How long has your computer lasted?

[Smoblikat]

In its current state, my computer will easily last 10 more years. i have it undervolted to the max, RAM, CPU, video card.

 

[Makaveli]

In its current state, my computer will easily last 10 more years. i have it undervolted to the max, RAM, CPU, video card.

hmmm

10 years you really think so.

I don't think that machine will run what is out 10 years from now very well.

OS requirements change and you will be forced to upgrade unless you stick to the same software.

The most life i've ever seen from a system is 5-6 years then it just becomes to slow to run whatever it current well.

 

[cantholdanymore]

I really used my HP pavilion for 6 years with not upgrade (P4 520). Actually it was Adobe flash 10 who kill it since I couldn't play you tube videos smoothly, perfect excuse to finally upgrade.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I used to keep my computers until they died. Now I upgrade every 2-3 years it seems.

Got rid of nearly all my single-core computers, still have two to give away. (One was a recent accquisition, a free fixer-upper opportunity.)

Even got rid of all my single-core laptops.

 

[tweakboy]

Built rig in November 2007 and its still going strong. I do audio production and on avg my CPU is 40 percent while audio engine is on. I live to play games, and all my games run @ 60fps capped , 1080p 8x CSAA FSAA 16AF high quality, vsync on. All these games, from MW3 to NFS the RUN , or FEAR and other games run 60fps smooth as butter. Why would I upgrade ? The only upgrade I need right now is a SSD. Waiting for the 320GB to come down in price,, I would pay 400 dollars not more then that. thx for reading. God Bless

Also in these 5 years I have 0 BSOD and 0 crashes and 0 failures,, like HD dying or PSU dying etc... Used XP64 initially then Vista then 7 ... Tt Pump 500 liter an hour going strong. No problems and more then enough horsepower. Thanks, gl

 

[Smoblikat]

hmmm

10 years you really think so.

I don't think that machine will run what is out 10 years from now very well.

OS requirements change and you will be forced to upgrade unless you stick to the same software.

The most life i've ever seen from a system is 5-6 years then it just becomes to slow to run whatever it current well.

I wasnt talking about how long im going to keep it, i usually keep them for 1 year. but physically i beleive it will last 10 years.

 

[Jman13]

My longest active home built system was my recently retired Core 2 Duo machine. I built that in the late summer of 2007 and it was retired in February when I built my current machine. It still worked perfectly, though. (I really should sell the mobo/processor/ram).

I used to build a new machine every two years, but that machine never really seemed slow until the last 6-12 months or so. I finally bit the bullet. One nice thing about waiting this long between upgrades is that the jump to my 2500K, the addition of an SSD and the quadrupling of RAM made it feel like I just built a supercomputer.

 

[Dr_Hoads]

I have a northwood P4 3.0ghz with 2Gigs of RAM. It has a 7800GS AGP. I still use it frequently and it plays most games at very decent settings (ME2, Batman AA, etc.). Photoshop and Dreamweaver, etc. are no problem. Even HD video playback is fine (unless I am doing other stuff).

I built a 2600K about a year ago, and have been using that almost exclusively now for games while my P4 still acts as a file server.

I was thinking about getting a small NAS to replace it though because a friend of mine who can not even afford a $300 entry level PC is going to borrow my P4 to work on AutoCad for his school work.

I built this bad boy in 2002, so it is going on 10 years!!!! (Had a few video card upgrades throughout its life though)

 

[LoneNinja]

I recently sold off my Phenom II X4 940BE rig I built 3 years ago, dismantled and sold part of my Phenom 9850 rig that was a little more than 3 years. Now I've got 3 AM3 based systems I built less than 2 years ago left, and probably won't build anything new this year. I don't think I've ever used a computer for more than 4 years.

 

[Remobz]

Roughly 5-6 years for me.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

I've built quite a few boxes over the years...the ones that lasted the longest were the Athlon XP 2500+@2.2 (~3.5 years) and Core 2 with upgrades (E4300 @ 2.85 + QX6700, ~3 years).

 

[Scaroza]

My current rig has been going for 2 and a half years or so but I'm putting together a new rig for uni, however, I would say my current rig would easily go for another year or two (possibly). It could use a clean install of Win 7 but its parts aren't obsolete yet. I've got one of the earlier i5's, the i5-750 which is still decent for gaming, and to go with it an HD5770 which is by no means a gaming powerhouse but it does the job and plays BF3 on medium at decent framerates

Yeah I'd say 2.5-4 years for this system although that 4 year mark may be a tad ambitious, but with today's consolisation of gaming there aren't waves of graphic intensive games on the way just the odd one or two so I think at least 3-3.5 years is realistic

 

[Dark Shroud]

I built this PC when Sandy Bridge launched. Until then I was still using a P4 3ghz system that was purchased in '03. It came with a gig of memory in it and I only upgraded that slightly and replaced the PSU once and the video card a few times finally to a HD 4670 1GB.

It's not hooked up right now because the PSU needs to be replaced again but it's running Win7 just fine for Office & Internet.

 

[Makaveli]

I wasnt talking about how long im going to keep it, i usually keep them for 1 year. but physically i beleive it will last 10 years.

my bad I misunderstood.

 

[thelastjuju]

I wasnt talking about how long im going to keep it, i usually keep them for 1 year. but physically i beleive it will last 10 years.

Only ONE year?? ONE year is a ridiculously low estimate for that type of setup! :sneaky:

Second, I actually think that setup WOULD easily last 10 years.

Just depends on what you do with it.. I mean, will it handle games in 10 years from now? Hells no.. but as a media center for music, movies, and television.. machines with similar specs should be lasting us a very long time.. unless we switch to some crazy high resolution like 5400p or something, but from what I understand 1080p is here to stay for quite some time.

 

[Sephire]

Obviously I'm waiting for something worth it.

 

[Boulard83]

Few months.

I swap hardware evre now and then. As soon as newer stuff come out i swap.

 

[gmaster456]

2 years 5 months. Looking to upgrade it this year. Hopefully Piledriver is good enough.

 

[Phantomaniac]

Got my i7 920 when i7 made its first debut, so 3 years 4 months currently. With the overclock, I think I'll get decent performance until the 6ish year mark. My last rig was a OCed P4 Northwood which lasted 5.5 years before I ugpraded to an i7.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Define "Computer".

I swap out parts every 3-6 months, so it's never the "SAME" computer. Also, define "lasted", "lasted" as in "It has lasted me 10 years playing the latest games" or "It has been powering up and running fine for the past 10 years, when I need to browse pr0n on the internet".

 

[Chaotic42]

They can last a tremendously long time. In 1999 I fired up my Tandy SL/2 1000 from the 80s. As long as they are kept clean, there's no reason they can't last decades.

As far as usability, I've got an i7 920 which I bought around launch. I wanted to upgrade to Ivy Bridge, but I can't really find a valid reason to do it. It would be nice if my POV-Ray renders went a little faster, but is that worth the price of a new system? It's not like there are any great PC games coming out any time soon, and even if there were, would they really tax an i7 920? It's sad, really. Building a new computer is still a lot of fun, but it's getting less and less necessary.

 

[Edgemeal]

They can last a tremendously long time. In 1999 I fired up my Tandy SL/2 1000 from the 80s. As long as they are kept clean, there's no reason they can't last decades.

Sure it'll last decades if it just sits unused and is kept stored in a friendly environment (not too hot, not too cold), electronics have temp/humidity specs for storage as well as operating.

Electronic parts will only run for so many hours before they degrade to the point they no longer function as designed and cause a circuit to malfunction, Cheap electrolytic capacitors are probably first to go.

 

[Gryz]

Define "Computer".

CPU, motherboard and RAM.

The brains, nerve system and skeleton of a computer.
All the rest is fluff.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I have a pentium 133, still running fine. Albeit, it's not being used 24/7 anymore.

 

[cytg111]

I'm not someone who keeps a machine for a long time, but after recent lack of competition from AMD in the enthusiats segment I seem to have lost all composure to upgrade. My current rig x4 620 has been with me the longest (about 2years 4 months). I'm probably not going to upgrade until Haswell comes along.

So now I am starting to wonder how long does a computer actually last before kicking the bucket? what are your experiences on this?

machine in sig, come july, 4 years.
Will last me atleast until Haswell

I also have an old P4 system that still boots fine.. and 8086 in my closet, some 20 years old, which i still expect to boot just fine.