So if I wanted to convert? (not religious)

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Ok. I'm a PS3 (and before that PS2, PS, I have a PSP, Sony has a lease on my soul, what can I say?) player and I am also a huge Dragon Age fangirl - I'm comfortable admitting it.

I'm also aware of the amazing mods and stuff that the PC players get and I don't and my jealousy has reached the breaking point. I want. Want!

So, if I were to move over to being a PC player... what's that going to take? I have an iMac that I treasure - it's my first actually mine computer (even though I share it with my fiance because I love him that much - and his Starcraft habit lets me indulge my DA habit). I know that's something of a liability in this venture, but I really don't have the means to invest in a PC. I just got my yearly update on my college loans and I saw some spots for a minute.

What can I do? I know there are a lot of smart, savvy people who visit these boards. Can I get some steps, some tips, some general ideas so I can start agonizing over if I'm actually going to move on this when I get another break between terms?

Thank you in advance, of course.

Oh, I should add: I'm competent at the screen of a computer in what I do, but most of what I do is writing papers, making presentations, listening to music, floating around the Internet to places like this. In other words, not much. Apologies.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Erm... did this get missed or no one's really up for answering?

I'll give it one bump - hopefully the admins are cool with that? - and then let it be.

 

[rsacks]

Well I'll start with some advice. While Starcraft has always been on both Mac and PC, if you want new games sooner, you're probably going to have to get a PC. You can defiantly game on a Mac, don't get me wrong, but the titles take a little longer to come to Mac. As for what kind of PC you want....this gets tricky. I'm not going to give you specifics like WHAT graphics card to get, but I'll lay down what you'll probably need.

-Quad Core processor of some sort
-1GB video card
-6 GB of DDR3 RAM
-500 GB HDD (some people like to say get a solid state hard drive but for me they are still a tad pricey for a decent amount of storage)
-Some kind of sound card, don't get integrated sound (someone else could probably help with this more)
-All the peripherals (monitor, key board, mouse. This is all personal preference, but I do advise at least an 17" monitor, possibly widescreen if that's what you're used to playing on with your console.

This will set you back a pretty penny, one of the draw backs I suppose of PC gaming is needing to upgrade your computer ever 4-5 years to keep up with a new CPU. Price wise varies widely depending on what components you get and what vendor (if any) you use. I've played around on the Alienware website for giggles and gotten a price above $7000 easily. Normally you'll pay somewhere between $800 on the low end to around $1800 on the higher end unless you REALLY trick your rig out.

Also, for hardcore gaming go with a desktop. It's MUCH easier to upgrade the RAM and video cards on a desktop than a laptop.

 

[Whateveralot]

I'd normally recommend just getting parts and putting them together. It can be very rewarding and should only cost a day's work (if it's your first time and you're not rushing, that includes software installment).

Not sure what exactly you are asking of me / us. Do you want the specifications of something you should get? Since you have a MAC you can put all the photoshop stuff on there. If you can play the games you want, that's fine. If not, go to a website for computer parts and compare stuff. You'll kinda get the hang of the pricing and meaning of stuff. It's more of a feeling, really. When I buy a computer, I just buy parts to fit my budget that are all on about the same level. Also remember to make stuff fit.

Any other / more specific questions?

 

[martin's a madman]

Well I'll start with some advice. While Starcraft has always been on both Mac and PC, if you want new games sooner, you're probably going to have to get a PC. You can defiantly game on a Mac, don't get me wrong, but the titles take a little longer to come to Mac. As for what kind of PC you want....this gets tricky. I'm not going to give you specifics like WHAT graphics card to get, but I'll lay down what you'll probably need.

-Quad Core processor of some sort
-1GB video card
-6 GB of DDR3 RAM
-500 GB HDD (some people like to say get a solid state hard drive but for me they are still a tad pricey for a decent amount of storage)
-Some kind of sound card, don't get integrated sound (someone else could probably help with this more)
-All the peripherals (monitor, key board, mouse. This is all personal preference, but I do advise at least an 17" monitor, possibly widescreen if that's what you're used to playing on with your console.

This will set you back a pretty penny, one of the draw backs I suppose of PC gaming is needing to upgrade your computer ever 4-5 years to keep up with a new CPU. Price wise varies widely depending on what components you get and what vendor (if any) you use. I've played around on the Alienware website for giggles and gotten a price above $7000 easily. Normally you'll pay somewhere between $800 on the low end to around $1800 on the higher end unless you REALLY trick your rig out.

Also, for hardcore gaming go with a desktop. It's MUCH easier to upgrade the RAM and video cards on a desktop than a laptop.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_821&item_id=033729

Exceptionally powerful, $1400 Canadian, and it's a laptop.

 

[rsacks]

Well I'll start with some advice. While Starcraft has always been on both Mac and PC, if you want new games sooner, you're probably going to have to get a PC. You can defiantly game on a Mac, don't get me wrong, but the titles take a little longer to come to Mac. As for what kind of PC you want....this gets tricky. I'm not going to give you specifics like WHAT graphics card to get, but I'll lay down what you'll probably need.

-Quad Core processor of some sort
-1GB video card
-6 GB of DDR3 RAM
-500 GB HDD (some people like to say get a solid state hard drive but for me they are still a tad pricey for a decent amount of storage)
-Some kind of sound card, don't get integrated sound (someone else could probably help with this more)
-All the peripherals (monitor, key board, mouse. This is all personal preference, but I do advise at least an 17" monitor, possibly widescreen if that's what you're used to playing on with your console.

This will set you back a pretty penny, one of the draw backs I suppose of PC gaming is needing to upgrade your computer ever 4-5 years to keep up with a new CPU. Price wise varies widely depending on what components you get and what vendor (if any) you use. I've played around on the Alienware website for giggles and gotten a price above $7000 easily. Normally you'll pay somewhere between $800 on the low end to around $1800 on the higher end unless you REALLY trick your rig out.

Also, for hardcore gaming go with a desktop. It's MUCH easier to upgrade the RAM and video cards on a desktop than a laptop.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_821&item_id=033729

Exceptionally powerful, $1400 Canadian, and it's a laptop.

I'm not denying that laptops can be good gaming computers, but the purpose of a laptop is to be portable and that thing looks like a BEAST to carry around (it's 3.85kg which is 8.5 pounds, that's a lot of computer to be lugging around). What's the battery life like? It's not listed and that makes me wonder (having specs about the amperage and watt capacity of the battery does not equate to life when you're actually gaming), also you don't address what I said that it is far easier to upgrade a desktop than a laptop. I know you CAN upgrade a laptop but it is much harder to do.

My advice is to either go to a box store and see what they have (I know I'll get flack for that comment but is it REALLY that bad to go somewhere so you can just get something, take it home, plug it in and play?) or go to a site like newegg (www.newegg.com) to see what pre-made computers they have or from there you can look at all the components and put together your dream computer.

 

[Archangel768]

Also, depending on what iMac you have, it might be fairly powerful which means that if you just install windows on it using bootcamp (your mac will come with all the software necessary to do this), then you wouldn't have to buy a separate computer just to play games. I do that with my macbook pro, when I turn it on, I can choose whether to boot up Windows or the Mac OS X. I use Windows for gaming and OS X to do everything else (the battery lasts longer on OS X, and things like web browsing is a bit safer on the OS X side because there are less viruses for it.)

 

[martin's a madman]

Well I'll start with some advice. While Starcraft has always been on both Mac and PC, if you want new games sooner, you're probably going to have to get a PC. You can defiantly game on a Mac, don't get me wrong, but the titles take a little longer to come to Mac. As for what kind of PC you want....this gets tricky. I'm not going to give you specifics like WHAT graphics card to get, but I'll lay down what you'll probably need.

-Quad Core processor of some sort
-1GB video card
-6 GB of DDR3 RAM
-500 GB HDD (some people like to say get a solid state hard drive but for me they are still a tad pricey for a decent amount of storage)
-Some kind of sound card, don't get integrated sound (someone else could probably help with this more)
-All the peripherals (monitor, key board, mouse. This is all personal preference, but I do advise at least an 17" monitor, possibly widescreen if that's what you're used to playing on with your console.

This will set you back a pretty penny, one of the draw backs I suppose of PC gaming is needing to upgrade your computer ever 4-5 years to keep up with a new CPU. Price wise varies widely depending on what components you get and what vendor (if any) you use. I've played around on the Alienware website for giggles and gotten a price above $7000 easily. Normally you'll pay somewhere between $800 on the low end to around $1800 on the higher end unless you REALLY trick your rig out.

Also, for hardcore gaming go with a desktop. It's MUCH easier to upgrade the RAM and video cards on a desktop than a laptop.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_821&item_id=033729

Exceptionally powerful, $1400 Canadian, and it's a laptop.

I'm not denying that laptops can be good gaming computers, but the purpose of a laptop is to be portable and that thing looks like a BEAST to carry around (it's 3.85kg which is 8.5 pounds, that's a lot of computer to be lugging around). What's the battery life like? It's not listed and that makes me wonder (having specs about the amperage and watt capacity of the battery does not equate to life when you're actually gaming), also you don't address what I said that it is far easier to upgrade a desktop than a laptop. I know you CAN upgrade a laptop but it is much harder to do.

My advice is to either go to a box store and see what they have (I know I'll get flack for that comment but is it REALLY that bad to go somewhere so you can just get something, take it home, plug it in and play?) or go to a site like newegg (www.newegg.com) to see what pre-made computers they have or from there you can look at all the components and put together your dream computer.

I was just giving an example of a computer that isn't incredibly expensive but is very capable.

I don't care about the rest of what you said.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

And then I get replies I don't see! Sorry - and thanks! /blush

I think I can run parallels... I think it's already on here actually I just never finished setting it up properly. I will try that first - I really don't care if it isn't as awesome graphically as it could be so long as it runs right hehe, so I'll try that first. Thanks for the tips - just what I was looking for: general base info to start on

 

[BRMXJzjsoawk321]

-

 

[Christopher Parker]

My computer uses a quad core, 4GB of DDR2 (though DDR3 is probably easier to come by these days) and about 150GB HDD. And an AMD HD4870 (512MB, I believe). This runs 75% of recent PC games at maximum graphics settings (since most of them are console ports anyway and thus require less than a PC exclusive generally does) and the remainder on decent graphics settings. Sure, in a year or two, I'll have to run stuff on minimum, but I really couldn't give a shit.

 

[cdstephens]

Ok. I'm a PS3 (and before that PS2, PS, I have a PSP, Sony has a lease on my soul, what can I say?) player and I am also a huge Dragon Age fangirl - I'm comfortable admitting it.

I'm also aware of the amazing mods and stuff that the PC players get and I don't and my jealousy has reached the breaking point. I want. Want!

So, if I were to move over to being a PC player... what's that going to take? I have an iMac that I treasure - it's my first actually mine computer (even though I share it with my fiance because I love him that much - and his Starcraft habit lets me indulge my DA habit). I know that's something of a liability in this venture, but I really don't have the means to invest in a PC. I just got my yearly update on my college loans and I saw some spots for a minute.

What can I do? I know there are a lot of smart, savvy people who visit these boards. Can I get some steps, some tips, some general ideas so I can start agonizing over if I'm actually going to move on this when I get another break between terms?

Thank you in advance, of course.

Oh, I should add: I'm competent at the screen of a computer in what I do, but most of what I do is writing papers, making presentations, listening to music, floating around the Internet to places like this. In other words, not much. Apologies.

My suggestion:

PC games are dying, partially due to cloud computing and tablets taking over and partially due to the fact that consoles are cheaper and play many of the same games as PCs. The only games that are solely on the PC market are RTS and MMO games, everything else is translated to the console, aside from random indie games. My personal prediction is that PCs will be phased out within the decade and PC gaming will drop dead in about 4 or 5 years, so if you wanted to get into PC gaming do it now.

Here's a video that talks about this.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/2911-PC-Gaming-Is-Dead-Long-Live-PC-Gaming

If you're going to buy a PC for gaming though, buy one for at max 900 or 800 dollars; anything else and you're paying too much. Don't bottleneck the computer by getting a high end graphics card but only 1 GB ram or something either. It's best to do it when your old PC is 3 or 4 years old, and thus obsolete.

 

[Rawne1980]

PC games are dying, partially due to cloud computing and tablets taking over and partially due to the fact that consoles are cheaper and play many of the same games as PCs. The only games that are solely on the PC market are RTS and MMO games, everything else is translated to the console, aside from random indie games. My personal prediction is that PCs will be phased out within the decade and PC gaming will drop dead in about 4 or 5 years, so if you wanted to get into PC gaming do it now.

Have I travelled back to 1995?

Seriously people said exactly the same thing then and 1996, 1997, 1998 so on and so forth.

See where i'm going?

PC gaming is no where near close to dying.

The MMO market alone will keep PC gaming going. Add on to that games like Crysis and Witcher (yep, PC only .... although consoles are getting a lesser version of Crysis i've heard).

The only reason it's not shooting off is games being made at the moment are multi platform, well we get console ports, and while trying to sound as far from elitist as possible .... the PS3 and 360 just couldn't cope with games designed for top end PC's.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

-Quad Core processor of some sort
-1GB video card
-6 GB of DDR3 RAM
-500 GB HDD (some people like to say get a solid state hard drive but for me they are still a tad pricey for a decent amount of storage)
-Some kind of sound card, don't get integrated sound (someone else could probably help with this more)
-All the peripherals (monitor, key board, mouse. This is all personal preference, but I do advise at least an 17" monitor, possibly widescreen if that's what you're used to playing on with your console.

You really don't need a quad core cpu or 6 GBs of RAM, unless you're an enthusiast... You can easily get by with a dual core and 4 Gb of ram.

Trying PC gaming isn't some sort of "conversion", either. You just need a bit more computer knowledge than the average user.

That's something on my mind - if I get all this stuff would I even know what to do with it? Are there books or such that could be helpful I could be pointed to so I could learn how to do some basic stuff (download a mod, make it go without blowing my computer up, etc. - simple)?

 

[Rawne1980]

That's something on my mind - if I get all this stuff would I even know what to do with it? Are there books or such that could be helpful I could be pointed to so I could learn how to do some basic stuff (download a mod, make it go without blowing my computer up, etc. - simple)?

You can find pretty much any information you need online.

As for mods they are the easiest thing in the world to install.

Head over to http://www.thenexusforums.com/ and they have tips on how to get the best out of your games and each mod has an installation guide.

It basically boils down to downloading the mod, unpack it to the data folder of the game you want to mod and thats it.

For games like Fallout 3 and Fallout NV you need a couple more programs if you want to be using mods (mainly FOMOD, Fallout Mod Manager, Fallout Script Extender and Fallout Edit). But again, it's all on the Nexus forums so you shouldn't have any problems there.

For the Dragon Age games you just install the mod as per the mods guide and thats it, away you go.

 

[Alistair_Darkheart]

-Snip

Not really sure what you're looking for but you could always you know look for a mac copy of dragon age, can't say your Mac could actually run it as I have no idea what you have but worth a look anyway if you ask me.

http://dragonage.bioware.com/dao/game/order-mac/

*edit* thought i'd add the requirements for the mac version are at the bottom of the page above.

 

[The Madman]

I'm not terribly familiar with Mac computers, but I've always been told by my more tech-savy compatriots that with a bit of tweaking they can run windows and, by extension, some games at least. But I'm hardly the person to be asking about that.

If you're looking to get into PC gaming on a budget however the time is good. You could probably put together a computer that beats mine for around 600 dollars and mine runs anything out today up to and including the most bleeding edge games. Don't be intimidated by the whole 'building' idea either, putting together a PC from parts is about as easy as lego nowadays, just making sure you plug the right pieces into the right slots. That easy! Latops these days are pretty cheap as well if you want something more mobile, just be sure to pick one up that boasts a decent amount of RAM, anything over 4 would be fine, and a respectable video card.

Also if you're really that big a fan of Dragon Age perhaps take a look at the series that it's a homage to: Baldur's Gate. I think you'll probably be pleasantly surprised.


There's a mod group for Dragon Age actually trying to port Baldur's Gate 2 over as well. Not sure whether it'll ever be completed, but they've been releasing regular updates and have made good progress as well so they're at least serious about it. Wouldn't hold my breath however.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Building a PC is actually pretty damn cheap.

I just got a new case and power supply for $80.

A hard drive will run you about $50.

You really only need a dual core processor. You can buy motherboard/CPU combos for about $150 like the following:
http://www.portatech.com/catalog/viewitem.asp?ID=26781&O=59466%2C63946&r=p

You can get 8 gigs of RAM on that same link for $80. I'd recommend at least getting 1 4gig stick.

You'll need a DVD drive/burner, which is only about $20.

Lastly, you'll need a video card. Any 1GB ATI/AMD (Radeon) or nVidia (GeForce) card will do, and they will run you under $100. For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102874
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500177

So that's 80+50+150+80+20+80 which = $460 for the computer. You could shave off about $30 if you just get 1 4GB stick of RAM, you probably don't need 8GBs and you can always add it in later.

Then you just need a monitor, which looks like it'll cost about $100-150 for a decent monitor.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=19&name=Monitors

So, pretty much under $600 for a decent gaming PC, which can still be upgraded.

 

[walrusaurus]

The biggest issue with mac gaming of upgradability. Once you've bought the system thats what your stuck with until you can muster up the cash for a replacement a few years down the line. That puts us at a distinct disadvantage compared to our pc brethren. If their setup isn't beefy enough to run a game on max settings, they can go out and pick up another ram stick, or graphics chip or w/e. Thats not an option on macs.

That said OSX is significantly less top heavy than windows 7, and a mac with similar specs be able to handle a bit more than its windows counterpart. iMacs in particular are usually fairly aggressively specced so long as you pick up the graphics card upgrades. Still if you plan on gaming on a mac know that its going to require buying a whole new computer every 2-3 years.

The delay on title releases is only going to get smaller over time as developers have slowly started to get their heads out of their asses and are developing for macs. The number of mac compatible titles on steam just gets bigger and bigger.

 

[Zakarath]

I actually just built a computer 2 weeks ago, and I'm in love with it.
AMD Phenom II X4(quadcore) 3.2 GHz Black Edition ~$120 Pretty good and not too pricey.
(Plus, it's good for overclocking, but we don't really need to get into that here)

Radeon HD 6850 1 GB video card ~$150 Note: The higher-end radeon graphics cards (800 and 900 series) are more expensive without being obviously that better at a glance than the 500 series (similar amount of dedicated memory), but they have a much more powerful GPU. If you're looking into getting a good rig, and can afford it, I'd recommend a card like the one I have here, or perhaps NVidia's comparative card, although I'm not quite as familiar with it. A cheaper card will work, but you'll hit its limits sooner.

8 gigs RAM ~ $50

Gigabyte 990XA UD3 motherboard $130: There's a pretty wide range of motherboards out there. I'd say just get one which fits your processor (AM3/AM3+ for the processor I got), has the amount of ports and expansion slots you need/want, and seems fairly reliable. Asus and Gigabyte are probably the brands I trust the most to make a decent motherboard.

Power Supply: $40 530W, just get one that seems sufficient, no need to go overboard.
Case: $50 for mine; just make sure you don't buy a small case (micro-ATX) and a large motherboard (ATX)

1 TB Hard Drive: $65. More than I need, really, but I love how cheap storage has become.

CD/DVD Drive: $20.

These prices are estimates based on my memory but I remember the full setup ran me a little over $600 dollars, and then Windows 7 pushed that up to $700. (I already had a monitor).

It's a little pricier than some of the other suggestions, but I'm enjoying it, and I think It'll be quite a while before I need to upgrade.

Edit: additional note on the motherboard: I don't want to really go into lots of detail on the motherboard, but I'll second what the poster below me said on getting one that you can use for a while. Components can all be replaced fairly easily, but if you want to replace the mobo (motherboard), you basically have to rebuild the entire computer. One other thing is I'd check is if your motherboard is configured to accept the frequency of the RAM you choose. The most common these days seems to be 1600 MHz DDR3; so if you end up with that type of memory and a motherboard that only recognizes that speed as an overclock frequency, you may have to do a little mucking around in the BIOS to get it to work, which is probably not something you want to do when you're still new to this.