Are you thinking about upgrading your computer and getting a new graphics card? But how regularly should you replace your hardware so that you can play games without any problems?
The graphics card is one of the most important components in your gaming PC, along with the processor. Along with the CPU, it handles most of the calculations when you’re playing games.
But how often do you have to upgrade your graphics card if you want to play current games? We’ll give you three points that you should consider.
You can find the best graphics cards in our buying guide on MeinMMO:
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Usually an upgrade every 3 to 5 years is sufficient
When should I upgrade my graphics card? Experts recommend that you should upgrade your graphics card every 3 to 5 years. This is because it usually takes that long for manufacturers to introduce new technologies or for the next generation’s performance leap to be so big that an upgrade is worthwhile.
Once a generation of graphics cards has been released, the following year often sees “only” an updated version that is only slightly faster. The biggest leaps in performance usually occur every three years. If you want to always be up to date, you can generally upgrade every three years, provided you have the necessary funds.
For the best price-performance ratio, every five years is enough. Then you can usually get a graphics card from the previous generation much cheaper than if you buy it directly at release. But you also won’t be able to play all games at maximum settings.
What else should I consider before upgrading? Basically, the timing of an upgrade also depends on which games you like to play the most. If you like to play farming games and the occasional round of Counter-Strike, then you don’t need a powerful GPU and you’ll have to upgrade much less often.
If you want to always play the latest titles, such as Black Myth Wukong, or use your graphics card for other computationally intensive tasks, then you will have to upgrade your graphics card much more regularly if you want to keep up.
In the end, it really depends on your individual needs:
However, if you notice that your graphics card can no longer handle the latest games, then that’s a good sign that you’ll need a new graphics card sooner or later. In some cases, technologies such as DLSS and FSR can help extend the life of your graphics card.
When upgrading your CPU, think about your graphics card
Upgrade other components: If you are thinking about upgrading your processor, then you should also consider upgrading your graphics card. The graphics card and CPU work closely together and a lightning-fast CPU will not benefit if you combine it with an outdated graphics card. In technical terms, this is called a bottleneck: your graphics card is working at 100%, but your CPU is just idling at 6%.
In addition, if the technical gap between the processor and the graphics card is too large, certain technologies are usually no longer supported. For example, Smart Access Memory on AMD hardware.
Avoid the following upgrades: If you want to upgrade your gaming PC, you should definitely avoid the following components. Because you are not doing yourself any favors if you want to upgrade your system with them: 7 upgrades for your gaming PC that you should definitely not buy