By Tanveer Singh

Whenever a new generation of CPUs or GPUs drops, PC users are susceptible to a wave of FOMO clouding their rational thinking. From the announcement livestreams and preview benchmarks to third-party reviews and stock issues, everyone gets swept up in the hype. On the one hand, this is what we look forward to every year or two, but on the other hand, a fancy new product doesn't magically make your existing PC trash.

Even users with high-end PCs start mulling an upgrade just to satisfy that inner itch. However, most users rarely need to upgrade their PCs even every other generation. Feelings aside, there are only a handful of situations where you can justify expensive upgrades to your gaming PC, and those are exactly what I'll get into now.

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5Your PC is obsolete by modern standards

Sometimes, an upgrade is woefully needed

Tech obsolescence can be tricky to define, especially when companies are trying their best to accelerate it. However, in terms of a gaming PC, I consider a PC obsolete when the software or hardware is objectively limiting your experience in more ways than one. For instance, your PC might not be compatible with Windows 11, which might convince you to upgrade your aging machine finally.

Considering around 60% of users are just fine with Windows 10, a more severe issue would be your GPU's lack of support for DirectX12, which can limit the performance of many games or even lock you out of playing them altogether. Again, even GPUs from Nvidia's GeForce 700 series (2013) or AMD's Radeon HD 7000 series (2012) support DX12, so you'll only be forced to upgrade if you have an even older GPU.

Even if your hardware is technically compatible with modern applications, it could be well past its expiry date. For instance, a 4-core CPU or a pre-GTX 10 series GPU can feel severely limited in modern games. While your CPU and GPU can still run older games without issues, decent performance in more recent titles will probably be sub-par.

In a nutshell, if your software or hardware is preventing you from running the games and programs you really need, isn't receiving driver updates anymore, or is the reason behind crashes or overheating issues in particular games or other applications, it might be time to upgrade your rig.

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4It can barely keep up with basic workloads

Technically, it works, but not really

You also need to consider practical performance in addition to technical compatibility. 10-year-old PCs with budget hardware that was more than capable at the time will probably struggle to run modern day-to-day workloads to an acceptable degree. You will feel this the most in terms of the general responsiveness/snappiness of the PC when launching programs, opening files, or simply booting to the desktop.

Loading time in games can feel arduous on hard drives, as they lag behind even a SATA SSD in terms of read/write speeds. An SSD can be the best upgrade for your older PC, but even after that, your RAM might easily get overwhelmed when running two or three programs at the same time. General multitasking, like browsing the web while a game install is running in the background, can slow the PC to a crawl if you have an ancient CPU.

If your daily PC experience is similar to what I described above, upgrading your PC is more a necessity than a choice. That is, if you want to eliminate the performance bottlenecks that keep you from a generally responsive computing experience,

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3You can't get rid of frequent file corruption and BSODs

Component replacements might be in order

Over the years, your PC can develop software faults that are usually easy to fix. An SFC scan here, a DISM scan there, and things return to normal. Sometimes, however, your operating system can get corrupted, so simple fixes only act as band-aids. These corruptions can continue to reappear every now and then in terms of BSODs, black screens, or boot loops.

Often, such deeper, lingering issues are linked to faulty storage drives, RAM, motherboards, or CPUs. Your hard drive or SSD might have bad sectors or blocks, preventing access to certain files or corrupting the operating system. Faulty RAM can also lead to similar issues, while bad motherboards can lead to some weird power issues. Overclocked CPUs can experience issues after years of use, and a replacement is usually the only option.

If you're experiencing abnormal behavior on your PC that you're unable to pinpoint, even with various Windows diagnostics tools, and the issues refuse to go away. In that case, you might need to look into hardware replacements. Your hard drive or SSD is the most likely culprit in cases of frequent Windows corruption, and slowdowns after running a demanding workload for some time could point towards CPU throttling or RAM errors.

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2You need more productivity performance

Not all gaming PCs are good workstation PCs

A gaming PC is primarily for gaming. However, if you also want to dabble in light photo or video editing, game streaming, 3D rendering, or AI/ML workloads, especially as a professional. In that case, your PC might need some hardware help. High-core-count CPUs and more powerful GPUs (maybe even workstation cards) can drastically improve the productivity performance of your PC.

Occasional editing or streaming might work fine on a budget CPU and GPU, but the moment you want to take these workloads seriously, you'll probably need more horsepower. Building a workstation PC can differ from building one for gaming since you need a different balance between the CPU and GPU, a greater focus on the SSD and memory, and a slightly different feature set on the motherboard.

However, as far as upgrades to your existing gaming PC are concerned, you can usually consider a drop-in CPU upgrade if you're on AMD's AM4 or AM5 platform and a GPU upgrade to a mid-range or high-end model. RAM and SSD upgrades are fairly simple if your motherboard has slot availability and supports the necessary memory capacity and NVMe protocol.

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1You're not satisfied with your gaming performance

It is what it is

Whether you built a budget gaming PC years ago or your once-mighty flagship is aging poorly, the performance you're getting in modern games might not be enough for you anymore. The minimum acceptable performance varies from user to user, but most PC users would probably want 60+ FPS at medium-high settings (without RT) in modern games. If your setup isn't equipped to handle that, then an upgrade can be justified.

It might not be your GPU alone that's responsible for poor performance in modern games. An older CPU can easily hold your GPU back from performing at its maximum. Pairing an entry-level or budget CPU with a high-end GPU isn't the best strategy, even if you're trying to save every last dollar. Hence, you might need to look at upgrading both your CPU and GPU at some point.

Another reason to want an upgrade could be that you want to enjoy a particular next-gen gaming experience without compromise — Crysis (back in the day), path tracing in Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2, or the mandatory ray tracing of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Of course, depending on your current hardware, this might translate to expensive upgrades and is something you should only do when a new game truly blows you away and you have the budget to spare.

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Smart upgrades need not always be cheap

I'm not advocating that everyone start pinching pennies when it comes to buying new PC components, but you can be more discerning, at least. Try to pinpoint exactly what you're unsatisfied with on your current PC, and compare alternatives regarding value for money, longevity, and the subjective delta between your current PC experience and the one you're aiming for.

Buying a $600-$800 graphics card over a $200-$300 model could be the better decision if you'll be able to fully appreciate its benefits and make it last for longer. Over a few years, it can cost you less than buying two budget GPUs to keep up with gaming standards. As long as you're not using obsolete components, can run modern games at playable framerates and resolutions, and aren't missing out on game-changing features, it's best to save up for a future upgrade.

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