I was wondering when people consider themselves to have a new PC. Technically I’ve had the same PC for close to 20 years now, but every part’s been upgraded several times over.
I figure everyone’s got a different mind about it. For me, I’d have to say when all of the big three—CPU, GPU, mobo—have completed a phase, my brain thinks of the previous setup as “the old PC”.
Ah yes, the classic Chip of Theseus problem.
PCtheus
This is just the Ship of Theseus.
Theseus’ battlestation
IMO, it’s when you replace the motherboard. It’s the real heart of the machine; without it, all your other parts ain’t doing shit. And since you can get by longer on the same motherboard while still leaving everything else to be upgraded, getting a new motherboard very often necessitates getting at least a new CPU and possibly RAM if you’re making a generational leap that requires a new socket type.
I always thought of the CPU as the beating heart and the MoBo as the vessel/body.
At the same time: upgrading CPU often requires a new MoBo too, so I guess they are bound together anyways.For the original question I’d say CPU + MoBo swap is a new machine. GPU and RAM are upgrades.
If I had to limit it to physically, I’d say the motherboard. It’s the only thing in the box that everything has to be compatible with. Everything else is the extension.
Personally, I believe in a machine spirit. It’s a nebulous concept and it muddies the water here, but really the object is new when it no longer feels like the old. If I install a new is some day and my fans don’t breathe the same, my lights don’t blink like they did, or the chirp of my drives sounds alien, then I know I’ve lost the ghost and will have to learn a whole personality. Same is true for all my objects.
Personally, I believe in a machine spirit.
The machine spirits need to be kept pleased. Praise be to the Omnissiah.
When you have upgraded enough components that you can build another PC out of the old parts.
That’s my qualification. It’s a new computer when I’m just nicking a few bits out of the old computer, either leaving the old computer still functional or could be made functional again without too much trouble.
Mobo because it’s like the keel of the ship.
Although it falls to the same problem if you swap in the exact same mobo lol.
according to microslop, when you change the mobo
I upgrade my computer either when it’s not working as desired or I come into some extra cash and wanna treat myself to a boost.
Sadly with the new memory and storage costs I’ll probably ride this system out for ~10 years. (I pray she survives that long)
This is pretty much my PC atp, the only parts of it that are original are the side cover that has been sticker bombed over time and one of the ssds that was worth keeping for extra storage and is now my linux partition drive. Everything else has been replaced at some point including the case, which is the same model as the old one, just with the original side plate bc stickers. I have actually referred to it as the PC of theseus in conversation lmao
I knew someone who had essentially replaced every single component in their old PC over and over again, which resulted in the guts of a (then) modern gaming PC inside an old 486 tower because everything still fit.
Is it the same computer?
Yeah that’s an odd one. Because I’ve used old parts to build secondary PCs and they were basically my old PC restored. So at some point I got a new PC but it never felt like it lol.
I think as well if I got a new case on top of a new mobo, that constant visual feedback of new. It’d be my new PC but with some of the old parts in it still (most)
Nice sleeper build. On some level I want to get an old case for exactly this vibe, on the other hand the ventilation in these old cases sucks and I hate computer fan noise …
For me it is when i change the CPU or when i reinstall on a new bootdisk.
New mb, cpu, ram and videocard.
I used to keep one cd drive from the 90s in every built. Technically it could be understood as the same pc I just upgraded everything around the cd drive.
Last build I made I finally ditched it. I bought a case with bays just in case but I noticed that I haven’t used it in the last 10 years so I just didn’t install it.
Usually I consider my PC a new PC once I change the motherboard. Everything being connected to it, if I change it, it means all my parts go back to being parts, then part of a new whole.
