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Gamers, Upgrade your Systems
jbischof writes "Looking to upgrade your aging PC? Ace's Hardware has a new upgrade guide tailored specifically to gamers. The data shows exactly which upgrades - processor, motherboard, gfx card, or combination of the three - will give the best performance boost on all the latest and most popular games (according to their recent poll)."
I only upgrade my computer to increase benchmark scores.
The solution that has worked best for me...is to avoid public discussion. -- CmdrTaco
Yeah, but how many times can you play Photoshop? I mean, the final map is pretty weak and that last boss is a major disapointment.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
well if car performace was ranked by the opinions of their drivers, the honda prelude would beat a ferrari and Neons everywhere would outdo porsche.
useless
..is that the guys who are willing to drop a metric buttload of coin for upgrading their gaming computer, are probably the same ones who were bitching about the $20 download of x86 Solaris.
I really don't like their guides. I find the best one is the sharky gamers guide to system building (at different budgets.) Check it out @ www.sharkyextreme.com
I played Unreal 2 for a few hours last night on my wont-work obsolete need-an-upgrade Radeon 7200. Guess what? My obsolete out-of-date SB Live! card - not even 5.1 sound, mind you, a paltry 4 channels - worked just fine too. I've recently upgraded my mobo and CPU and bought a new HD. And I didnt spring for the absolutely necessary 8meg cache version either.
How did the tech industry manage to convince everyone that they absolutely need the latest and greatest bullshit? The machine they were 'upgrading' from is perfectly adequate to play every game they benchmarked.
1600x1200 with FSAA and AF is nice, but it doesnt make the games any funner.
Here's my upgrade guide. I wait until I want to play a particular game, and if I absolutely cant, I upgrade. And I double my current specs.
Unreal 2 is a bore, BTW, for those looking for a review.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Windows is the gamers platform of choice. When I buy a new game, i sure as heck dont want to spend 8 hours configuring WineX to run it at a 25%-50% loss of power (my friend tried StarCraft on WineX on a 500 mhz with 256 ram, and it ran like ass... on windows, perfectly fine). I want to play my game. If you want to configure your system so that it runs Windows games, by all means, but dont bitch because "linux gamers are left out".
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
I know, I know, I'm a troll. Moderate away. But, geez, does tech really matter any more. You can't buy a system, console or PC, that doesn't draw millions of texture mapped triangles per second, doesn't have awesome sound, and so on. It's all so pointless. If money is not an issue, as it certainly wouldn't be to someone who constantly upgrades video cards and such, $160 will get you a nice Game Cube and Mario Sunshine. Or get an X-Box with Splinter Cell. Or whatever.
The bottom line is that the PC tech race has lost all purpose, except to stroke the ego of hardware fanboys. And, man, do those guys need the ego stroking.
Ah, I thought that read Ace hardware. That's where I get all my upgrades.
Could I interest anyone in some toast?
How is this really news? There are many many sites that have system guides updated once a month... is this site that much better of a system guide?
The first priority for a gamer, especially a FPS gamer, should be a good video card. However, their first suggestion listed is a Geforce 4 MX 440 over a TI 200, then they don't even provide benchmarks for the Geforce 4 MX? And for that matter, why would any self respecting FPS gamer buy a MX card of any type from Nvidia when the TIs are so much better?
lets see, i'm going to break this down 2 ways.
[quote]
Theres more to gaming than just Windows-only games like Couterstrike or Quake III.
[/quote]
old games, yes, this article is about the cutting edge of games (doom 3, etc)
[quote]
Many Linux people enjoy the same kind of fun on their platforms. Railroad Tycoon II and Quake II work just fine, thanks.
[/quote]
OLDER GAMES.... THATS PROBABLY WHY THEY DIDN"T MENTION LINUX.
how long has NWN been out for win? linux?
don't get me wrong, i love linux, its just that these blanket "WHY NOT LINUX?!" statements are getting on my nerves.
I'm waiting till the 1337 h4x0rs are done with linux, and when the 1337 h4x0rs can stop being so 1337, and start being more productive.
I'm thinking of switching to BE.... so i can be more productive. Its a joke.... laugh....
honestly, though, i did the whole deb thing for a couple years, and i just got kind of bored with it. I don't use a computer for fun anymore, so that kind of puts a dampner on things.
"Martha Stewart can lick my Scrotum......do i have a scrotum?" -- Sharon Osbourne
...you see this screenshot:
3 ...and know not only what track you're on, but that the car is in a position (in the braking area leading up to the chicane, on the wrong side of the track, with a couple of degrees of steering lock in the wrong direction) to crash in the next heartbeat.
http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=5000036
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
New motherboard: CAN$119.
Athlon 2100+: CAN$206.
512MB RAM: CAN$115.
Realizing you have no cash left to replace your 16MB NVidia TNT2: Priceless.
OK, so I'm only vaguely impressed with Ace's gaming system... Seems to me like they're splitting hairs over upgrades of off-the-shelf equipment. Here's my question for all of you slashdotters:
Given the above article, and the premise that slashdotters have a wider range of experience than Ace, what would be the ideal configuration for a stereo-video enabled gaming system? Say I want something that can run Stereo-Quake or Stereo-Descent... Also assume that cost isn't really a factor (wish that were true, but I'm just pipe dreaming here...).
Besides the CPU and motherboard, there's also things like monitors (stereo projection monitors?), controllers (throttles, immersion gloves, goggles), stereo audio systems (THX?), and even room design. What would slashdotters put together with a beefy $50K to $100K budget, eh? Assume that the project is to put together the ultimate stereo-Quake VR simulator, and that you have access to the code of the game...
Seems like the console's a no brainer. When you need a new box for other reasons, you'll get one that's up-to-date for the latest titles... but why go through this cost and hassle when you can get a pop-it-in-it-plays system for $200 and no labor?
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
You can get a 2100XP, ECS K7S5A mobo with sound and LAN that can handle ddr/sdr, and a 440MX card for under $200. Sacrificing CPU or GFX card to improve the other will cost you too much performance, and having done this exact setup for some "cash flow impaired" friends I can tell you firsthand that it's plenty fast to game on, especially when you are upgrading from a P2 400 and a TNT 2 32mb card.
The 440MX has it's place, depending on what you are looking to do.
Murphy was an optimist.
tetris is what i play,
and with 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon, 512 MBRam and ATI A-I-W Ultra Pro AGP 32 MB RAM , it kicks some butt.
I play tetris in Vim, in xemacs, so there
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
The paren post has a valid point. Like a lot of people I know, I am getting sick of the hell that is the constant Upgrade Cycle. I'm tired of upgrading my system to play the latest and greatest only to find that my favorite games no longer work. Upgraded your video card? Oops. All those old 3DFX-specific games no longer work. New processor? Too bad it's too fast and a whole batch of games (thanks a pantload, Origin) run too damned fast. Opps! Looks like that new soundcard killed off a few games. New version of Windows? Guess what? Yep. More games died.
Three years worth of upgrades (and often less) seems to kill most of the games I have. (Save Quake and it's kin.)
Compare that to the consoles. All of my old Playstation games still work (save the one I ran over with my chair, but that's my fault). Some of those games were made in 1996/1997. Most games for the PC from those days no longer work.
Is that a "So what? Thems is old games!" I hear? Bite me. I spent money on those games and it annoys the hell out of me that this sad state of affairs has come to pass.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
I think you are misusing the term stereo a bit here. If you want a simple solution for 3d with stereo glassess, get a deceantly fast nVidia card, like a GF 3 200 or better and get the stereo glassess for it. You also need a monitor that can pull a deceant refresh rate. The card will the work with the shutters on the glassess to do 3d. Works well for the price.
As for sound I haven't seen a non-stereo Pc in years. In sound terminology stereo means 2-channel, left and right. You are thinking surround sound. Also, THX isn't a surround sound spec, Doubly Pro Logic, Doubly Digital, Digital Theatre System, and Sound Dynamic Digital Sound are. THX is a spec that involves listener experneice and deals with noise and distortion levels, volume calibration, crossovers and a whole bunch of other things. the idea is if you buy a THX system and calibrate it right, you'll get a movie theatre sound experience form DVD.
However, it really won't do much good as Quake doesn't support 3d positional sound. It just does normal stereo sound.
"Specifically, many games now feature several levels of detail, enabling those with faster video cards to enable extra shadowing, higher levels of geometry, higher resolution textures, and so forth."
I thought Ace were normally pretty knowledgeable. This has been going on for years. I remember playing F19 Stealth Fighter and MSFT Flight Sim back in the 80's (CGA graphics - yeah!), and they had these options then. I'm sure they weren't the first either.
Actually, the article has a suprising (at least for me) conclusion: strategy / RPG games may benifit by upgrading your video card (they're really starting to take advantage of that stuff) whereas first person shooters require more CPU (due to increased AI). The FPS games used were Battlefield 1942 and Ghost Recon.
This is fairly contrary to what I've heard in the past, which was always the opposite.
Here's my little rule for upgrading my system.
Replace every three generations, or when things are three times as fast as your current device.
Simple, isn't it? For the past 10 (or so) I've worked on that little rule and it's lead me exactly where I want to go.
My 486 became a Pentium II 266 became a Pentium III 800 became an Athlon 2400+.
My something rather (I think it was an S3 Virge, but this was in the days when no one cared anyway) became a Voodoo 2 became a Geforce 256 became a Radeon 8500 (Which I bought budget at $100 canadian).
My Gravis Ultrasound became a Sound blaster Live became a Hercules Game Theater XP became Nforce2 Dolby Digital output.
It's strange how well this system worked out. Just as my machine became almost unbearable for games (About a 30FPS average for most games) I've upgraded because of this 3x rule. Sure, it means that you won't be at the bleeding edge for very long but the edge is too easy to fall off anyway. Only idiots would skip from a Radeon 8500 to a 9700, just as it would be stupid to ditch a 2400+ Athlon for a 2.8ghz P4. At the same time, people who tell that a 500mhz and a Voodoo 3 is enough for anyone are obviously not playing any modern games. The trick is to get caught in between the two extremes.
Regardless, if I'm not in the mood to build a box I think I'd trust Alienware for a gaming machine over anyone else out there.
"From of old, there are not lacking things that have attained Oneness." - Lao Tzu
What components should I get to maximize Photoshop and such?
Just click that widget in the upper left corner, dude. You don't need any tools or "components" for that.
Any sites that offer such advice?
Ok, you're insisting:
HOWTO: Maximize Button
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Currently, I'm running an ancient 1GHz Thunderbird Athlon, with 768MB of PC-133 SDRAM, a GeForce4 TI4200, and 2 HDDs - 27GB Maxtor and 80GB Maxtor, 2MB cache. I've been running this rig for almost 2 years now, and it still runs strong & stable. Only upgrades I did were the 80GB HDD after a 20GB Maxtor that died a horrid, clicking & spinning death during an FDISK (after having it cause countless crashes & ATA failures), and the GeForce4 (which offered me a surprising performance increase in games over the GeForce2 GTS 32MB it replaced).
This rig still runs all my favorites plus some of the newer games (UT2K3 runs fine at my LCD flat panel's native res (1280x1024) with normal options turned on). The upgrade guide on Ace's (which I haven't read) simply wouldn't offer me any compelling reason to upgrade for today's games.
Doom 3, OTOH, would probably provide my system a major challenge (according to reports on its functionality, anyway). When Doom 3 comes out, that'll be my new benchmark & prompt me to upgrade. Not sooner.
i'm amazed that i survived - an airbag saved my life.
Perhaps someone needs to make a Linux for Gamers distribution. Include all the free games, all the demo games, and make it stupid easy. Include a stupid easy email client and Mozilla ... and XMMS. It needs nothing else. Sell the idea to people like Blizzard, Sierra, and EA. It could be like console systems, with upgradable hardware. It could have software that checks for driver updates for their hardware, and has an overclocker app.
Shit, you could even do the hardware route. I bet AlienWare would pick it up if it were good enough. They're doing the MS Media Center thing as it is.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Dont be concerned with pagefile size as much as with page faults. Run the performance monitor, select Process (and choose your game process), then select page faults/sec to look at the rate of page faults as you play.
"Page Faults/sec is the rate Page Faults occur in the threads executing in this process. A page fault occurs when a thread refers to a virtual memory page that is not in its working set in main memory. This will not cause the page to be fetched from disk if it is on the standby list and hence already in main memory, or if it is in use by another process with whom the page is shared."... these page faults are costly reads from disk
I picked up this tip from the February 03 issues of Computer Power User (CPU) magazine:
Use msconfig to edit your System.ini file. "In the System.ini tab, highlight [386enh] and click New to add a new line beneath this branch. Type
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
in the empty box that appears, then click Apply and restart your PC. We found that this helped clean up game jerkiness because it reduces the background file swapping that causes video hiccups and pauses."
This tip was for XP, by the way. I tried this on my machine (512MB), and the swapping that started during UT2K3 sessions has stopped. Maybe it will work for you.
Happy Tweaking!
Let's get drunk and delete production data!