Gully State
Member
4850 is definitely not recommended for gaming at 1080p resolution. It excels at 1600x1200/1680x1050.
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GAF'S ultimate $500/£400/$650 CAD budget gaming rigs + bonus high end configs!
- Thread starter brain_stew
- Start date
If you go this route send the HDMI to your receiver and then through your TV. New Ati cards can output PCM 7.1 24-bit/96Khz which is a hell of a lot better than you'd get from the consoles. At that point it's really just up to the quality of sound files the developers use.professor_t said:
brain_stew
Member
professor_t said:
Games will look godly on that thing, 1080p and cranked IQ really makes a large difference on my 23" monitor and 40" HDTV, at 60"s+ its going to look insane.
ATI's cards have a built in 7.1 codec in their GPUs so you can get surround sound straight from the card, as long as you use the included adapter.
The near ubiquitous support of the 360 controller has made things much easier for setups like this, and there's always Joy2Key for the developers that won't get with the times. There's a few GAFers that do this sort of thing permanently, heck a few have their rigs hooked up to both their desktop monitor and living room HDTV. Its a pretty nice solution if you get it worked out.
You can't expect it work as smoothly as a console in this setting of course but things are improving all the time, heck hooking up a Wiimote for a substitute mouse for browsing the desktop is a pretty smart use of a device you already own.
Oh, and as many have said, since you're going 1080p, be sure to upgrade to the 4890 like suggested, its well worth the extra money if you play at 1080p.
Zeliard said:
Nvidia 6 series? It really makes me wonder why its so lacking in console games when the hit has almost been transparent on the PC side for so long. Its one of my biggest pet peeves.
Chris Remo
Member
Yeah, a friend of mine does all of his PC gaming in his living room. He has a fairly low-range laptop in his bedroom for day-to-day tasks, and a gaming PC permanently stationed in his living room. He even has a pretty nice keyboard/mouse lapboard thing that works surprisingly well.brain_stew said:
brain_stew
Member
Chris Remo said:
With so many games multiplatform these days, you could essentially use it as a $550 super 1080p console, its great that you have that option these days. I'd recommend a smaller case if you're using it like that, but yeah, its totally doable.
I'm surprised no company has caught onto the idea, I'm sure there's a market for prebuilt $500-$800 "super consoles" considering plenty of people bought the PS3 at $600. Its not huge, no, but I can see there being a definite substantial niche that would like the idea. Preload the thing with Steam and custom (user friendly) key remapping software (with free custom profiles updated automatically), throw in a 360 controller and a KB with built in trackpad and you've got a pretty nice bundle on your hands. Its a marketing opportunity for someone.
BravoSuperStar
Member
professor_t said:
I have a PC with a 4870 1gb hooked up over HDMI to a Onkyo 606 receiver connected to a 54 inch panasonic plasma (my newest toy) and it's groin-grabbingly awesome. Full 7.1 audio, and a beautiful image quality. Games like TF2 and Crysis are mind numbing on a large screen @ 1080p. Can't wait to see what ArmA2 will look like.
Gully State
Member
brain_stew said:
I forgot you could do that. Has anyone tried using a wiimote for FPS on PC? Obviously, you'd be at a disadvantage for multiplayer games but what about singleplayer?
It's not that great. Remember early Wii FPSs and how they kind of sucked. That's because proffesional developers didn't know how to properly map the controls to the Wiimote. Now imagine that but worse because they can only go as far as remapping the mouse and these are amateur people making the code. It's fun for a while but the game better be on easy.Gully State said:
MrToughPants
Brian Burke punched my mom
Awesome thread i'll be sure to check back here in a few months. I plan on getting a new PC for AvP3 and D3, whenever that comes out. 
Great thread, but I do disagree with this part. If you're buying a whole new PC, you can buy the OEM version of the OS for much cheaper than you will the retail version of Win7 when it comes out. It does limit your upgrades, but if you're like me and tend to buy a full PC each time rather than upgrading the mbd and cpu, it does work out cheaper.brain_stew said:
Frankfurter
Member
shaft said:
For Germany (mostly the same components):
CPU: Phenom ii X2 550 3.1ghz black edition - 86€
Motherboard: Gigabyte UD3 770 - 68€
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 4850 Dual-Slot - 80€
HDD: WD Black 640GB 32MB Cache - 58€
DVDRW: LG Electronics GH22NS30 - 23€
Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX case - 47€
PSU: Antec Basiq 500w - 58€
RAM: A-DATA Value DIMM Kit 4GB 800 - 38€
Gives you 458€ (including sales tax of course). Might be a few Euros to save here or there though.
Shipping = free (everything from mindfactory.de where you can use nightshopping, minus the PSU which is from amazon.de = free shipping).
The HD4890 upgrade would cost ~80€ more.
Just btw. great thread and a great way to get that OMG PC gaming is so expensive myth go away
brain_stew
Member
Fredescu said:
What's stopping you from buying an OEM version of Winodws 7 later one?
Fredescu said:
You can buy OEM.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...on=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=oem
Haunted
Member
Excellent, was looking for a German version of the OP.Frankfurter said:For Germany (mostly the same components):
CPU: Phenom ii X2 550 3.1ghz black edition - 86
Motherboard: Gigabyte UD3 770 - 68
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 4850 Dual-Slot - 80
HDD: WD Black 640GB 32MB Cache - 58
DVDRW: LG Electronics GH22NS30 - 23
Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX case - 47
PSU: Antec Basiq 500w - 58
RAM: A-DATA Value DIMM Kit 4GB 800 - 38
Gives you 458 (including sales tax of course). Might be a few Euros to save here or there though.
Shipping = free (everything from mindfactory.de where you can use nightshopping, minus the PSU which is from amazon.de = free shipping).
The HD4890 upgrade would cost ~80 more.
Just btw. great thread and a great way to get that OMG PC gaming is so expensive myth go away
I know who I'm going to ask for recommendations when I'm upgrading my rig the next time.
charlequin
Banned
Rad thread. I'm not going to be making any use of this any time soon but I hope very much there'll be an updated version of it floating around when I do. Glad to see PC gaming is available at a very reasonable entry price these days.
Glad to see PC gaming is available at a very reasonable entry price these days.brain_stew
Member
Talamius said:I've been looking into building a MAME/SF4 PC hybrid cabinet. This might push me over the dge
The $500 setup would rock for that, 1080p and all. SFIV has great optimisation and since MAME generally isn't multi threaded, the high clockspeed of the chosen CPU should work wonders, especially if you OC it some.
brain_stew
Member
Fredescu said:
The rule use to be with a hardware purchase (not specifically a whole PC) but even that doesn't stand now. You'll find OEM versions of Windows on all the major PC component etailers.
"Disclaimer: Use of this OEM System Builder Channel software is subject to the terms of the Microsoft OEM System Builder License. This software is intended for pre-installation on a new personal computer for resale."surazal said:
Will newegg really ship it to you without buying a PC at the same time? Good for you I guess but they're in breach of the license and should be selling you retail versions instead. All of the discount hardware shops around here won't sell an OEM OS separate, but perhaps they've had the fear of god put into them by MS. I don't know.
Define "doesn't stand"? It's still in the latest license agreement. Perhaps they don't enforce it.brain_stew said:
brain_stew
Member
Fredescu said:
UK etailers absolutely do, pretty sure you'll be fine doing the same through newegg as well.
brain_stew
Member
Added some pictures to the UK and Canadian sections to show off the differing parts. Hows the op looking now, anything else people feel that needs adding (or taken away)?
brain_stew
Member
kbear said:
Resolution?
The ingame very high settings are very inefficient, you're better off using a custom config (like CCC or Mster) to give very similar results for much less of a performance hit. The 4890 puts up a decent effort upto and including 1080p, though dual GPUs are required if you demand the best framerates. You'd be surprised what the $550 (after rebates) 1080P config can achieve. Since Crysis only uses two cores, the 550 compares very favourably.
This thread really isn't tailored to that sort of rig though, this is for budget conscious gamers. You'd be better off looking at Core i7 setups around the $1000-$1200 mark if the best of the best is what you're after.
NovemberMike
Member
Fredescu said:
Define computer. As far as I know, for an OEM license a new computer reads Hard Drive, CPU or Motherboard.
And is it sad that I didn't read any of the text in the OP but I still knew what parts he was talking about?
Anyway, I should probably get around to fixing my PC. Just tried to turn it on one day and it wasn't working. CPU or motherboard probably. Fun.
Minsc
Gold Member
Fredescu said:
Bah, it's a new computer. You just bought it less than a year ago.
Seriously, they sell OEM software with anything, I've seen places include a $1 serial cable as the hardware to ship with it. It's a lot less gray market than buying educational software when you're not a teacher. And Amazon has no problem shipping that stuff out that to anyone btw.
The problem with OEM software is you can't transfer it to another machine if you do another upgrade.
The first line of the MS OEM license says:NovemberMike said:
"1. Definitions.
a. Customer System means a fully assembled computer system that includes a CPU, a motherboard, a power supply, an internally mounted NAND or revolving magnetic-based hard drive, and a case."
I'm not going to keep ruining a great thread by talking about irrelevant crap like this though. Get the cheapest OS you can, end of.
Minsc
Gold Member
brain_stew
Member
Mithos said:
Well if you're happy to accept console level IQ/ framerates then that very well may be a reality. Consoles don't play games at the equivalent of "high" settings for 4 years so why would you expect a PC to? At the very least well timed and smart upgrades can extend the life of a PC by an awful large amount and considering the saving you make on games/peripherals/online fees/DLC costs you should have more than enough in your budget to make those upgrades.
An E6600/8800GTX rig is 3 years old now and still running games at high settings just fine fwiw.
lowlylowlycook
Member
The big issue with OEM version of Windows is that you are basically agreeing to be your own tech support. Needing to buy a cable or whatever is not a big deal.
Minsc
Gold Member
brain_stew said:
I think he does have a point, to actually maintain the ability to play games over a 5 year period on the highest settings without any upgrades isn't really feasible. That's just the very nature of a PC, the hardware is constantly improving, and games are able to take advantage of that in far less than a 5 year period.
But, the flipside is also true. If you missed out on PC gaming, you can pick a new computer and be able to play all the games from the past few decades on highest as well.
Look at my previous STALKER chart above, a 9800 GTX only gets about 15 fps at 1680x1050.
You can still run today's games with an 8800 and a Core 2 Duo. I don't see any games releasing in the next year that won't run on it. I know that's not 4 years but minor upgrades are to be expected. Luckily PC games are $10-$20 cheaper than their console counterparts so you may end up saving much more money as a PC gamer even with upgrades.Mithos said:
brain_stew
Member
Anyway, lets just end that discussion there, we're getting a little too far off topic. The ability to make low cost upgrades to keep your hardware up with the times is an advantage of the PC platform as far as I'm concerned, not a disadvantage. Its not for everyone, but if you're happy to spend $100 for a new GPU in 2 years and another $100 the year after that for a new CPU, that $500 rig should keep you near the top of the tree for around 4 years without too much bother. Unless the next console generation hits earlier than we expect it to of course.
There's no certainties here, but if you can get really good perforamnce out of Crysis, you're sitting rather pretty imo.
There's no certainties here, but if you can get really good perforamnce out of Crysis, you're sitting rather pretty imo.
brain_stew
Member
CTLance said:
Well its a fact that a PS3 or 360 will never be able to match the visual that $500 rig can produce. The leap in GPU power is just far too great, you're getting a teraflop of performance from that $80 GPU which is around a four/five time leap over the compute power of Xenos/RSX. So, if you're happy with the level of graphics that your PS3 or 360 is delivering to you, then you'll be over the moon with one of these rigs.
You can always scale back the resolution and effects in PC games to match your hardware if you're not bothered about being on the bleeding edge. I'd shudder to think the level of complexity you could pull off with a 4890 at 720p/30hz with 2xaa.
Gully State
Member
Mithos said:
I would guess that this isn't as much of a problem as it was 3-4 years ago since 3rd party developers lump PC/360/PS3 together nowadays. Given that the 360 is essentially a low end gaming PC and that developers will have to always optimize to it, you'll always be able to get performance better than the 360 with your PC with this setup. It might not always be bleeding edge, but it'll always be noticeably better than its console counterpart.
The 640GB Western Digital Caviar Black goes on sale for $59.99 iirc so that knocks off $20 for a better performing drive.brain_stew said:
And if you wanna add about OSes in the OP,
1. Windows 7 RC1 is free right now but that's a short term solution: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
2. Students, the Imagine Cup is free to register for and if you register for a competition you have access to free software including Windows: http://imaginecup.com/
3. Students, check to see if your faculty has Windows available for free and ask your MSDNAA program director: http://www.msdnaa.net/search/schoolsearch.aspx
brain_stew
Member
The ZipZoomFly deal spotted by Kaako has been added to the op as a note. I haven't included it as part of the full config as I want to keep the ability to order all the parts from the same location but as its such a good deal it needs highlighting.
brain_stew
Member
Firestorm said:
I was going to include that but it was a $20+ premium when I looked which pushed it over budget
Yeah. NCIX has a new sale every week (with a new name + banner every week too, i think someone gets paid to do just that). It starts at 6PM PST on Wednesday and ends Tuesday night. So if you were looking at it this morning, it's the one time of the week that there's no sale on =Pbrain_stew said:
It's down to $77 now: http://www.ncix.com/products/index....S&manufacture=Western Digital WD&promoid=1042
$66 at a competitor. Might get too complicated with that type of stuff. People should be doing a little more research into prices themselves anyway. It's really what parts are available at the price range and what parts are needed that's hard.
It's not impossible to make a decent gaming rig on the cheap, way under $2000 myth. But they still do get costly for a couple reasons. Like others mentioned, OS can be costly outside of OEM copies which bind it to said rig. Also a proper monitor can get a little pricey at times pending on if you mind or don't mind a larger one of course.
Biggest cost increaser I personally noticed was since you piece together everything individually, you can easily end up looking at each component and then say "well, this one is only $10-30 more so might as well get the bigger/better". You can easily end up doing that with nearly each component like I have fell for in the past and watch you final bill go up a bit over what you set a budget for.
Biggest cost increaser I personally noticed was since you piece together everything individually, you can easily end up looking at each component and then say "well, this one is only $10-30 more so might as well get the bigger/better". You can easily end up doing that with nearly each component like I have fell for in the past and watch you final bill go up a bit over what you set a budget for.