How long should you wait before upgrading your GPU?

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[CuttinInIdaho]

It could last forever considering the hefty backlog most of us have of games that will run on what we have already

[Shaggy]

I bought a 970 early 2015, it survived up until this year when halo infinite, god of war, and games like cyberpunk 2077 started showing the cards age (<1080p, studders) but fsr push this card to it's limit. The fact that I was able still play all of those games is insane.

[nown]

The fact that my 1070 has 8GB of RAM and entry tier cards in 2023 only have the same or less gives my wallet a happy face. Before that, I had a 2gb card from the very first Radeon GCN generation. There are too many games to play that don't need a new, three-slot card that weighs and costs more than an entire laptop for me to upgrade.

[chriswaine]

I'm still using a GTX 1080, while looking to upgrade this year. Rather than playing at lower settings, effectively I'm extending the lifetime for my GPU by having shifting habits regarding what to play, as I've been holding off on playing games which seem like they'd be a significantly better experience once I upgrade. There's still plenty of good, less demanding games to play instead, so I feel OK doing this, otherwise I would have upgraded already.

[zbirdzell]

A GPU typically last as long as you want it too. For me I make it last 5-6 years. I have a 3080 now, but my old Rig had 2 980 ti's in SLI. I buy the best at the time to make it last. I save $80 a month to accomplish this goal. $80 * 72 months = $5760. I plan to build a new Rig in 2026. Yeah sure you lose performance over the years, but for many years fps is usually fine if you target 60. With DLSS this goal is even easier to obtain.

[Yodabite]

GPU’s are like cars. They lose value as soon as you buy them.

[Verpal]

if you just want to stretch the usable time a bit, VRAM size might become a dominant limiting factor, especially for newer NVIDIA GPU.

[scip]

My 1080 TI aged really well with the 11 GB VRAM for 1440p. The 4070TI is twice as fast but have to upgrade sooner for sure.

[stevecade]

Monitor resolution and refresh rate plays a major part in the necessity people feel in upgrading their gpu. No point in having a 4090 and playing on a 1080p/60hz monitor. If you're looking at upgrading a gpu to something faster you also have to look at if it's worth it with the monitor you intend to be playing on. The two really should be considered together. If people are also considering VR they should also take account of VR support and their VRs resolution and refresh rates. My recently replaced 1080ti was well balanced in my previous setup offering good frame rates (80+ fps) for many years but since upgrading to ultrawide 1440 and 144hz it couldn't quite get the smooth frame rates I liked so it was time for the upgrade.

[navid]

This basically is the reason I used to target the $350 price range (970, 5700xt). You got incredible value and could consistently good performance by upgrading every 3-4 years. Unfortunately, that midrange value is dead now.

[Zalionn]

I passed down my 970 to someone else and we were surprised at how well it handled some new games like New World (low-medium settings) for a 9-year-old card! We were expecting it to catch on fire as soon as the game loaded lol.

[TeaTimeMr]

Indie Games, Hidden Gems of the Last Few Years, and -DLSS- /FSR make my 1070 Ti shine like a little Gem itself.

[Bassjunkie_]

Id hope the people that bought into rtx 3000 get to use their GPUs for a good few years, before Nvidia makes them feel obsolete

[malkmusRules]

My GTX970 is 8 years old and still going strong. I use it for a 4K television box/email/some Photoshop. Don't play modern games on it (got a new system 5900X 2.5 years ago with a 3070) but that said I got 5 years out of it with some compromises which I was fine with (though often going down to 1440 for some games before I got the new system with the 3070). Mostly play racing games in VR these days and will probably wait until 50 series (use Nvidia over AMD for production software reasons) for the next upgrade.

[StaelTek]

It’s quite simple:
As long as it gets the job done for your needs, keep using it for as long as possible.
It saves money on unessesary purchases and reduces our overconsumption of electronics.

[kennethd]

Nvidia wants you to buy a card every year with the low amount of VRAM and low memory bus theyve been putting on their mid/high tier cards.

[I_am_ENSanity]

Honestly, when I built my newest PC back in 2021 (6800xt/5800x) I gave my brother my old PC (2080/i7 10th gen), and he gave his wife his old PC (1070/i7 7700k) and we all are doing fine. I play games at 1440p so I'm happy, my brother plays at 1080p and can now play at 120hz no problem, and his wife tends to play games like The Sims so 1080p/60fps is perfect for her.

[--Anurag--]

Me using 1060 for the last 10 years. 😂😂😂

[jovanpejic]

All hardware remains as it was (aside from malfunctions) as it was 1 day after appearance. There are also graphics drivers and optimization of programs (games) and they even work better over time. Quake 2 on Geforce 4 runs as well as it did 20 years ago. It's a matter of new software. No one knows how the software will develop... I roughly hope that my RX 6700 Xt will serve me for everything that has come out so far and for the future for at least another 2-3 years.

[BlackChicken]

for me personally if i cannot lock 60 fps anymore regardless of graphic detail thats when i start to look for a new gpu/platform