Video Games: Grinding To Oblivion

[Jace, Extat]

Aiden, blah. She sais "I-den", Aiden is "A-den". I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just being a cunt.

And almost getting torn apart by dogs, holy shit!

[Jabronius Maximus]

Question for PC gamers here: how often do you guys have to upgrade your setups? I have an older i7-940 and amd 6870 setup with old-ish RAM (I think 8GB of DDR3 1066). I haven't really played PC much over the last year or so (thanks to ps3), but I've started up recently.

Basically I'm wondering if my setup is good enough to play games on at least high settings for 5-6 more years. I really don't want to drop another $6-700 for upgraded parts in the near future, when I'll be getting a relatively cheap and decent gaming experience that will last well over 5 years with the ps4.

Eta: I'm not entirely sure how the upgrade process works. In my case would I just be able to swap the GPU? The one I have is fine, but it's a bit of a power monger.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte]

Question for PC gamers here: how often do you guys have to upgrade your setups? I have an older i7-940 and amd 6870 setup with old-ish RAM (I think 8GB of DDR3 1066). I haven't really played PC much over the last year or so (thanks to ps3), but I've started up recently.

Basically I'm wondering if my setup is good enough to play games on at least high settings for 5-6 more years. I really don't want to drop another $6-700 for upgraded parts in the near future, when I'll be getting a relatively cheap and decent gaming experience that will last well over 5 years with the ps4.

Eta: I'm not entirely sure how the upgrade process works. In my case would I just be able to swap the GPU? The one I have is fine, but it's a bit of a power monger.

for someone who doesn't game on PC that's a damn fine rig man! ! I have a 6850 and dual core family PC and I can still run all current games except the witcher 2 on high! Yes it will easily last 3-4 more years. i7 is overkill and 6870 is a solid mid level card that can handle everything currently as well in the near future.

I recently got an asus ROG laptop which I believe will last me a good 5 years :D

[Werthead]

Question for PC gamers here: how often do you guys have to upgrade your setups? I have an older i7-940 and amd 6870 setup with old-ish RAM (I think 8GB of DDR3 1066). I haven't really played PC much over the last year or so (thanks to ps3), but I've started up recently.

Basically I'm wondering if my setup is good enough to play games on at least high settings for 5-6 more years. I really don't want to drop another $6-700 for upgraded parts in the near future, when I'll be getting a relatively cheap and decent gaming experience that will last well over 5 years with the ps4.

Eta: I'm not entirely sure how the upgrade process works. In my case would I just be able to swap the GPU? The one I have is fine, but it's a bit of a power monger.

It'll do fine for the next year or so. Not 5-6 years, no. But it's probably best to see how you get along and look to upgrade when games start hitting that your current set-up can't handle. The 6870 is getting a little long in the tooth, but probably no moreso than my 550ti which is still handling almost everything I can throw at it.

I have a 6850 and dual core family PC and I can still run all current games except the witcher 2 on high! Yes it will easily last 3-4 more years. i7 is overkill and 6870 is a solid mid level card that can handle everything currently as well in the near future.

Dual cores will likely be very quickly supersceded altogether. GTA4 won't work properly with them and I doubt GTA5 will either. The specs released for next-gen console games headed to PC are also rather eye-watering. CoDGoats and Watch Dogs are both now saying 6GB RAM minimum, so I think we can expect games 2-3 years down the line demanding 8GB minimum (and thus 16GB will be needed to stay ahead; fortunately that's an easy upgrade as RAM is comparatively cheap). Graphic card requirements also look like they're going to ramp up quickly. CoDGoats is saying a 550ti will be the minimum card, which is probably down to poor PC optimisation than actual requirements (a 550ti can run almost everything out now at Ultra; Tomb Raider and high-unit games of Rome II are the only things I've needed to take it down a notch on), but if not we're going to see large-scale GPU upgrades being needed in the next couple of years as well.

For someone building or buying a new PC now with an eye to future-proofing, I would definitely recommend 16 GB RAM, a 2GB graphics card (preferably nVidia 660 as minimum, a 770 if you can stretch to it) and one of the newer quad-core i5s. Also, whilst in technical performance ATI and nVidia are not far off one another (though nVidia seems to have the edge), I'd definitely recommend nVidia as they have committed wholeheartedly to the PC market and more and more games are coming out optimised for nVidia with almost little thought spared for ATI. ATI's parent company have thrown all-in with the consoles, and their long-term commitment to the PC platform has to be questionable, especially as they have lost substantial market share over the past couple of years.

[Werthead]

XCOM: Enemy Within will have a full third faction, a transhumanist terror group known as EXALT which will attempt to undermine XCOM's efforts so it can seize alien technology to it's own ends. This also includes a whole new mission time, Extraction, in which you have to insert a lone operate into an EXALT outpost to hack their systems. You then send in a full team to help extract the agent whilst he or she has to make their own way back to link up with them, hacking systems along the way. EXALT have the same weaponry that XCOM has access to, including classes, and are apparently less shy than the aliens at using area-effect weapons. Their AI is also apparently impressive: if you move to aggressively to rescue your agent, they will concentrate heavy weapons fire on your team; if you hold back or try to flank too much, they might send all of their troops after your lone agent instead, vulnerable on the opposite side of the map.

Interesting stuff.

[Werthead]

Hilarious GTA5 bug.

[Fez]

2k games has released video of the first five minutes of BioShock Infinite's first story DLC, Burial at Sea Episode One

Obvious early DLC spoilers

Rapture looks good, really good. My incredibly premature prediction for the plot is that Booker somehow ended up in Rapture after being drowned at the end of Infinite (that coughing at the start sure sounded like someone coughing up water), and has once again made up new memories to fit in. Whether he did that some time ago and the cough was a coincidence to clue us in, or if he just arrived (although, how'd he get the office so quickly?) I don't know. Either way, our Elizabeth has come to Rapture as well to get him out of there and, hopefully, finally back to his own timeline. The fact that she didn't know about the Little Sisters is the hint that she is new to Rapture.

Or I could be way off base. I probably am actually. But this idea makes sense to me; at least as much as anything based on alternate timelines and time travel can make sense.

[Guy Kilmore]

2k games has released video of the first five minutes of BioShock Infinite's first story DLC, Burial at Sea Episode One

Obvious early DLC spoilers

Rapture looks good, really good. My incredibly premature prediction for the plot is that Booker somehow ended up in Rapture after being drowned at the end of Infinite (that coughing at the start sure sounded like someone coughing up water), and has once again made up new memories to fit in. Whether he did that some time ago and the cough was a coincidence to clue us in, or if he just arrived (although, how'd he get the office so quickly?) I don't know. Either way, our Elizabeth has come to Rapture as well to get him out of there and, hopefully, finally back to his own timeline. The fact that she didn't know about the Little Sisters is the hint that she is new to Rapture.

Or I could be way off base. I probably am actually. But this idea makes sense to me; at least as much as anything based on alternate timelines and time travel can make sense.

Sally is Elizabeth in this dimension.

[Anatole Kuragin]

Enemy Within looks awesome. XCOM:EU has been one of the 3 or so games that have gotten me away from DotA2 for more than a couple days for two years now.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Thanks for all that advice guys! It might be a damn fine rig, but it draws as much power as my fridge :(

So, if/when I do choose to upgrade, would adding 8GB of RAM and swapping the video card for a current model be enough? I don't want to go through the trouble of building my entire PC again, that was a fun but painstaking process.

Edit: did I mention how much I hate this quoting system?

[JonArryn]

Been playing Borderlands 2 co-op and I like it more and more. I was skeptic at first but I like it more and more the more I get comfortable with the game.

Great gameplay with really nice weapon and class aspect. Nice world too. A fun game if you wanna pass time

[KiDisaster]

Thanks for all that advice guys! It might be a damn fine rig, but it draws as much power as my fridge :(

So, if/when I do choose to upgrade, would adding 8GB of RAM and swapping the video card for a current model be enough? I don't want to go through the trouble of building my entire PC again, that was a fun but painstaking process.

Edit: did I mention how much I hate this quoting system?

You probably won't need any more than 8GB of RAM anytime soon, but I guess it can't hurt to have more. The most important thing will be your GPU and how much VRAM it has. But you'll need to make sure that your CPU isn't bottlenecking whatever new graphics card you get. I doubt that would be an issue with an i7 though.

I'm probably going to upgrade my GPU whenever the GTX 800 series comes out next year.

[Jabronius Maximus]

You probably won't need any more than 8GB of RAM anytime soon, but I guess it can't hurt to have more. The most important thing will be your GPU and how much VRAM it has. But you'll need to make sure that your CPU isn't bottlenecking whatever new graphics card you get. I doubt that would be an issue with an i7 though.

I'm probably going to upgrade my GPU whenever the GTX 800 series comes out next year.

I can look into overclocking my i7, although I'm not sure if that's necessary. As for VRAM, I'm guessing I should go for a minimum of 2GB? Some of the cards I'm looking at have 3-4 GB, which make my 1GB card look ancient.

[Muttering Bill]

2k games has released video of the first five minutes of BioShock Infinite's first story DLC, Burial at Sea Episode One

Obvious early DLC spoilers

Rapture looks good, really good. My incredibly premature prediction for the plot is that Booker somehow ended up in Rapture after being drowned at the end of Infinite (that coughing at the start sure sounded like someone coughing up water), and has once again made up new memories to fit in. Whether he did that some time ago and the cough was a coincidence to clue us in, or if he just arrived (although, how'd he get the office so quickly?) I don't know. Either way, our Elizabeth has come to Rapture as well to get him out of there and, hopefully, finally back to his own timeline. The fact that she didn't know about the Little Sisters is the hint that she is new to Rapture.

Or I could be way off base. I probably am actually. But this idea makes sense to me; at least as much as anything based on alternate timelines and time travel can make sense.

Booker already living in Rapture sort a throws a wrench into the whole "there is always a man and a lighthouse" thing.

[Anatole Kuragin]

I can look into overclocking my i7, although I'm not sure if that's necessary. As for VRAM, I'm guessing I should go for a minimum of 2GB? Some of the cards I'm looking at have 3-4 GB, which make my 1GB card look ancient.

If you're working on a budget, I'll back up with Wert said about the GTX660 with 2gb or 770. I just built a budget PC with the 660 and I'm very impressed. With that, one of the new i5s, and 8gb of ram, I can run anything on ultra that I've come across and it should be good for a while, even with Watch Dogs and co coming.

[Jabronius Maximus]

If you're working on a budget, I'll back up with Wert said about the GTX660 with 2gb or 770. I just built a budget PC with the 660 and I'm very impressed. With that, one of the new i5s, and 8gb of ram, I can run anything on ultra that I've come across and it should be good for a while, even with Watch Dogs and co coming.

I'm not really on a budget, I just want to make a solid upgrade without having to do an overhaul. AMD is also coming out with these cheaper high powered cards, so maybe they're worth a look too. On the extreme end, the monstrosity of a case that I have can fit one of those Nvidia Titans, so that's always an option too...

So basically if I upgrade nothing but my GPU then that should be good for a couple years? I put in a higher end i7 into my PC assuming that I'd keep it for many years, so I doubt it would bottleneck performance moving forward.

[Francis Buck]

A little late to the party here, but I picked up the new Tomb Raider a few nights ago. It's a pretty fun game for sure. The weapons have a surprising heft to them, and I like the sort of Arkham City-style open map. Only major downsides to me are some of the Uncharted-style "cinematic sequences", which I think sometimes go on for way too long, and become kind of numbing. I mean I'm not even half-way through the game and yet I can't count how many times there has been a near-miss ledge grab, five minute "running from explosions everywhere", and jumping across a structure collapsing under my feet. I feel as though they didn't quite match the pacing of those events that Uncharted mastered, which they were clearly going for. That being said, I do enjoy the somewhat increased interactivity (the platforming feels at least a tiny bit dangerous, which I suppose is a step forward at this point, sad as it is).

The only other major thing I don't like is the attempt at "grittiness". It feels incredibly forced to me, and the constant beatings, gruesome injuries, and over-the-top death animations for Lara are just kinda weird and very jarring. Doesn't feel natural at all, nor does it seem appropriate for a Tomb Raider game.

Aside from all that though it is indeed an enjoyable game. The bow's quite fun to use and I really like the dodge mechanic, which is something that I think could be utilized in more third-person shooters.

[Werthead]

So, if/when I do choose to upgrade, would adding 8GB of RAM and swapping the video card for a current model be enough? I don't want to go through the trouble of building my entire PC again, that was a fun but painstaking process.

It should be. If you have a quad-core i7, then that should take care of everything else. Note that you won't need to upgrade from 8GB in the near future, but it's definitely something to be thinking about for the long-term.

AMD is also coming out with these cheaper high powered cards, so maybe they're worth a look too. On the extreme end, the monstrosity of a case that I have can fit one of those Nvidia Titans, so that's always an option too...

I'm not convinced about AMD any more. I've had them in the past and they've been good, but nVidia seems much more on the ball these days (especially with driver support) and nVidia is going to be hugely supporting the new Steam systems as they come out, whilst I don't think AMD has made any comment about them. Depending on how they take off, that could be a deciding factor.

As for Titans, unless you're going to be doing high-end video editing or 3D graphics rendering (as in professional stuff), don't bother. A 770 or higher will actually have as much dedicating gaming support as a Titan, just with the rest of the crap you don't need taken off and hence cheaper.

I can look into overclocking my i7, although I'm not sure if that's necessary. As for VRAM, I'm guessing I should go for a minimum of 2GB? Some of the cards I'm looking at have 3-4 GB, which make my 1GB card look ancient.

Yeah, 1GB is going to be new minimum going forwards, so I'd definitely look at 2GB as a minimum from now on, just to give you extra space to play with. That said, 1GB is still by far the most common type out there, so I don't think we're going to see minimum specs exceeding 1GB for quite some time.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte]

I don't see the point of going past 1GB unless you have multiple monitors.

[Jabronius Maximus]

I'm not convinced about AMD any more. I've had them in the past and they've been good, but nVidia seems much more on the ball these days (especially with driver support) and nVidia is going to be hugely supporting the new Steam systems as they come out, whilst I don't think AMD has made any comment about them. Depending on how they take off, that could be a deciding factor.

As for Titans, unless you're going to be doing high-end video editing or 3D graphics rendering (as in professional stuff), don't bother. A 770 or higher will actually have as much dedicating gaming support as a Titan, just with the rest of the crap you don't need taken off and hence cheaper.

Yeah, 1GB is going to be new minimum going forwards, so I'd definitely look at 2GB as a minimum from now on, just to give you extra space to play with. That said, 1GB is still by far the most common type out there, so I don't think we're going to see minimum specs exceeding 1GB for quite some time.

Thanks for all this info, I've asked on sites like Tom's Hardware and got muddy advice at best (which is weird), so this is a great help. And I'm pretty much sold on the 770, it looks fairly future-proofed.

I was mostly kidding about the Titan, it is ridiculously overpriced for what it can do right now (we'll see what happens down the line though).

As for going Nvidia, would I just be able to 'plug and play' the card without any driver issues? Of course I'll do the proper installation procedure (uninstalling old drivers and all) but I don't want to have to mess around with any leftover AMD stuff if I install a new 770.