How long has your computer lasted?

[nyker96]

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?

 

[ther00kie16]

As long as you need it to. Have an Athlon xp 3200 box still running CAD, etc. Might actually get on switching that out with a seldom-used x2 this week.

 

[God Mode]

I never kept a system longer than 3 years. I've seen 5+ year old units run perfectly fine.

 

[vshah]

i kept my previous computer for 6 years, with a couple video card upgrades thrown in. I've had my current i7 920 based system since mid 2009, and I see it lasting for another couple years easily, again with a video card upgrade sometime soon.

so 5-6 years, is how long I keep my systems.

helps that I have less and less time to play games nowadays.

 

[anikhtos]

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?

hmmmmm it depents when i had money i change every 2 years
later i changes every five lol
the games i played i did not see any reason to upgrade the cpu or the graphic gard turn based strategy games so the pII 233 last me a good 5 years or more
replace it with an athlon xp 2600+

 

[Ferzerp]

All of my computers have lasted far beyond the point where I could not bear to use them anymore.

 

[Charlie98]

My Dell business laptop is going on 7 years old (I recently upgraded it CPU/RAM/HDD,) and my Dell desktop is 6 (I recently upgraded it as well CPU/RAM/HDD) even though I retired it when I built my first computer over Christmas. The old Dell is upstairs waiting for my desktop monitor when I get a replacement for it.... my monitor is 10 years old.

 

[Iron Wolf]

I think the longest I used a computer without upgrading was about 5 years with my P4/3.4.

I have actually kept machines for a lot longer than that, though. The most I've had to do was change the battery out on the motherboard of a machine I had for several years.

 

[rpjkw11]

I bought my AMD Athlon 64 3200+ in June, 2004. Over the years I've replaced the original video card, power supply, and HDD. I'm in the process of upgrading everything except the PSU and the case. The original case fans have got to GO; it sounds like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.

Bob

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I kept my s939 Athlon 64 x2 for 4 years.

 

[IGemini]

Until now, my CPU upgrade cycle would go about every three years. Current machine is the exception, which won't see a complete upgrade until Haswell; so that'll be about five.

 

[thilanliyan]

I still have my P4 1.4Ghz RDRAM comp from back in 2001...but don't remember when I stopped using it...think maybe around 2004-5. I kept my Conroe comp from release until late 2008.

However, my AMD rig is on it's 3rd CPU and 2nd m/b now since late 2008...hmmm...seems like I spent more on all that than I would have on a fast Intel setup from the beginning lol...looks like AMD ain't so cheap after all.

 

[Ultralight]

I have had two socket 939 systems going for almost 6+ years and are still solid systems but showing their age. Prior to them I had a Pentium 3 system. So as you can tell I use my systems as long as I can.

However, a new build is in the works very soon; just waiting on how Ivy bridge results before jumping in.

 

[DeathReborn]

I have a Dual P3 1000 (Coppermine) workstation that has been running for nearly 9 years now, albeit for most of that time as a Firewall. Dual 1GHz (was 866MHz when I bought it in 2002, 1GHz within 3 months). It's gone through 3 SCSI HDD's in that time and 6 sticks of RD-800 RIMM's. Longest time between any failed part was about 3 years (RIMM sticks are fragile things).

If it sees 10 years I'll replace it with a Athlon II X4 605e that I've got laying around and turn the P3's into ornaments.

 

[QuantumPion]

Current rig is a Nehalem based, so I've had that for over 2 years now although it's about to be replaced. My HTPC is my previous rig which is a trusty E6600 Conroe, going strong since 2006 I guess. My previous box was an Athlon, it is sitting in pieces in a closet. No idea if it still works or not.

 

[Ken g6]

i kept my previous computer for 6 years

This. I think it died of blown caps on the mobo, but I'm not sure. I built my current rig in the same case, and it's worked for going-on-3 years now.

My Dell business laptop is going on 7 years old

This too.

I'm probably not going to upgrade until Haswell comes along.

Me either. I'm a programmer and I want the new instructions to play with.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I have an athlon XP 2600 desktop almost 8 years old that still works fine, but I seldom use it. My main computer (unfortunately) is an almost six year old E4500 machine which I added a 9800GT to. It still plays most games fine, but I am getting CPU limited in most cases I think. I have replaced the hard drive at least once on each machine, maybe more, but no other repairs.

Laptops, on the other hand, none have lasted more than two years without either totally dying or having severe problems that make them almost unusable.

 

[Concillian]

There's a Dell PIII - 1GHz under my desk at work.

Turned it on just now to check it, and yep... it still works. I don't use it anymore... perhaps I should at least get rid of the 19" CRT... it takes up lots of desk space. Though my mess will just expand and look just as messy, so not sure it would really buy me anything to free up the space.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Oh man, I read the title of this thinking I was going to have a winner. For some reason or another I've held on to all of my computers through the years (but not the bulky CRTs) and I thought my old (still functioning as of the last time I checked, which was right around Christmas) 8mhz 286 was going to take the cake on this one. But more in line with the intent, my C2 Phenom II 955 (OC'd to 3.7ghz) is humming along just fine. While my 4850 it's paired to is starting to show its age, I can see the addition of a 7850/70 stretching this out to a 5 year build easily. Considering I've only got about $700 or so into this system (student software pricing is AWESOME, pretty much makes grad school worth all the headaches) I don't think I have any complaints.

 

[daveybrat]

I currently am running my AMD 960T OC'd to 3.4GHz and unlocked to 6 cores. I really don't see myself upgrading for a long time. This is more than fast enough for me and my biggest bottleneck is my graphics card.

My next upgrade will be to a lower end Kepler card.

 

[ShadowVVL]

my athlon 5600+ still runs. I have had it about 5 years now and it has seen lots of heavy loads in its time like 3d rendering,video and gaming.

 

[Zorander]

My old Athlon64 system (s939 AGP) lasted from 2005 to 2010. Pretty long by PC standards. Upgrading the memory and GPUs progressively did the trick to prolong its life, though ultimately the death of AGP and CPU Bus limitations forced me to upgrade.

It was a fun ride.

 

[Markfw]

I have a running 486 something....

 

[Tempered81]

This laptop's CPU was released in: Q2'07

Merom T7700

 

[lsv]

My mom still has a P3 that I've slowly been upgrading (for extra good parts). Put a Seasonic 500ET PSU in it and it's all in a Bitfenix Outlaw at the moment.

And I just bought an older AM2 board to have a dedicated linux box instead of using VM Ware on my production PC.