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How often do you upgrade your CPU and Motherboard

My longest sprint with the same CPU was 8 years (i5 3570K) however my more recent ones (2700X, 3600, 5700X3D) are about every 3 years. Definitely a benefit of AMD platforms with being able to upgrade the CPU without needing a new board and potentially RAM. I suspect I'll keep an upgrade cycle of about every 3-4 years now.
 
I had my Sandybridge i7-2600k for about 10 years, it still works today as well.

The thing was solid, I was playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on it at still a decent frame rate for a single player game.

I upgraded to an AMD 5800x more or less on release, and it's fine. I mainly upgraded because I played PUBG at a reasonable level so you need to FPS.

I sometimes toy with the idea of putting the x3D version in, but meh, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle, added my particular 5800x is quite a good sample, and boosts on all cores past 5ghz without getting too hot. And I have absolutely no desire to get a new board and CPU.

Before the Sandybridge CPU it was every say 3 years, but PC technology was moving much faster then.
 
I had my previous motherboard for about 10 years! I was able to upgrade from a i7 930 to a xeon 5670, and that was fine for me for a long time.
Currently have a i7-12700K. I would hope to keep this for at least 5 years. A fully new PC is a big investment, and I expect I will get much more return just upgrading my 3080ti in a couple of years.
 
For purely personal stuff I upgrade when I start to notice the machine not doing what it needs to anymore. I ran my Q6600 system for what felt like forever, it was a champ. Never upgraded a CPU in the same socket either. Whatever the best has been for a given socket I'll just get that and then either sell the whole machine or retire it to secondary duties.
 
eeii said:
Q6600 was fantastic. What an overclocking monster. I kept mine for years and then went to 3570k and was on that for years as well as the intel stagnation years really kicked in.
Click to expand...

I went to a 4770k, which now thinking about it I might have ran even longer than my Q6600! That system was still 100% rock solid the day I sold it too. Presume it's still going for the guy. The upgrade to the 5950x after that though blew my socks off.
 
Found the old receipts for current build. Oct 2010, so 14 years I guess
i5 760
8 Gig DDR3
1T SSD
Splurged somewhere along the way..1050Ti
PSU died about 2 years ago (replaced) other than that 100% reliable and most days it's on 8:00 - 20:00

Just In the throws of configuring a new 7800X3D system, 32Gig, 4070 (maybe a Super?) and 2TB M.2

Question is what sort of performance improvement should I expect to see? Wow or Meh...
 
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DampDog said:
Found the old receipts for current build. Oct 2010, so 14 years I guess
i5 760
8 Gig DDR3
1T SSD
Splurged on a somewhere along the way..1050Ti
PSU died about 2 years ago (replaced) other than that 100% reliable and most days it's on 8:00 - 20:00

Just In the throws of configuring a new 7800X3D system, 32Gig, 4070 (maybe a Super?) and 2TB M.2

Question is what sort of performance improvement should I expect to see? Wow or Meh...
Click to expand...

I'd make sure you're sat down :D That's going to be like 14 Christmases rolled into one.
 
DampDog said:
Found the old receipts for current build. Oct 2010, so 14 years I guess
i5 760
8 Gig DDR3
1T SSD
Splurged somewhere along the way..1050Ti
PSU died about 2 years ago (replaced) other than that 100% reliable and most days it's on 8:00 - 20:00

Just In the throws of configuring a new 7800X3D system, 32Gig, 4070 (maybe a Super?) and 2TB M.2

Question is what sort of performance improvement should I expect to see? Wow or Meh...
Click to expand...
It will blow your dooda’s off :D
 
Blackjack Davy said:
4-5 years something like that. Sometimes I just get the itch i.e. 5800x3d to 7800x3d no real reason to upgrade just wanted something new (and with extended platform support) obviously wasn't expecting the 9xxx series to be a disappointment...
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Same here.

I tend to upgrade when my system struggles to cope with the latest games (my main driver).

For example, had a Q6600 (legendary CPU) @ 3.6 which couldn't drive a 670 (1070?) @ 100‰ in Dying Light.

Bought a s/h X5650 which solved that.

Then that started struggling with later titles (deffo 1070), so splashed out on a 12700K system with a 3080Ti, problems sorted! :p

Now running a 4090, and the 12700K holding up very well, not even breaking a sweat.

Will have had it three years this coming December, can see it lasting at least a couple of years more after that.
 
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Generally 4-5 years.
Currently system is /mostly/ 4 years old so I am getting that upgrade itch.

However when I look at todays prices and the disappointing 9xxx AMD series it never really seems worth it.
 
Still rocking a 3700X, does not seem worth the cost for what I do these days to upgrade. Back 20 years ago it was constant swapping bits out/trading up, overclocking, full system upgrades... Next upgrade will be a vanity ITX build so reclaim some desk space. I have a shelf which will be ideal
 
d_brennen said:
Still rocking a 3700X, does not seem worth the cost for what I do these days to upgrade. Back 20 years ago it was constant swapping bits out/trading up, overclocking, full system upgrades... Next upgrade will be a vanity ITX build so reclaim some desk space. I have a shelf which will be ideal
Click to expand...
I have gone ITX and I will not go back to larger cases. I value the desk space and they are much more fun to build in.

It requires a lot more of planning if are looking to build a high end ITX build.
 
Not very often, approx every 6 years, went from Q9550 -> 4790k -> 5950x.

The 5950x is still more than I need for dev work so unless I start gaming more again I probably won’t be upgrading for a long time
 
I upgrade when I start to feel like I need it really. I had a 3570k for like 7 years until it started giving me grief in games. Couldn't use discord while playing division 2 because the game just saturated my CPU too much. Anthem would cause mouse keyboard input issues due to cpu usage, not that the game was very good anyway.

Upgraded to a 3700x but didn't use it for very long as I needed something with more cores so I swapped it for a 3900. Kept that until last year when that started causing grief in games with some not even managing 60 fps. Got a 7950x3d and am still happy for now. Won't upgrade for a while I don't think. 9xxx series definitely didn't look worth it.
 
Honestly every few years to make sure it's worth it.
Over time I've gone:
- i7 920 - Had this for 4 years.
- i5 3570k - interim but lasted like 3 years lol.
- i7 5820k - had this for 5 years.
- Ryzen 5600 - interim but I've had it 2 years.
- Ryzen 7950X3D - about to build this.
 
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