A Pithy Guide to buying Gaming Hardware
Moderators: The Preacher, $iljanus, Zaxxon
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martindemon
- Posts: 1395
- Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:42 pm
Might I remind you that my 6800 ultra does not give me an acceptable frame rate (30fps) with all addons in Morrowind? True, there is a problem with the rendering of hidden objects, but I still play that game and you can be sure that if a better one comes out, a card that gives say, +20% more performance, I'll get it no matter the price because I need it. I play with all eye candies on and fog to the fartest setting. SLI setup would not really help because I don't play at high resolution (well, at 1280x1024 on a LCD, not at 1600x1200.) I'm impatiently awaiting the next ATI or NVIDIA generation and will preorder as soon as available. The problem is that the new cards are very rare at "paper" launch and if you can have one, you are lucky.
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Arcanis
- Posts: 7235
- Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:15 pm
- Location: Lafayette, LA
- Contact:
rule 1: of corse they build for today its a company they want to sell you a computer today and then another in about a year. If they started selling computers that would be "good" for several years they would put themselves out of buisness.
rule 2: 512 is good for MOST things just not gaming and cad and other intensive programs.
rule 3: the same argument as rule 1 if all you want is to play current games and older ones go ahead. If you want to play new highend games at high res you had better get a high end card. Same is true if you want to keep from upgradeing constantly.
rule 4: i halfway agree with you. 64 bit is still not fully mature but if you can get it at a good deal it is stil worth it. The only thing keeping me from a 64 bit system is lack of non-beta drivers on some products.
rule 5: again i partly agree, but this depends on what type of games you play. I wouldn't play a flight sim with out a joystick but i don't need it to play UT2k4 either.
rule 6: I some what agree, but your argument is more opinion than fact i've seen people complain and argue on both sides so that is realy up to the person doing the building. I build my own because i love computers and like to work on them as it what i do for a carrier.
rule 7: again that is all in the "ear of the beholder" onboard is good enough for me but others insist on seperate cards and their undoubted quality and/or perfomance boost.
rule 8: I agree a stable motherboard should be the foundation of any good system. But keep in mind that a few months after they are released most mobo's from a good company have bios updates to fix a lot of thier instabilaty problems. Keep in mind a mobo that is slightly older also supports old standards and is not as upgradeable in the long term. ie. if i get a mobo with agp it will support most of the newest video card but for how long until getting a new card requires getting a new mobo that has pcie?
in general your rules are good for a minority of people, but none the less valid for them. For myself i like to have the best bang for my buck and higher end parts that will last me quite a while. But i work for a small computer company so i know i can find some one willing to buy a moderately priced once top of the line pc, when i'm ready to get me a new one.
One argument that you alluded to but never said was that people should keep in mind that a good gaming system isn't always "Keeping up with the Joneses", the latest and greates is actually needed by some but for most it is just waisting money.
rule 2: 512 is good for MOST things just not gaming and cad and other intensive programs.
rule 3: the same argument as rule 1 if all you want is to play current games and older ones go ahead. If you want to play new highend games at high res you had better get a high end card. Same is true if you want to keep from upgradeing constantly.
rule 4: i halfway agree with you. 64 bit is still not fully mature but if you can get it at a good deal it is stil worth it. The only thing keeping me from a 64 bit system is lack of non-beta drivers on some products.
rule 5: again i partly agree, but this depends on what type of games you play. I wouldn't play a flight sim with out a joystick but i don't need it to play UT2k4 either.
rule 6: I some what agree, but your argument is more opinion than fact i've seen people complain and argue on both sides so that is realy up to the person doing the building. I build my own because i love computers and like to work on them as it what i do for a carrier.
rule 7: again that is all in the "ear of the beholder" onboard is good enough for me but others insist on seperate cards and their undoubted quality and/or perfomance boost.
rule 8: I agree a stable motherboard should be the foundation of any good system. But keep in mind that a few months after they are released most mobo's from a good company have bios updates to fix a lot of thier instabilaty problems. Keep in mind a mobo that is slightly older also supports old standards and is not as upgradeable in the long term. ie. if i get a mobo with agp it will support most of the newest video card but for how long until getting a new card requires getting a new mobo that has pcie?
in general your rules are good for a minority of people, but none the less valid for them. For myself i like to have the best bang for my buck and higher end parts that will last me quite a while. But i work for a small computer company so i know i can find some one willing to buy a moderately priced once top of the line pc, when i'm ready to get me a new one.
One argument that you alluded to but never said was that people should keep in mind that a good gaming system isn't always "Keeping up with the Joneses", the latest and greates is actually needed by some but for most it is just waisting money.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."--George Orwell