Why PC gaming is dying-Crysis

[Rangers]

So, my PC, like anybody's past six months old, is now past dated for current PC gaming. Even though I upgraded to a 7600GT which is a decent card, I dunno, a year ago.

Anyway I have 1GB RAM, Athlon 64 3000+ (single core). Ah and Win Xp.

This system is fine for..websurfing which is really all I do with it. But I have a hankering to play Crysis.

Well, lets add it up:

Some sort of low end Core2Dou (possibly to be overclocked) ~$120
Motherboard~$100
2GB RAM~$100

This is actually not too bad for the base system, and this will benefit me a lot in just general use. Playing Hi-Def game trailers and whatnot. Still, $300 is a lot of money in the real world. We're always discussing how the consoles are too expensive for example, while an X360 is $349.

Now one of the kickers, I need Vista, and I need the $220 retail version to go fully legal, because it has unlimited activations needed for rebuilding my PC in the future.

Then we'll need a card. At the low end we'd be looking at ~$300 8800GTS 640. That'd be a minimum to experience Crysis "in full glory".

Probably also, definitly, need a new power supply, but I'll leave that off, assuming I could get one for $40. Could use a upgrade to my 4:3 17" LCD as well, but lets not add another $200 for that right now. Really would like to go whole hog and do 4GB RAM while I'm at it, it makes sense with prices so low. But I'll leave that off too.

So that's ~840, minimum... Maybe 1100 to go whole hog.

I'm really hankering to play Crysis, but, can I afford, nay better, justify, to drop nearly a grand on it? Probably not.

 

[zed]

personally i dont play games (quake3 demo was the last one i played a bit) so this aint about your post's topic

but coincidently this is exactly what ive got

"Anyway I have 1GB RAM, Athlon 64 3000+ (single core). Ah and Win Xp."

the only difference is u have a 7600GT + i have a 7600GS,
i could do with a faster cpu though to speed up compile times

 

[Rangers]

personally i dont play games (quake3 demo was the last one i played a bit) so this aint about your post's topic

but coincidently this is exactly what ive got

"Anyway I have 1GB RAM, Athlon 64 3000+ (single core). Ah and Win Xp."

the only difference is u have a 7600GT + i have a 7600GS,
i could do with a faster cpu though to speed up compile times

Yep, generally, if you dont play games, the need to upgrade your PC goes down by a factor of about twenty.

I have no need to update mine if not for games, really. I get some stuttering on some hi-def vids that could be helped out by a beefier rig, but it's like 1/1000 of a percent of a real problem. It only happens on certain videogame videos, once in a blue moon, I can live with it.

 

[Npl]

Its not nearly as bad as you say it is, my AXP 2500+ + Radeon 9700 Pro served me well for 3 years atleast, its only recently that I even consider upgrading - with Supreme Commander being the reason (and UT3 possibly being the next). So far I bought myself a 7600 GS (passive cooling made me choose it over a GT) and overclocked the CPU to 3000+ Level.

You dont need Vista, and wont need it for another 2 years.

"Widescreen" is mostly hype, it makes senses for movies that are filmed at that ratio, but less for games.


The reason that PC-Gaming is dying is that there are 5 years between interesting games. If there would be tons of great games looming, I wouldnt have trouble upgrading every 2-3 years. But as it is, Id rather spend 600€ on a PS3 than on the PC.

 

[Dresden]

You never explained how PC gaming is apparently "dying."

 

[AlexV]

You never explained how PC gaming is apparently "dying."

It always is...actually, I think it actually died once. It got better.

 

[nutball]

You never explained how PC gaming is apparently "dying."

Many of these arguments seem to revolve around "PC gaming is dying because I'm buying a console", or similar. "WoW is dying because I'm not playing it any more". That sort of thing. I guess it's only natural for folks to want to believe that their personal circumstances are where it's at.

 

[Dresden]

It always is...actually, I think it actually died once. It got better.

Statistically or personally to you? I'll admit it's expanded due to the gross over abundance of multiplatform games, but to say it's "dying" is an exaggeration.

 

[Skrying]

I believe PC games have noticed a sales increase as of late. The platform has also been receiving nearly all major multiplatform titles at some point.

Also, it seems people so often confusing "being able to play the game" with "being able to play the game at high settings". Make up your mind, because the OP's system can play every game that I know of right now. No clue on Crysis specifications but I bet he'll be able to play that too.

 

[Davros]

I have a similar system
3ghz p4 + 7600gt + 1gig ram
and with the exception of oblivion and gothic 3 i am pleased with the way my games run

minimum sys reqs for crisis
CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz
Graphics: Nvidia 6600 or ATI X1600 - Shader Model 2.0
RAM: 1GB
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 256k+
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX9 with Windows XP / Vista

so you can still play it
if you look at the minimum sys reqs for its predecessor FarCry

Operating system: Windows 98 SE/2000
1 GHz CPU
256 MB RAM
DirectX 9.0b
Video Card: 64 MB DirectX 9.0b-compatible graphics card
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0b compatible PCI expansion card
4x DVD-ROM; 16x CD-ROM
4 GB hard drive space

I used to have a 1.2tbird with a 9800pro and i could run it at 1280 with everything on high hopefully Crysis will act similarly.

PC gaming is dying

Its not its pining

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I think he thinks it died earlier ... i'd guess around the time Counter-Strike was popular. People were leaving other popular online games to start playing CS or just completely stopped playing online at all or started playing other "potential" online games or RTS/RPG's. CS and now CSS has been on the top on the online PC game charts(for FPS) for ages .. and even now .. I think it's still tops. BF2 and 2142 cannot be more popular I think.

Of course I could be wrong .. but that's imo.

US

 

[Arwin]

PC gaming benefits from new console generations, as for a while at least the two will run comparatively similar games. Then there will be divergence again, with PC ports grossly underusing your PC's specs and doing so very inefficiently to boot, with more time spent again on squeezing every last bit of performance out of those small and cheap little consoles that do so much better in retail.

Of course it only needs one or two really outstanding games to make it interesting for at least one group of people or for one genre, and I'm pretty confident it will never die (even disregarding Microsofts Games for Windows efforts).

 

[digitalwanderer]

Crysis will need Vista? Nuts.

(BTW- My 8 year old PC won't have many problems with it I think. Age of a PC is irrelevant if you keep it upgraded. )

 

[dizietsma]

If you have an SLi motherboard Ranger then you could get an extra 1GB RAM for cheap, another 7600GT and perhaps a cheap x2 AMD off ebay and you're laughing.

Well, less unhappy.

I was in a similar situation a while ago, 1 7900GS, 19 inch monitor, FX-55 and 2GB or RAM so somewhat better. Over the months I have been upgrading slowly at a time as I knew a lot o good games were coming out in 2H07. So first a core2duo, then up to 3GB of RAM, then an 8800Ultra as somebody has to buy them an keep Jsen Sun happy and finally a 24 inch TN Samsung 254B.

I'm skint and not going to upgrade for another 10 years at least

Of all the buys the large monitor was the best, the 19inch looks tiny now sitting there next to it, how do people play games on those things ?

 

[davefb]

? who says it needs vista ?

http://www.crysis-online.com/Information/System Requirements/

or do you mean , needs vista for the uber-pretty version ?

 

[Dresden]

Crysis will need Vista? Nuts.

No it won't. Obviously it'll require it to enable the DX10 features. There's a handful of videos showcasing it running with DX9.

 

[Sopa_de_letras]

With 1ghz and MX440 I run Duke3D just fine, pwns Crysis.

 

[AlexV]

Statistically or personally to you? I'll admit it's expanded due to the gross over abundance of multiplatform games, but to say it's "dying" is an exaggeration.

It was a joke. The internet tends to suck for certain types of humour...it's based on the premise that death is a fairly terminal thing, once you're dead you hardly can get better. All of this hubbub about how PC games will die and whatever next console will kill them and so on has existed since gaming became something serious on PCs. And no death is in sight.

 

[Rainbow Man]

You never explained how PC gaming is apparently "dying."

I think his p0oint is that new PC games tend to need very high powered components to look good and run well.

And thse cost a lot of money. Thus pricing people out of the PC marketplace.

I certainly believe he has a point there. Just look at Obliviion or Fear for example. Two gaes that were rightfully criticized to be total hogs at the time fo their release.

There will be many many more oblivions and fears in the future too.


Even though there are gaming companeis that work within the PC sector that do not require cutting edge stufgf to run their games too.

Peace.

 

[Dresden]

I think his p0oint is that new PC games tend to need very high powered components to look good and run well.

And thse cost a lot of money. Thus pricing people out of the PC marketplace.

I certainly believe he has a point there. Just look at Obliviion or Fear for example. Two gaes that were rightfully criticized to be total hogs at the time fo their release.

There will be many many more oblivions and fears in the future too.


Even though there are gaming companeis that work within the PC sector that do not require cutting edge stufgf to run their games too.

Peace.

I agree completely. But why PC game then? Obviously it's going to demand more time and effort to make your games run at your desired speed, so if one is truly adamant about saving a buck, they probably shouldn't PC game in the first place. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the components necessary to make these games run at their maximum potential are costly sometimes, thus why consoles have probably heightened in popularity. But I can safely say after reviewing the history of PC games in comparison to consoles, I've never been disappointed with the quality of games that I get on a PC.

We really don't need to go down this road, though. Again.