How often do you upgrade your CPU Processor?

[Rudel_chw]

Hello.

 

I've been told that CPU upgrades every 3 years is not very common, while I had the belief that the typical DCS User upgrades his processor every 3 years on average.

 

Can you please tell me how often you do this upgrade on your DCS machine? Changing the whole PC counts as an upgrade.

 

Note that it doesn't matter the performance of the new processor, it is an upgrade independent if the new processor is a top-of-the line or not.

 

Thanks for your input,

 

Eduardo.

Edited Sunday at 10:15 PM by Rudel_chw

[LucShep]

While not really a "fixed date" as it depends on circumstances, I'd say that I usually upgrade CPU+Motherboard (and maybe RAM, depending on its gen adoption) every 4 years or so, and with a GPU upgrade at mid-life of each system, usually every 2 years on average.

Edited Sunday at 10:48 PM by LucShep

[Rudel_chw]

4 minutes ago, LucShep said:

I usually upgrade CPU+Motherboard (and maybe RAM, depending on its current gen adoption) every 4 years or so, and with a GPU upgrade at mid life of such system, usually every 2 years on average.

 

Hi, thanks for participating on this Poll.

 

What do you think about the common belief that such a mid life upgrade of just the GPU isn't worthwhile, because the CPU processor would be a bottleneck ?

[LucShep]

1 hour ago, Rudel_chw said:

What do you think about the common belief that such a mid life upgrade of just the GPU isn't worthwhile, because the CPU processor would be a bottleneck ?

I think people underestimate the long term strenght of CPUs, especially high end ones, even if older. Overclocking also goes a long way, depending on CPU of course.

Sometimes framerate becomes a mere number on the screen, and not a measure of how you really feel the game is running.

 

It only makes sense to upgrade CPU if 1) it's either too weak, or 2) it bottlenecks your GPU.

In the first case it's obvious... it's not good enough so needs upgrading.

In the second case, and if it's a good CPU, it generally only happens with every two or three generations of (high end) GPUs.

Hence why I make my CPU and GPU upgrades like that.                           

Edited Monday at 12:08 AM by LucShep

[Rudel_chw]

2 minutes ago, LucShep said:

In the second case, and if it's a good CPU, it generally only happens with every two or three generations of (high end) GPUs.                   

 

I agree .. if you are upgrading CPU processor every 4 years, it is very unlikely that at the 2 year mid span, that processor would be a too weak CPU for a change in GPU.

 

Also, I've seen many cases where a user upgrades his CPU for a newer model and finds that his performance has not really improved. This happens when he changes his previous 4-core processor with a new 6 or 8 cores CPU. True, the processor is newer and on multithreaded benchmarks smokes the older one .. but DCS is mostly a single thread game, so if the individual cores of the new processor are not significantly faster, he will not get more DCS performance.

[LucShep]

39 minutes ago, Rudel_chw said:

 

I agree .. if you are upgrading CPU processor every 4 years, it is very unlikely that at the 2 year mid span, that processor would be a too weak CPU for a change in GPU.

 

Also, I've seen many cases where a user upgrades his CPU for a newer model and finds that his performance has not really improved. This happens when he changes his previous 4-core processor with a new 6 or 8 cores CPU. True, the processor is newer and on multithreaded benchmarks smokes the older one .. but DCS is mostly a single thread game, so if the individual cores of the new processor are not significantly faster, he will not get more DCS performance.

That's why I would always recommend to get the best, fastest "near overkill" CPU you can get for the longer term, instead of budgeting for the mid-range "it's good enough" CPU.

The former will, nearly guaranteed, allow for any GPU upgrade later with no issues whatsoever, while the latter may eventually cause some bottlenecking.

 

For example, those that run an i7 8700K since 2017 are unlikely to feel their CPU is lacking maybe even today, even with an RTX3080.

Those that run a Ryzen 1600 also since 2017 have surely felt the need to upgrade long ago, and it would certainly bottleneck an RTX3080.

 

Edited Sunday at 11:42 PM by LucShep

[Bearskin]

I used to upgrade my PC every two or three years, my first PC was a  DX2-66 back in the mid 90's, I have had my current PC since 2012 (apart from my GFX card, I went from a 970 to a 2080) so 9 years since I last upgraded, I only play VR games now and this PC still does the job. I paid around £350 for the 3770K and £200 for the ROG MVF, so the CPU's are still relatively comparable, but to get a MXIIF, it is around £470 which I refuse to pay. So as long as this PC still plays VR games with high settings and great frame rates then I wont be upgrading for a long while. I would say the only way I would upgrade in the near future is if this one stops working.

[Thinder]

I didn't vote for a simple reason. Upgrading depends on minimum requiered specs of the games I play, if my PC can keep up at the resolution I want to play those games then it's fine.

 

With War Gaming I upgraded twice and ended up with an Athlon 3000 Black Serie, 16GB of RAM etc, it's been a complete nightmare, since their minimum specs changed several times due mainly to graphics loads.

 

In the case of DCS I already upgraded my PCU twice since I started playing in May 2020: First with a Ryzen 3600X, and the 5600X that I use today, if the specs for VR stays as they are, I might keep this GPU for a couple of years...

 

The gain between the 3600X and the 5600X is <> 21%.

Edited Monday at 12:34 AM by Thinder

[Rudel_chw]

6 minutes ago, Thinder said:

I didn't vote for a simple reason. Upgrading depends on minimum requiered specs of the games I play ....

 

Sad .. the Poll isn't to ask "Why" do you upgrade, just wanted to know "how often" you do 

[Thinder]

Wrong question. Proper answer.

[xoxen]

When I upgrade my CPU it is a major upgrade most of the times, means Board and RAM are included as well. I always try to buy as good as possible with a balance between power and money. Last time I invested into the i7 4790K and it is still running good in combination with my GTX 1080TI. The bad thing was, that I was already at the end CPU wise, no chance to upgrade the CPU on the MoBo I have. I´m running 3x 2560x1440 and higher resolutions are mostly handled by the GPU and less the CPU. This is what I see using MSI Afterburner. The GPU is at 100% and the CPU seems to be utilized much less (hard to see on a multicore CPU, but sometimes it is even going down with the frequency and the temperature is still in the high 60s or low 70s, so no throttling). For sure I have a look at the actual hardware situation and already thought about an upgrade. But this would mean spending many Euros for my dream system and the chance of becoming disappointed about the low amount of benefit if I stay with the GPU. I kept an eye on a X570 board with a 5800X CPU and proper RAM. I hope when buying an AMD system they will make another generation with the AM4 socket. Otherwise I would again be at the upper end CPU wise.... I completely buried my plans on a GPU upgrade, because of the crazy Miner/Scalper situation.

 

Edit: I voted for 6-9 years, forgot to mention this.

Edited Monday at 07:57 AM by xoxen

[Lange_666]

I didn't vote either (yet), before is was 2-3 years, then 4, now this CPU last already 6 (i7 4770K). I updated GPU (GTX780 to 1080ti) and RAM along the road though.

I'm in for a new PC but giving the current prices of RAM and certainly GPU's, i hold off.

My last AMD was the K6, I'm on Intel since then, Last AMD GPU was the X800X, but i lean more towards AMD for both at the moment, although i'm not entirely convinced by the 6000 range GPU's. nVidia either i must say because i find their RAM setup to way to low compared to AMD (except for the 3090).

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

For the CPU I have no predetermined replacement cycle. It highly depends, but I kept my previous one for 4 years before upgrading to what I currently use.

This time around, I replaced pretty much everything though.

 

Overall I'd say 3 years is rather unrealistic for most people, since there's simply no need. I can't even remember which CPU I had before my previous one...

[Rudel_chw]

24 minutes ago, Raven (Elysian Angel) said:

Overall I'd say 3 years is rather unrealistic for most people, since there's simply no need. I can't even remember which CPU I had before my previous one...

 

I understand .. on my own case, when I purchase a new motherboard I purchase at the same time a mid-range processor, and two years later I replace it with the most powerful processor I can afford that is still compatible with the motherboard. So, I'm usually upgrading motherboard every 4 years and processors every 2 ... at the moment I'm using a Ryzen 3600 after having a Ryzen 1400X for a couple of years.

 

[AegisFX]

4 years, and it’s usually more of an overhaul than just a CPU upgrade. Last year I went to the 3900x from a 2700x. Noticeable. I also went from an SSD to an M2 drive for my OS and DCS, and went from 16Gb ram to 64Gb. The next upgrade I’d like to do is a new AMD board chipset, 570x or higher, new gpu, and new power supply.

 

id like to do content creation, so being able to handle DCS and record/stream it is a huge reason for the updates, and I’d make use of the hardware to play and stream other, VR titles( I particularly love Onward)

[Thinder]

17 hours ago, Lange_666 said:

I didn't vote either (yet), before is was 2-3 years, then 4, now this CPU last already 6 (i7 4770K). I updated GPU (GTX780 to 1080ti) and RAM along the road though.

I'm in for a new PC but giving the current prices of RAM and certainly GPU's, i hold off.

My last AMD was the K6, I'm on Intel since then, Last AMD GPU was the X800X, but i lean more towards AMD for both at the moment, although i'm not entirely convinced by the 6000 range GPU's. nVidia either i must say because i find their RAM setup to way to low compared to AMD (except for the 3090).

 

The Ryzen3000 Series are selling like cookies for a good reason...

[BitMaster]

I upgrade when the new system is at least twice as powerful for the same budget ( 300-500€ CPU range ) usually coupled with new DDR versions and all that stuff that doesnt fit anymore.

 

I used to upgrade every 8-12 months in the past( 1990's till say around 2010 when i7 came ) , then 2010 and later it got to about two years and since I have this 8700k I dont feel the need to upgrade as it still serves me very well.

Considering the cost of a new platform I will wait until 12+ cores are cheap, DDR5 has matured and PCIe v5 is present. Unless I am forced I will not upgrade till late '22 or '23.

 

If I had the money to spend, hell yes, gimme 16+ cores, 128GB DDR5-8000 , multiple NVMe Gen5 and a 3090³...but truth is, I am a poor mouse.

[Rudel_chw]

26 minutes ago, BitMaster said:

...

I used to upgrade every 8-12 months in the past( 1990's till say around 2010 when i7 came ) , then 2010 and later it got to about two years ...

Yes, I used to replace the processor more often in the past, as the cpu tech was improving quite fast, then this last decade the cpu progress has been much slower, increasing core count rather than raw speed. I spent a few years with an Intel core i7 of 2nd generation, and was OK with it until the Ryzen came along four years ago and then the tech has been improving faster again.

Edited Tuesday at 05:44 PM by Rudel_chw