Define a gaming rig

smarteyeball · 27 May 2013

essenbe said:

. But, I think you are wrong about a water cooled X79 rig with 3 Titans.(sic) I don't believe a water cooled X79 will play any of your games any better than what you have, and you know that.

Whats one thing that does take advantage of the extra grunt? Benchmarks :)

I still only benchmark for ballpark/stability, but let's be honest - gamers also benchmark

In all honestly, I think after a certain point, it becomes what the individual considers a 'good gaming experience'. You need 3 monitors and all the gadgets that go with it for that. You have a rig that will accomplish that. Others don't require all of that to be perfectly happy with their gaming experience.

Exactly.

As I was saying to Drew the other day, I have always been an eye candy addict. Even right back when, I always tried tried to run games in 640x480 when all my machine could handle was 320x240, 1024x768 when it struggled with 640x480 etc.

But when I built my first rig, and then specifically, created my first crossfire setup - I was hooked. Finally I could have both Eyecandy and performance. Over time my quest has expanded across 3 screens... so too has the been the overkill needed to run it all

I'm actually looking forward to having 3 x30" screens one distant day. For now though, it's cost prohibitive and the grunts not there to power it.

Others however are perfectly happy with xbox quality or are happy to sacrifice details. Tbh, I envy you guys

sygnus21 said:

What's that saying... an un-happy wife makes for a miserable night

Miserable night or life depending on how far over budget

As I mentioned, my wife was very supportive and I always told her what and how much. To her credit she maintained a good poker face at times

Her words said "I don't mind" but her expression said "You need another what??"

sygnus21 · 27 May 2013

smarteyeball said:

As I mentioned, my wife was very supportive and I always told her what and how much. To her credit she maintained a good poker face at times

Her words said "I don't mind" but her expression said "You need another what??"

Remember the good times my friend. Remember the good times

smarteyeball · 27 May 2013

I do mate. I do :)

Solarstarshines · 27 May 2013

When you have someone in your life you will always get that do you really need this look
I think my Wife has accepted this and would rather me be a web and Tech junkie then out on the streets picking up strange women

Last thing a spouse or partner should do is rob them of the things that make them happy even though you forget Anniversaries or that special day you both met lol

Truth be told though they would rather you buy them something to show off while you have them on your arm

smarteyeball · 27 May 2013

lol, yeah. At least our 'mistresses' are where the ladies can see and keep an eye on them

And yes they do prefer something to show off. And since I've got a 'female approved' good taste in Jewelery, I got a lot of brownie points for earrings, bracelets etc. Nothing too expensive, but not cheap either. I got as much pleasure out of making Kaz happy with gifts as she did watching me with mine, so it was a win-win in that regard.

(One bracelet was usually worth a few Drives, an extra card etc

)

Mind you though, Karren loved bragging about my setup. I didn't need to brag. She did it for me lol.

There was this particular guy who was the "KING OF ALL KNOWLEDGE" and knew everything about computers. According to him at least lol. He was one of those guys

This guy was so clueless, he didn't even know what computer he had. Specs? Pfft. Specs to him were eye glasses. Now there's nothing wrong with being clueless. But there is something wrong when you proclaim to be a genius and people take your bad, bad advice. I know I personally saved a few of the staff and patients $$$ by giving them a second opinion.

essenbe · 27 May 2013

I think we all know a "King of all knowledge" about computers.

Solarstarshines · 27 May 2013

I'm King of nothing ruler of none

Contrabardus · 29 May 2013

A gaming rig, or a UGM rig? There's a difference. A UGM, or 'Ultimate Gaming Machine' rig is a high end machine that has supercharged hardware and can normally be overclocked to stupid levels because of cooling. That's what I've got.

A gaming rig is as said previously, a computer that's main function is playing video games. It doesn't matter how low end it is.

I've got an overkill rig. There's nothing on the market it won't run at the highest settings, and probably won't be for a while. It's not the absolute best you can buy, but it's got a high end processor, three of the fastest single GPUs AMD currently makes in crossfire, and plenty of high speed memory across the board including a SSD.

Most games are programmed with consoles in mind, so it's doubtful that there will actually be more than a handful of games my PC won't be able to run at maxed out or near to maxed out settings for about seven or eight years.

How much you need depends on what you want to play. I want to turn any video game I buy up to the max possible settings and get a decent framerate. I run Crysis 3 balls to the wall without so much as a hickup, I've got Skyrim modded to a level that would make a 360 or PS3, [and to be honest, even a Xbox 1 or PS4] gpu melt into slag under the strain of rendering it all. Farcry 3? No problem just push those little graphics sliders to the end and it'll run just fine. Metro LL? Yeah, smooth like buttah.

So yeah, I'm set.

If you just want to play Saint's Row 3, The Sims 3, Serious Sam, Half Life, WoW, or even the majority of games that are currently on the market today, you don't really need all that. Depends on what you're doing with it, though it is nice to be able to put a game in and turn everything up, most casual gamers don't need that much. Most games are still looking and playing better than the console counterparts at mid ranged settings. Given the current specs of the next generation, that will hold true even after they are released too, except it'll be around 'high' but still less than Ultra or Very High settings.

Most people don't really need an Uber rig. A mid to mid-high range rig is fine and still has you with your head above the hardware the console crowd will be using. A UGM is pretty much just penis points for the truly hardcore like myself.

sygnus21 · 29 May 2013

Contrabardus said:

A UGM is pretty much just penis points for the truly hardcore like myself.

LOL. Right on dude. That's what it's about, balls to walls fun :)

Nice post

JackALope52x · 29 May 2013

Nice post Contrabass! :thumbup: