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Help a console only guy begin PC gaming!

F

Fatghost

Gas Guzzler
I haven't been into PC games since, well, Doom 1 and Tie Fighter. So I've missed just about every PC game from about Quake to Age of Empires III (although I have had some wonderful times with Age of Empires I and II).

So, here's what I'd like to do: get a decent PC set up (hopefully I can just upgrade my current home PC) to be able to play everything from 1996 to 2005 well (Age of Empires III especially). I'm not too worried about future games, I mostly want to just catch up on what I've missed up to the present day. I'll get a new PC in 12-18 months for work purposes so at that point I'll go crazy.

So, I need help in two areas: 1. Help figuring out hardware (as in what to get, what I need, and what can my current machine handle) and 2. What games should I pick up and play first?


So my current hardware:

Pentium P4 2.4 ghz, 256 MB DDR RAM, Radeon 7000 32 MB. My mother board has 8x AGP but not PCI Express. The machine is 2 years old. I know the video card is a joke and the RAM is anemic. I'm thinking 2x 512 MD DDR RAM and a new vid card - ATI X800?

The other thing I want is a card that can output 1280x720 - I want to run my games on my Sony 42" RP LCD through DVI, and I'd like to get as close as possible to native res.

Games I'm most interested in running well right now are Half Life 2 and Age of Empires III, but Call of Duty 2 also looks good.

Help me GAF, you're my only hope!
 
R

Reilly

Member
sly said:
How is that relevant?
Click to expand...


So, I need help in two areas: 1. Help figuring out hardware (as in what to get, what I need, and what can my current machine handle) and 2. What games should I pick up and play first?
Click to expand...

rolleyes.gif
 
F

FFunit

Banned
if you are looking for a serious FPS which doesnt have the "play for 2 months and then get bored of it" factor, I suggest you should get Counter Strike. Its imo, the only FPS that never gets boring. I play it for over 4 years and still havent got enough of it. Although I have to admit that Steam is a pile of shit. Im still mad at Valve for taking WON down.
 
T

teacupcopter

Banned
World of Warcraft FTW

True story.

Nah umm... I was in your position. But the last game I had played was HL1. I got my PC about 5 months ago now? Athlon 64 3500+/1 Gig Ram, DVD drive, ATI X800XL... works sexfully. I love it.
 
R

Rur0ni

Member
So its for this gen and back.

AGP Slot? Get an x800pro(or something similar) or 6800GT. Get 1GB of ram, as long as its compatible with mobo.

Games:

Starcraft (RTS) (best RTS there is, unless you prefer C&C Red Alert style)
Half-Life (FPS) (Get)
Half-Life2 (FPS) (Get the extensions too, CS:S(Counter Terrorist stuff) and DoD:S (WWII))
Max Payne (3rd person)
Max Payne 2 (3rd person)
Call of Duty (FPS)
Call of Duty2 (FPS)
Civilization 4 (TBS) (only if you like turn based, in any case, civ rules, really)
Grand Theft Auto: SA (3rd person)
Battlefield 2 (FPS)
Prince of Persia (platformer)
Prince of Persia 2 (platformer)

Dunno what to tell ya, I really dont care about older games(read cant remember them enough to mention them). Ask the others.

On another note, Starcraft cant change resolutions.
 
S

SyNapSe

Member
Recent games that aren't too outdated..

Grab the Warcraft III battle pack (or whatever it is.. original game + TFT)

Call of Duty - It's pretty much good for one play-through because it's heavily scripted, but it's really quite fun. Like a lot of FPS the single player I just play through as a training for going online, but it's worth it to play through just for the single player experience.

TFC - HL Unfortunately, you pretty much missed out on this. :( Keep your eyes open for a TFC:Source. At one point, TFC2 was on the books until CounterPoop came along.
 
T

Teknopathetic

Member
Now for a real list.

Baldur's Gate II
Planescape: Torment
Freespace 2
Thief 2
Deus Ex
Commandos 1-3
Icewind Dale 1-2 if you dug Baldur's Gate II
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri if you dig Civilization
Jagged Alliance 2
Grim Fandango
Curse of Monkey Island (play Monkey Island 1-2 to get all the jokes)
Arx Fatalis
System Shock 2

All of those are pretty much 9-10/10. Some older games, nothing older than around 1998, though. They're pretty much all classics.
 
S

Shogun

Member
Radeon 9500 and above at pricewatch can out that kind of revolution, are still available in AGP 8X and are much cheaper now, about 50 for the 9500 to 100 for the 9700. I would suggest looking for one. It's also pretty cheap for DDR Ram, see what the maximum mHz Ram is for your motherboard, then get 512 of it, maybe 1 Gig if you have the money.

For some of the games you may have missed, I would recommend the following:

Unreal Tournament 2004
Tron 2.0
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War, and Winter Assault it's expansion pack
Evil Genius
Warcraft 3 and it's expansion pack The Frozen Throne
Deus Ex and to a lesser extent Deus Ex 2: Invisible War
Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Darwinia
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Silent Hunter III
X2: The Threat and the upcoming X3: The Reunion
Galactic Civilizations
World of Warcraft
Civilization 4
Homeworld 1 and 2
Alien Vs. Predator 2
Far Cry
Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition
Baldur's Gate Series
KOTOR Series
 
P

Parallax Scroll

Banned
Definitely play Half-Life, then Half-Life 2. Try out Counter-Strike: Source in there somewhere. Definitely try Starcraft, both the single-player campaign and multiplayer on Battle.net.
 
S

Shogun

Member
He said he played Age of Empire III and that was out in 1999 so Starcraft, Halflife and older classics he probably played.
 
S

Syb

Member
I'd get the SOURCE versions of the original Half Life titles instead. (Half Life: Source, Blue Shift: Source..)
 
F

Fatghost

Gas Guzzler
Shogun said:
He said he played Age of Empire III and that was out in 1999 so Starcraft, Halflife and older classics he probably played.
Click to expand...


Actually, I played AoE 1 and 2, but not those other games. I kinda stumbled across AoE in a vaccuum really.
 
F

FFunit

Banned
like I said, get Counter Strike for FPS games. DONT EVER EVER EVER start with CS: Source before the original one. Cause Source sucks major ass.
 
F

Fatghost

Gas Guzzler
OK - so to play today's games (Half Life 2, AoE 3, maybe Doom 3) and older,

is it worth it to pay 300 canadian for the X800 XL, or would I get almost as much out of paying 150 for a 9600 XT with 128 MB?

The choice is between:

9600 XT

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10065771&catid=

or

X800 XL

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10059866&catid=

I'd really like to save money where possible - I figure I'll wait till next year and get a whole new system before I blow my brains out on upgrading. If I can get, say, 80% of the performance out of the cheaper option, that would be the way I want to go.

Also, I want to run 1280x720 for these games and run it out DVI to my LCD RP TV, so I won't be running super high resolutions on more recent games.
 
T

teepo

Member
Fatghost28 said:
OK - so to play today's games (Half Life 2, AoE 3, maybe Doom 3) and older,

is it worth it to pay 300 canadian for the X800 XL, or would I get almost as much out of paying 150 for a 9600 XT with 128 MB?

The choice is between:

9600 XT

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10065771&catid=

or

X800 XL

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10059866&catid=

I'd really like to save money where possible - I figure I'll wait till next year and get a whole new system before I blow my brains out on upgrading. If I can get, say, 80% of the performance out of the cheaper option, that would be the way I want to go.

Also, I want to run 1280x720 for these games and run it out DVI to my LCD RP TV, so I won't be running super high resolutions on more recent games.
Click to expand...

i would get a 6800 over the x800 xl just because of the shader model 3.0 support.
 
M

Monk

Banned
I have no idea about that :( I am not that much of a techie. All I am basing this on is how happy i am with my 9700 pro.
 
M

Monk

Banned
Wait dont buy it yet. Or try and change it atleast. The x800 XL looks like a beast and with the discount it looks well worth it.:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1808&page=9


EDIT: Even I amy be buying one @_@.

Good Job ATi!

If you're looking for something faster than the mainstream videocards on the market but don't want to mortgage your house, the ATi Radeon X800 XL is exactly what the doctor ordered. Early third-party X800 XL videocards were going for as high as $500 CDN, but since ATi came to the market with its own X800 XL, prices have settled down. Now you can find some X800 XL's below ATi's MSRP of $399 CDN.

The 3D performance of the ATi Radeon X800 XL was excellent. It scored well in every test we threw at it, even when AA and AF were involved. The card would routinely battle it out with the more expensive MSI GeForce 6800GT for second place, and when overclocked performed close to X800 XT levels.

The extra hardware that accompanies the ATi Radeon X800 XL is useful. The card comes with everything necessary to connect the PC to a TV. We're disappointed that ATi does not include any sort of software bundle, but this has never been the companies strong suit.

The ATi Radeon X800 XL is a great value king, and if you get your hands on one, you're going to be a very happy gamer!
 
F

Fatghost

Gas Guzzler
OK, I'll pick up an X800XL tomorrow.


Now, my motherboard is a ASUS P4S533. Will this card work with my MOBO? Can anyone here help me out? I hate to buy a card that won't work with my machine. Thanks!
 
E

ElyrionX

Member
FFunit said:
if you are looking for a serious FPS which doesnt have the "play for 2 months and then get bored of it" factor, I suggest you should get Counter Strike. Its imo, the only FPS that never gets boring. I play it for over 4 years and still havent got enough of it. Although I have to admit that Steam is a pile of shit. Im still mad at Valve for taking WON down.
Click to expand...

You need some new games.

Check out Battlefield 2 and you'll never go back to CS ever again.
 
H

HooDoo

Member
Didn't see Heroes of Might and Magic (3 or 4) mentioned yet, neither Total Annihilation with its expansion packs. But you can play it with your current computer anyway, not worth an upgrade.
And there can't be enough Planescape Torment love, can't go wrong with this game.
 
S

Shogun

Member
Fatghost28 said:
Actually, I played AoE 1 and 2, but not those other games. I kinda stumbled across AoE in a vaccuum really.
Click to expand...

In that case add to my list:

Diablo 2 and the Expansion Pack Lord of Destruction.
Thief 1 and 2
Mechwarrior III
Sid Meier's Alpha Centuari
Decent 3 Freespace 1 and 2
Tribes: Vengence
Freelancer / Starlancer
Railroad Tycoon 3
Rise of Nations
Full Throttle
Grim Fandango
Populous: The Beginning
Planescape: Torment
Sanitarium
 
Z

Zensetsu

Member
Teknopathetic said:
Now for a real list.

Baldur's Gate II
Planescape: Torment
Freespace 2
Thief 2
Deus Ex
Commandos 1-3
Icewind Dale 1-2 if you dug Baldur's Gate II
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri if you dig Civilization
Jagged Alliance 2
Grim Fandango
Curse of Monkey Island (play Monkey Island 1-2 to get all the jokes)
Arx Fatalis
System Shock 2

All of those are pretty much 9-10/10. Some older games, nothing older than around 1998, though. They're pretty much all classics.
Click to expand...



100% Pure gold, right here.

I'd throw Morrowind, Fallout 1&2 and Age of Mythology into the mix.
 
D

Deg

Banned
Dont buy the ATI. Get the Geforce 6800 especially if you are on AGP 8x. More bang for your buck. You also need more RAM. 1GB minimum.

If you cant afford to spend on at least a Geforce 6800GT then consider a Geforce 6800LE or plain 6800. Those can be software modded (rivatuner) to unlock more pipes and shader units making them them absolute bargains. They are also underclocked meaning you can overclock them quite abit.

OR go for the 6600GT. which is a safe bet and no hassle involved although unlocked 6800 are better. But bear in mind with modded 6800 you may get artifacting in 'some' games or if you are unlucky you cant change anything. My 6800LE cost me under £100 and i unlocked all pipes and shaders. Only 2 games get any graphical issues and they are minor. :D But you are not guaranteed anything although a partial unlock is likely.

The ATI cards lack SM3.0 support(more effects) for many games and are outperformed by Geforce cards too.

I am also worried your Harddisk may be too slow? HD makes a difference in the performance of some games.

First game you should get is Battlefield 2. Half Life 2 is also excellent.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Teknopathetic said:
Now for a real list.

Baldur's Gate II
Planescape: Torment
Freespace 2
Thief 2
Deus Ex
Commandos 1-3
Icewind Dale 1-2 if you dug Baldur's Gate II
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri if you dig Civilization
Jagged Alliance 2
Grim Fandango
Curse of Monkey Island (play Monkey Island 1-2 to get all the jokes)
Arx Fatalis
System Shock 2

All of those are pretty much 9-10/10. Some older games, nothing older than around 1998, though. They're pretty much all classics.
Click to expand...
Jeebus, we may not always get along on the GAF, but that is just a list from the gods. Couldn't possibly agree more. Listen to this man!!!

-the only change I would make is placing System Shock 2 at the top of the list. :D
 
F

Fatghost

Gas Guzzler
Deg said:
Dont buy the ATI. Get the Geforce 6800 especially if you are on AGP 8x. More bang for your buck. You also need more RAM. 1GB minimum.

If you cant afford to spend on at least a Geforce 6800GT then consider a Geforce 6800LE or plain 6800. Those can be software modded (rivatuner) to unlock more pipes and shader units making them them absolute bargains. They are also underclocked meaning you can overclock them quite abit.

OR go for the 6600GT. which is a safe bet and no hassle involved although unlocked 6800 are better. But bear in mind with modded 6800 you may get artifacting in 'some' games or if you are unlucky you cant change anything. My 6800LE cost me under £100 and i unlocked all pipes and shaders. Only 2 games get any graphical issues and they are minor. :D But you are not guaranteed anything although a partial unlock is likely.

The ATI cards lack SM3.0 support(more effects) for many games and are outperformed by Geforce cards too.

I am also worried your Harddisk may be too slow? HD makes a difference in the performance of some games.

First game you should get is Battlefield 2. Half Life 2 is also excellent.
Click to expand...

My HDD is 7200 RPM...are there faster out there now?

As for the GeForce 6800...the ones I've seen are way more expensive than the ATI. Also checking into my MOBO specs, I think I'm only 4x AGP.
 
E

etiolate

Banned
You should also upgrade your ram a bit for the FPS games.

Being of the console mindset, I'll give a list of what PC games I enjoyed or have:

Diablo 2 (recommended, console ease of play, people still play and its free to play)
Fallout 1 & 2 (prolly two of the best PC rpgs and different than most other RPGs)
Planescape Torment (couldn't get into this as much, but people worship the game for some reason)
Battlefield 2 (all FPS games get boring quick, I loved the demo of this but tired of the game sooner than expected. The engine for this game is junk so be warned. Still has great fun moments)
Guild Wars (love this game)
Neverwinter Nights (gets hate, but not from people who get the diamond/gold/whatever pack. Still, I'd get WOW, GW or D2 over it. Theres just so much you can do with NWN though)
KOTOR (dissapointment but prolly enjoyable_
Psychonauts (If you don't have it on console then get the PC version. NOWZ)

I also have a few demos and trial versions, beta testing forms of games like Worms World Party, Darwinia and Phantasy Star Online.

I think d2 is the safest sure bet to get into PC gaming. Try the Bioware RPGs. GW, WOW , PSO and other MMORPGs are very time consuming so beware. FPS I think is really redundant genre right now, but the half life games and bf2 have a big multiplayer setup. FEAR is the most interesting one to me right now.
 
DCX

DCX

DCX
blackadde said:
You missed Starcraft. My god.
Click to expand...
He's not the only one...i missed StarCraft, WarCraft and just about 89% of all the great PC titles. I only started PC gaming around the time the original Unreal came out.

DCX
 
T

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
With your system specs, get Warcraft III.

If you enjoyed playing Age of Empires online with all the nitpicking and bitching that people did to start a game that eventually ended after 30 minutes of economy teching because some guy disconnected, you're going to love Warcraft III.

Games take like 30 seconds to match and being. Games are quick (22 minutes or so) and fun.

Warcraft III will run on your system, and the game and the expansion together are like $40. Online gaming is free.
 
D

Deg

Banned
Fatghost28 said:
My HDD is 7200 RPM...are there faster out there now?

As for the GeForce 6800...the ones I've seen are way more expensive than the ATI. Also checking into my MOBO specs, I think I'm only 4x AGP.
Click to expand...

Well just make sure you keep it defragged.

I think you are mixed up. 6800LE is the cheapest 6800 series card. Look for that if you want the most bag for buck. For AGP users the 6800 architecture is better than the 6600 architecture.

4x AGP means you will get a slight performance loss no matter what. About 5-15% over 8x AGP i reckon.

Leadtek A400 for $169.00.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122193

Check out the Leadtek. Uses enhanced cooling so you can overclock alot more. But you have to free up an extra PCI slot as it uses very large copper sinks. Cooling is killer on these. This si not the LE version so it costs a little more but its safer to unlock to full and is powerful already. You get two free games and some nice software bundle too.

This is my reccomendation. Even if the softmod doesnt work its the best card at the price anyway. Bargain for AGP owners while they last. Unlocked you will get near 6800GT performance. You cant beat the price.
 
F

Fallout-NL

Member
Fatghost28 said:
I'm not too worried about future games, I mostly want to just catch up on what I've missed up to the present
Click to expand...

Dont know how far back you wanna go, but if Doom is the last thing you've played, you missed a lot, so check out:

Duke Nukem 3D (where shooters started to get really decent)
The Dig
Full Throttle
Curse of Monkey Island
Grim Fandango
Leisure Suit Larry 6
Jagged Alliance 2
Fallout (number 1 preferably, best RPG ever, especially if youre into post-apocalyptic stuff)
Dungeon Keeper
Diablo 1 and 2
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
StarCraft
Unreal
Deus Ex
Alien vs Predator (the 1999 version if I'm not mistaken)
Half-Life (hard to believe you might have actually missed that)
Along with Counter-Strike
The first Grand Theft Auto
Blade Runner
Hitman 47 (first one)
Quake 1-3
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (and thats the only Medal of Honor game you should play, the rest sucks)
Call of Duty
Jedi Knight 2 outcast
Max Payne
Mafia
Battlefield 1942 and 2 maybe while you're at it.

And System Shock 2 if you can get it to run on XP, I never could :(, tips anyone?

/edit: Oh and sure its ugly, but if you'v never played it, I'd consider Carmageddon. Now there's a game that caused a stir.
 
DCX

DCX

DCX
Fallout-NL said:
Dont know how far back you wanna go, but if Doom is the last thing you've played, you missed a lot, so check out:

Duke Nukem 3D (where shooters started to get really decent)
The Dig
Full Throttle
Curse of Monkey Island
Grim Fandango
Jagged Alliance 2
Fallout (number 1 preferably, best RPG ever, especially if youre into post-apocalyptic stuff)
Dungeon Keeper
Diablo 1 and 2
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
StarCraft
Unreal
Deus Ex
Alien vs Predator (the 1999 version if I'm not mistaken)
Half-Life (hard to believe you might have actually missed that)
Along with Counter-Strike
The first Grand Theft Auto
Blade Runner
Hitman 47 (first one)
Quake 1-3
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (and thats the only Medal of Honor game you should play, the rest sucks)
Call of Duty
Jedi Knight 2 outcast
Max Payne
Mafia
Battlefield 1942 and 2 maybe while you're at it.
Click to expand...

Never played.

DCX
 
N

Netrunner2k2

Member
Max Payne 1 and 2 are a must. Especially if you love a good, deep, and dark storyline.

The quality of both of the games are top-notch and are excellent in almost every way.
 
DCX

DCX

DCX
Fallout-NL said:
Eh the bold ones? (In that case, you've got your work cut out for you :D)
Click to expand...
Yeah i know...something i have never gotten into is RTSs, i fear them for some reason. I have been bred console and i fear the PC-centric titles on the market.

DCX
 
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