PC gaming

[Dr.Spaceman]

I have WoW back, god, I missed wasting my life on it! Haha. Limiting my gaming to 2hrs a day, its going well so far. I'm a patch of gear behind, which sucks, so I am just chilling till 3.3.5 comes out, then ill try to get raiding again. Good times.

 

Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chrissy Bee]

GTA IV really does run badly on the PC.

 

This. Feel a bit mugged off. I bougt the Rockstar pack for £29.99 as it looked great value for money, but I'm finding the games are more dated than I rember for the old ones.

 

As for GTA IV, I prefer it on my PS3. My pc has it on full graphics but it just feels clunky when it should be nice and smooth to control.

 

The graphic problems were sorted out about 2 weeks ago. You'll still need a decent PC for it to run well (obviously) but it shouldn't run as if you are using a pentium 2 with 64mb of ram.

 

I've purchased Dirt 2 for £7.50 on Steam. Good game so far, going to check out multiplayer sometime today.

 

Well having just upgraded to a beefy quad core, it's fair to say it's completely dependent on the CPU. Basically runs perfectly now in 1680x1050.

[hakka]

GTA IV really does run badly on the PC.

 

This.  Feel a bit mugged off.  I bougt the Rockstar pack for £29.99 as it looked great value for money, but I'm finding the games are more dated than I rember for the old ones. 

 

As for GTA IV, I prefer it on my PS3.  My pc has it on full graphics but it just feels clunky when it should be nice and smooth to control.

 

The graphic problems were sorted out about 2 weeks ago.  You'll still need a decent PC for it to run well (obviously) but it shouldn't run as if you are using a pentium 2 with 64mb of ram.

 

I've purchased Dirt 2 for £7.50 on Steam.  Good game so far, going to check out multiplayer sometime today.

 

Well having just upgraded to a beefy quad core, it's fair to say it's completely dependent on the CPU. Basically runs perfectly now in 1680x1050.

 

Will have another play with the settings.  I've got a Q9300, 8gb DDR2 and GTX 275, so my PC's no slouch as such.

[Adam]

If I can run it on a mix of high/medium on 1920x1080 with a Q6600 4gb DDR and a 4850, if you cant there is something seriously wrong. I would say get the latest Nvidia drivers but nvida throw out so many random drivers it'll take you a week to find the best one.

[Clay]

Tropica 3 is £5 on Steam

 

Really enjoyed the 360 demo apart from the obvious control issues, really tempted to pick this up.. can't afford it but it's a fiver ffs 

[Clay]

Batman AA is £15 on Steam

[pedro111]

I have a question. I have never owned a laptop but am currently looking into getting one. My problem is that I have very little clue about what is needed for playing games on a laptop graphics card wise. My 360 (when I get it) will be what I use for all the latest fps/sports games etc, basically all the high end graphical games. What I want to be able to play on my laptop is mainly RTS games like Total War, CoH and the like. I want to be able to run them smoothly at least on medium settings but high or highest settings would be ace. What is suitable for this? and can it be done on a budget of £450 for the laptop?

 

I see intergrated and dedicated graphics listed everywhere and I know that dedicated is much better so just what can you run and how well on these 'Integrated Intel HD graphics' I keep seeing listed?

 

Cheers.

 

 

[Northerngimp]

I have a question. I have never owned a laptop but am currently looking into getting one. My problem is that I have very little clue about what is needed for playing games on a laptop graphics card wise. My 360 (when I get it) will be what I use for all the latest fps/sports games etc, basically all the high end graphical games. What I want to be able to play on my laptop is mainly RTS games like Total War, CoH and the like. I want to be able to run them smoothly at least on medium settings but high or highest settings would be ace. What is suitable for this? and can it be done on a budget of £450 for the laptop?

 

I see intergrated and dedicated graphics listed everywhere and I know that dedicated is much better so just what can you run and how well on these 'Integrated Intel HD graphics' I keep seeing listed?

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

for total war games, lots of memory, good processor and as good as you can afford GFX card.

 

IN the new total war next year, they are talking about having 56k men on a battle field that you can control.  Not sure how it will work like.

[Clay]

Don't think you'll get much gaming performance from a laptop in that price range tbh, probably better of doing a custom build PC, I built mine for roughly the same price and I can run anything that's out at the moment.

 

Could be wrong like, wait for TT or one of the other technology buffs

[pedro111]

Like I say just getting these kind of games to run on medium to high settings would be good. Doesnt have to be on highest detail. I reckon I can get a laptop with an i3 processor and 4gb of RAM for under £500 so its just the graphics part which is puzzling me tbh.

[pedro111]

Don't think you'll get much gaming performance from a laptop in that price range tbh, probably better of doing a custom build PC, I built mine for roughly the same price and I can run anything that's out at the moment.

 

Could be wrong like, wait for TT or one of the other technology buffs

 

I would mate but space is an issue at the moment thats why im thinking of going laptop.

[Northerngimp]

Like I say just getting these kind of games to run on medium to high settings would be good. Doesnt have to be on highest detail. I reckon I can get a laptop with an i3 processor and 4gb of RAM for under £500 so its just the graphics part which is puzzling me tbh.

 

 

Not sure what gfx cards you can get in a gaming laptop, i've never really looked into it.  Like clay said i just built me own PC.

[pedro111]

Cheers, Im sure someone will know.

[Dokko]

You will need something good to run the latest games and when you do the run hot and noisy. Your best bet might be to look out for a second hand laptop, I've got a 8800gtx in mine and can run mass effect maxed @ 1200, though that's an old game now, me2 for example wouldn't run so smooth.

 

You stand no chance without dedicated gfx, the intel shit can't even run some games at all, chip doesn't support certain things new games need, plus when they do you will find it struggles with fm 3d engine.

 

Second hand laptop, or spend about a grand and get an acer gaming laptop which usually has the latest gpus in for that price

 

this is the lowest I would go for what you want:

 

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer%5FAspire%5F8735G%5FLaptop%5FLX%2EPHE02%2E005/version.asp?PID=543

[Dokko]

Ok having a look around and this could probably do the job, though still the GPU isn't that great, but in your price range, no OS.

 

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/laptop/range/x16nvpro.html

[Northerngimp]

Pedro, build your own PC and make the space in your room.

[pedro111]

Cheers for the help lads, still not sure what to do. TT if its not too much trouble could you spec me the components to build the best possible gaming pc for an absolute maximum of £500 please? Cheers.

[Dokko]

Cheers for the help lads, still not sure what to do. TT if its not too much trouble could you spec me the components to build the best possible gaming pc for an absolute maximum of £500 please? Cheers.

 

No problem.

 

Just

 

GPU

Mobo

Mem

Cooler

CPU

 

Do you want optical, case & PSU with that?

[pedro111]

Aye please mate. Not arsed about a good looking case but I want the whole thing to be as quiet as possible please. Not arsed about a massive harddrive either. Cheers.

[Dokko]

Aye please mate. Not arsed about a good looking case but I want the whole thing to be as quiet as possible please. Not arsed about a massive harddrive either. Cheers.

 

Anything you can rescue from your old computer will keep cost down, case, HDD etc..if there is anything like that let me know.

[pedro111]

Aye please mate. Not arsed about a good looking case but I want the whole thing to be as quiet as possible please. Not arsed about a massive harddrive either. Cheers.

 

Anything you can rescue from your old computer will keep cost down, case, HDD etc..if there is anything like that let me know.

 

Its all pretty much fucked mate, the case is broken in half so that should give you some sort of idea as to the state of it. HD is crap, virtually no memory; only the graphics card is half decent. But is was half decent about 5 years ago so its more than worthless now I would imagine.

[Dokko]

Aye please mate. Not arsed about a good looking case but I want the whole thing to be as quiet as possible please. Not arsed about a massive harddrive either. Cheers.

 

Anything you can rescue from your old computer will keep cost down, case, HDD etc..if there is anything like that let me know.

 

Its all pretty much fucked mate, the case is broken in half so that should give you some sort of idea as to the state of it. HD is crap, virtually no memory; only the graphics card is half decent. But is was half decent about 5 years ago so its more than worthless now I would imagine.

 

Probably not then, maybe the optical drive? I've budgeted without one.

 

Are you in to overclocking? If so you should get some extra mileage out of this if you want to be get a new fan, as it stand a stock cooler is included.

 

This is from Novatech.co.uk

 

http://i49.tinypic.com/2s7z7sn.jpg

 

Lazlo has been on a current hunt for a Graphics Card, so he's probably best to ask where this stands in the scheme of things and if there's a better alternative, though I do believe its canny and the price means it should be up to the job you describe and probably more.

[pedro111]

Ok, maybe the optical drive then!

 

Nah mate never overclocked before. Only 2gb of ram aswell? Will that be enough?

[Dokko]

Ok, maybe the optical drive then!

 

Nah mate never overclocked before. Only 2gb of ram aswell? Will that be enough?

 

x 2 mate.

 

4 x 1gb, 2x2gb is £90....memory prices has rocketed since i last looked. 

[Dokko]

The PSU is important, you need good power for the GPUs these days, I personally would go with a branded PSU, and pay around £55, but for £500 build that is impossible. The stock fans are a little noisy, but give you reason to keep adding when you've got more money, the CPU is a nice clocker should you wish to take that route (my pref would be to see this in a year, then when its tiring have a shot, boost the speed, if something goes badly wrong its cost you £40-50 for the chip, but with a good cooler and not putting extra vaults through it you should be fine)

 

The motheboard is a micro as well, you could possibly put it all in a micro case and have it about the size of a Hifi separate, but you'd need to check out the size of the graphics card and whether it runs hot, something i've not really got time for. But the option is there in the future is possible, nice water cooling kit and you've got a great HTPC.