Widescreen Gaming Forum

Tried it. Hated it.

I admit, I have a mere P4 3Ghz HyperThreading single core CPU, but my God I can play Assassins Creed, Stranglehold, Far Cry 2, and other games that supposedly require dual core with WAY better performance AND graphics settings.

True or not, you really have to ask yourself how much longer you can hold out with that extremely old processor, especially when games are more and more being designed around multi-core and take more and more advantage of them.

For all the complaints it got, Assassin's Creed was actually a very well ported game, I agree.

True or not, you really have to ask yourself how much longer you can hold out with that extremely old processor, especially when games are more and more being designed around multi-core and take more and more advantage of them.

Yeah, it is getting to the point where it's common for me to worry about whether it will play certain games adequately, but usually the ones that are too laggy to play at all aren't worth playing and horribly optimized. I spend just as much time, in fact more so, speculating about poor game development as I do my rig's capabilities. It's really hard to justify short, expensive upgrade cycles on PC hardware when we get such crap ports all the time.

It's rather ironic too that despite Crysis and Warhead still being used by many as THE benchmark references due to their hardware choking nature, they are two of the titles that play quite well on my rig, but that's partly due to my using common sense in choosing settings carefully, along with a few Cvar tweaks.

Many still don't even know for instance that Crytek caps the usable video memory to 256MB. Unless you use the proper Cvar tweak, any GPU larger in memory, of which there are many now, will only use 256MB. I'm willing to bet even some trusted game review sites that spew lots of tech info about hardware, drivers and settings don't even know that or use that command.

That being said, I have planned a new build for some time. Originally it was slated for end of '07 with E6700, 8800GTX, and 2GB RAM. Then end of '08 with i7, GTX280, and 4GB RAM. Now I'm looking at probably X58, i7, GTX300, 6GB RAM, and e-IPS display(if a larger one is made).

Last build (this one) I didn't time very well, paying a lot for the X800XT that had just come out, suffering through about 4.5 yrs now of X800/X1000 series stutters/bad drivers, and puttting up with a rather clumsy dual CRT disaply setup. This time I want to make sure I'm happy with what I pick out for some time.

Sounds like you have a good plan... I usually just upgrade randomly and on impulse, so you're already wayyyyyyy ahead of me :)

I usually just upgrade randomly and on impulse, so you're already wayyyyyyy ahead of me :)

Well, for me, a lot of it has to do with how many types of games I play and how patient I am to play the ones I like. There's a lot of types of games I don't play. I generally stay away from fight or melee combat button mashers, hardcore RPGs and RTS type games.

Gloming onto every new release that comes out via a lack of patience can be a bad thing. Besides getting into genres that I don't enjoy much and/or do well at, there are technical issues to consider.

I constantly hear of people buying games when they first come out, only to have to wait weeks or months for a much needed patch. Sometimes you can burn out on a game before there's even proper support for it out of anxiety.

Often times what trains a frugal PC gamer to practice patience in upgrades anymore is the numerous ports released in such unpolished states. Many of them have you wondering whether it's their high tech graphics that has you reaching for better gear or that they need patching. It doesn't hurt to wait a few months to see if the devs find they can offer a performance patch.

Yeah, I wish I was that smart. I am definately of the "buy it now" mentality, born from being spoiled as a child I guess, along with normal American consumerism.

I tend to do better with hardware... I don't buy every new video card that comes out, I wait for larger upgrades, and I have never done an SLI setup.

With games though... I think I buy all of them... :oops:

Then again, what the economy needs right now is people getting out and spending, so you're doing your part. That being said, a big part of what caused the housing recession in the US, a major part of what's negatively affected the economy, is people not being more frugal and trusting big lending corporations too much.

Essentially what goes in comes out. Making a lot of bad financial decisions can lead to debt, which in turn leads to overly cautious spending. On a large scale, as we are now experiencing, that equals a lack of needed stimulus in the economy, further exacerbating the problem.

I've never done SLI either, but plan to leave it open as an upgrade path this time around. In the past it made sense to forgo it. Now it's come into it's own because the new GPUs scale in performance much better.

With games though... I think I buy all of them... :oops:

So do I, and my Necrovision arrived with today's mail btw :D

The full game is a mess of verbose cut scenes :lol: but it's definitely nice to play. The learning curve is a lot less steep than in the demo. Pushing barrels and looking for secret areas will bring back good memories to Painkiller fans, even though Necrovision is really a different game. Challenge mode is what will keep you (I mean, essentially me) going though. Killing 50 undead with a gun and shovel in a tiny arena is much more challenging (and fun) that it may seem. And success grants you better stats for the campaign, just like finding secret areas. So the game is beheaded, but not schizophrenic. Pretty cool.

Man oh man, the graphics may be ugly, but to wield dual Gatling guns in zombie-ridden trenches, tap into your adrenalin for slo-mo, or combo-kill enemies in slo-mo with shots, thrusts, stabs, throws and kicks - that's what makes being an adult so great 8)

Okay, I gotta confess ws support is close to nil. :cry:

I take it no Surround support?

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Dipping bags at Mach1.9