Comments on: Tips for a Good PC Gaming Experience

By: Axlin

Axlin — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:45:54 +0000

These are good tips, but you missed the most fundamental thing: your hardware. =)

You do not need the latest and greatest by any means. In fact, I recommend that you don’t go out and buy the latest and greatest because you’re going to be throwing away a ton of money all for the sake of seeing little gain. In fact, you could build a gaming rig that can handle pretty much anything out there (not Crysis, obviously), for less than $500, excluding the cost of a display. But you probably already have one of those.

Here are a couple of rigs that I’ve been pricing out. I hope to get a new gaming rig soon. Keep in mind that these prices are outdated by almost a month, so these specs are probably priced *higher* than what they are today. Also, all of these prices were from Newegg.com; I didn’t even try to find good deals, so I promise you these prices are at least slightly exaggerated:

Tight Budget – Total Price: ~$500, depending on components
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ (OEM): $50
Video Card: 512MB nVidia GeForce 8800GT: $230
RAM: (2×1GB) OCZ PC2-6400 Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel: $50
MoBo: Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H: $80

Re-use your HDD, display, mouse, speakers, keyboard and Windows, and get a case and a PSU, and you can easily have yourself a rig capable of playing pretty much anything with reasonable frame rates for roughly $500. I know some of you are going to take issue with the AMD, especially such a slow one. But, is it really that big of a deal? AMD may not be the biggest and fastest right now, but they are *significantly* cheaper than Intel, making them an excellent choice for a budget system. And quite frankly, your video card is going to have a *much* bigger impact on game performance than your CPU will. That’s why I think it’s an excellent choice here, for a budget system.

Have extra money to spare? No problem. Let’s look at something that I guarantee you will handle anything out there (again, except maybe Crysis) like cake.

Total Cost: Roughly $1100, depending on other components:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.0 GHz, 64 bit): $245
Video Card: (2x) 512MB nVidia GeForce 8800GT (EVGA): $460
RAM: (2×1GB) OCZ PC2-6400 Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel: $50
MoBo: ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 C55+MCP55P (open box): $100

Again, re-use the same components as mentioned above, and buy a PSU & a case, and you have yourself an *amazing* rig with *two* 8800GTs for a grand total of roughly $1000. Don’t want to spend $1000? Take away one of the 8800GTs, and you’ll still have an incredibly powerful machine capable of beautifully playing almost anything out there for roughly $750.

Gaming rigs don’t have to break your wallet, so to speak. I mean, I spent almost $600 on my Xbox 360 because of all the components, extra controllers, accessories, LIVE membership, etc., before I got around to even buying games. I could have gotten an equally powerful gaming PC for less than that. Unfortunately, though, a gaming PC wouldn’t enable me to play Halo 3 with my friends.

By: tastytreats

tastytreats — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:53:27 +0000

Good Stuff. Updating drivers are one of the most important factors. I also think a lot of people do not realize how much impact resolution has on FPS. I have some comments on my youtube videos saying they can get the same game at max setting with a lower video card; they always fail to mention what resolution they are running at.

By: Jeff Norris

Jeff Norris — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:08:41 +0000

Maintainence ! Everyone who complains about lockups, BSOD etc. when is the last time you got all the dirt, dead skin (yes gross!) and lint off your system board, CPU cooler and video card? I tear my systesm down every 3 months for a good cleaning.
Also read the required specs on a game box, minimum really means it will run so slow you will hate your PC and the game you bought for $59.95 so get something above the minimum or above the recomended specs if you can afford to do that.

By: Psycho999

Psycho999 — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:06:29 +0000

I think one issue with building a pc that alot of people tend to have is they do not always look into building a pc parts wise. Like which graphics or cpu best fits there needs.I can agree with what was said. I would just inform them maybe of certian websites. like newegg.com or other websites for good offers on pc parts. Which also have reviews to help them make a decision on which parts are good for them. And if you are making a gaming pc base it on medium specs. not low specs but in between high and low that way it won’t run too slow just incase you do not have enough money to spend on higher end products.

By: Wookie

Wookie — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:53:46 +0000

Everyone is a bit different, however i recommend going for 60-75 fps. As humans we can see differences between 30 and 60 fps. Yes I know most movies and videos are 24 or 30 fps. What is different with those, is they are fixed framerates. They do not go up and down from lets say 30-60. Shoot for a straight 60 or more. At the same time, if your PC is churning out 200fps and you are not running with max settings, crank them settings up. I know, why change the settings if you are getting a good frame rate? Well, humans cannot see much more than ~100fps, so increasing the quality will give you a more satisfactory experience. Note: Anti Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering should be the last ones you turn up as they will have a large performance loss (They do make it look purdy though).

Good Read: http://www.100fps.com/how_many_frames_can_humans_see.htm

Jesse

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:33:15 +0000

I made a mistake like that when i bought call of duty 4. for pc and then relized that it wouldn’t play on my computer.

By: carbo

carbo — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:17:53 +0000

this entery was good. descriptive but it was mostly full of common knolage (sorry but my spelling stinks) but this artical was good netherless. it dosent help me much becouse my computer wont even defrag for some reason (Its not becouse of windows i have a cheap computer and i need an upgrade (even an external hardrive would be nice lol only 2 gigs with 11 gigs max space)

By: fr3ak

fr3ak — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:12:50 +0000

Here is a good site to make sure whether your PC can run a certain game or not: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

It will automatically check your system and give recommendation(s) of what you need to run the game.

By: williamcheng

williamcheng — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:23:14 +0000

Chris thanks for the great tips but i should of read them before. Because i bought Crysis and it ran like crap!

By: Hectorbambino

Hectorbambino — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:49:23 +0000

Good list, i have one extra tip, DON´T buy “the best hardware or software” because everyone say its the best, for instance, i bought a Logitech G5 last week, and i feel very comfortable with it, but some friends with smaller hands actually think its too big and uncomfortable, so you may want to try out the product you are interested in before you buy it

By: pardal

pardal — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:37:08 +0000

How does computer gaming contributes to global warming?

By: a012345

a012345 — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:40:42 +0000

I meant turning off the programs not being used in the background in msconfig.

By: a012345

a012345 — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:39:58 +0000

Turning programs in the background that’s not being used helps greatly as well. For the more advanced, you could always overclock your cpu.

By: Colin Gerwitz (coolcolger)

Colin Gerwitz (coolcolger) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:23:39 +0000

Hey! Some other tips for becoming a good gamer is to start with a basic game, don’t start off with a game that overwhelms you! Also don’t start off on the hardest difficulty level the first time around, let your self learn the game then test your boundaries against tougher gamers if the game is multiplayer or try harder opponents in the game if not. Find out if your friends play the game, if they do the experience with the game will more than likely be more fun for both of you.

By: Razor70

Razor70 — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:49:26 +0000

All very excellent suggestions, and MOST of them I follow. I need to get better about defragging my hard drive consitently and updating my drivers more often. Thanks for the great tips.