Back then if one had a low ping one could get called, "whatever all ping". Especially with the lightning gun on flag defense, heh. I have a cool tournament high light video my clan participated in that shows how ridiculously fast twitch Q3 CTF was. This was also after the Q3 TDM community collapsed and most just came over to the CTF side. Man they had crazy aim skills but flag running was a unique skill in all its own. Wish I could upload it but the music would get it flagged /sad sigh.
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Back then if one had a low ping one could get called, "whatever all ping". Especially with the lightning gun on flag defense, heh. I have a cool tournament high light video my clan participated in that shows how ridiculously fast twitch Q3 CTF was. This was also after the Q3 TDM community collapsed and most just came over to the CTF side. Man they had crazy aim skills but flag running was a unique skill in all its own. Wish I could upload it but the music would get it flagged /sad sigh.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
- 67,325
- 22,472
I don’t feel like speccing out each component and building a gaming PC this time around.
Anyone recommend an integrator online they like? I was looking at an Alienware desktop as one option.
Anyone recommend an integrator online they like? I was looking at an Alienware desktop as one option.
I've bought several systems from www.cyberpowerpc.com when I don't feel like building like the current AMD/3080 machine I got built a year ago this month. I just like it has more specific part choice options.
Different topic picked up Elden Ring via Steam but it reboots both my m15 alienware laptop 2070 and my amd/3080 desktop, sigh.
Though for some reason Dragon Age Inquisition which I had a hankering to play and would do the same thing as Elden Ring now suddenly works.
Different topic picked up Elden Ring via Steam but it reboots both my m15 alienware laptop 2070 and my amd/3080 desktop, sigh.
Though for some reason Dragon Age Inquisition which I had a hankering to play and would do the same thing as Elden Ring now suddenly works.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
- 67,325
- 22,472
Devil Dancer
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2006
- 18,794
- 6,149
Elden is awesome so far, but it's really Dark Souls 4. If you didn't like previous From Soft games maybe wait for a deep sale before trying it.
HTFN
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2009
- 12,682
- 11,753
Got XCOM 2 with the expansion for 5 bucks the other day and I don’t know why, maybe it’s sports brain, but giving these guys first and last names makes me so irrationally attached to them.
Beat it vanilla and was mildly crushed I couldn’t export characters to the expansion but hey, new people to meet. Expansion rocks too, adds a lot more than expected to the point that it plays like XCOM 2.5/3 instead, just keeps the base narrative. Really fun
Beat it vanilla and was mildly crushed I couldn’t export characters to the expansion but hey, new people to meet. Expansion rocks too, adds a lot more than expected to the point that it plays like XCOM 2.5/3 instead, just keeps the base narrative. Really fun
Marshall
A Mahoney guy
FWIW, I've used CyberPower several times, always had a positive experience with them.
I usually build my own, but after some discouraging builds, I went ahead and picked up a 7700K/GTX1080 gaming rig from CyberPowerPC some years back (on the recommendation of some of the people who regularly post in this thread, actually). That rig performed flawlessly as my frontline gaming PC and it still runs well as a backup rig in another room today. All I've done to it is replace the 120mm AIO they put in it with an air cooler from BeQuiet about a year ago. It is still using the same basic components today as the day I got it.
They're a solid builder. The convenience speaks for itself. What you're going to lose by not building yourself is the knowledge that you have hand-picked every part, right down to the screws. Even so, I think that they do a good job of giving you options in their configurator tool.
You can choose a lot of the major components by brand and model, and pay a premium for that. Else, you can select their own cheaper choice, which they would list as a generic RTX3080 or 32GB of RAM, for example, without providing further details. In those cases, you will find out who their partners are for PSU or RAM or graphics cards or coolers when you get the PC in hand. That is if there is even branding on it in the first place. I still have no idea who made the tiny AIO CPU cooler they used, as it featured no branding. That small AIO always made me uneasy, as if that fails the whole rig can go with it. I'm also not sure an AIO that small is particularly useful. I finally ripped it out years after the fact and replaced it myself while bored during the pandemic, but I got great mileage out of that thing. The GTX1080 they put in that rig turned out to be a bare-bones unit from Zotac. Yet nothing ever failed in that PC, and it was a rock solid performer. That 1080 performs great to this day for slightly retro gaming.
If you decide to go that route, they are a good one and their prices are reasonable. While prices are dropping, the prices for GPUs remain unacceptably high and it's the builders who grab a lot of the supply because of their relationships with the manufacturers. That alone is a good reason to consider a builder right now. I've built my last three or four gaming PCs myself, but if I wanted to have someone else handle it, I'd use CyberPowerPC again in a heartbeat.
They're a solid builder. The convenience speaks for itself. What you're going to lose by not building yourself is the knowledge that you have hand-picked every part, right down to the screws. Even so, I think that they do a good job of giving you options in their configurator tool.
You can choose a lot of the major components by brand and model, and pay a premium for that. Else, you can select their own cheaper choice, which they would list as a generic RTX3080 or 32GB of RAM, for example, without providing further details. In those cases, you will find out who their partners are for PSU or RAM or graphics cards or coolers when you get the PC in hand. That is if there is even branding on it in the first place. I still have no idea who made the tiny AIO CPU cooler they used, as it featured no branding. That small AIO always made me uneasy, as if that fails the whole rig can go with it. I'm also not sure an AIO that small is particularly useful. I finally ripped it out years after the fact and replaced it myself while bored during the pandemic, but I got great mileage out of that thing. The GTX1080 they put in that rig turned out to be a bare-bones unit from Zotac. Yet nothing ever failed in that PC, and it was a rock solid performer. That 1080 performs great to this day for slightly retro gaming.
If you decide to go that route, they are a good one and their prices are reasonable. While prices are dropping, the prices for GPUs remain unacceptably high and it's the builders who grab a lot of the supply because of their relationships with the manufacturers. That alone is a good reason to consider a builder right now. I've built my last three or four gaming PCs myself, but if I wanted to have someone else handle it, I'd use CyberPowerPC again in a heartbeat.
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I've seen a lot of reviews of the current design choices for the Alienware Aurora desktop series, with the distinctive oval shape. Everyone says that tests confirm that it's a good way to cook your components. High-end GPUs and 12th Gen Intel both run hot. That smaller obstructed design does your components no favors.
These days, I'd strongly favor an airflow design, where much of the front of the case is perforated to allow air to be sucked in directly by front-mounted case fans, and hot air exhausted out the top and rear of the case (and/or the side for a Lian Li case). Lots of cases today are focused on airflow, instead of putting glass or aesthetically selected obstructions in the front. I'd skip an Aurora for this generation, at least.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
- 67,325
- 22,472
Thanks @Drake1588
I’ve been toying with the Cyberpower configuration tool for a while…..so many options lol.
I guess it’s going to be one of those…Unless I find a great Alienware laptop deal.
I’ve been toying with the Cyberpower configuration tool for a while…..so many options lol.
I guess it’s going to be one of those…Unless I find a great Alienware laptop deal.
I've had a couple of Alienware laptops before and found them to be very good performers. I had an ultra-compact m11x that I loved.
I switched over to the Razer Blades, which are excellent and very thin for gaming PCs, but which do run on the expensive side. I've had two Blades and the build quality is tremendous, but you can certainly find the same components in less-durable chassis elsewhere for less money.
I finished the main story last night for Horizon Forbidden West. I'm about 80% to Platinum with 48 hours put into the game and I've completed all of the side missions as well. Overall, Guerilla took a great game and made it better.
Non-spoiler thoughts: it's the most beautiful open world game that I've played, though it's hauntingly beautiful in many cases. You really feel like you're running around a post-apocalyptic western US and the degradation of cars, houses, buildings, roads, etc feels like they spent a lot of time talking to the scientific community about what Earth would look like if humanity ceased to exist for 1,000 years. The way the devs incorporated actual places like Las Vegas and San Francisco was stunning, even though both are done completely differently. The writing is terrific and the side missions add actual value to the game instead of feeling like chores, though some of it still feels chore-ish... not sure I'll get to all of the Hunting Grounds or Relic explorations. The different tribes and their locations are incredibly well done as are their origin stories; the way they weave in "ancient" culture into their beliefs is really interesting and feels genuine. The scanned data points, hologram files, or audio files also add a lot of emotion to the environment and you can in many cases feel the hopelessness they must have felt as the world burned down around them.
I like the weapons and fighting systems though it still feels to me like there are a bit too many weapon and element types. There are more weapon types than you have spaces in your inventory so unless you want to constantly switch things out you generally just don't use some of the weapons. Same with the outfits.
Spoiler thoughts:
Non-spoiler thoughts: it's the most beautiful open world game that I've played, though it's hauntingly beautiful in many cases. You really feel like you're running around a post-apocalyptic western US and the degradation of cars, houses, buildings, roads, etc feels like they spent a lot of time talking to the scientific community about what Earth would look like if humanity ceased to exist for 1,000 years. The way the devs incorporated actual places like Las Vegas and San Francisco was stunning, even though both are done completely differently. The writing is terrific and the side missions add actual value to the game instead of feeling like chores, though some of it still feels chore-ish... not sure I'll get to all of the Hunting Grounds or Relic explorations. The different tribes and their locations are incredibly well done as are their origin stories; the way they weave in "ancient" culture into their beliefs is really interesting and feels genuine. The scanned data points, hologram files, or audio files also add a lot of emotion to the environment and you can in many cases feel the hopelessness they must have felt as the world burned down around them.
I like the weapons and fighting systems though it still feels to me like there are a bit too many weapon and element types. There are more weapon types than you have spaces in your inventory so unless you want to constantly switch things out you generally just don't use some of the weapons. Same with the outfits.
Spoiler thoughts:
I'm still undecided on the plot and lukewarm, at best, towards the ending but maybe it'll grow on me. Maybe it's because I loved the story of Zero Dawn so much and they did such an incredible job of leaving questions unanswered but Forbidden West seemed to have jumped the shark for me and the ending was both predictable and forced. How many times did they have to have the characters tell you they don't trust Tilda before you realize this ultra rich woman who chose to sacrifice others for her own survival is going to be not as helpful and full-hearted as she's leading on? And now the Zeniths are dead so in the final installation of the Trilogy it looks like we have to fight their emotions and memories balled up into one rogue AI, even though they're all already dead? Hmm, pass. How did we go from fighting an awesome enemy like the Eclipse with a known and "believable" motive in Zero Dawn to having to fight the rogue AI of ultra-powerful dead space people? And the final boss battle sucked. Would much rather have gotten to override a Thunderjaw and mash on some Spectors.
The Zeniths sucked too. I know they're supposed to suck but they just sucked in a way I didn't like. How many ultra-rich narcissists does one game need? We get it.
I loved the story initially but think for me it started to turn at THEBES, which was a bit over the top but also felt rushed at the same time. Ted Faro is the ultimate villain and you find out he's still alive -- which was certainly a "holy shit" moment -- only to have him die in an instant without any further dialogue and then you rush out of there only to continue the story with no further mention of Faro. Felt like such a buildup and then poof, he's there and gone and the story moves on. I didn't need or want to see him as a cancerous blob but for him to play such a seismic role in the game and then to have it end that suddenly and just move on felt... odd?
And Varl. Shit. I know good guys have to die sometimes but why Varl, and why does Zo have to be pregnant with his kid? Hit me in the feels.
None of this is to say I didn't like the game, because I did -- I think it's terrific. I think some of my disappointment stems from the answers to the questions left unanswered right up until the point they were answered... the unknown is always more powerful than the known. Also, how the hell have they not addressed or answered how the "glitch" started in the first place? I thought for sure the Zeniths would have been responsible for it or would have known something about it but all we have through two installations of the game is that the reason the world ended is because of a glitch in the Faro Robot System. It literally ended the world so maybe a bit more about the glitch and how it could have happened would have been nice.
The Zeniths sucked too. I know they're supposed to suck but they just sucked in a way I didn't like. How many ultra-rich narcissists does one game need? We get it.
I loved the story initially but think for me it started to turn at THEBES, which was a bit over the top but also felt rushed at the same time. Ted Faro is the ultimate villain and you find out he's still alive -- which was certainly a "holy shit" moment -- only to have him die in an instant without any further dialogue and then you rush out of there only to continue the story with no further mention of Faro. Felt like such a buildup and then poof, he's there and gone and the story moves on. I didn't need or want to see him as a cancerous blob but for him to play such a seismic role in the game and then to have it end that suddenly and just move on felt... odd?
And Varl. Shit. I know good guys have to die sometimes but why Varl, and why does Zo have to be pregnant with his kid? Hit me in the feels.
None of this is to say I didn't like the game, because I did -- I think it's terrific. I think some of my disappointment stems from the answers to the questions left unanswered right up until the point they were answered... the unknown is always more powerful than the known. Also, how the hell have they not addressed or answered how the "glitch" started in the first place? I thought for sure the Zeniths would have been responsible for it or would have known something about it but all we have through two installations of the game is that the reason the world ended is because of a glitch in the Faro Robot System. It literally ended the world so maybe a bit more about the glitch and how it could have happened would have been nice.
I only use cyberpowerpc.com for desktops machines for laptops I just try and find a good deal and combination with hardware I can tolerate. Got a great deal on an alienware m15 (like $600 off) and and just upgraded the screen to oled and a secondary HD which only added like $150.
On strategy that I used with cyberpowerpc and purchasing a new video card that I would try to time it so they both didn't happen at the same time. So when I bought a cyberpopwerpc I'd get the cheapest card and move my current video card in there and then two years or so I would upgrade the video card (sort of on the whole desktop pc lifespan of five years). There are a lot of variables when it comes to chipset innovations and video card progressions but it is what I tried to do and this is before the crazy ass scarcity and price runup of video cards.
My 1070 desktop I believe my water cooler failed as when I try and boot up the cpu temp skyrockets and can't make it to window boot. On my list to deal with but considering building a budget system and through the 1070 in it.
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Cush
Registered User
g00n
Retired Global Mod
- Nov 22, 2007
- 31,516
- 16,307
Slogging through Guardians of the Galaxy so I can start Forbidden West.
As mentioned the dialogue is entertaining, especially Drax. That alone is worth the price of admission. But Rocket gets annoying with his whining and Starlord's dudebro personna kinda wears thin after a few hours.
The gameplay is not terrible but it's not really that sophisticated, leaning mostly on chaotic marvel team-up group combat mechanics against throngs of repetitive enemies who are all bullet sponges. Bleh. It can be satisfying to pull off some combinations at times but they almost seem arbitrary. In general it all feels like advanced button mashing.
The skill tree is simplistic for such a complicated implementation that relies on your ability to remember d-pad positions for each ally's advanced abilities. One drawback is it doesn't seem very logically organized. Why not put the area attacks in the same place for each team member? Ultimate attacks in the same spot? Ranged attacks same spot? Etc.
The "getting to know your shipmate" conversations probably have some bearing on the ending or credits but I'm not sure there's much use for a lot of the in-game dialogue. The collectibles and data pickups seem similarly useless, and the resources for upgrading skills are generic. So there's little depth to the game itself, which isn't helped by the fact that you seem to keep going back to the same places over and over.
Maybe most annoying (at least to me) are the random and sudden opportunities to die several times during the Uncharted-esque guided storyline, often during a cut scene. Other than timed missions or fetch quests there's nothing more off-putting than relaxing into a cinematic section following a taxing battle, and suddenly needing to fast-press the X button to avoid falling to your death, and then failing that surprise challenge having to sit through a 30 second reload (and the entire scene all over again).
It feels like a game that was conceived when the movies were hot and then got rushed to completion after a cooling off period. I'm going to finish it because I like the story well-enough to not just abandon it, but unless you liked the comics or movies you should pass.
The gameplay is not terrible but it's not really that sophisticated, leaning mostly on chaotic marvel team-up group combat mechanics against throngs of repetitive enemies who are all bullet sponges. Bleh. It can be satisfying to pull off some combinations at times but they almost seem arbitrary. In general it all feels like advanced button mashing.
The skill tree is simplistic for such a complicated implementation that relies on your ability to remember d-pad positions for each ally's advanced abilities. One drawback is it doesn't seem very logically organized. Why not put the area attacks in the same place for each team member? Ultimate attacks in the same spot? Ranged attacks same spot? Etc.
The "getting to know your shipmate" conversations probably have some bearing on the ending or credits but I'm not sure there's much use for a lot of the in-game dialogue. The collectibles and data pickups seem similarly useless, and the resources for upgrading skills are generic. So there's little depth to the game itself, which isn't helped by the fact that you seem to keep going back to the same places over and over.
Maybe most annoying (at least to me) are the random and sudden opportunities to die several times during the Uncharted-esque guided storyline, often during a cut scene. Other than timed missions or fetch quests there's nothing more off-putting than relaxing into a cinematic section following a taxing battle, and suddenly needing to fast-press the X button to avoid falling to your death, and then failing that surprise challenge having to sit through a 30 second reload (and the entire scene all over again).
It feels like a game that was conceived when the movies were hot and then got rushed to completion after a cooling off period. I'm going to finish it because I like the story well-enough to not just abandon it, but unless you liked the comics or movies you should pass.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
- 67,325
- 22,472
What’s the minimum video card you would get today? One of my biggest decisions.
CPU preference?
I usually buy a level below the top top level on video cards/cpu as that top level is usually cost prohibitive.
couple of prebuilt models/deals….
Customize Winter 2025 Gaming PC
Winter 2025 - Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 Processor 265KF - 32GB (16GBx2) DDR5/6400MHz Memory - ASUS Z890 MAX GAMING WIFI7 ATX Wi-Fi 7 - 1TB WD Blue SN580 M.2 PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home
www.cyberpowerpc.com
Customize Winter RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Gaming PC
Winter RTX 4070 Ti SUPER - Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 Processor 285K - 32GB (16GBx2) DDR5/6400MHz Memory - ASUS Z890 MAX GAMING WIFI7 ATX Wi-Fi 7 - 2TB ADATA LEGEND 800 GOLD Series (PCIe Gen4) NVMe M.2 SSD - Windows 11 Home
www.cyberpowerpc.com
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Jags
Mildly Disturbed
It really depends on how hard core you are and your budget. The "I MUST have 4K at maxed settings!!!" crowd is very much akin to the car nuts that sink $30K in aftermarket dollars in a Honda Civic. Maxed settings, resolution detail the eye can't even really see in many cases, overclocking, advanced cooling solutions -- just like that car crowd, these are hobbyist obsessions that are entirely unnecessary. Go nuts if that's your bag and you have the money, but don't let the hobbyist chatter fool you. These are folks that upgrade high-end cards every generation when the one you buy today should absolutely last you for several years.
So the simple answer is that you can game hard on a Ryzen 5600 with a 3060, 16 gigs of RAM, and AMD's stock cooler. In three years or so, when/if you start feeling the 3060 bottlenecking, you can upgrade to the next gen and will still have come out ahead in terms of cost.
If you're into content creation and video editing/encoding, the top end Intel processors and video cards will definitely have more utility. Get a 3070 or 3080 if that's the case. These tasks are way harder on video cards than gaming. They're linear tasks though, so you can still use standard coolers as long as you're not overclocking. That being said, that 5600/3060 will perform these tasks just as well, just not as fast.
If gaming is the most video-intensive task you're doing with the system, it's all down to your budget and whether you're a videophile that enjoys getting the absolute maximum out of every frame. If you need to save money and are fine gaming at standard settings (or higher settings on 1080 displays), there's no need to break the bank. If you have the budget and DO like/want/NEED stellar visuals 24/7, it costs. Processors matter very little in gaming so long as you have one rated for gaming (the Ryzen 5600 is probably the best bang for your buck current gen processor right now). A 3070 or 3080 is plenty of video for anything you do.
For context, we have 3 gaming-level desktops in our house. I encode a lot of video, so I have a 3070 system on a 4K display that can do anything a game asks of it. There's a Ryzen 3600 with a 1660 on a 27-inch 1080 display that plays modern games at high/max settings at that resolution. And there's an i5-4670 with a 660 that still plays today's games admirably at 1080 with some setting tweaks. That system is almost 10 years old and still viable.
Sorry for the wall of text, but there are lots of perspectives on this stuff. Someone saying today that they just willingly overpaid for a new video card at wild shortage prices because "I had to upgrade my 1080" just has money to burn and a wrong idea about video game performance, because a 1080 is still a great card today. So take those opinions with a grain of salt. Because of the years-long card shortage and the fact that most people don't have that kind of money to spend, the 1060 is still today's most common video card by a pretty wide margin. The idea that anyone "needs" a 3080 for gaming today is a little silly. Great to have, no question, but overkill for gaming.
So the simple answer is that you can game hard on a Ryzen 5600 with a 3060, 16 gigs of RAM, and AMD's stock cooler. In three years or so, when/if you start feeling the 3060 bottlenecking, you can upgrade to the next gen and will still have come out ahead in terms of cost.
If you're into content creation and video editing/encoding, the top end Intel processors and video cards will definitely have more utility. Get a 3070 or 3080 if that's the case. These tasks are way harder on video cards than gaming. They're linear tasks though, so you can still use standard coolers as long as you're not overclocking. That being said, that 5600/3060 will perform these tasks just as well, just not as fast.
If gaming is the most video-intensive task you're doing with the system, it's all down to your budget and whether you're a videophile that enjoys getting the absolute maximum out of every frame. If you need to save money and are fine gaming at standard settings (or higher settings on 1080 displays), there's no need to break the bank. If you have the budget and DO like/want/NEED stellar visuals 24/7, it costs. Processors matter very little in gaming so long as you have one rated for gaming (the Ryzen 5600 is probably the best bang for your buck current gen processor right now). A 3070 or 3080 is plenty of video for anything you do.
For context, we have 3 gaming-level desktops in our house. I encode a lot of video, so I have a 3070 system on a 4K display that can do anything a game asks of it. There's a Ryzen 3600 with a 1660 on a 27-inch 1080 display that plays modern games at high/max settings at that resolution. And there's an i5-4670 with a 660 that still plays today's games admirably at 1080 with some setting tweaks. That system is almost 10 years old and still viable.
Sorry for the wall of text, but there are lots of perspectives on this stuff. Someone saying today that they just willingly overpaid for a new video card at wild shortage prices because "I had to upgrade my 1080" just has money to burn and a wrong idea about video game performance, because a 1080 is still a great card today. So take those opinions with a grain of salt. Because of the years-long card shortage and the fact that most people don't have that kind of money to spend, the 1060 is still today's most common video card by a pretty wide margin. The idea that anyone "needs" a 3080 for gaming today is a little silly. Great to have, no question, but overkill for gaming.
CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
- 67,325
- 22,472
Good stuff, thx…..need to digest. I’ve been toying with the idea of a home theater/gaming PC, hook it up to my 86” or standard desktop setup. gaming will be the most resource intensive task for sure….
1st world problems.
1st world problems.
The answer is always that it depends on what you are going to do with your PC, at what resolutions, and how much future proofing you want to build in. If you're in content creation, making videos for YouTube and Twitch, then you're going to want a rig that can reduce your video encoding time, potentially all the way up to getting a Threadripper. That might be the most intensive CPU and GPU task for a home user at the moment. A high-end set of components there can save you hours each iteration, on a video encoding task that you repeat frequently. Those are hours that you could be spending making videos, making money.
If gaming is going to be the most stressful task for your rig, then your CPU needs are modest. It's about your video card. The main question is whether you're going to game at 4K, or 1440p, or 1080p. At 1080p, a GTX 1080 is totally viable as a gaming card right now.
If you're looking to game on your big screen, then it sounds like 4K is a starting point for you. That raises the bar for your GPU, but not necessarily for your CPU as much as you would think.
One step below the latest would put you in the realm of maybe a 5800X or 12700K and a RTX 3080. I'm not sure a 3070 will be enough for the top-tier games at 4K right now, much less the games of tomorrow that will increasingly make use of ray tracing. Refresh rates on gaming monitors are also starting to rise.
A 3080 Ti is a luxury; it's your money. A 3090 or 3090 Ti is unnecessary for gaming, though. Those are intended for video workflow applications, rendering, etc. That won't stop gamers from buying a lot of them, but they won't get peak use out of their capabilities in gaming. Games only use so much video RAM. In the old days, nVidia would have pigeonholed cards with those capabilities into the Quadro line. AMD has its own 6000-series GPU line that is powerful but not yet as capable as nVidia for some gaming applications, given that they are on Gen1 ray tracing (that is if ray tracing is important to you).
If gaming is going to be the most stressful task for your rig, then your CPU needs are modest. It's about your video card. The main question is whether you're going to game at 4K, or 1440p, or 1080p. At 1080p, a GTX 1080 is totally viable as a gaming card right now.
If you're looking to game on your big screen, then it sounds like 4K is a starting point for you. That raises the bar for your GPU, but not necessarily for your CPU as much as you would think.
One step below the latest would put you in the realm of maybe a 5800X or 12700K and a RTX 3080. I'm not sure a 3070 will be enough for the top-tier games at 4K right now, much less the games of tomorrow that will increasingly make use of ray tracing. Refresh rates on gaming monitors are also starting to rise.
A 3080 Ti is a luxury; it's your money. A 3090 or 3090 Ti is unnecessary for gaming, though. Those are intended for video workflow applications, rendering, etc. That won't stop gamers from buying a lot of them, but they won't get peak use out of their capabilities in gaming. Games only use so much video RAM. In the old days, nVidia would have pigeonholed cards with those capabilities into the Quadro line. AMD has its own 6000-series GPU line that is powerful but not yet as capable as nVidia for some gaming applications, given that they are on Gen1 ray tracing (that is if ray tracing is important to you).
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I think Drake and Jags summed things up pretty good. My even more simple round up.What’s the minimum video card you would get today? One of my biggest decisions.
CPU preference?
I usually buy a level below the top top level on video cards/cpu as that top level is usually cost prohibitive.
couple of prebuilt models/deals….
Customize Winter 2025 Gaming PC
Winter 2025 - Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 Processor 265KF - 32GB (16GBx2) DDR5/6400MHz Memory - ASUS Z890 MAX GAMING WIFI7 ATX Wi-Fi 7 - 1TB WD Blue SN580 M.2 PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home
Customize Winter RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Gaming PC
Winter RTX 4070 Ti SUPER - Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 Processor 285K - 32GB (16GBx2) DDR5/6400MHz Memory - ASUS Z890 MAX GAMING WIFI7 ATX Wi-Fi 7 - 2TB ADATA LEGEND 800 GOLD Series (PCIe Gen4) NVMe M.2 SSD - Windows 11 Home
3080 and higher only for going for decent 4k resolution gaming which some future proofing.
CPU I still think the AMD ones have some great bang for the buck as they are still have pci gen4. Yes the alder lakes are the current best but they just came out so premium cost potentially.
Devil Dancer
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2006
- 18,794
- 6,149
How is it? Seems like there’s this nerd debate on the internet where you can only like Horizon or Elden. Not sure I have it in me to do another massive open world game at the moment but it’s on the list.
Devil Dancer
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2006
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I love it, but I'm a Soulsborne fan.
The Horizon debate is dumb, of course. You can like both. I really enjoyed Horizon 1, and would definitely try 2 if I had a PS5.
Reminds me of the BotW v Horizon debate back when they came out.
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Speculation: NJ desperate for a high end 3c/decent 2c- Latest: The don godfather
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GDT: Islanders @ Panthers 6PM: A new challenger for biggest game of the year- Latest: I am not exposed
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