In which I open myself to mocking and ridicule for buying a gaming PC....

[JohnnyDelRay]

I'd say that's a decent enough buy, considering the CPU is future-proofed for about a decade and comes with Steelseries peripherals (my go-to brand these days). I'm running similar amount of RAM and same gfx card, and although I don't do 4k gaming, everything is basically maxed on 2k.

Forget about upgrading to a GTX 980 in August as well, totally not worth it, this generation isn't going to be pushing games much harder than what a 970 can handle for a loooong time. So just sit tight and enjoy it, save the money and use it to buy new games, or a headset (you were the one wanted to do a bit of streaming? IRIC?)

Edit: And forget about overclocking for a long time too, nothing in there's gonna need the boost and unless you really know how and have the patience to optimize and test it well, yes it does wear components out faster needlessly.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

It's coming tomorrow. I'm so excited.

Yeah you overpaid like $400-500 or something, if not more, for that hardware. But performance-wise it'll be fine and at least it came with some peripherals.

F2P game suggestions? If you somewhat liked the core concept of World of Tanks/Warships or something similar I can wholeheartedly recommend Mechwarrior Online. Because while it's the same type of gameplay, but with gigantic Western mechs instead of tanks or boats, it does away with the grind and gives you 16(!) fully decked out free mechs to play with. And there's no grinding to unlock tech trees either. It looked daunting for me at first, but the two little tutorials made it clear it was way simpler and easier to play than I thought it would be.

I'll give it a shot.

$400 dollars or so seems perfectly reasonable, I think for something of this nature.

I'd say that's a decent enough buy, considering the CPU is future-proofed for about a decade and comes with Steelseries peripherals (my go-to brand these days). I'm running similar amount of RAM and same gfx card, and although I don't do 4k gaming, everything is basically maxed on 2k.

Forget about upgrading to a GTX 980 in August as well, totally not worth it, this generation isn't going to be pushing games much harder than what a 970 can handle for a loooong time. So just sit tight and enjoy it, save the money and use it to buy new games, or a headset (you were the one wanted to do a bit of streaming? IRIC?)

Edit: And forget about overclocking for a long time too, nothing in there's gonna need the boost and unless you really know how and have the patience to optimize and test it well, yes it does wear components out faster needlessly.

Wow... I'm really glad I went with the 970 then and save 400 dollars. I got really lucky with this purchase.

 

[Cowabungaa]

$400 dollars or so seems perfectly reasonable, I think for something of this nature.

Well, maybe it does at first. But that's until you start looking at the price of the individual components and what you can get for that kind of money. That $400 for instance could've given you a second graphical card. Or a games console for stuff you can't get on the PC. And that's not even going into the pointless case, the power supply and the RAM. Stuff that all could be so much cheaper without taking a performance hit.

So in the end it's not just money, it's also price-performance and sheer efficiency that suffers. But at least the rig will serve. There was a time where the situation was even worse than it was now.

Anyway, hopefully you'll like Mechwarrior Online. Other big free2play recommendations: Path of Exile if you like Diablo gameplay, Smite if you like MOBA's, Brawlhalla if you like Super Smash Bros brawlers, Loadout if you like multiplayer third person shooters and of course TF2. Those are all pretty good at least.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

$400 dollars or so seems perfectly reasonable, I think for something of this nature.

Well, maybe it does at first. But that's until you start looking at the price of the individual components and what you can get for that kind of money. That $400 for instance could've given you a second graphical card. Or a games console for stuff you can't get on the PC. And that's not even going into the pointless case, the power supply and the RAM. Stuff that all could be so much cheaper without taking a performance hit.

So in the end it's not just money, it's also price-performance and sheer efficiency that suffers. But at least the rig will serve. There was a time where the situation was even worse than it was now.

Anyway, hopefully you'll like Mechwarrior Online. Other big free2play recommendations: Path of Exile if you like Diablo gameplay, Smite if you like MOBA's, Brawlhalla if you like Super Smash Bros brawlers, Loadout if you like multiplayer third person shooters and of course TF2. Those are all pretty good at least.

I gotta admit, if I was building it I would of went for a very more basic case... but, I mean the cases on some of these pre-builds are pretty nice looking.

The Alienware Area 51 case is a thing of sheer beauty.

Eh. Maybe I'm not mature enough, I look at all those neon lights and shit and I know it doesn't do a damn thing performance wise but it looks SO cool.

But yeah. I dunno. I don't think I would of spent that same amount if I wasn't buying pre-built. If I was building, I probably would of stuck with my initial budget of 1,000 so in my head it still works out.... or maybe I'm just rationalizing it in my head but I do see what your saying.

Question: Why the hell ISN'T there a better pre-built market though? There is clearly a demand for these machines, why are companies not able to give the quality expected by enthusiasts at lower prices? When I was shopping on Ebay, I saw quite a few made from private sellers. One guy was even just building them as a hobby. You'd think an automated building process would bring costs down.

Jesus, if I had a million dollars, I know exactly the type of company I'm starting up.

 

[Disco Biscuit]

How are you liking sound card's performance?

 

[EvilRoy]

In terms of raw power it looks good, and while you paid the prebuilt tax it doesn't look like it was a particular steep case of prebuilt tax.

I would have gone for a larger SSD, it is crazy how fast those things fill up, and it has an excessive amount of memory for the current gamescape, but that's fine because it future proofs it a bit.

I think you made the right choice with the GPU, I don't think the 970 to 980 jump is worth $400 at the moment.

That processor is massive overkill for gaming, but again future proofing is good. The i5 they offered was probably not good enough, and since swapping out a CPU is probably something you are going to be unwilling to do that was probably a good decision as well.

So all in all looks like a good rig with some decent future proofing. I would have built it myself, but I have a ton of experience in that area and prebuilts are getting better these days. So good choices all around. What is the first game you are going to play?

Probably um.... Hotline Miami.

Yeah.... Unfortunately the computer means Im going to be kinda cash poor for a bit. I got a box of some old games ill playthrough, pyschonauts, bloodrayne 2, The Movies. Left 4 Dead.

Anyone got some good F2P suggestions?

There are a ton of games I lost selling my xbox 360 I want again. Arkham Ayslum, the bioshock games, the gtas.

Emulation is a gray area in terms of legality where I am, so take this with a grain of salt, but your computer should work very well up to and including PS2 emulation. I don't believe they ever got the newer gens working for that, although I haven't checked in a long time.

If you've ever wanted to play through the FF games they didn't release on PC, or take a swing at a bunch of older console only mechwarrior games, or even just play through sonic 2006 for shits, now is probably the time. The PS1 had a bunch of great games that never got ported to new generations and are only now playable again through emulation. Like Tomba! and Tomba! 2.

 

[CaitSeith]

Meh! I'm sorry, but mine is worse! (no dedicated sound card. I get the EAX via software!)

 

[DudeistBelieve]

In terms of raw power it looks good, and while you paid the prebuilt tax it doesn't look like it was a particular steep case of prebuilt tax.

I would have gone for a larger SSD, it is crazy how fast those things fill up, and it has an excessive amount of memory for the current gamescape, but that's fine because it future proofs it a bit.

I think you made the right choice with the GPU, I don't think the 970 to 980 jump is worth $400 at the moment.

That processor is massive overkill for gaming, but again future proofing is good. The i5 they offered was probably not good enough, and since swapping out a CPU is probably something you are going to be unwilling to do that was probably a good decision as well.

So all in all looks like a good rig with some decent future proofing. I would have built it myself, but I have a ton of experience in that area and prebuilts are getting better these days. So good choices all around. What is the first game you are going to play?

Probably um.... Hotline Miami.

Yeah.... Unfortunately the computer means Im going to be kinda cash poor for a bit. I got a box of some old games ill playthrough, pyschonauts, bloodrayne 2, The Movies. Left 4 Dead.

Anyone got some good F2P suggestions?

There are a ton of games I lost selling my xbox 360 I want again. Arkham Ayslum, the bioshock games, the gtas.

Emulation is a gray area in terms of legality where I am, so take this with a grain of salt, but your computer should work very well up to and including PS2 emulation. I don't believe they ever got the newer gens working for that, although I haven't checked in a long time.

If you've ever wanted to play through the FF games they didn't release on PC, or take a swing at a bunch of older console only mechwarrior games, or even just play through sonic 2006 for shits, now is probably the time. The PS1 had a bunch of great games that never got ported to new generations and are only now playable again through emulation. Like Tomba! and Tomba! 2.

Dude, just a heads up, but even saying those words kinda breaks Escapist TOS, you may want to delete the post before you get in trouble.

and without condemning or condoning, I will just respond:

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Well it came today, so far so good but I only got to toy with it a little bit before I had to go to work.

BTW, it didn't come with a power cord. Not a big deal for me because I had a couple laying around from past computers, but... what the fuck? Is that a dick move or just an industry thing?

Sadly my old monitor doesn't work anymore. So I'm soley using my TV set at a monitor. Picture quality is beautiful.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

Well it came today, so far so good but I only got to toy with it a little bit before I had to go to work.

BTW, it didn't come with a power cord. Not a big deal for me because I had a couple laying around from past computers, but... what the fuck? Is that a dick move or just an industry thing?

Sadly my old monitor doesn't work anymore. So I'm soley using my TV set at a monitor. Picture quality is beautiful.

Every power supply I've ever bought came with a power cord, so it's not standard. Maybe a packing error?

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Well it came today, so far so good but I only got to toy with it a little bit before I had to go to work.

BTW, it didn't come with a power cord. Not a big deal for me because I had a couple laying around from past computers, but... what the fuck? Is that a dick move or just an industry thing?

Sadly my old monitor doesn't work anymore. So I'm soley using my TV set at a monitor. Picture quality is beautiful.

Every power supply I've ever bought came with a power cord, so it's not standard. Maybe a packing error?

https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/d972478d-1716-4fea-953d-d7ef9c8d519b

Well I left a review warning people on Amazon. Though that worries me then that I may of gotten a defective unit or a return or something... though all seems to be working well.

Well except the overclock button seems to cause it to crash :/ gotta tinker with that.

 

[The Enquirer]

Of course we're gonna mock you! You're using a PC! We all know that the best way to play games is on the PS4.

Really? I thought it was the Wii U!

Anywho, that's not a bad purchase for a prebuilt. Glad you could find something you liked for a price that suited your needs.

In terms of raw power it looks good, and while you paid the prebuilt tax it doesn't look like it was a particular steep case of prebuilt tax.

I would have gone for a larger SSD, it is crazy how fast those things fill up, and it has an excessive amount of memory for the current gamescape, but that's fine because it future proofs it a bit.

I think you made the right choice with the GPU, I don't think the 970 to 980 jump is worth $400 at the moment.

That processor is massive overkill for gaming, but again future proofing is good. The i5 they offered was probably not good enough, and since swapping out a CPU is probably something you are going to be unwilling to do that was probably a good decision as well.

So all in all looks like a good rig with some decent future proofing. I would have built it myself, but I have a ton of experience in that area and prebuilts are getting better these days. So good choices all around. What is the first game you are going to play?

Anyone got some good F2P suggestions?

What sort of games are you interested in?

Brawlhalla is a nice little platform brawler similar to Super Smash Brothers on the surface but very different once you explore a bit deeper into it. If you're into MOBA's I'd advise Smite. While I'm not personally a fan of MOBA's, that is a particularly good one. Then there's the usuals, TF2, DOTA 2, Warframe. A friend of mine had talked up quite the storm about a game called Warface. Seemed to be a co-op shooter that's F2P. If you're into card games Hearthstone is about as good as they come. I believe ESO is free to play as well.

I'd watch out for Free to play MMOs though as a lot of them cram stuff behind pay walls that really shouldn't be. Daybreak Games is notorious for doing that since the company, formerly SOE, was bought by Columbus Nova.