How Long Has Your Current Gaming PC Lasted?

on Dec 11, 2014

I built mine as well Island Dog. I built it in 2011 and expect it to last another few more years.

I5 3570K Overclocked to 4.2
8 gigs ddr 3 ram, (will upgrade to 16 in January)
1 terrabyte HDD which I use intels cache drive of speeding it up. very nice of Intel to support this)
Asus Z797 Extreme 6 mobo
EVGA 670 GTX w/ 2gig ram (dx 11 card, was top of line 3 years ago)
Win 7 Pro 64
Corsair 850 watt Gold PS.
I use an aftermarket cooling fan and heat sink on my processor. big bulky thing.
Corsair full tower case.
ASUS 27" 1080p HD monitor. (cant remember name)
....crappy crappy speakers which need upgrading asap!

I can upgrade more ram and switch to a full SSD to extend life out of this rig. I doubt will will need more than 4 cores in the next two years but my mobo can upgrade to an I7 if needed for the extra threads. The I5 is not 'multi' threaded which is why its cheaper.

47

ForesterSOF

on Dec 11, 2014

My previous was 8 yrs and this multiuse laptop is just 1 yr.

48

Protoplazm

on Dec 11, 2014

Timmaigh

reply 35

@Protoplazm - congrats to that rig, its pure sex.

Thx Tim!

What turned out to be a "budget build" in "value build's" clothing was simply because I looked at Z97 (socket 1150) boards and all the associated accouterments relative to a new rig and it turned out to be less than $300 than the bare bones DDR4 route for a comparable setup (but including two (2) T770 Ti's with 2 GB DDR5).

Phaedyme

reply 36

My current desktop is three and a half years old. The previous computer lasted for ~3 years before it stopped working entirely. The computer before that had the infamous "capacitor plague" and had its first hard failure while I was playtesting Twilight of the Arnor, although I think Hellgate: London had more to do with the breakdown.

I hope to get a new machine next year, since recent games are starting to overpower my video card, and I don't have enough ram (6 gb).

I opted for the new platform (socket 2011 and DDR4 RAM) config because I couldn't resist the self imposed argument that for a couple hundred more I was stepping into THE FUTURE. And, I just didn't want to do this again in a year - temptation of the "sex appeal" not withstanding, this was the right choice and timing for me.

Bamdorf

reply 44

I don't play "twitch" games like action shooters, so I don't need max frame rates. My reflexes are such that I just get frustrated with those types anyway.

The latest graphics engines no longer are limited by processing power of the CPU for performance (for example; the latest i7 processors). Frame rates aren't the only benefit today.

Bamdorf

reply 44

I am just too old to "build my own" any more, sad to say. 30 years ago I did.

I don't blame you for not wanting to re-experience building 1984 technology! What did you build - a Commodore 64?

I think anyone building a system again after a few years now will find the technology has gravitated to a much more streamlined process. Even liquid cooling is fairly cut and dried nowadays.

Case in point; used to be you had to browse tech forums all night to get answers and downloads to fill in the compatibility blanks for the "machinery" you had chosen. And the broken English and grammatical errors in manuals could be very misleading.

I must say I was quite impressed with the quality and layout of the MSI Motherboard and BIOS in particular. There are still some broken English grammatical headscratchers in the manual, but the BIOS was amazingly robust, and its point and click interface was refreshing. The fact that I didn't have to search endlessly for RAID, or other updated drivers since they were native from the DVD was a huge plus for me.

Much easier build than I anticipated based on my 6 year old expectations of the last time I built a system.

49

davinder

on Dec 11, 2014

My current Desktop is a, Medion:

Processor:

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU 6600 @2.4GHz (4CPUs), ~2.4GHz

Operating System:

Windows Vista Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002)

Video Card:

NVIDIA GeForce 9300 GS

Memory:

3070MB RAM

Hard Drive:

1TB Hard Drive

I would like to buy a new gaming PC (or a least upgrade my existing one). My intention is to play GalCiv3 on the Biggest maps avaliable in the game with all the setting on high.

I was wondering if, people on the fourm could help me with the specs for my next pc. I was origanally going to go for the Surface Pro 3 and settle for all the setting on Low, because of the portabilaty of it.

Or as far as a desktop is concerned, an Alienware Area-51:

Processor:

Intel® Core i7-5930K Processor (6-cores, 15MB Cache, Overclocked up to 3.9 GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

Operating System:

Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English

Chassis:

Alienware 1500 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply

Video Card:

Dual 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 770 SLI

Memory:

32GB Quad Channel DDR4 2133MHz (8GBx4)

Hard Drive:

2TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive + 128GB mSATA Solid State Drive

Optical Drive:

Slot Load Blu-ray Drive (Reads and Writes to Blu Ray/DVD/CD)

Wireless:

Intel® 7260AC + BT4.0 [802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 2x2

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-area51-r2/pd?oc=d00aw51r249&variant=3:32G4X8&model_id=alienware-area51-r2&ref=2911xa#overrides=d00aw51r249:3~32G4X8

Because of work and other time constrants I'm not that much of a gamer, I only play Civilisation or GalCiv. other than that, I only use my PC for checking e-mails, googleing and the occasional youtube video.

Would the surface pro handle my requirements, because that would be great. I love the idea that I'd be able to play anywhere I go. If not would the desktop suffice? I suspect it may be a bit OTT, but I don't know to much about computers so I'm not sure.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

50

Timmaigh

on Dec 11, 2014

Protoplazm

reply 48

Thx Tim!

I opted for the new platform (socket 2011 and DDR4 RAM) config because I couldn't resist the self imposed argument that for a couple hundred more I was stepping into THE FUTURE. And, I just didn't want to do this again in a year - temptation of the "sex appeal" not withstanding, this was the right choice and timing for me.

You are welcome.

And you did indeed well. I stepped into the future in 2010 with Core i7 980x, the first Intel sixcore to be had, and even though i ultimately never really used it to its full capacity (bought it to do archviz, but year later switched to GPU based renderer), i dont regret it one bit, even though it was expensive as hell. But at the time it felt really good for a while and even now, after more than four years, its basically still going strong. After all, the sixcores became a mainstream thing only now with the latest CPU refresh from Intel, before the cheapest one was IIRC at least 500... OFC current sixcores are indeed more powerful, but i dont think the difference is so massive to warrant the replacement of the old one. Especially in situation, when it would require new mobo and RAMs.

51

Timmaigh

on Dec 11, 2014

nvm

52

Timmaigh

on Dec 11, 2014

@Protoplazm

You are welcome.

And you did indeed well. I stepped into the future in 2010 with Core i7 980x, the first Intel sixcore to be had, and even though i ultimately never really used it to its full capacity (bought it to do archviz, but year later switched to GPU based renderer), i dont regret it one bit, even though it was expensive as hell. But at the time it felt really good for a while and even now, after more than four years, its basically still going strong. After all, the sixcores became a mainstream thing only now with the latest CPU refresh from Intel, before the cheapest one was IIRC at least 500... OFC current sixcores are indeed more powerful, but i dont think the difference is so massive to warrant the replacement of the old one. Especially in situation, when it would require new mobo and RAMs.

53

crimsonsun_2000

on Dec 11, 2014

My current pc is old, about 7 years old but I am replacing it this Christmas as time has now come where I am struggling to run games.

Current Spec

3.0 Pentium 2 core Duo

8GB Ram

evo 600gt Graphics card

Windows 7 ultimate edition

1Tb Hard disk

Christmas Computer

4.5 ghz 8 core Amd 8350

8 gb ram (To start will be going to 32 when I can),

Amd 7 250 2gb graphics initially - I will be going with 2 amd R9 280x eventually but do not have the power supply for that currently so will be going bit by bit.

An additional Tb hard disk drive (keeping my old drives and operating system. I would like to go with a SSD drive for the operating system but cannot deal with windows 8 so wont be for a while.

54

Jafo

on Dec 11, 2014

Well, boss says I'm allower this.....

....so it looks like I'm in for some more building fun....

55

Protoplazm

on Dec 12, 2014

Jafo

reply 54

Well, boss says I'm allower this.....

....so it looks like I'm in for some more building fun....

Reduced 75%

Original 600 x 580

Sahweet! Tech peer pressure strikes again!

That thing looks like one of the buildings on the surface of Elysium!

56

Jafo

on Dec 12, 2014

Of course....once you start out with a fancy [expensive] case you get 'carried away' and end up with a total build that'll be about $6300 excluding a few 'bits' I pinch from my existing [couple of 2TB drives...DVD, etc].

Gotta see how much I can pick up... but when I've got it all I'll post the specs....

57

Wintercross

on Dec 12, 2014

I bought my current PC in 2007, so thats what... 7 years?
I'm at the point where I need to upgrade my graphics card and RAM and that should buy me a bit more time before a new machine is required.

58

Jafo

on Dec 12, 2014

Pockets are now a little lighter...but...

Here's the specs of stuff on the way....

Thermaltake Level 10 Limited Edition Case

Corsair AX12001 1200watt PSU

ASUS Rampage Extreme X99 MoBo

i7 5960 3.0 Socket 2011

Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 4x8 32Gig Ram [still room to double up]

ASUS GTX980 GPU

Corsair 240Gig Neutron SSD x 2

WD Caviar Green 3TB HD. [already have a couple of 2TBs to add]

Should have a little get-up-and-go ...

I expect it'll have a bit more zing than my current i7-920. I'll chuck Win 7 on it for now...until 10's released [cleverly bypassing 8]....

59

Protoplazm

on Dec 12, 2014

Jafo

reply 58

Pockets are now a little lighter...but...

Here's the specs of stuff on the way....

Thermaltake Level 10 Limited Edition Case

Corsair AX12001 1200watt PSU

ASUS Rampage Extreme X99 MoBo

i7 5960 3.0 Socket 2011

Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 4x8 32Gig Ram [still room to double up]

ASUS GTX980 GPU

Corsair 240Gig Neutron SSD x 2

WD Caviar Green 3TB HD. [already have a couple of 2TBs to add]

Should have a little get-up-and-go ...

I expect it'll have a bit more zing than my current i7-920. I'll chuck Win 7 on it for now...until 10's released [cleverly bypassing 8]....

/Gulp

/Drool

60

Nastytang

on Dec 13, 2014

Jafo

reply 58

Pockets are now a little lighter...but...

Here's the specs of stuff on the way....

Thermaltake Level 10 Limited Edition Case

Corsair AX12001 1200watt PSU

ASUS Rampage Extreme X99 MoBo

i7 5960 3.0 Socket 2011

Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 4x8 32Gig Ram [still room to double up]

ASUS GTX980 GPU

Corsair 240Gig Neutron SSD x 2

WD Caviar Green 3TB HD. [already have a couple of 2TBs to add]

Should have a little get-up-and-go ...

It`ll be a Monster!!

Jafo

reply 58

I expect it'll have a bit more zing than my current i7-920. I'll chuck Win 7 on it for now...until 10's released [cleverly bypassing 8]....

Good move!