If you can whittle the price down enough, you might look at seeing if you can fit a Nvidia Geforce GTX 970 into the build. It's a pricey card at around $350, and it might be overkill on the stuff you want to play, but it's a beast of a card at its pricepoint. And I speak from experience that once you enter the glorious PC Master Race, your attitude quickly changes from "I just want to be able to run games at decent settings" to "WHY CAN'T I TURN THIS UP TO STUPID-MAX? MORE POWAH!"
[Question] Gaming Rig
- Thread starter ThatNickGuy
- Start date
Heh, yeah, Mike was telling me about the difference between the recommended combined speed that Gaming Debate figured and the combined speed for the first system he suggested. It was a difference of 2800 or 4900 to 11,700.Usually. Maybe RAM down the road too, but probably only once, and that's really inexpensive. Oh, and if you suddenly turn into a torrent addict, you might end up buying external hard drives every 6 months
And since Arkham Knight is developed for console, I doubt it'd be an issue. It's the PC exclusives that'll generally tax your rig. Aside from MMOs. Those also usually try to keep their requirements low so as to be accessible to as many people as possible. Heck, WoW 's still king of the MMO pile and you can play it with onboard video, on most laptops these days.
I knew PC still reigned supreme in terms of computing power, but cripes, I had no idea.[DOUBLEPOST=1416324438,1416324295][/DOUBLEPOST]
Oh god, I'm going to turn into the PC equivilent of Tim "The Toolman" Taylor, aren't I?
Yes, but with less cocaine.
If you're not replacing your system every year, you're always going to be behind somehow. The trick is to look at the parts that are the hardest to replace/would require the most changes to replace and buy into the best you can for those. RAM and GPU are easy to replace, for instance. Adding extra USB ports is easy to do with a new card. Swapping CPU or MLB? Not as easy, since replacing one usually means replacing the other and often many other parts of your system as well.
Also, repurposing a 750W Gold PSU + a 2TB drive from his slush pile could reclaim $200 or so for your budget, which is enough to pick up a very capable video card.
--Patrick
Is not about the size of your gaming rig, is how you use it!
By playing Skyrim modded with all the skimpy female armors I can find!
Someone in my city is selling a Samsung Syncmaster 21.6bw monitor for $50.
Link:
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-monitors/city-of-halifax/samsung-syncmaster-216bw/1034660897
Good deal for a monitor?
Link:
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-monitors/city-of-halifax/samsung-syncmaster-216bw/1034660897
Good deal for a monitor?
GasBandit
Staff member
Yes, provided it's got no dead pixels or other visible damage. I also prefer the 16:10 aspect ratio, would would bias me in favor of snagging that particular monitor. Its only drawback seems to be that it has no HDMI inputs, but that's not such a big deal really. Your video card will have DVI outputs which this monitor does have.
Okay, so Mike may have found me a pretty good Black Friday deal:
http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc_new/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=2D2E2001-819C-4A83-AD1D1B02A439A4C5-6165821
It's an AMD processor instead of Intel, but from a little bit of googling, it sounds like there's not a huge different in performance.
The only thing I might upgrade here is the power supply. Default is 500W, but go up to the 750W gold for $67.
http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc_new/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=2D2E2001-819C-4A83-AD1D1B02A439A4C5-6165821
It's an AMD processor instead of Intel, but from a little bit of googling, it sounds like there's not a huge different in performance.
The only thing I might upgrade here is the power supply. Default is 500W, but go up to the 750W gold for $67.
GasBandit
Staff member
That's more or less the same machine I'm gaming on right now. A 270x is a decent video card.
And ORDERED. Only thing I added was a wireless network adapter and a 2 TB drive, since the only thing it had with it was an SSD.
Games go ga-ga for single-threaded performance. Usually what that means is the higher the clockspeed, the faster the game will play, but chip design and architecture can also help, so that's why benchmarks such as this exist.
For things that use multiple cores (like video transcoding or most file compression), 8 full-on "native" cores will beat out 4 hyperthreaded cores (4 physical + 4 logical) since the hyperthreaded "virtual" cores do not perform anywhere near as well as the actual, physical cores. Right now, AMD can put more physical cores under you for your money than Intel can, but since Intel holds the IPC (Instructions Per Clock) crown, and since games right now do not really benefit from the additional cores, that's why Intel ends up being "best" for gaming.
--Patrick
For things that use multiple cores (like video transcoding or most file compression), 8 full-on "native" cores will beat out 4 hyperthreaded cores (4 physical + 4 logical) since the hyperthreaded "virtual" cores do not perform anywhere near as well as the actual, physical cores. Right now, AMD can put more physical cores under you for your money than Intel can, but since Intel holds the IPC (Instructions Per Clock) crown, and since games right now do not really benefit from the additional cores, that's why Intel ends up being "best" for gaming.
--Patrick
I only understood like 10% of that.
I should also add that I took advantage of a Black Friday sale today and got this:
http://www.staples.ca/en/Samsung-LS27D360HS-ZC-27-inch-LED-Monitor/product_1021362_2-CA_1_20001
Oh yeah. The gaming. It's coming. Especially since buying through AMD, I also get Steam codes for three free games. Any three from this list. The guy I spoke with on the phone that helped me with my ordered strongly recommended Alien Isolation and Star Citizen. Thoughts?
http://sites.amd.com/us/promo/never-settle/Pages/never-settle.aspx
Personally I've narrowed down the possibilities to Tomb Raider, Saints Row IV, Alien Isolation, Star Citizen, and Sleeping Dogs. I would say Just Cause 2, but that'll be super dirt cheap on Steam, I'm sure.
http://www.staples.ca/en/Samsung-LS27D360HS-ZC-27-inch-LED-Monitor/product_1021362_2-CA_1_20001
Oh yeah. The gaming. It's coming. Especially since buying through AMD, I also get Steam codes for three free games. Any three from this list. The guy I spoke with on the phone that helped me with my ordered strongly recommended Alien Isolation and Star Citizen. Thoughts?
http://sites.amd.com/us/promo/never-settle/Pages/never-settle.aspx
Personally I've narrowed down the possibilities to Tomb Raider, Saints Row IV, Alien Isolation, Star Citizen, and Sleeping Dogs. I would say Just Cause 2, but that'll be super dirt cheap on Steam, I'm sure.
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- Right now games only do one or two things at a time.
- This means games play best on CPUs that are fastest at doing one or two things at a time.
- Intel's (consumer) CPUs are the best at doing up to 4 things at a time.
- Therefore, Intel CPUs are the best for games right now.
- AMD CPUs aren't as fast at doing only 1-2 things.
- Intel chips can do > 5 things at once, but they have to "cheat" their 4 cores to do it (via Hyperthreading).
- Hyperthreading is not as efficient/powerful as having > 4 real cores present on the CPU.
- AMD will sell you CPUs with 6 or 8 actual cores for less $$$ than Intel's 2- or 4-core "fake-it-with-Hyperthreading" CPUs.
- Therefore, AMD is the best choice for video/multitasking/rendering.
- Also since the integrated video card in AMD chips usually stomps Intel, you usually don't even need a GPU (for simple games)
So...in other words, what I got was a pretty good choice?
It's about 2/3 as fast at gaming as the CPU I recommended above, but it costs around 60% less and should be right about on par when it comes to things like watching Netflix/Hulu, or surfing the Web, or anything else where it can spread the work around to all of its 6 cores.
Also, it's still going to be a noticeable step up from anything you have now, assuming what you have now more than 3 years old.
--Patrick
Honestly, what I have now is a notebook (netbook? I don't even know the proper term; it's a tiny laptop), which barely runs even Rogue Legacy on low settings.
But it'll still run the games I want, right? Not to repeat myself, but Arkham Knight when it comes out?
GasBandit
Staff member
Star citizen isn't out yet, it's still VERY in development. That said, it's the most talked-about upcoming PC game on earth right now, so if it were me, I'd use that as one of my choices. If you don't have Saints Row 4, grab it, but make sure you get and play Saints Row 3 first if you haven't already. For the third game, yes, Just Cause 2 is dirt cheap on steam. If you haven't played Deus Ex, GET THAT. It's an excellent sci-fi RPG with a great story. If you've already done Deus Ex, the Supreme Commander Gold Edition combo pack is a great way to snag HANDS DOWN THE BEST RTS GAME EVER MADE. Tomb Raider wasn't my thing, but other people like it. Stay away from Sleeping dogs. I dunno anything about Alien Isolation. I was disappointed in Hitman: Absolution. Don't get the Thief remake, either.
I'm also assuming you've played Alan Wake at some point? If you haven't, I think you might like it - the story of a horror author with memory loss who keeps finding pages of his own writing describing what's happening to him in real time is a literary device I really could sink my teeth into. But almost every steam sale it gets down under 10 bucks.
So I guess my recommendations go, in this order,
Star Citizen
Saints Row 4 (but get and play SR3 first)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Supreme Commander Gold Edition
Alan Wake[DOUBLEPOST=1417237208,1417237184][/DOUBLEPOST]
It'll be fine.
Played and beat SR3 on PS3, so yup, that's still a strong possibility. I've honestly yet to play Alan Wake and that might go on the consideration list.
Honestly, I'm not a big RTS fan. I don't have the patience for them. The only reason I love Age of Mythology so much is its use of various mythologies.
And I have very little interest in Deus Ex. Just never been a fan of the series. I also don't like hearing how the game gives you various ways to progress non-violently and yet still force you into boss fights. That's just piss poor design.
Sleeping Dogs was excellent, don't listen to Gas. It's basically True Crime: Hong Kong. In fact, I think it started out with that very title.
Alien Isolation is good shit, but only if you like survival horror, or Alien movies, or both. Especially both. If you love the first Alien movie, it does an incredible job of evoking that same atmosphere.
Saints Row 4 can usually be gotten dirt cheap on steam sales, but it's fun all the same. So is Saints Row 3, in fact, start with that one, because there's no going back from 4. WHY CAN'T I JUMP OVER THIS BUILDING?
DXHR is a good game, but not going to be everyone's cup of tea. If it doesn't fancy you, then don't sweat it, there's plenty of other good games out there.
Hitman... meh.
Tomb Raider was good in a very Uncharted sort of way, which is weird since Uncharted was totally copying Tomb Raider, and they all copy Indiana Jones.
Alien Isolation is good shit, but only if you like survival horror, or Alien movies, or both. Especially both. If you love the first Alien movie, it does an incredible job of evoking that same atmosphere.
Saints Row 4 can usually be gotten dirt cheap on steam sales, but it's fun all the same. So is Saints Row 3, in fact, start with that one, because there's no going back from 4. WHY CAN'T I JUMP OVER THIS BUILDING?
DXHR is a good game, but not going to be everyone's cup of tea. If it doesn't fancy you, then don't sweat it, there's plenty of other good games out there.
Hitman... meh.
Tomb Raider was good in a very Uncharted sort of way, which is weird since Uncharted was totally copying Tomb Raider, and they all copy Indiana Jones.
Watch Dogs actually isn't bad, it's just an average open world sandbox game. It's not the stellar game they promised, but it's enjoyable enough. It does have Ubisoft and Uplay stink all over it, though, so... yeah, stay away from that.
If @ThatNickGuy is going to join the PC Gaming Master Race, we have to teach him to be haughty and snub his nose at the likes of UPlay and Origin.
If @ThatNickGuy is going to join the PC Gaming Master Race, we have to teach him to be haughty and snub his nose at the likes of UPlay and Origin.
That system meets or (more often) exceeds the recommended requirements for the game.
As Gas said, It'll be fine.
--Patrick
Welp, Tomb Raider is crossed off my options for that 3 free games choices. I nabbed it on GreenManGaming for $5.93. Also got Arkham Origins for $3.99, which is about the price I was willing to pay for that. Strongly thinking of getting the Saints Row complete package that's at Humble Bumble right now for $13.
GasBandit
Staff member
It makes me wish I didn't already own 3 and 4 so I could buy them again.
Welcome back to PC gaming
Well, I mean...you could buy them FOR me, just to have that feeling of buying them again.It makes me wish I didn't already own 3 and 4 so I could buy them again.
Welcome back to PC gaming
The last time I got a good gaming rig, do you know what I wanted to play on it? Freedom Force. And not long after that, Half-Life 2. I think I did a small upgrade here and there after that. I remember playing City of Heroes on that, as well.[DOUBLEPOST=1417358120,1417357948][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, can I just say that HOLY SHIT, you can get a lot of AAA games dirt cheap during sales. I never looked closely at them because my netbook couldn't run them. But the price knocks even used Gamestop console version prices out of the park.
In the future, I'll be following your general rule, Gas: less than $10 or 75% off, whichever is cheaper.
Wellllll...except for maybe Arkham Knight. Because I can't wait to play that.
GasBandit
Staff member
Everybody lapses from time to time. I paid full price for Stick of Truth, and don't regret doing so.
When buying for console, I had a mostly firm rule about not spending more than $20. Which in recent years, I've only broken three times: Bioshock Infinite (used, but no regrets), GTA V (on release day, no regrets), and Amazing Spider-Man (oh, holy hell, loads of regrets). Traded them all back in for credit after beating each.
Purolator says my new computer is "on vehicle for delivery."
