Cardiac161

I've been an avid PC Gamer since and never really got to consoles due to the fact that I primarily play First-Person Shooters. FPS controls seem to be better (for me anyway) using a mouse and keyboard.

What bothers me the most are the numerous upgrades I have been doing for the last 2 years:

Processors : Intel P3 800mhz to Intel P4 2.0Ghz and now a P4 2.8Ghz
Videocards : ATI 9200 to ATI 9600xt and now an ATI X800 Pro

That doesn't even include the motherboards of which I should be upgrading again in order to accommodate a higher processor with an 800mhz bus.

Can anyone please tell me if the system I have right now is good enough to last for future PC games coming out??? So right now I have P4 2.8Ghz (533mhz), ATI x800Pro, 1 gig RAM. For chrissakes, the amount of money I have spent just to be able to play Doom3 & HalfLife 2 have been staggering to say the least!!!

PixyJunket

No PC is good enough for future PC gaming.

Josh H

Exactly, that's why I've never been able to get into it much. I don't like working on computers, or buying new ones very often, and it's near impossible without breaking the bank to build a computer that will be able to run the latests and greatest games at optimal settings for 5 years (standard console lifespan).

So no one can really help you with that. Upgrading often is basically a necessary evil in PC gaming. You just have to decide if it's worth it to you.

TheMadMonk

A) Buy a new, state of the art PC, with top of the line components
B) Do a fresh OS install, and install all updates & video card drivers
C) Profit*
D) Every 6 months, repeat A through D

* = This step only applies to video card and other hardware manufacturers)

A bitch, ain't it?

Noonan

I don't imagine any game will require specs higher than what you have for a few years (I hope...). I purchased my computer almost two years ago and have been able to play both Doom 3 and HL2 without any upgrades. The resolution wasn't maxed like I'm able to with older games, but it still looks fine to me.

Breakfast with Girls

Consider the fact that Doom III and Half-Life 2 cost you, like, $250 each.

Please help? Why? Screw PC gaming.

wlj

This is one of the main reasons I have never been able to get into PC gaming...I don't have the monetary resources. I can't afford to do upgrades all the time. And in my opinion....its not worth it. Granted I have yet to play Half-life 2 yet. But the games may have higher resolution on PC... but I rather be sitting on my couch playing a lower resolution game on my 52 inch Widescreen TV than have very high resolution on my 17 inch computer monitor. For instance I have Halo on the PC...my computer has the resources to run the game very well....but guess what I went out and bought Halo for my Xbox and I am having alot more fun with it. Another aspect I do not like about PC gaming...having to install games. Most of the time they won't work until you have downloaded some new driver or patch. It can just be a real headache. I just feel that PC gamers put a ton of money into new systems and upgrades, and don't get much out of it. There are lots of people that are buying new computers to play HL2.....which means they are actually spending 1500 to 2000 dollars on Half Life 2. Is it really that good that it is worth that much money?? Not to mention that same person that just bought that brand new PC...will have to make upgrades 6 months down the line to play a new "must have" game. I am not bashing PC gaming by any means...it is just not for me. Thanks for listening.

njchris

It's just a choice. If you have the funds, and you want to see the newest and best for a PC, then you will need to upgrade once in a while. Or just do not buy the games that seem to need warrant the need to upgrade. Wait a while, since those games should be available for a long while.

There are plenty of other games out there that you do not need the newest and best pc hardware to play.

Trigger

I built my PC 4 years ago and the only upgrades I've done are going from a 2000+ Athlon to a 2400+ which only cost me like 50 bucks... I added a second hard drive for shits and giggles and cuz it was really cheap... I also swapped out my old video card (which was fine - GeForce 4 ti4400) to a 6600GT which I got pretty cheap. I can run most new games with all graphics and sound options on high. I think people just make bad upgrade decisions. PC gaming has been cheaper than owning an Xbox for me since I can get new PC games for around half the cost of a new console game.

msdmoney

Well first I hope you haven't been upgrading when all those parts cost a premium. There is no reason to spend the $600 or more Intel charges when they first release a processor.

As for processsors and memory you are probably good for a while. Intel has canned plans to introduce a 4 ghz p4. They (and AMD) are now focusing on dual core processors, as they have just had to many problems with heat to ramp up the processor speeds any more right now. And the DDR2 memory hasn't shown much real world performance increases.

You may have to upgrade you video card though. Of course if you don't have pci express on your current mobo you may have to upgrade them all anyways because the new video cards are going pci-e only very soon.

I agree constant computer upgrades can be daunting. I am still running a p3 550, but hoping to upgrade soon to catch up on some pc gaming.

tek2k

the problem is the game you're playing, doom 3. it has such high requirements, the payoff just isn't there. you spend all that money to get your system up to spec with that game, and what do you get? darkness. half-life 2 on the other hand, doesn't have as high requirements. i could barely get above 10fps in doom 3 on the lowest settings with everything off. with half-life 2, i just installed it, and ran it. i didn't change any settings, and it runs fine.

my crappy comp:
amd athlon xp 2400+
1gig pc2100 ram
gf4mx

Trigger

gf4mx kinda sucks - spend 100-150 and get a decent dx9 card. I run Doom 3 with everything on high and aa and my framerate is fine. I have the same processor and half the ram you have.

Josh H

I agree with that 100%. For people with the knowledge and skills to both be able to build their own computer and to know how to do so cheaply, the extra cost of upgrading isn't a factor.

I've just never been a "tinkerer" and don't like working on stuff like that, so I've never had the desire to learn how to build a PC.

But for people like you, it's the ideal situation as you don't have to shell out much $$$ to keep your rigs playing the latest games at good settings. So that's something else for the OP to look into, if he's interested he can probably keep his system up to date for cheaper than he has been.

Cardiac161

Thanks so much for all your replies...whether it be a positive or a negative opinion about PC Gaming.

It's so nice to hear some talk about PC gaming since I actually thought this matter is almost non-existent in this forum.

Draven

If I could get any money for it, I'd sell off my PC for parts and switch to a Powerbook for my home pc.

I got into the modding scene for a little while and did a lot of upgrades on my computer. It's getting a little outdated now, and considering how much time I spend console gaming on my 50-inch widescreen TV I see little reason to continue upgrading. I'd rather just buy a new laptop every 4 or 5 years and keep playing console games.

gr8fuldave

I'm another PC FPS gamer who's made the switch to consoles for good I'm afraid. I can justify spending 50 bucks on a game with online play as opposed to buying more ram, another video card, etc, etc when a new PC game comes out. I'd love to still be able to upgrade every six months or so, but I can't anymore. I miss being able to play HL2 and Doom3, but Halo2, Ghost Recon 2, Rainbow Six Black Arrow, and others have made up for that.

Chris_D

I've jumped ship as well, and I'm kind of glad that there aren't as many must play pc games as there were maybe 4-5 years ago. The last game I upgraded for was Galaxies and I'm hoping to scrape by for Half Life 2 which I have on order. My setup is amd 1700xp, 1gig ram, and radeon 9600xt.

It's just not worth it anymore and I have all the different consoles (including the classics) so that covers me for nearly all my gaming.

Trigger

I think it's kinda funny that people say that they have been upgrading every time a new game comes out or every 6 months. If this is actually true, then PC gaming isn't for you anyway.

Bad Math:

Let's say you buy 20 games per year. I've found that PC games range in price from 20-40 and average less than 30 bucks per game. Console games new are pretty much all 50 bucks with a few exceptions. Let's just exclude exceptions for the purpose of my bad math...

So, 20 games per year-
PC: $600
Console: $1000

That means you have $400 worth of savings per year to spend on PC upgrades if you want. Wise upgrades include
Motherboards cost ~150 (You can get motherboards costing half this, but this is just if you want a really hot board)
Memory costs ~100
Video Cards cost ~200 (don't waste money on the newest latest thing)
Processors cost ~200 (for some this may be overkill even as a processor costing well under 100 bucks can handle any games out today)

Draven

But there aren't 20 PC games I want to play. There's maybe 3 or 4 I could justify purchasing in a given year. Hell, Battlefield 1942 lasted me a whole year.

But I could easily find 20 console games for the three systems I own (plus a GBA.)

So making a $400 investment to play 3 games doesn't seem to be worth it anymore.

Trigger

But you said one game lasted you a whole year... how is that not value? So basically it's -

PC - $30
Console - $1000

That would allow for quite alot of upgrades... which don't sound necessary since you're only playing one game.

BigPete

I've had my Athlon XP 1700+, Geforce3 Ti500, and the same 768mb of ram since 11/01 and I've been able to easily complete Doom3 and Half-Life 2 with no techincal difficulties. Granted, I prefer actual gameplay to resolution, so I make due with 640x480 or 800x600, but still - I haven't sunk a dime into upgrading my PC since I purchased it and there has yet to be a game I cannot reasonably play.

Trigger

Indeed - I could've kept playing with my ti4400, but I just wanted to upgrade to make things more pretty.

Jeremy517

I'm not trying to take either side here, just commenting on the math.

It seems to me that most people here don't pay $50 for new console games, except for rare occasions. Personally, I haven't paid $50 for a game in probably 2-3 years. I probably average about $20 per console game. Obviously PC games drop in price too, so that would have to be taken into account also. It seems to me that the price margin shrinks the further away from the release date that you get.

The big missing piece in your equation (for me at least), is the fact that the resale (or trade) value for console games is much higher than it is for PC games. If you play through a console game and don't like it enough to keep it, you'll get a higher percentage of your money back by selling it than you would if it was a PC game.

Trigger

Good point on the resale, except maybe that (for me anyway) I'm more likely to resell a console game than a PC game.

As for prices, if we're talking new games, you can usually find a PC game selling for well below msrp while console games are alot harder to find on sale. It's been quite some time since I've spent more than 20 or 30 bucks for a console game too, but then again - I don't get stuff right away usually and often get stuff used.

Chris_D

Yeah sorry Trigger, I've only been buying and playing about 2-3 pc games for maybe the last 2 years. About 4 years ago it would have been 10 games. I probably buy about 15-20 games on various consoles in a year.

Consoles cover more genres than ever before and the ones that they don't I've lost interest in (RTS, MMORPGS).

Also, as a positive, often pc games offer 100s of hrs of entertainment, particularly with mods and online play. However this has less influence on my purchases these days as the cost of individual games is less of an issue and I'm generally looking for something short and sweet (less than 40 hrs preferable) because I have less time to spend playing games.