Steam+ Deals Mega Thread (All PC Gaming Deals)

[Neuro5i5]

This thread will attempt to provide a place to discuss past/present/future PC gaming deals. While mainly focusing on Steam games, any standout sales may also be presented. I will not be updating every Daily/Weekly/etc. sale. The tools to help individuals become a smarter shopper will be provided below.

See this POST for links to store sale pages, threads of interest and other tools to help you become a more informed PC game shopper.

 

[fastitocalon]

Unfortunately Forza Horizon 3 seems to not be too optimized for 60 fps.  I can drop everything down to low and get frame drops but when I set to 30 cap then I can put it on ultra and never drop a single frame.

I5 [email protected]

980 ti

on mechanical, won't let me move to my ssd (super cool!)

16 gigs ram

 

[spoderman]

Someone made a script that reverts the review system back to the old score so key activation reviews are included in it. Seems to work ok for me.

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/o8tEc/userscript-steams-true-review-count-changes-the-new-overall-for-the-old-one

 

[INMATEofARKHAM]

Unfortunately Forza Horizon 3 seems to not be too optimized for 60 fps. I can drop everything down to low and get frame drops but when I set to 30 cap then I can put it on ultra and never drop a single frame.

I5 [email protected]
980 ti
on mechanical, won't let me move to my ssd (super cool!)
16 gigs ram

Uninstall, hold windows key and I, system, storage, from there I think it's self explanatory but I could be wrong... I don't remember the next step.

 

[fastitocalon]

Uninstall, hold windows key and I, system, storage, from there I think it's self explanatory but I could be wrong... I don't remember the next step.

I mean I can't move once installed (it errors out everytime). I am not so worried about it that I am going to redownload 50 gigs. I thought it would be fine on my mechanical but I think I'm getting hitching from it when set to 60 fps cap. Hopefully it gets fixed but it isn't impacting me much.

 

[TB14]

Unfortunately Forza Horizon 3 seems to not be too optimized for 60 fps. I can drop everything down to low and get frame drops but when I set to 30 cap then I can put it on ultra and never drop a single frame.

I5 [email protected]

980 ti

on mechanical, won't let me move to my ssd (super cool!)

16 gigs ram

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz85_GqYbR8&feature=youtu.be

 

[fastitocalon]

I watched that video and I gather you are trying to say it is well optimized?  I think I have stricter standards than this guy in the video.  I probably averaged 59 fps but I cannot stand frame drops and he seemed to not mind them.  Also his minimums were off as he would state that a min was like 67 or something but just watching the video you could see the fps counter dipping into the 40's.  

If someone is fine with that then great, but I personally need a solid frame rate so while I average high 50's I would rather have a rock solid 30.

 

[TB14]

I watched that video and I gather you are trying to say it is well optimized? I think I have stricter standards than this guy in the video. I probably averaged 59 fps but I cannot stand frame drops and he seemed to not mind them. Also his minimums were off as he would state that a min was like 67 or something but just watching the video you could see the fps counter dipping into the 40's.

If someone is fine with that then great, but I personally need a solid frame rate so while I average high 50's I would rather have a rock solid 30.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1282718&highlight=980

According to posts in this thread, you might try disabling hyperthreading.

EDIT: Nevermind, you're running an i5. From what I can gather, your CPU's the bottleneck.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

I always wonder if FPS counters didn't exist would people even care or be able to tell that something dropped from 60 to 59 to 55 back up to 60, etc.  

 

[spoderman]

I always wonder if FPS counters didn't exist would people even care or be able to tell that something dropped from 60 to 59 to 55 back up to 60, etc.

Any drop to 55 and below is pretty noticeable to me, although how noticeable it is depends on the game. That's without looking at a FPS counter.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

Any drop to 55 and below is pretty noticeable to me, although how noticeable it is depends on the game. That's without looking at a FPS counter.

It must be those glasses.

Also, late brodate:

We ended up playing COD BOII Zombies and had fun. Reds and I dominated and as proof you can check out my screenshots on Steam and the lack of screenshots from Bah and Spoder saying otherwise. We then switched to some good old fashioned regular MP deathmatch on COD BOII and came to the conclusion that maybe we should play it more often instead of playing countless other crappy shooters that we usually schedule. We're probably still going to play more crappy shooters than COD.

 

[fastitocalon]

Any drop to 55 and below is pretty noticeable to me, although how noticeable it is depends on the game. That's without looking at a FPS counter.

Like 90% of people who can't tell think those of us who can are full of crap lol. I get that it seems small and irrelevant but it really is distracting. It is hard to explain though, it is like you can "feel" the drops, you don't necessarily see them.

 

[fastitocalon]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1282718&highlight=980

According to posts in this thread, you might try disabling hyperthreading.

EDIT: Nevermind, you're running an i5. From what I can gather, your CPU's the bottleneck.

While it definitely should not be I did turn up my resolution to 1440 and had the same exact performance which lends credence to a CPU bottleneck.

 

[ezelkow1]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/forza-horizon-3-performance-framerate-and-4k-tests-in-windows-10/

It seems ars also ran in to similar performance issues, at 30fps they could turn everything up and run at 4k. At 60fps they would get stutters even at the lowest setting.  Sounds like bad port issues, probably they are tying some calculations to the fps expecting to be locked on a console at 30, but on a pc now they are hammering CPUs because they are running 2x calculations on physics and such when they dont need to be. Which then bogs down the cpu and ends up bottlenecking everything else causing random stutters

Either way they claim patches are on the way to fix some of the issues. I was tempted to grab it early to play with some xbox friends but I suppose Ill wait for the demo now

 

[MinDRIoT]

2001 bundle's sold in the Groupees Alawar Mega Bundle. Thanks suckers!

 

[Syntax Error]

I always wonder if FPS counters didn't exist would people even care or be able to tell that something dropped from 60 to 59 to 55 back up to 60, etc.

I'm pretty much blind to FPS until it gets under 30 and closer to 25. I've sat and stared at .gifs designed to illustrate the difference between 30/60/90 and I just can't see it. Or I can make out minor things like the debris in a dust cloud but I'm rarely concentrating on what the debris plumes look like when I'm actively playing and things are blowing up.

I know some people are very interested in FPS and I'll take them at their word that they can see something I can't. On the other hand, if not noticing it saves me some rage from my 45fps experience, why complain?

I do keep the Steam FPS overlay up just as a general indicator of "game health" and how well it's running on my system.

 

[TB14]

I got a 33% off Headlander coupon for some reason. Anybody want it?

 

[bradnoyes]

I always wonder if FPS counters didn't exist would people even care or be able to tell that something dropped from 60 to 59 to 55 back up to 60, etc.

Just last night I was using Fraps and messing around with settings in some of my games to see how it impacted performance and I realized I can't tell the difference. It's definitely kind of jarring to go from playing something like DOOM at 120fps and then turn on my PS4 and play Bloodborne at 30fps, but I don't really notice a huge difference between the 45-100fps range. Then again I can only really see well out of one eye so maybe that has something to do with it. I need some of those SpoderSpecs to help me out.

 

[ezelkow1]

I think its just that it matters more or is more noticeable in some games, more fps leads to a more fluid feeling when running through the game world. I remember on bf4 even without the fps counter on I would immediately notice when I would start hitting 60-80fps vs being below that. Everything just felt faster and more responsive.  Turned on the fps counter and there it was

Other games though Ive run at 40-60 and they feel just fine

 

[Gedemer]

Picked up Forza Horizon 3 Ultimate edition on Xbox One.

Got home and found out it's 30FPS on consoles and 60 on PC.  Guess it's going back.

Edit: now idk if i can even run it on Ultra or High with my 780

 

[iduncurr]

Random but I figured who better to ask then you folks. 

I splurged and got myself a new PC rig and was curious which games would you recommend that's graphic intensive? 

I got Witcher 3, Paragon, and considering picking up GTA V. 

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

I'm pretty much blind to FPS until it gets under 30 and closer to 25. I've sat and stared at .gifs designed to illustrate the difference between 30/60/90 and I just can't see it. Or I can make out minor things like the debris in a dust cloud but I'm rarely concentrating on what the debris plumes look like when I'm actively playing and things are blowing up.

I know some people are very interested in FPS and I'll take them at their word that they can see something I can't. On the other hand, if not noticing it saves me some rage from my 45fps experience, why complain?

I do keep the Steam FPS overlay up just as a general indicator of "game health" and how well it's running on my system.

You know, I've looked at probably the same vids that are online showing 30FPS vs 60FPS side by side and can't tell a difference. I'm sure some people can and some more than others, but the way you read about it online it seems it's just become one of those things like audiophiles going on and on about headphones and speakers and breaking them in. I just wonder how much is noticeable differences and people buying into it and obsessing over it.

Just last night I was using Fraps and messing around with settings in some of my games to see how it impacted performance and I realized I can't tell the difference. It's definitely kind of jarring to go from playing something like DOOM at 120fps and then turn on my PS4 and play Bloodborne at 30fps, but I don't really notice a huge difference between the 45-100fps range. Then again I can only really see well out of one eye so maybe that has something to do with it. I need some of those SpoderSpecs to help me out.

Technically, I supposedly have good eye sight and I can't tell the difference so I don't think it's a conventional eyesight thing. It might be something different that makes it so that some people see it more than others. Who knows. I consider myself lucky as I think I would not be a pleasant person if I had to obsess over FPS and settings.

I think its just that it matters more or is more noticeable in some games, more fps leads to a more fluid feeling when running through the game world. I remember on bf4 even without the fps counter on I would immediately notice when I would start hitting 60-80fps vs being below that. Everything just felt faster and more responsive. Turned on the fps counter and there it was

Other games though Ive run at 40-60 and they feel just fine

The only thing I ever notice personally is when something drops to like the 10 range or whatever makes the game skip or unplayable basically. I had that happen on Sleeping Dogs when I was running it on my laptop and it would get into a big crowded scene and then Mad Max before I got the 7950 from Syntax. Mad Max was unplayable for me before then. I think probably a big drop would be noticeable even if it never got into the unplayable range, but I don't think I run my games at high FPS ever. Maybe I will try for a while to run them at highest FPS possible and see if I visually notice a change. I assume that a difference would be noticeable no matter the settings? Like if i have to run a game on low ugly graphics to get it to 100 FPS, I should still be able to notice if it drops to 60? Or will the ugly graphics make it so it doesn't matter?

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

Random but I figured who better to ask then you folks.

I splurged and got myself a new PC rig and was curious which games would you recommend that's graphic intensive?

I got Witcher 3, Paragon, and considering picking up GTA V.

Someone just posted that there's a new mod for GTA V either out or coming soon that would put any rig to a test. Not sure if the Metro series is still graphically intense but I assume maybe the redux versions of those.

You can always also check whether any games have mods that up the graphic intensity.

 

[Gedemer]

Wow $99 for Ultimate Edition on PC for FH3?! 

x.x

 

[DD83]

I never really have much of a problem with FPS in games.  I like to blame it on playing shit like Ultima IX, Everquest, and Morrowind at like 15 fps and enjoying it.  And yeah, I know, FirstPersonShooters and RPGs are different beasts, but I don't usually have problems playing a single player FirstPersonShooters until it's under 20ish.

Sure, if I play something that is running at 60 then immediately go to something running 30, I'll notice a slight difference, but I quickly adjust.

I'm glad my ears (to this day I don't see the point with surround sound systems at home for movies) and eyes are shit.  I'd hate to be so obsessive over that stuff.

 

[TB14]

Wow $99 for Ultimate Edition on PC for FH3?!

x.x

Same price on the XB1 (excluding any Prime or GCU discounts). With the Digital version, you get it on both platforms.

 

[Gedemer]

Same price on the XB1 (excluding any Prime or GCU discounts). With the Digital version, you get it on both platforms.

Yea but if you have GCU (which you should), I refuse to pay full price for Digital...when it's $20 cheaper going for Physical. Might just say F it and wait till Tuesday for the $60 price or for a future sale (tho Forza never goes on sale)

For $40 you get a few cars...it's ridiculous

 

[TB14]

Yea but if you have GCU (which you should), I refuse to pay full price for Digital...

For $40 you get a few cars...it's ridiculous

Yeah, I certainly don't plan on buying the Ultimate Edition. This whole pay extra to play the game a few days early trend is terrible.

 

[Wa1terSobchak]

Bro Night update:

I ditched everyone to play the new Street Fighter V update.

Spoiler

Why is the blue guy wearing a bikini top as a diaper????

 

[Gedemer]

Yeah, I certainly don't plan on buying the Ultimate Edition. This whole pay extra to play the game a few days early trend is terrible.

The worst part is...the Ultimate doesnt include any future DLC (besides a few cars). They announced that the "Season" pass will run $35 and those that get the Ultimate Edition can get it for $25.

 

[TacoSpartan177]

Why is the blue guy wearing a bikini top as a diaper????

For maximum power.

 

[iduncurr]

Someone just posted that there's a new mod for GTA V either out or coming soon that would put any rig to a test. Not sure if the Metro series is still graphically intense but I assume maybe the redux versions of those.

You can always also check whether any games have mods that up the graphic intensity.

I read about that, I also read about the controversy that apparently the guy stole bits and piece from other modders and piled it together for some super mod and claimed all the credit. Still going to try it though. I'm just sad I missed out on it being $30 on Amazon though.

 

[TB14]

Someone just posted that there's a new mod for GTA V either out or coming soon that would put any rig to a test. Not sure if the Metro series is still graphically intense but I assume maybe the redux versions of those.

You can always also check whether any games have mods that up the graphic intensity.

After watching some comparison videos, I think the vanilla version still looks better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA_tK8wffwc

 

[ezelkow1]

Maybe I will try for a while to run them at highest FPS possible and see if I visually notice a change. I assume that a difference would be noticeable no matter the settings? Like if i have to run a game on low ugly graphics to get it to 100 FPS, I should still be able to notice if it drops to 60? Or will the ugly graphics make it so it doesn't matter?

At least for me its basically 60-80ish is the dividing line. I have a 144hz monitor and honestly can hardly tell a difference when Im running 144+ vs. 60-80 range. However I notice/feel a difference at sub-60.

I do think I play better at the higher fps though, i.e. I let nvidia GFE tweak some settings in r6siege so it was running with better AA but then I went from ~140-200fps down to 80-90 and I was getting my ass kicked for days. I set my settings back to what I had and I was back to playing as normal. So there could be some movement/lag as well coming in to play that you dont really perceive just viewing it. Course that could also be game dependent, and obviously wouldnt really matter in most games either

 

[fastitocalon]

The ultimate edition comes with the Motorsport All-Star pack, the Car pass, and VIP membership.  It is like ~58 extra cars, extra wheelspins(which range from money to more cars, not exclusive though), and whatever "community gifts" end up being.  Much more than "a few cars" or however it was put.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

At least for me its basically 60-80ish is the dividing line. I have a 144hz monitor and honestly can hardly tell a difference when Im running 144+ vs. 60-80 range. However I notice/feel a difference at sub-60.

I do think I play better at the higher fps though, i.e. I let nvidia GFE tweak some settings in r6siege so it was running with better AA but then I went from ~140-200fps down to 80-90 and I was getting my ass kicked for days. I set my settings back to what I had and I was back to playing as normal. So there could be some movement/lag as well coming in to play that you dont really perceive just viewing it. Course that could also be game dependent, and obviously wouldnt really matter in most games either

That's the only argument for higher FPS that I read that makes sense from a technical point. Not sure how accurate the numbers are, but the article said that at 30FPS there is a 33 millisecond delay between when you click your mouse and when it registers. At 60FPS it goes down to 16.5 milliseconds and at 120-200 you are talking even tinier. So it may sound small, but for a competitive FPS I can see those tiny differences making a difference between you dying or you killing someone else.

 

[archibishopthedoge]

Someone just posted that there's a new mod for GTA V either out or coming soon that would put any rig to a test. Not sure if the Metro series is still graphically intense but I assume maybe the redux versions of those.

You can always also check whether any games have mods that up the graphic intensity.

Crysis 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are largely considered two of the best games to really test a rig out.

 

[MysterD]

I always wonder if FPS counters didn't exist would people even care or be able to tell that something dropped from 60 to 59 to 55 back up to 60, etc.

Yep, a 5 frame drop (or more) is noticeable for me. Things just aren't as smooth. Might be a hitch or stutter. Gameplay might feel a bit slower all of sudden. Bigger drops are ridiculously noticeable - i.e. 10+. Those feel like major lag and slowdowns to me.

Just last night I was using Fraps and messing around with settings in some of my games to see how it impacted performance and I realized I can't tell the difference. It's definitely kind of jarring to go from playing something like DOOM at 120fps and then turn on my PS4 and play Bloodborne at 30fps, but I don't really notice a huge difference between the 45-100fps range. Then again I can only really see well out of one eye so maybe that has something to do with it. I need some of those SpoderSpecs to help me out.

Yeah, something like Doom 2016 - which is a fast-paced game and where quickness really matters, it's REALLY noticeable to me.

When I uncapped Doom 2016 w/ Vulkan API and had 80-120 frames, I could basically feel every rise and drop; it felt super-fast + uneven. Gameplay felt often WAY too fast for me, as I was already used to the solid 60FPS performance that I was getting with it.

About Dark Souls 1 PTD (PC), that's a much slower game. So, framerate drops I would notice if it was even a few frames namely b/c it has a low 30FPS cap (by default and with no real modding of DSFix). Though, when it got slapped to 15FPS when fighting the Discharge - had to stop; it was stuttering and slowing down all over the place. Turning off SSAO in DSFix solved that and kept it nicely back at a solid 30FPS.

 

[Gedemer]

The ultimate edition comes with the Motorsport All-Star pack, the Car pass, and VIP membership. It is like ~58 extra cars, extra wheelspins(which range from money to more cars, not exclusive though), and whatever "community gifts" end up being. Much more than "a few cars" or however it was put.

Not worth $40. Maybe $20 with GCU but not even close to $40. Msoft is a joke and loves ing the consumer.

 

[MysterD]

Random but I figured who better to ask then you folks.

I splurged and got myself a new PC rig and was curious which games would you recommend that's graphic intensive?

I got Witcher 3, Paragon, and considering picking up GTA V.

W3 + GTA5 are definitely a good start for graphics intensive; especially at higher settings.

Doom 2016 looks great + runs great. You'll get MUCH better performance, if you're using a graphics card w/ drivers that support Vulkan API over OpenGL - since Vulkan is a much lower-level API.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

Crysis 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are largely considered two of the best games to really test a rig out.

Hey Bah, when you can win a game of Black Ops Zombies vs. Me and Reds is when I'll start taking your gaming advice, LOSER!

Blah.

I just assume anything you say is either a lie or BS or both. Sorry.

 

[Preedatore]

People keep talking about drops in frame rate, which everyone can notice. I doubt many people notice a difference between frame rate x and frame rate y when they are constant.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

People keep talking about drops in frame rate, which everyone can notice. I doubt many people notice a difference between frame rate x and frame rate y when they are constant.

Yeah, I do think there's a big difference there. I just wonder if people can really notice a tiny drop in frame rate. I mean 1-5 frames seems insignificant to me.

 

[MysterD]

Yeah, I do think there's a big difference there. I just wonder if people can really notice a tiny drop in frame rate. I mean 1-5 frames seems insignificant to me.

1-4 frames; naw.

5 is noticeable. Even more so true, if the game's fast-paced (i.e. Doom, Need For Speed games, etc) and/or if the game's got low-FPS - i.e. stuck at 30FPS (Dark Souls PTD); or it performs poorly and lower than that.

I can really notice things, if the FPS is at 20 frames or below. That feels like slide-show city to me; even worse when in the single digits.

EDIT:

I'm pretty much blind to FPS until it gets under 30 and closer to 25. I've sat and stared at .gifs designed to illustrate the difference between 30/60/90 and I just can't see it. Or I can make out minor things like the debris in a dust cloud but I'm rarely concentrating on what the debris plumes look like when I'm actively playing and things are blowing up.

I know some people are very interested in FPS and I'll take them at their word that they can see something I can't. On the other hand, if not noticing it saves me some rage from my 45fps experience, why complain?

I do keep the Steam FPS overlay up just as a general indicator of "game health" and how well it's running on my system.

I'm fine w/ games running at 30FPS (my usual minimum), 40FPS, 50FPS, 60FPS or whatever - as long as it's 30FPS or above. 25-30FPS like I've had w/ Batman AK had is tolerable, though.

I wish more games would do more than just have 30FPS caps, 60 FPS caps, VSync On, VSync Off, or no cap period. I wish it was like MSI Afterburner - where I could also just type in the cap I want - and that'll do it for me. I usually try to pick a cap where it's most stable at.

I just like it to be stable and not roller-coasting up, down and round more so than anything. I do prefer 60 FPS - especially in faster-paced games; but I'm fine once it's stable if it's at least at 30FPS.

EDIT 2:

I never really have much of a problem with FPS in games. I like to blame it on playing shit like Ultima IX, Everquest, and Morrowind at like 15 fps and enjoying it. And yeah, I know, FirstPersonShooters and RPGs are different beasts, but I don't usually have problems playing a single player FirstPersonShooters until it's under 20ish.

Oh, man - I remember those days with Morrowind running at like 10-25 frames, at God knows when. Great game back in the days - but my God, those crazy framerates were "meh." Back with my good old GF2 MX400 card, hehe.

 

[TB14]

People keep talking about drops in frame rate, which everyone can notice. I doubt many people notice a difference between frame rate x and frame rate y when they are constant.

It depends on what x and y are. Anything below 45 is pretty noticeable to me. However, I'd probably still take a locked 30 over 60 with frequent drops of 5+.

 

[Blade]

I give 0 s Per Second about this topic.

 

[MysterD]

It depends on what x and y are. Anything below 45 is pretty noticeable to me. However, I'd probably still take a locked 30 over 60 with frequent drops of 5+.

I'd rather have more than 30 frames cap, is possible.

I'd rather ditch the 5 frame loss, if possible.

As long as the game has no issues w/ the 3rd party app - I'd use MSI Afterburner to just lock it down to something above 30FPS.

If it won't budge or will barely budge w/ frame-loss after capping it somewhere, that'll do. Probably a max cap of 50FPS or 55FPS via Afterburner would do just fine.

 

[TB14]

I give 0 s Per Second about this topic.

 

[zenii]

Is FPS like VRAMs where the more you have, the bigger your dick?

 

[MysterD]

Is FPS like VRAMs where the more you have, the bigger your dick?

Eh, I dunno - it's nice to be able to see your game running at 80-120FPS frames uncapped, but Doom 2016 felt too fast for me at those framerates. [shrug]

Maybe I need a 120hz monitor, 144hz monitor or something to properly deal w/ higher framerates like that. I dunno. It's not the biggest of my worries right now.

I'm fine w/ 60FPS solid with 1080p @ Ultra here. I wish every game both look + ran as great as Doom 2016 with Vulkan.

 

[DonaldBlank]

When I first launched Overwatch, apparently I screwed up and set it to 1920x1080 50hz

I didn't know that, so in the game, I realize something was off. I thought the game just had shitty mouse-handling or something.

Either way, even a CONSISTENT FRAMERATE of 50FPS (only 10 less than what im used to) is easily noticable.

But I will admit, framerate is way more noticable in first person shooters because of mouse aiming. I probably wouldnt notice in a third person game like a Zelda game if it was 50fps, but 30 is always bad.

Edit: Actually, I recall nearly hating Cally's Cave 3 just because of the 30fps. Can you imagine playing an SNES-graphics side scrolling game with 30fps?