As a console gamer, I tried a master race PC rig recently, and now I have a dirty eyesight. I want!!

[Billy Idol]

It just seems to me that game devs/publishers treat PC gamers even worse than console gamers...the "idiot" was not related to PC gamers being actual idiots (of course not! Interesting that you interpreted it that way) but that the gaming industry treat(!) them as such, imo of course.

Wrt day 1 patches: yes, they also exist on consoles and are annoying. But it is my personal opinion and experience that on PC, the troubles are in a different league compared to consoles: no one hinders devs to release a completely broken product on PC (Rage AMD, MKX and BF4 out of the top of my head to name a few) on console, the only I can think of is Skyrim PS3 version.

I wish that there would be some kind of quality control on PC: like e.g. "Steam certified QA" or something like this. Of course, it will never happen because of the myriads of different PC configurations....

 

[Arwin]

Title of that MK X vid now reads [Now Fixed, see Description for Info]

 

[orangpelupa]

@Cyan
my 60hz tv also have similar feature with lightboost. it do make clearer picture in ufo test, but unoticeable in gameplay. It also reduce the brightness a wee bit.

i suppose in 120hz monitor it wont reduce brightness because it flickers sooooo fast.

 

[mrcorbo]

Cycling is great! But actually, I spent all of 400 euro on a good bike, and 100 on shoes, and that's it. So it doesn't have to be that expensive. On the other hand, when you got this: i7-2600k (@4.6 GHz) with 2x GTX 680s & 32GB - I bet you paid a nice sum for that. When I was a kid working at the helpdesk, I made price/performance curve graphs to help advise people what hardware to get. You can upgrade a lot more often for the same money and have a better performance average if you buy at the right point in the curve.

I've found that finding the "knee" in the price-performance curve can be a pretty enjoyable pursuit in and of itself. It requires a deeper knowledge of a product and it's capabilities than just buying the latest and greatest all of the time.

And, more on topic, the PC Value Race experience can spoil your appreciation for the graphical quality of console ports to nearly the same degree as the "spare no expense" experience. TBH, the only thing I envy is the ability to have multiple displays and to have enough GPU capability to drive them all at high resolution. There's really no way to have that without investing serious $$$.

 

[Arwin]

Well, I've decided to try, and add a 970 GTX to my i7 and 16GB of RAM. That should hold its own for the multiplats for a while (3.5GB graphics memory should be ok), I'm guessing, allowing 1920x1080@60fps and decent enough for passive 3D as well. Will see what happens when VR comes out, if I then regret my purchase or not. Kicker was that my current 550ti uses almost the same amount of power under load, and more in standby. Should get it delivered tomorrow.

I also got the MSI version for that reason. The 3 displayport versions all had more than double the standby poweruse.

Oh yeah, and it comes with a voucher for The Witcher III. I reckon that'll be better on this PC than on my PS4 anyway.

 

[Davros]

Also, don't get a sound card right away. The vast majority of people can't tell the difference between onboard audio and a sound card. And for those that can? They can't tell the difference in games,

Just wanted to point out that when it comes to eax supporting retro games this is blatantly not true.
The most difficult thing to get used to when joining the P.C Gaming Master Race is not the huge jump in resolution or the increase in frame rate, but
the fact the you instantly become irresistible to supermodels and them wanting you to do naughty things to their naked bodies.
Once a supermodel cornered me and demanded that i take off all her clothes she then said "And don't let me catch you wearing them again"

 

[Deleted member 86764]

The most difficult thing to get used to when joining the P.C Gaming Master Race is not the huge jump in resolution or the increase in frame rate, but
the fact the you instantly become irresistible to supermodels...
Once a supermodel cornered me and demanded that i take off all her clothes she then said "And don't let me catch you wearing them again"

.

You start wearing women's clothes?!

 

[Cyan]

.

You start wearing women's clothes?!

It's called gender bender.

I did read it... I just get irritated at the sight of PC Master Race. It makes people forget that there are PC Plebs out there... a lot! I just read a kotaku article about how GTA looks like on PC... of course they use PC Master Race rig and not Plebs rig.... It is like suddenly every PC gamer having Master Race rig, which is not the case for the majority of PC gamers. Maybe if the title "What GTA V Looks Like Maxed Out on PC" or "On High End PC" I won't be annoyed so much. PC Plebs rarely gets a mention and a lot of reviewer rarely bothers review a game on low to mid end rig. I hate youuuuuu Master Race [emoji34] [emoji34] [emoji34]
I should organize something to dethrone PC Master Race as the poster boy for PC gaming and demand that reviewer starts using low to mid end rig for their review [emoji57] [emoji57] [emoji57]

I used to get annoyed at the PC master race thingy, and Davros reminding how much of gods PC gamers are, but pleasant peasant logic made me think of it as light hearted jibe over time.

There are already 4 fully DX12 GPU's on the market ranging in price from about £160 - £860. Take your pick!

Which ones? Just curious... I guess Titan X is one of them.

Additionally, when DirectX 12 appears maybe some CPUs will be redesigned.

Well, I've decided to try, and add a 970 GTX to my i7 and 16GB of RAM. That should hold its own for the multiplats for a while (3.5GB graphics memory should be ok), I'm guessing, allowing 1920x1080@60fps and decent enough for passive 3D as well. Will see what happens when VR comes out, if I then regret my purchase or not. Kicker was that my current 550ti uses almost the same amount of power under load, and more in standby. Should get it delivered tomorrow.

I also got the MSI version for that reason. The 3 displayport versions all had more than double the standby poweruse.

Oh yeah, and it comes with a voucher for The Witcher III. I reckon that'll be better on this PC than on my PS4 anyway.

Congrats on your buy. Digital Foundry has an article on it.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review

The Witcher 3 voucher is meant for the GoG version?

 

[pjbliverpool]

Which ones? Just curious... I guess Titan X is one of them.

Any Maxwell 2 based GPU. So 960, 970, 980. Titan X

Additionally, when DirectX 12 appears maybe some CPUs will be redesigned.

In what way?

 

[Cyan]

Any Maxwell 2 based GPU. So 960, 970, 980. Titan X



In what way?

Thanks for casting light on that. I thought AMD had the upper hand because GPUs like Bonaire are quite advanced for its time, but anyways... This also confirms that Arwin's GPU is fully DX12 compatible. Point is that I preferred to be prudent because I am not in a hurry to get a nice PC so I thought that current GPUs could be DirectX 12 compatible to an extent but not meant for DirectX 12 or to take advantage of all the new features.

In what way?

We have nothing in the way of CPUs featuring 12 or 16 or even 24 cores, and since DirectX 12 handles CPU cores in a better way I can see how Intel and AMD could start to build such CPUs.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Thanks for casting light on that. I thought AMD had the upper hand because GPUs like Bonaire are quite advanced for its time, but anyways... This also confirms that Arwin's GPU is fully DX12 compatible. Point is that I preferred to be prudent because I am not in a hurry to get a nice PC so I thought that current GPUs could be DirectX 12 compatible to an extent but not meant for DirectX 12 or to take advantage of all the new features.

AMD was ahead in features until Maxwell 2, they probably will be again when Fiji launches but Maxwell 2 is still fully feature level 12_1 compliant.

But if you're not in a rush then waiting for the 14nm generation (Pascal and Artic Islands) would definitely be sensible. The performance increase should be huge.

We have nothing in the way of CPUs featuring 12 or 16 or even 24 cores, and since DirectX 12 handles CPU cores in a better way I can see how Intel and AMD could start to build such CPUs.

Here's hoping!

 

[Cyan]

AMD was ahead in features until Maxwell 2, they probably will be again when Fiji launches but Maxwell 2 is still fully feature level 12_1 compliant.

But if you're not in a rush then waiting for the 14nm generation (Pascal and Artic Islands) would definitely be sensible. The performance increase should be huge.



Here's hoping!

I hope so, too. It's how I see CPUs evolving because if that doesn't happen, how are you going to feed the monster GPUs which are going to be released next year, that 14nm generation you are talking about with V-link capabilities and so on?

In addition, I am also interested in getting a good mechanical keyboard for gaming. Still I am confused as to which mechanical keyboard is the best.

It has to be mechanical, check...

It must have NKRO capabilities to press as many keys simultaneously as you need, check (all mechanical keyboards feature that technology)...

But the problem is that there are several models of keys (switches) for mechanical keyboards, patented by Cherry. afaik, there is the Cherry MX Blue, the Cherry MX Red, the Cherry MX Black, and the Cherry MX Brown.

Apparently, any of those is great for gaming (the Blue is fine for typing too) , but the Cherry MX Red and the Cherry MX Brown allow you to perform a double tap very quickly because of their very light tactile feedback and lineal switches, which is great for gaming, but I prefer the Cherry MX Blue... Which keyboard do you use if that's not asking much?

 

[pjbliverpool]

Which keyboard do you use if that's not asking much?

A black one lol. It's just the first decent looking cheap wireless kb/m combo I could find on Amazon - Anker is the brand. It's actually quite nice but it's definitely not a gaming set though.

 

[London Geezer]

What's a mechanical keyboard? Aren't all keyboards mechanical? Is this a thing?

 

[Arwin]

What's a mechanical keyboard? Aren't all keyboards mechanical? Is this a thing?

It's a big thing ... It's proper clicks vs press hard against rubber, basically. Everyone that has tried one is convinced. They used to be all mechanic long ago, I am fairly sure, but the more recent ones are more expensive and better ...

 

[Cyan]

A black one lol. It's just the first decent looking cheap wireless kb/m combo I could find on Amazon - Anker is the brand. It's actually quite nice but it's definitely not a gaming set though.

You are the PC gamer geek par excellence, and yet you are probably using a membrane keyboard, which doesn't allow for multiple pulsations -NKRO- at the same time, nor they are good for gaming or typing. (they say life expectancy of a key in the case of a membrane keyboard is about 10/15 million pulsations, while it's about 60 million pulsations for a mechanical keyboard).

If you are ever considering the idea of purchasing a mechanical keyboard, here is how the different switches work -from what I could understand-):

Cherry MX Blue switch (50g Peak Force on average, some are 60g, they have tactile feedback -there should be a click you can hear and feel at the touch- which is great for typing, and nice for gaming too although the tactile feedback slightly hinders the quick double tap)

Cherry MX Red switch (a lineal, completely flat switch, which means you don't feel any obstacle when clicking on it, the lighter switch with 45g Peak Force, no feedback at all... so if you want to learn how to type it isn't the best keyboard, plus lack of feedback makes you prone to make mistakes when pressing a key you didn't want to press, but it is focused on gaming, and great for that)

Cherry MX Black switch (exactly the same as the red switch, but with a 60g Peak Force instead of 45g, and it is a lineal switch which means it is focused on gaming rather than typing, but its superior peak force makes you less prone to mistakes when typing, although it has no feedback)

Cherry MX Brown switch (this is the hybrid, it mixes the 45g Peak Force of the Cherry MX Red with the tactile feedback of the Cherry MX Blue, it lacks the "click" of the Cherry Blue and its tactile feedback is weaker and at the same time is as light as the Cherry Red, so this option is great for newcomers)

There are also other types of swiches, like Clear, Greens, Grey, White..., but they are more difficult to find or more expensive.

As I said before I am keen on the Cherry MX Blue, but the brown could be nice for newcomers that are building a PC.

Some pictures of mechanical keyboards.

TKL format, tenkeyless mechanical keyboard (no numerical pad)

60% (60 keys) mechanical keyboard (you save space and you can use it on top of your laptop)

 

[Cyan]

What's a mechanical keyboard? Aren't all keyboards mechanical? Is this a thing?

In addition to what @Arwin has mentioned, I studied typing for five years and mechanical keyboards have been always regarded as more comfortable and helpful for your fingers so they don't get worn out when typing up.

In this video you can see how a Cherry MX Blue mechanical keyboard does sound:

Here is a similar vdeo featuring a Cherry MX Red mechanical keyboard:

For gamers, mechanical keyboards have additional advantages like the NKRO technology, which means multiple key pulsations without freezing the action (my friend showed that to me) or having the internal speakers of the PC (weren't they called beepers or something like that?) sounding like crazy. This is very useful in FPS games or Strategy games.

 

[Cyan]

Forgot to mention that another advantage of mechanical is that you can also use customised keycaps:

This is how @Davros and @pjbliverpool keyboard look in their intimacy

There are companies that build customised keycaps. Some examples:

 

[pjbliverpool]

Yeah but mines splash proof!

 

[Blazkowicz]

What's a mechanical keyboard? Aren't all keyboards mechanical? Is this a thing?

If you've ever seen or used one, that would probably be an IBM keyboard from the 1980s. Very heavy, loud, space bar doesn't break (but they fry the keyboard port if you hot-plug them). Using one is kind of magical, it's like you never press a key by mistake.

Examples are the IBM PC keyboard, the IBM AT keyboard and the keyboard used with the IBM PS/2 PCs. I think the keyboard cost several hundreds $$$ back then.

I wouldn't mind using such a monster (well, this one is still compatible with a modern PC, but it's missing the F11 key at least. F12 is kind of useless, I can live without lol)

Theses ones were very common, still thrown away 10-15 years ago (people or businesses throw all the useless computer trash together), I should have stocked up on them as they're not especially rare but quite sought after

If anything the modern ones are cheaper, as you can find some well under 100 $/€/£
I'd love to have a try at the new stuff, as the old stuff is really too clickety and loud. I played networked doom 2 (serial cable) on that thing and it was kind of a mess. Epic Pinball was fun, on the shift keys.