ATTN: PC Gamers

[Jake]

What are the specs on your gaming rigs, and have you had any issues running certain games?

Just curious - I'm trying to figure out what I need when I shoot for a gaming PC later next year.

[Tati]

2 gigs of ram
Nvidia 8600 gt

Can't run games in a better setting than Medium. Some games, i can't run at all.

[Jacob Singer]

AMD Phenom quad-core @ 2.61 GHz
4 gigs ram
1 terrabyte hardrive (can't recall manufacturer at the moment)
2 512 mb Nvidia 9800 GTs in SLI mode
Vista 32 bit OS (Windows 7 coming soon)

Right now this rig hasn't met a game it couldn't run at full specs, tho' I usually turn off AA just to keep framerates up high.

[ryoken]

Originally Posted by Jake

What are the specs on your gaming rigs, and have you had any issues running certain games?

Just curious - I'm trying to figure out what I need when I shoot for a gaming PC later next year.

The requirements for Modern Warfare 2 are a bit high, and might offer you a good starting point if youre going for a top notch machine.:

System Requirements
OS: Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor or better supported
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT or better or ATI Radeon 1600XT or better
DirectX: Microsoft DirectX(R) 9.0c
Hard Drive: 12GB of free hard drive space
Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Internet: Broadband connection required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet Connection required for activation

[Judas Booth]

I'm pretty sure that my specs are the same as Tati's. I certainly have to dial down the settings on some of my MMOs in order to make them playable.

I'm planning on getting a screamer for gaming next year.

[A-Pathetic]

I'm at the bottom end of the PC gaming spectrum right now. Pentium dual core 2.16, still running Windows XP with the 2 gigs of RAM it allows. Radeon 7900 gs video card. I do have a nice Raptor hard drive which is probably the only thing that will survive to my next system right now.

I'm below the necessary specs for Borderlands, but it runs like a dream oddly. I've had no issues running anything I've wanted to run yet, but that's obviously coming. This system is a few years old though, and I think next time I'd go the same route I did with this one. I didn't get the best of anything. When I bought my Pentium, the prices were all clumped until you got above that 2.16 and then they jumped about $100. The video card was close to the same thing, a really well reviewed mid range card where the next step up was a serious chunk of change.

I've never been the guy that has 100 FPS more than everybody else, but I've never really thought that was necessary. I'd rather save a few hundred bucks and have a great rig that lasts for 3 or so years.

[Brad Millette]

I've got a low end Core2 Duo 2.4ghz (E4700 I think?), 2GB Ram, and an nVidia 9800 GT 512MB card. I'm going to upgrade the processor soon, and throw another 2GB of RAM in there when I have a little spare cash, but right now I find I'm able to play most of the games I want to play at reasonably high settings without much of a hitch.

[ZombieFever]

AMD Athlon X2 2.8
8800 GTS
4 Gig Ram (1066)
00 RPM Hard Drive
1600x900 resolution

I really don't have much trouble running anything. I would randomly get blue screens with Fallout 3 and TF2. I haven't had the chance to see if its still a problem with a fresh install of 7 though. I mostly contribute most problems to this being my first build and not having everything 100% compatible.

Other than that though i can usually run everything at High with low level AA/AF on. Batman was really the only thing that seemed to put some pressure on it.

[Brad Millette]

Also Jake, don't be afraid of building a PC yourself (assuming you weren't planning to already, that is). I did it with little to no experience beyond replacing a video card her or some RAM there before, and it was much, much easier than I had been led to believe. And much, much cheaper than buying a premade system from a store. If you can follow any sort of instructions, then you can put together a PC.

[Judas Booth]

Originally Posted by Brad Millette

Also Jake, don't be afraid of building a PC yourself (assuming you weren't planning to already, that is). I did it with little to no experience beyond replacing a video card her or some RAM there before, and it was much, much easier than I had been led to believe. And much, much cheaper than buying a premade system from a store. If you can follow any sort of instructions, then you can put together a PC.

Seconded, and you'll find that your PC will be easier to upgrade/modify as well.

[BillyG]

Processor ( [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (4x 2.4GHz/8MB L2 Cache/1066FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Asus P5KPL-VM Intel G31 Chipset w/6-channels, Gb LAN, S-ATA 3Gb/s, USB 2.0, Single PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 2048MB [1024MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )

Copy and pasted from when I bought my PC from Ibuypower a little over 18 months ago. I'm looking to upgrade again after Christmas, as I've had some issues with WoW, but I think going to Win7 and boosting RAM will help.

[Brad Millette]

Originally Posted by Judas Booth

Seconded, and you'll find that your PC will be easier to upgrade/modify as well.

And this might be geeky to admit, but it's fun, too. It makes a nice project for yourself, finding good deals on parts, getting everything together, then getting it all working.

[BillyG]

I've built a few PC's from scratch, and I've sworn it off. From now on I am happy to buy a lower end deal from Ibuypower, and then just upgrade as needed.

[Trevor]

Quad Core 2.83GHz
ATI Radeon HD 4870
8GB Ram

When you do buy something, you should definitely check out this place (Singer recommended!), or look into building it yourself.

[Brad Millette]

I like how all the little monitors there are showing Street Fighter IV, as if anyone is going to play SFIV on their fucking PC.

[Tati]

I did.

[Brad Millette]

Congratulations, you're the one guy.

[Tati]

Yeah, the one guy without a 360! Fucking conversion rate.

[Brad Millette]

It's not our fault you live on the moon or wherever.

[Jacob Singer]

Originally Posted by Trevor

When you do buy something, you should definitely check out this place (Singer recommended!), or look into building it yourself.

Yeah, I hate sounding like a shill, but you can put together any pc you can imagine at that place, and they'll build it, test it for 48 hours, and ship it out to you, and you can get a kick-ass machine for under $1000. Both the machines I have here in my house currently I built at that website.*


*not responsible if they screw up your order, I'm just a satisfied customer


OH, and one other important thing -- make sure you get a power supply and cooling fans that fit your build. An SLI rig with only 600 watts and one fan is a disaster in the making.

[Domingo]

I'm looking to replace my Radeon X1800 with a Radeon HD 4670, currently on sale at Best Buy for $100. Is it safe to assume that swapping out graphics cards yourself is a relatively easy process?

[billylove]

Originally Posted by Domingo

I'm looking to replace my Radeon X1800 with a Radeon HD 4670, currently on sale at Best Buy for $100. Is it safe to assume that swapping out graphics cards yourself is a relatively easy process?

As long as you have the space to fit the card and the juice to run it.

[ryoken]

Originally Posted by Tati

Yeah, the one guy without a 360! Fucking conversion rate.

Join us, Tati...take the easy path. just think, no more driver issues, no more overclocking, no more hardware upgrading, no more Windows Vista/7, no more install times....JOOOIIIIIN USSSSS!!!

[Judas Booth]

Originally Posted by billylove

As long as you have the space to fit the card and the juice to run it.

This right here. In general, swapping out a card is really easy.

[billylove]

Originally Posted by ryoken

Join us, Tati...take the easy path. just think, no more driver issues, no more overclocking, no more hardware upgrading, no more Windows Vista/7, no more install times....JOOOIIIIIN USSSSS!!!

Cough red ring cough!

[ryoken]

Originally Posted by billylove

Cough red ring cough!

AGHHHhHHH, we're melting! We're melting, what a world!

[Richard Dickson]

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad CPU
7 GB of RAM
64-bit version of Windows 7
512 MB ATI Radeon HD 4800 series

I've been able to run newer MMOs like Warhammer Online and Champions Online at the highest graphics settings with no problems. Just fired up Dragon Age last night, cranked everything up to full, and it ran smooth as silk.