems for 5-7 years. generally i keep it until it can no longer keep up with the software or games i use.

i'm currently on a system from 2010 and despite small upgrades (bought a ssd, replaced case for better airflow, bought new gpu since old reference one was old) i have not put much cash into it.

it does what i need and i dont see myself upgrading for awhile. at least not for another few years.