Poll: Has there been a change to the priorities of the performance enthusiast?

What underline factor do you keep in mind when you spec/build a machine?

  • Performance?

    Votes: 137 68.2%

  • Noise Levels?

    Votes: 76 37.8%

  • Footprint (size)?

    Votes: 9 4.5%

  • Cost?

    Votes: 79 39.3%
  • Total voters
    201

Otacon

Otacon

Otacon

Soldato
Joined
10 Jan 2004
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Poll request please mods EDIT: Cheers guys :)

Talking to people, and looking at the threads on these boards, I feel a change in the wind. Gone are phrases like "not bothered about x - so long as i can get yFPS in z game", and more often we see "looking for decent performance, but must comply with x requirement".

With the bar for top level performance set so high are people less concerned getting the most performance for their money? Have we seen a dramatic swing toward other factors - even from performance enthusiasts such as our good selves?

So what underline factor do you keep in mind when you spec/build a machine?

Performance?
Noise Levels?
Footprint (size)?
or Cost?
 
Performance is still the most important thing to me. I normally have the raidio on or when gaming, I have the volume turned up so I rarely hear much else. As for size, I'm not often away from home for more than a few weeks so I have no need to move it around or anything.
 
There has certainly been a shift in the preference of noise levels of the last few years.

When I joined in 2001 most people had lots of big noisy fans in their cases, I for one used to have 2 x 120mm ys-tech fans with a Coolermaster heatpipe with a delta fan :eek: which seemed to be the norm back then! I didn't care how noisy it was, just wanted the quickest possible.

But these days more and more people want the performance but don't want really loud systems. I for one am not bothered about an extra 2fps like I used to be.
 
Hefner said:
When I joined in 2001 most people had lots of big noisy fans in their cases
Click to expand...

My rig has 7 fans and sounds like a hovercraft - at the time i didnt mind as the performance was awsome, but now its annoying me. As is the size of it.

Hence why my next rig will be SFF - all be it a high end one.
 
I used to have to have the fastest system I could afford, now so long as it plays cs source on high detail I dont care. Iv lost so much interest in performance computing these days as even at stock my rig can destroy any game I try to play. Back when ever frame extra you got helped it was fun, kinda dull now :(
So
Can play Cs source
Quiet when Im watching a film

Only two requirments.
 
For me performance is still really the top priority. My current rig is geared towards maximizing the performance I could get within my budget.

I also like my rigs to look nice and I admittedly spend quite some time tidying cables etc etc. This is not only to improve airflow but also for the sake of neatness and aesthetic pleasure.

Noise does come into consideration, however less so for me than the other factors mentioned, as is evident from my current set up, which with 3 case fans running in it sounds like a jet engine when turned on.

I think the factors people consider important is still every much a subjective thing and it would be wrong really of anyone to make a sweeping statement regarding this matter. In my opinion there is not so much a move away from performance in people's list of priorities, but rather some of the factors that used to be considered far less important (noise perhaps being the a prime example of this) have simply had more importance placed on them. I see this as a natural progression really as these days we have the equipment available to reduce annoyances, such as noise, with the development of water cooling systems and silent fans. Companies today have been able to produce a variety of products that increase aesthetic enjoyment of our computers without sacrificing performance. This therefore lends itself to the natural progression of factors such as noise and footprint being taken into consideration much more by everyone who uses a computer as now companies offer viable options to improve these areas.
 
40% speed
30% noise
30% cost

I gladly sacrifice 170Mhz to drop my voltage to 1.5 to reduce my temps and thereby the speed of my fans and lower noise level

performance is the most important for me, as I could have a totally silent system if I went for a 1Ghz machine, but then I oculdnt do anything, lol
 
I used to spend a fortune on constantly upgrading my PC, for, when I consider it now, no good reason at all. I never had any problems playing the latest games and the only thing that pushed me onwards was the infernal 3dMark2000/2001/2003 **** strutting contest.
In my old age, I can't be arsed to sit for hours next to the equivalent of a Dysan blasting in my ear. My rig (see sig) suits me fine and runs everything I throw at it, without damaging my hearing (Unless I turn the fans up to max that is).

My prorities now are stability, noise and then performance, so I guess they have changed.

My next upgrade will be when the PC can't do what I ask of it to an acceptable level, not when FutureMark bring out another pointless benchmarking program and try and make me feel impotent.
 
Main for me is bang per buck, cost is an important factor. Noise is quite important too, I can't stand having lots of fans whizzing away all the time. Gotta look half decent too :)
 
For myself it would still primarily be performance since my last upgrade was a big one(from Athlon 1.2ghz to A64) but luckily I have chosen parts (by accident) that are pretty quiet and at the time were fairly reasonably priced considering my requirements. Now about six months later you could build my PC for around half the price but c'est la vie :)

I think now that even fairly basic PCs have the capabilities to perform almost any task with aplomb so people inevitably look towards ways to maximise their usability and minimise their effects and disturbance they cause through noise/heat or whatever.
 
I'm certainly a 'diminishing returns' kinda guy, I won't sopend another 30% for a 10% performance increase. So I suppose my main one is cost, which isnt in the list. Its all about bang / buck for me.
 
Performance is still important to me, otherwise I wouldn't spend money upgrading from the stock cooling, etc.

But I think the issue today is that computers are so fast, they can handle pretty much anything you throw at them without being too extreme. There'll always be the guys who have FX55s and X850s and phase change, but the rest of us will be happy with enough performance for what we do, for a fraction of the price.
 
JudgeC said:
I used to spend a fortune on constantly upgrading my PC, for, when I consider it now, no good reason at all.
Click to expand...


Great post!

I was the same and when I think back to what I spent over the years it's.....disappointing. I think it's easy to get a bit carried away by benchmarks etc especially on computer forums and sometimes when you run 3d Mark you get to the stage of "What is the point? Why am I trying to compete with people?"

I have NO problem with anyone who still enjoys overclocking and tweaking settings and everything but nowadays I just want my computer to work well, not need tons of fans to keep it running and not spend for the sake of spending.
 
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