Gaming & Consumer Electronics

[Parthu]

Just a random thread I decided to start to make a space for people here to converse regarding their gaming setups, games themselves, any other consumer electronics (phones, tablets etc.) anyone wants to talk about. Nothing serious, as this has absolutely nothing to do with the intent & purpose of the forum itself (which is why I'm putting this in Members Cafe I guess), just fun & chill...

Something to start off with...I'm gonna be sharing some details regarding a recent upgrade I did for my PC...

So this was the setup I was running for the past three-and-a-half years, which was also the first desktop I put together myself:

Intel Core i7-4790k CPU
MSI Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard
Corsair H80i liquid cooler
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3-1866mhz RAM
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G (3.5G actually, screw you Nvidia) graphics card
Antec VP650P power supply
Samsung 840EVO 120gb SSD boot drive
4TB storage (a WD Enterprise edition and a Seagate Barracuda, 2tb each)
...all sitting in a Coolermaster HAF 912 case

Add in a BenQ EW2440L 1080p monitor (24", 60hz, VA-panel) and a 1000va UPS, the whole thing costed me about Rs. 1.45 lacs (about $2,000) back in 2015.

It had been a great experience these few years with this system however I simply couldn't push a consistent 60+ FPS on more modern titles with all settings turned up (even the relatively older Witcher 3, which I'm replaying for probably the 4th time now, can't give you 60fps with Hairworks on, and I love Hairworks) so last month I decided to go ahead and get myself an upgrade:

First off, the Corsair RM850x PSU...there was nothing wrong off the bat with the older Antec 650watt but the increased power draw with the 1080Ti and giving myself a fair amount of headroom for any possible future upgrades basically mandated a bigger & better PSU (not to mention the fact that the 1080Ti requires 2 x 8-pin connectors and I have to use a 6 pin-to-8 pin adapter in order to make it work with the Antec, and I simply don't like or trust that kind of setup one bit).

Second, the GPU, now...I had bought this after the new RTX cards came out and after I looked at all the benchmarks. My original choice was the RTX 2080 but then I changed my mind and went with the 1080Ti instead. In the traditional fashion, the 80 of the latest generation is equivalent to the 80Ti of the previous gen so those two were placed fairly shoulder-to-shoulder in specs and performance, with the 1080Ti actually beating it in more than a few benchmarks. Besides, I didn't see many games making any worthwhile use of the real-time Ray-tracing that Jensen Huang was harping on and on about, for at least the next couple years...It's how it always works. New tech comes out, it takes a few years for the industry to implement it in a mainstream way, and by then the 2nd gen of that tech comes out...by which time I'd be looking to upgrade again anyway.

Until ray-tracing becomes a mainstream feature in games I simply didn't see putting down money on the RTX cards as a worthwhile investment, instead went for the proven Pascal instead. The 1080Ti set me back by Rs. 69,000 ($931) and the PSU was another Rs. 12,250 ($165). Oh and a 1100va UPS as well. Now...gaming with a GPU like this on a 1080p screen made little sense (not to mention potentially bottlenecking it with my CPU, so off I went shopping again for this Asus VZ27AQ:

This 1440p IPS-panel 27" monitor with a cool 75hz refresh rate (not really a noticeable improvement over 60hz but still kind of cool, not many monitors out there that support above 60hz on the native resolution at this price point) went for Rs. 38,000 ($512), exorbitant I know...but thats how prices of many categories of imported electronics are in India nowadays.

3.5 years after buying the entire initial PC, I spent about as much again upgrading just the GPU, PSU & monitor .

So why 1440p and not 4K? Because people would have me believe that the 1080Ti is a "meant for 4K" card but I'm not falling for that. When you turn things up to the maximum, the 1080Ti and/or 2080 will markedly suffer and WILL fail to deliver 60+fps consistently...only way to achieve those frames would be to turn down the settings somewhat...and I'd essentially be back where I started (not able to enjoy 60+fps with max graphical fidelity), except now I can see my problem in 4 times the number of pixels.

No thank you.

I've seen the benchmarks and the only card right now that can push those kind of frames on a 2015 game like Witcher 3 (with everything at maximum and Hairworks turned ON) at 4K is the 2080Ti...and as games get more and more demanding over the years I will be left with 2 options: Keep lowering my settings as more graphically demanding games come out (Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an example), or basically upgrade every time a new generation of GPUs come out in order to stay on top of the 4K game.

As I said, no thank you. Staying at 1440p gives me more leeway to decide when and how I want to upgrade in future.

A bonus, a brief look at my horrendous cable-management skills:

...completely open to (and much deserving) of criticism. I made little to no use of the back compartment on my case to route the cables, possibly could have improved airflow somewhat by doing so, if it wasn't for me being too lazy...might get around to do that later (don't count on it). But I've been benchmarking, stress testing & monitoring the hell out of my system ever since the upgrade...and the temperatures across the board seem fine in spite of everything. The case doesn't sit on the desk though, it sits on the ground and off to the left, so its not like I get to admire it anyway, what with the transparent panel side facing away, even if I HAD done a great job routing the cables.

So that's what I've been up to recently with my electronics acquisition program. I know some of you guys here are gamers too...so go ahead and talk about your rigs, news in the tech field, your phones and other peripherals or about how & what you plan to buy.

@randomradio @BMD @smestarz @Kvasir @Nikhil @Ashwin @Aashish

 

[randomradio]

My build is inferior. I chose AMD's FX 8350 instead of Intel. Right now I'm rocking a GTX 970, but I had already bought an 850W power supply right in the beginning with plans for SLI.

Haven't played games in a few years now.

 

[Parthu]

I chose AMD's FX 8350 instead of Intel.

For its time, that was a great CPU (released in 2012 I believe?), but if you liked the experience, then it can't hurt to stick with AMD for a future system as well if you want. The new Ryzens are great processors. But I personally wouldn't suggest AMD when it comes to graphics cards though, best to stick with Nvidia on that.

Drawn up any plans for a new build?

Haven't played games in a few years now.

Whaaaaaat

 

[randomradio]

For its time, that was a great CPU (released in 2012 I believe?), but if you liked the experience, then it can't hurt to stick with AMD for a future system as well if you want. The new Ryzens are great processors. But I personally wouldn't suggest AMD when it comes to graphics cards though, best to stick with Nvidia on that.

Yeah, the proc doesn't matter, and Nvidia has the best graph cards.

Drawn up any plans for a new build?

Nothing right now. I'm waiting for 2nd generation Vive to show up, and then let's see.

Can 970 SLI handle most modern games now? 1080p, 60fps?

Whaaaaaat

2016 was the last I played games.

 

[Guynextdoor]

Just a random thread I decided to start to make a space for people here to converse regarding their gaming setups, games themselves, any other consumer electronics (phones, tablets etc.) anyone wants to talk about. Nothing serious, as this has absolutely nothing to do with the intent & purpose of the forum itself (which is why I'm putting this in Members Cafe I guess), just fun & chill...

Something to start off with...I'm gonna be sharing some details regarding a recent upgrade I did for my PC...

So this was the setup I was running for the past three-and-a-half years, which was also the first desktop I put together myself:

Intel Core i7-4790k CPU
MSI Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard
Corsair H80i liquid cooler
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3-1866mhz RAM
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G (3.5G actually, screw you Nvidia) graphics card
Antec VP650P power supply
Samsung 840EVO 120gb SSD boot drive
4TB storage (a WD Enterprise edition and a Seagate Barracuda, 2tb each)
...all sitting in a Coolermaster HAF 912 case

Add in a BenQ EW2440L 1080p monitor (24", 60hz, VA-panel) and a 1000va UPS, the whole thing costed me about Rs. 1.45 lacs (about $2,000) back in 2015.

It had been a great experience these few years with this system however I simply couldn't push a consistent 60+ FPS on more modern titles with all settings turned up (even the relatively older Witcher 3, which I'm replaying for probably the 4th time now, can't give you 60fps with Hairworks on, and I love Hairworks) so last month I decided to go ahead and get myself an upgrade:

First off, the Corsair RM850x PSU...there was nothing wrong off the bat with the older Antec 650watt but the increased power draw with the 1080Ti and giving myself a fair amount of headroom for any possible future upgrades basically mandated a bigger & better PSU (not to mention the fact that the 1080Ti requires 2 x 8-pin connectors and I have to use a 6 pin-to-8 pin adapter in order to make it work with the Antec, and I simply don't like or trust that kind of setup one bit).

Second, the GPU, now...I had bought this after the new RTX cards came out and after I looked at all the benchmarks. My original choice was the RTX 2080 but then I changed my mind and went with the 1080Ti instead. In the traditional fashion, the 80 of the latest generation is equivalent to the 80Ti of the previous gen so those two were placed fairly shoulder-to-shoulder in specs and performance, with the 1080Ti actually beating it in more than a few benchmarks. Besides, I didn't see many games making any worthwhile use of the real-time Ray-tracing that Jensen Huang was harping on and on about, for at least the next couple years...It's how it always works. New tech comes out, it takes a few years for the industry to implement it in a mainstream way, and by then the 2nd gen of that tech comes out...by which time I'd be looking to upgrade again anyway.

Until ray-tracing becomes a mainstream feature in games I simply didn't see putting down money on the RTX cards as a worthwhile investment, instead went for the proven Pascal instead. The 1080Ti set me back by Rs. 69,000 ($931) and the PSU was another Rs. 12,250 ($165). Oh and a 1100va UPS as well. Now...gaming with a GPU like this on a 1080p screen made little sense (not to mention potentially bottlenecking it with my CPU, so off I went shopping again for this Asus VZ27AQ:

View attachment 3549

This 1440p IPS-panel 27" monitor with a cool 75hz refresh rate (not really a noticeable improvement over 60hz but still kind of cool, not many monitors out there that support above 60hz on the native resolution at this price point) went for Rs. 38,000 ($512), exorbitant I know...but thats how prices of many categories of imported electronics are in India nowadays.

3.5 years after buying the entire initial PC, I spent about as much again upgrading just the GPU, PSU & monitor .

So why 1440p and not 4K? Because people would have me believe that the 1080Ti is a "meant for 4K" card but I'm not falling for that. When you turn things up to the maximum, the 1080Ti and/or 2080 will markedly suffer and WILL fail to deliver 60+fps consistently...only way to achieve those frames would be to turn down the settings somewhat...and I'd essentially be back where I started (not able to enjoy 60+fps with max graphical fidelity), except now I can see my problem in 4 times the number of pixels.

No thank you.

I've seen the benchmarks and the only card right now that can push those kind of frames on a 2015 game like Witcher 3 (with everything at maximum and Hairworks turned ON) at 4K is the 2080Ti...and as games get more and more demanding over the years I will be left with 2 options: Keep lowering my settings as more graphically demanding games come out (Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an example), or basically upgrade every time a new generation of GPUs come out in order to stay on top of the 4K game.

As I said, no thank you. Staying at 1440p gives me more leeway to decide when and how I want to upgrade in future.

A bonus, a brief look at my horrendous cable-management skills:

...completely open to (and much deserving) of criticism. I made little to no use of the back compartment on my case to route the cables, possibly could have improved airflow somewhat by doing so, if it wasn't for me being too lazy...might get around to do that later (don't count on it). But I've been benchmarking, stress testing & monitoring the hell out of my system ever since the upgrade...and the temperatures across the board seem fine in spite of everything. The case doesn't sit on the desk though, it sits on the ground and off to the left, so its not like I get to admire it anyway, what with the transparent panel side facing away, even if I HAD done a great job routing the cables.

So that's what I've been up to recently with my electronics acquisition program. I know some of you guys here are gamers too...so go ahead and talk about your rigs, news in the tech field, your phones and other peripherals or about how & what you plan to buy.

@randomradio @BMD @smestarz @Kvasir @Nikhil @Ashwin @Aashish

I ha question. Is there screen door effect on psvr when we watch 3D videos?

 

[Parthu]

Yeah, the proc doesn't matter,

It does, but not to the same level as the GPU for sure. Just make sure not to pair a higher-end 10 series or 20 series card with 8350 or you might more than likely run into some serious bottlenecking. The GPU will be drawing too many frames per second, beyond what the CPU is capable of processing which will lead to the CPU hitting 100% usage. Basically the GPU will be left waiting on the CPU to finish its job and the result is that you might end up getting hitching and/or stuttering in games, and loss of fps as a result.

This becomes less and less of an issue as you increase the resolution you're playing at (the reason why I thought it wise to buy a 1440p monitor, although you could just set the rendering resolution manually within game's settings or Nvidia Control Panel for the same effect on the GPU), as the card will have to push more & more pixels per frame and that will slow it down enough to allow the CPU to catch up.

I'm seeing consistently lesser usage on the CPU now that I'm at 2560x1440 compared to when everything was 1920x1080.

But with the 970, you're just fine with that CPU.

Can 970 SLI handle most modern games now? 1080p, 60fps?

Yep. Even a single 970 can, if you manage the settings wisely (although you have to make sacrifices on some really cool-looking features in modern games here and there).

However, if you're planning to buy a new 970 I would definitely not recommend it. There is simply no value in buying a 970 afresh right now (unless you can find a really good deal on a used card from a reliable seller).

From among the cards on the market right now, I would suggest you look at the 6GB variant of the GTX 1060, available for around Rs. 25,000 from likes of Zotac. https://www.amazon.in/Zotac-GeForce...41071781&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=gtx+1060&psc=1

(Make sure to contact your local stores, stuff is almost always cheaper there than on online retailers).

The 1060 beats a single 970 hands down in any game. 1080p 60fps? Easy. (Just be sensible with some features that take a huge toll on the card, but deliver little visual impact).

The only downside to this is that you'll never get to do justice by your 850W power supply, because 1060 does not support SLI. So as a bottomline, I'd say - if you can find a really good deal for a used 970, go for it. If you want to buy one new, forget the 970 SLI and buy a 1060 for ~25k. But this is only speaking from a value point of view, because performance-wise, a 970 SLI would easily beat a 1060. In the long run though, for gaming, I'd still say a single stronger card >> 2 weaker cards in SLI.

2016 was the last I played games.

Whaaaaaaat

I ha question. Is there screen door effect on psvr when we watch 3D videos?

Never owned a PS4 VR (or any VR for that matter) so I can't say anything from experience. But looking up on the internet, it appears some people are not all that happy with it.

 

[randomradio]

It does, but not to the same level as the GPU for sure. Just make sure not to pair a higher-end 10 series or 20 series card with 8350 or you might more than likely run into some serious bottlenecking. The GPU will be drawing too many frames per second, beyond what the CPU is capable of processing which will lead to the CPU hitting 100% usage. Basically the GPU will be left waiting on the CPU to finish its job and the result is that you might end up getting hitching and/or stuttering in games, and loss of fps as a result.

This becomes less and less of an issue as you increase the resolution you're playing at (the reason why I thought it wise to buy a 1440p monitor, although you could just set the rendering resolution manually within game's settings or Nvidia Control Panel for the same effect on the GPU), as the card will have to push more & more pixels per frame and that will slow it down enough to allow the CPU to catch up.

I'm seeing consistently lesser usage on the CPU now that I'm at 2560x1440 compared to when everything was 1920x1080.

But with the 970, you're just fine with that CPU.

My current proc is enough for SLI also. It's like the proc is slowly becoming less important than RAM now.

Yep. Even a single 970 can, if you manage the settings wisely (although you have to make sacrifices on some really cool-looking features in modern games here and there).

However, if you're planning to buy a new 970 I would definitely not recommend it. There is simply no value in buying a 970 afresh right now (unless you can find a really good deal on a used card from a reliable seller).

From among the cards on the market right now, I would suggest you look at the 6GB variant of the GTX 1060, available for around Rs. 25,000 from likes of Zotac. https://www.amazon.in/Zotac-GeForce...41071781&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=gtx+1060&psc=1

(Make sure to contact your local stores, stuff is almost always cheaper there than on online retailers).

The 1060 beats a single 970 hands down in any game. 1080p 60fps? Easy. (Just be sensible with some features that take a huge toll on the card, but deliver little visual impact).

The only downside to this is that you'll never get to do justice by your 850W power supply, because 1060 does not support SLI. So as a bottomline, I'd say - if you can find a really good deal for a used 970, go for it. If you want to buy one new, forget the 970 SLI and buy a 1060 for ~25k. But this is only speaking from a value point of view, because performance-wise, a 970 SLI would easily beat a 1060. In the long run though, for gaming, I'd still say a single stronger card >> 2 weaker cards in SLI.

My choices are either a free 970 my friend has lying around or a major upgrade with all the latest stuff. I'll know in a few months in fact.

Whaaaaaaat

I may pick it up again in a few months. Can't say.

 

[suryakiran]

Just a random thread I decided to start to make a space for people here to converse regarding their gaming setups, games themselves, any other consumer electronics (phones, tablets etc.) anyone wants to talk about. Nothing serious, as this has absolutely nothing to do with the intent & purpose of the forum itself (which is why I'm putting this in Members Cafe I guess), just fun & chill...

Something to start off with...I'm gonna be sharing some details regarding a recent upgrade I did for my PC...

So this was the setup I was running for the past three-and-a-half years, which was also the first desktop I put together myself:

Intel Core i7-4790k CPU
MSI Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard
Corsair H80i liquid cooler
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3-1866mhz RAM
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G (3.5G actually, screw you Nvidia) graphics card
Antec VP650P power supply
Samsung 840EVO 120gb SSD boot drive
4TB storage (a WD Enterprise edition and a Seagate Barracuda, 2tb each)
...all sitting in a Coolermaster HAF 912 case

Add in a BenQ EW2440L 1080p monitor (24", 60hz, VA-panel) and a 1000va UPS, the whole thing costed me about Rs. 1.45 lacs (about $2,000) back in 2015.

It had been a great experience these few years with this system however I simply couldn't push a consistent 60+ FPS on more modern titles with all settings turned up (even the relatively older Witcher 3, which I'm replaying for probably the 4th time now, can't give you 60fps with Hairworks on, and I love Hairworks) so last month I decided to go ahead and get myself an upgrade:

First off, the Corsair RM850x PSU...there was nothing wrong off the bat with the older Antec 650watt but the increased power draw with the 1080Ti and giving myself a fair amount of headroom for any possible future upgrades basically mandated a bigger & better PSU (not to mention the fact that the 1080Ti requires 2 x 8-pin connectors and I have to use a 6 pin-to-8 pin adapter in order to make it work with the Antec, and I simply don't like or trust that kind of setup one bit).

Second, the GPU, now...I had bought this after the new RTX cards came out and after I looked at all the benchmarks. My original choice was the RTX 2080 but then I changed my mind and went with the 1080Ti instead. In the traditional fashion, the 80 of the latest generation is equivalent to the 80Ti of the previous gen so those two were placed fairly shoulder-to-shoulder in specs and performance, with the 1080Ti actually beating it in more than a few benchmarks. Besides, I didn't see many games making any worthwhile use of the real-time Ray-tracing that Jensen Huang was harping on and on about, for at least the next couple years...It's how it always works. New tech comes out, it takes a few years for the industry to implement it in a mainstream way, and by then the 2nd gen of that tech comes out...by which time I'd be looking to upgrade again anyway.

Until ray-tracing becomes a mainstream feature in games I simply didn't see putting down money on the RTX cards as a worthwhile investment, instead went for the proven Pascal instead. The 1080Ti set me back by Rs. 69,000 ($931) and the PSU was another Rs. 12,250 ($165). Oh and a 1100va UPS as well. Now...gaming with a GPU like this on a 1080p screen made little sense (not to mention potentially bottlenecking it with my CPU, so off I went shopping again for this Asus VZ27AQ:

View attachment 3549

This 1440p IPS-panel 27" monitor with a cool 75hz refresh rate (not really a noticeable improvement over 60hz but still kind of cool, not many monitors out there that support above 60hz on the native resolution at this price point) went for Rs. 38,000 ($512), exorbitant I know...but thats how prices of many categories of imported electronics are in India nowadays.

3.5 years after buying the entire initial PC, I spent about as much again upgrading just the GPU, PSU & monitor .

So why 1440p and not 4K? Because people would have me believe that the 1080Ti is a "meant for 4K" card but I'm not falling for that. When you turn things up to the maximum, the 1080Ti and/or 2080 will markedly suffer and WILL fail to deliver 60+fps consistently...only way to achieve those frames would be to turn down the settings somewhat...and I'd essentially be back where I started (not able to enjoy 60+fps with max graphical fidelity), except now I can see my problem in 4 times the number of pixels.

No thank you.

I've seen the benchmarks and the only card right now that can push those kind of frames on a 2015 game like Witcher 3 (with everything at maximum and Hairworks turned ON) at 4K is the 2080Ti...and as games get more and more demanding over the years I will be left with 2 options: Keep lowering my settings as more graphically demanding games come out (Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an example), or basically upgrade every time a new generation of GPUs come out in order to stay on top of the 4K game.

As I said, no thank you. Staying at 1440p gives me more leeway to decide when and how I want to upgrade in future.

A bonus, a brief look at my horrendous cable-management skills:

...completely open to (and much deserving) of criticism. I made little to no use of the back compartment on my case to route the cables, possibly could have improved airflow somewhat by doing so, if it wasn't for me being too lazy...might get around to do that later (don't count on it). But I've been benchmarking, stress testing & monitoring the hell out of my system ever since the upgrade...and the temperatures across the board seem fine in spite of everything. The case doesn't sit on the desk though, it sits on the ground and off to the left, so its not like I get to admire it anyway, what with the transparent panel side facing away, even if I HAD done a great job routing the cables.

So that's what I've been up to recently with my electronics acquisition program. I know some of you guys here are gamers too...so go ahead and talk about your rigs, news in the tech field, your phones and other peripherals or about how & what you plan to buy.

@randomradio @BMD @smestarz @Kvasir @Nikhil @Ashwin @Aashish

I am assuming you are unmarried.

 

[Parthu]

My current proc is enough for SLI also.

It is. Anything in the 900 series cards (even 980Ti), you're good. Even in the 10 series, you won't see any apparent bottlenecking with that CPU until you run with a 1070Ti or 1080, I think.

I am assuming you are unmarried.

It would be stupid to marry. More so when you're only 22.

 

[randomradio]

It is. Anything in the 900 series cards (even 980Ti), you're good. Even in the 10 series, you won't see any apparent bottlenecking with that CPU until you run with a 1070Ti or 1080, I think.

I don't think I'll see bottlenecking for the higher cards either. Bottlenecking is an issue for 2K and 4K resolutions, all I have is 1080p.

 

[Parthu]

I don't think I'll see bottlenecking for the higher cards either. Bottlenecking is an issue for 2K and 4K resolutions, all I have is 1080p.

It's the other way round. Lower resolutions = more chance of bottlenecking.

At lower res, more powerful GPUs will churn out frames way too fast and choke the CPU with how much it can actually process. In games, its the GPU that renders the scene (textures, effects etc.) but it is still the CPU which has to process the raw data going into and out of the GPU - such as the dimensions & values of the objects & elements (players, bullets, hitboxes, shadows etc.) that define and tell the GPU what to do.

The raw data going into the GPU of an image at a certain graphics setting is the same for 1080p as it is for 4K. The visual difference between 1080p and 4K is filled in by GPU. So if the resolution is low, GPU is giving out too many frames, and CPU has to constantly feed it new data. This is where bottleneck happens.

At higher resolutions, the raw data remains the same, but work for GPU increases, which allows for CPU to catch up.

But toning down the settings can help with bottlenecking - as doing so removes some of the stress from CPU. For example, if you turn off shadows, then CPU will no longer have to calculate the position of the light source and shadow & its dimensions to send to the GPU to render.

That's the whole reason why I upgraded monitor resolution, to avoid potentially bottlenecking.

 

[randomradio]

It's the other way round. Lower resolutions = more chance of bottlenecking.

At lower res, more powerful GPUs will churn out frames way too fast and choke the CPU with how much it can actually process. In games, its the GPU that renders the scene (textures, effects etc.) but it is still the CPU which has to process the raw data going into and out of the GPU - such as the dimensions & values of the objects & elements (players, bullets, hitboxes, shadows etc.) that define and tell the GPU what to do.

The raw data going into the GPU of an image at a certain graphics setting is the same for 1080p as it is for 4K. The visual difference between 1080p and 4K is filled in by GPU. So if the resolution is low, GPU is giving out too many frames, and CPU has to constantly feed it new data. This is where bottleneck happens.

At higher resolutions, the raw data remains the same, but work for GPU increases, which allows for CPU to catch up.

But toning down the settings can help with bottlenecking - as doing so removes some of the stress from CPU. For example, if you turn off shadows, then CPU will no longer have to calculate the position of the light source and shadow & its dimensions to send to the GPU to render.

That's the whole reason why I upgraded monitor resolution, to avoid potentially bottlenecking.

Yeah, you are right, greater resolution puts more workload on the GPU. But current procs can easily handle all that now. I mean you have to like compare with a very old CPU with a modern GPU to see a noticeable difference at 1080p also.

My CPU is like a classic now. But if I have to upgrade, I will need to change my motherboard also. And of course get a higher res monitor. The only thing I'm good for right now is the power supply.

 

[Valkyrja]

Mine's nothing special. Able to run any modern game on high or ultra. Temp never gets above 60c either with the cooling I've got (three case fans, two GPU fans and a CPU cooler).

Here's what I use it for.

I really need a new ISP. Such slow speeds.

I'll check Kat's (that's Freyja if your wondering about her interwebs handle) PC too. She's a hardcore gamer, a bit less now that we have a little one running around the house and she manages a business, but her setup still puts mine to shame anyday.

 

[Valkyrja]

I am assuming you are unmarried.

Hey now! I'm married, have a toddler running around my house and work and travel frequently and even I can find a few hundred hours every year to dump into The Witcher 3 or Civ 6. And that's on top of Mario Cart of Mario Party on the Switch with friends and family. It's fun to game with your significant other if they're interested in it.

2016 was the last I played games.

Witchcraft! What game was it? Nekopara?

It would be stupid to marry. More so when you're only 22.

Psh. Young people these days.

Somehow I thought you were older.

 

[Parthu]

View attachment 3669

How? 100% achievements with only 70 hours put in? Sorcery.

I'm about 75 hours in on my first Steam playthrough (3rd playthrough overall, two earlier ones on GOG) and I've just entered Novigrad in Act 1. Although I'll admit I love to play this game real slow (I walk in almost all quests that don't require running, just taking in all the sights. And I'm covering every single side quest and collectible).

Speaking of the Witcher, have you read the books? I actually took a break from playing W3 after I reached Novigrad (after I completed W2: Assassins of Kings for the 3rd time) and decided to not go any further until after I complete reading all the books. I'm about half-done on the 5th book, 3 more to go before I touch W3 again.

I wish I had what it takes to play through the first Witcher game, but I honestly can't. The control schemes, UI, none of it appeals to me. Guess I'll just watch a Youtube walkthrough.

I'll check Kat's (that's Freyja if your wondering about her interwebs handle) PC too. She's a hardcore gamer, a bit less now that we have a little one running around the house and she manages a business, but her setup still puts mine to shame anyday.

Send pics! (of the PC, not Kat )

 

[Guynextdoor]

I just run a ps4

 

[Guynextdoor]

Horizon 4 is awesome.

 

[Guynextdoor]

Hey now! I'm married, have a toddler running around my house and work and travel frequently and even I can find a few hundred hours every year to dump into The Witcher 3 or Civ 6. And that's on top of Mario Cart of Mario Party on the Switch with friends and family. It's fun to game with your significant other if they're interested in it.



Witchcraft! What game was it? Nekopara?



Psh. Young people these days.

Somehow I thought you were older.

You tried fortnite or pubg?

 

[randomradio]

Witchcraft! What game was it? Nekopara?

Nope. Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[Bharath]

alienware 15 is my machine
i7-7700HQ
128 GB SSD, 1 TB HD
GTX 1070