Does a better PC give you an advantage in online gaming?

Does a player playing on a top of the line PC have an advantage over a person playing on something a couple years old? I'm talking mostly about FPS games and wonder if the guy on the newer rig has an advantage when you both aim and start shooting.

Think logically, if they have higher framerate, they can see more per second. Though, the other guy can just lower settings to acheive the same frame rate.JigglyWiggly_

It also depends on bandwidth

Think logically, if they have higher framerate, they can see more per second. Though, the other guy can just lower settings to acheive the same frame rate.JigglyWiggly_

Yeah it doesn't matter in the end. I know people that still play CS 1.6 at 640x480 so they don't have to worry about the possibility of a framerate drop.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]Think logically, if they have higher framerate, they can see more per second. Though, the other guy can just lower settings to acheive the same frame rate.Amith12

It also depends on bandwidth

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]Think logically, if they have higher framerate, they can see more per second. Though, the other guy can just lower settings to acheive the same frame rate.Amith12

It also depends on bandwidth

There is a point at which having old hardware will become increasingly disadvantageous. In my experience, it starts to become an issue when you're getting framerates in the sub-30 range, as it becomes harder and harder to keep accurate track of on-screen motion dropping much below that (starts to get a bit 'jumpy'.)

Generally, though, it isn't as big an issue as some would have you to believe. I've known people who do very well running at 20-30 frames per second..it's something you can adjust to, I guess. Personally: if I'm at >45 fps, I'm happy..increasing my framerate from there makes no difference and will *not* improve how I play.

People with really old hardware can always lower detail settings to gain some performance, and it usually doesn't result in a field-of-play disadvantage (though sometimes it does if they alter things like LoD, which might make distant objects/players disappear in certain games.) The biggest thing to worry about with recent online games is large amounts of input lag..which, believe it or not, is actually seen more frequently on the higher-performance machines cranking up all the visuals.

[QUOTE="Amith12"]

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]Think logically, if they have higher framerate, they can see more per second. Though, the other guy can just lower settings to acheive the same frame rate.JigglyWiggly_

It also depends on bandwidth

I agree they only use a tiny bit, but if you have other users on the network or say you get internet spikes/drops then it can be a pain.

Also CSS has dedicated servers, what about *cough* MW2 *cough* and you don't live in the US....where normally the hosts are.

It will depend Game to game.

Example. Counterstrike source

If you have to play with shaders off then you are at a disadvantage as people can see your shadows behind objects. Higher fps on this game can allow for better hit registration. (I say this as people with low fps on this specific game seem to have less registration exepcially with fps drops such as shooting while grenades go off)

Example of lower graphics giving advantrage. Bad company 2

If you play this game in dx10 thenthere is so much dust particles and extra glare that it can impeed you alot compared to someoen playing on dx9 mode. I've been in spots where someone shot the ground around me and I literally had so much dust that i could not see where to shoot. I switched over to dx9 mode and it played much nicer in that aspect.

In the end, it can be a advantage or a disadvantage depending on a game.

It depends purely on the monitor. If you're playing on a old CRT that can hit 120hz then yes higher framerates over 60fps will help. The eye can supposedly only see 40fps or whatever. but higher frames on a high refresh rate improve the fluidity of the combat and animations. It will be easier to see where opponents are going and it will be easier to hit them.