PCs and Steam: Thread 01

[Digfox]

Ah the PC Mustard Race.

Oi!

Certainly not bragging. Rather embarrassed that a. I couldn't order the right model, b. have managed to order 2. Also do you know how exciting it is to increase your space on an Unraid Server? Exactly.

So what did you actually get in the end?

ASUS ROG Strix GL703GS-E5011T 17.3-Inch FHD 144 Hz with 3 ms Screen Gaming Laptop (Black) (Intel Core i7-8750H Processor, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB PCI-e SSD + 1 TB SSHD , NVidia GTX1070 8 GB, Windows 10).

I'll start breaking up the old PC over the weekend/next week and selling bits on. Should recoup £750-950+ of the cost. After a phone call Amazon insist I need to reject the first laptop even though they probably will turn up together. I can't remember if Amazon order numbers are on the address label.

EDIT - they aren't.

[Asura]

This might seem daft but what are nVidia claiming their new "ray-tracing" stuff is going to do? As ray-tracing, in the old sense, wouldn't be worth all this fuss. I assume this is another "HDR" where an existing term is being co-opted to be a new term.

[MartyG]

It makes shadows nice.

[Asura]

It makes shadows nice.

Zero appeal to me, then, though I know why some people would want that.

I want what we currently do, faster and smoother.

[speedlolita]

This might seem daft but what are nVidia claiming their new "ray-tracing" stuff is going to do? As ray-tracing, in the old sense, wouldn't be worth all this fuss. I assume this is another "HDR" where an existing term is being co-opted to be a new term.

It makes the lighting look realistic, it's a night and day difference.

[kryss]

It makes the lighting look realistic, it's a night and day difference.

Bazinga.

[speedlolita]

Wait a minute...

[Digfox]

I think Ray Tracing is very cool, but feels like it is years away, lile early VR tech. Nvidia's RTX tech is impressive tho. But less impressive is this upshift in pricing accross the range. And I'm not sure this is all driven by increasing costs for Nvidia but also a strategic decision to increase earnings.

[fishbowlhead]

I suppose these new cards still won’t run the original Crysis at 1080p 60fps on ultra then 😁

[speedlolita]

Don't expect the impossible.

[Neon Ignition]

That's the trouble, it's an upgrade mostly hanging on an advancement of one of the most expendable settings. If I need to toggle something, shadows are amongst the first to get moved down to Medium because outside of games where they serve a gameplay purpose I don't pay much attention to them. Ray Tracing offers some nice possibilities on that front but in over the next couple of years, in a world where the Xbox One is still the base level targeted to for new games, there's no chance of software that makes required use of it. It's definitely a HDR style job. Happy to wait till 2021 or so and get a version of the card that's properly up to crushing next gen output

[Digfox]

That's the trouble, it's an upgrade mostly hanging on an advancement of one of the most expendable settings. If I need to toggle something, shadows are amongst the first to get moved down to Medium because outside of games where they serve a gameplay purpose I don't pay much attention to them. Ray Tracing offers some nice possibilities on that front but in over the next couple of years, in a world where the Xbox One is still the base level targeted to for new games, there's no chance of software that makes required use of it. It's definitely a HDR style job. Happy to wait till 2021 or so and get a version of the card that's properly up to crushing next gen output

HDR and 4K are universal standards. All hardware can do them and therefore the developers don't have to expend additional effort for specific versions. Nvidia RTX is proprietary, platform specific and maybe be tied to deals between Nvidia and the dev/pub. For me the comparison is not something like HDR but Nvidia's 3D Vision or PhysX.

Ray Tracing may become the standard and Nvidia's total dominance of the PC gaming space may help ram their RTX implementation in. But I only think it can be compared to 4K or HDR in the sense that it requires even more powerful hardware than rasterization.

That said I'm on the same page it probably make sense to wait. Although the beauty of these cards is that they should offer great traditional performance whilst offering the ability to run RTX. If it just wasn't for those prices.

[Neon Ignition]

That's the thing, the cost isn't insignificant and then there's other factors. My PC is still pitched at the top end but I'm conscious that in the next couple of years (hopefully not before) I'm going to be looking at needed a new motherboard and RAM as DDR3 stops being common and connectors change. I quickly get to needing a new PC and most others are likely in the same boat where other components get in the way of the new generation cards not counting the need for an appropriately powerful CPU. Soon as you're in that boat where a new PC makes more sense then it also makes sense to wait and get it all when the right level of hardware hits mainstream

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/08/22/nvidia-turing-rtx-2080-performance-target-metro-exodus/

4A are aiming for 60fps for RTX cards with Ray Tracing running for Metro: Exodus.

At 1080p

[dataDave]

I'm thinking I'll be good until 2024. I'm really impressed with the lighting, shadows and reflections; however I can't help but feel that it's Ambient Occlusion 2.0.

At least the next gen of consoles might be able to pump out something budget at 30fps.