Sulphur on 9/7/2009 at 06:54
Yes. I'm asking TTLG. For advice. Good God.
Anyway, it's a simple question: if your uber gaming PC of four years ago is dying on you, and you'd just made a commitment to yourself to stop spending money on exorbitantly priced playthings, what would you do?
Thing is, when I build a PC, I prefer to make sure it's a respectable gaming rig. To that end, if I choose to build one now with all the bells and whistles - high end Phenom II/core i7, Radeon 4890/enthusiast motherboard, new LCD monitor, UPS, etc. and factoring in that I live in a country where these things are ~50-75% more of what they'd cost in the US - I'd be setting myself back $1800 or so.
And that's pretty much an exorbitantly priced plaything. So what would you do in this case? Save the money for something more useful, or take the plunge and get that shiny hotrod gaming PC to satisfy baser urges?
PS: This is a question I have asked friends about, and they've all told me what they think I should do.
But I'm also interested in what TTLG has to say. Because, well... it's TTLG.
Aja on 9/7/2009 at 06:57
weeeellll you'd better ask yourself if there are many upcoming PC games you think would benefit from the $1800, and also if you actually want to play those games.
For me the answer's a resounding NO, but that doesn't mean you can't buy yourself a nice telecaster or record player instead.
Taffer36 on 9/7/2009 at 07:00
Spend $600-$800 on a decent computer that can play modern games at medium settings (your monitor still works, right?).
Or do you have one of those monstrous brick monitors? In which case it's very difficult NOT to get a nice 23".
Koki on 9/7/2009 at 07:05
A commitment's a commitment, bro.
Then again if you're asking people for an answer, you already failed your commitment as you're ready to break it, so you might as well buy a new rig.
aguywhoplaysthief on 9/7/2009 at 07:15
You could go slightly lower down and spend 1200 on a really excellent rig. That's compromise, which is way better than commitment.
Kolya on 9/7/2009 at 07:17
Here's a list of the games I have currently running on my netbook (that's a very cheap and small PC):
AlienBreed2k5x6\AlphaChess\AMIGAemu\Another World\BaboViolent 2\Defcon\Driver\GLtron\GridWars54\groundhog\gunroar\JediKnight\KillBill\Millenium 2.2 and Deuteros\N\parsec47\Populous\Revolt\Ricochet\SS1\SHVOTBA\SPACE-HULK by Teardown\squares2\SS2\Starcraft\SupremeSnowboarding\Syndicate\TheManaWorldPortable\Titanion\TorusTrooper\TombRaiderAnniversary\typhoon_2001_r3992\Uplink\Warning Forever\HEXXAGON\SpaceParanoids
None of these games are "installed". Currently I play JediKnight the most, with some graphical mods. The level-design is still the best I've ever seen in any game.
So do you need a high-priced gaming rig in case your desire to play overcomes you? The answer's a resounding NO.
Fafhrd on 9/7/2009 at 07:33
I say hold off until some DX11 video cards come out (they're bound to be coming soon-ish, what with Win7 just around the corner), and then spring for what is the tippy top bright and shiny right now (as in this moment when I'm typing this, not in the future). By that time, all those components are bound to have dropped significantly in price, and given the rate of DX10 adoption in games, you're not going to be missing much by not having DX11.
Aerothorn on 9/7/2009 at 07:33
I just built a PC for just over $600, and frankly, it's excellent, running Crysis at Ultra High Settings at 1680x1050 with nary a hiccup. Sure, it's not "future proofed" but it should last at least a few years and is far more cost-effective than any $1800 rig could be.
Thirith on 9/7/2009 at 07:54
I've usually done okay with getting a new rig once every six years or so (not necessarily top of the line, but a good second or third) and in between upgrading the video card a couple of times to squeeze better performance out of my machine, selling the old one on eBay. Works pretty well for most games, although less so with the more CPU-dependent ones.
And re-reading Sulphurs original post, I realise that this probably isn't all too helpful. Sorry...
Ostriig on 9/7/2009 at 11:02
Quote:
Thing is, when I build a PC, I prefer to make sure it's a respectable gaming rig.
As others have implicitly pointed out, it depends on your definition of "respectable". For roughly £500 you can put together that will run pretty much any game currently out on max. Sure, after about a year you'd likely have to start toning down some details, but it should continue to serve you well nonetheless.
P.S. Bikerdude made a thread in Tech specifically for (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126013) putting together a new gaming PC for around $700. I think that may be just for the US (since it's NewEgg), but even with EU costs you'll still end up with a good rig far below the price point you mentioned.
