Poll: PC gamers; is it ever really worth the money to buy top of the line, bleeding edge desktop hardware?

[BubbleGumSnareDrum]

I mean, current technology means that even mid-range video cards are still powerful enough to crank the settings pretty high on most of the available and new games. I can max the AA and details on any Source engine game with a GF9800GT, 2GB of DDR2, and a C2D E6600 at 2.4GHz (stock). All of those parts are technically obsolete, but they're cheap now and they get the job done. And in a year or two when all the bleeding edge stuff that is so expensive now becomes the new mid-range, I can just get that for cheap, too.

What do you guys think?

 

[xenus87]

Its a hobby of mine, seeing how I don't drink or do drugs, might as well spend the cash on something I enjoy.

Although the amount I have spent on this current setup is getting a bit silly....

If the hardware you have does the job, and gets it done in a way that's acceptable to you then there is probably no reason for you to splash out on top end hardware.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

I got a 2 year old gaming PC and I can run most games on Max. So no, it's not worth buying the top of the line hardware every single year.

 

[johnman]

I mean, current technology means that even mid-range video cards are still powerful enough to crank the settings pretty high on most of the available and new games. I can max the AA and details on any Source engine game with a GF9800GT, 2GB of DDR2, and a C2D E6600 at 2.4GHz (stock). All of those parts are technically obsolete, but they're cheap now and they get the job done. And in a year or two when all the bleeding edge stuff that is so expensive now becomes the new mid-range, I can just get that for cheap, too.

What do you guys think?

None of your stuff is obsolete, i have a 8800 series card that rips games to shreds. And 2gb of Ram is the most common amount. I dotn see the piont in paying full price when you can bag things extremely cheaply if your paticent. My friend got a 8800gts for £100 last year.
As above, its also a hobby of mine.

 

[Nomad]

I mean, current technology means that even mid-range video cards are still powerful enough to crank the settings pretty high on most of the available and new games. I can max the AA and details on any Source engine game with a GF9800GT, 2GB of DDR2, and a C2D E6600 at 2.4GHz (stock). All of those parts are technically obsolete, but they're cheap now and they get the job done. And in a year or two when all the bleeding edge stuff that is so expensive now becomes the new mid-range, I can just get that for cheap, too.

What do you guys think?

Well said. Although that also means you have to change computers more often. Either you buy one computer at a humungous price, two at a lower price, or fiftysix from the local garbage dumpster. I personally go with the second option, though my last build was approaching the first one. Never gone with the dumpster-option, though, since the idea is to get one computer first, and then exchange it for another after some time has passed... Rather than picking them up all at once.

Edit: My last build had a quadcore in it, by the way. But the idea is that I won't have to upgrade my CPU for many years now. And it wasn't a whole lot more expensive than the doublecore I would've gotten otherwise.

 

[veloper]

The difference between the top of the line and a bit less high-end is alot of money for a just few extra percent performance.
Not worth it IMO.

 

[Jadak]

While technically I could afford to keep everything state of the art, I find it more cost effective to stay about a year behind, maybe 2 if I can manage it, rather than buy things brand new as they're developed.

In any case, I tend not to get too concerned about upgrading unless there's a game I want to play that my current computer can't handle to my liking, if at all.

 

[Sevre]

Unless you are at your computer for a living I don't think any amount of money you throw into it will be worth it.

 

[BubbleGumSnareDrum]

None of your stuff is obsolete, i have a 8800 series card that rips games to shreds. And 2gb of Ram is the most common amount. I dotn see the piont in paying full price when you can bag things extremely cheaply if your paticent. My friend got a 8800gts for £100 last year.
As above, its also a hobby of mine.

The 8800 and 9800 are basically the same card, the 9800 is just structured and clocked differently and has a more efficient heatsink. Basically my card is just your card with a few improvements that they didn't have the foresight to have in the GF8 series.

The GF200 series is already out and R800 will be out soon, too. As far as I'm concerned I'm running a mid-range rig and that's perfectly fine with me.

I think the bargain-hunting aspect is more of a hobby for me. Building is fun, but I usually have to be in the mood to do it. If I am, friends with PCs that are busted or in need of upgrade help are in luck. Heheh. My video card is pretty new and came with CoD:WaW for 150 USD including all the shipping and everything. I think I got a pretty good deal. All my other parts including the mobo, proc, RAM, monitor, etc are two-ish years old.

 

[ScorpionClaw]

I tend to buy the best I can afford at the time but I also tend to keep it for 3 years at least so over time it goes from being 'pretty good' (Never 'state of the art' though) to 'just about adequate'. There is no way I could afford to replace it every year and even if I could afford it there is no way I would bother - obselete doesn't mean incapable

 

[DragonChi]

yes, yes it is.

 

[BubbleGumSnareDrum]

Well said. Although that also means you have to change computers more often. Either you buy one computer at a humungous price, two at a lower price, or fiftysix from the local garbage dumpster. I personally go with the second option, though my last build was approaching the first one. Never gone with the dumpster-option, though, since the idea is to get one computer first, and then exchange it for another after some time has passed... Rather than picking them up all at once.

Edit: My last build had a quadcore in it, by the way. But the idea is that I won't have to upgrade my CPU for many years now. And it wasn't a whole lot more expensive than the doublecore I would've gotten otherwise.

I plan to stretch my usage of this build for as long as possible. I'll do it until parts like GPUs, CPUs, RAM, etc... are no longer compatible with my mobo. Then I'll start over with a new mobo and budget parts of whatever that future tech happens to be. This case is huge, so I'm confident I'll at least be able to reuse that.

 

[AfricanSwallow]

The big problem is that people who don't know anything about PCs assume that you must be constantly upgrading them, spending a ton of cash to do so.

Not the case.

A $1300 PC today will still run the newest games at max 3 years from now.... developers have to create games that will play on the technology used by the target audience.


My 2.4 Ghz quad core with 8 GB DDR2 RAM, 400 GB Sata HD, and a 512MB nVidia card (with space to Sli another if I should so desire), and a new mouse and keyboard cost me a whopping $1350 CDN, and I could have easily shaved $300-$600 off of that if I wasn't so lazy and built it myself instead.

There has never been a better time to buy a PC, period.

 

[shatnershaman]

Well if you want to play Crysis you'll need high end stuff http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Crysis but other wise its a waste of money to buy the best since you can wait a few months for a massive price drop.

 

[R3dF41c0n]

It's been my experience that going bleeding edge is more pain than its worth. I have friends who blow thousands of dollars on new systems only to run into compatibility issues or lack of driver support.

My current setup is an AMD A64 X2 (3.0Ghz), 2gb DDR2, an 8800GTS running windows XP pro and I have never had a problem. I recently helped my roommate upgrade his rig, he spend around $500US for a new Mobo, the same processor as mine, 4Gb of DDR2, a GF9800GT and he can play any game on the market at max settings with a decent frame rate. Versus a friend of mine who spent $2,000US on a brand new system that can do virtually the same thing. Granted my roommate and I will need to upgrade sooner than my other friend but by that time better and cheaper parts will be out that may even exceed the stuff in the $2K system. Plus when you use parts that have been on the market longer you will receive better driver support.

That's been my experience anyway, I'm interested in reading other people's experience.

 

[InProgress]

Depending on what you do, yes and no. If you have a hobby of playing games with a 3 month delay, but you also have as a big hobby visual graphics (3D especially, Compositing, Programing a video game engine or other labour intensive visual thingies) then of course. If, on the other hand you want to play games and you want them as soon as they hit the shelves, a console is more reccomendable, and at almost the same price, if not cheaper, than a top of the range PC. I go for the first option as that's what I do, and I desperately need a PC of my own.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Depends, I spent around £1000# on my pc, in early 2004. Besides a new graphics card (the old one exploded), DVD drive and a wireless network card it hasn't had anything done to it.

Still plays the latest games, sadly not on highest anymore but it still runs everything that comes out. If you buy as an investment then yeah, spending a lot can be worth it. Although when this get's replaced (soon I think) I'll be spending less. Upgrading every year? Not worth it, not even close.


# It should noted my gaming machine is also my main work machine.

 

[The_Prophet]

I got a 2 year old gaming PC and I can run most games on Max. So no, it's not worth buying the top of the line hardware every single year.

Well, yes.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

It's pretty easy to sum this up.

Do you need top of the line bleeding edge hardware? No.

Is it worth the money to buy that hardware? Heck yes. The lifetime of that PC is pretty much doubled.

 

[johnman]

None of your stuff is obsolete, i have a 8800 series card that rips games to shreds. And 2gb of Ram is the most common amount. I dotn see the piont in paying full price when you can bag things extremely cheaply if your paticent. My friend got a 8800gts for £100 last year.
As above, its also a hobby of mine.

The 8800 and 9800 are basically the same card, the 9800 is just structured and clocked differently and has a more efficient heatsink. Basically my card is just your card with a few improvements that they didn't have the foresight to have in the GF8 series.

The GF200 series is already out and R800 will be out soon, too. As far as I'm concerned I'm running a mid-range rig and that's perfectly fine with me.

I think the bargain-hunting aspect is more of a hobby for me. Building is fun, but I usually have to be in the mood to do it. If I am, friends with PCs that are busted or in need of upgrade help are in luck. Heheh. My video card is pretty new and came with CoD:WaW for 150 USD including all the shipping and everything. I think I got a pretty good deal. All my other parts including the mobo, proc, RAM, monitor, etc are two-ish years old.

My rig is 3 years old this summer. Its still a very good machine and i chalk this down to my foresight. I got a super Overclocked GTS and a quad core cpu but a dual and normal gts would still be good today. I dont enjoy the sreaching for parts as much as you it would seem, but i love building them.