PC Advice

Badger

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Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
36
Mornin All

How's things? Long time no speak and all that. :)

I don't think I've ever been over on this side of the forums before. But today I'm hoping for some tech advice from you brainy types, on the thorny subject of buying a new PC.

It shouldn't be a thorny subject of course! Oh no, it should be a great thing, a fantastic position to be in and a fun problem to have. But being largely non technical I'm finding that the pressure to buy the right machine and not get stuck with a lemon, is completely spoiling the experience for me. :(

Mrs Badger told me a while ago that I could buy a new PC (she's not a bad old stick really) and could spend up to £1000. Now I know in high spech gaming PC terms this is not a huge amount these days, but to me it's a vast sum and one which is turning me into a bag of nerves.

So much so that I've had two months so far to think about it and am still no closer to deciding what I want to buy!

So I've decided that I've been going about it the wrong way. sure I don't know what I want, but I DO know what I want to do with it. There are two specific games on the horizon that I'm really looking forward to being able to play. (Before this I'd never dreamed I'd be able to.) They are "X-Rebirth" and "Arma 3". So I decided to look at the specs they would need and this should give me a clue as to what I should be looking to buy….. right?

Well it seems the folks developing "X" (would it be "Deep Silver"?) are being a little on the cagey side and not releasing specs. The best I could find were educated guesses. But the "Arma" folks have been much more accommodating and have published this;
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/19/arma-3-system-requirements-revealed/

Not that this means a whole lot to me, but I get the gist of it and I guess it gives me a jumping off point.

But what to do with this information? Clearly I'm not clever enough to assemble components and build the machine myself (and before anyone, however well meaning, says oh yes you are and it's like building lego… honestly..I'm not) but I do know a man who can.

Trouble is…… he's a really nice chap and all but…well he's not a gamer and while we've been chatting about what I'd like he's missed my point a few times when he talks tech and I talk gaming.

Anyone here read "PC Gamer"? Well I don't know about the US edition, but the UK mag publishes each month the specs for their gaming rig. The makes and prices of the components and a couple of months back (so not current anymore of course) it came to about £800. thinking I was being clever, I copied the specs, took them to the engineer fella and said, this is what I want, can you do this?

He uses specific suppliers of course, but as it turned out he was able to quote for most of the items on the list as they stood, but by the time he was done, not only was it not £800, but it was over the £1000 top ceiling.

He has to make some profit of this of course and I'm certainly not going to begrudge him that. But this coupled with the fact that at the end of the day I'm not 100% sure he understands what I'm looking for in terms of a gaming machine, has given me pause for thought.

But what options does that leave me with? Buying off the shelf? If so, which machine and from who? There are so many and I just know I'll screw this up if I just go out and choose one based on a partial understanding of specs for a game that's not been released yet. :(

The friendly engineer on the other hand comes with the benefit of being on hand should there be problems. It's so tempting a potential solution.

I just don't know which way to jump. Help! What would the smart party do?

All the best

Yours (with a technically challenged stripe) Badger
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
36
I'm not big on tech, but if all you want is a PC with those specs, this might be the answer:
http://www.meshcomputers.com/

With two examples here, which I think would run what you want and are below the price you want (no monitor though):
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTCONFIGPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=1005691
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTCONFIGPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=990621

EDIT: Apparently you can even get this one for less than £1000
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTCONFIGPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=1019434
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
9,177
Location
Manchester, United Kingdom
Hey Badger,

With 1000 pounds (sorry, I'm a goofy American that doesn't know how to make the 'pounds' symbol with my keyboard), you should be able to put together a very beefy system. Here is what I think you need to do:

1. Identify the components that you want.

This step isn't really all that hard, but it does take a little research. The most important components to consider are generally the CPU and the GPU. However, you must also find a motherboard that is compatible with those components, add RAM to the package, a hard drive (for storing information), and a PSU (something that is capable of providing enough power for your build). You will also need a case of course.

www.tomshardware.com is a great place to look to find suggestions about components or gaming builds. You can even post that you have 1000 pounds for a gaming build on their forums and you will receive a wide variety of suggestions for what components to buy. They will do all the work for you! Well, besides buying them at least…

AMD and Intel both produce some quality CPUs, though Intel is generally considered to be a step ahead at the moment (though you will pay a premium for their good processors). The latest brand of hyper-threaded quad-core component with a decent clock speed should get you a long ways.

For GPUs, you will be looking for products from Nvidia or AMD. They are generally considered to be pretty even technology-wise. One thing to consider is that you will make things a lot easier on yourself if you match an AMD processor with an AMD video card and a Intel processor with a Nvidia card, especially if you intend to utilize something like SLI or Crossfire (which is using two video cards working together to increase performance). The technology for these components is constantly changing, and since I last built a computer about 6 months ago, I probably couldn't tell you what all the latest and greatest components are. The Nvidia GPUs are now in the 600 series. A good rule of thumb is that the higher the number, the better the quality. Keep in mind that something like a Nvidia 280 is more powerful than something like a Nvidia 540 though. Despite being an older model, the "80" indicates that it was a powerful, high end GPU when it was released. You can see the performance results in the thread of the new Nividia 680 here on RPGWatch.

2. Search for good deals.


www.newegg.com and www.tigerdirect.com are two good websites for buying new PC components at reasonable prices. I have also used Ebay to find good parts at heavily discounted prices, but you have to be somewhat patient for it to work.

3. After identifying components and finding good deals, purchase them and have your computer guy put it together!

Even though you said not to bother mentioning it, all it takes is a screwdriver and some patience to figure it out on your own! ;)

Here are the builds I have put together over the last year and a half that might be able to provide a bit of a blueprint for you —

My primary gaming build:

Intel 980x i7 CPU @ 3.33 GHz, 6 hyper-threaded cores (note that Intel CPUs have advanced beyond this series, but i3, i5, and i7 are still ways to identify low, medium, and high end processors. This puppy ran for $1,000 when I was building this computer, but I was able to find it on Ebay for $500).

2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 570's working together in SLI (I could only afford to buy one at first, and bought the second off Ebay about six months later at a discounted rate).

12 GB RAM @ 1600 MHz
(RAM is generally not that important for gaming, but it still plays a role. Generally speaking it is important for multi-tasking and usually is not too expensive. The amount and the clock speed of the RAM are both worth considering for the best possible performance).

120 GB Intel Solid State Disk Drive (I would recommend picking up a solid state drive to put Windows on — or whatever other operating system you plan to run. It vastly improves boot up time and program loading. This is my C: drive).

1 TB HDD @ 7200 RPM (this is my storage drive. I put all games on this drive unless for some reason it demands a lot, then I will put it on the solid state drive. HDD's are generally not too expensive these days — at least they weren't last I looked. This is my E: drive).

PSU is some 850 W unit and the motherboard is some Asus brand I believe. Whatever you do with your PSU, make sure it has a high enough watt output to meet the demands of whatever you are putting in. 850 is probably more than enough. 600 is probably fine if you're not doing SLI or Crossfire. If you do intend to use SLI or Crossfire now or in the future, make sure to plan with you PSU and get a motherboard that supports it!

This build cost me a little over $1,000.

My lower-end build:

Intel i5-2400 CPU, 4 hyper-threaded cores @ 3.1 GHz(this is a newer processor line than the one in my gaming build and actually measures up pretty well with my gaming PC's. The "2400" number indicates the quality).

2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 260's in SLI (started with one as a leftover from an old build and bought another on Ebay. These are older, but pretty decent cards still, and you can find them for very cheap).

4 GB RAM @ 1333 Mhz


30 GB SSD (can't remember the brand. For the OS)

1 TB HDD
(again, for storage)

A 650W PSU and I think another Asus brand motherboard. This build was much less expensive (less than $500 I believe). Both this and my gaming build run Windows 7 64 bit and have some $50 Rosewill cases.

A gaming PC for my brother:

This one is actually an old Alienware that has been upgraded over the years (this is where the old GTX 260 came from for my lower-end build). I can't remember what all the components are, but it is an AMD build that is a little something like this.

AMD Phenom II 1090T, 6 cores @ 3.2 GHz


AMD Radeon 6850 (the "6850" indicates how high-end the unit is…6870 is above it and 6900 was the highest end of this series. I believe they are in the 7000 series now or will be soon).

4 GB RAM (not sure the clock speed, but it's not very fast, it's pretty old, but still works fine).

Can't remember the board or PSU. This machine runs Windows Vista 32 bit.
 
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Joined
Sep 16, 2011
Messages
791
I've not been paying too much attention to hardware, but I recently did a small/cheap upgrade for my old computer.

In general you'd want to assure the following:
  • A CPU above 3.0GHz (like Intel i5 or i7 series).
  • 64-bit Windows.
  • 8Gb+ memory.
  • Get some advice on which 3d-graphicscard to get.
  • Get a decent mainboard with automatic fan controls. Ask your friend to check the specs of whatever you decide on.
  • A SSD harddrive can make your OS really snap but is not required for gaming. Somewhat a luxury item. An added cost of including them.

My personally preferences are:
  • Get a great LCD monitor. Beware! There are a lot of crappy LCD monitors in the market now. Good image and color quality can be just as important as the framerate in your games.
  • Get a great audiocard (preferably USB-based). Default soundcards in prepackaged builds can be poor.
  • Get some great sealed headphones. Depends on what you're used but most games today sports great audio. Don't loose that with crappy audio equipment.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
1,163
Location
Scandinavia
I'm a UK PC gamer, and have had two desktop gaming PCs from Scan. They have been great in terms of customer service (they have a mobile repair service, so when the fan broke in my current machine whilst under warranty they sent a bloke round to our house to replace it - no more waiting while you send your machine back). The machines themselves are built and tested extensively before being shipped - they've been pretty reliable (apart from aforementioned issue).

The good thing about having a warranty is that you basically get free parts for a year if anything goes wrong (I'm not keen on tinkering inside PCs either).

Options for various budgets here:

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/Category.asp?SystemMasterCategoryID=20

For example this machine:

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=1209

Gets you a nice Sandy Bridge processor (OCed to 4.5ghz, so pretty darn fast), 4 ghz RAM, a Nvidia 550Ti and a 500GB hard drive for £782. If you have scope to go up to £1k, you can increase the RAM to 8ghz and the hard drive to 1 Tb for peanuts (about £10-15 for each) and also allow you to upgrade to a lovely Gtx 580 which puts you up to about £1020 (including VAT, warranty, delivery etc).

NB the Nvidia 560Ti series seem to have had some problems (not sure if this also applies to the 550Ti) so upgrading to the 580 will also mean you will bypass these problems (I have a 580 in my current machine).
 
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Joined
Aug 12, 2007
Messages
542
Location
Englandland
1000£ (hold "ALT" and press 0163 on the numbers pad) is more money than you need. Honestly I wouldn't know where to spend that much. You can easily save a few 100 bucks if you have to find money for a TFT.

We had this topic several times over the last couple of weeks. You can find detailed answers with the search function.

My recommendation is translating the relevant pages in this article with Babelfish and use it to get started. It's only 2 weeks old and updated every month.
You can mix the 750€ PC and the 1000€ PC as you wish or take some inspiration from the 500€ PC.
Even the 500€ PC is fast enough to play most games in FullHD resolution. I have something slightly slower than that, and I see no reason to upgrade. I think I'm not even close to considering an upgrade.

Generally speaking the limiting factor for most games nowadays is the graphics card, not the CPU.

What you want is:
- CPU Intel i5 (K) with the best bang for the buck. Which one you pick in the end isn't that important as long as the general direction is right.
- a well chosen mainboard with exactly what you need, but not more. No need to spend 200€ on a m/b.
- 8 GB RAM. Only major brand, but then their standard stuff.
- a hard disk
- an SSD is optional. Nice to have, but you don't really need it. Windows 7 on an SSD is going into overdrive though. ;)
- a graphics card at least in the 150€ range. Maybe more. Beware of noise unless your favourite genre is helicopter simulations! This is the most important choice.
- optional: a sound card. Onboard sound is okay. A Creative sound card is better, if you have adequate speakers or headphones to get the surround sound out without loosing quality.
- An optical drive. DVD-RW or Blu-Ray writer (50 bucks more).
- a major brand power supply.
- a Win 7 64bit license (OEM or System Builder, not the expensive full version!)
- a case to stuff everything into.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
7,830
Hmm, I assume building it yourself is not an option? If it is, you can save quite a bit by not replacing the cabinet, power supply, dvd-rom and so on. A full gaming rig usually only requires the following upgrades:
- Motherboard (if the socket type is too old, otherwise you don't have to replace it).
- CPU
- RAM
- Graphics card

Add an SSD if you want faster response times in Windows etc. Doesn't really speed up games too much though.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
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Location
Bergen
Thanks for going to the trouble of such in depth replies lads and for responding so quickly.

Not that I'm saying I'm leaning toward an off the shelf option as such, but I couldn't help having my interest peeked a bit by Padio's links. That's not the first time Mesh have been recomended to me. So out of interest, what does the forum think of the following build?

Full Specification
"AMD FX - 8150 Processor
(3.6/4.2GHz , 16MB Cache, 8x Cores)
Corsair H60 Liquid Cooling
Professional Overclock Included
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
ASUS® M5A99X EVO Motherboard
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD 7770
8GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory
1TB SATA III - 6GB/s 7200rpm HDD
650W Quiet Modular PSU
"

998396 Cooler Master Elite 430 All Black ATX Case

1010624 Modular 650W Quiet 80+ Dual Rail High Efficiency Power Supply

988564 ASUS M5A99X EVO - USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX™/SLI™

989206 AMD FX 8150 Black Edition, 8 Core, 3.6GHz/4.2GHz, 16MB Cache

990361 Corsair H60 High-performance CPU Liquid Cooler

1005807 AMD FX CPU professionally overclocked (Air/Liquid CPU Cooler is required)

885640 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Memory (2x4GB) - CRUCIAL Ballistix Kit

1010998 1GB AMD RADEON™ HD7770 - DVI/ HDMI/ 2mDP, EyeFinity 4 Capable

993627 1TB SATA III 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64Mb Cache, 8ms Hard Drive

90145 22x SATA Dual Layer DVD-Rewritable Super Format ±R/±RW/RAM

642383 Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit - inc DVD & Licence(R)

100473 FREE Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter Edition

83284 BullGuard Internet Security ver. 10 - 90 Day Trial (pre-installed OS required)
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
36
Not that I'm saying I'm leaning toward an off the shelf option as such, but I couldn't help having my interest peeked a bit by Padio's links. That's not the first time Mesh have been recomended to me. So out of interest, what does the forum think of the following build?

Full Specification
"AMD FX - 8150 Processor
(3.6/4.2GHz , 16MB Cache, 8x Cores)
Corsair H60 Liquid Cooling
Professional Overclock Included
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
ASUS® M5A99X EVO Motherboard
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD 7770
8GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory
1TB SATA III - 6GB/s 7200rpm HDD
650W Quiet Modular PSU
"

There is very little reason for you going for an AMD cpu these days. If overclockability is on your mind you are better off with a core i5 2500K which is actually quite decent stock too and you don't need any fancy cooling option in that case either. HD7770 is a very modest card… Quite a bit worst than my 2+ years old 5870… There is a boatload of better options out there to fit your budget and be more future proof…

Also buy a named PSU to be on the safe side… I had to smile on all those cool sounding cooling options for such a modest rig (cop out!) :)

As I do not know UK prices for hardware I made a modest system on oveclockers to see what I would get below the 800£ price range on their configurator and I got this:
Options applied to the above product:
- No Security Software
- Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000 120mm Fan - 3/4 Pin (system build fan)
- Networking Not Selected
- No Case Mods Wanted
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050)
- OCZ ZS Series 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
- Onboard Sound Card (ZERO COST)
- No Hard Drive Upgrade
- OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
- No Hard Drive Upgrade
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002)
- Asus GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)
- Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
- No Upgrade - Intel Stock Cooler (None overclocked systems)
- No Overclocking Options (Zero Cost)
- Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
- Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black
Sub Total : £755.53

Their configuration options were pretty restrictive: I would have gone with a 64 or 32 MB cache 750 WD disk and different memory (a corsair 8GB Kit i.e) and probably a Gigabyte motherboard (i.e a Gigabyte-P67A D3 B3 that is solid, flexible and modestly priced) but this example is enough to give you an idea of what you can get for the money. You can save a bit of money on the 560ti with i.e an HD6870 but I would not go any lower than that for a new Rig if you want a bit of future proofness….

Anyway my 2c…

(P.S A better DVD RW for a couple of quid more wouldn't hurt. Also they snuck that case fan in there unnoticed sly people ;) )
 
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Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
1,734
"AMD FX - 8150 Processor
(3.6/4.2GHz , 16MB Cache, 8x Cores)

If this is supposed to become primarily a gaming system I really wouldn't be buying that CPU or any AMD CPU at all for that matter. They just aren't competitive at the moment.
I don't know about the prices in your country but here in Germany the FX-8150 is ~20% more expensive than an Intel i5-2500K but it also performs ~20% worse on average at 1680*1050.
So less performance for more money = not a good choice.

1GB AMD RADEON™ HD 7770

For a gaming system that is supposed to be used for more than casual gaming I would shoot for a higher end card. If it has to be AMD then I'd recommend to consider a HD 7850. On nVidia's side, the GTX 560Ti offers a great price/performance ratio.
I would personally go for nVidia because of better drivers, better compatibility with older games and because they have just announced some nice new features that they are going to introduce with the next driver release (FXAA support via the control panel, adaptive VSync as introduced with the GTX 680 and a frame limiter). That's some pretty impressive support right there.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
3,201
Yup, stay away from AMD CPUs - and I'd recommend an Nvidia GPU as well. Though, I think 560 is slightly too low-end for my tastes. Depending on what's left of the budget, I'd probably go for the 580. Whatever you do, though, stay away from dual GPU cards.

I would also seriously consider a nice and fast SSD for your OS/games. They're getting cheaper, and I'm personally going for the 240GB Intel 520 model.

120GB might be enough, but I wouldn't go lower than that - if you intend to play more than 2-3 games at a time.

You can always get a cheap storage drive on the side.
 
If I was to buy a new PC today it would probably be

3820 cpu - ~300$
mobo ~ 250$

or

2600k ~300$
mobo ~ 150$

with 8 gig of ram and 250$ videocard (560ti is what I'm using atm)

Question there is is it worth the extra 100$ for 2mb extra cashe 3820?
Also, is it worth adding an extra 300 for 2 more cpu cores?
Another 300 for extra high end video?

These costs are entirely to do with how soon before the next upgrade and not to do with running games today cranked to the max. They'll all run games cranked for a cycle at least.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Australia
For a gaming system that is supposed to be used for more than casual gaming I would shoot for a higher end card.
You're kidding right? "Casual" gaming? My silent HTPC rig uses a HD4770 and a Phenom II X3 and is able to run all current games on the highest settings. Of course, I'm restricted to 1280x720 but that's still higher than what most 360/PS3 games run at.

Not being able to run everything with 4xAA@1920x1080 != "casual gaming"
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
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You're kidding right? "Casual" gaming? My silent HTPC rig uses a HD4770 and a Phenom II X3 and is able to run all current games on the highest settings. Of course, I'm restricted to 1280x720 but that's still higher than what most 360/PS3 games run at.

Not being able to run everything with 4xAA@1920x1080 != "casual gaming"

That's bullshit.

That rig can't play games like The Witcher 2, Skyrim with high-end mods, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, etc. on highest settings.

Well, it can - but they'll run like crap.

Arma 3 will almost certainly be VERY demanding, and as such the OP would be extremely ill-advised listening to your ignorant statement.
 
Though, I think 560 is slightly too low-end for my tastes. Depending on what's left of the budget, I'd probably go for the 580.

With 560 you can play games like The Witcher 2, Skyrim with high-end mods, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, etc. on highest settings.
They won't run like crap.

Unless perhaps I run them on 7254276474234x762354762476245 resolution, but honestly I don't care if a game will look hyperrealistic or not so I usually don't change the game default resolution. Unless it's some ages old game, but in those cases I don't get some spectacular results, trust me.
:D

I got 560 based on the thread also on this site and it's Gainward's Phantom as was suggested by Moriendor - it's so silent that it's really fantastic when you don't hear an airplane engine while you're playing a game.
In any case there is no need to go for 580 or even higher unless your wallet if fat. But then I wouldn't buy 580 but at least 590. Meh, that's also low end, if you're using a wall on the building a mile far from you as a display pixels will have a size of an ant and that's too big, so grab 680GTX ASAP! :p
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
With 560 you can play games like The Witcher 2, Skyrim with high-end mods, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, etc. on highest settings.
They won't run like crap.

Unless perhaps I run them on 7254276474234x762354762476245 resolution, but honestly I don't care if a game will look hyperrealistic or not so I usually don't change the game default resolution. Unless it's some ages old game, but in those cases I don't get some spectacular results, trust me.
:D

I got 560 based on the thread also on this site and it's Gainward's Phantom as was suggested by Moriendor - it's so silent that it's really fantastic when you don't hear an airplane engine while you're playing a game.
In any case there is no need to go for 580 or even higher unless your wallet if fat. But then I wouldn't buy 580 but at least 590. Meh, that's also low end, grab 680GTX ASAP! :p

Did I say they would run like crap on 560?

Did I say there was a NEED to go for 580?

I said I would go for 580 if the budget allowed for it - but that's because I'm more demanding than the average consumer.
 
That's bullshit.

That rig can't play games like The Witcher 2, Skyrim with high-end mods, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, etc. on highest settings.

Well, it can - but they'll run like crap.

Arma 3 will almost certainly be VERY demanding, and as such the OP would be extremely ill-advised listening to your ignorant statement.

Oh really? Here is a video of me playing The Witcher 2 on that rig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDkaWkElKcM

Crysis 2? It runs fine with settings that look better than the console versions. Ditto for Battlefield 3.

Did I exaggerate when I said "Highest"? Maybe, but most of the time the absolute highest settings on PC games just turn on slow-ass post processing effects that don't make the game look that much better.

My main beef was with the "casual" statement. How the hell is not being able to use high-end mods in Skyrim suddenly equal "only good for casual gaming?"
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
188
Oh really? Here is a video of me playing The Witcher 2 on that rig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDkaWkElKcM

Crysis 2? It runs fine with settings that look better than the console versions. Ditto for Battlefield 3.

Did I exaggerate when I said "Highest"? Maybe, but most of the time the absolute highest settings on PC games just turn on slow-ass post processing effects that don't make the game look that much better.

My main beef was with the "casual" statement. How the hell is not being able to use high-end mods in Skyrim suddenly equal "only good for casual gaming?"

If you didn't actually mean highest settings - then you could very well be right. The vast majority of modern games can run "comfortably" on such a rig as yours - if you put your settings low enough.

It all depends on your personal demands. I'm extremely demanding myself, and I always take care to mention that subjective angle when I "advise".

Which is why I use words like "I would".

You're going crazy because of your personal interpretation of "casual" - and you'll note the quotation marks. That's because the term can be used in any number of ways - and I think Moriendor was being very clear.

He's just saying that if you want to run modern games on high setting - you'll want more.

I agree with him, but we all have different demands - and if you think of post-processing effects as something that looks like crap, I can appreciate your position.

But you're speaking about it as a fact, not a personal opinion. So, I don't think you're a good person to ask for advice.
 
I said I would go for 580 if the budget allowed for it - but that's because I'm more demanding than the average consumer.

The average consumer is perfectly happy playing on a device with the equivalent of an ATI X1950XT. There is a very large gap between that and a GTX580.
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
188
The average consumer is perfectly happy playing on a device with the equivalent of an ATI X1950XT. There is a very large gap between that and a GTX580.

What part of me being more demanding than the average consumer don't you understand?

I have a 6990 card, and I still have games that don't perform as well as I'd like - even when they work great on ATI drivers.
 
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