On the Brink of chang...ing my hardware

(BMXer) #21

I had almost the same system and I just finished my upgrade. I was holding out as long as possible to build a new rig as close to Brink’s release as possible. I wanted to be playing on my new rig on Brink’s release date and after much reading, I don’t think there will be newer/better hardware than I got to be released before Brink. I could be wrong but there aren’t suppose to be any Intel chips faster than the 2600k released for a while… not to mention before May 17th.

I had an E8400, 4gigs, GTX260. I just built a 2600k, 8gigs, GTX570.
I’m sure my old rig would handle Brink fine but the new one should be flawless.

(Otto) #22

[QUOTE=hobodefcon;267676]He might be playing in his personal movie theater, those large screen and resolution use alot of juice :stuck_out_tongue:

I think hes going for max everything with minimum frames being 60. The dream…[/QUOTE]

I am in fact doing just that, I run a 100" 1080p HDTV Projector (dreams do come true) and tho I still consider 1900x1080 high, resolutions for muilti-monitors is much higher with a much higher draw.

Aside from waiting for new hardware to arrive on the market, this upcoming year is going to be the next landmark for gaming; I say that because it is believed that the next console generation is going to start popping up in 2012. Sadly no mater how hard we try, we are all slaves to consoles. Consoles are what control the content and quality in the majority of games, for example it’s why there is only a handful of decent DX10/11 games; xbox and ps3 only support DX9.c with there nvida based 7800gt and ati x1800…
PC has come a long way in hardware since the dawn of PS3/Xbox but our latest games are not reflecting it. Come the next gen consoles with the latest hardware the market has to offer; it should drive up the graphical quality AND minimum hardware requirements of games as we know across all platforms(except Nintendo lol)

There for, tho I have no problem spending a nice sum of money on nice hardware at this time, However it could turn out to be a poor choice to spend that money for game built on an engine(idtech4) devolved in 2003, when with the next gen in console tech is just around the corner and with them newer more powerful game engines.

There is always some new tech on the market every couple of months, BUT new consoles only come around every 5 or 6 years.

Thanks for the input so far, still interested in hearing any additional comments.

(Mustang) #23

A graphics card upgrade about now would be fine
But for CPU I’d wait for 2011 and Ivy Bridge to be releaed

(DonkeyDong) #24

[QUOTE=Nail;267534]you might need a more comfy chair

:)[/QUOTE]

Actually when I was looking at my wallet and then considering what my next upgrade was going to be…

I looked at my chair that smells kinda funny and has an additional mini pillow to prevent me from sitting on a completely flat and worn surface.

Ya, people should think about that.

Or another upgrade is a tooth brush

(hobodefcon) #25

anybody have any thoughts on 120hz lcd monitors?

(Mustang) #26

If you find a 120Hz monitor with 27 or more inches, 94 or more DPI and 2ms or less response time let me know :tongue:
Oh and an IPS with thin bezels is also prefered

(DarkangelUK) #27

I have a 22" 120hz monitor, it’s awesome… much better for gaming.

(BMXer) #28

I have the viewsonic 22" 120hz monitor. Compared to a 60-75hz LCD it is awesome!

(hobodefcon) #29

do moving things look smoother? will it be twice as demanding on my vid card?

(BMXer) #30

Moving things absolutely look smoother and as far as I know it makes no difference to your video card what refresh rate you use.

After playing at 120hz for over a year now it is extremely obvious when I play on a 60/75hz monitor. It takes me a few hours before my eyes get used to the lower refresh rate. Then when I get back on my PC, everything feels like butter!

I heard a bunch about some of the top Quake duelers complaining about not being able to shaft as well on the 75hz tournament monitors. I saw an interview with Strenx recently and he mentioned something about how much harder it was to track compared to his 120hz at home…

(coolstory) #31

yea I have no idea why tournament have 75hz monitors for a fast paced game like quake.

(BMXer) #32

It all has to do with what the tournament sponsors provide. Quakecon has been sponsored(?) by Alienware the past few years so the tournament PCs are all Alienware with Alienware monitors. All 75hz. I don’t think many sponsors are willing to shell out the extra $$$ for 120hz monitors, especially considering they need over 100 for the tourney.
I heard Dreamhack uses 120hz LCDs in their tourneys and the semi-recent ESL euro finals used BenQ 120hz monitors i think.
Considering Alienware does now sell a 120hz monitor, it would be pretty sweet if they used theirs at Qcon this year!
In the past 120hz was pretty normal when everyone was on CRTs. Everything went LCD pretty fast and it took a while for 120hz LCDs to come around. It no surprise its taking this long for them to be used in tourneys.

(Nail) #33

Alienware = Dell

(1234567) #34

I actually just bought a brand new custom tower (totally top of the line) just to play Brink. How sad is that?

7.4/7.9 rating, according to my husband (he’s in IT). Not 100% sure what that means; I’ll have to leave that up to the geek community to interpret.

(LyndonL) #35

It’s interesting. I’ve never actually paid much attention to the refresh rate - only the response time (GTG).
After reading this thread I did some snooping, and it’s amazing how many shops and even manufacturers don’t make note of the refresh rates. For Example, Samsung only list the response and not the refresh.

(DarkangelUK) #36

It’s the Samsung SM2233RZ 22" 120hz that I have, and yes it’s VERY obvious now when playing on a 60hz monitor. It looks horrible, lots of blur… just isn’t smooth. It also makes me laugh when people say they see no difference between 60fps and 120fps… well duh, you’re on a 60hz monitor so you won’t! If you can get one then get one, it’s a must have for any PC fps gamer.

(Kinjal) #37

i got XL2410T for ET and Brink

(Auzner) #38

[QUOTE=Otto;267503]
My current hardware configuration:

OS: Windows 7 32bit
HDD: 750GB WD7501AALS 7200rpm 32MB
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro Turbo
CPU: Intel E8500 3.16gz (OC 3.8-4.0)
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC OCZ2RPR10662G (# 1066MHz DDR2 EPP 5-5-5-15)
GPU: Nvidia GTX260 896mb (192)[/QUOTE]
What I suggest would be easier than building a new system. You have a solid LGA775 system already so just upgrade to quad core and get a better video card. Buy a Q9550 if you can find one (<$200), maybe used. Lowest retail price ever was $170 at Microcenter in the USA. Then in May look at GTX 560 Ti prices. If you sell your old cpu and vga you get some money back too. Being told to wait for CPU is reasonable. LGA1155 motherboards just got recalled because of a chipset design flaw. I think LGA775 is still reasonable to use today.

I have never considered them. I run CRTs at 85 Hz because I can tell the difference between 60, 75, and 85. That is in a static setting like an OS GUI. Watching video I probably wouldn’t be able to tell which is which unless there’s a static HUD or GUI from a game. LCDs I don’t think matter, just response time. An LCD with poor response time will make everything blurry because the pixels don’t change fast enough. A field rate of 60 means the panel’s response should be 16ms or faster, else they actually will blur. I use a widescreen TN LCD 5ms 60Hz for gaming. If people actually believe they see above 60fps, then why have they been using LCDs this whole time didn’t stick to CRT until 120 Hz panels came out? If this were physically possible then 60 Hz panels would be like strobe lights to them. There’s a reason film is 24fps, that’s how much temporal data humans can detect. High motion frames get captured as blurs on film just the way a human would not be able to have sharp microscope vision on the details of something zooming past them. The primary reason for 120 Hz panels is for stereo 3D, 60 Hz for each eye sync’d with glasses. This 120Hz discussion gets brought up often on forums everywhere. And everytime the argument usually ends up into people claiming they’re superhuman. Despite not being evolved as others or cybernetically augmented, I can still triumph over the higher species in gaming. So that leads to wondering if their claims are even valid.

You want to paint a pathetic picture because you believe society should judge you for “overspending” on your video game hobby? Why make a purchase if you’re saying it exhibits your self consciousness and is depressing to you? You thought we’d agree because we all pity ourselves for gaming? It sounds like you’re not ready to be a gamer, if you want to refer to this as “sad”.

You should have waited for the game to come out before buying a new computer for it. That would have yielded a more practical purchase. But since the game is two months away it shouldn’t matter too much. You spend maybe 15% more and have time to settle into it. If your husband works in IT I’m surprised he didn’t build you a custom one rather than having you choose one and not providing feedback until it was already paid for and in the house.

(BMXer) #39

I am not saying I am “superhuman” but I can WITHOUT A DOUBT tell a HUGE difference between 60hz and 120hz LCDs!

Maybe you haven’t actually played on 120hz LCD??? Does your CRT not go past 85hz?

If you have a 120hz monitor, you are aware that you usually need to change a cvar to enable 120hz in most games, right?.. seta r_displayrefresh “120” If not, you are simply playing at 60hz on your 120hz capable monitor.

(DarkangelUK) #40

The 24fps movie argument was pretty ‘lol’, you have frameblending and interlacing in 24fps clips to give the illusion of smoothness, games don’t have this, therefore a game at 24fps will look like a flickbook. Tests with fighter pilots have proven they can distinguish up to and around 120fps. And yes, I can tell when I’m playing at 60hz because it does look horrible, if you CAN’T tell the difference between 60hz/60fps and 120hz/120fps then there’s something wrong with your eyesight.