new To PC Gaming (What Should I Get)

right so im new to PC gaming, well i will be when i get my lpwopt (look in sig) and kind of games should i look out for and what setting can i expect to use (again look in sig) i already have an idea of what i wonna play, i just dont want to miss any great less advertised games out their well i love most kind of games excpet educational ones

these are the games im already interested in, it would also be ncie to know what i should expect from them FPS wise and what settings i should use to get the best performance from them

TES: Oblivion
Age Of Empires
Black or White (1 and 2)
world in comflict
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
guild wars
Battlefield 2142
Halo 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Unreal Anthology
football manager 2008
crysis

 

high settings all of those, maybe notch a few down in World in Conflict and and Crysis, but everything should be very playable at highest settings cept those two. Nice laptop and good luck

 

thanx^^
i cant wait til i get it.

 

Well, you can expect to run those games at max settings in a pretty high res and get great FPS. Not too sure about Crysis though. I think you can max out the settings, but you need to keep the res low to maintain good FPs during the intense parts of the game.

You can run most of these games in near your native res. Say 1680*1050. That way you keep leave some GPU power for stuff like 2x AA and 8x AF which I find always helps games look great. The older games should be fine at 1920*1200 if they support it. BF2142 you should keep at 1024*768. 1600*1200 didn't really play nice for me on my 1920*1200 screen. Too much distortions. But hey, at least you can use the rest of your GPU's power for AA, AF and high settings. BF2142 doesn't support widescreen.

Other games you might wanna check out are Call of Duty 4 and The Orange Box. The Orange Box is a fantastic deal if you don't own HL2, Ep 1 and 2.

 

yeah i had the Orange box on ps3 but it sucked (not the game it took to long to load and their was stuttering, gonna get it PC and i hope it plays better and of course Call Of Duty 4 how could i forget that><

 

Lots of good games came out recently. Its been awhile though. Years before have been slow IMO.

 

i know, for some reason been looking at them over the years even though my computer had no chance of playing them, how well would Hellgate London and The Witcher play, also whats the games like ive heard mixed reviews on both

 

I've been gaming for over 10 years (close to 15 years) and I used to buy a lot of games, now I only buy a limited number of game series I like Metal Gear Solid (okay, this not PC) Half-Life and Battlefield. Sometimes I buy a game if it gets good ratings all around. That why I bought Call of Duty 4. Single play wasn't too impressive IMO, but on-line it rocks.

 

yeah im thinking its gonna cost a lot but not as much as being a console gamer

console game £39.99
PC game £24.99 (mostly)
saving per game £15 (mostly)

 

You should be able to run Crysis at 1280x1024 with all High Settings.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsId=4236

 

The advantage is a console doesn't need to be upgraded during its lifetime. But maybe some day that will be common too.

The most upgraded component on a PC is the GPU. CPU's can last you a long time, it's the GPU that becomes the weak spot of your system early on.

 

Oblivion is a real hit and miss affair under Vista 64.
I populate the Bethesda Hardware and Software issues forum under the same name and we see no end of Vista issues.

 

This is the reason I still stick to 32-bit. 64-bit has come a long way but isn't perfect just yet. Have you tried compatibility mode?

 

Yeah Crysis is the only game that won't run at full res without alot of dumbing down, everything else should be fine (although I suggest you change grass size in Oblivion a bit to allow smoother 1920x1200 gameplay).

Play everything with at least 4XAF (most should give you almost free 16XAF), although if you're out of native it will be less important. Some games may give you good levels of AA like Black and White, Unreal anthology, those shoudl do 4XAA/16XAF easily.

I wouldn't do 1280x1024 in Crysis just because it's an off-ratio resolution for standard 4:3 not WS, pick something closer to either 1280x800 or 1440x900 whichever option you have in the drop down (can't remember them right now).

Bioshock is another good game to check out, especially for graphics, and the gameplay on COD4 is awesome, but I guess you already know that.

 

Bioshock has nasty DRM on it. I don't like games with such strict DRM.

 

If you don't mind, could you embellish on this a bit? I noticed I would have had to activate Bioshock online or some such thing, which I am presently unable to do due to my current living arrangement, but there is more to it than that?

 

People I know who bought the game had a hell of a time getting it to activate. Basically the on-line activation was overwhelmed by the number of people trying to validate their copies and most people ended up calling the hotline in frustration.
One of my friends actually finally got through and the game told him flat out he was a pirate. He bought his copy legally. It was a real hassle when calling the hotline. Eventually he got a refund.

Other issues are I read conflicts with AV/AS software. Some seem to go nuts when you install the game. Your number of installs are limited. Heck, Windows XP and Vista have more liberal re-install policies. I don't mind calling MS for a reinstall, but for a game?

I'm very cautious of DRM. Especially after the stunt Sony pulled. If you popped one of their music CD's in your computer it installed a rootkit. They later released an uninstaller for it that doesn't even remove it. To get rid of it you need to format and reinstall.

I understand the need for the companies to protect their interests but some just take it to the extreme.

 

I understand, but if you know how to circumvent, then it's not a problem.

And your info's also a little outdated (including how bogged down do you think the activation is now), the number of installs isn't limited, but it will ask you to contact tech support if you now go over 10, it was 3 before. Not sure it matters to many, but so be it. As for the M$ comments, I think you're confusing the policies with enforcement of those policies.

The thing is that Valve's base requirements are far more involved than those, but you had no problem recommending their product. To me it's a hassle, but just that. For Bioshock really the main concern is if you use alot of ISO and virtual drive apps in which case do your research first. But considering the current state of DRM if you don't look into this first, then really that's your fault. They do what they think they must, and we pretend it's effective, and then do what we want.

BTW, your info on Sony is slightly off, the Sony removal tool does remove the rootkit, it just wants to install something else as well. There are of course otherways to do it that we were doing long before they finally came out with the tool for tools.

 

DRM gone bad just grinds my gears.

Yeah I know the limitations Valve puts on their products and I'm not all that comfortable with it. DRM has become a fact of life, but that doesn't mean I have to approve of everything. I do research a new game if it comes with DRM and I'm willing to except some forms of DRM as long as it doesn't make me feel like I don't own the software.

I miss the old days when if I coughed up the money for a piece of software it was really mine. Now, I just feel like I loan a game from a company.

 

Yep I agree wholeheartedly, but there are ways around it, and the cat & mouse game continues. I prefer it like Take2's for Oblivion so I can buy install, and then use the no-DVD hack. I buy all my ES titles and expansions, and even bought Morrowind on Xbox first, so while I have the tools to pirate, I don't except the rare title I'd likely never buy and sometimes I like it enough to buy, and even then usually too much hassle to download versus buying disk. Unfortunately it's the pirates who never buy anything at all that ruin it for everyone.

Main thing is still still try to find ways to enjoy the game, and if you make a game out of circumventing the DRM, hey it's like a bonus pack.

Anywhoo, I know your feelings about DRM, my sig in other forums is one of the AACS keys, just didn't think it would go over well with mods here at the time.

 

I really recommend getting the Orange Box!! It's 5 games in one and 5 great games at that. And you should be able to run them all on the highest settings. HL2 is an epic game, portal is just pure awesome, and Team Fortress 2 is really fun. It's like the best bang for you buck in terms of PC gaming right now.

 

Definitely get World in Conflict.

 

Forgot to mention this about Orange Box, it's great As long as you don't already own HL2, HL2EP1.

That bugs me more than DRM. Oh yeah, I get to give away copies;
in my best homer Simpson voice *OOoooohh look at me Marge, I'm making people Happy! I'm the magical man, from Happy Land, who lives in a gumdrop house on Lolly Pop Lane giving out copies of HL2*
C'mon!

I bought the Gold version of HL2 (because I wanted to reward them for the original), and then EP1, what do you think I did for the Orange box? Valve may be tough to circumvent, but not impossible.

Now that COD4 came out and I bought that, I don't care anymore about it, which is why I didn't mention it the first time.

 

Either one should play very well. Hellgate London won't max out in DX10 at 1920x1200; you'll have to back that down. I believe The Witcher will fare about as well.

There are demo versions of both of those games available, but for what it's worth, The Witcher has proven pretty popular around these forums.

Hellgate: London is awful, though. It's like Diablo II, except with boring skills and the same level over and over again. There's SOME fun to be gleaned out of it, but you really have to work for it.

 

I own the Special Edition of HL2 and Ep 1. (Yay! HL2 T-shirt!) Later I bought the Orange Box. I had mixed feelings about it. I wanted Ep 2 and Portals. On the plus side my Ep 1 disc was damaged so now I had a new disc with the game. I know you can download it, but sometimes a disc is just a little faster and more comfortable. I like a tangible copy of the software just in case.

Recently Valve announced they're going to make seperate discs for alle the games in the Orange Box. So you can buy the games without buying the stuff you already have. Now thats what I call a rip-off. It's nice for people who don't own the games yet, but I bought the full package because I couldn't get then individually.

Still the Orange Box is a lot of fun. Portal was very funny. It's not like I regret buying it.

 

A little DRM fun: http://lazytownpiracy.ytmnd.com/