PC Regret?

[Rastrelly]

I was a bit too general in my "ass" definition for purposes of brevity, I of course don't mean that everything is ass, just the recent "next gen" highly awaited games, which don't really take advantage of the hardware the PC has to offer and are not optimized. Also, I can play all the games you mentioned perfectly on my 2 year old laptop, most of them maxed (currently playing Xcom EW actually, it runs fine even with max AA on a laptop with just a 540M, great job Firaxis).

Thanks gods. I'm getting tired of people who actually thinks PC is only about graphics T___T

Well, I must say, nowadays it seems too expensive, but just think strategically. 5 yeras later you'll still be able to play games with high requirements AND if you manage your expenses well*, you'll save just enough for a new rig or a fine upgrade That is, of course, if you do want to collect games, for, as I understand, many of console gamers actively exchange their copies for new stuff (but it still has to eat more money then games for $2 - 5 on Steam).

_____
* Steam sales, purchaces after price drops, etc.

 

[Aesir23]

I've definitely regretted it. A short while ago I decided that I would switch to PC and even started upgrading with what I could afford. I still have a long way to go before it's even halfway decent but I got some games that are supposed to be able to run just fine (as far as the Specs were concerned).

I will say right off the bat that the vast majority of my problem appears to be due to having a 32 bit OS which, as far as I know, limits my RAM usage to 3GB regardless of the amount of RAM actually in my computer.

Still, with the amount of fiddling I've had to do just to get my games to work somewhat well, the amount of problems I still run into and the total amount of money it will cost me to get my computer to that semi-decent state... I've just decided that between the cost and the hassle, it's just too much of a pain in the arse in return for access to mods and a prettier picture.

I know that I will probably get some hate for this. I will also admit that in many ways (technology, as an open-platform, backwards compatibility, graphics, etc) the PC is the better platform. However, for someone like me who doesn't want to deal with the hassle after a long day and just wants to plug & play then a console tends to be the better choice.

All in all, it's essentially down to what you prefer and your priorities as a gamer.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Someone else already pointed this out, but we're in something of a transition right now. Devs can't afford to abandon the PS3/360 user bases for the next-gen until PS4/XB1 have sold 10-15 million units. This means we're looking at another year, minimum, of cross-gen AAA games, which are severely limited by what is now almost 10-year old hardware. Publishers are going to spend the bulk of their resources on the "lowest common denominator" builds for PS3/360. Then they'll drop a few bucks making them look better on PS4/XB1. PC comes dead last, so expect most major AAA PC releases to be extremely shaky for at least another year or two. When the publishers eventually make the leap to next-gen, things should improve drastically. We won't be shackled with the ancient 7th gen hardware, and the 8th gen consoles ripped most of their architecture directly from modern PCs. Ports should be a lot smoother once we've completely jettisoned the PS3/360.

 

[Jandau]

Nope. Don't care about most of what you described. Check if it's compatible? With what? Unless you are using some obscure hardware in your rig or your hardware is woefully outdated, shit will run. Wait for drivers? Why? Yeah, sure, NVIDIA will release updated drivers for some major games, but all these do is let you run things a bit better. Granted, I never had cutting edge hardware. I always bought mid-range machines and kept them around nearly unupgraded for 5-6 years before getting a new one and never bothered chasing those maxed out settings.

What else? Some ports suck? Yeah, shit happens. You know what sucks more? When games don't get ported over in the first place. For instance, the strategy genre is pretty much absent from consoles and it happens to be one of my favorite genres. So I have to wait a bit for a patch to fix some porting issues or a mod. Big deal.

Granted, I've been a PC gamer my whole life, so this seems like a no-brainer to me, though I can see how a console convert might have regrets. Personally, I've always needed a PC for a bunch of stuff, so I never saw any point in buying an extra piece of hardware just to play games, most of which were available on my PC anyway...

 

[likalaruku]

No. With my budget, I'm mostly playing PC-exclusive FTP MMOs & emulating decades-old console games with a keyboard & mouse. I am beginning to regret getting an ATI card though, because a ton of these games simply have less compatibility issues with nVidia.

If I could afford it, I would have ALL of the consoles & buy a game for whichever system it ran best on, but I would still hate using those sore-enduing gamepads, & I'm just too comfortable with being able to recalibrate every key on the board to whatever shortcut function I please.

 

[Retardinator]

The solution is quite simple. Get Steam (or register on GOG or something)->Get cool games dirt cheap->Forget about Ubisoft, EA, Activision and their franchise pushing and inflated prices.

Then maybe we can come one step closer to stopping this shit happening in the first place.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I'm on the fence about that as well. Building a new PC will set me back about 1300$ (with a base of a 4770k, a 780 GTX and a 250 gig SSD), and I'm not sure it's worth it right now, since everything is ass but you can play the same kind of ass on a 350$ console and save yourself the hassle.

I have the eVGA GTX780 (Classified) and it's an incredible card. There's not one game in existence it cannot play at max settings with smooth framerates and no slowdowns.

To the OP, I can only say the issues there are that you're playing console games on it. In fairness, all games now are console games, but I mean "lazy ports" as opposed to optimised ones. Locking a game to 30FPS is frankly shoddy and a sign of a poor engine and poorly optimised graphics and lazy porting between platforms with different specs. I accept that those are the games you wish to play and think it's tragic that publishers CBA with PC when it matches or outsells consoles regularly.

As a PC Gamer, I want dearly for you to stick around and can only hope you find better games to show off your superlative gaming platform than the ones you've tried so far. Here's a list [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_11_support] of other games that can show off your system a bit (tho worryingly Rivals is on there).

I don't know why you're having issues with such a new build. What GFX card are you using? AMD are notorious for poorer drivers. I've an nVidia card, I installed whatever drivers were latest in Sept. when I built my machine and haven't had to do a thing since. I install a game, max everything and play with zero issues (excepting those that have their own issues *cough* Mars: War Logs *cough*).

 

[suitepee7]

built my new rig in august/september, and fucking love it. the new releases don't appeal to me that much, so i've been making my way through my library of unfinished games, while making them all look beautiful

 

[The White Hunter]

Snippers

Battlefield 4 actually runs great on my 670 now, the optimisation has been cleaned up quite a bit by nvidia's driver updates, the only isssues still plaguing are the server crashes and client disconnects, which have improved substantially but are entirely DICE's fault.

I've never regretted switching over to PC, which I did about the same time as you, most things run fine and when they don't I will damn well make them, a benefit to PC gaming is when there's a problem you can fix it and you'll learn something when you do fix it, whereas on a console you just have to suck it up.

Apart from my trusty Wii U for first party titles I adore my PC, it's my machine and I can use and abuse it however I like, change bits, alter the lighting, make it pretty, make it powerful, etc.

Sure it cost a fair bit more than my console and sometimes it can be a pain to get something to work how I want (Metro and it's shitty FOV for example) but it's more than worth it.

 

[Denamic]

I overshoot the requirements on AssCreed IV by quite a lot, as I've always done with AssCreed games in the past, so I've never had any performance issues with them, ever. Are they really that poorly optimized? I get perfectly fluid 60 FPS, no noticeable framedrops, so far flawless stability even when alt-tabbing. Are there any specific issues?

 

[GoaThief]

Planetside 2

It isn't a PC exclusive, coming to PS4. No idea if they're going to implement cross-platform play, it would be cool if so.

I've definitely regretted it

Can I ask if you were swayed by sometimes hyperbolic praising for the PC? Would you say my previous post in this thread sounds familiar to you?

 

[perkl]

Anyone else feel this way?

I don't play anything from Activision, EA or Ubisoft so no, I've never felt that way. Maybe try companies that don't try to screw you over every waking moment?

 

[Vegosiux]

I'm on the fence about that as well. Building a new PC will set me back about 1300$ (with a base of a 4770k, a 780 GTX and a 250 gig SSD), and I'm not sure it's worth it right now, since everything is ass but you can play the same kind of ass on a 350$ console and save yourself the hassle.

With that SSD drive, you're not paying for functionality though, you're paying for convenience. You can get a 1TB HDD cheaper, but at slightly less convenience of course.

 

[DugMachine]

No. Although I sometimes miss being able to just sit on my couch, kick back and play some games with a controller as opposed to an office chair and keyboard and mouse but I like having a PC that can do so much more than a console. Pros outweigh the cons

 

[Neyon]

When a game "runs like ass" on PC that doesn't mean it is running worse than on consoles. It is just that PC gamers hold games to a higher standard performance wise than console gamers do. 30 FPS on a console game is normal, 30FPS is well below what I expect - I like to get as close to 120FPS as possible. Often this is because the games are poorly optimized, if at all, but even then it will probably look better and run better than on a console.

In regard to your comment that you have to worry about whether games will run & waiting to update drivers - it just isn't true. Unless you are trying to run a game on an ancient PC any game will run. It may run poorly if your system isn't powerful enough but it will run. Drivers can offer performance boosts but updates are never an absolute requirement, although you should keep them up to date. The days where games were difficult to initially set up are long gone and if you do encounter problems and you're not using an ancient system then it is almost certainly the developer's fault. Need for Speed rivals isn't locked at 30fps because of a compatibility issue or that it is super demanding. It is locked at 30FPS because the developers are idiots.

 

[Rob Robson]

I'm on the fence about that as well. Building a new PC will set me back about 1300$ (with a base of a 4770k, a 780 GTX and a 250 gig SSD), and I'm not sure it's worth it right now, since everything is ass but you can play the same kind of ass on a 350$ console and save yourself the hassle.

Don't get a 4770K unless you're into audio/ video editing, lots of Photoshop, AutoCad or 3DSmax or similar, as hyperthreading does nothing for 99.8% of games, and makes the chip hotter (thus harder to overclock, leading to lower performance)

A 4670K, or even better 3570K, is better for pure gaming, and should not be a problem for any workstation tasks either.

Also, many people choose the wrong graphics cards for their choice of resolution. If you plan to game on 1080p/ 1200p then you don't need a GTX 780Ti or even a 780. An R9 280x/ 270 or GTX 760 will do. Hell, the new ASUS ROG MARS 760 is a dual 760 that performs better than a GTX 780Ti at 1080p while being cheaper and a lot cooler looking.

Another tip: sweetspot power supply. You want to hit the required wattage and a little bit above, but not get more wattage with the idea "I might need it later" as during all the time your PSU is delivering only 50% of it's max it'll be more inefficient and "dirty" as well as prone to cause problems like coil whine on hardware that is already predisposed to it.

I think you can get that $1300 budget down to $800-900 without losing any real performance.

EDIT: try this http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Lofty/saved/2THL

No. Although I sometimes miss being able to just sit on my couch, kick back and play some games with a controller

You could have just built your computer to do that, you know. A good mini-ITX build will fit nicely under your TV, and enough front panel USB ports for 4-6 controllers is certainly possible.

 

[AT God]

Ports are hit and miss, I haven't played AC4 yet on PC, (Still haven't played AC3 and its installed) but usually framelimits are easily fixed by the mod community. If you jumped over to PC hoping to just use PC to play games intended for consoles you might have been premature, because if the Steam Box is successful it might make porting more stable.

I recommend using your new PC for the ground breaking ability to play games from THE PAST! (Spooky voice). Download some good games that are either well adapted to PC or PC exclusive. If you want Battlefield, play Battlefield 2, its got a nice online community still active and is basically the same as it was the template for CoD4-BF4/CoD:G. Ports will almost always get fixed and surpass their console versions but it does take time. I rarely preorder anything that isn't a PC exclusive because I know that A) next summer/winter it will be on Steam for significantly less money, and B) the initial port is going to be full of bugs.

The big warning from me, and this is my main regret with PC gaming as well, is that some of the old games never got properly fixed, most new triple A games will get fixed but some old PS2 era ports never got proper fixes from the community so do some research before buying anything, Steam community usually has good info on how to get old games working or just google search stuff. Steam sells the original Fallout games but they don't work properly if you just let steam install them, however, if you take about 30 min to fix them, you can get them to run better than they ever did.

And make sure to look in to getting mods, especially with any Bethesda games, their base games are great on consoles but the porting is usually kinda sketchy, I think the Unofficial Oblivion Patch has over 400 fixes to the game alone, not including things that make it work better.

My only regret to PC gaming is that I can't play some exclusives, but when I get most of my video games for under 10 dollars I don't mind missing out on paying $60+ for The Last of Us.

Also if you use Steam, look up the various discount hunting steam groups, they offer great deals on games all the time, I've gotten like 5 free games this year because of them, just don't be a jerk and abuse developers being nice like people did to Blackwell.

 

[Pink Gregory]

The big warning from me, and this is my main regret with PC gaming as well, is that some of the old games never got properly fixed, most new triple A games will get fixed but some old PS2 era ports never got proper fixes from the community so do some research before buying anything, Steam community usually has good info on how to get old games working or just google search stuff. Steam sells the original Fallout games but they don't work properly if you just let steam install them, however, if you take about 30 min to fix them, you can get them to run better than they ever did.

I don't wanna sound like a whore, but GOG.com is a great place to go for old games with compatibility fixes built into the installers.

Sure, they don't have everything, but it's worth a look. I think some stuff's been making it's way onto Steam with those compatibility fixes built in as well.

 

[DrOswald]

Hey everyone! So back when the PS4 and Xbone got announced I decided to jump ships to PC. I built my rig in August and despite some messes here or there, I've been really happy with my experience on PC. But I'm starting to feel like I may have made a mistake. So many games have come out lately that are far inferior on the PC than they would be on consoles. I was really looking forward to AC4, but apparently it runs like ass. Need for Speed rivals is locked at 30 fps and word is it runs poorly, and Battlefield 4 is supposedly unstable as well.

I guess what I'm saying is, even though I like the customization and the pretty pictures, there's just so much more to worry about now. I can't just buy a game I want, I have to check to see if it's optimized and will run, wait for drivers, etc. I'm starting to feel like there's more headaches than fun.

Anyone else feel this way? Anyone have thoughts on the state of the PC? Maybe I was just looking forward to a string of releases that happened to go awry, but it's got me worried!

(skip to paragraph 3 for why the specific games you mentioned were a problem.)

PC gaming is better than console gaming. You simply get more out of it. And we PC enthusiasts love to flip out about how much better PCs are than consoles, and I fully believe we are justified in the view. However, that does not mean PC gaming is superior in all respects. I feel we do a disservice to people who want to get into PC gaming by unintentionally misrepresenting the facts. The best possible analogy I can draw is that gaming on a console is playing with toys while gaming on a PC is a hobby.

The biggest mistake we make is claiming that gaming PC's are easy to use, maintain, etc. This is true. But compared to consoles, which are effortless, they are more difficult. Some people get into PC gaming expecting console level convenience. This will never be the case. However, these difficulties will be greatly reduced over time as you learn the ins and outs of PC gaming. Keep with it and the headaches essentially disappear eventually. I can't remember the last time I checked required specs for a game before buying it and I have never been burned by getting a game my 4.5 year old rig couldn't handle well (and it was only a high-mid range rig back then.) Once you develop the skills everything is automatic and beyond simple.

In any case, about your particular problems, EA is not known for their excellent PC ports. They are usually only ok with a patch later to fix all the problems. But I would not recommend a day 1 purchase. And with this month's console launches and all that they are likely letting the PC fall behind as they try to make the best console releases on the new systems.

And Ubisoft are terrible at the PC in every way. This is one of the sacrifices of the PC, Ubisoft just makes bad ports for the PC. Sometimes a fan patch fixes it and sometimes Ubisoft will fix it themselves eventually, but don't count on it.

What it looks like to me is that it is just a string of bad luck. Most games release fine on the PC, but Ubisoft in particular is a problem and as I understand it nothing runs either NFS or BF4 very well, it is a only little worse for the PC. But that is mostly because we have higher standards, and lowering the bar down to what console gamers get is unacceptable. Keep in mind that "runs like ass" to a PC gamer is usually still better than what a console gamer gets.