1. How old are you and 2. Does computer specs mean a lot to you?

[TridenT]

19, and yes, but I don't have the money to upgrade anymore... so I live in the "aaaawwwwwwww I want an SSD, quadcore, blahblahblah" zone.

I have this system:

Asus Rampage Formula X48 mobo(Some fuckin' $300 down the drain thar)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 @ 3.6
1TB HDD
Two ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
and... 4GBs of DDR2 800 ram.

Sad times. I wish I had a Core i7-980x, an ssd, and a much faster single GPU.

 

[Crono]

My mentality is that the specs should match my needs. I prefer to have maximum specs for whatever budget I have set for myself, but I'm probably never going to build or own the very highest end build.

So it's usually budget builds for me. I'm using a X2 4000+ system with 2GB RAM and 9800GT, and it meets my current needs fine. I am working on a Core 2 HTPC that's more powerful (still not really high end, obviously), but it will take me 2-3 more weeks to get the rest of the parts.

I'm 23.

 

[TheVrolok]

To me, it has nothing to do with specs, per se. As long as I can play whatever game I want to play, I'm good. I like to be closer to the top of gaming, but not so far as to warrant SLI.

 

[datalink7]

27. I still enjoy playing games so it is important to me. However, I'm not out there buying a new video card every couple of months. I buy a new computer about once every two and a half years. But when I do I pretty much get top of the line.

 

[Beattie]

29 and my PC is an athlon xp 3200 with an ati x1650 vid card and 2 gigs ram and an 80 gig HD that I built like 8 years ago and just added to/upgraded as I needed to or parts died.

I have been thinking of upgrading to like a i5, ati 5770, 4 gigs but I can't bring myself to spend the ~$800.

 

[bobross419]

and mommy paid for it also


Also I am 10 and have no idea what computers specs are unless specs are short for species and in that case I do not have a clue as to what species my computer is.

You joined when you were 2????

 

[DietDrThunder]

I've built 4 PCs since 1988, the only one I ever cared about specs on was a PC I built in 2000. Here are the specs.

MB: EPOX 8k7A
RAM: 512K PC2100
Processor: AMD Athlon 1.2Ghz
Video card: 3DFX VooDoo 3 PCI
Hard drive: WD 30 GB 7200rpm
OS: Windows98

Then in 2004 I did some upgrades,
Same Epox 8K7A motherboard
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2400, 2.0 GHz overclocked to 2.4GHz on stock fan
Memory: 2 GB of PC3200 Ram
Hard Drive: 2 WD 250GB 7,200 rpm
Video Card: ATI All-In-Wonder 7500 AGP 4x
OS: Windows XP Pro

It is now ten years old and it is still my primary PC. I've been thinking about building another, but I haven't finished my research yet.

 

[alkemyst]

I need my computer to do what I need, nothing more. I will not spend more than that as I know when I do need it chances are it will be cheaper tomorrow.

I am 38...my first home PC was $2500 back in mid 1980 as a Christmas gift from my dad. It's been hard to hit that level since.

 

[mmntech]

24

I upgrade mine to something reasonably decent, then it lasts a while. Honestly, I don't use the desktop all that much except for occasional gaming and video encoding.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

i stopped caring because even hardware from 2 years ago are still fast enough for anything today.
no need to upgrade every 6 months.
as long as it plays pr0n at decent frame rates.

 

[AFurryReptile]

21, and I've always been mid range. There is no point, imo, in getting the latest and greatest of anything only to have it become outdated in six months' time. I'd much rather be in a constant state of upgrade, buying new budget parts as I see fit.

 

[MovingTarget]

26 and it somewhat matters. I just want my computers to be 'snappy', but not cost an arm and a leg. I've never really been 'bleeding edge', but close enough to be on par or slightly ahead of most of my peers.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

seriously, anyone still running an athlon xp, do yourself a favor and at least bump up to a C2D. the speed increase is extremely noticeable.
it'll be a worthwhile $200 spent, i promise.

 

[destrekor]

22, and yes I care about the specs.
But as I have aged, upgrades have been less and less often.

I'm getting to a point where I'll basically upgrade once during each CPU generation.

And it's basically on an "oh shit something failed. might as well buy some new parts while I'm getting the replacement" type basis.

Build what is essentially a new system with new motherboard and CPU, and put in some already used parts and also some new parts. Then I tend to swap in some new parts at some point between that moment and the next total rebuild.
This CPU and Motherboard I've had for, woah, 3 years now.

Intel C2D E6420, DFI Infinity P965-S Dark. Had to google to make sure those were even the right part names, had to make some corrections.

Last upgrade, just over a year ago: new RAM, PSU, GPU? Can't remember if I got the GTX285 then, later, or previous. System build started with a 8800GTS, I think. May have still had the 7800GT in the original configuration.

Looked to upgrading to Intel i7, but... way too new and expensive at upgrade time last year.
Going to push this system for awhile, with Win7 x64 now it's still a dream system imho.

Whenever I get a new CPU/Motherboard combo, it definitely has to have nVidia SLI support, or whatever is necessary at the time. This P965-S board has ATi's version, which leaves me nothing. Not that I want SLI, complete waste of money imho (and I'm a huge PC gamer, thus why I care for specs in the first place)... but I'll want to keep this GTX285 for physics on GPU, and use whatever comparable new generation card is out at that time as the main GPU. Good way to not waste what would be a useless old part.

 

[destrekor]

seriously, anyone still running an athlon xp, do yourself a favor and at least bump up to a C2D. the speed increase is extremely noticeable.
it'll be a worthwhile $200 spent, i promise.

That's what I had prior to my C2D rebuild. Had been AMD faithful for awhile, then they started really lagging. C2D upgrade, plus 1ghz+ overclock? whew, I didn't know what to do.

 

[arcenite]

28.

I stopped being super into computers after I graduated college and turned my hobby into a job. I still game and my computer is still pretty good, but upgrades nowadays are on an as-needed basis (for the most part) instead of throwing crap into my computer just because I have some extra cash or for bragging rights.

This

Except... I'm 25

Q6600 @ 3.75 2x4890s run everything I throw at it just fine. It is showing it's age though, but so am I.

 

[Jadow]

Not as much as it used to, I used to build custom PCs, pay major dough for video cards, etc...

Now it doesn't matter as much, the games haven't really kept up with PC hardware, and im not as interested in games anymore.

 

[Jeff7]

My care for computer specs went away while at Penn State - I had no money available, so keeping up with the hardware scene was useless, since I couldn't buy any of it. It's been slow going to get back into it.


Edit: I think that was age 23 when I started there.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'm 32, and I don't care enough about performance to spend $2,500 on a top of the line PC every two years anymore. There just aren't many good PC-only games anymore that require top quality hardware like it did 10 years ago, and PC's just seem to last longer before going obsolete.

 

[Mr Smiley]

I am a CS major and my main system is still running a Pentium 4. I can't afford to build a new computer right now because of the cost of going to college. It's funny because I actually specialize in multiprogramming and platform design. Fortunately, I am able to access the many clusters and labs that are available through my school. Our labs have Quad core i7s with G80 architecture which allows me to do CUDA and OpenMP programming. It would be convenient to have a new system but I do not have the time or money to spend. For right now, I am just trying to make do with what I have.

 

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

16
computer specs do matter to me
as long as i can play games at around medium settings I am fine

 

[CRXican]

26, don't really care anymore as I hardly ever play games on it anymore

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

This

Except... I'm 25

Q6600 @ 3.75 2x4890s run everything I throw at it just fine. It is showing it's age though, but so am I.

Yeah a 3.75ghz intel quad with crossfired 4890's sounds like you really don't care.

 

[Kadarin]

The poll needs a wider range of answers. I'm 41 and care to a point about specs, in that the machine needs to be close to the current generation of hardware. However, I don't obsess over it and tend to upgrade maybe every 3 years or so.

 

[SleepWhere]

Regardless of the age, it only matters if u play high graphic computer games.