It is 2014 and PC specs are still way too confuisng.

If you've bought a a GPU and or CPU from 2012 and forward, you'll be able to run 90% of the titles, even games that are upcoming. I have heard from some people that they can run certain games such as Shadow of Mordor, Dead Rising 3 and even the Evil within with a gtx 480... a GPU that's more than four years old. As far as the recommended and minimum specs, you just need to know AMD and NVIDIA cards... for example if the recommended specs say an HD 7850 or equivalent, but you have an R9 270x, or an NVIDIA GTX 760 you would know that the HD 7850 is a family line of AMD GCN graphics card, with its equivalent being the R9 270 (non x) that is comparable to the 270x and even the 760. So you will be able to run the game comfortably. It's just about doing some reading and research. It can seem like a lot to take in but it's not that hard. It's no different than knowing about cars, or even consoles. It's not as hard as it seems and as far as building a gaming PC, it's very easy nowadays.
 
It always surprises me that grown people have trouble with PC hardware now when back when I was a pre-teen I had to deal with stuff like 3DFX, sound cards, DOS, etc. and it was all pretty simple.

Heck, I can't even imagine how complex it was back in the older days with extremely archaic GUIs, lack of easy accessible information, and even more options.

It's so easy today it's amazing, people have just gotten lazier.
 
It always surprises me that grown people have trouble with PC hardware now when back when I was a pre-teen I had to deal with stuff like 3DFX, sound cards, DOS, etc. and it was all pretty simple.

Heck, I can't even imagine how complex it was back in the older days with extremely archaic GUIs, lack of easy accessible information, and even more options.

It's so easy today it's amazing, people have just gotten lazier.

Their heads would have exploded at The thought of a customized autoexec.bat with custom set blaster strings
 
That's exactly the problem. Doing research is a pain.

So you want some place to tell you what to buy instead of you doing your own research?

Computers aren't nearly as difficult to research as they used to be. Outside of knowing that Intel is the best performing CPU (while AMD might be the best budget minded CPU), everything else is almost a "can't miss". Even picking up a Radeon instead of an Nvidia, or vice versa, isn't a game changer usually (assuming prices are similar). Same with motherboards, hard drives etc.

Easiest thing to do is find your budget, then buy the PC (or build the PC) with the most powerful video card you can get :) (while making room for an SSD of course, though it doesn't have to be huge)
 
It always surprises me that grown people have trouble with PC hardware now when back when I was a pre-teen I had to deal with stuff like 3DFX, sound cards, DOS, etc. and it was all pretty simple.

I remember those days and they weren't simple. PC gaming is very easy compared to those times; but the point that spec targets are still obtuse still stands.

There is no standard to describe any game other than maximum settings and considering how differing in hardware demands maximum settings can be it is obvious why PC gaming looks confusing. There needs to be a formalized language and I think the only way to break it down is into multiple categories.

Maybe those categories should be FPS, resolution, texture density, CPU executions (average and mode), fill rate, and maybe 2 more categories.
 
I don´t know, but in this day and age is never been easy to build a PC as others has pointed out here you have a pretty good thread with a lot of good advice, mine is four years old , i can´t play all the new games with all the bells and whistle that´s for sure but perfomance wise no problem, outside of all those damn ports without FOV options, i´m gonna buy a new graphic card soon, something with 4GB of Vram, and i´m set for the next four years, i pretty much don´t care if i can´t Max everything or have the ultra settings or whatever if it runs at 60 FPS i´m set, and nowadays i´ve spent more and more time with indie games wich usually are not all that demanding
 
OP,

Check out this link; https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQMVnqe4XbictUtFZK1-gBYvyUzTWJnOk


It's super useful and very fun. Get a cup of coffee, some oatmeal cookies, a glass of milk, and just sit back and enjoy. Technology is amazing, and once you know what your computer can do, your own personal manifistation of yourself in the digital realm. It's so satisfying. And this is coming from someone who can't fix a tire, change a engine or something else techy. I'm not good at math either, and I am telling you. Building a computer is amazing. Once you have your own personal rig, the idea of buying a pre-made box under your TV. It's still cool, but you feel closer to your PC. Because you picked everything. And you know what every little bit does, and what it can handle!
 
Hey OP, you might actually be interested in project Christine from Razer.

It's a modular desktop, with parts that (in theory) should be easy to replace when you need to upgrade. That way you'll only have to worry about removing the modules and attaching a new one to the PC.

http://www.razerzone.com/christine

Probably made for people like you.

Though that doesn't entirely get rid of your problem of knowing if your parts are good enough, but it should help with quickly resolving the issue should you need to upgrade.
 
Some of the posts in this thread are hilarious.. And kind of enlightening actually.

I mean, yes you might have to learn something you don't already know. Yes, there is a lot to learn and it may be more frustrating for beginners, but everyone in the pc world is constantly learning...

Ultimately, it's incredibly rewarding. The pc I put together over 3 yrs ago for $700 still puts the new generation consoles to shame.

The folks in the need a pc thread do all the work for you though. They do an incredible job at getting you the best bang for your buck.

Do you know how to read? If you have a 4th grade reading level you can put together a pc, congratulations. It's as simple as following the instructions in the manual. If you don't, that's OK because there are hundreds of videos on YouTube dedicated to showing you what to do
 
Top Bottom