How do you justify your upgrades?

killerbobjr · Apr 2, 2007

After owning my current rig for almost a year (see below), I'm running into a few hardware issues that make me want to upgrade yet again. My system is used mainly for software development, but I also run it as a DAW and play games on it. Stability is most important, followed by (quiet) performance. I also like bang-for-the-buck, so a bargain price, low noise, high performance system with stable overclocking has always been desirable.

The thing is, I can't really justify an entirely new system (mb, cpu, mem). A new Core2 Duo rig would be great, however I haven't even worn out my current one. I try to only upgrade when I can get roughly double the horsepower in a new system (approximately every 2-3 years nowadays), a trend that I broke with this last upgrade, and incremental upgrades have always been preferable to wholesale system upgrades. I also like to feel I've gotten my money's worth out of any upgrade, so buying a component and using it for a short time feels like a waste.

So how do you justify your upgrades? What do you tell yourself that lets you feel like upgrading is the right move?

- kbj

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Upgrade history (last ten years):

1997 - Pentium 233 o/c to 250, ASUS Asus P55T2P4, 128MB RAM, Diamond Stealth 3D 2000
1998 - AMD K6-2 400 o/c 500, FIC VA-503+, Matrox G200
1999 - Pentium III 650 o/c 910, ASUS P3B-F, 512MB PC133, Matrox G400
2001 - Athlon T-Bird 1G o/c 1.2G, EPoX 8KTA3
2004 - Athlon XP-M 2500+ o/c 2.4G, Abit NF7-S, 1GB PC2700, ATI 9800 Pro
2006 - Opteron 170 o/c 2.5G, ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2, 2GB PC3200, eVga 7900GT CO
2007 - ?

jtjuska · Apr 2, 2007

I see, I want, I buy (bank account in check of course). I don't really justify things to myself and I tend to be a whimsical buyer. Last friday I decided to buy a Cingular 8525 PDA phone on almost entirely a whim (love that phone btw). As for computer components if I have the money and I want something I just buy it then turn the old stuff into folding fodder

.

to the forums btw

~jtjuska

CGR · Apr 2, 2007

I usually wait till I find a good deal on an item then grab it.. Lately the only upgrade I have done is doing to a dual core and a drive upgrade.

Currently my system is ample for what I do so I have no desire to upgrade anything. When a game comes out that is DX10 that I want to play then I will upgrade the vid card.

smokie mcpott · Apr 2, 2007

i dont justify anything....even my wife finally stopped asking, WHY?
i like toys...my rig does what it does great, but of course i have that urge to dive into a c2d rig complete with a lian li v2000b....but im trying to force myself to say no.

killerbobjr · Apr 2, 2007

jtjuska said:
if I have the money and I want something I just buy it then turn the old stuff into folding fodder

Unfortunately, I tend to turn old components into garage fill. Heck, I have an old 386 somewhere buried in the back of the garage that I haven't thrown out only because I have an old EPROM burner that requires DOS and an 8MHz ISA bus to run. The thing is, I haven't burned EPROMs for years (nearly every microcontroller is flash based these days), so I don't know why I'm keeping it.

- kbj

greyharte · Apr 2, 2007

im like you ... i did the upgrade buy the latest greatest routine and discovered i couldnt keep up ... so now ... i ride the tail end of the wave about every 2-3 years and drool and limp alot ... i cant keep up w/ or justify the prices ... so i let everyone else throw the hot numbers and i putter along later

jtjuska · Apr 2, 2007

I was amazed how much crap I have found since I got back into folding. I think I have 3 P3's to re-assemble so I can get them going again

. Other than that its more of a thing where I am young enough to be stupid with my money

, and get away with it.

~jtjuska

killerbobjr · Apr 2, 2007

greyharte said:
im like you ... i did the upgrade buy the latest greatest routine and discovered i couldnt keep up ... so now ... i ride the tail end of the wave about every 2-3 years and drool and limp alot

I try to buy one step below the bleeding edge since that's where the best price/performance is, but heck, that just means I'm obsolete in a year instead of two. You can see from my list that I kept my Matrox G400 for 5 years since I needed sharp text on my Sony CRT more than I needed gaming ability. It was already slow in games after two years. When my monitor finally went, I got the 9800 Pro to go along with my then new LCD panel (which I still have) since I could now get razor sharp text through the DVI connector. It's amazing how that 9800 Pro went from "pretty darn spiffy" to "godawful slow" in only two years (Oblivion).

Now of course, I'm looking at 30" panels and lusting after all the extra screen real estate (140+ lines of code on the screen at once? I'd be in heaven). But I'd need a new video card to drive the panel in games (8800 GTX anyone?) and might as well get a faster processor while I'm at it, and before you know it, I'm $3K poorer. <Sigh>

- kbj

killerbobjr · Apr 2, 2007

jtjuska said:
I think I have 3 P3's to re-assemble so I can get them going again

I have an old Umax S900 SuperMac that I am gutting to put in a hackintosh from some parts I have scavenged. I also have parts of my old P3 running a server off my DSL line (Ubuntu -- yay!). And three dead CRT monitors sitting on my kitchen floor I need to bring to the recyclers, along with dead power supplies, junk motherboards from various projects, dead hard drives, etc. This is why I'm reluctant to go through another upgrade cycle because it just means more junk to sell on eBay or recycle.

- kbj

eobard · Apr 2, 2007

Has an existing component that is necessary for system operation burned up/out?
If yes goto BUY if no goto WIFE

WIFE: Will the wife shoot me if I buy this?
If yes goto NOBUY if no goto BUY

BUY: Go buy it, END

NOBUY: END

Seems pretty straight forward to me.

killerbobjr · Apr 2, 2007

eobard said:
Has an existing component that is necessary for system operation burned up/out?
If yes goto BUY if no goto WIFE

<Heh> With me it's more like:

Code:

if (an_existing_component == flakey)
  replace_component();
else if (cats_will_starve_if_I_buy_it_and_eat_me_in_my_sleep == true)
  buy_cat_food_instead();

- kbj

Viol8ted · Apr 12, 2007

greyharte said:
I try to buy one step below the bleeding edge since that's where the best price/performance is.

Same here I try to go one step below.

killerbobjr said:
<Heh> With me it's more like:

Code:

if (an_existing_component == flakey) replace_component(); else if (cats_will_starve_if_I_buy_it_and_eat_me_in_my_sleep == true) buy_cat_food_instead();

- kbj

LOL ya, same here. My main rig died 2 weeks ago and I've been using an 850mhz laptop. I'm trying to justify spending 1700 on a new build that I'm drooling over. But priorities first. Bills,food etc for the win.

-_{MoW}_-Assasi · Apr 12, 2007

When newest series parts become the sweet stop of buys

JeffnWV · Apr 28, 2007

killerbobjr said:
So how do you justify your upgrades? What do you tell yourself that lets you feel like upgrading is the right move?

I make invoices on it, research some business leads, and write it off at the end of the year as a business expense...that much less in taxes I pay. In fact when it gets close to the end of the year, I go out and buy tools and all kinds of stuff and write them off.
And it isn't uncommon for me to return them after the 1st of the year

macklin01 · Apr 28, 2007

JeffnWV said:
I make invoices on it, research some business leads, and write it off at the end of the year as a business expense...that much less in taxes I pay. In fact when it gets close to the end of the year, I go out and buy tools and all kinds of stuff and write them off.
And it isn't uncommon for me to return them after the 1st of the year

Tax fraud is a felony and something that is not condoned on these forums. Advocating criminal activity is against the culture and the rules of ocforums, and you will very likely be hearing from a moderator shortly. And now you have permanent written evidence against you in a public internet forum. -- macklin01 (forums moderator)

Super Nade · Apr 28, 2007

If you are going to scam the government, you would probably scam our members as well. I don't think you will be trading here anytime soon. I have removed your access to the Classifieds.

How do you justify your upgrades?

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