85 réponses à ce sujet

[AlanC9]

 (As long as we're talking hardware today)

I had an x1300 lying around, which is actually OK for ME1 and DA:O. More recent games, not so much. I get 8 FPS on ME2, which is not exactly playable. This thing's gonna have to go, obviously. And my processor's an Athlon 64 X2 4000+, so this whole rig's about at the end of its useful life.

Problem is, with the new consoles upcoming I don't really want to do a full upgrade now; I'm not really sure where PC game requirements are going to be in a year or two. So, I've been considering just picking up some fairly junky part as a stopgap for the next year or so. I saw a 6450 for $30 the other day, and there's plenty of NVIDIA low-end junk floating around. Or should I just bite the bullet and buy something good now?

IOW, how low can I go? My gaming needs aren't all that intensive -- I don't play most modern shooters, for instance.

Modifié par AlanC9, 06 septembre 2013 - 05:01 .

[Volus Warlord]

Don't bother with the new consoles at launch and just get a really good PC. You'll get so much more out of it.

[bmwcrazy]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of the video card was it?

[OdanUrr]

Volus Warlord wrote...

Don't bother with the new consoles at launch and just get a really good PC. You'll get so much more out of it.

Seconded.

[DatOneFanboy]

New PC, I couldnt take this sht from my console it kept blowing up every 6 months

[AlanC9]

bmwcrazy wrote...

Just out of curiosity, what kind of the video card was it?

Sapphire x1650 Pro. Not all that much better than the x1300, but at least everything I have ran on it. That card held up surprisingly well.

I'm not seriously thinking about getting a console myself, mind. I'm just not convinced that right now is a great time to buy an all-new PC.

Modifié par AlanC9, 06 septembre 2013 - 08:37 .

[devSin]

I wouldn't get a 6xxx. That was a crap line (stuck on an older process than it was designed for).

That said, game requirements aren't likely going anywhere. Performance seems to be tied to process these days (they don't seem able to really rein in their energy requirements), and GPUs aren't going to be able to keep up in order to give any fundamental improvement (focus now seems to be on multi-GPU configurations at the high end, which is even more irresponsible). Unless you're expecting to drive massive resolutions, a 7950 or 670 should be a competent performer for years to come.

But if you were still happily kicking around with an x1650, I wouldn't bother, truthfully. Get an iPad for the internet and a console for games, and go ahead and contribute to the collapse of the traditional PC market.

Modifié par devSin, 06 septembre 2013 - 08:51 .

[bmwcrazy]

Well, if you want something temporary, just get the 6450.

I'm also planning on getting a new PC soon, but I'll have to see how crazy Battlefield 4 is before I start buying the expensive bits.

Modifié par bmwcrazy, 06 septembre 2013 - 08:51 .

[The Antagonist]

get a 760. It's the best value for money card atm imo

Modifié par codenamesource, 06 septembre 2013 - 08:58 .

[Xeyska]

Save up for a new PC, and get a temporary video card like the others said. My video card blew out about two months ago and I'm saving up for a new PC as well.

[AlanC9]

devSin wrote...
I wouldn't get a 6xxx. That was a crap line (stuck on an older process than it was designed for).

That said, game requirements aren't likely going anywhere. Performance seems to be tied to process these days (they don't seem able to really rein in their energy requirements), and GPUs aren't going to be able to keep up in order to give any fundamental improvement (focus now seems to be on multi-GPU configurations at the high end, which is even more irresponsible). Unless you're expecting to drive massive resolutions, a 7950 or 670 should be a competent performer for years to come.

The 6xxx line got onto my radar in the first place because I keep seeing them heavily discounted, which makes their price/performance hard to ignore. Maybe because other folks have the same opinion of the line you do?

Sysreqs aren't going anywhere after BF4 et al., right? I'm thinking along the same lines as bmwcrazy here. Or are we wrong?

But if you were still happily kicking around with an x1650, I wouldn't bother, truthfully. Get an iPad for the internet and a console for games, and go ahead and contribute to the collapse of the traditional PC market.

Too many downsides. Besides, gaming has akways been a "lean-forward" activity for me -- playing from my couch is a bug, not a feature.

[FireAndBlood]

Do the sensible thing and buy a console.

[AlanC9]

And learn to use a controller? Deal with the smaller effective screen size? Eww.

Seriously, let's not even go there.

[devSin]

AlanC9 wrote...

The 6xxx line got onto my radar in the first place because I keep seeing them heavily discounted, which makes their price/performance hard to ignore. Maybe because other folks have the same opinion of the line you do?

They're practically EOL, and the 6450 is the cheapest of the line, so it's not going to be worth anything anymore (but it was never worth anything anyway).

If all you're looking for is something to get you through the next year, I suppose it doesn't matter (and anything you can get will be an upgrade from that old card).

AlanC9 wrote...

Sysreqs aren't going anywhere after BF4 et al., right? I'm thinking along the same lines as bmwcrazy here. Or are we wrong?

BF4 is less than two months away. The cards on the market are going to be the same then as they are today.

If that's what you're waiting for, I'd just keep the emergency card you have now and play a few games of BG until the official system requirements are released (or the full game if you're waiting for performance reviews). Then you can decide what you want to do.

As for system requirements in general, it's early to say. A high-end card should continue to give you at least a few years of being able to play the latest games at decent settings, but I'm not sure if anybody can say yet how often you'd need to upgrade if you wanted to keep setting everything to ultra and playing at some obscene resolution.

AlanC9 wrote...

Too many downsides. Besides, gaming has akways been a "lean-forward" activity for me -- playing from my couch is a bug, not a feature.

I misread your previous post, sorry (I didn't catch that you were not seriously considering consoles).

It sounds like you should do what you need to be able to hold out until there's a game you really want to play that simply won't run on your current system and decide how to upgrade then. Worrying about future-proofing probably isn't going to serve you all that well, at least until we're a couple years into the new generation.

Modifié par devSin, 07 septembre 2013 - 10:13 .

[deuce985]

I would personally wait until next year to build a PC because they should have some new architecture coming out. It's a generational gap with the new consoles coming out too and wee need to know where new PC requirements for modern games will be. Once consoles get sorted out, we should see a fairly big requirement jump on specs for PC gaming. It's rumored Nvidia GPUs next year will blow away their current architecture.

Even though I have a pretty good gaming PC now I was going to build another one next month. Decided to hold off after reading what's coming next year. I'm just going to wait until DA:I/Witcher 3 are out.

It's hard to recommend a GPU without a budget for you. What's your mobo look like? it sounds pretty ancient and at some point that starts to hurt what GPUs you can slip in there.

Modifié par deuce985, 08 septembre 2013 - 05:19 .

[RedArmyShogun]

Buy a new card. Problem solved. If you want to know what card to get, depends o nthe budget and what your rig can take. I personally use a ATI Radeon HD 7870.

[NeonFlux117]

You can get a HD 7770 for 100 bucks.


But may I ask, you're a pc gamer and you don't play modern shooters???

Really. Wow.


So you play what, like CSS and stuff?

You PC game and you have no interest in Battlefield or Planetside 2, Metro last light, Crysis or anything???

I find this interesting.

And BF4 will require at least a 660 GTX or better, more likely a 760 GTX to get at 1080p, plus 60 frames on high settings. If your going to play lower than that. Buy a PS4 or XB1.

So, yeah.

I think it's time to invest in a good card. At least a 650ti boost or AMD equivalent (7790)

[bmwcrazy]

Keep in mind that OP's current CPU is only an Athlon64 X2 4000+.

No matter what kind of video card he gets, he'll need a brand new PC quite soon.

[AngryFrozenWater]

I agree with bmwcrazy. It looks like gaming is a major hobby for you, so it will be an investment for years to come. It looks like your old one has served you for many years.

It is hard to give advice when we don't know how much you are willing to spend on it.

Without that I can only say that there are options, like keeping some of your old hardware, and replace the motherboard, processor and memory first. Plus a cheap, but better graphics card to go along with it, because that caused it all. Change the rest and replace the graphics card with a better one when you are able to.

Remember that you cannot just slap a great graphics card into your old machine and aspect it to work great. Your old power supply may not be able to keep up with it. Also your current processor will be a bottleneck.

On many hardware sites you'll notice that they think a new graphics card can give new life to an older machine. It's usually true, but that too has its limits. The X2 4000+ is rather old and it will be such a bottleneck - even with such a great graphics card.

I was in a situation in which I had a Phenom II and upgrading the graphics card didn't do much anymore. The only option left was to bite the bullet and change the processor too, because I wasn't getting any value for my money otherwise. That caused me to upgrade most of my hardware. It caused a chain reaction.

Looking at it from this point of view, you would only be able to keep your hard disk, monitor, keyboard and mouse.

In short: You really won't need the budget for a high-end rig, but it helps when we know your budget and if you are willing to assemble the parts yourself. That's not as hard as it used to be, but some care is required.

Edit: Oops. Corrected some silly typos.

Modifié par AngryFrozenWater, 08 septembre 2013 - 11:07 .

[FireAndBlood]

AlanC9 wrote...

And learn to use a controller? Deal with the smaller effective screen size? Eww.

Seriously, let's not even go there.

I was just messing with you but what do you mean by smaller screen size?How big is your monitor?

[Seival]

AlanC9 wrote...

So, my video card is blown. What now?

PC gaming platform is obsolete. You will never find games like The Last of Us or inFamous on PC.

Buy PS4, it will be released soon and cost less than a top-notch video card for PC

Modifié par Seival, 08 septembre 2013 - 03:16 .

[spirosz]

Seival wrote...

PC gaming platform is obsolete.

Please. 

[bmwcrazy]

Seival wrote...

PC gaming platform is obsolete. You will never find games like The Last of Us or inFamous on PC.

Buy PS4, it will be released soon and cost less than a top-notch video card for PC

The Last of Us was very good. However, Infamous was an over-rated garbage IMO.

I have no idea how either of them convinced you that the PC was obsolete.