Any other 30 year old+ gamers who.......

Not me. I know just how much use I'll get, and the profile of games I like to play (substantially indie titles, and not very much gaming time), so I only buy what I need.

You should probably know yourself enough by the time you're in your 30s to be able to figure this stuff out. Also, personally, I have a lot of other things I'd prefer to spend cash on, so need to be pretty sure i'll get use out of everything.
 
43 here. However I do manage to justify my rig by playing games like DSC World which cripple lesser machines.

I'm lucky to live alone and am very protective of my time and do manage to get some good gaming time.

Actually just about to join an esports racing championship.
 
52 and most of the desire for the latest and greatest has dissolved, probably as part of my cynicism with most marketing. So our primary car is 12 years old (owned for 8), toy car is 17 years old, FF dslr is at least 2 generations back and my CPU and base unit 8 years old.
Don’t get me wrong, I love both cars, the dslr can still compete, the stereo sounds fabulous, and my PC has been upgraded with 6 times the ram it started with, a 1080, multiple SSDs and some seriously good quality flight sim controllers.
The key thing is that I’m now far more focused on what it’s for, as against a scattergun approach.
For example, a few years ago I was running around with a Canon 1d, 5 L series lenses and a big enough rucksack to be suitable for special forces usage. Was utterly pointless for my use, so was significantly reduced to just 2 lightweight primes and an FF body. Massively light, does the job brilliantly. Not really any different with whatever hobby floats your boat.
 
I'm actually much less obsessive about the hardware than I used to be. Playing on a box bought about three years ago from an online company (not OCUK, sorry) and other than replacing the original GTX650 card with a GTX950 about two years ago, not delved into overclocking or any other hyper-tuning.

I do game most days but it tends to be tried and trusted stuff such as Fallout 4 rather than new titles.
 
Story of my life. I'll be thinking much more in terms of value-for-money with future tech purchases.

My main game is Subspace Continuum, it was created in 1997 and runs perfectly fine on any old junk.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
52 and most of the desire for the latest and greatest has dissolved, probably as part of my cynicism with most marketing. So our primary car is 12 years old (owned for 8), toy car is 17 years old, FF dslr is at least 2 generations back and my CPU and base unit 8 years old.
Don’t get me wrong, I love both cars, the dslr can still compete, the stereo sounds fabulous, and my PC has been upgraded with 6 times the ram it started with, a 1080, multiple SSDs and some seriously good quality flight sim controllers.
The key thing is that I’m now far more focused on what it’s for, as against a scattergun approach.
For example, a few years ago I was running around with a Canon 1d, 5 L series lenses and a big enough rucksack to be suitable for special forces usage. Was utterly pointless for my use, so was significantly reduced to just 2 lightweight primes and an FF body. Massively light, does the job brilliantly. Not really any different with whatever hobby floats your boat.
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Yes this is the key. Understanding what you need against what you want. I find that if you aim for just above what you need then you can always be happy with your lot.

For me its about trying to find time for gaming on my beast of a rig. I have a 5 year old and a 10 month old.... two boys so they are a massive handful for myself and the wife. While im at work i think to myself "right, tonight im gonna play this game and then do this and then do that" but the reality is that by the time the kids are asleep tucked up in bed i have time to sit and have dinner with the wife and then think "ah well i may as well go upstairs and start the turning in process" and the thought of "getting into" a game and thinking about it is almost too much effort.

Interestingly though if i do get past this barrier and decide to boot up the rig i come away loving every second of the experience of 4k goodness :D.
 
Not me. I invest in the minimum requirements for optimal performance (7600k + 1070 at the moment) and don't bother with fluff. It's the same with the phone, car and any other "toys". I only care about productivity or the enjoyment that derives from what these tools do (gaming, traveling) rather than tinkering with them.
 
I'm 45 but have plenty of time to play PC games, although I tend to hardly ever finish them due to jumping to something else. As for PC hardware, I run a Xeon 5650 with a 1080Ti which handles everything fine at 1440p, last upgrade was the 1080Ti a while back.

I don't buy the latest gear anymore just components that I know will last me a few years, I've got the money but have become a bit wiser in my purchasing and frankly the industry is taking the mick with PC component prices in recent years. When I think about upgrading I just sit back and think "what am I having issues with in my current system?", "do I really need to spend x amount for tiny gains?".

I used to be one of the guys who has multiple PC's, watercooling etc etc but I'm just not interested in all that anymore, my PC looks like it's been hit by a missile strike these days, side is off, caked with dust :D.

I think it's natural that blokes like to tinker though, it's the garden shed thing I suppose. Nowadays I just prefer to tinker with the ladies :D
 
Buy expensive components.

Buy bundles of games.

Play an indie title for 40 minutes once every three weeks.

And now, since building a second rig...

Envy my Stardew Valley addict partner and the joy she gets from gaming that I only reminisce about.
 
Completely relate to this, I'm 38. Spent £3000 on a full build in 2009, changed the cpu and board in 2012, added more ram in 2013, bought a Fury X when they came out, replaced that with a 1070 last year.

System runs spot on so many years later, yet I play PC2 and GTA5 once every couple weeks and thats about it.

Sat here for the last few weeks looking at the 8086K, board and ram, but don't actually need to change anything.

I've even got a load of new pipe, fittings and a new res for the water system thats been sat here just over a year now and still not gotten around to sorting it. 10 years ago I'd have booked time off work to sit and fit new PC bits the moment they arrived!
 
48 here, built a new rig last year with 1080ti, 6-core CPU, ultra wide G-sync monitor, Oculus VR and Fanatec wheel base + several rims. I rarely switch it on and haven't touched my Rift in months. I think it's because I just don't enjoy the thought of being stuck upstairs sitting at a desk anymore when I have the free time. I prefer to sit downstairs and use my Alienware alpha in the living room for a bit of couch gaming, then switch off and watch a bit of TV or listen to music.
 
I just buy the best bang for buck components whack them in the case and forget about the hardware. As long as my frame rate is always 60-144 and my PC is close to silent I don’t care.

I buy a small number of games I know I am going to really like and play them to death.

I’m deadly efficient when it comes to PC gaming. I don’t waste money and I don’t rack up huge steam backlogs which I never play.
 
Thankfully being 30+ and a professional cost isn't a factor at all when it comes to gaming PC hardware. I just justify it in the sense of if it's needed or not.

For example, this weekend after being on a 3 week holiday I treated my self to a Secret Labs Titan chair and a EVGA 1080 ti SC2. The GPU is because my 980 ti was starting to sweat with a few titles at 1440p and I had to knock a couple of settings down to high from ultra in the mentioned games. And I couldn't justify the 2080 ti for 1440p as it's simply overkill. As for the chair, mine was causing me backache and I did tonnes of research and had my eye on the chair I bought for a while.

I'm incredibly anal when it comes to choosing hardware to purchase simply as I want something good for what I'm paying. Whilst I could pre order 2 2080 ti's right now and not even think twice about the pocket money spent on it, I can't justify it in the slightest and I'd rather not waste money.

I don't think it's down to age though, I think it's being sensible with money.
 
Gimpymoo said:
Obsess over their latest gaming build, learn everything they need to make the decision on which components to get to squeeze out every FPS they can get.

Then, spend 3 years playing the odd game but mainly just end up spending more time reading about games and dip their toe in now and then but to no great extent.

Clear time in their schedule to "game", only to get distracted by family/Twitch/forums/email/tech sites/Youtube.

After 3 years, start thinking... "Mmm, time for a new rig".

Rinse and repeat :D

It is like an addiction.

Come on in and share your woes :D
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Well as long as you learn from your mistakes, oh wait..... :D

I wouldnt worry about it as there are people out there spending a capable gaming PCs budget on a new phone every year, or a new golf club/watch/fishing rod etc...we all get lured in by a shiny new thing every now and again.
 
Most of the big purchases I make are just a short term gratification fix but then after a short period I reflect and don't seem to have got much value from it.
I upgraded to a Ryzen system just under a year ago and the majority of my gaming is playing Lego games with my son. Just this week bought a new graphics card as well despite my current card being capable of playing pretty much everything at an 'OK' framerate.
Also got consoles doing basically nothing but glorified bluray / amazon video player, e.g. my PS4 I've had 3 years and literally not even opened any of the games I have got for it with the exception of Lego Worlds (again for my son). PS4/PS3/XB360 were only bought because they were 'bargains' but of course the price dropped further before I had really got much use out of them. At least I did play a lot of GT5/6 on the PS3 I suppose.

Excluding Lego, my throughput of game completion has dropped from perhaps ~25 games a year to maybe half a dozen.

Ocean Breeze said:
I just buy the best bang for buck components whack them in the case and forget about the hardware. As long as my frame rate is always 60-144 and my PC is close to silent I don’t care.

I buy a small number of games I know I am going to really like and play them to death.

I’m deadly efficient when it comes to PC gaming. I don’t waste money and I don’t rack up huge steam backlogs which I never play.
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I've fallen into the backlog trap but given I never have time to play it would be better off just stumping up for the best games. £400 for 10 top notch games is probably better than £600 on 100 games of which perhaps half a dozen are in the top notch category.
 
I go through phases of this. I’m only 24 but a friend of mine who’s basically a fossil was playing the cod beta with me and remarked at around 04:50 that it had been about 4 years since a game kept us hooked/online for that long in a session :D

It’s nice to have a good gaming session sometimes but I do find myself getting distracted mainly by space documentaries/space launches and work.
 
No.

I only upgrade when a game i fancy playing will not run on my system, hence why i still rock a i5 2500k and a 1080ti. Needed a better graphics card for elite as the aging 580 struggled with it after a content update for some reason.
 
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