What pc games should I be playing?

[tom-nook]

I recently bought a new pc with an ok(?) spec and fancy picking up a few games.

I've never really done much pc gaming before so not sure what gems are out there and I'm finding the whole minimum/ recommended spec thing a ballache.

I'm really looking for stuff that will run well on my pc at a high resolution if poss (my monitor is 1920x1200 res). The spec is:

Core 2 Duo 4600 processor (2.40ghz)
3.25 gb ddr2 (800mhz) ram
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256mb video card
2x 250gb 7200 rpm hdd's
Windows Vista Home Premium

So far I've picked up Outrun 2 Coast2Coast, Company of Heroes & Civilization 4 Complete and am toying with Audiosurf.

I'm not really into fantasy/ rpg type stuff (although if my pc could handle Oblivion better than my 360 that'd be cool) but am open to pretty much anything else.

Any suggestions gratefully received!!

[Ian(not Ian)]

Try Gears of War PC, C/W the Brumak fight which didn't make it to the 360. I recommend you buy a 360 controller for it though.

[Matt]

Good PC, but if you don't mind me saying, it's let down by the graphics card, if you plan on gaming. Look in to upgrading that if you can, and you'll be fine with every game out there - I'd recommend the ATI 4850 for £110, or the nVidia 9800GTX+ (note the plus model) for around £130 (out next month). However, you've got a high res monitor, so I'd be looking for a 1gig card to handle that res. The new ATI 4870 will have a 1gig model, with DDR5 ram so that will have a lot of bandwidth - you'll be able to run your games at native resolution with AA and AF on with a gig of ram on the card. Those aren't out until next month and should work out around £230 once prices stabilise. Quite a big jump in price from the 4850, there isn't a great deal of performance improvement usually to warrant that extra money, but the gig of ram with your monitor is, imo, essential.

Games wise, go for The Orange Box if you didn't have that on console, I enjoy Unreal Tournament 3 and recommend that to everyone

[Hohum]

Gonna have to recommend Team Fortress 2 (either standalone or buy it with the Orange Box). My most played game this year.

[tom-nook]

Thanks guys.

Ian (not Ian) - hadn't expected to be able to run Gears on my pc. Would the card be able to handle it?

I had the feeling the card was probably the weakest part of the pc but it wasn't really purchased with gaming in mind....I was on a tight budget and hadn't really expected to get a card at all so was pleasantly surprised when ir came up on Dell Outlet.

I have been toying with replacing the card but would need to sell my PS3 to fund it.....so will have to mull it over! One drawback is that it comes with a fairly low wattage PSU (300w) so guess that would probably need replacing too. I've also read some reports of Dell telling people that putting in a higher wattage PSU would damage the motherboard, but reckon that's probably them just covering their backs.

I might try UT3 but will probably give the Orange Box a miss.....HL2 on the 360 gave me serious motion sickness

[Hohum]

Dell are a bit of a pain for PSUs. Don't know if they still do it, but they use the same ATX power connector type as every other motherboard/PSU... yet wire it differently. The end result is that you have to purchase a PSU from them as others will damage the motherboard. Totally stupid if you ask me, and the only real reason for doing it in my opinion is to tie you into purchasing from them.

[Matt]

Wierd, Im fine on HL2 360 but the PC version has me wanting to vomit after 5 minutes. Motion sickness in games needs more research.

Yes, a new card would need a new PSU. Nothing major, but a decent (ie not a PC World £20 job) 500w PSU will handle most things just fine, so long as you don't go mad and through in a dual GPU card (and don't, they have a lot of issues, single cards often give a smoother gaming experience).

TBH if you are looking to upgrade, as I say, a 4870 1gig, no less, but with a decent PSU you'd be closing in around the £300 mark. It would be a great gaming PC so the choice is yours.

On the other hand, if you were just after a PC for other stuff and have been surprised it came with a OK graphics card, then stick with it and just pick up older titles. I think a 2600 would struggle on UE3 games though (UT3, Gears, etc).

Half way house may be to pick up a cheap second hand nVidia 8800 series card, you MAY be able to run a 8800GTS 512 on a 300w PSU, you'd have to research though. They'll be £80 new before the end of next month. Note I said GTS 512, NOT the older, dated GTS 320 and 640 mb versions. You may have issues on that high res with 512 meg, but if you don't mind loosing AA I think it'd be fine in 99% of games

[tom-nook]

Thanks very much for the detailed (& 'plain English') response Chain. Much appreciated!

At the moment I couldn't really justify dropping ?300 on a high end card....the pc cost me less than that! Besides the missus' is the bread winner and I'm pretty sure the computer says "no" that idea

I reckon I'll start off with some older games to see what it can handle, and maybe upgrade to the 8800GTS as suggested if it struggles. I'll also investigate the PSU requirements esp. in light of Hohum's comments (which wouldn't surprise me in the least tbh).

Thanks!

[Larsfrederiksen]

Nice info Chain, that's helped me aswell.

[Matt]

Glad to be of service

The 8800GTS 512 is a great card, I've been running one since January. Right now if I was buying, I'd go for the ATI 4850 512mb at £110, it's amazing value, but it needs a meaty PSU [I think]. The trouble is, of course, once you upgrade one PC component, you often have to upgrade other parts to accomodate. For example, the 4850 may require a PCIexpress 2.0 slot, rather than a 1.0 - again I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised. So then you may need a new mobo as well as PSU.

So 4850 if you've got the PSU for it, if not 8800GTS should be fine on 300w but please check online first. TBH it's only the price of a couple of games, and often they come with games in the package anyway

[Ian(not Ian)]

TBH I reckon you'd run Gears 'ok' not at yer 1900x1200 I'd venture, but then I run it at that res, and the only difference we have is my card is 512MB with a higher 'spec', give it a go if ye can afford it.
....and, to be fair Gears needn't be run at that 1900x1200 at all, you'll be hard pushed to spot the difference. Knock it down to 1360x768 and ye'r a winner.

Prolly

[Ian(not Ian)]

Mucho is said on the GFX front, ATI, Nvidia, 256MB, 512MB, SLI and the like. But 99% of PC games run fine on the 'piddly' 256MB cards. This is mainly due to them being programmed for them in the first place. Lowest Common Denominator as they are even now.
Sure they'll struggle at the hi-res of 1900x1200, but not as much as you'd think.
Games like Crysis which are programmed for PCs which don't even exist at the moment, likely never will in the form they are now, don't help the perception of PCs and their GFX cards. It's always around the corner with them...but in fact we turned that corner a wee while ago.

[Matt]

Totally right - there's always something better just round the corner! And Crysis really is seen as the benchmark, and no card can run that high res maxxed out very well, even the latest cards struggle. Bad programming maybe? Crytek say the sequel will require less PC hardware, so some optimisation must have gone on. I wouldn't worry about Crysis though, beyond the flash graphics, I found it a pretty crap game - it improved once I changed the files so enemies died after a few bullets rather than a full clip....

As for PC Gears, I run at 1360x768 and it looks great Significantly sharper than the 360 version with high res textures.

I'd disagree that a 256mb card at high res doesn't make that much difference. Reports are coming in of people running at high res (1900 or higher) having upgrade from 512 to 1gig with the newer cards, and they're reporting up to twice the frame rate. There are a few programs that keep track of vram usage, and it can get beyond 512 when you start adding AA. Oblivion nears 800meg usage I believe.

As I say, I reckon 512 will be OK for a cheap card at a high res if you don't add AA, but once you do, aim for 1gig. Plus of course there's future proofing, with 512 cards the norm you know devs will push past it and within 2 years 1gig will be standard.

[tom-nook]

I had a look around and it looks like 300w is too puny for the 8800GTS....400-450w seems to be the realistic minimum. Decided to e-mail Dell's Tech Support last night and got the following reply:

I have reviewed your e-mail and have understood that you require the information about the PSU installed in Inspiron Desktop 530. It has all the starndard connections ( standard wiring ).

The PSU is a standard PSU with folowing specifications.

Inspiron 530
DC power supply
Wattage 300 W
Heat dissipation 162 W
NOTE: Heat dissipation is calculated based on the power supply wattage rating.
Voltage 115/230 Vac, 50/60 Hz, 7A/4A
Backup battery 3 V CR2032 lithium coin-cell

Which seems to be good news

Had a look at some PSU's but not really sure what I should be looking for. I think I need a modular psu with 20+4 pins but some descriptions talk about 'rails' and I don't have a clue what they are.

Would something like one of these be a good choice?:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114931 (read on another forum that someone was using this model w/ an Inspiron 530)


Are they easy to fit (remove a few screws & plug in the connectors?) or would I have to remove the motherboard etc. 1st.?

Thanks again & sorry for all the Q's!!!

[Hohum]

The first PSU you link to should be alright for your needs. The second one is a bit overpriced for what it is. Ignore all that guff about needing multiple rails, fact is that a single rail PSU is more reliable when it comes to running high powered graphics cards.

I don't know if you'll need to remove the motherboard or not, depends how much room you have to manoeuvre at the top of your case. Otherwise, it's a doddle to do. Oh, and you should check the inside of your case to see how much room you have for a new graphics card - most of the high end ones are fairly hefty in terms of size, and it would be a bugger if you bought one and found it doesn't fit in your case due to it being too long. In fact, I wouldn't even bother looking at a new PSU until you've checked this.