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[Unicorn]

I'm thinking of selling my PC.

I built it earlier this year for Dark Souls 2, and it already feels outdated to the point that it angers me. Fuck PC gaming.

Spoiler

PC gaming rules, but it's a cruel relationship.

Hmm. I built mine in 2011 (I think, maybe 2010) and it still can play current games.

I think just recently I had to stop using max settings (I will do the minimum AA in games).

Borderlands 2 was the first game to make me see framerate lower than 60 at max settings and bells and whistles.

I guess if you want to play at top-top-top of the line you may be disappointed, but my computer is still putting out better than consoles (will see with more recent releases eventually...)

I'm rocking a GTX480
4gb RAM
i5 750 quad @ 2.67ghz

 

[Rich!]

I've had the same 1GB Radeon 6870 for about three years now...and now it's showing its age. Even though I have an overclocked i7 and a silly amount of RAM, games just wont run in 1080p at 60fps anymore. I can't buy The Evil Within as I know it would run like shit.

I'm going to upgrade to a 4gb GTX 970 later this year. For about £250 it seems reasonable, even though we are getting ripped off here in the UK compared to elsewhere. And after three years, I definitely think I have got more milage out of my PC than with a console - I've saved a huge amount of money via the lower price of games too.

I see no reason why a 4GB GTX won't be enough for the rest of this console generation.

 

[Seanspeed]

Such a complete illogical point of view. Seems that You dont even care about quality of image in games too.
Are You just simply maxing games out to max out them out, not because of gameplay enchantment ramifications of better IQ and framerate?

It does seem to be a psychological thing with many people. They are simply unhappy if they cant have it all, no matter how good the actual result is.

 

[BigTnaples]

Eh, I have a good rig but buying mostly for the PS4 at the moment.

This will change later in the gen as it always does, but my PS4 is offering good enough graphics and performance at the moment.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

If my PC can't run something maxed, or it's missing SLI profiles or is poorly optimized, more often than not I go for the console version, and then pick up the PC version at some point.
I'm really not used to making compromises on PC. In fact, I usually go looking for things to get 'better than native' results with driver settings.

I never understand this thought process at all. "I can't run everything at max on my PC so I will instead get the console version at half the framerate and almost twice the price. " It doesn't make any sense.

 

[UrbanRats]

It does seem to be a psychological thing with many people. They are simply unhappy if they cant have it all, no matter how good the actual result is.

Or whether they can even tell the difference between high and ultra.

Personally i've only recently managed to get over that mental barrier, so i can't hate.

 

[LiveWire]

max or nothing

Preach it

 

[Seanspeed]

Or whether they can even tell the difference between high and ultra.

Personally i've only recently managed to get over that mental barrier, so i can't hate.

You don't have to be 'hating' when you point out that something is irrational. I'm sure many(most?) PC gamers understand that feeling of inadequacy, especially on an aging rig, but dealing with it by buying inferior console versions is just plain self destructive behaviour! lol

 

[UnrealEck]

I realized what was really bugging me was the thought that I might be playing the game at a lower visual quality than the best console version (which I guess is going to be PS4 most of the time).

For me, that thought never enters my mind if I'm playing a game on a computer with a GTX 680/770.

I never understand this thought process at all. "I can't run everything at max on my PC so I will instead get the console version at half the framerate and almost twice the price. " It doesn't make any sense.

Yep. I see this allll the time.

 

[godhandiscen]

Those mental gymnastics.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

For me, that thought never enters my mind if I'm playing a game on a computer with a GTX 680/770.

Yeah. I had a 680 before upgrading to a 980 when they came out and I never looked at system requirements and was still playing games on high most of the time. The scalability of games means you don't have to worry about upgrading for at least 3-4 years. Note that I only upgraded because max or GTFO. YMMV.

 

[diggmcbadass]

The obsession people have with running games at max is probably causing developers to actively dial back the highest setting available in their games to avoid bad pr and accusations of "poor optimizations". I don't mind having games that have "future only" features. That used to be the case for all PC games up until last generation. I would hate to see that flexibility get reduced, but that is where the bad PR attached to having more options is taking us.

 

[old manatee]

1080p, 60fps, turn off vsync, turn off motion blur, turn off depth of field, play game.

 

[THRILLH0]

Not really sure what to make of this thread. Your title suggests you don't care about the PC/console comparisons yet you go on to list all the ways the PC version looks better than the PS4 version.

If you were genuinely interested in making the point that you don't necessarily have to max out games on PC then you wouldn't have mentioned consoles at all.

Despite your protestations this really just comes across as another flavour of master race bullshit. "lol even on old hardware the PC shits all over consoles in most ways!"

 

[TAJ]

I never understand this thought process at all. "I can't run everything at max on my PC so I will instead get the console version at half the framerate and almost twice the price. " It doesn't make any sense.

It makes sense if you absolutely have to play a game minute one, day one.
I've had PC versions of multiplats that were flat-out disgusting upon install. My fresh install of Rage was probably the worst. All the wireframes were showing through and every poly had massively different, random levels of texture LoD, except the ones that were blinking in and out of existence. It looked less polished than Big Rigs on PSOne.

 

[UrbanRats]

You don't have to be 'hating' when you point out that something is irrational. I'm sure many(most?) PC gamers understand that feeling of inadequacy, especially on an aging rig, but dealing with it by buying inferior console versions is just plain self destructive behaviour! lol

That's true, however if the placebo effect is enough compensation, it kind of makes sense.
I mean the end game is feeling good, and sometimes, for some people, that comes through irrational decisions.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

Not really sure what to make of this thread. Your title suggests you don't care about the PC/console comparisons yet you go on to list all the ways the PC version looks better than the PS4 version.

If you were genuinely interested in making the point that you don't necessarily have to max out games on PC then you wouldn't have mentioned consoles at all.

Despite your protestations this really just comes across as another flavour of master race bullshit. "lol even on old hardware the PC shits all over consoles in most ways!"

I think it's more to the address the people who say "lol can't run this at max, I'll just get the PS4 version" when that doesn't make a whole lot of sense when even at medium settings it's still extremely playable and on par with if not better than the console versions.

 

[THRILLH0]

I think it's more to the address the people who say "lol can't run this at max, I'll just get the PS4 version" when that doesn't make a whole lot of sense when even at medium settings it's still extremely playable and on par with if not better than the console versions.

Oh that's a fair point.

But don't say "I don't care if it looks better than the PS4 version" when how it compares to it is pretty much the crux of the post.

 

[Htown]

After spending $500, you might not realize this, but 2 years is quite a long time with regards to technology.

I always feel like if you're trying to get performance and value, don't buy a $500 card up front. Buy the best $200 card you can find and then spend another 200 a few years later.

 

[alexandros]

Despite your protestations this really just comes across as another flavour of master race bullshit. "lol even on old hardware the PC shits all over consoles in most ways!"

The master race meme is indeed bullshit, the rest isn't. It is simply the truth. Even old PC hardware can provide a much better experience in most ways than a current gen console. The OP's comparison with gaming consoles is also valid and timely, since there are some people who follow the strange line of thinking that if they can't max out a game on PC they are better off with the console version. This is of course pure insanity since they are going with a clearly inferior version. I believe that attitude stems from the erstwhile urban myth that consoles somehow run games on max settings, while the truth is that their settings are simply locked at high, medium or low depending on how far we are into a generation.

Saying that the PC version of most (if not all) multiplatform games is clearly superior to the PS4 and XB1 versions isn't master race bullshit, it's the truth. There are a few valid reasons to choose a console version over a PC one but perfomance and image quality aren't one of them.

 

[Nzyme32]

Isn't this the joy of PC gaming - complete flexibility and a version of the game capable of providing all those enhanced features whenever you have the hardware for it while still being more than capable on lower end hardware. I'm currently playing alien isolation at 1366x768 (native) at medium on a 3 year old laptop gt525m, and its varies between 50-40fps while looking pretty great. Thats what my hardware is capable of and yet i can still play it with some things better or worse than on consoles. Does it matter to me - no, the fact I can do it all is great. Next year I can Max it out on my new machine and enjoy it all over again

 

[Sectus]

I've never obsessed about running games at its highest settings. What I try is to make sure I get my native resolution (because I hate how blurry scaling is) and get as close as possible to 60fps. Sometimes I can get that with highest settings, and other times I'll have to start turning things down.

The only time I feel more compelled to set things to highest at the cost of framerate is when I take screenshots or capture footage, then I want the game to look as best as it possibly can. Once youtube activates 60fps support, I'll prefer 60fps over graphics quality with my videos though.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

There is a psychological barrier as described in OP that a lot of people have, where accepting any setting below the highest means your card is obsolete, inadequate or what have you. It's a blow to the psyche to find out there's something you can't do, or something you can't do without compromising something, possibly framerate. The first time this happens on your video card is usually when it hits, but over time you'll stop caring if you're a healthy person and accept that turning down one setting isn't such a bad thing.

What people have to consider is the idea of future proofing games to some extent. The highest setting in some areas is often there just to push hardware because it can, even though it doesn't create much of a difference and is frequently not worth the tradeoff. If devs never included these settings, people wouldn't run into these wounds to their video-card epeen nearly as often, but there would be less scalability for the game going into the future - that feeling where you bought a new rig in 2011 and you could finally tame Crysis maxed out. I guess the phenomena we experienced with SoM is caused by considering it as the developer failing to optimize the game, rather than as a favor to people who might have ultra-high end rigs (titans etc) and people playing the game in the future. It is thought of unconsciously as them taking away from you, when actually they were giving something to others. Had there never been an ultra texture pack and ultra setting, there would have been no controversy at all. So why be upset?

Settings like ubserampling in The Witcher 2 didn't cause people to freak out because in their minds it was just a crazy IQ setting, some sort of Anti-Aliasing, and it gets mentally grouped sorted into the "optional stuff" bin. The ultra texture setting in SoM did cause people to freak out though, because texture quality is seen as one of the core parts of the graphics. Actually though, I would encourage developers to push in the direction of more and higher graphical settings to better take advantage of people using SLI, people using Titans and other ultra-high end cards, with the caveat that they adequately communicate their intention for it to be a "future / ultra high end" setting. At the same time tho, the PC community is going to have to suck it up and get used to this sort of thing, because it's actually to their benefit, not their detriment.

 

[alexandros]

Well said. Future proofing is a great thing.

 

[Windom Earle]

max or nothing

Yup. Fuck the OP with his hippie attitude.

 

[Panzerkrei]

What draws me to picking up a PC multiplat compared to console is the screenshot functions.

I know the PS4 has a share function but until there is a full lossless capture function available I would much rather capture excellent quality PNGs in FRAPS for instance.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Anyone else on GAF have a similar epiphany in their PC gaming experience?

TL;DR - Don't fret if you can't run a game on the highest settings on your PC. Turn down some options and enjoy the vastly better performance!

It isn't exactly a epiphany, it's what most pc gamers do since decades ago. You know, most people aren't buying a new gpu every 18 months, they HAVE to lower graphical settings at some point to play acceptably.

 

[Turin Turambar]

1080p, 60fps, turn off vsync, turn off motion blur, turn off depth of field, play game.

My brother in arms!

 

[Hasney]

I will turn everything down until I hit a nice 60fps and have always done. Would rather have Shadows of Mordor look like a PS2 game than not play it in buttery smoothness.

 

[Denton]

The thing I think many people overlook is also that Vsync can bust frames pretty badly if there is no triple buffering involved. Just yesterday I was wondering how to make Ryse stop performing like shit without turning settings down.
Solution - running the game in borderless windowed. Everything maxed in 1080p, game runs and plays great.
Same issue few months ago with Watch Dogs. Game runs like shit, constantly stutters between 30-60 in fullscreen. Once borderless windowed selected - smooth 45+ fps that plays great with everything on ultra except textures on high.

I have no idea why developers keep using shitty double buffered vsync, but as long as they include borderless windowed, at least I can get around it.

Turning off Vsync is not an option because the tears are usually gigantic and unplayable on the plasma TV I am using.

 

[CyanideFuse]

TL;DR - Don't fret if you can't run a game on the highest settings on your PC. Turn down some options and enjoy the vastly better performance!

I rarely see that much difference between high and ultra whereas I definitely see the difference between a choppy 45-60fps and a solid 60fps experience.

I don't have a problem tweaking settings to get the right balance of graphics and performance.

I think a lot of people, understandably, get angry when they have expensive systems with top-of-the-line components that perform poorly in some games (not naming names) and have to turn settings down to get it running at a decent frame rate.

 

[martino]

It does seem to be a psychological thing with many people. They are simply unhappy if they cant have it all, no matter how good the actual result is.

You can be happy with result you get only if you (care to) understand what you get behind the word ultra, high ect....

 

[Ozium]

this makes no sense to me.. I get wanting to run in max, but then why buy a console version?

Guarantee that you could achieve parity with console versions without maxing everything and then when you upgrade your PC the game will still be there and now look prettier/perform better.. and all you had to do was buy one copy.

 

[R_Deckard]

I think it's more to the address the people who say "lol can't run this at max, I'll just get the PS4 version" when that doesn't make a whole lot of sense when even at medium settings it's still extremely playable and on par with if not better than the console versions.

But this is just FUD!

Fact is if you have a PC for longer than a year or so without upgrading you will need to drop/tweak and change settings, looking over your shoulder at Console is as bad as bad as looking at your mates PC with SLI Titans etc. It is simply a fact that comprises are made for your chosen prefered settings be it framerate/IQ or eye candy or mixture there of, it is the strongest point of PC's and unless you get over this "barrier" you will struggle...less is sometimes more! Consoles are mostly the peak point of performance vs visual flair, on PC you have the option to change this.

 

[Ozium]

But this is just FUD!

Fact is if you have a PC for longer than a year or so without upgrading you will need to drop/tweak and change settings, looking over your shoulder at Console is as bad as bad as looking at your mates PC with SLI Titans etc. It is simply a fact that comprises are made for your chosen prefered settings be it framerate/IQ or eye candy or mixture there of, it is the strongest point of PC's and unless you get over this "barrier" you will struggle...less is sometimes more! Consoles are mostly the peak point of performance vs visual flair, on PC you have the option to change this.

Speaking of FUD...

edit: unless this is sarcasm

 

[Tizoc]

I have this sucker running with most settings on High and locked at 30 FPS.
Its a blast to play, but I really would've liked to play it at 60 FPS though.

 

[R_Deckard]

Speaking of FUD...

edit: unless this is sarcasm

No it is fact, unless you buy top tree components, look at the 780ti owners with 2gb ram, tweaks get made and right now is the worst time to upgrade hardware (well GPU anyway).

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

Some games I just wait it out until they are free on PS+, like REZ or Dragon's Dogma.
Other games are only on consoles anyway.
The rest I get on PC, whatever version is the cheapest, or whichever version has a proper UI and controls.

 

[Tidus_Great]

if it did run better it was an insignificant amount considering you spent way more on that pc than a ps4.

 

[CyanideFuse]

No it is fact, unless you buy top tree components, look at the 780ti owners with 2gb ram, tweaks get made and right now is the worst time to upgrade hardware (well GPU anyway).

It isn't fact on all games. I have a 2 year old graphics card and only a couple of games have been dropped from the top settings for 1080/60 experience.

**I am aware this will change but I am speaking of now**

Edit: And even if you do drop it down a touch here and there then you still get a better looking/performing game than the consoles. One setting can make the difference between a solid frame rate or an erratic one. I am not going 'lower' than a PS4/Xbox One experience so I am happy.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

No it is fact, unless you buy top tree components, look at the 780ti owners with 2gb ram, tweaks get made and right now is the worst time to upgrade hardware (well GPU anyway).

How is now the worst time to buy a GPU? The 970 is an incredible card at an incredible price. You can all but guarantee it will run games well at 1080/60 for at least the next 3 years. And even if you do have to turn down settings, who cares? You play on PC for the options and the scalability.

if it did run better it was an insignificant amount considering you spent way more on that pc than a ps4.

My PC cost £800. My PS4 cost £350. My games cost no more than £30 for PC, console games are £45. Free online for PC. £40 a year for consoles. Please tell me more about how much more my PC costs than a PS4 for twice the framerate and 1440p.

Edit: Also lol it didn't take long for this to come up did it?

 

[Tidus_Great]

My PC cost £800. My PS4 cost £350.

wow

 

[R_Deckard]

It isn't fact on all games. I have a 2 year old graphics card and only a couple of games have been dropped from the top settings for 1080/60 experience.

**I am aware this will change but I am speaking of now**

Edit: And even if you do drop it down a touch here and there then you still get a better looking/performing game than the consoles. One setting can make the difference between a solid frame rate or an erratic one. I am not going 'lower' than a PS4/Xbox One experience so I am happy.

How is now the worst time to buy a GPU? The 970 is an incredible card at an incredible price. You can all but guarantee it will run games well at 1080/60 for at least the next 3 years. And even if you do have to turn down settings, who cares? You play on PC for the options and the scalability.



My PC cost £800. My PS4 cost £350. My games cost no more than £30 for PC, console games are £45. Free online for PC. £40 a year for consoles. Please tell me more about how much more my PC costs than a PS4 for twice the framerate and 1440p.

Edit: Also lol it didn't take long for this to come up did it?

And this proves my point, you are already disagreeing with me and then in the same sentence agreeing, I am not getting into an argument on this but this is pretty much fact the only thing is how much you need to tweak and on which games.

EDIT: And no you really CANNOT guarantee that or anything else

 

[Gipsy Danger]

wow

I'm glad that's the only thing you took away from what I said. It's not like my PC can run games at 1440p/60fps, can emulate almost any platform under the sun, gets incredible exclusives and can do pretty much anything you want to with the right skills. But it's fine you can have your cinematic 30fps.

And this proves my point, you are already disagreeing with me and then in the same sentence agreeing, I am not getting into an argument on this but this is pretty much fact the only thing is how much you need to tweak and on which games.

I don't understand what your issue is. Is your problem that tweaking to get the best is too much effort? Because there are programs that will do that for you.

 

[CyanideFuse]

And this proves my point, you are already disagreeing with me and then in the same sentence agreeing, I am not getting into an argument on this but this is pretty much fact the only thing is how much you need to tweak and on which games.

Fact is if you have a PC for longer than a year or so without upgrading you will need to drop/tweak and change settings,

It reads like you mean all games need to be dropped to an extent for anyone with older-than-a-year systems. I did say that some games need dropping but not all games do to get the experience I want.

Anyway my e-knob is not too proud to take the hit.

 

[NIN90]

You totally could have gone for High textures on a 680. I have a 660 Ti 2GB and it ran fine that way. Medium textures look like ass in that game.

 

[CyanideFuse]

You totally could have gone for High textures on a 680. I have a 660 Ti and it ran fine that way. Medium textures look like ass in that game.

I don't know what DF was going on about; It sounded like high would be a total mess for anyone using a 2GB card. I have no stuttering whatsoever on my 2GB card using high.

 

[KKRT00]

if it did run better it was an insignificant amount considering you spent way more on that pc than a ps4.

This so stupid. What if he had i7-920, the CPU from 2008 and just upgrade to GTX 970. It would last him through the whole generation of playing console games in 60fps.
What then about the cost?

 

[RVinP]

Turning down highly accurate AO and lowering Shadow Resolution/Details, helps a lot in almost every game.

 

[R_Deckard]

I don't understand what your issue is. Is your problem that tweaking to get the best is too much effort? Because there are programs that will do that for you.

I have no issue I was only stating that in PC land you have to tweak and the OP seems to be comparing this to consoles which is pointless.

It reads like you mean all games need to be dropped to an extent for anyone with older-than-a-year systems. I did say that some games need dropping but not all games do to get the experience I want.

Anyway my e-knob is not too proud to take the hit.

No of course not and I am sorry for the confusion, within 2 years pretty much most of the PC community will have to make changes to hit there goals not ALL games but some but that is the joy of PC gaming IMOP, I still rock a 7870 going strong and I am running around and but soon enough under console (well PS4) settings it is a given and I understand that.

Hope that makes my point clearer and do not want to come across preachy!