A few problems with PC gaming that SW doesnt seem to know!

I really hate to do this as you can see my Sig, I absolutely love PC gaming and is currently my only gaming platform. But I just see that console fanboys really dont seem to be aware of some of the real drawbacks of PC gaming, you actually need to experience it first hand to know them. It is considered here that PC is just flat out better and whoever prefers consoles is dumb, not hardcore etc. This is just wrong.

In order to be a serious PC gamer, there is something you have to come to terms with which might be completely off putting for console players. Whenever you buy a new game, on a PC the first thing you do is not actually start playing the game but actually play with the settings first to find the best balance of graphics and performance, you can minimize this inconvenience by upgrading your PC very frequently but for the average person, this is a problem you will have to face. Don't listen to those hermits which tell you that it is going to be auto-selected for your PC, the auto-selection on 99% times underestimates your PC and you will not be taking advantage of it. Some games get it horribly and some are better but you still have to tinker yourself.

Now I as a PC gamer love all this tinkering and optimizing however now comes a part which annoys me as well. Most games don`t have built-in benchmarks so you will have to ruin the first stage of the game as you will continuously reload it trying to get the settings right. But then when you get it right it is entirely possible that the second stage would be alot more demanding than the first and you will have to tinker with the settings again. I just dont understand why so many games dont have a built-in benchmark, I have no problem spending a good amount of time with the benchmark but once I start playing the game I just want to play. I may still change the settings in-game to see how the graphics look but that is an entirely different thing.

Now I come to the second problem which again doesnt seem to get much attention. The average lifespan of high end graphics cards is about 2-3 years, much less than all the other expensive components in a gaming PC. I paid $480 for my GPU in 2007 and about 2.5 years later it died, I spent $180 to get a new card. People are going to tell you that PC graphics cards have a lifetime warranty, well you gotta know that it only applies to the US and canada, everywhere else the maximum you can get is 2 years. Sure this isnt something as bad as RROD but still it is something worthy I think, my 8800 was still kicking ass and I could have done without dumping $180. I still like the fact that with the PC you dont have to send in the whole tower and just replace the individual part but I think for people on budget, graphics cards might prove to be an expensive thing in the long run.

Oh and your card may have been running fine for 4 years but that's just like someones launch 360, an exception that doesnt change the picture.

Settings and graphics cards????? really??????

You know your lazy when adjusting the settings counts as a problem. Graphics cards are cheap.

This thread never left the Failport

Something else about PC gaming that System Wars seems to not know is that you don't need to play graphically demanding games to enjoy it.

It is cosidered here that PC is just flat out better and whoever prefers consoles is dumb, not hardcore etc. This is just wrong.Gambler_3

Newton's third law, people. For every opinion in SW, there is an equal and opposite opinion.

DAMNIT, i have to adjust settings and install stuff.

If only Geeksquad would do that for me for 189 bucks.

Its only a disadvantage if you are4 years old.

My 8800GTS 320MB video card lasted nearly 3 years, it died last month. Oh what could I do? I sent it back to Evga and got a free replacement, a 8800GTS 640MB. Picking out cards with good warranties is key, if you pick out a electronic device that has a short warranty, you're to blame.

As for the settings, you act like that's a real issue. Your system gets underestimated... serious issue? No.

Settings and graphics cards????? really??????

You know your lazy when adjusting the settings counts as a problem. Graphics cards are cheap.

This thread never left the Failport

akira2465

And the 360 is cheap as well, shall we discount the RROD as well?

Neither of the 2 problems is a deal breaker for me but learn to admit the flaws of something no matter how much you may like it. You know there are people with very busy lives and for them consoles is definitely the way to go as on PC you spend a good amount of your gaming time not actually gaming.

I'd rather spend 1 minute pushing all the settings to max than getting stuck with 720p and 30 fps :lol:

Adjusting settings is a problem? Are you really serious? That is a plus my man, not a negative. Who even uses auto-select? Half the fun is doing it on you know your own.millerlight89

Neither of the 2 problems is a deal breaker for me but learn to admit the flaws of something no matter how much you may like it.

Gambler_3

My 8800GTS 320MB video card lasted nearly 3 years, it died last month. Oh what could I do? I sent it back to Evga and got a free replacement, a 8800GTS 640MB. Picking out cards with good warranties is key, if you pick out a electronic device that has a short warranty, you're to blame.

As for the settings, you act like that's a real issue. Your system gets underestimated... serious issue? No.

Mystic-G

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]Adjusting settings is a problem? Are you really serious? That is a plus my man, not a negative. Who even uses auto-select? Half the fun is doing it on you know your own.Gambler_3

I find trying to find the perfect settings to balance graphics and perfomance to be kind of fun.

Wait wait, adjusting settings is a drawback? Unless you have absolutely no idea what ur doing and wondering "wtf is resolution supposed to be" then it might be a problem.

On PC you can decide how the game looks (within it's limits ofcourse) while on consoles - it looks how it looks, you don't have a say in the matter.

And seriously, graphics cards?

I got my HD4670 for $80 last year and I've had no problem runing anything so far.

Something else about PC gaming that System Wars seems to not know is that you don't need to play graphically demanding games to enjoy it.

Yangire

I'd have to agree with this, considering that i play Touhou.

Lifetime Video card warranties come to mind on this thread. I was able to send in my old 9600 gso years later and they replaced it no problem (for free including shipping. Thank you evga). That can kinda defeat that TC problem on PC gaming as its a end users judgment to make sure they get the best bang for the buck and warranties can go greatly overlooked. Your next issue is a bit mellow. Just seems to subjective to me. I can't find the optimum settings thus this is a problem just seems off to me to state.jedikevin2

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]Lifetime Video card warranties come to mind on this thread. I was able to send in my old 9600 gso years later and they replaced it no problem (for free including shipping. Thank you evga). That can kinda defeat that TC problem on PC gaming as its a end users judgment to make sure they get the best bang for the buck and warranties can go greatly overlooked. Your next issue is a bit mellow. Just seems to subjective to me. I can't find the optimum settings thus this is a problem just seems off to me to state.Gambler_3

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]Lifetime Video card warranties come to mind on this thread. I was able to send in my old 9600 gso years later and they replaced it no problem (for free including shipping. Thank you evga). That can kinda defeat that TC problem on PC gaming as its a end users judgment to make sure they get the best bang for the buck and warranties can go greatly overlooked. Your next issue is a bit mellow. Just seems to subjective to me. I can't find the optimum settings thus this is a problem just seems off to me to state.devious742

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]Lifetime Video card warranties come to mind on this thread. I was able to send in my old 9600 gso years later and they replaced it no problem (for free including shipping. Thank you evga). That can kinda defeat that TC problem on PC gaming as its a end users judgment to make sure they get the best bang for the buck and warranties can go greatly overlooked. Your next issue is a bit mellow. Just seems to subjective to me. I can't find the optimum settings thus this is a problem just seems off to me to state.Gambler_3

Just because you state, "lifetime warranties don't mean anything", doesn't allow it to still come to my mind. Like I said, it kinda defeats the problem in the base case. Outside of that, 2-3 years is a "subjective" number base on speculation. Just because your card died doesn't mean others haven't. There are many cards from a vast amount of companies that run just as well as the day they were put in the persons computers. Its seeming you are scratching for faults because something failed on you. I can definitely feel you on that as I stated I also have had failure. That though does not make a clear way to state a problem. For all we could know, you overclocked the video card which caused it to die. You could have not used a surge protector or overheated the card playing a heavy gpu intensive game longer then the gpu fan could sustain good cooling. To many variables to make this a "problem" in the sense you are presenting it.

[QUOTE="devious742"]

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]Why did you not bother reading the OP before posting?

ferret-gamer

[QUOTE="devious742"]

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]Why did you not bother reading the OP before posting?

ferret-gamer

[QUOTE="ferret-gamer"][QUOTE="devious742"]that doenst apply to him.. only because some ppl cant get lifetime warranty doesnt mean we cant.. heck my card has lifetime warranty.. Am I supposed to dismiss it only because you cant get it?

millerlight89

[QUOTE="millerlight89"][QUOTE="ferret-gamer"] evga gave me a lifetime warranty on my gtx 280 even though im not the original owner. Millerlight apparently never registered it.ferret-gamer

It is considered here that PC is just flat out better and whoever prefers consoles is dumb, not hardcore etc. This is just wrong.

Gambler_3

I can't speak for everyone, but the only thing I've ever contested is that console games are as deep as PC games. They simply aren't. For instance, compare IL2: Sturmovik on the PC with IL2: Birds of Prey on the consoles, or Civilization Revolution on consoles with any PC Civ game. That's not a knock against consoles, just a simple statement of fact: Deeper games are on the PC, and for people like me that means PC is our platform of choice. It has nothing to do with hardcore/dumb or whatever.

In order to be a serious PC gamer, there is something you have to come to terms with which might be completely off putting for console players. Whenever you buy a new game, on a PC the first thing you do is not actually start playing the game but actually play with the settings first to find the best balance of graphics and performance, Gambler_3

Almost all modern games do a very good job of auto-detecting your settings. This is no longer an issue. And if you want to play with it and tweak it, that's an option you don't have on consoles.

The average lifespan of high end graphics cards is about 2-3 years, much less than all the other expensive components in a gaming PC. I paid $480 for my GPU in 2007 and about 2.5 years later it died...

Oh and your card may have been running fine for 4 years but that's just like someones launch 360, an exception that doesnt change the picture.

Gambler_3

Nice bit of hypocrisy there. Your experience =/= common.

Look, I've been in the IT industry for nearly 20 years. If you keep your PC clean (that means taking the case off and blowing the dust out every month, and blowing the dust out of fans) then it's most likely going to last a long, long time. Yeah, things die sometime, but most video cards live long enough that they simply get discarded years down the line for something new.

It takes how long to change graphics settings? 1-2 minutes maybe?

How does having the ability to do this not beat out being stuck at sub-hd resolutions at 30fps?

Sometimes I just don't get people. :(

I really hate to do this as you can see my Sig, I absolutely love PC gaming and is currently my only gaming platform. But I just see that console fanboys really dont seem to be aware of some of the real drawbacks of PC gaming, you actually need to experience it first hand to know them. It is considered here that PC is just flat out better and whoever prefers consoles is dumb, not hardcore etc. This is just wrong.

In order to be a serious PC gamer, there is something you have to come to terms with which might be completely off putting for console players. Whenever you buy a new game, on a PC the first thing you do is not actually start playing the game but actually play with the settings first to find the best balance of graphics and performance, you can minimize this inconvenience by upgrading your PC very frequently but for the average person, this is a problem you will have to face. Don't listen to those hermits which tell you that it is going to be auto-selected for your PC, the auto-selection on 99% times underestimates your PC and you will not be taking advantage of it. Some games get it horribly and some are better but you still have to tinker yourself.

Now I as a PC gamer love all this tinkering and optimizing however now comes a part which annoys me as well. Most games don`t have built-in benchmarks so you will have to ruin the first stage of the game as you will continuously reload it trying to get the settings right. But then when you get it right it is entirely possible that the second stage would be alot more demanding than the first and you will have to tinker with the settings again. I just dont understand why so many games dont have a built-in benchmark, I have no problem spending a good amount of time with the benchmark but once I start playing the game I just want to play. I may still change the settings in-game to see how the graphics look but that is an entirely different thing.

Now I come to the second problem which again doesnt seem to get much attention. The average lifespan of high end graphics cards is about 2-3 years, much less than all the other expensive components in a gaming PC. I paid $480 for my GPU in 2007 and about 2.5 years later it died, I spent $180 to get a new card. People are going to tell you that PC graphics cards have a lifetime warranty, well you gotta know that it only applies to the US and canada, everywhere else the maximum you can get is 2 years. Sure this isnt something as bad as RROD but still it is something worthy I think, my 8800 was still kicking ass and I could have done without dumping $180. I still like the fact that with the PC you dont have to send in the whole tower and just replace the individual part but I think for people on budget, graphics cards might prove to be an expensive thing in the long run.

Oh and your card may have been running fine for 4 years but that's just like someones launch 360, an exception that doesnt change the picture.

Gambler_3

you explained the biggest reason why i go for consoles insteadbigM10231

So you prefer Consoles because you don't like to tweak graphics for optimum gaming experience and that you don't like possible hardware failure?

Isn't optimum gaming experience in settings and possible hardware failure just as comparable on consoles as well? I find myself going into my 360, ds, psp, ps2, and even iphone game settings just like I do my Pc games. On 360 and others its more too fine tune controls, sound, difficulty etc which results in optimum gaming experience on that platform and can take a minute or 2 inside the first stage to get right.

I'm really not understanding that as "the biggest reason" to go to consoles.

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]Lifetime Video card warranties come to mind on this thread. I was able to send in my old 9600 gso years later and they replaced it no problem (for free including shipping. Thank you evga). That can kinda defeat that TC problem on PC gaming as its a end users judgment to make sure they get the best bang for the buck and warranties can go greatly overlooked. Your next issue is a bit mellow. Just seems to subjective to me. I can't find the optimum settings thus this is a problem just seems off to me to state.jedikevin2

Just because you state, "lifetime warranties don't mean anything", doesn't allow it to still come to my mind. Like I said, it kinda defeats the problem in the base case. Outside of that, 2-3 years is a "subjective" number base on speculation. Just because your card died doesn't mean others haven't. There are many cards from a vast amount of companies that run just as well as the day they were put in the persons computers. Its seeming you are scratching for faults because something failed on you. I can definitely feel you on that as I stated I also have had failure. That though does not make a clear way to state a problem. For all we could know, you overclocked the video card which caused it to die. You could have not used a surge protector or overheated the card playing a heavy gpu intensive game longer then the gpu fan could sustain good cooling. To many variables to make this a "problem" in the sense you are presenting it.

And no I didnt overclock my card, I have a pretty expensive power supply with alot of protections in it like overvoltage\undervoltage and short circuit protection. My card died with the PC on idle. You can look up the internet forums, most peoples card die in 2-3 years.

My card died sometime ago and now I have a much better card, as much as it may seem to you this thread isnt for some personal reasons!

[QUOTE="akira2465"]

Settings and graphics cards????? really??????

You know your lazy when adjusting the settings counts as a problem. Graphics cards are cheap.

This thread never left the Failport

Gambler_3

And the 360 is cheap as well, shall we discount the RROD as well?

Neither of the 2 problems is a deal breaker for me but learn to admit the flaws of something no matter how much you may like it. You know there are people with very busy lives and for them consoles is definitely the way to go as on PC you spend a good amount of your gaming time not actually gaming.

one minute? :?

[QUOTE="ferret-gamer"]

[QUOTE="millerlight89"] Nope I sure didn't lawls. I never do. I always mean to, but that plan always gets over seen lol.millerlight89

Ohh, alot of flaming for a reasonable post I'd say. I like tweaking aswell but I think we all know that we aren't exactly an adequate representation of the average gamer.I think the majority of the gamers doesn't even know what anisotropic filtering, ambient occlusion, vertical sync and triple buffering do or the difference between supersampling and multisampling antialaising.

PC gaming rocks but when you're stuck with a mediocre graphics card it can require some tweaking, especially when the levels are inconsistant (I remember having to dail back the settings when I hit the snow levels in Crysis). Just because we know how to deal with it, enjoy it and love the flexibility doesn't mean other people do too.

In the end I don't consider it a big deal but it's defeniantly a factor to consider for people that know remarkablylittle about graphic settings. It's also one of the reasons why consoles have been so succesfull, just plug and play. Which is also the reason console gamers are annoyed by the countless patches/firmware updates on this gen's consoles because they always thought that was supposed to be a PC exclusive thing.

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

[QUOTE="akira2465"]

Settings and graphics cards????? really??????

You know your lazy when adjusting the settings counts as a problem. Graphics cards are cheap.

This thread never left the Failport

CaseyWegner

And the 360 is cheap as well, shall we discount the RROD as well?

Neither of the 2 problems is a deal breaker for me but learn to admit the flaws of something no matter how much you may like it. You know there are people with very busy lives and for them consoles is definitely the way to go as on PC you spend a good amount of your gaming time not actually gaming.

one minute? :?

Ohh, alot of flaming for a reasonable post I'd say. I like tweaking aswell but I think we all know that we aren't exactly an adequate representation of the average gamer.I think the majority of the gamers doesn't even know what anisotropic filtering, ambient occlusion, vertical sync and triple buffering do ordifference between supersampling and multisampling antialaising.

PC gaming rocks but when you're stuck with a mediocre graphics card it can require some tweaking, especially when the levels are inconsistant (I remember having to dail back the settings when I hit the snow levels in Crysis). Just because we know how to deal with it, enjoy it and love the flexibility doesn't mean other people do too.

In the end I don't consider it a big deal but it's defeniantly a factor to consider for people that know remarkablylittle about graphic settings. It's also one of the reasons why consoles have been so succesfull, just plug and play. Which is also the reason console gamers are annoyed by the countless patches/firmware updates because they always thought that was supposed to be a PC exclusive thing.

CAPSROGUE

[QUOTE="CaseyWegner"]

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]It's not a big problem for me but I am sure it is for others, my friends get annoyed with it and I can understand that sort of mentality.

And the 360 is cheap as well, shall we discount the RROD as well?

Neither of the 2 problems is a deal breaker for me but learn to admit the flaws of something no matter how much you may like it. You know there are people with very busy lives and for them consoles is definitely the way to go as on PC you spend a good amount of your gaming time not actually gaming.

Gambler_3

one minute? :?

what you just described is very atypical.

A gaming PC needs more software maintenence for optimal performance, then add in the time of installing games, tweaking with the settings, running benchmarks, dealing with some random notorious windows issue etc and a good amount of time that you wanted to game wasnt actually spent in it.Gambler_3

seems strange a pc gamer would seek to highlight two "problems" with pc gaming so insignificant that nobody, not even the most avid consolite, has bothered to bring them up before. as far as "problems" go those are really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

also judging from your spec youre due an upgrade. pc gaming ftw :D

seems strange a pc gamer would seek to highlight two "problems" with pc gaming so insignificant that nobody, not even the most avid consolite, has bothered to bring them up before. as far as "problems" go those are really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

also judging from your spec youre due an upgrade. pc gaming ftw :D

Macutchi

No that's not what I said. Lifetime warranty only exists in north america and since this is system wars and not american system wars, lifetime warranty is not really a very strong point when the majority of PC gamers cant utilize it.

And no I didnt overclock my card, I have a pretty expensive power supply with alot of protections in it like overvoltage\undervoltage and short circuit protection. My card died with the PC on idle. You can look up the internet forums, most peoples card die in 2-3 years.

My card died sometime ago and now I have a much better card, as much as it may seem to you this thread isnt for some personal reasons!

Gambler_3

You do as a base case understand this GS forum is based in North America correct? Thats just a quick fyi though. While warranties can sometimes not help the consumer, excluding that they do help a major portion is also a wrong attitude to have. You do know that if you do research you can find cards that do have lifetime warranties (most are 10 years actually) for countries outside of US and Canada?

For example, when I bought my GTS 250 it was from BFG. My warranty as stands now is,

"Product is protected for the product's lifetime in the United States and Canada, and 10 years from the date of purchase in all countries outside the US and Canada, against defects in material and workmanship."

Though BFG has stopped making video cards, this warranty still exist for my card as I registered it in the correct and timely fashion. This is just one example as I follow the conditions of my video card warranties. I can bet, many other companies have some things similiar to this. (not saying they all do). It is again the end user responsibility to find out this kind of information. Its is their own problem if they picked a product that could have been covered if they aquired it from another company.

Onto your next statement. You are making a speculatory statement on video card longevity . You read forums where people cards die and since yours died, and are presuming "most peoples card dies in 2-3 years." That is a wrong assertion to have.

Also, what does "personal reasons" have to do with how you presented your arguments? You are basing issues on meaningless conjecture or short sighted opinions.

My 8800gt OC is stil kicking but my power supply died a few months ago.

I sent it in to BFG and they replaced it with a brand new sealed one that was better than my original one.

My friend had his 8800gtx die on him at the beginning of this year and BFG replaced it for him with a GTX 275.

Also most games I have no problem with settings I Just max everything and play.

Except you don't need to fiddle with settings at all when most games these days just default to what your system can run best... and even if that isn't the best it can do, its likely more than what consoles can manage. These seem like very trifling issues that don't really cause detriment to the PC at all.

The average lifespan of high end graphics cards is about 2-3 years,

Gambler_3