@Krakn3Dfx: Yep, pre-ordered on steam a few weeks ago as well. 40$ for 3 games is not a bad deal whatsoever.
My Radeon 4890 should be more than enough for this game. I'll also be giving this a try on 64 bit Win7, so we'll see how that goes. Shouldn't be an issue.
@Krakn3Dfx: having picked up Red Faction II on GoGamer a few weeks ago... this is not so great actually. It was a very decent game for its time, but is very old-school now, in a disappointing way.
I think its fair to say that there's a rather large overlap between "PC gamers" and other gamers.
There are so many games out nowadays that I dont have time to play them all, Red Faction included. So im happy to "wait" until Sept 15th while I play Batman and Shadow Complex :D
@-MasterDex-: depending on your res, that should be more than enough. i know my 8800GT handles pretty much everything i throw at it. if not, time to overclock it just a LEETLE BIT MOAR. >:D
....that doesn't change the fact that i'm going to get DX11 hardware sometime next year. :P
@-MasterDex-: I would recommend SLI-ing it. But you may end up running into a bottleneck with your Q6600. I'm running a Q6600 too with two 9800gt and i was bottlenecking from the CPU. So i overclocked the CPU to 3.0Ghz and haven't looked back. wouldn't cost you too much too. Could go further but it was my first overclock and might do it down the line when i'm bored with that OC and want more from my computer,.
@wox42: I'm not planning on getting rid of it anytime soon but there is better cards out there right now. I still love this though, I have yet to find a game that it can't run beutifully...well, Arma2 but that ain't my PC.
With this new case, overclocking is the first order of business. Finally, I have some breathing room....then I'll consider SLI....when I need it.
So if I go out tomorrow and buy the top of the line computer rig to play games, what is it going to cost me and how soon would I have to upgrade something?
@van_line: If you buy the top of the line? It'll last you about 5-7 years, 2-3 at high, 1-2 at medium and probably 1-2 at low. There'll still be that huge library of older but awesome games that you missed out on.
It'd probably cost you a small fortune but then again you don't need the top of the line to play games and have them looking better than any console.
@van_line: I recently built a fairly high end system:
i7 920 (and corresponding motherboard), 3 GB RAM, 640 GB HDD, and 4890. It cost me around $1000, but I think I could have shaved off a solid $100-$200 dollars if I'd done full ATX instead of microATX and gotten a better PSU (I got a 750 watt PSU, but my system has never used more than 350 watts).
Sticking with a different quad core instead of the i7, like say the Phenom II X4, would save quite a fair bit of cash and leave you with a snappy system for quite a while.
@van_line: My computer which is about average, cost me $385 three months ago. It can play all current games on high at a res of 1920x1080 with a framerate of at least 30 (many console games only go that high). Average 60 (anything above that isn't worth mentioning) Everything was built from the ground up too.
My 23" Dell (which is pretty decent with LCDs) monitor cost me $150 shipped.
So to sum up, not too shabby and if you spend say, $550, you can get a quad core behemoth that will suit you quite nicely.
$1000 and up rigs are only for the "new" core i7s, which are good, but not worth the premiums they charge for the CPUs and Mobos IMHO.
Newegg, Tigerdirect (on occassion) and Amazon (when they have low stocks on hardware they tend to give a great discount on them to clear it out) are the places to shop.
@wox42: Depends on the price difference, but if you don't need the space now you could always upgrade later. Maybe wait for SSD's to become more affordable.
@Cake_Eater: You don't even really need a quad, either, for games anyway. The Phenom II X3 720 would probably be the best bet, especially if you can overclock. Hell, if you buy the right mobo and use the right bios you might even be able to unlock a 4th core!
@van_line: I upgrade my videocard every 6 months or so, but thats because I'm a graphics whore. I usually sell mine and get a decent price for it, and I don't really have to spend much more on a new card, maybe 50-100$ more. But most people are fine for around 2 years with the same card. CPU will last much longer, I haven't upgraded my CPU since I bought my system, which was about probably about 2 years ago. I'm going to soon though, but only because my gf needs a desktop, so I'm giving her some of my old parts and getting myself an upgrade. This cpu could easily last me another year or two
Ram, you wouldn't need to upgrade, maybe add more, but 4GB is very cheap, ~50$, and thats all you'd need. Run out of harddrive space, just add a new HDD, but if you delete stuff you don't need or burn to DVD the rest of it, you wouldn't need to get another HDD. HDD's last quite a long time.
That's pretty much all you'd upgrade, the main one being the videocard. The rest could easily last 4+ years. And keep in mind, this is only if you care about running absolutely every game at high with no major compromises.
I already bought this on 360, but if it doesn't have any invasive copy protection I may just have to pick it up again for PC and replay it. I had a lot of fun on it on 360, and this looks great.
@K1NG EV1L: not necessarily. For the most part, its true but there are some exceptions. Take GTA IV for example. Although the PC version does have "nicer" graphics and a huge modding scene and all that. The truth is, it makes running Crysis look like a joke. Even with a GTX260 and 3gbs of ram on a core2duo, I get at most 25 fps on medium settings. I do have a first generation core2duo so its nothing to brag about but still. It makes me a bit disappointed.
gta i believe for pc needed 4 cores to run decently, it ran smoothly on mine, no issues whatsoever...and these two, i have an 8800 gts 640 6 gb ram dominaotr and q6600 an di have been able to blow up every gingle game for pc at full grpahics...and these two are not the exception...
@nerdwa: Dual core processors aren't very good for modern gaming, a lot of PC games require more CPU usage. Seems your system is bottlenecking due to this, I have the same problem. Need to upgrade to a Quad.
@Dethgar: It's not always just the amount of processors. Remember that there's still not a lot of games out there that take advantage of 4 cores. Clock speed and cache size are much better for performance right now. I have a Core2Quad and if I had gotten a Core2Duo with a higher clock and larger cache, I would have saved myself some money and running games just as good.
I'm torn now. I could get it on PS3 and have a good controller. Or I could play on PC with my keyboard and mouse, I guess. But wait, although my PC is pretty damn high-end, it doesn't have Vista/DX10. Ughh....
@omgwtflolbbqbye: I knew someone was going to say that and it's true. Though I totally enjoyed GTA4 and Mirror's Edge on PC with a KB+M over the controller while games like Wolverine I liked the controller a lot more.
@Cellsong: I think the official Xbox 360 controller for Windows is probably the best option though.
I always preferred the PS controller since I never owned an Xbox before, but when it comes to PC ports/ multiplatform games, I've noticed they now integrate support specifically for that controller so that all the buttons are automatically mapped out once you plug it in.
Worse, and more annoyingly, some games I've played (Wolverine, NBA 2k9) won't even recognize 3rd party controllers or act very glitchy with them.
As long as you don't have a 64 bit OS (no driver yet), you're set. Add Joy2Key and you can configure the controller even more than you can on the PS3. I used to play controller friendly games all the time using the PS3 controller, but switched back to my wired 360 controller once I went to 64 bit Vista.
@omgwtflolbbqbye: For the 360 I used the gamepad for the driving elements but I used my mouse emulator for the 3rd person combat. The two of them have their pros and cons which is why I use them both.
09/01/09
09/01/09
I'm in.
09/01/09
My Radeon 4890 should be more than enough for this game. I'll also be giving this a try on 64 bit Win7, so we'll see how that goes. Shouldn't be an issue.
09/02/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
There are so many games out nowadays that I dont have time to play them all, Red Faction included. So im happy to "wait" until Sept 15th while I play Batman and Shadow Complex :D
09/01/09
09/01/09
I prefer to call mine my Personal Computer.
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
Not really though, I only have an 8800GT and stock Q6600 in it :(
09/01/09
....that doesn't change the fact that i'm going to get DX11 hardware sometime next year. :P
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
With this new case, overclocking is the first order of business. Finally, I have some breathing room....then I'll consider SLI....when I need it.
09/01/09
09/01/09
It'd probably cost you a small fortune but then again you don't need the top of the line to play games and have them looking better than any console.
09/01/09
i7 920 (and corresponding motherboard), 3 GB RAM, 640 GB HDD, and 4890. It cost me around $1000, but I think I could have shaved off a solid $100-$200 dollars if I'd done full ATX instead of microATX and gotten a better PSU (I got a 750 watt PSU, but my system has never used more than 350 watts).
Sticking with a different quad core instead of the i7, like say the Phenom II X4, would save quite a fair bit of cash and leave you with a snappy system for quite a while.
09/01/09
My 23" Dell (which is pretty decent with LCDs) monitor cost me $150 shipped.
So to sum up, not too shabby and if you spend say, $550, you can get a quad core behemoth that will suit you quite nicely.
$1000 and up rigs are only for the "new" core i7s, which are good, but not worth the premiums they charge for the CPUs and Mobos IMHO.
Newegg, Tigerdirect (on occassion) and Amazon (when they have low stocks on hardware they tend to give a great discount on them to clear it out) are the places to shop.
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
Ram, you wouldn't need to upgrade, maybe add more, but 4GB is very cheap, ~50$, and thats all you'd need. Run out of harddrive space, just add a new HDD, but if you delete stuff you don't need or burn to DVD the rest of it, you wouldn't need to get another HDD. HDD's last quite a long time.
That's pretty much all you'd upgrade, the main one being the videocard. The rest could easily last 4+ years. And keep in mind, this is only if you care about running absolutely every game at high with no major compromises.
09/01/09
theres nothing I want more than to mod a set of rocket launchers on the light Mech.......
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
I have a C2D E8400 overclocked to 3.825GHz, 4GB RAM and an HD 4870. Game runs sweet on medium-high at 1920x1080 with very few slowdowns.
09/01/09
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09/01/09
If it's a sports or port of a console action game the keyboard and mouse just don't feel right (though its usually somewhat doable).
I needed the Xbox 360 controller for Wolverine, NBA 2k9, GTA4, Assassin's Creed and Mirror's Edge.
Opposite situation when FPS and strategy games are concerned obviously.
09/01/09
Thats the great thing about PCs, no one is forcing you into a set design.
09/01/09
09/01/09
I always preferred the PS controller since I never owned an Xbox before, but when it comes to PC ports/ multiplatform games, I've noticed they now integrate support specifically for that controller so that all the buttons are automatically mapped out once you plug it in.
Worse, and more annoyingly, some games I've played (Wolverine, NBA 2k9) won't even recognize 3rd party controllers or act very glitchy with them.
09/01/09
I found it pretty near damn impossible to do anything with my keyboard and mouse (it's why I bought a Xbox controller in the first place).
Mirror's Edge I could see working though.
09/01/09
As long as you don't have a 64 bit OS (no driver yet), you're set. Add Joy2Key and you can configure the controller even more than you can on the PS3. I used to play controller friendly games all the time using the PS3 controller, but switched back to my wired 360 controller once I went to 64 bit Vista.
09/02/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09
09/01/09