I play older titles like AOE so I don't have to do this and I have a notebook but I was wondering how many times a year do the hardest of hardcore here shell out for new GPU, CPU, PSUs, mobos, etc.? 

When I can no longer run games on the lowest setting, then I make a new computer altogether that can run the games on the highest settings. The only time I upgrade in between is when I occasionally get a new video card or other part from a very generous relative. The last time I did a major upgrade was in 2004 and I can run Crysis on low so I'm all good for now.

As many as I can after upgrading anything else I may want to. Which isn't often.

As long as i can play medium settings at 40 fps min(average) I am fine until I have a rich friend throw in 2-3 thousand dollars into a new rig and I get jealous :P

If I'm pulling over 25 FPS constantly on my game on lowish medium settings then I don't need an upgrade. That usually means I can stay full 2 or 3 years without upgrading.

The only real big upgrades with both computers were the video cards. When I build the first computer, I had a crappy video card to make room for a 7800gt soon after. After a few years and I gave that computer to my parents to replace their really old computer and built myself a new tower while keeping the 7800gt for a while longer. Over the summer, I replaced the 7800gt with a 8800gt.

It works well enough and falls nowhere near the whole "Oh, you have to upgrade every month just to play your games!"

I use to upgrade alot... until i quit my job. Now i think ill be using it as is for a very long time

e6600 @ 3ghz
2gb memory
320gb hd
ati 4850
vista hp 64
dell 19" ws
evga 680i sli mobo
antec case

$500

I upgrade once every 5 years

Umm when something breaks,

Lets see, I was Using A 286 Tandy 1000 TX til 1999,

i was using a 486 running Win95 in 2003. (Fight Sim 98 at 6FPS FTW oh and I didn't have the internet then)

and I was Using An AMD k6-2 500mhz til 2007.

Now I got my Pentium 4 / 1 Gb Rig (although i upgraded from 512Mb and bought a new Power supply) that I'll keep til 2012 or so LOL.

With the exception of replacing broken components I upgrade/replace my rig every 4-5 years.