...But were you satisfied?

[Thetimewarp]

I will be getting a killler gaming rig soon (I hope) to replace my current pentium 4 POS. I can play WoW on low at 30FPS on it! When I get my new rig i think I'll be hopping in to some FPS gaming as well as the newer RTS's like Warhammer Dawn of War II and probably Supreme Commander 2, as well as maintaining my MMO subscriptions.

The question is, will I maintain the feeling of euphoria I get when I play on my friends' gaming rigs and can max every setting comfortably? Or will I, like with most new gadgetry, eventually get bored and take it for granted? Will I get frustrated that new tech is making my PC look like a dinosaur?

More to the point, did these things happen to you? I want to guage the overall satisfaction you felt if and when you bought a new gaming platform that was a serious upgrade to your previous rig, and how long you felt it. The main reason for this post is that I don't want to fall into the never-ending pit of consumerism without knowing that the high I get will last a little longer than other purchases.

Go forth and discuss!

 

[Radical_Edward]

I still enjoy my rig. If that's what your asking, a good way to remind yourself about how much you like your rig, is to help others with their, not as good rigs. You learn to appreciate your computer much more.

It's easy for me to "love" my X4 after working on a crappy Celeron running Windows XP.

Eventually, your rig will become outdated to the point where you'll need to upgrade again. But being as most games these days are crappy console ports, it'll be a while.

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

I still enjoy my rig I built 4-5 years ago. The single core Athlon 3800+ still does its job. I only upgraded the gfx to a 4850 (from a 7900gt) 2 years ago, and it was a good way to keep it in the modern age. The computer will still run most games just fine. Yes, I still enjoy it. I always enjoy cleaning the fans and admiring the build when I do.

Hell, I even enjoy the rigs I have had for 10-12 years. I enjoy them because when I built them, they were awesome at the time. They still are awesome, they still run, and they really bring back that nostalgia feeling when I use them.

Anyway, I constantly get flak for having a laptop as my main rig these days, but hey, I still enjoy it. As long as you PC is not a total POS, and you take care of it, you should be proud.

 

[Thetimewarp]

crappy console ports

It's funny cos it's true.

 

[Radical_Edward]

I upgraded to my "current" rig from a Athlon X2, and before that, I was using a crappy dual 500Mhz processor Mac G4.

 

[Kursah]

Honestly if you went this long with a Pentium IV setup, I'm sure whatever you get will be pretty damn amazing. Hell a netbook can play WoW these days, SupCom2 isn't uber stressful, DoWII is fairly stressful. I do a ton of gaming on my ever-aging rig, and while at times I feel a need to upgrade, playing my library of games, new and old, modded, patched, left alone, all play great, all are cranked up, I can't seem to find a true reason to upgrade.

Spend more time using your hardware than paying attention to what's replacing it and you'll have no problems enjoying what it can provide you. The biggest things to watch on gaming rigs (imo) are GPU power, amount of HDD space (I prefer space over speed, though I have a lot of games), and amount of RAM. If you have a modern dual or quad core, odds are you're fine in that dept. My most recent upgrade was from a GTX260 to an HD5870...it was not necessary but helped a friend out when I upgraded, I found a smokin' deal last spring and I haven't looked back. I'd had the 260 since July of 08 and loved it.

My rig was outdated when I built it...but I'm more of a "bang for the buck" kind of guy than a "gotta have the newest pwnt hardware or else I might freak out" kind of guy. I have the oldest intel quad core, old gskill ddr2 ram, 3 old hdd's, hell half of my build is 3+ years old now...which in PC hardware tech life, I've missed 2-3 generations already...and yet I have no issues, qualms, or worries.

Sure I could upgrade now and have a more efficient system, higher 24/7 OC's, a cooler running system, etc...just don't need it. I used to upgrade once every few months...that gets expensive and annoying...I got to the point where I'd rather have a stable rig, with known solid OC's, and be able to do what I want without worries...I found it, and have kept it that way. Though it does take trial and error to find depending on what you're after, budget and how you plan to attain it. But with a place like TPU, it's much, much easier than just guessing or going pre-built.

 

[Thetimewarp]

if you went this long with a Pentium IV setup, I'm sure whatever you get will be pretty damn amazing.

Well I'll be going from this to

So yeah I think I'll be pretty pleased.

 

[JrRacinFan]

^^ too true. Tbh, kursah, one of the best persons to take advice from. I know I myself ignored some of his advice. But a lot of it I had taken in. here's to you kursah.

Aside from that, I've enjoyed every single platform I have been on, I just like to b***h a lot. Lol

@timewarp

Single 6970 comin out soon. See if u can wait a couple weeks if u haven't ordered yet.

 

[Techtu]

Well I'll be going from this to
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7729/newlx.png

So yeah I think I'll be pretty pleased.

If you feel comfortable overclocking yourself you could save yourself some money and go for the stock clocked GTX460 as most will reach the speeds of "superclocked" factory overclocked cards... Or what Jr said

 

[Kursah]

Well I'll be going from this to
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7729/newlx.png

So yeah I think I'll be pretty pleased.

Looks like a solid build, will severely smoke any Pentium IV setup by leaps and bounds. Have you already placed the order? When will you be getting it up and running?

^^ too true. Tbh, kursah, one of the best persons to take advice from. I know I myself ignored some of his advice. But a lot of it I had taken in. here's to you kursah.

Aside from that, I've enjoyed every single platform I have been on, I just like to b***h a lot. Lol

Thanks man, appreciate the comments. We all learn from our experiences, trials and errors, and luck...all we can do is share it with others. It's how the community here at TPU does such things that makes it worth coming here, great place, great people, and kickass PC's. What more can you ask for from a pc tech site?

 

[Thetimewarp]

If you feel comfortable overclocking yourself you could save yourself some money and go for the stock clocked GTX460 as most will reach the speeds of "superclocked" factory overclocked cards... Or what Jr said

I appreciate it but unfortunately I don't feel confident with that, hence why I had to start a thread on TPU to refine this build in the first place

Even with TPU's expert advice at my disposal I feel that paying £20 extra for both cards is worth more than waiting for replacements in the mail

 

[Easy Rhino]

it depends on the person. some people are never satisfied and spend hundreds on their rig every 2-3 months. others buy a decent PC and never upgrade it again because it is good enough for them or they simply lose interest over time.

 

[Fourstaff]

Depends on how often you visit TPU. You buy your computer, its fast and everything, and you are happy with it. Some time later, W1z reviews something awesome (like GTX580X2 or some shit like that), and you saw the charts: your computer suddenly looks like a POS compared to that new system. And you will be mad. Advice: buy your computer and quit TPU asap if you want to be happy with your rig.

 

[Radical_Edward]

Or you could stay with TPU, and still be happy with your rig anyways.

Sure, you can always want better later on, and after a while I think it's more than justified to upgrade your rig if you believe it necessary.

 

[Thetimewarp]

Yeah I guess my recent interest in tech might have just been a byproduct of my new rig! In which case when I get it I will unsubscribe from all tech forums and put my fingers in my ears and play metro 2033 forever

As to the question of when I'm getting it should be around christmas time.

 

[Swamp Monster]

I upgraded from old Athlon XP 1.66GHz to (specs in my sig.) about 2 years ago and I am still happpy with My PC. It still feels fast and plays all modern games great with medium to high settings. Only thing I want to upgrade is my video card so I could play games with ultra quality settings. I recommend you to buy good graphics card, then you will not even want to upgrade for a few years.

 

[streetfighter 2]

I actually just recently upgraded from a 10 year old Pentium 4 2.8@3.2GHz system to a Phenom II X4 3.1GHz@3.7GHz and I must say the difference is non-negligible. Similar to the difference between MOTHER ****ER WEEEEEEEE, and Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?. Don't get me wrong, my P4 was once the pinnacle of computing, but a single core of my Phenom II X4 at stock clock speed could run circles around it while translating the Library of Congress into Farsi.

I feel the chronological distance between my personal rig upgrades does segregate me from most of my TPU brethren, who seem to take more incremental steps with their desktop rigs. Consequently I can make that judgement from both a technical and personal standpoint.

I used to offload tasks like encoding to other computers on my network, these days I perform those tasks while playing games. This computer should maintain moderate standing until about two years from now when Moore's Law makes my computer it's bitch. Nothing you can do about that.

 

[Techtu]

I actually just recently upgraded from a 10 year old Pentium 4 2.8@3.2GHz system to a Phenom II X4 3.1GHz@3.7GHz and I must say the difference is non-negligible. Similar to the difference between MOTHER ****ER WEEEEEEEE, and Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?. Don't get me wrong, my P4 was once the pinnacle of computing, but a single core of my Phenom II X4 at stock clock speed could run circles around it while translating the Library of Congress into Farsi.

I feel the chronological distance between my personal rig upgrades does segregate me from most of my TPU brethren, who seem to take more incremental steps with their desktop rigs. Consequently I can make that judgement from both a technical and personal standpoint.

I used to offload tasks like encoding to other computers on my network, these days I perform those tasks while playing games. This computer should maintain moderate standing until about two years from now when Moore's Law makes my computer it's bitch. Nothing you can do about that.

If you have read the wiki link you'd of also noticed that Moore's law will probably just enter a new era, possibly Quantum_computers, it's certainly an insight on how things may turn out and give us a whole new look on how we see Moore's law as it is today.

Sorry if that first bit sounds a bit bitchy - it's not in-tented to

 

[CDdude55]

A while ago i built a system that consisted of an Core 2 Duo E4400, 2GB's of OCZ Gold DDR2 800 memory an 8600 GTS 256 MB card and a 680i SLI motherboard. I ran with that rig for sometime and gradually upgraded each component overtime, i added an extra 2GB's of memory, replaced the E4400 with a QX6700 and eventually upgraded the video card to a HD 4870. It was an awesome rig that flew though pretty much any game, even todays games i have no doubt it could still play with a fair amount of ease because as said, the majority of PC games are crappy Consoles ports anyways.

To be honest, my i7 rig is pretty overkill for what i do, which is mainly gaming and internet surfing (and benchmarking from time to time). But i had the money at the time and i wanted to build a killer system, i didn't want to skimp out on parts like i did with my previous builds and instead went on to buy some kick ass parts, so i decided to go with the X58 chipset with an i7 920, 6GB's of memory and i did a side grade to a HD 5770(which is now a GTX 470), and i am very happy with my rig.

For me i have fun upgrading and tweaking and playing around with any kind of computer, even if i was still running with my 680i and E4400 rig i'd still have fun. Because you shouldn't limit yourself, It's not about 'oh well this system is old so it's time to give it up', it's about incrementally improving what you have or even going with a new full blown rig if you can afford it. Technology moves fast, don't be disappointed if your system isn't as good as it once was, as that's the way tech goes and always will.

 

[Thetimewarp]

If you have read the wiki link you'd of also noticed that Moore's law will probably just enter a new era, possibly Quantum_computers, it's certainly an insight on how things may turn out and give us a whole new look on how we see Moore's law as it is today.

Sorry if that first bit sounds a bit bitchy - it's not in-tented to

There have always been perceived limits on technology - planes, trains, space travel and now computers. I believe that Moore's law should be taken with a pinch of salt because it is subjective.

 

[WhiteLotus]

Out standing question.

My responses seem to go against the flow here though.

When I built my first rig, I was happy but then I got used to it. I was constantly upgrading it spending more and more money so I could feel the change of a new part. New CPU for SupCom1, new sound card to for my music.

Eventually I told myself enough is enough, the rig is over kill. Then I build my current rig and it does everything my high-powered rig did but it was just a whole lot cheaper.

I guess the moral of the story is to build your computer to meet your needs, not change your needs to meet your computer.

 

[KingPing]

I went from a 800Mhz celeron with onboard video:shadedshu to a Pentium D with a 7600GT, which was the first pc i built, and from that to a C2D e8400 with a 8800GTS and then to a C2Q 9550 with a 4870 and then to the rig on my sig. I don't regret anything.

The difference from the celeron to the Pentium D was huge, from barely be able to run windows to do everything without having to close any app and run games.

Then i had to choose between a Xbox 360 or a new PC (C2D e8400 with the 8800GTS). Thanks God i didn't choose the 360, because that PC started the madness
I bought my first non crappy mothertboard to this PC, an Abit IP35 Pro (still running OCed), which i loved, and was very easy to OC, I bought my first non crappy case for this PC, a CM 690, and a lot of stuff.

With the PC in my sig i can run any game most maxed out, and i feel the situation won't change until the next gen consoles are out, so i won't be upgrading any time soon.

I never felt or feel the PC is boring, there is always something to do, like write this post

 

[streetfighter 2]

If you have read the wiki link you'd of also noticed that Moore's law will probably just enter a new era, possibly Quantum_computers, it's certainly an insight on how things may turn out and give us a whole new look on how we see Moore's law as it is today.

Actually, in college I briefly worked on new methods of lithography to create wires around 13 atoms thick (on the order of 0.1nm). By comparison my CPU is 45nm and the next generation of CPUs is apparently around 32nm.

We are still a ways off from hitting the theoretical limit on the size of a transistor. Even then there are huge leaps yet to be made in processor architecture (particularly regarding macro blocks and path finding). Even the software that drives CPU development is constantly being revised and improved.

Quantum computers are 20 to 30 years off by conservative estimates. We'll probably see graphene based processors before we see quantum processors.

 

[F1reFly]

i wasnt satisfied for long, mainly cause PC gaming these days kinda sucks and i realized i can do everything on my Laptop that i normally do on my desktop except for high end gaming and having the larger screen.

i certainly wont upgrade again until i have to.

 

[Techtu]

Actually, in college I briefly worked on new methods of lithography to create wires around 13 atoms thick (on the order of 0.1nm). By comparison my CPU is 45nm and the next generation of CPUs is apparently around 32nm.

We are still a ways off from hitting the theoretical limit on the size of a transistor. Even then there are huge leaps yet to be made in processor architecture (particularly regarding macro blocks and path finding). Even the software that drives CPU development is constantly being revised and improved.

Quantum computers are 20 to 30 years off by conservative estimates. We'll probably see graphene based processors before we see quantum processors.

Just has a quick google and it seems graphene based processors are well and truely around already and have alot of interest in them and so you would be correct

IBM Details World's Fastest Graphene Transistor