Gameguru Mania

[gx-x]

sure but it's a choice. GFX cards usually last me one year, then I sell them, add 50-80 euro and get the next gen one. No big deal. CPU is even more durable. I ran e8200 c2d oc'ed @ 4ghz for over 3 years. I payed ~140 eur for it. I sold it for 70 eur 3 years later lol, bough intel i3 for 100 eur. So it's not that bad if you put some thought into your rig. If you have to own everything best out there, or something like that, then sure, you are going to spend a lot but that goes for pretty much any hobby / habit...

[Tom]

Didn't you just say you had an i5? Now you are saying you have an i3? Huh?!

I am still running my quad core I bought years ago and got it for cheap. Still see no need to replace it.

[gx-x]

[Tom]

Ah ok. My quad is nearly the same as the 2500 actually. I have 2 gaming rigs and my testing shows next to no difference between the two of them. Never seen my Q9400 break a sweat yet. Even my 560 GTX OC is more than fine for anything including Skyrim. I don't know the fps but I'd probably notice tearing and slowdowns, which I never had. BF3 I run full tilt at 1600x900 maxed out too, fluid as can be. Of course I have kick ass mushkin ram (16gb) too so that probably is helping.

[gx-x]

[Baconnaise]

I just got rid of my old intel quad extreme qx cpu that was a 3.2 quadcore. Sucker ran hot and was one of the first gen ones. I run an i5 since the beginning of the year (good deals couldn't pass up). Tom is spot on about not needing to upgrade really. I'm still using gtx 460/465 cards. They run all the games just fine at 1920x1200. My older cards 7800gtx 512mb and two 8800gtx cards all died. The 460 and 465 are still going strong with less heat and noise :p. I don't plan on getting a high end card again after experiencing the way gaming has been for the last few years. Mid range cards like the 460 or the 500 series on a good deal can be had in the 100-180 dollar range depending on circumstance. One of my ocz ssd sata 6 drives failed recently. It wasn't even a year old . SSD's are cheaper now though which give me the biggest improvements.

[gx-x]

SSD does nothing for FPS thou, it also does nothing for storage capacity and still costs arm and a leg compared to HDD. weather my control panel or start menu opens in 0.5 seconds or 0.05 seconds is not an issue for me because I honestly don't even care, I don't have any speed issues with HDD, everything loads fast enough that it doesn't bother me. I honestly don't think I will be interested in SSD until it fully replaces HDD, in every aspect.

[Tom]

[Thudo]

@GX-X: you haven't then installed/used an SSD to understand how after 20years the HDD is BEYOND ANCIENT tech. As a boot and app/game drive it makes EVERYTHING run 10x faster than an HDD thus making a HUGE impact on the OS, Apps, and Games. Just the LOADING part is utterly massive. Its worth the $200-300 investment for a 128+Gb SSD.

[Tom]

[Thudo]

Back in 2008-09 man they were NOT too much an option (too expensive, low capacity, unreliable). Now they are REALLY becoming a fantastic option and make HDDs simply look like stone knives and bare skins. *HUGE* diff in everything you do on a PC and laptop. NO DEBATE!

[gx-x]

[Thudo]

Uhmm except EVERYTHING everywhere loads faster thus drastically increasing the overall positive experience There is no debate.. the ONLY caveat you might have is Reliability but thats much better now these days. HDDs still hold the cost/GB crown and some reliability but thats melting away now.. Thank gawd.. HDDs represent decades old has-been tech and needs to move out like the floppies.

[Tom]

Wow factor is enough, 20 seconds to boot up windows fully functioning. No HDD can do that, not a chance. I'll never run my windows on a slow as shit HDD. Everything on that SSD flies. Eventually my key games will run on SSD too.

[gx-x]