Gaming System Specs Guide for the Casual Gamer

LincLinc OwnerDetroit Icrontian
edited May 2007 in Science & Tech
Our esteemed guru of graphics, Sledgehammer70, has assembled this informative guide for gamers to break down exactly what hardware they should be looking at.

Gaming System Specs Guide for the Casual Gamer

Congratulations on a great first article, Sledge! :cool:

Comments

  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Good article overall. I like the three-pronged approach to the topic of gaming performance.
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited March 2006
    Where's grade 'E'? :D
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Nice work, sledgehammer! :D
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited March 2006
    Aye, it's a really informative and easy to read guide. Nice one mate.
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited March 2006
    I like this idea. It gives the person who is trying to put a PC together a more detailed guide- if their main focus is gaming.

    On a more picayune level- the P4C Northwoods also ran 2.4 to 3.4 GHz 800FSB versions with hyperthreading. These CPUs spanked my Bartons, so I'd class them as capable of high-end 'B'-to-'A'(?). I only say this because my son's 2.8 still just rocks- and it was missing from the list.

    Sledge- great job. I wished I'd had something like this years ago. I hope we take this idea to other applications too.
  • NightwolfNightwolf Afghanistan Member
    edited March 2006
    Looks good sledge.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2006
    Great job, Sledge. :thumbsup:
  • edited July 2006
    I found your forum on Google. I am a casual gamer who is actually going to use your article to get a computer. I live in Thailand and I want to play the new 3D games "Yulgang" and "Dark Story." You've probably never heard of them but they're big here. They involve levelling up a character, and fighting with other characters.
    I am still deciding what to buy. This setup was recommended to me at a computer shop in Bangkok.
    Asus main board $70
    AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ $170
    512 DDR-SDRAM Kingston $55
    GeForce 7600GS $150
    120 Gb HDD $70
    DVD RW $50

    Even though the game websites recommend 512 Mb Ram and up, the guy at the shop thinks 512 Mb is enough. He says there are 4 memory slots, so I guess I could start wtih 512 Mb and see how the games play. Any ideas?
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    I suggest you getting atleast 1GB. Ram is pretty cheap these days and most games these days need that and then some.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    Tiger,
    You might also hold on a bit, word is that there will be another big price drom on AMD CPUs when Core2 actually starts shipping.
    Are there any 7600GTs available there? Here they are very close in price to the GS and quite a bit faster. Either way it is a great choice. I love ATI cards, but right now the 76s are the best bang for the buck.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    I found your forum on Google. I am a casual gamer who is actually going to use your article to get a computer. I live in Thailand and I want to play the new 3D games "Yulgang" and "Dark Story." You've probably never heard of them but they're big here. They involve levelling up a character, and fighting with other characters.
    I am still deciding what to buy. This setup was recommended to me at a computer shop in Bangkok.
    Asus main board $70
    AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ $170
    512 DDR-SDRAM Kingston $55
    GeForce 7600GS $150
    120 Gb HDD $70
    DVD RW $50

    Even though the game websites recommend 512 Mb Ram and up, the guy at the shop thinks 512 Mb is enough. He says there are 4 memory slots, so I guess I could start wtih 512 Mb and see how the games play. Any ideas?

    Glad to see this write-up gave you a bit of insight in your build. let us know how it turns out :)
  • edited July 2006
    I read the replies. Have to get back to the computer mall soon & make some decisions. I will let you know. Thanks!
  • edited July 2006
    ;D Hi everyone, I have successfully bought my new computer. I decided not to wait for the price drop on AMD CPUs. I've waited long enough!
    As for the graphics card, the 7600GT is available, so I took your advice and got that, of course the price went up from $150 on the GS to $235 on the GT. Prices seem to be higher here in Thailand. Decided on 2 Gb of DDR-RAM, at a cost of $200. I went to a shop where a friend works. He gave me a discount of $50 for my old computer trade-in. The total price came to $830 U.S. dollars (31,500 baht). They put it together and installed WinXP. It was interesting to watch. First we agreed on the specs, then the guy picked out a case it would fit in, then they put it together and installed programs and it all took about 2 hours. The guy was like, "I want this computer myself!"
    That was two days ago and I've been busy loading and trying new games! Yes! I can play all the latest games. It's a miracle. Thanks for helping me here on this forum!
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2006
    Glad to hear that you have a new system and that Sledge's article helped. :D
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Awesome news... Post some pics of this new beast :P)
  • edited August 2006
    Hi! Here it is.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited August 2006
    Sweet! :D
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited August 2006
    Awesome rig!
  • edited January 2007
    What about dual-core processors? What are your thoughts about it?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited January 2007
    There's no reason <i>not</i> to get one now. That's really the thick and thin of it.

    I could give you a really long answer, but it'd end: "In conclusion, as you can see, there's really no reason <i>not</i> to buy a dual core CPU now."

    ;D
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited January 2007
    I think it is time to update this article
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Updated for 2007!
  • WingaWinga Mr South Africa Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Just read the update for 2007!

    As always... a brilliant read Sledge. :thumbsup:
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Thank you sir, I hope it was some what helpful as that is the goal... to help the casual gamer in deciding on a upgrade path or a future PC purchase. via XP or Vista.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited April 2007
    Looks like my system gets a grade of "C", or maybe a "B-" at best.

    Abit NF7 version 2.0 motherboard

    AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton core unlocked multiplier CPU OC'd to 2.2 Ghz (11X200) stock 3200+ speed.

    ATI Radeon X700 Pro 256 MB AGP 8X video card

    1 GB of DDR PC3200 RAM

    Samsung Syncmaster 204B 20" LCD monitor

    With this setup, I can run World of Warcraft at 1600 X 1200 resolution, with every video setting cranked to maximum or near maximum, and get over 20 FPS in most high action fighting scenes, and 30+ FPS in normal play running around or flying somewhere on a gryphon. It'll hit 60 FPS in low action scenes.

    It works good for me!:bigggrin:

    AND -- based on how many system resources it requires just to run, I would NEVER use Vista on a gaming machine! XP will use far less system resources that would be wasted by just getting Vista to turn on and work in the first place!
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited April 2007
    But you have to remember your video card isn't pushing the full capabilities of the game. Your video card lacks Shader 3.0 which is a huge killer on video. You would be down to 1024 x 768 with that setup with normal frame rates.

    I knew a guy running a version of Call of Duty on DX7 hitting 200FPS, mainly because his PC wasn't having to process any of the graphical goodies, because it couldn't.
  • buononutbuononut Michigan
    edited May 2007
    As I'm heading down the path towards "build my own system"-land, I found Sledgehammer's article (and this site) and decided to join up. I hope I don't wear out my welcome right off the bat.

    Hugely helpful article... and thanks for the updates!

    I have 4 total queries in regards to it's content:

    (1) Is the list of VGA cards (or processors) in any particular order? [They don't seem simply alphabetical, just grouped together by manuf.] Could someone provide an opinion (either in the forum or the article itself) of which unit is "better" than the next? I don't want to open the whole can of worms (ATI vs. GeForce isn't what I'm after) but understanding which of the suffixes GT/GS/XT/GTX/GTO/etc... are regarded as better than the next might help.

    (2) You say to forget of "more graphics memory = better graphics". So, what SHOULD I look for in a VGA? Clock speed? Pixel thingys? Shader deals? Pipelines? ?

    (3) Memory Size vs. Memory Interface? Core Clock vs. Memory Clock?

    (4) In this "3-component" philosophy, I think I understand how one component's poor performance can limit another. But when building a new machine, how do I avoid this? Any guidlines? (ex. 512MB DDR2-533 RAM can't keep up with geforce 7950GT, or AMD Athlon XP 3200+ processes data faster than the Raedon 9600GT can handle)

    Sorry, but THANKS! I've been looking for clarification all over the internet for years. I'm STILL reading some 1,000,000 page articles that may have the answers, but...

    My current rig:
    HP Pavilion a220N
    AMD Athlon XP +2600
    512MB RAM
    Geforce 6800XT

    ...and I can't even run SW: X-Wing Alliance at MAX settings. :sad2:
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2007
    Question 1:
    nVidia: GS < GT/O < GTS < GTX
    ATI: XT < XTX

    Question 2:
    None of those things are clear indicators of the card's performance. The only sure thing to do is check the benchmarks of a card. Real world performance can vary wildly, even when one card is technically better than another.

    Question 3:
    Doesn't matter. Check benchmarks.

    Question 4:
    You buy the best you can afford. That's really the best way to prevent it. Always make sure you buy the recommended memory and the best CPU you can get.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited May 2007
    buononut wrote:
    As I'm heading down the path towards "build my own system"-land, I found Sledgehammer's article (and this site) and decided to join up. I hope I don't wear out my welcome right off the bat.

    Hugely helpful article... and thanks for the updates!

    I have 4 total queries in regards to it's content:

    (1) Is the list of VGA cards (or processors) in any particular order? [They don't seem simply alphabetical, just grouped together by manuf.] Could someone provide an opinion (either in the forum or the article itself) of which unit is "better" than the next? I don't want to open the whole can of worms (ATI vs. GeForce isn't what I'm after) but understanding which of the suffixes GT/GS/XT/GTX/GTO/etc... are regarded as better than the next might help.

    (2) You say to forget of "more graphics memory = better graphics". So, what SHOULD I look for in a VGA? Clock speed? Pixel thingys? Shader deals? Pipelines? ?

    (3) Memory Size vs. Memory Interface? Core Clock vs. Memory Clock?

    (4) In this "3-component" philosophy, I think I understand how one component's poor performance can limit another. But when building a new machine, how do I avoid this? Any guidlines? (ex. 512MB DDR2-533 RAM can't keep up with geforce 7950GT, or AMD Athlon XP 3200+ processes data faster than the Raedon 9600GT can handle)

    Sorry, but THANKS! I've been looking for clarification all over the internet for years. I'm STILL reading some 1,000,000 page articles that may have the answers, but...

    My current rig:
    HP Pavilion a220N
    AMD Athlon XP +2600
    512MB RAM
    Geforce 6800XT

    ...and I can't even run SW: X-Wing Alliance at MAX settings. :sad2:


    First off welcome to Short-Media, glad the guide was semi helpful. Thrax covered some things above fairly well, but let me try to cover them a bit better.

    1.) Thrax nailed that head on...

    2.) When looking at GPU's you can identify the cards by Series, Nvidia sporting the 6, 7 & 8 series and ATI sporting the X#00 and X1#00 series of cards.

    Currently Nvidia's 8 series is the fastest cards of the bunch with full DX10 support, these cards will be broken down from the top dog down to the lower end chips by the following numbers.

    8800
    8600
    8500
    8400
    8300

    The 8800 being the best of the bunch which than breaks down into a few other offerings per chipset getting into your #1 question

    8800 Ultra
    8800 GTX
    8800 GTS
    8600 GT
    8600 GS
    8500 GT
    8400 GT
    8400 GS
    8300 GT

    Than each card might go further and break down into different memory sizes in those alpha break downs.

    So to put it bluntly, there is way too many options for someone who doesn't know much about the actual components. This is why I wrote the guide and classed everything in a "A, B, C, D" type of grade, allowing the casual user to break the individual cards into classes.

    Once you have an idea of what class you want you can look at the different options of each card. If you’re looking for the best of the best either ATI or Nvidia than pixel shader's isn't going to matter anymore nor will clock speeds, it will mainly be just what is the top card offered by each company. Just like AMD and Intel CPU's clock speeds are different and performance is different for each product. The main thing is to check out benchmarks online.

    Then again benchmarks are always tricky as you might not have the Quad core CPU or the Dual core CPU they are running the tests in. Most often if you have a top of the line GPU your going to be CPU bound anyways, meaning the CPU can't feed enough data to your GPU.

    Okay I think I went a bit too far for #2 :)

    3.) Again if you’re going top of the line these things won’t matter to much as for the most part performance differences run around 5% to 15% which is hardly noticeable unless you’re running a 30" LCD.

    If you going low end, memory interface and chip set will matter over memory for the most part.

    4.) Memory speeds are not a killer in a system for the most part. if you have DDR 400 but have 2GB vs DDR2 800 the performance difference isn't going to be as big as you think. The main goal for gaming is 2GB and you should not have any issues. Now take in mind if you’re buying new parts you’re already going to be forced to buy some pretty nice performing memory. DDR2 800 is not that slow nor is it a bottle neck in the system build. The main thing is the more memory you have the better "well up to 3.2GB due to windows 32bit OS limitations"

    I might not have given you the info you need to know, or I might have confused you even more, so feel free to ask more questions, and I will try to clarify...
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