PC Gaming Master Race

Potential-Monke

You thought it was going to be another one of those threads, didn't you?

No, as of next Thursday, i will be buying the parts to build my own rig and join the elite. Build thread here. Any suggestions to it welcome.

So, i wanted to start a thread which would give me some bedtime reading on what i need to know to get the most from it.

I don't need a rig for the ultimate experience (see thread), so i want your expertise on what i will need to know. Any links or advice on how to get the best from the games, ie: settings and what each setting will affect, how turning down one setting will improve overall experience, etc.

I'm a bit of a noob when i see ye talking about the different PC gaming related matters, so need an insight into all of it. I know my way around the basics, and maybe some slightly more advanced stuff, but for gaming in general i know nothing other than install and play.

Any and all advice welcome. I will be using it solely with my Bravia, and am sitting in a comfy ass couch, so suggestions as to what i can get to be able to properly use a mouse, etc, from same. This is the couch i have, and sitting in the left seat (as if you were sitting in it, it's the right one in the picture), and my elbows rest on the armrest perfectly, so as you can imagine it's not the best set up for PC gaming. Currently have the mouse on the centre console.

AnCapaillMor

Uumm have you gotten permission and certs from the PC gamers guild yet? We don't accept just anyone you know.

Potential-Monke

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Uumm have you gotten permission and certs from the PC gamers guild yet? We don't accept just anyone you know.

I can get people off speeding tickets if that's any good?

Falthyron

This is all you will ever need.

Potential-Monke

Falthyron wrote: »

This is all you will ever need.

Have it for ages, just haven't been able to use it properly yet!

VinLieger

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Have it for ages, just haven't been able to use it properly yet!

Well you unfrotunately just missed the christmas sale, the general rule of thumb with steam is dont buy anything outside of a sale UNLESS its something you REALLY want since in 3-4 months time when there is a sale you can usually get 25% off it if not more. Also during the sales people tend to splurge on more than they need which actually makes sense since theres no such thing as buying too many games and they will keep you occupied till the next sale

papajimsmooth

It really is the master race, consoles will bore you whenever you try to go back. That is our cross to bare

Wossack

oh, a nouveau pc gamer, how quaint

/adjusts monocle

Potential-Monke

papajimsmooth wrote: »

It really is the master race, consoles will bore you whenever you try to go back. That is our cross to bare

I will still have PS+ so the consoles won't be overlooked. And, due to being a console gamer for most of my life, i would probably be getting a gamepad for the PC (i'm sure that's breaking one of the hallowed rules of the Master Race)!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

make sure you play the Stalker series

then play them again

I guess then you can try something else, tropico or x-com .... then back to stalker but this time modded stalker.


after that I dunno, more stalker I guess.

C14N

Potential-Monke wrote: »

I will still have PS+ so the consoles won't be overlooked. And, due to being a console gamer for most of my life, i would probably be getting a gamepad for the PC (i'm sure that's breaking one of the hallowed rules of the Master Race)!

If you have a PS3 you can use that but the Xbox 360 controller usually works better due to many games being made with 360 controller configurations already in the game. I wouldn't blame you for using a controller for racing games, those tend to be awkward with a keyboard.

Sephiroth_dude

Play fallout 3 and mod the crap out of it

Genghiz Cohen

Welcome.
Welcome to PC Gaming. You have chosen, or been chosen, to relocate to one of our finest remaining gaming platforms.

I thought so much of PC Gaming that I elected to establish my administration here, in the Fractal R3 so thoughtfully provided by HardwareVerSand.
I have been proud to call PC Gaming my home. And so, whether you are here to stay, or passing through on your way to parts unknown - welcome to PC gaming.

It's better here.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/186fmthlhvpuhjpg/original.jpg

you might find this image useful if you're in need of a desktop background

Kiith

Just remember to get stuck into the wealth of older titles as well. The Baldurs Gates, Freespace 2's, and System Shocks. Ah man i'd love to be playing some of them for the first time all over again. Also, get a 360 pad and the wireless dongle for the pc. Perfect for any game that's better with a pad.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Kiith wrote: »

Just remember to get stuck into the wealth of older titles as well. The Baldurs Gates, Freespace 2's, and System Shocks. Ah man i'd love to be playing some of them for the first time all over again. Also, get a 360 pad and the wireless dongle for the pc. Perfect for any game that's better with a pad.

yah
learn to love http://www.gog.com

Potential-Monke

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

make sure you play the Stalker series

then play them again

I guess then you can try something else, tropico or x-com .... then back to stalker but this time modded stalker.


after that I dunno, more stalker I guess.

Have played it on my ole 1710. But, typically, about 12 hours in the laptop went tits up. So, i will get back to it, and wasn't there a shiney new texture pack out recently??

ShadowHearth

Well someone's balls finally dropped!

I was checking what lads built you and it looks like your usual solid cookie cutter build.
Now your TV is going to be quite a bottleneck. Lads did offered 7850 gpu which is a very very nice card. Though I would personally drop ssd for now and get 7950 instead.

To add part is cheaper and easier then replace it. SSD is a luxury and can always be added. Where's gpu will have to be sold and then you will be able to bu new one.
When you will get your PC, you won't hang around for long on that TV. Trust me. So better invest in a very good gpu now, so when you will get New TV you won't need to worry about settings and just press: max/highest settings.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Have played it on my ole 1710. But, typically, about 12 hours in the laptop went tits up. So, i will get back to it, and wasn't there a shiney new texture pack out recently??

you might be thinking of the complete mod. each stalker game got their own complete mod. graphics updates, general bugfixes and a few tweaks here and there. well worth getting imo, if only for the graphics which are a massive improvement on vanilla

General Relativity

May I be the first to congraulate you on paying €700+ to play the same games you play now, but at a higher resolution/FR.

:pac:

Potential-Monke

ShadowHearth wrote: »

When you will get your PC, you won't hang around for long on that TV. Trust me. So better invest in a very good gpu now, so when you will get New TV you won't need to worry about settings and just press: max/highest settings.

I'll have no choice for most the year i'd say when it comes to upgrading the tv. But, is there that much of a difference between the 7850 & 7950? Is that something i could upgrade even further down the line? Keeping in mind it's been more or less all console graphics until now, and any improvement (however slight) will be noticable.

KonFusion

papajimsmooth wrote: »

It really is the master race, consoles will bore you whenever you try to go back. That is our cross to bare

This is surprisingly true.

Was at a friends house playing on his 360 and I kept asking if there was something wrong with his screen, that the image quality was awful and blurry and what not.

He said that's how it looked all the time :pac:

So I brushed the dust off my 360, fired it up when I got home, and wow! The graphics are awful.

How do people play on those....things. How did I ever play on one?

Really had me quite shocked.

ShadowHearth

Potential-Monke wrote: »

I'll have no choice for most the year i'd say when it comes to upgrading the tv. But, is there that much of a difference between the 7850 & 7950? Is that something i could upgrade even further down the line? Keeping in mind it's been more or less all console graphics until now, and any improvement (however slight) will be noticable.

7850 and 7950 are quite apart. I would personally go 7950 as it is a lot of more bang for the money. With that PC setup you will be able to add any gpu out in the next few years. It's not laptops or prebuilt shot we talking about, but pure custom build pc breed. Just one thing as I said before: it's easier to add then replace.

By the way, why is your TV such a low resolution? Is it even hd ready? What way you were playing consoles? Don't tell me on scart?!

ShadowHearth

KonFusion wrote: »

This is surprisingly true.

Was at a friends house playing on his 360 and I kept asking if there was something wrong with his screen, that the image quality was awful and blurry and what not.

He said that's how it looked all the time :pac:

So I brushed the dust off my 360, fired it up when I got home, and wow! The graphics are awful.

How do people play on those....things. How did I ever play on one?

Really had me quite shocked.

I don't want to sound like a smug****, but it was same to me. I have bf3 for Xbox and PC. I always play PC version and when I fired up Xbox one I just could not believe how crap it was.

Last time. Played on Xbox or ps3 was 6 months ago. Last game I played was dark souls. Since I got prepare to die on PC for 12eu trollolololol, I don't have any reason to turn those 2 on.

CastorTroy

I wouldn't say I joined the Master Race(I still play the consoles) but I did upgrade last year and have been lured into Steam/GOG/Amazon purchases. I'm not one who worries too much about graphics, within reason.

Must get back to playing Bioshock soon.

Potential-Monke

ShadowHearth wrote: »

By the way, why is your TV such a low resolution? Is it even hd ready? What way you were playing consoles? Don't tell me on scart?!

It's supposed to be HD ready. I've everything running through an AV receiver through HDMI, including to the TV. It's a Sony KDL40S3000. Bought it in 2007 at a steal, and is fantastic for what i got it for.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

hd ready is only 1280 × 720

that's.... nothing

like... that is amazingly low resolution.

--edit

that tv's resolution is 1366 x 768

you're really going to want to invest in a proper monitor.

Hercule

some of this stuff may be a bit obvious but I don't know where you are starting at:

programs I install on all my gaming PC are:

• xfire
• Steam
• teamspeak
• Waterfox
• CCleaner
• Antivirus of some sort
• uTorrent

I think to get the most out of PC gaming it helps to have an understanding of:

• Nvidia/AMD Drivers - Guru3D has threads on drivers which can help
• Hertz, Aspect Ratios and FPS. - http://www.wsgf.org/ has guides to what games can and can't do.
• Config file tweaking and developer consoles.
• Torrents and ISO files.
• How to Google the solutions to all the day 1 launch bugs that come with most multiplatform releases.

These aren't essentials but it can really help when certain parts of games bother you - On console you are usually stuck - but on PC there are always fixes and ways around things. An example of this is when in my game of oblivion my character kept getting stuck in a room with a locked door that had an animation or something that wouldn't load or play - Using a console command I was able to teleport through the door (on the console version I would have had to re-load or pray I had a nearby savegame that wasn't experiencing the bug too.

another example are when you can toggle control schemes and sensitivity using programs/hotkeys on a keyboard when you change from vehicles to foot in a game like BF3 (beyond the power of what is capable in the ingame controls menu)

Retr0gamer

VinLieger wrote: »

theres no such thing as buying too many games

I'm a testament to the falsehood of this statement

Dcully

General Relativity wrote: »

May I be the first to congraulate you on paying €700+ to play the same games you play now, but at a higher resolution/FR.

:pac:

So so so many games on PC you simply cannot and would not be able to play on sonsoles.

abbir

Potential-Monke wrote: »

And, due to being a console gamer for most of my life, i would probably be getting a gamepad for the PC (i'm sure that's breaking one of the hallowed rules of the Master Race)!

Nothing wrong with getting a controller for certain games. That's one of the great things about PCs, you can use the control method that suits the game. Racing, fighting, platformers and some third person games control better with a pad. Although using a gamepad for FPS, RTS and some other genres is breaking the rules.

Agricola

Dcully wrote: »

So so so many games on PC you simply cannot and would not be able to play on sonsoles.

And for the ones that do exist on a few platforms theres the mods issue. Skyrim on console vs Skyrim on PC? Hmmmmm, this brain I have, its not really needed for such a decision!

Setting up a new pc / Windows install to be optimal for gaming isnt as crucial now as it was back in the XP days, but this site is still the bible for all matters relating to getting the most out of your system and making sure games run as quick and stable as possible

www.tweakguides.com

The guy does guides for most of the major releases and he has a huge tweaking guide out for Win 7 and now 8 which really set up any system for good gaming.

Potential-Monke

Just after realising they do credit agreements... This can increase my budget a good bit. With the build suggested in the thread, it appears that the total would cost me €69 a month over 12 months... I can go to €100 a month. That should increase my funds from €800 to €1000...

ScumLord

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

yah
learn to love http://www.gog.com

Or g2play.net who take Irish debit cards. Just bought Assassin's Creed 3 or €24.

ShadowHearth wrote: »

To add part is cheaper and easier then replace it. SSD is a luxury and can always be added.

If he's using windows 8 it seems to boot to a standard HD almost as fast as my SSD running on win7.

Other things you can do just because you can and console users can't is buy as many xbox controllers as your USB ports will allow and then plug them in all at the same time and say "like a boss".

You can also use multiple controllers on the same game. When I play GTA I switch back and over between xbox controller for driving and keyboard for shooting.

abbir

General Relativity wrote: »

May I be the first to congraulate you on paying €700+ to play the same games you play now, but at a higher resolution/FR.

:pac:

Like Starcraft, Diablo, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Torchlight 2, Orcs must Die 2, Planetside 2, the MMOs, DOTA2, League of Legends, .....

General Relativity

abbir wrote: »

Like Starcraft, Diablo, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Torchlight 2, Orcs must Die 2, Planetside 2, the MMOs, DOTA2, League of Legends, .....

You'll have to speak up, I can't hear you over the sound of Skyrim DLC.

KilOit

General Relativity wrote: »

May I be the first to congraulate you on paying €700+ to play the same games you play now, but at a higher resolution/FR.

:pac:

yeah i know! crazy to spend all that money on something that can only play 1000's of games from indie to mmo's with a back catalog that would make a xbox 360 piss itself, sure imagine spending 700€ on a machine that has more power than next gen consoles! Madness!

Icyseanfitz

i will also agree that it is really hard to go back to console gaming once youve played on a good pc, i used to be hooked on my 360 up until i got a pc 3 years ago, only used for netflix now, and i sold my ps3

C14N

KilOit wrote: »

yeah i know! crazy to spend all that money on something that can only play 1000's of games from indie to mmo's with a back catalog that would make a xbox 360 piss itself, sure imagine spending 700€ on a machine that has more power than next gen consoles! Madness!

Not to mention that there's no worry of backward compatibility. I can still play PC games from the N64 era.

Retr0gamer

This article went up today, how appropriate.

http://www.1up.com/features/dont-be-afraid-pc-gaming

KilOit

Notice IGN trying to pimp PC gaming past few weeks also

Krusader

Crusader Kings II, Civilization series, Mods, mods and more mods, that is all

ahnowbrowncow

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I don't want to sound like a smug****, but it was same to me. I have bf3 for Xbox and PC. I always play PC version and when I fired up Xbox one I just could not believe how crap it was.

Last time. Played on Xbox or ps3 was 6 months ago. Last game I played was dark souls. Since I got prepare to die on PC for 12eu trollolololol, I don't have any reason to turn those 2 on.

I have bf3 for ps3 and pc, 200 hrs on the ps3 @ 576p because of input lag and less than 10 hrs @ 1080p ultra quality on pc.

Sure better graphics are nice but they aren't very important in a great game.

Op, total war series, football manager. These are the two game series I've played on pc since 2002.

SeantheMan

Don't forget emulators
I was playing Crash Bandicoot and Metal Gear Solid yesterday

cherryghost

Don't forget PS2/PS1/GC/Wii too along with the retro consoles.

abbir

General Relativity wrote: »

You'll have to speak up, I can't hear you over the sound of Skyrim DLC.

If I played Skyrim, I'd probably make some remark about the many mods that improve the game.

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

I have bf3 for ps3 and pc, 200 hrs on the ps3 @ 576p because of input lag and less than 10 hrs @ 1080p ultra quality on pc.

Input lag on a mouse and keyboard vs a wireless controller, really? It's not just the improved graphics in Battlefield 3, it is also the larger amount of players on each map which improves the game. I also much prefer playing the game at 60fps rather than the console 30fps

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Op, total war series, football manager. These are the two game series I've played on pc since 2002.

I forgot to list Football Manager earlier and that's the game I've spent by far the most time on. Oops!

Just to note, by the way, I do like consoles too and play many games on them as well!

Noxin

TL;DR so sorry if you are already up and running but if not I can only say one thing...

Don't expect the build to go silky smooth... I rarely does. It took me 3 days to get my last build working properly.

With that in mind, have a means to post here available. Seriously. Ask questions if something goes wrong. We can be a great help and we have a wide range of experience together so just shout!

Best of luck with the build.

PS: The best game to play after a self build is ALWAYS: Secret of Mana on emulator!

KonFusion

Noxin wrote: »

Don't expect the build to go silky smooth... I rarely does. It took me 3 days to get my last build working properly.

Perhaps you just had an unfortunate experience?

Assuming he gets the correct parts recommended to him (which he most certainly will if he goes with a build put together over in the B&U forum) then it's just like lego. Clip it all together, pop in the OS installation CD and install a few drivers. Sorted.

CastorTroy

I think I may have accidentally damaged my hard drive in the process of my upgrade. Takes a few goes to start up and sometimes freezes/crashes

Potential-Monke

Cheers for everything so far guys. I have a genius helping me anyway, the building part i can do, it's the OS installation and other software bits i would probably struggle with, but my mate does this on a regular basis, so he's helping me with that end.

And then we're getting drunk and watching HD Porn (720p) to celebrate!

Headshot