What is a Gaming PC?

[Rameses]

Strange title I know but with so many different options available how do people see it?

The bare essentials? the middle of the road or all out whatever the price?

Why I'm asking is in the console arena its simple, you buy one and play the games that look all nice etc...but when you are a PC Gamer the options are a minefield.

How does one create a performance bar in the PC arena?

 

[WingZero30]

Graphics card is the most important/obvious part. Most of the games are heavily gpu dependant as you may well already know. You won't see 5970, 480 or 580 in the office based pcs lol.

 

[Darg]

A gaming PC is a PC that can plays whatever games you want to play.

This depends on the person, if you're just gonna play strategy games and the like then you don't need a monster of a PC. If you want to run Crysis 2 on max settings then you're gonna need a PC that can handle that.

 

[tom91x91]

anything that runs the latest games at lowest settings and above i guess

 

[imb4tman]

When I think of a gaming PC I think of a build that sacrifices a better CPU in order to have a better GPU at the same price point.

 

[Rameses]

I guess I refer to the no graphics setting in console games, yet in PC games you have so many that people obsess about what settings they can have/get but how do you get away from that?

I believe game developers need to band together to set honest specifications, like a minimum resolution and medium to high settings. None of this 800x600, GeForce 3 minimum spec you still see around.

I *know* it limits the potential sale of a game using high *minimum* requirements but it would simplify the market would it not?

 

[Gimpymoo]

if you're just gonna play strategy games and the like then you don't need a monster of a PC

Have you never played Supreme Commander or Empire: Total War on full whack?

On release, they ate most "gaming" PC's for breakfast.

 

[Nbolo]

Have you never played Supreme Commander or Empire: Total War on full whack?

On release, they ate most "gaming" PC's for breakfast.

Hell my i7950/GTX 460 machine still chuggs a little when i set Empire : total war to the highest settings and play a large seige! Not quite a slide show but i end up turning the graphics down to medium to get smooth gameplay!

Apparantly rendering 12,000 individual soldiers along with full animation, lingering gun smoke and a huge battlefield with fort etc can be a bit tough on a card! God knows how it's gonna handle shogun 2 with its rumoured 56,000 soldiers in a battle!

To answer the OP to me a gaming PC is a PC that's capable of playing whatever game you want at whatever Res you want with whatever graphics settings you're most comfortable with, it was probably built with gaming in mind and should be relativley future proof!

 

[Tefal]

This depends on the person, if you're just gonna play strategy games and the like then you don't need a monster of a PC.

Sure you do, you just need a more cpu based pc rather than gfx card based one.

 

[Jezcentral]

At the very least, a gaming PC (as against a PC you game on, which could be a netbook) has a discrete graphics card, not integrated graphics.

 

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

Sure you do, you just need a more cpu based pc rather than gfx card based one.

Loads of strategy games use 3d engines these days, and are often just as demanding as fps's. Just look at the total war series.

A lot of them are almost infintely scalable too: the better your pc, the bigger battles you can set up.

I go with Jezcental's definition. A gaming pc is a computer with a graphics card that can do 3d graphics.

 

[Tefal]

Loads of strategy games use 3d engines these days, and are often just as demanding as fps's. Just look at the total war series.
.

yes but the CPU requirements will be dramatically higher still.

what i mean is for a strat computer you need your cpu to be the post powerful/high end part rather than the gpu like most fps games which can get away with more middle of the road cpus.

 

[iv-tecman]

If I was building a gaming rig today, from scratch I guess I’d be looking at –

i5 based CPU or better
4GB memory minimum (duel channel if nothing else)
ATI 5850 or GTX470 GPU or higher (minimum 1GB VRAM)
1 TB HD space – preferably 2TB
1080p display panel
Minimum of 5.1 onboard sound system
Some decent 5.1 speakers – preferably Logitech or something
Wired Keyboard and Mouse (reasonable cost, must be comfortable and suitable for FPS)
360 gamepad (or use a PS3 gamepad as a 360 pad)
Windows 7 64bit edition

And you’d need a decent net connection to download the games. Good luck buying from a high street nowadays. Its digital distribution mostly now. Plus online gaming etc.

To me that is a modern good spec gaming PC that should be had for less then £1000. Quality components and if building a rig today to that spec you’d see it last for quite a few years I’d expect. Some will say you can build a gaming rig for less then £600 but I feel if you invest that magic £1000 you'll be building a very decent rig that'll last for many years.. considering a console (PS3) costs around £250 the cost of a PC does seem quite expensive, but its going to do a heck of lot more... Ps3 is very good, but its not a PC, never will be no matter what anyone wants to think.. Don't get me wrong a PS3 is a fantastic media player, superb games console but I'd never get rid of my PC in favour of it.... Never...

I’ll be honest, I just don’t know what it is. But whenever I build a new gaming rig, I built my existing rig only 7 months ago I always get a certain satisfaction once its built and I’m running a game on it.. Like some type of new power has been bestowed upon me. Its just nice to grab an old game and crank the details up to max and marvel at what your old rig couldn’t run… lol

 

[dirtydog]

Definitions differ I guess. My PC may not qualify under some people's definitions but it certainly has enough horsepower for all the games I have.

 

[Cosimo]

The bare essentials? the middle of the road or all out whatever the price?

How does one create a performance bar in the PC arena?

If you are really going to get into gaming then start with a middle of the road rig. See how it performs and you may wish to upgrade to get better performance. Buy a bare essentials and you will probably spend a lot to get it to a reasonable standard. The current crop of CPUs/GPUs will handle most games at a reasonable resolution and fps. Most certainly go for a 64bit OS and 6GB of ram.

The performance bar is set by what you are willing to pay. Top notch/extreme performance comes at a cost. Unless you have money to burn the start at the middle option and take it from there.

You can get lots of advice in the hardware section.

 

[opethdisciple]

If I was building a gaming rig today, from scratch I guess I’d be looking at –

i5 based CPU or better
4GB memory minimum (duel channel if nothing else)
ATI 5850 or GTX470 GPU or higher (minimum 1GB VRAM)
1 TB HD space – preferably 2TB
1080p display panel
Minimum of 5.1 onboard sound system
Some decent 5.1 speakers – preferably Logitech or something
Wired Keyboard and Mouse (reasonable cost, must be comfortable and suitable for FPS)
360 gamepad (or use a PS3 gamepad as a 360 pad)
Windows 7 64bit edition

And you’d need a decent net connection to download the games. Good luck buying from a high street nowadays. Its digital distribution mostly now. Plus online gaming etc.

To me that is a modern good spec gaming PC that should be had for less then £1000. Quality components and if building a rig today to that spec you’d see it last for quite a few years I’d expect. Some will say you can build a gaming rig for less then £600 but I feel if you invest that magic £1000 you'll be building a very decent rig that'll last for many years.. considering a console (PS3) costs around £250 the cost of a PC does seem quite expensive, but its going to do a heck of lot more... Ps3 is very good, but its not a PC, never will be no matter what anyone wants to think.. Don't get me wrong a PS3 is a fantastic media player, superb games console but I'd never get rid of my PC in favour of it.... Never...

I’ll be honest, I just don’t know what it is. But whenever I build a new gaming rig, I built my existing rig only 7 months ago I always get a certain satisfaction once its built and I’m running a game on it.. Like some type of new power has been bestowed upon me. Its just nice to grab an old game and crank the details up to max and marvel at what your old rig couldn’t run… lol

Your on the money withe 5850 / 470 minimum there. Especially if you want to be able to enjoy tomorrows games at decent settings.

 

[Weebull]

A gaming PC is a PC that can plays whatever games you want to play.

This.

My laptop cries when it sees anything vaguely 3d, but it's a gaming laptop when I want to play Rollercoaster Tycoon.

 

[Tefal]

Remember though once you put minecraft on your gaming pc it's no longer your gaming pc it's your slave master

 

[jas72]

Graphics card is the most important/obvious part. Most of the games are heavily gpu dependant as you may well already know. You won't see 5970, 480 or 580 in the office based pcs lol.

I would say this.

How many times do we see adverts from the purple brigade on the TV with 4GB of memory so you can multi-task then further inspection shows that the GFX cards are on-board share memory and the motherboards are old tech?

I just wonder how many people buy PCs thinking their kids will be able to play games only to find they have to buy a GFX card after.

 

[jas72]

I guess I refer to the no graphics setting in console games, yet in PC games you have so many that people obsess about what settings they can have/get but how do you get away from that?

I believe game developers need to band together to set honest specifications, like a minimum resolution and medium to high settings. None of this 800x600, GeForce 3 minimum spec you still see around.

I *know* it limits the potential sale of a game using high *minimum* requirements but it would simplify the market would it not?

But don't they have recommended specs? Sure the game will play at 800*600 but will look pants.