^^^Get an Nvidia card. More options and better support from what I've seen. Even though you have low res monitor, you can downsample which makes it look way better. I'm stuck using a similar res display at the moment, and downsampling makes a big difference imo. Are you sure the res of your 60' plasma is on 1366x720?
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New to PC gaming - what to expect?
- Thread starter ArachosiA 78
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It will run games fine. You won't have to worry about an upgrade for awhile. Really, it's all about your taste (and wallet). If you want more performance on games and don't mind losing some image quality, lower the settings. It's not the end of the world if you have to lower some settings on a few games. My 5870 still runs most things max, but there is a few games I have to lower some settings for and I don't mind it at all. Everything still looks amazing IMO.
Normally I'd say this too, but tbh they both have their benefits and faults.
Dave_6
Member
Well I was originally going to go with an Nvidia card until this AMD deal popped up. Too many decisions...
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Scrub tactics is far worse than hacks anyways and scrub tactics is on all platforms, but was invented by tryhards on specific platforms I can't name without igniting a flamewar.
SneakyStephan
Banned
What the hell are you on about, you were nitpicking about one of the biggest benifits of owning a gaming pc, you were wrong, just let it go.
PC rules for BC, end of, it has nothing to do with consoles.
Look at the 'i need a new gaming pc' thread and ask for advice there, just give them your budget confines (min/max spending) and what you want.
You can get into 1080p 60 fps pc gaming for as little as 450 euros (without OS or monitor), as you spend more you'll get more performance.
I'd say the sweet spot for performance/dollar will be around the 650 dollar mark.
Depends on what kind of monitor you use (1080p or higher res, 60 hz or 120 hz, or multi monitor set ups) and how high settings you want to play your games on.
Any budget gaming pc built after 2008-2009 will still way outperform the consoles today.
If you build a decent pc now (i5 2500k, 8GB ram, a gtx 660ti or hd 7870) you'll probably be good for years to come.
There is a big bump in minimum requirements coming from the new console gen at the end of the year but again it all depends on what resolution you want to play on (1440p monitors etc) and if you want 120 hz.
At 1080p 60 fps you really don't need much hardware grunt right now and a gtx660ti/hd 7870 seems to be around what'll be in next gen consoles, it should run those ports adequatly, a sandy or ivy bridge cpu shits all over what is rumored to be in next gen consoles.
Yes you can.
And you'll learn to love keyboard and mouse, trust me
everyone does.In the same boat as you... will be finishing my build this weekend and I have NEVER had a gaming PC.
I've got an i3-3220 and Radeon HD 7770 to work with, so I'm looking forward to building the backlog as well!
full build http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/BDiT
I can promise you that this isn't a fanboy thing, I chose Nvidia because they are way better with updating drivers for new games. Also, more options graphically, more enthusiasts have them, more common on gaf so it's easier to get help when needed.
I wouldn't even consider AMD, but that's mostly based on complaints I've read over the years on this site. Maybe anecdotal, but you will almost always see AMD users complaining about lack of ability to do some new form of AA or down sampling types of stuff.
In fact, I'd bet that at least one of those two games it comes with will have new drivers on the day it releases from Nvidia, and AMD eventually. Just anecdotal from pc game launches around here, but I think most would agree with me.
SirButterstick
Banned
Scrub tactics?
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Cock Encumbered
The only people who ask that question are ones who use scrub tactics themselves.
IcyRhythms
Member
When people say run in Windowed mode, are we talking about the same mode with the borders around the screen? :-\
SirButterstick
Banned
Ha ha no, believe me I hate campers and teams that don't advance in BF3. I also think snipers are the worst. I'm like a skilled Elpresador.
I just wanted to know if we're talking quickscoping, or what.
SneakyStephan
Banned
I fully agree, just go nvidia and save yourself the headache, they are better.
I've owned a hd4870 and now a 6870 and have had way too many problems (poor amd frametimes which are now finally recognised as a problem causing uneven framerates, too many games releasing buggy or broken on AMD)
Amd cards don't have SGSSAA support which I am very envious of and the supersampling option in ccc doesn't work in a lot of games.
I've always been biased towards amd and I think nvidia are evil as can be, but their driver support and stability is decent (I always laugh at the outrage when a rare single game has issues on nvidia, they don't know how good they have it) and on the amd side it just isn't.
Usually the people going 'I have no problems' with amd are those with the highest end gpus... so when a game as usual has awful uneven framerates or something like skyrim or saints row 3 or homefront or witcher 2 or red orchestra 2 or sonic racing or prototype 2 or nfs most wanted (I could go on for a while here, you get the point) gets abysmal performance it'll still run over 35 fps on those high end cards and they don't notice it much.
Most games do work of course and for every game that has problems there are ten that work properly, but imo WAY too many (just look at the sample listed above...) don't.
Idk what amd is doing since 2010, shitting the bed I guess. I've owned amd cards since 2001 and it was never like this.
If I wanted to play those games at 25-40 fps with stutter then i'd play them on my ps3... on a modern pc that is not okay.
Felix Lighter
Member
Borderless windowed mode, which positions the window in a way to hide the borders and fills the screen pixel perfect. It has benefits over full screen mode most of the time, especially the ability to alt tab out of games quickly and easily. Some games incorporate the feature natively, some will require a utility that positions the window for you.
You're acting that just because the PC has a feature which consoles do not, that we should ignore any and all criticisms with regards to that feature. That is a poor attitude, and it doesn't help anyone.
That is aking to saying in the past "You shouldn't complain about having to update PC games, because at least PC games get updates". And yet, some people realized this was an issue and it could be improved. Here we are, years later, where manual updates are (mostly) a thing of the past.
I hope you can see my point. I'm not trying to diminish PC gaming in any way.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Yo Exodu5 I heard you hate PC.
SneakyStephan
Banned
No i'm not comparing it to that, and please don't take offense, I just think that you are putting bc in a poor light when it's once of the most consistently awesome features on a pc.
Not all games will work, that is true and worth pointing out, but you made it sound like bc is something to be wary about.
Considering none of these old games have had any developer updates or support for over a decade it's incredible that the vast vast majority work the way they do.
Maybe I took your words too strongly, if so then consider this as a counter point or perspective for the reader. Shades of gray and all that, and in this case BC is heavily leaning towards the awesome side of the scale, not the 'troubled and broken : beware' one.
Yes, I disagree with exodus on something so I'm calling him a pc hater and a peasant, you totally got me there man.
Thanks for that drive by snark stallion, it really adds to the discussion.
SirButterstick
Banned
I don't see this as an issue. If I wanted to play an SSI game from 1994 that was made to run on a Pentium 2, but takes a small amount of effort to get dosbox running right, I'd look at it as a minor inconvenience than something that warrants a criticism.
Last night I was playing Wing Commander. It took me 5 minutes of Google Fu to figure out how to play it full screen. I was amazed I could get a game from 1990 working on a modern system.
Personally, the tweaking, the overclocking, the monitoring really annoyed me, and I just wanted to play the games at first. But now I really like that aspect of it, you get a good feeling knowing that you are running the game as best you can with your hardware.
Again, a lot of my problems in the beginning came from the factory undervolting (is that a word?) my GPU. I was getting tons of crashes because of that. Overclocking is a must, but if you are new to it, I recommend having a Gaffer or two walk you through it. You should be able to get to 4.2 without any worries.
Another early issue I had was my mobo wasn't recognizing the ram, so I had to fuck with the mem test stuff and re seating the ram sticks, switching the jumpers. It was daunting for a new person to say the least. Fortunately you have GAF, who will tell you to RTFM (which really does help) but will can help you if you at least get a basic understanding.
My case is very rare though, and the confluence of these two things, plus trying oc'ing made PC seem like a huge pain in the ass in the beginning.
You want stability, if your shit is crashing frequently, something is wrong. Again, if you aren't comfortable building, I'd just go with a professional. I'm fairly sure the ram/mem test stuff was a problem relating to the way my friend and I built it the first time. We did shit cable management too.
After getting a local guy who does this kind of stuff for a living tear it down I'm much happier. The cables look great, and I have stability! The undervolting of the 580 was something I had to figure out on my own though.
Again, a lot of my problems in the beginning came from the factory undervolting (is that a word?) my GPU. I was getting tons of crashes because of that. Overclocking is a must, but if you are new to it, I recommend having a Gaffer or two walk you through it. You should be able to get to 4.2 without any worries.
Another early issue I had was my mobo wasn't recognizing the ram, so I had to fuck with the mem test stuff and re seating the ram sticks, switching the jumpers. It was daunting for a new person to say the least. Fortunately you have GAF, who will tell you to RTFM (which really does help) but will can help you if you at least get a basic understanding.
My case is very rare though, and the confluence of these two things, plus trying oc'ing made PC seem like a huge pain in the ass in the beginning.
You want stability, if your shit is crashing frequently, something is wrong. Again, if you aren't comfortable building, I'd just go with a professional. I'm fairly sure the ram/mem test stuff was a problem relating to the way my friend and I built it the first time. We did shit cable management too.
After getting a local guy who does this kind of stuff for a living tear it down I'm much happier. The cables look great, and I have stability! The undervolting of the 580 was something I had to figure out on my own though.
Oh, absolutely. BC is one of PC's greatest strengths. I was just saying not to expect everything to be 100% plug and play. I wasn't attacking BC in any case...just giving an example of my latest technical issue.
I actually think this disclaimer might be more suited to modern emulation. Wii and PS2 emulation are very strong points to PC gaming, and are often selling points for new PC gamers on GAF. Wii games can look quite phenomenal on PCs, but getting a lot of games running at 100% can be tricky, and sometimes impossible. Wii emulation is incredible...I wouldn't play Xenoblade any other way. But I certainly wouldn't recommend it to everyone, at least not without a strong disclaimer.
I'd give a similar disclaimer for building PCs. I see posts that "building a PC is like building LEGOs, nothing can go wrong". Most builds go smoothly, sure...but if you happened to get a dud component, particularly if it's the motherboard or PSU, be prepared to have a hell of a time troubleshooting it. Some of us are willing to do that, some of us aren't. I'd say that if you're willing, building a PC is absolutely worthwhile and you'll gain a lot of experience by doing so.
I mostly take issue with new PC gamers getting the wrong impression by having unrealistic expectations. Too often I've seen people get into PC gaming and only give up because they simply don't have the time or patience when an issue pops up. I've seen it happen on GAF plenty of times. I'm just trying to offer a minor disclaimer here, nothing more.
I actually think this disclaimer might be more suited to modern emulation. Wii and PS2 emulation are very strong points to PC gaming, and are often selling points for new PC gamers on GAF. Wii games can look quite phenomenal on PCs, but getting a lot of games running at 100% can be tricky, and sometimes impossible. Wii emulation is incredible...I wouldn't play Xenoblade any other way. But I certainly wouldn't recommend it to everyone, at least not without a strong disclaimer.
I'd give a similar disclaimer for building PCs. I see posts that "building a PC is like building LEGOs, nothing can go wrong". Most builds go smoothly, sure...but if you happened to get a dud component, particularly if it's the motherboard or PSU, be prepared to have a hell of a time troubleshooting it. Some of us are willing to do that, some of us aren't. I'd say that if you're willing, building a PC is absolutely worthwhile and you'll gain a lot of experience by doing so.
I mostly take issue with new PC gamers getting the wrong impression by having unrealistic expectations. Too often I've seen people get into PC gaming and only give up because they simply don't have the time or patience when an issue pops up. I've seen it happen on GAF plenty of times. I'm just trying to offer a minor disclaimer here, nothing more.
Burgess_101
Member
Im going to agree and say Nvidia are better overall, AMD is great as budget option but on the highend I would rather stick with Nvidia. I have two 7870's at the moment and want to sell them to get 2 680's or if I can somehow pull the money together a titan or 690.
Definitely debatable
- P2P is less accurate and far slower
- Costs money
- Lower skillcap
- Bunch of ten year olds screaming obceneties
7970 has double the TFLOPS (when slightly OC'd) of the Next-Generation console specs.
You will be more than fine.
Burgess_101
Member
The biggest drawback to PC gaming is that you'll likely find yourself spending a lot of time not playing games. Tweaking, finding fixes for various issues, mods etc. All can be time consuming if you let yourself get drawn into it, like I do
How is that a drawback, thats the advantage of PC gaming
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Most of the people who are drawn to that level of tweaking actually enjoy it so uh, it's not really a drawback.The biggest drawback to PC gaming is that you'll likely find yourself spending a lot of time not playing games. Tweaking, finding fixes for various issues, mods etc. All can be time consuming if you let yourself get drawn into it, like I do
ThaiGrocer
Member
Expect a Portal 2 or Half-Life movie launch on Steam.
Labombadog
Member
I'm going to agree with TheExodu5.
New comers to PC gaming need to adjust to actually customizing settings, ini files, tweaking hardware, and compatability issues. Once you get the gist of everything then it will click and it should be mostly smooth sailing....at least for the most part.
Most of the builds that I have done in the past have been super easy and no issues but there are times when I come across a dud hardware that fucks up everything and I have to troubleshoot and find which component is not working. Can be a pain in the ass at times and frustrating.
What this guy sai----
wtf.
New comers to PC gaming need to adjust to actually customizing settings, ini files, tweaking hardware, and compatability issues. Once you get the gist of everything then it will click and it should be mostly smooth sailing....at least for the most part.
Most of the builds that I have done in the past have been super easy and no issues but there are times when I come across a dud hardware that fucks up everything and I have to troubleshoot and find which component is not working. Can be a pain in the ass at times and frustrating.
What this guy sai----
wtf.
lol
Sentenza
Member
No, they don't, that's pretty much all optional stuff.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
It's not optional for looking cool on the internet.
Nabs
Member
Yep.
Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Finding fixes for various issues is annoying and sometimes the promise of mods tends to backfire. I've had to take "breaks" from games for one or both of those reasons and it kinda sucks.
Ideally you should take off-screen pictures using a cheap cellphone camera as well.
iNvid02
Member
http://www.geforce.co.uk/whats-new/articles/geforce-experience-open-beta-launched
that should allow you to 1 click optimise the supported games for your card, i've been using it and its pretty handy
this is solid advice, if you dont know how to do this then the original bmp will suffice.
that should allow you to 1 click optimise the supported games for your card, i've been using it and its pretty handy
easier than me maxing out all the options one by one : D
this is solid advice, if you dont know how to do this then the original bmp will suffice.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
That's fine if you aren't in the mood to mod a game, it can be a somewhat involved process and it's 100% optional. Fixing a gamestopping issue is usually as simple as googling the game name with a crude issue description or asking about it on Gaf. Actual tweaking ini's, digging up FOV fixes/widescreen solutions/AA methods is optional, just like modding, and no one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to do it.
Last year I thoroughly enjoyed spending time modding Stalker and then spending an hour or two finely tweaking the ini file and the game settings plus increasing the FOV. Just recently I've been savoring the delicious amount of tweaking Durante added to Dark Souls. I find it fairly offensive that those experiences are brushed under a rug labeled DRAWBACKS.
Huh?
Who needs AA bits for DmC when you could just render it at 3600x2025 and downsample?
Can't say I've ever tried that resolution. I've tried 2560*1440 downsampled to 1080p and the results are not as good as I would like. 2x SSAA produces superior results.
maquiladora
Member
So I just got my first real PC for gaming today. Got Witcher 2 on sale on Steam. Loaded it up.....
mindblown.gif
Apart from LoU, I won't be touching another game on the current gen consoles this year.
mindblown.gif
Apart from LoU, I won't be touching another game on the current gen consoles this year.
I'd say the "drawback" part is that you spend less time playing games. The benefit is that the gaming experience is better.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Who gives a shit how much time you spend playing a game? It's a choice you make.
Tragicomedy
Member
With a capable PC and one good Steam sale under your belt, you will never go back. It's that much better.
Am I the only one a bit disapppointed? I built my first pc too recently. I've played most games already on consoles and dont want to go back through them, minus elder scrolls to enjoy it without that damn level scaling.
So for me its mostly about the games only on pc. Most games seem to be rts or hardcore rpg which aren't my thing. I've tried a few gamds and got a few recommendations but theres not much that interests me.
That said its not a bad machine so I should be able to hold off buying a next-gen console for a while to see what they offer and which is best.
One advantage I really do like is the mouse. I've hated dual analogue for shooters from day one. Finally I can aim well!
So for me its mostly about the games only on pc. Most games seem to be rts or hardcore rpg which aren't my thing. I've tried a few gamds and got a few recommendations but theres not much that interests me.
That said its not a bad machine so I should be able to hold off buying a next-gen console for a while to see what they offer and which is best.
One advantage I really do like is the mouse. I've hated dual analogue for shooters from day one. Finally I can aim well!
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
what? Unless you are calling moba games like dota rts.
I would say hardly any rts or hardcore rpg games are released.
edit: oh, you were talking about stuff that aren't on the consoles. You got to play indie games and expand your horizons.
Try city building games.
They're like cocaine to me.
Also, Orcs Must Die/Orcs Must Die 2.