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[MidGenRefresh]

First Person Shooters, Survival Horrors and RPGs all peaked in the late 90s to early 2000s.

Weird because I'm playing the best RPG I've ever played right now and it was released only 4 years ago. Then you have other revolutionary stuff like Disco Elysium and countless modern CRPG classics like Divinity: Original Sin 2. Not to mention more mainstream stuff like The Witcher 3.

FPS is seeing a resurgence in "boomer-shooters" that if released in the 90s would be considered an all-time classics now. I'm talking stuff like Dusk or Ion Fury. Then you have modern stuff like Doom Eternal.

I don't know about Survival Horror but the flagship Survival Horror franchise, Resident Evil, only got better since the 90s with he newest release being one of the top rated games on Steam.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Lately I seem to upgrade my videocard every other generation and then upgrade my cpu after three or four generations. I’m just curious what everyone else does these days.

Edit: my phone autocorrected, mods can you please change the title to “how often do you upgrade your PC”?

Close to you, I had a 2700K for years until I got an 8700K and that lasted me until my new 12900K

GPU I do more often as I usually sell or pass on my old card to family, made a killing on 1080 to get a 2080 then sold that 2080 for like 550 pounds just before the 3080 launched and grabbed that on launch day for 769 for the MSI gaming trio X. Had that for nearly two years now so I'll be looking to get a 40 series card on launch day too.

Hopefully this 12900k will last me for atleast 5 to 7 years.

 

[Lupin3]

Lately I seem to upgrade my videocard every other generation and then upgrade my cpu after three or four generations.

Something like that. Went from 540 to 760, then 970 to 2070. Probably gonna bite on the 4080 if the TDP isn't off the chart and the prices come down considerably. If at all. The 2070 with Ryzen 5 3600 still performs very well in all the games I play.

 

[Stuart360]

It depends what your expectation and wants are from PC gaming. For me, as a couch gamer who plays on a 60hz tv, i dont need to upgrade my tech for like 5 or 6 years.
I just bought a 1080ti as my gpu upgrade from a 980ti that i had since launch. Upgraded my cpu to a 3700x 2 years ago, and as i play at only 60fps like i said, that cpu and gpu will probably last me another 5 years if not more, or atleast the rest of this current generation with the vast majority of games being developed with XSX and PS5 in mind.

All the 'you need to upgrade every 1-2 years' talk has always been nonsense. It depends more on what your expectation and wants are. If you're happy with 60fps, or lower than 4k resoultuions, then a good cpu and gpu will last you years.

 

[bender]

RPGs, yeah. If we are talking jrpg. Also 3d adventure games, fell off a cliff after early 2000.

Shooters got better and better, though. Not recently, but after early 2000s.

Survival horror...? Depends on your definition, my guess is that you wouldn't consider re4 or re2 remake as such?

RE4 was 2005. Maybe that's a hair outside of early 2000s but I'd probably lump it in my peak gaming range. And I'd consider it an action game more so than Survival Horror. Props to Amnesia though. That game was dope.

I'd argue western RPGs too. Look at the shifts in Bethesda's output leading up to Morrowind and afterwards. I'd no what period I'd rather play in. I'd argue the same thing about Bioware but I'd have to excuse myself from the Mass Effect conversation as sci fi really isn't my bag. I checked out around Jade Empire which I thought was terrible at the time. I'd excuse myself from the Mass Effect conversation as Sci Fi isn't my bag but even if those are included, we are far removed from their heyday.

 

[Roberts]

One of the reasons i switched from pc to consoles in 2010 was that i had this compulsive need to upgrade my pc all the time. I miss PC gaming sometimes, but at least I spend that spare cash on more meaningful things these days.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Whenever games stop going smooth at high (not ultra) settings.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

My PC is for work, so every 5-6 years.

 

[StateofMajora]

RE4 was 2005. Maybe that's a hair outside of early 2000s but I'd probably lump it in my peak gaming range. And I'd consider it an action game more so than Survival Horror. Props to Amnesia though. That game was dope.

I'd argue western RPGs too. Look at the shifts in Bethesda's output leading up to Morrowind and afterwards. I'd no what period I'd rather play in. I'd argue the same thing about Bioware but I'd have to excuse myself from the Mass Effect conversation as sci fi really isn't my bag. I checked out around Jade Empire which I thought was terrible at the time. I'd excuse myself from the Mass Effect conversation as Sci Fi isn't my bag but even if those are included, we are far removed from their heyday.

I hate elder scrolls no matter the title lol. Take your word for it that Morrowind is better than 4 and Skyrim, which I played both.

But games like Witcher, kingdom come, and speaking of Bethesda, fall out new Vegas etc... Wrpgs have kept getting better.

Re4 I consider action not horror, but it's the best third person shooter ever. Not played amnesia yet, though I own it on steam.

 

[bender]

Weird because I'm playing the best RPG I've ever played right now and it was released only 4 years ago. Then you have other revolutionary stuff like Disco Elysium and countless modern CRPG classics like Divinity: Original Sin 2. Not to mention more mainstream stuff like The Witcher 3.

FPS is seeing a resurgence in "boomer-shooters" that if released in the 90s would be considered an all-time classics now. I'm talking stuff like Dusk or Ion Fury. Then you have modern stuff like Doom Eternal.

I don't know about Survival Horror but the flagship Survival Horror franchise, Resident Evil, only got better since the 90s with he newest release being one of the top rated games on Steam.

While quality, I wouldn't call Disco Elysium revolutionary. It actually reminds me a lot of the very time period I remember so fondly. Don't get it twisted, I'm not saying there are no good games now.

The systems in Divinity are neat but I can't stand the writing so I've neve been able to stick with them. The Witcher 3 has the opposite problem. It's a very well written game but trapped in a paint by the numbers open world design and combat that has far too much in common with Arkham Asylum or Assassin's Creed.

Dusk is fucking amazing. I don't care much for Ion Fury, Wrath or a slew of other modern retro shooters I've tried. Can't wait for Gloomwood though. Still, it's hard to compete with Quake, Q3A, Tribes 2, Enemy Territory, UT99, UT2k4, NOLF, FEAR (2007 but still), DOD, HL, SOF.

Resident Evil peaked in 2005. The first hour of RE7 I'd consider survival horror and then it nose dives once it becomes an uninteresting FPS. Still a step up for RE5/6. I'd consider them more action oriented than the Siren's and Silent Hills.

 

[bender]

I hate elder scrolls no matter the title lol. Take your word for it that Morrowind is better than 4 and Skyrim, which I played both.

But games like Witcher, kingdom come, and speaking of Bethesda, fall out new Vegas etc... Wrpgs have kept getting better.

Re4 I consider action not horror, but it's the best third person shooter ever. Not played amnesia yet, though I own it on steam.

New Vegas was Obsidian. Morrowind is hard to recommend these days as take the clunk ass combat from modern Bethesda games and multiple that by ten.

Play Amneisa and bring an extra pair of underwear.

Kingdom Come was neat. Not a fan of the Witcher series.

RE4 is 17 years old now. Agree on it being the best 3rd person shoot ever though Vanquish is fucking dope too.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Before covid we would upgrade yearly. Now we upgrade when we can get the parts for all the units.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

While quality, I wouldn't call Disco Elysium revolutionary. It actually reminds me a lot of the very time period I remember so fondly. Don't get it twisted, I'm not saying there are no good games now.

The systems in Divinity are neat but I can't stand the writing so I've neve been able to stick with them. The Witcher 3 has the opposite problem. It's a very well written game but trapped in a paint by the numbers open world design and combat that has far too much in common with Arkham Asylum or Assassin's Creed.

Disco Elysium is already copied by other games. It was ground breaking. Maybe calling it revolutionary is too much. It's an evolution of Planescape: Torment. What was your opinion on Kingdom Come: Deliverance?

Dusk is fucking amazing. I don't care much for Ion Fury, Wrath or a slew of other modern retro shooters I've tried. Can't wait for Gloomwood though. Still, it's hard to compete with Quake, Q3A, Tribes 2, Enemy Territory, UT99, UT2k4, NOLF, FEAR (2007 but still), DOD, HL, SOF.

Soldier of Fortune? Seriously? When was the last time you played it? The only sub-genre of FPS that peaked long time ago is arena shooters. That's it. Gloomwood is one of my most anticipated games. There are so many amazing shooters releasing soon that it's hard to follow them all.

Resident Evil peaked in 2005. The first hour of RE7 I'd consider survival horror and then it nose dives once it becomes an uninteresting FPS. Still a step up for RE5/6. I'd consider them more action oriented than the Siren's and Silent Hills.

2005 is a long ass time after "the 90s", don't you agree? Survival Horror is nor my cup of tea, but judging by the scores on Steam, the recent entries in Resident Evil are a success. Same with Resident Evil 2 remake. I honestly don't know that many Survival Horror games. But straight Survival games are, again, better than ever.

 

[bender]

Disco Elysium is already copied by other games. It was ground breaking. Maybe calling revolutionary is too much. It's an evolution of Planescape: Torment. What was your opinion on Kingdom Come: Deliverance?



Soldier of Fortune? Seriously? When was the last time you played it? The only sub-genre of FPS that peaked long time ago is arena shooters. That's it. Gloomwood is one of my most anticipated games. There are so many amazing shooters releasing soon that it's hard to follow them all.



2005 is a long ass time after "the 90s", don't you agree? Survival Horror is nor my cup of tea, but judging by the scores on Steam, the recent entries in Resident Evil are a success. Same with Resident Evil 2 remake. I honestly don't know that many Survival Horror games. But straight Survival games are, again, better than ever.

If you evolved from something else, you aren't ground breaking. And that's no knocking Disco. I love it. Kingdom Come is neat but the combat system was a little much for my tastes. I get why people loved it.

I played SOF this year. The guns feel great and blowing off limbs will never not be entertaining. Its more than just arena shooters. Look at the state of Battlefield.

I clarified my 90s statement to late 90s-early 00s which is evident of the games we are talking about.

Crafting Survival =/= Survival Horror even if there are games that combine the elements like The Forest. I can't stand crafting survival games but they are their own thing and a newer genre that spawned from Minecraft.

 

[StateofMajora]

New Vegas was Obsidian. Morrowind is hard to recommend these days as take the clunk ass combat from modern Bethesda games and multiple that by ten.

Play Amneisa and bring an extra pair of underwear.

Kingdom Come was neat. Not a fan of the Witcher series.

RE4 is 17 years old now. Agree on it being the best 3rd person shoot ever though Vanquish is fucking dope too.

I was just thinking about picking up vanquish on steam to see all that crazy shit at 120fps xD

I tried it on PS3 but it just didn't click with me... Might've just sucked at it. Also, I have the evil within 1 and 2 on PS4 disc waiting for me whenever I get around to them. Did you like those games?

 

[bender]

I was just thinking about picking up vanquish on steam to see all that crazy shit at 120fps xD

I tried it on PS3 but it just didn't click with me... Might've just sucked at it. Also, I have the evil within 1 and 2 on PS4 disc waiting for me whenever I get around to them. Did you like those games?

I'm not a framerate whore but I found Evil Within unplayable. I'm sure that issue is solved on PC though. I got further into EW2 but I mostly played it stealthy and quit after the first area. I just don't find the gun play satisfying but I'm also constantly comparing it to RE4 in the back of my mind.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

I clarified my 90s statement to late 90s-early 00s which is evident of the games we are talking about.

It was a cool discussion, thanks. Like with most things in life, it's down to personal preference. Luckily you can still play these old games and they play better than ever.

And I can enjoy proper new stuff that I could only dream of in the 90s. Like Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

 

[bender]

It was a cool discussion, thanks. Like with most things in life, it's down to personal preference. Luckily you can still play these old games and they play better than ever.

And I can enjoy proper new stuff that I could only dream of in the 90s. Like Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

I appreciate you too. Having differing tastes is great. And the wonderful thing about the PC is I can still enjoy all the old shit I love, loathe must of the new stuff and then enjoy the gems when they release. From now on, until the day I malfunction, we will be Gloomwood brothers.

 

[rofif]

If not something each year then at least 2-3 years.

 

[StateofMajora]

I'm not a framerate whore but I found Evil Within unplayable. I'm sure that issue is solved on PC though. I got further into EW2 but I mostly played it stealthy and quit after the first area. I just don't find the gun play satisfying but I'm also constantly comparing it to RE4 in the back of my mind.

I think evil within 1 was like 20 fps or something at PS4 launch, so I'm not surprised you say that. Playing it on the 5 will lock it to 30 at least.

I definitely don't expect re4 quality but I think it could be good

 

[Dream-Knife]

When well optimized stuff stops running well. The cool part about PCMR is getting the most out of your components. Replacing shit every year is boring.

 

[AJUMP23]

Last time was 12 years.

 

[Crayon]

Depends on lots of things. How it compares to console performance is a big thing. I happy with the performance of the ps5 for the most part. That means I can buy the very few most graphics intensive games on the ps5 and don't need to upgrade the pc. If more games like control and cyberpunk keep coming out where you see that stark lack of console ray tracing performance, I'll upgrade.

I try not to buy more than I need. It's easy to blow a lot of money on it.

 

[R6Rider]

Usually around 5 years, but I don't game that much on it and when I do it's usually older titles.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

I appreciate you too. Having differing tastes is great. And the wonderful thing about the PC is I can still enjoy all the old shit I love, loathe must of the new stuff and then enjoy the gems when they release. From now on, until the day I malfunction, we will be Gloomwood brothers.

Gloomwood for life. And seriously, give Kingdom Come a second chance. Combat is quite cool once you level up your Henry.

 

[papersleeves]

Let's see... If we're only counting 2010 and onward:

I5 2500k Sandybridge with 2 gtx 480 from January 2011 until July 2014 where I traded the 2 gtx 480 for a r9 290x and eventually a gtx 980 in November of the same year.

Sold the 980 forca lum sum of money. Bought a 6gb gtx 1060 for half the price in 2016. Free upgraded the i5 2500k for a i7 3770k that same year.

Purchased a 1080ti in early 2017. Sold it later that year. Bought another one in early 2018.

Replaced my cpu in 2019 for a 3900x.

Bought my Asus Zephyrus S GX531GX laptop in January 2020. Sold my entire desktop shortly after.

Built myself a new pc in March of this year. 12900kf with a rtx 3070 ti.

In the end it was all for nothing as my laptop is still performing outstandingly well.

 

[Comfortgel]

I drag it out uncomfortably long. My last three rigs were an FX-55 / Geforce 5950 to an i5-2400 and 580GTX to my current 11400 / 3050 rig.

 

[ViolentP]

2-5 years. Depends on how well games have progressed.

 

[Dr.brain64]

About ten years. Way too expensive for no reason.

 

[BusierDonkey]

I stagger upgrades.

GPU - Every 2nd gen (980ti. 2080ti, likely 4080ti) unless I don't see a need but I prefer keeping things set high.

CPU/mobo - When I need/want to.

 

[kiphalfton]

It's getting pretty out of control since the GTX 900 series has come out.

My upgrade path:

GTX 560 Ti
GTX 970
GTX 980 Ti
GTX 1070
GTX 1070 Ti
RX 5500
GTX 970
GTX 980 Ti
GTX 1080 Ti
RTX 2070
RTX 3080

I always sell the graphics card I have at that time to buy the subsequent one. It went up then down models because I was looking for something cheap after having sold the previous one.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

I think I spent around 8 years with a 4670k, and 4 years with both my r9 290 and radeon vega.

Gonna try and stretch this i9 109k for 10 years, and the 6700xt for 5 ( though if the 7000 series is really good I might switch early.)

 

[Stuart360]

It's getting pretty out of control since the GTX 900 series has come out.

My upgrade path:

GTX 560 Ti
GTX 970
GTX 980 Ti
GTX 1070
GTX 1070 Ti
RX 5500
GTX 970
GTX 980 Ti
GTX 1080 Ti
RTX 2070
RTX 3080

I always sell the graphics card I have at that time to buy the subsequent one. It went up then down models because I was looking for something cheap after having sold the previous one.

Yes thats a very up and down buying trajectory lol. Any reason why you bought a 1070, then a 1070ti, when you already had a 980ti?

 

[VN1X]

every week I download more ram

 

[Patrick S.]

I fell out of love with PC gaming around 2004 or so because of how frustratingly fast components became outdated. I spent a *lot* of money building a new PC with an AMD 64 3200+ and a GeForce 6800 Ultra I had to import from Germany, because all you could get in Spain was the 6800 GT, and I really really wanted that ultra. First GPU ever that cost me more than 450-ish Euro. So I built this supposedly state of the art PC and then it almost couldn't run Doom 3. It struggled with a LOT of games I threw at it, and that made me really sour on PC gaming. I completely stopped gaming on PC in 2008, and moved to Xbox 360.

In 2014 I got the itch to get a new PC after seeing how awesome Alien Isolation looked on PC, and after seeing Assetto Corsa, then a PC exclusive.

Near Christmas 2014 I built a new PC with an i5 4690k and an AMD R9 290. Sold that AMD GPU after a few weeks because of how unbelievably loud the blower fan noise of that card was, and got a GTX 970.

Bought a GTX 1070 on release, so mid 2016.

In 2016 someone traded my PC for one with an i7 6700 and another GTX 1070 (the guy had a reference 1070 and really wanted my MSI card).

In 2018 I sold my mainboard and CPU combo, and for a small difference I upgraded to a used combo of an i7 6700k with a really nice mainboard.

In 2019 I sold the GTX 1070 and got a GTX 1080.

Early 2020 I sold the GTX 1080 and put away the money to save it towards an RTX 3080. Went PS4 only for six months.

In November 2020 I managed to snag an RTX 3080.

In January this year I upgraded my CPU to an i5 12600k, and got a way too expensive Z690 mainboard, and some fancy Corsair RGB RAM.


Happy to game on PC again, and while I have swapped a lot of stuff in a short time after gaming on PC again (Damn you, PC gaming!), I feel that by lowering settings and such, you can keep PC components for a much longer time than you could 15 years ago before they are hopelessly outdated.

 

[kiphalfton]

Yes thats a very up and down buying trajectory lol. Any reason why you bought a 1070, then a 1070ti, when you already had a 980ti?

1070 because it had more vram. The 1070 Ti I got from Amazon for ~$280 (which at the time was pretty "cheap" since I think they were going for $400+)

When I went down from there to 900 series, it was because I bought B-stock cards from EVGA when they used to have really good deals on Midnight Madness sales. Like sub-$100 for 970's to 980 Ti's.

I do the same thing with phones too, where just this past year I've had a Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 2 XL, iPhone 13 Pro, and now Samsung S22+. I am probably forgetting a couple phones as I can't even keep straight what I've had.

I Probably need to cool it as I think it's a problem.

 

[Krathoon]

I will have to upgrade my GTX 1080 to an RTX 3060. More of a side grade.
Do you uninstall the drivers when you do that?
I also have to upgrade the power supply.
Upgrading an Alienware. I already found out that I needed some special adapters.

 

[Denton]

CPUs:

1998 - Intel Pentium 100MHz
2001 - AMD Duron 800MHz
2004 - AMD Athlon 64 3000+
2007 - Intel Core 2 Duo E4400
2011 - Intel Core i5 2500K
2018 - AMD Ryzen 2700X

GPUs:

1998 - Cirrus Logic 1MB
2001 - SiS 730 32MB
2002 - GeForce 2 MX 400
2003 - GeForce 3 Ti 200
2004 - Radeon X800 Pro
2006 - Radeon X1900XTX
2009 - GeForce GTX 280
2011 - GeForce GTX 560 Ti
2014 - Radeon 280X
2015 - GeForce GTX 970 (Witcher 3 came out)
2016 - GeForce GTX 1070 (Witcher 3 Blood and Wine came out)
2018 - GeForce RTX 2080Ti

Hopefully that's exhaustive enough.

2011 was the most significant upgrade. That 2500K lasted nice 8 years.
Now I am considering Ryzen 3D, but apart from Cyberpunk RT there is nothing to use it on.

 

[Leonidas]

Something on my PC gets upgraded every year.

For me it's something like this

CPU: ~ 2-3 years
CPU Cooler: ~ 2-3 years
GPU: ~ 1 year
MOBO: ~2-4 years
WIFI/BT: 4 years
RAM: ~2 years
SSD: ~1-2 years
HDD: 2-3 years
CASE: 3-6 years
PSU: 6+ years
MONITOR: 2-5+ years

 

[Hoddi]

I've long since stopped upgrading on any regular basis. I've done one CPU and two GPU upgrades in the past decade and, out of those, only one of them was truly necessary. My 2GB 660Ti started running out of memory after the last gen consoles launched and I replaced it with a 6GB 1060.

My current 9900k + 2080 Ti from 2018 can probably last my throughout this console gen. If I upgrade the GPU then it will mostly just be for HDMI 2.1 support.

 

[flying_sq]

Normally every 8-10 years, but I had to get a 6900xt, and I might end up grabbing a 4000 series Nvidia this year. But after that, I might change the display, but won't upgrade anything other than maybe a couple fans, or a bigger SSD.

 

[Midn1ght]

Ideally every 4-5 years. But Im weak. I’ve had my 3060ti for over a year now, great mid-range gpu but i know i won’t be keeping it for an extra 2 years unless next gpu prices are ridiculous. Waiting for Nvidia official announcement.

The Steam Deck (when i get one) might also change how often i upgrade.

 

[dave_d]

My standard is to do a new PC build roughly every 5 years and then upgrade the video card in that build once after about 2 years. I will admit my previous build was in 2013 and I did a new build in 2020 but that's more because I waiting for some job stability before I did the new build. (I went from a i5 3570 to a Ryzen 7 3800xt FWIW. If things were a little different I probably would have done a 8700k or 9700k a year or 2 earlier.) Guess I'm on track to upgrade the video card though. (3070. If I can get a good deal on a 4070 I might bite.)

 

[Longcat]

Still rocking 4770k + 970. Hardware prices are way too crazy right now to justify an upgrade. Even second hand.

Back in the day when you actually got a massive increase in performance every couple of years I upgraded way more frequently.

 

[Nickolaidas]

generally in during mid-gen

I think this is the best. Mid-gen is a perfect time to upgrade and now for sure that your PC will be able to handle anything this gen can dish out.

 

[poodaddy]

Upgrade GPU every other generation about 4 times, then I just sell the PC and start a whole new build and go as reasonably high end modern with the CPU, RAM, motherboard and power supply technologies as I can at the time. I don't like changing PC's and I don't do it often. Probably about once every 8 years to a decade I'd guess.

 

[Bonfires Down]

I very much need to upgrade my i5 3570. It doesn't keep up well with new AAA games. But since I play a lot of indie games it hasn't really been a priority. Will get a Ryzen or possibly Intel with the new generation.

Got a RTX 2070 and I might ride it for the rest of the generation if possible. I just can't be arsed upgrading, especially with modern prices.

 

[Laptop1991]

No where near as much as i use to, there is no need to as yet, i replace a mouse so often or a keyboard, bought a GPU in 2019 went faulty had it replaced last year thats it.

 

[StateofMajora]

I very much need to upgrade my i5 3570. It doesn't keep up well with new AAA games. But since I play a lot of indie games it hasn't really been a priority. Will get a Ryzen or possibly Intel with the new generation.

Got a RTX 2070 and I might ride it for the rest of the generation if possible. I just can't be arsed upgrading, especially with modern prices.

The 13th gen i5, the 13400 will probably last you a decade if you kept that i5 this long lol.

Or as a stop gap, you could buy the 3770k used on eBay for like 80 bucks. Would at least save you from a total rebuild... Though there's probably a xeon for that socket that's similar but for 20 bucks or so. That cpu plus an sata SSD and enough ram should keep you going a bit longer.

I would just upgrade to 13th gen though, the 2070 begs for it

 

[Fredrik]

Custom built gaming PC built in 2014

Full system upgrade in 2020 minus graphics card and cab.

Graphics cards: 780 Ti, 980 Ti, 1080 Ti, 3070 Ti