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March 28, 2024, 11:22:54 AM

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Been done several times I'm sure but - The Gaming Desktop advice thread

Started by Thursday, October 25, 2013, 01:04:35 PM

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Thursday

So it's something I've been considering more and more. I'm not interested in "building" one and don't really need something that's going to keep me up to date for future AAA games but just something so that most games will run smoothly, because even Stanley Parable makes my laptop cough and splutter. There's some weird thing with the audio often skipping like a scratched C.D. Gone Home was like walking through treacle at one frame a second, even though I'd put everything to the lowest setting. I wouldn't have thought it'd be such a problem since this is a windows 7 laptop with decent enough specs (well I don't really know that actually)

But even though I plan on getting a PS4 eventually it doesn't look appealing enough yet so I may well be spending a lot more time on PC gaming in the future. Although that said, PS4 isn't really that expensive and looks like it's going to have a decent library of indie games, so I don't really know if it's going to be worth splashing out on a PC instead. Of course it will also be useful to have a more robust PC.

So as you can see I'm very conflicted and don't really know what I want. Tell me what to do.

Quote from: Thursday on October 25, 2013, 01:04:35 PM
So it's something I've been considering more and more. I'm not interested in "building" one and don't really need something that's going to keep me up to date for future AAA games but just something so that most games will run smoothly, because even Stanley Parable makes my laptop cough and splutter. There's some weird thing with the audio often skipping like a scratched C.D. Gone Home was like walking through treacle at one frame a second, even though I'd put everything to the lowest setting. I wouldn't have thought it'd be such a problem since this is a windows 7 laptop with decent enough specs (well I don't really know that actually)

But even though I plan on getting a PS4 eventually it doesn't look appealing enough yet so I may well be spending a lot more time on PC gaming in the future. Although that said, PS4 isn't really that expensive and looks like it's going to have a decent library of indie games, so I don't really know if it's going to be worth splashing out on a PC instead. Of course it will also be useful to have a more robust PC.
But at this point, you could buy my exact rig for much cheaper, and that runs anything. Never tried Crysis 3 but everything else ran fine. So you could probably pick up a pretty top notch one for maybe 500 pound. Not entirely sure but these are my guesses.

So as you can see I'm very conflicted and don't really know what I want. Tell me what to do.

I think if you're looking to buy a PC to possibly be your go to gaming device, POSSIBLY to compete with the new generation, it might be best to just hold on a few months to wait and see what kind of specs we're going to be dealing with and how optimised they're going to be as PC Ports.

I think if you get yourself something with around a GTX 660 card, possibly an AMD Equivalent though as I'm hearing they're better lately, although these things shift and it depends on what you're using the PC for, an Intel i7, although an i5 will get the job done, and at the very least 8 gig of ram, and you'll be able to run pretty much most current games at full specs, and I suspect you'll be able to run the next generation pretty well on that, not on ultra or anything but running pretty smoothly with some settings lowered. Some of the more tech savvy guys could step in here and say I'm completely wrong but this is what I've pieced together from my limited computer knowledge.

I really didn't have the time and was a bit nervous about building a PC, so went to a specialty site of guys who build custom PCs for you, costs a little bit extra than building it yourself but still far cheaper than buying it wholesale, or some marked up Alienware shit.

I don't know any good English equivalents but yeah. I spent about 700 pounds on my rig, after quite a bit of saving and it's been the best purchase I've ever made. Use it for video editing as well as work and uni, along with games obviously, and thanks to Steam and other online stores, I spend far, far, far less on actual games themselves. If you're slightly patient and use sites like Savygamer, you can actually save much money PC gaming.

You could also potentially wait and see how cheap those Steam Boxes are that Valve are doing. I think they'll clearly have set up bulk deals and stuff with the hardware companies to get the price down, and you'll be able to get cheap gaming rigs that'll be catered exactly for what you want. And will also be optimised for playing on your TV as well as a desk.

Whatever the decision, I reckon wait a few months for the dust to settle after the new generation drops, and pick up the cheaper hardware after the new stuff gets released.