It's time for a massive PC gaming up grade
 

I've had my little computer for six years, trying to hang onto the gaming experience, my wife handed me the PC version of "Gears of War" yesterday and I immediately loaded it up which took on near an hour.

My wife has also put on hold Assassin's Creed PC version and I dare say I would run into the same drama.

Many errors started; firstly with the good old graphics card then a message saying my specs didn't meet the minimum requirement. I got the game to work but it looked like the 1981 version of Castle Wolfenstein :o

I knew straight away PC gaming technology had finally caught up with my little variant. I was going to ask what is the best to buy :hmm: but that's like asking which is better Holdens or Fords, Rugby League or AFL, SH3 or SH4, and in the end opinions are like arse-holes everyone has one :rotfl:more so in the PC gaming spec area :yep:

I'm not a console gamer I'm a PC gamer and with PC gaming you are able to mod the games sometimes very limited and other modding to make the game totally different [SH3 & 4 for example].

Having Gears of War sitting here looking at me and not being able to play it is killing me :nope:

Thought I would just share my day with you; in the struggle & life of a PC gamer ;)

I had to bite the bullit once also and my rig is still behind the times. :)

I've about rung all I can out of this one and am building a new one now.:yep:

Not so much in certain areas though...are you looking for something pre-built or are you planning on self-building?

If you're self building, you'll probably want either a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad, plenty of RAM (it's cheap these days), and a SATA II HDD and DVD Burner. From that point, the only real question is what video card, which is where the questions begin.

For $300, you can get the GeForce 9800 GTX, which runs about equivalently to AMD's (ex-ATI) Radeon 3870X2. For about $200, you could also go with the 8800 GT or GTS 512. Right now, any of these cards is a good buy.

Yup, good advice.

These days it seems that as soon as you swipe your credit card, your computer is already obsolete. :nope:

On the contrary...there hasn't been a truly significant upgrade in either CPU or GPU technology in some time. Sure, some die shrinks have been introduced, but there have been no fundamentally "game-changing" architectures (the Core 2 Duo and GeForce 8800 setting the bar) in either field since 2006.

I'm trying to build a system around this:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gx...gital/home.php

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It shouldn't matter. You should be able to use any graphics card, although if you're planning on driving three monitors, and 3D gaming, I'd suggest a high-end card.

Geforce 8800 series?

I'd suggest you get a 9600 - they go around half the price of 8800s - and they also run at half the temp. CPU speed is much more the limiting factor these days, so I'd invest heavy in a Wolfdale and a good, stable mainboard (the ABIT IP35 Pro and IX38 are insiders tips these days). For the graphics card I would get the 9600 with the option to replace it in 2 or 3 years. Also get a good, quality PSU of at least 500W, no matter what people are telling you.

August, I was also toying with the idea to get triple head. But I keep hearing user reviews that in the end it's nothing but hassle. So TrackIR might be a better investment.

Of course it must be a dream to drive the 1967 Spa Grand Prix in GPL on three projectors - but hey I'm not a millionaire.

The game i was going to use it for was Eve Online so trackIR wouldn't be really suitable.

What specifically are you hearing? Hassle in what way?


http://www.matrox.com/graphics/surro...EveOnline1.jpg

Oooh, think I'll be firing that one up again now that you've mentioned it :D

August, that looks damn cool

Bull**** unless you want to be on the bleeding edge.
Ofcourse if your computer wong give you all the eye canty available when its is a bit behind the bleeding edge, but calling it obsolete soon after purchase is bull****.

Yes, complete bull, and light hearted repeating it is annoying.

If you choose your components wisely, and buy when they are cheap/reliable, you can build a great system for a grand or less, and use it for 4 years upwards. My computer is running since 2004 - well it does not run SHIV, ArmA or the Witcher well enough - but 90% of the games I play are fine. Not to forget the system wasn't not even bleeding edge when I bought it.

It makes me angry when I see ppl buying consoles, buying macs, because of this rubbish. Byebye mods, freedom - hello retarded gameplay and enforced decision. Finally a system that I need not understand! It runs everything without problems - everything it wants to run!!