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How often do you upgrade your vid card for games?

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How often do you upgrade your vid card for games?

  • Every year

    Votes: 129 26.8%

  • Every 2-3 years

    Votes: 254 52.7%

  • Every 3-5 years

    Votes: 99 20.5%

  • Less than $200

    Votes: 68 14.1%

  • Between $200-$300

    Votes: 120 24.9%

  • Between $300-$400

    Votes: 43 8.9%

  • Over $400

    Votes: 40 8.3%
  • Total voters
    482
If the price is right, and I have the money, I'll upgrade on the spot.

When I saw a 260 for $135... DONE.

If I saw a 280 for that price I'd sell the 260 and buy it.

Price is the single greatest factor to me. If newer and newer vid cards cost $50 a piece... I'd upgrade every time a new card came out.

Gaming performance has become secondary as no game in recent memory has really pushed any modern graphics card (and no, the poorly-coded Crysis doesn't count).


I think the days of upgraded a vid card just for games are over until Dx11 comes out and they actually start MAKING GAMES for Dx11.
I only upgraded to my 8800GTS 640 because I had the money and opportunity to do so and I needed a vid card that matched my hardware at the time (E6400 @ 3.8ghz)
 
rainless said:
If the price is right, and I have the money, I'll upgrade on the spot.

When I saw a 260 for $135... DONE.

If I saw a 280 for that price I'd sell the 260 and buy it.

Price is the single greatest factor to me. If newer and newer vid cards cost $50 a piece... I'd upgrade every time a new card came out.

Gaming performance has become secondary as no game in recent memory has really pushed any modern graphics card (and no, the poorly-coded Crysis doesn't count).
Click to expand...

I might take up your strategy. That's not a bad idea at all. IF I have the money though.

But GTAIV has pushed technology pretty far? I mean, I just upgraded (to a sad HD3850, but I got a crazy deal on it.) I still can only run at medium-high graphics.

That also has to do with my processor, I'm still running an AM2, I have the best in socket now, but I really need to upgrade my mobo -_-

Still never tried Crysis =/ I should see what the fuss is about some time.
 
bout every 12 months, and usually the card itself is right on the $200 mark (usually), so after taxes and/or shipping i put between $200 and $300. this past year has been a bit unusual for me though, as I ad my first xfire setup earlier, and I think Im gonna be going back to xFire, soon as I can get another awesome deal on another 4890. lucky for me, ATI is so much cheaper than nVidia (usually. not talking x2's here)
 
I never spend more than $200 on a graphics card...so if I can upgrade under that..I sell my current card and buy a new one with a loss of $20 max. That has been the case through all my upgrades. x1950 pro > 8800gt sli > gtx 260
 
I have been since I've been on this site, I upgrade every 2 years or less. That's simply to keep up with the new games out there. evga 6800GT(later modded to ultra), ATI X1900XT, HD 2900XT, and then the current 4870. I still have most of these cards sitting around somewhere. :beer:
 
If I find a deal that is too good to pass up or a drastic improvement for not that much more, I'll sell my current card and buy a new one.
 
i upgrade every time the next best thing is out.... and i only spend like 50 bucks or so on the new card

what i do is i buy the best card out there use it untill the next best one is out then i sell it right away so that way i dont lose that much money and with that money i buy the new card
 
Timeframe is generally about every 1-2 years for me and usually under $200

First build had a Ti4200 (~$140)
then a 9800non-pro ($250)
x800GTO2 (something like $175 I think)
x1900xt ($220)
8800gt ($190)
HD4830 ($75) On the cheap train now since I don't play many games anymore.
 
I normally upgrade my GPU in my main rig every 12-18 months. Normally spending £100 - £175. Was thinking about another 8800GT in sli but now going for a 260 core216 and will use my 8800GT for PhysX.
 
I've been through the following upgrades: AGP Radeon 9600 Pro (2003) -> 6600 PCIe (2005) -> 8800GT (2008). So I guess an average of 2.5years, but that also includes integral PC upgrades. If I were to upgrade my GPU, I'd also upgrade my motherboard (939 as of right now), as well as CPU, and RAM.
 
Not too often.. I went from a 9600 to a 800XL, to a 7600GT desktop to a 8600GTM laptop to a 8800gt desktop again xD the 8800 plays all my games perfectly for me.
 
Last edited:
Hmm... I have had my 8800gts for liek 2 years or so.... got it when it came out, before that was an x1900xtx, before that was a 6600gt, before that was a voodoo 4 4500 before that radeon 7500 haha
 
From another thread. This list began in late 90's, and was all gaming fueled.

nightelph said:
4mb Diamond something
8mb Riva TNT2
32mb Geforce2 w/s-video
32mb Geforce2 w/ dual vga out
64mb Geforce2
128mb Geforce4 Ti4600
256mb Geforce5 5900XT
256mb Geforce6 6800GT
256mb Geforce7 7800GS
768mb Geforce8 8800GTX
512mb Radeon 3870
512mb Radeon 4870
1024mb GTX280
640mb GTX260
1024mb GTX285
Click to expand...
 
Depending on the essential games I actually want to play, only when I need to, feature-wise.

Additive blending modes everywhere in 99 got me on the Voodoo2, increasing HW T&L usage in 2002 moved me to the Geforce2, 2005's massive PS2.0 requirements got me on the Radeon 9xxx+... and so on. No upgrades for 'it has slightly more performance in Crysis' reasons.
 
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