Advice for 'new' PC Gamer?

jkimrey

jkimrey

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Hey guys.

I've been playing console games for several years now, along with some older PC games.

I just recently got a new PC, and would like to try some of the newer PC games out (just purchased the latest Red Faction for instance).

Here's my system specs:

Dell Studio XPS 8000 Desktop
Processor: Intel Core i7-860 Processor (8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
8 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (4 DIMMs)
1024MB nVidia GeForce GTS 240

I guess the 'weakest link' with the above specs would be the graphics card?

Any suggestions on how to optimize the system for moderate gaming? I heard about RivaTuner. I downloaded that and turned on D3D Overrider.

Anything other 'simple' steps to increase performance w/o hindering stability?

Is it possible to tell the frames per second I'm getting in games when turning up (and down) the details?

Thanks for any help/suggestions.
 
Hmm, A GTS 240... not the best, but should be more than enough to power all of the current games, just not at max settings. Personally, I never liked the official nVidia drivers (no built in OC settings, compared to ATI's, but nVidia has a leg up on the competition due to PhsyX), and I forgot which utility I personally used to squeeze the most out of my old 8600 GT, but Overrider sounds familiar.

As for individual frames/sec, you need to check on the individual games themselve (source and unreal based games has a console command on turning on a frames/sec display), but I do know that FRAPS has a built in fps counter too (an added plus for recording in game footages, i guess), but I personally never used it.

If I were you, I wouldn't push that card too hard (maybe a 10% OC, if anything), but doesn't the XPS systems have a built in OC software or is that only reserved for the highest-end models? Personally, I'd upgrade this card to a dx11 chipset (like the Geforce 3xx, or the Radeon 5xxx series), since that i7 can handle something beefier. Do this around this holiday, and you'll be good for the next 2-4+ years, gaming wise

Even then, you'd only want to upgrade the card when you have a clear need for it. As I said before, that card is strong enough to handle any games you throw at it (BTW, what's the max resolution of your monitor?). I mean, I'm rocking an ATI Radeon 4850 to go with my core 2 duo (2.2ghz), and I can still rock Crysis and Crysis Warhead with almost everything to max on 1440x800.

If you need game suggestions, you should hear from Megazell very soon on free games. Aside from that, my suggestion for retail games you need to jump on for the sheer eye candy are:

Anything by Valve (fuck the console 'ports', trust me on this one)
Anything powered by the Cryengine (just for the eye-candy since the only game that had a passable gameplay, for me, is Crysis Warhead)
Mass Effect 2
Supreme Commander 1 & 2 (especially true if you have a dual-monitor setup)
Dragon Age (again, fuck the console 'port', trust me on this one)
Sins of the Solar Empire
Sims 3 (granting you're either a chick, have a girlfriend/wife, or have a god-complex)
Shattered Horizon (haven't heard this one? It's by the same people how makes the Futuremark benchmark software, like 3dmark series, but it's multi-player only)
etc, etc.
 
As rumarudrathas said in his comprehensive post, your computer should be able to run most, if not all, games well.

As for game choice, depends on what you like. Since you mostly console game, you might as well choose that platform if the game also appears on PC (with some exceptions such as Dragon Age, BF:BC2)

Along with the list above, some PC exclusives would be
Plants vs. Zombies (also on iphone)
Dawn of War 2
Torchlight
Any Blizzard title
Guild Wars
 
Excellent info - really appreciate it.

Max resolution for the Dell monitor is 1600x900.

Haven't noticed any OC software from Dell, but I'll look again to make sure.

Right now I'm trying to decide if I should leave the display settings for Red Faction on 'High' or 'Very High'. Appears that high has a smoother frame rate, but the details on 'very high' are really spectacular. :)

Thanks again for the info.

[quote name='rumarudrathas']Hmm, A GTS 240... not the best, but should be more than enough to power all of the current games, just not at max settings. Personally, I never liked the official nVidia drivers (no built in OC settings, compared to ATI's, but nVidia has a leg up on the competition due to PhsyX), and I forgot which utility I personally used to squeeze the most out of my old 8600 GT, but Overrider sounds familiar.

As for individual frames/sec, you need to check on the individual games themselve (source and unreal based games has a console command on turning on a frames/sec display), but I do know that FRAPS has a built in fps counter too (an added plus for recording in game footages, i guess), but I personally never used it.

If I were you, I wouldn't push that card too hard (maybe a 10% OC, if anything), but doesn't the XPS systems have a built in OC software or is that only reserved for the highest-end models? Personally, I'd upgrade this card to a dx11 chipset (like the Geforce 3xx, or the Radeon 5xxx series), since that i7 can handle something beefier. Do this around this holiday, and you'll be good for the next 2-4+ years, gaming wise

Even then, you'd only want to upgrade the card when you have a clear need for it. As I said before, that card is strong enough to handle any games you throw at it (BTW, what's the max resolution of your monitor?). I mean, I'm rocking an ATI Radeon 4850 to go with my core 2 duo (2.2ghz), and I can still rock Crysis and Crysis Warhead with almost everything to max on 1440x800.

If you need game suggestions, you should hear from Megazell very soon on free games. Aside from that, my suggestion for retail games you need to jump on for the sheer eye candy are:

Anything by Valve (fuck the console 'ports', trust me on this one)
Anything powered by the Cryengine (just for the eye-candy since the only game that had a passable gameplay, for me, is Crysis Warhead)
Mass Effect 2
Supreme Commander 1 & 2 (especially true if you have a dual-monitor setup)
Dragon Age (again, fuck the console 'port', trust me on this one)
Sins of the Solar Empire
Sims 3 (granting you're either a chick, have a girlfriend/wife, or have a god-complex)
Shattered Horizon (haven't heard this one? It's by the same people how makes the Futuremark benchmark software, like 3dmark series, but it's multi-player only)
etc, etc.[/QUOTE]
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Picked up Torchlight the other weekend when it was on sale. Seems like a fun one.

I'll def. check out the others.

Thanks again.

[quote name='kilm']As rumarudrathas said in his comprehensive post, your computer should be able to run most, if not all, games well.

As for game choice, depends on what you like. Since you mostly console game, you might as well choose that platform if the game also appears on PC (with some exceptions such as Dragon Age, BF:BC2)

Along with the list above, some PC exclusives would be
Plants vs. Zombies (also on iphone)
Dawn of War 2
Torchlight
Any Blizzard title
Guild Wars[/QUOTE]
 
You cant consider yourself a gamer until you've played the half-life titles :)
The specs of your computer are fine, it will handle mostly everything on near max settings.
You probably dont want to overclock unless you can afford to buy new hardware in a year or two, theres always an heightened risk of hardware failure, and it always attributes to hardware wearing out faster than it needs to.
If you think of it as a car, its like slapping a big ole turbo on an economy sedan, it's gonna be really fast for a while, but it's gonna break a lot faster than it would've stock.

Personally I'm still running an older Core 2 Duo 2.66ghz, 4gb RAM, and a gts 250. It runs everything I've thrown at it just fine. You just have to mess around with the settings if you're having performance troubles in certain games. The big performance hogs are Shaders/shadows/lighting effects, and anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering.
 
[quote name='Bawb3']You cant consider yourself a gamer until you've played the half-life titles :)
The specs of your computer are fine, it will handle mostly everything on near max settings.
You probably dont want to overclock unless you can afford to buy new hardware in a year or two, theres always an heightened risk of hardware failure, and it always attributes to hardware wearing out faster than it needs to.
If you think of it as a car, its like slapping a big ole turbo on an economy sedan, it's gonna be really fast for a while, but it's gonna break a lot faster than it would've stock.
[/QUOTE]

Bolded and QFT
 
you HAVE to own The Orange Box , or you can buy all the games seperately . But the online community for Team Fortress 2 is very awesome and really into the game :D . It is a MUST HAVE !!
 
Thanks again to everyone for the great advice.

I own The Orange Box for the 360 but truth be told, I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

Am I missing out if I don't play it on the PC as opposed to the 360?

Also, would running D3D Overrider be considered overclocking? I noticed it helped with some 'tearing' issues with Red Faction, but I agree with previous posts in that it's probably not worth running it if it's going to decrease the life of the machine...

TIA.
 
[quote name='jkimrey']Thanks again to everyone for the great advice.

I own The Orange Box for the 360 but truth be told, I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

Am I missing out if I don't play it on the PC as opposed to the 360?

Also, would running D3D Overrider be considered overclocking? I noticed it helped with some 'tearing' issues with Red Faction, but I agree with previous posts in that it's probably not worth running it if it's going to decrease the life of the machine...

TIA.[/QUOTE]

ive always thought that FPSs are far far superior on PC compared to console. if you havent played the orange box, go trade it in and use the credit to buy it for the PC.
 
[quote name='Brownjohn']The Orange Box on PC comes with a bunch of free updates that aren't being pushed to the consoles.[/QUOTE]

Not to mention all of the free mods, maps and models you can get.
 
[quote name='jkimrey']Thanks again to everyone for the great advice.

I own The Orange Box for the 360 but truth be told, I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

Am I missing out if I don't play it on the PC as opposed to the 360?

Also, would running D3D Overrider be considered overclocking? I noticed it helped with some 'tearing' issues with Red Faction, but I agree with previous posts in that it's probably not worth running it if it's going to decrease the life of the machine...

TIA.[/QUOTE]

D3D Overrider turns on triple-buffered vsync for all games, meaning it caps your framerate at your monitor's refresh rate (probably 60) and therefore stops tearing. However, it is not overclocking. Quite the opposite, actually, because games will take a few hit in fps due to D3D Overrider running. I leave it on for games that have a lot of tearing and don't require extremely precise mouse movements -- vsync, even triple buffered, adds a few milliseconds of control lag. Also, if you have D3D Overrider running, I would turn off Vsync in all of your games because D3D Overrider does it anyway.
 
If the 240 graphics card is really a rebranded 9800, then you will do just fine. I use 8800GTs (older versions of 9800s) running at 1980x1080... no issues. Best graphics cards EVER!!!
 
[quote name='Megazell']
There are many great games you can check out from my list that you may enjoy. There are free and legal :)

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244468

You stated you're playing the latest 'Red Faction' - Is that only genre you're playing games in or are you looking into dipping into others?​
[/QUOTE]

Damn, that Free and Legal Games train is never late (said out of the goodness of my heart :D)

Actually, you should see the free retail games that Steam is giving away for free just because of your graphics card. I think for nVidia, they're giving away a version of Portal and Half Life 2 DM, among others You should definitely check it out.
 
Your current monitor+gpu combo is fine. But once you get the money I would suggest upgrading the monitor to something that can do 1080p. Then once you get a monitor, upgrade your video card if you want to run at the 1080 resolution with some anti-aliasing.

As for measuring frames per second I suggest FRAPS (google it) With the free version, aside from showing the FPS and benchmarking min max fps to a spreadsheet, you can take screen shots and even record video. Personally I try to run my games where I get at least 45 fps average. If I get lower results, I lower my settings (short term solution) or buy a new video card (long term solution).

Finally one more piece of advice, don't buy games from Steam that are not on sale unless you absolutely will be playing the game right now. Steam has sales very frequently where they cut the price of a game by as much as 75%. If you buy a game five minutes before a sale begins for MSRP, there is no recourse, and regret will be your friend.
 
I'm with many people here and will have to say anything Valve.. how about all of them? The Orange Box and L4D especially. And yes youll be missing a little of something if you're not playing it on PC. Come on, this is Half Life we're talking about here! Play it on PC. please. =) I've beaten it on PC but also got it on 360 last week cuz it was $5 new and I figured I could replay it for achievements. TF2 on PC >>>> 360 also due to updates.

Since you've been console for awhile, play some legit RTS games if you're into that. Relic/Blizzard make great ones.

FPS? since consoles have a lot of this genre, only go for one you may not be able to play before, like crysis.

Finally, MMORPGs haha, get sucked in.
 
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