PC Gaming Is it worth it?

[AlwaysAce]

yeah but thats not really down to the pc, its more a case of checking that your equipment is compatible before buying a game(as some obviously take a lot to run)


as for patches, the patch is simply downloaded for you on a lot of games with updates available(half life 2 etc), or worst case it directs you to the website if need be.
i've never heard of anyone struggling with playing games on a pc other than those that are over pushing ageing hardware!? it just seems ridiculous

maybe you are using discs that are scratched to **** and wont install properly

[Ish]

I know what people are saying about the hassle and expense of PC gaming. But then every now and then something like World of Warcraft or Civilisation comes along that I find myslf sinking hours and hours into and isn't really available on a console.

I'd agree though that its a lot of money for a lot of average games and sometimes a bit of hassle.

[Daniel]

I know what people are saying about the hassle and expense of PC gaming. But then every now and then something like World of Warcraft or Civilisation comes along that I find myslf sinking hours and hours into and isn't really available on a console.

That is perhaps pc gamings saving grace - that when you find something good it can have almost endless depth with maps and mods and multiplayer. Very few console games can rival that. I'd say only the ISS series, goldeneye, mario64, mariokart and GTA San Andreas have equalled the years of enjoyment i got from quake and counterstrike.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Some people are either *really* exaggerating, or they have very poorly maintained or underspecced PCs.

I really don't get many problems with gaming on mine. For me the process is - install - play.

That's it.

The last problem I had was with Call of Duty crashing, and that was a very long time ago. Since then I've had Half Life 2, Doom 3, Far Cry, Riddick, and Tron 2.0... all have run perfectly first time. And that includes buying, downloading, and then playing HL2 on Steam, a process that was completely free of incident.

[ascender]

I have to say, I've not had any major problems with PC gaming since the time of X-Wing where we were still faffing around with boot disks to try and free up more of the 640KB of base memory. Since the advent of Windows 98 and the serious take-up of 3d accelerators, its all been plain sailing.

I put some of that down to the fact I've always built my own systems and although I don't go over-board, I always buy brand name components.

As for PC gaming being costly, I don't think its every been this "cheap" and value for money. Systems and graphics cards are lasting longer than they ever have done IMO.

Only thing I would say is that I'm playing more games on the Xbox now and the gaming on the PC is a bit more niche than it has been in the past.

[numel loves you]

Hi I'm not sure how much detail you need.
I have:
AOpen MX46-533GN Motherboard
2.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
512 Megabytes Installed Memory
283.94 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
NVIDIA GeForce 6600
Also put in a 550w Antec trupower PSU just in case that was the problem.

Although its not top of the range it should perform adequately without glitching, freezing, restarting and generally frustrating the hell out of me.

Chipsgravy, we've got a very similar PC to yours (AMD2800, 6600GT) and we mainly play stuff like Half-Life 2, World or Warcraft, and various RTSes and things. We found Warcraft particularly wasn't happy with 512mb memory -- it would stutter, pause for whole minutes to load new areas, etc. -- so we put in another 512mb at the weekend and everything runs like a dream. Even Half-Life 2 loads each area more quickly and doesn't stutter like an idiot after loading.

The biggest problem with gaming on a PC is that the same machine is usually used for internet, word processing, watching movies, listening to music, and so on, and all the little programs that are handy for all that start clogging it all up when you put a game on top of it all. I'm careful to clear out the crap that accumulates every so often, but it is a bit of work. PM me if you want a bit of advice on this.

[ascender]

Before Windows XP you really had to rebuild (software wise) your whole machine from scratch every 6 months or so. I've found that with XP its a bit better, but still worth doing once a year to clean out all the rubbish.

[chipsgravy]

Hello and thanks for all the advice. As the general feeling is yes its worth it I'm going to have a final fling.I am going to install some more memory. Even though prices for it have recently shot through the roof. If anyone could advise where is the cheapest I would appreciate it. Numel I may well be in touch. If that fails I will give it up. I have found the best way to play FPS is on my Xbox anyway. Using a VGA converter and the Smart Mouse and Keyboard adaptor.