Generally how often should computer components be upgraded to keep up with technology?

Question

I'm guessing that the rate at which technology makes components obsolete varies from part to part. I would like to know how often I would need to replace every component including: case, power supply, hard drives, memory, motherboard, etc. The reason why I am asking is that I am looking to build my first budget pc but don't want to be replacing the whole thing in a year. Which parts should I spend the money on and which parts can I be more frugal with?

Answer 1

You don't upgrade to keep up with technology, you upgrade because you want your computer to do something that it can't. Look at my computer for example. Its a single core CPU, only a single gig of DDR1 memory, and the video card is now 3 generations old. I however am happy with my computers performance. My system still lets me play my favorite games, including the orange box which just came out. This is what I tell people when they ask me about upgrading, what does your computer not do that you wish it could? The answer they give me tells me what they need.

The answer to your question varies depending on the computer component, and the use for the computer. Cases tend to last forever, buy a good one now and you will be set for a very long time. ATX has been around for a long time, and BTX has all but been abandoned now that Intel has cooler CPUs again. Motherboards also tend to last a long time, but we are reaching a point where new sockets will be needed soon. Intel will be releasing chips with an IMC and "CSI" (Intels version of AMDs Hyper Transport bus.), so these will require a new motherboard. AMD just released their new chips, and will be needing motherboards that support AM3. AM2 boards will still work, but some features will be turned off. Harddrives can last for a long time, but you might run out of room depending on how much you store on them. Memory can usually be added, thought changing motherboards might require a new type.

If you are a gamer, you'll be spending most of your time buying a new video card. Newer video cards support newer features which are found on the newest games. We've just switched to a new socket for video cards, so new motherboards should support the newest video cards. If you are a big gamer, you can expect to upgrade to the newest midrange card every 18-24months if you want to play just released games well.

Answer 2

Every couple of years, but no longer than that. As a base, you want a really good motherboard. For instance, right now, you would want one that can support the Core 2 Duo and Quad Core processors (they support more, just naming those to keep it short). This way, you can upgrade your processor to a Quad Core when they become a little cheaper.

Hard drives are on a case by case basis. The going belief is that more is better and it's true. If you don't do a whole lot of downloading of songs or anything like that, get a hard drive that's about 120GB. If you want more, you can usually find some place that has a hard drive at 300+GB on sale.

If you get a good, ahead of it's time (so-to-speak) motherboard, you'll be able to upgrade for quite a few years to come. This will keep it up with times.

Good luck,

Brandon

Answer 3

If you are building a budget PC, just determine what would be it's main use for you, a. gaming b. internet browsing c. video editing d. office work e. specialized works (drafting, special softwares)f. media center (watching movies)
From there you can choose which component would be the best investment for you. The processor, motherboard, memory, hard disk and to some extent the video card would be the most expensive parts of the computer. Anything after that would depend on what you will use it for. Example : Media center PC (Fast processor, Fairly ok video card and LOTS of hard disk space).
I won't name the parts because as soon as I write them there would be a better one out in the market anyway :D You could search magazines like PC guide or PC world and look for reviews in cnetasia or google to complete your research. Good luck!

Answer 4

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Answer 5

It depends on why you need to upgrade.

If you're keeping up with each new Microsoft Windows OS, then, yes, you need to keep upgrading because they keep getting bigger and slower.

If you're trying to play the latest PC game, then, yes, you need to keep upgrading because they keep getting written for the latest and fastest hardware.

However, if your PC is fast enough as it is for what you're doing (school work, browsing the web, movies/music, etc.) and you're content to reload everything once a year (if you're running Windows since it tends to decay in performance over time), then stick with what you've got and be content. Or if you're using a different OS that doesn't decay over time...

That's where I'm at right now. Content. Using Ubuntu.

Answer 6

Spend the dough on a good motherboard, you can get away with cheap peripherals to start off with, and a cheaper cpu, as long as your mobo will take a bigger cpu later if you need it, and will take more ram as well. Get a good harddrive as well, that way when you need more space you can slave another HD easily. All I can think of right now.

Answer 7

its not really worth upgrading individual parts --- on the whole the industry is still following Moore's Law --- the capacity doubles every 18 months --- so i use a rule of thumb for business every 3 years ---- for a games machine its probably really about every 18 months to keep up with the new releases