Is PC Gaming worth it?

Sandvich

I'm thinking about building a gaming rig as my current laptop struggles with Team Fortress 2(mostly due to optimisation issues on Valve's side, not my computer's specs which are decent).

But is it really worth it?

I'd be using it for playing Valve games, Bioware games, the odd first person shooter like Far Cry 2(which I have lying around)... and that's it. There are a lot of great PC games from a few years ago I missed out on, but since 2008 it's been more or less dead.

There's hardly anything since 2006 that's gotten over 90% on gamerankings... and few of these games interest me. At the same time I enjoy PC gaming and first person shooters(mostly).

With no sign of an Xbox 3 or Playstation 4, PC Gaming seems to be the best way to get a serious step up.

TinCool

No

Antar Bolaeisk

Doesn't cost very much to build a decentish gaming rig so I would say yes (just so long as you don't go for quad 5900s or something equally mad).

Also, any extra money spent over buying a console will be recouped on the Steam Sales!

Agricola

Its a subjective question. It depends on what you want from it. Personally I want the fastest frame rates and best graphics I can get. No console can give me that. I also own alot of FPS's and action RPG's and I just find that their true home is on PC. The control scheme is better and the PC allows for more immersive/complex gameplay, whereas alot of console games are dumbed down to suit hardware and control limitations.

Another reason to go for PC gaming is mods. Fallout 3 is a great example. The modding community have made that game unmissable. There are tonnes of amazing mods. Something you wont get with a console.

Finally, alot of people dislike PC gaming because of the cost of upgrades. But Id rather have the ability to spend some money on my gaming machine in order to get better performance. If I own a PS3, Im stuck with its graphical limitations for maybe a 7 year life cycle. Its up to the game devs to squeeze more and more out of it. But with a PC, if a new tech comes out, you can spend some money on some ram or a new gpu and you have access to games you normally wouldnt have. The control is in your hands.

gizmo

Sandvich wrote: »

But is it really worth it?

**** yes.

Sandvich

Agricola wrote: »

Its a subjective question. It depends on what you want from it. Personally I want the fastest frame rates and best graphics I can get. No console can give me that. I also own alot of FPS's and action RPG's and I just find that their true home is on PC. The control scheme is better and the PC allows for more immersive/complex gameplay, whereas alot of console games are dumbed down to suit hardware and control limitations.

Another reason to go for PC gaming is mods. Fallout 3 is a great example. The modding community have made that game unmissable. There are tonnes of amazing mods. Something you wont get with a console.

Finally, alot of people dislike PC gaming because of the cost of upgrades. But Id rather have the ability to spend some money on my gaming machine in order to get better performance. If I own a PS3, Im stuck with its graphical limitations for maybe a 7 year life cycle. Its up to the game devs to squeeze more and more out of it. But with a PC, if a new tech comes out, you can spend some money on some ram or a new gpu and you have access to games you normally wouldnt have. The control is in your hands.

I hadn't thought about mods. I wouldn't mind playing some Fallout 3 mods. What put me off that was the lack of playing past the end.

AlmightyCushion

Agricola wrote: »

Its a subjective question. It depends on what you want from it. Personally I want the fastest frame rates and best graphics I can get. No console can give me that. I also own alot of FPS's and action RPG's and I just find that their true home is on PC. The control scheme is better and the PC allows for more immersive/complex gameplay, whereas alot of console games are dumbed down to suit hardware and control limitations.

Another reason to go for PC gaming is mods. Fallout 3 is a great example. The modding community have made that game unmissable. There are tonnes of amazing mods. Something you wont get with a console.

Finally, alot of people dislike PC gaming because of the cost of upgrades. But Id rather have the ability to spend some money on my gaming machine in order to get better performance. If I own a PS3, Im stuck with its graphical limitations for maybe a 7 year life cycle. Its up to the game devs to squeeze more and more out of it. But with a PC, if a new tech comes out, you can spend some money on some ram or a new gpu and you have access to games you normally wouldnt have. The control is in your hands.

Upgrades aren't that big a deal any more. A decent dual core with 4GBs ram will probably last a while now. Plus my 4870 which is nearly 2 years old still runs every thing I throw at it @ 1920x1200.

NeoKubrick

Agricola wrote: »

the PC allows for more immersive/complex gameplay, whereas alot of console games are dumbed down to suit hardware and control limitations.

Er, no. That's what PC artfags might believe and cheer, but more fool anyone listening to a crowd who think graphics have a 1:1 relationship to game mechanics.


PC gaming is worth it and one of the main reasons is that the indie scene is great and you won't find that easily on consoles (XNA is a tiny baby step in the right direction).

SeantheMan

I think it is,

Because obviously what it offers is more than just a gaming machine. It's not a 1000 euro Wii..that just plays games.

With a High end PC, obviously you can play any game you wish, and revisit any old games and play them how they were meant to be played.
Obvlivion, Fallout, Bioshock, Far Cry, Crysis, COD all on high spec are magnificent.

Recent games have come out liek Starcraf2, MOH and COD7 are out soon too....L4D2 etc.

Obviously web browsing too....but then there is

Blu Ray players, Media Centre and any kind of additional programmes, video/photo editing , which is made much easier via High end PC

Not to mention emulators, where you can play all your favourite NES/MEGADRIVE/PS1/PS2/N64/GAMECUBE/DREAMCAST games

It is worth it in my opinion

Dcully

here are a lot of great PC games from a few years ago I missed out on, but since 2008 it's been more or less dead.

There's hardly anything since 2006 that's gotten over 90% on gamerankings... and few of these games interest me.

Since when did you take the likes of gamerankings as gospel?
I have far too many great games on pc right now.
On steam alone i have 40 odd,then theres the retail boxed ones,add in the MMO`s and subscription based games,also the countless really good free to play games,then once you consider the never ending world of mods nothing can compare with a pc for gaming.

There are literally millions of mods out there that most never hear of,some crap ofcourse but some excellent.
You will only ever find out oabout these mods when you check out the particular games`community etc.

Forgot to mention how much better games look on pc compared to console.
Yes its worth it.

As for upgrading so often, thats an ancient myth nowadays and something console fanboys throw about the place without knowing wtf they are talking about,its simply not true.
Right now mt gaming pc is close on 3 years old, its a Q6600 quad core,8 gig DDR,Ati 4870 1gig,2X500 Gb samsung spinsoft HD.
The only thing i upgraded in 3 years is the gfx card which i got for 170 euros on overclockers,one upgrade in 3 years and this pc can play any game out there at maximum settings with 60+ fps.

humanji

A console can't alt-tab to porn.

gizmo

NeoKubrick wrote: »

PC gaming is worth it and one of the main reasons is that the indie scene is great and you won't find that easily on consoles (XNA is a tiny baby step in the right direction).

That comment is only relevant in countries like Ireland where we don't have access to the Indie Store yet.

death1234567

Sandvich wrote: »

my current laptop struggles with Team Fortress 2(mostly due to optimisation issues on Valve's side, not my computer's specs which are decent).

Team fortress two is far from a resource hog (its 3 years old), if your laptop cant run it properly I doubt that has anything to do with Valve.

But is it really worth it?

One word, StarCraft 2.

/Close thread.

ShadowHearth

humanji wrote: »

A console can't alt-tab to porn.

+1. Or if you smart like me and have 2xmonitors, you can play games on one and watch porn on ather one! FULL OF WIN!

Now seriuosly. PC GAMING is allways worth it, its just lazy people are afraid of mouse+keyboard.

You can buy a decent gaming rig for really decent money. It went really cheap these days. i bought my gaming rig 2.5 years ago, and i play all games on max settings (allmoust). Now you can buy same spec rig for 500-600eu and it will still play any game out there!

Its worth it, it allways was, just ireland has sooooooooooooooooo many lazy people... they just cant take 3 mins to learn how to install the game...

After you learn how to play FPS with mouse+keyboard, you will newer ever return to crapy controllers.

Agricola

NeoKubrick wrote: »

Er, no. That's what PC artfags might believe and cheer, but more fool anyone listening to a crowd who think graphics have a 1:1 relationship to game mechanics.

Really?

Dragon Age Origins. 360 v PC

Xbox version does'nt have the over head view, full isometric/tactical view where you can pull yourself out of the action and see more of the field.

Xbox version's combat is different. The Xbox can't support as many enemies on screen as the PC version can. Battles can be seen as easier.

Xbox's normal mode does not have friendly fire where the PC version does.

PC version you can multi-select companions and direct them to do the same thing, you can't on the console.

Xbox characters have to be manually driven to certain areas and can't just be ordered there like on the PC.

Im not knocking consoles. I grew up on them. Some of my fondest memories are of console games. But now more than ever, the PC can and regularly does offer a more rewarding experience on a number of different levels, not just for pure graphical grunt.

gizmo

Agricola wrote: »

Really?

Dragon Age Origins. 360 v PC

Xbox version does'nt have the over head view, full isometric/tactical view where you can pull yourself out of the action and see more of the field.

Xbox version's combat is different. The Xbox can't support as many enemies on screen as the PC version can. Battles can be seen as easier.

Xbox's normal mode does not have friendly fire where the PC version does.

PC version you can multi-select companions and direct them to do the same thing, you can't on the console.

Xbox characters have to be manually driven to certain areas and can't just be ordered there like on the PC.

Im not knocking consoles. I grew up on them. Some of my fondest memories are of console games. But now more than ever, the PC can and regularly does offer a more rewarding experience on a number of different levels, not just for pure graphical grunt.

Most of which is now being cut in the PC version of DA2

po0k

OT: yes

It is the 'do anything' platform, always has been.
Consoles are definately the mainstream, but then plebs don't know any better.

wayne040576

Agricola wrote: »

Really?

Dragon Age Origins. 360 v PC

Xbox version does'nt have the over head view, full isometric/tactical view where you can pull yourself out of the action and see more of the field.

Xbox version's combat is different. The Xbox can't support as many enemies on screen as the PC version can. Battles can be seen as easier.

Xbox's normal mode does not have friendly fire where the PC version does.

PC version you can multi-select companions and direct them to do the same thing, you can't on the console.

Xbox characters have to be manually driven to certain areas and can't just be ordered there like on the PC.

You forgot to mention that the pc version suffers from horrible memory leaks meaning the game becomes unplayable after about an hour due to load times and slowdown.

I still haven't been able to play it that much. I installed 1.04 the other day hoping it will solve some of the memory leaks. Haven't tried it yet.

Sandvich

humanji wrote: »

A console can't alt-tab to porn.

Actually, a console can leave your PC free for having it up permanently. No more dicking around with Valve's ****ty alt+tab bugs.

Gummy Panda

wayne040576 wrote: »

You forgot to mention that the pc version suffers from horrible memory leaks meaning the game becomes unplayable after about an hour due to load times and slowdown.

I still haven't been able to play it that much. I installed 1.04 the other day hoping it will solve some of the memory leaks. Haven't tried it yet.

I never suffered that on mine. My copy is steam version

Sandvich

death1234567 wrote: »

Team fortress two is far from a resource hog (its 3 years old), if your laptop cant run it properly I doubt that has anything to do with Valve.

One word, StarCraft 2.

/Close thread.

Sorry, but it is. Team Fortress 2 is well known for it's mysterious optimisation issues. People will better rigs than others run it much worse. It is a problem on Valve's end, they'd just rather chase "cheaters" and add more particle ****e(thus making it worse) than figure out the problem.

I've seen enough threads on this on steampowered to know it's a problem on Valve's end.

Sandvich

Nobody's really given me all that many examples of games I haven't already played yet

Assuring me it's okay without examples is not too reassuring.

wayne040576

Gummy Panda wrote: »

I never suffered that on mine. My copy is steam version

It's a fairly widespread problem with the game.

http://www.google.ie/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enIE307IE311&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=dragon+age+memory++leaks

Drives me mad every time I try to play. The loading screens can be 2 -3 mins each time.
Framerate drops to unplayable levels as well.

chrabo

YES FOR PC GAMING

leave xbox 360 and playstation for kids.

its easy to make nice set check
komplett.ie
u can do something like i have for 600eu on AMD athlone 2 x4 4gbd ddr2 and radeon 4870 u can play all games on high details easy. OFC 4870 u cant buy now, but 5770 will be ok.

Auvers

PC is for FPS, RPG, RTS and MMO games (World of Tanks is brilliant btw) & mouse keyboard control

Console for Driving/Football games as I cant play FPS games on a console because those awful control pads

Jazzy

gizmo wrote: »

Most of which is now being cut in the PC version of DA2

...................................................................

Cuddlesworth

Sandvich wrote: »

Sorry, but it is. Team Fortress 2 is well known for it's mysterious optimisation issues. People will better rigs than others run it much worse. It is a problem on Valve's end, they'd just rather chase "cheaters" and add more particle ****e(thus making it worse) than figure out the problem.

I've seen enough threads on this on steampowered to know it's a problem on Valve's end.

Never seen or heard of this. Because of the way games interact with machines, outside of basic OS or driver issues any small scale issue would be due to a external factor outside of their control. Valves games have been very orientated towards optimisation on low end systems.

Sandvich

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Never seen or heard of this. Because of the way games interact with machines, outside of basic OS or driver issues any small scale issue would be due to a external factor outside of their control. Valves games have been very orientated towards optimisation on low end systems.

No, they haven't. I don't know where you even get this impression. TF2 isn't optimised for lower spec machines. It works on systems with sub-par GPUs, but the Source engine is CPU bound, not GPU bound. The early versions of TF2 were fairly optimised and could run on most machines. The laptop I had when I first played it was definitely inferior(on paper anyway) to the one i had now, and it ran much better. Now it's a complete mess. It gets slower every update.

I very much doubt it's an external factor outside of their control. Fact is there's not been a single optimisation related update(bar one regarding the netcode, which made no difference to me, it's still ****).

The fact that Left 4 Dead 2 runs slightly better despite the hordes of Zombies shows it obviously is something within their control. Though honestly that could be improved too.

Threads like these are very common:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-966206.html
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-990179.html

Note this quote -

People with rigs that are 3-4 old can sometimes run the game better than unlucky people with top of the line setups. This is valve's version of "optimization" I guess.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1034316



There was a really long thread on steampowered but I can't seem to find it.

Retr0gamer

If you have a laptop that can't run Team Fortress 2 then you need to get one that wasn't bought when dinosars roamed the earth. I've a piece of **** machine that's getting on 6 years old that runs it fine.

Maybe it's just me but TF2 is such a low spec game I can't really see how there's performance issues.

Sandvich

Retr0gamer wrote: »

If you have a laptop that can't run Team Fortress 2 then you need to get one that wasn't bought when dinosars roamed the earth. I've a piece of **** machine that's getting on 6 years old that runs it fine.

Dude, are you paying attention to what I'm saying at all? Read this comment:

People with rigs that are 3-4 old can sometimes run the game better than unlucky people with top of the line setups. This is valve's version of "optimization" I guess.

You've no idea how much comments like the one you just made make me want to punch Gabe's face in. Please don't. I've been through this hundreds of times and the issues are definitely on Valve's side. This is a very common issue, and nobody's solved it.

TF2's particle engine code is partly the culprit. It's horrible bloated. People have turned it off client side and it makes a huge difference. However it counts as a "cheat" to interfere as the particle engine... Valve are douchebags.

Cuddlesworth

Sandvich wrote: »

No, they haven't. I don't know where you even get this impression. TF2 isn't optimised for lower spec machines. It works on systems with sub-par GPUs, but the Source engine is CPU bound, not GPU bound. The early versions of TF2 were fairly optimised and could run on most machines. The laptop I had when I first played it was definitely inferior(on paper anyway) to the one i had now, and it ran much better. Now it's a complete mess. It gets slower every update.

I very much doubt it's an external factor outside of their control. Fact is there's not been a single optimisation related update(bar one regarding the netcode, which made no difference to me, it's still ****).

The fact that Left 4 Dead 2 runs slightly better despite the hordes of Zombies shows it obviously is something within their control. Though honestly that could be improved too.

Threads like these are very common:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-966206.html
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-990179.html

Note this quote -

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1034316



There was a really long thread on steampowered but I can't seem to find it.

I can't see anybody doing any actual troubleshooting, just complaining. Like I said that sort of performance issue would be outside of the Valves control. I would have expected bios upgrades, antivirus removal, OS changes, reinstalls, changes to windows power settings, disabling thermal management/power-saver settings in the bios and driver updates other then the graphics cards. Using a second monitor, checking out resource manager and process explorer while the game is running to check out is there anything happening.