Computer Gaming+Hardware Discussion Thread

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

Steam was originally for PC,which then expanded to the Mac and the PS3.
Seeing the Great Gift Pile thread here,I wonder...
What kind of hardware do you use for PC gaming? How much is too much/overkill?
What do you think would be the minimum to run games you play and what would be recommended for a quality experience without overkilling?

[Hellfire_WZ]

I'm currently rocking a Core i5 2500k with a GeForce GTX580 and 8GB RAM. Pretty much maxes any game going apart from the odd one or two at 1920x1200

If you're going all guns blazing trying to max out the latest games, then you're either looking at a very high end single GPU or a Crossfire/SLI setup. However, a lot of people have a decent time with the HD 6850 or the GTX 560 Ti, both of which are around the £150-£200 mark. It also depends on your screen resolution, anything less than 1920x1200 doesn't need any multi-GPU stuff and those two cards will handle the latest stuff very well.

[Darkdrium777]

If you're buying now, core i7 (i5 if you want to save some) with at least 4GB of RAM DDR3 and a GeForce 560-570-580.

My computer of three years ago is a Q6600 with 4GB of OCZ Reaper DDR2 and a BFG GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB OC. I can still have some quality time with it on high graphics in the games I'm playing, but there are some struggles in Skyrim and the likes. However, I am not playing games such as Crysis 2, Arkham City or Metro 2033. I am playing games from a year ago to older (Except for Skyrim.)

You can see what the games look like on mine here (http://steamcommunity.com/id/darkdrium777/screenshots/?tab=public). 30-60FPS except in some instances. So it still works, but it's not flawless.

[gmrtom7]

I'm running an AMD Phenom II X4 965 and a Sapphire HD Radeon 6770, and I've had no problem running most games at high-ultra settings with a respectable framerate. If you're going for more of a budget build, AMD's stuff is definitely where you want to be. Intel and Nvidia will always be a tad ahead in performance, but cheap, faithful AMD has never steered me wrong.;)

[mdhay]

I'm running an intel i3 quadcore and an ATI Mobility Radeon 5470, it may be entry level, but Skyrim runs on high with little to no frame drop. Working perfect so far. Games like BF3 won't run, but I don't care for it anyway. :)

[Amorbis]

I have a consumer Packard Bell PC from 2009 that has had no upgrades from an already less-than-stellar array of parts. The processor is an Intel Q8300, I have 4GB of DDR2 RAM and an astonishing Nvidia GT220 with 1GB of something. It's also quite noisy even after replacing thermal pastes and cleaning the fans recently, and on full load the GPU temperature will exceed 75C.

Looking at other people's PCs I am a bit jealous, but I can run the only PC games I play often at a stable enough 50-60 fps, such as Team Fortress 2 or Dirt 3 (on medium settings). A state of the art PC obviously isn't necessary, but from a pauper's perspective I do think it's a better idea to go for something that will last.

I do sort of regret buying Skyrim for the Xbox 360 as I have would like to get a higher frame rate even if it looked a bit rubbish, even more so that the console ports. And the mods/console commands, as I have a nasty case of can't start/finish certain quests syndrome that can't go away until fixed by a patch.