The Lemon Fool

I’ve just got the 3 year itch. I’m curious about other people’s behaviour.

- Julian

I built my own ultra quiet machine 7 years ago, and just replaced a failed ssd and retired a 12 year old hard disk, demoting the 7yo one to spinning backup. No issues with other performance.

Such a change from the 90s, when the upgrade urge was so strong

I clicked 3 years

As that's probably the frequency with which I get a new main machine
Not necessarily a desktop.. though that is what that last one was (and it's normally accessed remotely by the laptop I got 3 years before it)

The frequency with which I get rid of machines... now that's when they break

- sd

I put "other". I certainly used to build a new machine pretty much every 3 years and would likely have upgraded the video card mid cycle. But my past machine was built in 2011 and I only built my current in April 2020 (albeit the HDD had been replaced by a SSD which in turn had been replaced when it failed and it had had two GPU replacements - again one following a failure).

Going forward, I think I'll probably be looking more at a 5 to 7 year replacement cycle.

servodude wrote:I clicked 3 years

As that's probably the frequency with which I get a new main machine
Not necessarily a desktop.. though that is what that last one was (and it's normally accessed remotely by the laptop I got 3 years before it)

The frequency with which I get rid of machines... now that's when they break

- sd

That is the problem, actually throwing away a machine that works. I have become more ruthless in my old age so am now down to 3 desktops, 3 laptops and 3 tablets! As for phones .....

As performance gains have slowed upgrade I go it less often. Once upon a time this was as you say every 3 years, roughly. Now I see little benefit in replacing my i5-6600 based pc which I suppose is six years old. I have upgraded disk drives in that time though as ssds have got bigger and cheaper. Sometimes it feels slow but I think it will last another few years.

"Other".

I updated my PC recently only because I had to upgrade the OS. Buying a new machine was easier - for me anyway - than installing a OS upgrade.

I think this desktop PC is 7+ years old. Running Ubuntu 20.04.

The performance is absolutely fine for me and I wouldn't normally consider upgrading for a few more years . .

HOWEVER, The screen + PC + periphs. use about 65watts according to my "Smart" meter.

I know I could definitely get the power down by using a Single Board Computer - to approx 10 watts
A modern LED screen might use 18 watts ( at full ON ).

If Raspberry Pi came up with a Pi 400 with bigger memory 8Gb and better streaming capability ( with Ubuntu ), I would be much tempted.
Hopefully the reduced power consumption over the machine life would offset the embodied carbon & other env. damage from buying new PC components.

malakoffee wrote:......The screen + PC + periphs. use about 65watts according to my "Smart" meter.
I know I could definitely get the power down by using a Single Board Computer - to approx 10 watts
A modern LED screen might use 18 watts ( at full ON ).

How much is it worth spending on another computer to save ~40 Watts/hr?
Running 24hrs a day it's only 0.9 kWh (probably 13p per day).

Especially in autumn and winter when the Watts wasted as heat don't actually go to waste since they add a small amount of heat to your home.

I clicked "only when it breaks". My previous one had a mother board failure, and my usual servicers found me a Dell Optiflex 780, already well used, originally with Windows Vista, but upgraded to Windows 7, from which I moved to Windows 10. The earliest dates I can find are July 2016. As long as this one keeps going, I shall not be changing it.

TJH

BT63 wrote:How much is it worth spending on another computer to save ~40 Watts/hr?
Running 24hrs a day it's only 0.9 kWh (probably 13p per day).

Especially in autumn and winter when the Watts wasted as heat don't actually go to waste since they add a small amount of heat to your home.

. . . concentrating on what is really important ( i.e. not 13p per day ) . . . .
0.9 Kwh ==> 200g - 400g CO2 - depending on the mix of generation sources.

How much is your personal CO2 production today / this week / year ?

Only when it breaks...and it is coming up to 15 years of age

It handles Excel/HYPTUSS/Browsing well and with an SSD it boots in ~20 seconds from "off", quicker from Hibernate.

It is struggling with some music software ("Ultimate Guitar" Pro tracks) as it can't seem to process all the different tracks of a song simultaneously so that may be a reason to retire it in the future.

malakoffee wrote:
HOWEVER, The screen + PC + periphs. use about 65watts according to my "Smart" meter.

If you're thinking about it that much, it's possibly worth borrowing a plug in watt meter and finding out if the main culprit is the screen or PC, so you know which to replace?

Also, try turning the screen brightness down - they're often shipped with it turned fully up for pizazz in the showroom, but are perfectly tenable with it lower unless you sit with your back to a window.

scrumpyjack wrote:

servodude wrote:I clicked 3 years

As that's probably the frequency with which I get a new main machine
Not necessarily a desktop.. though that is what that last one was (and it's normally accessed remotely by the laptop I got 3 years before it)

The frequency with which I get rid of machines... now that's when they break

- sd

That is the problem, actually throwing away a machine that works. I have become more ruthless in my old age so am now down to 3 desktops, 3 laptops and 3 tablets! As for phones .....

Indeed
I'm almost running out of things to repurpose them for
- I should probably retire the Vista torrent box - but it's the only one with a FireWire/iLink port which I need for the old tape handycam
- actually... having a desktop now I can probably find a PCI card that would do it. hmmm!

- sd

It depends upon what you call "update". I have never replaced my entire PC but it has had a few motherboard+processor+RAM upgrades. My original hard drive has been upgraded numerous times but not at the same time as the motherboard etc. Other bits (such as the Blu-Ray drive and graphics card) have, again, been replaced at different times.


Julian F. G. W.

jfgw wrote:It depends upon what you call "update". I have never replaced my entire PC but it has had a few motherboard+processor+RAM upgrades. My original hard drive has been upgraded numerous times but not at the same time as the motherboard etc. Other bits (such as the Blu-Ray drive and graphics card) have, again, been replaced at different times.

Yeah, I've got a box like that (now gathering dust). Replaced the power supply a couple of times too. The only remaining original things are the 3.5" floppy drive and the case.

The Ship of Theseus comes to mind ... or Trigger's broom.

jfgw wrote:It depends upon what you call "update". I have never replaced my entire PC but it has had a few motherboard+processor+RAM upgrades. My original hard drive has been upgraded numerous times but not at the same time as the motherboard etc. Other bits (such as the Blu-Ray drive and graphics card) have, again, been replaced at different times.


Julian F. G. W.

Sounds like a computerised version of Trigger's Broom

--kiloran

jfgw wrote:It depends upon what you call "update". I have never replaced my entire PC but it has had a few motherboard+processor+RAM upgrades. My original hard drive has been upgraded numerous times but not at the same time as the motherboard etc. Other bits (such as the Blu-Ray drive and graphics card) have, again, been replaced at different times.

I used to do that but have found it more difficult since the millennium. We've had changes to power supply connectors, changes to disk interfaces, expansion card interfaces, smaller motherboard sizes. It became too hard to continually upgrade, so more recently I have gone for the all-at-once option.

I have lived in this house 11 years and have bought 1 new PC since I moved here. the previous one was a few yeas old when I moved. Though both were quite high spec when I bought them, so I chose the 6-7 years option. No plans to change yet so it may be longer going forward.

Gryff

The other factor is space. My old desktops were rather large. One reason for replacing was to get rid of the big black 'box'. I went for the Dell OptiPlex 7090 Ultra BTX. This is far more powerful than my previous desktop and just clamps to the back of the monitor. Box gone, makes my study much much neater.

I would say, "Never; why would anyone want to keep changing what already works?" I use this approach and PCs typically last about 2-3 years before they need updating. But this is not my only assumption: I also believe there are many people who don't mind spending time and money on improving their computer's performance over time without buying a new one.