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Topic: PC Gaming

Posts 2,121 to 2,134 of 2,134

Ralizah

@JaxonH Dunno if you'll see this, buddy, but this sounds like you should be all over it.

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

skywake

Another post in my series of "damn I kinda want to upgrade my PC" posts. Cities Skylines 2 post launch updates, performance has improved significantly. I mean it's not perfect but it's certainly playable. So my rush for a new GPU has calmed somewhat. However, I am finding that I'm increasingly playing games on my PC over the Switch. I know to some saying the Switch is underpowered on here is the equivalent to personally attacking their mother but.... the Switch is underpowered... and extra power does improve the enjoyability of games....

Is the 1660Ti I have sitting under my TV enough? I'd say probably yes with one huge caveat. The cooler on my card is very small, very cheap and very loud. Which means I end up running games with hard framerate caps and low settings just to make sure that my GPU doesn't really have to work. I could get some kind of after-market cooler but seems a bit like throwing good money after bad. Not ideal. So I think I might just bite the bullet and pick up a new GPU

I don't like the way NVidia has been pushing prices up but, if I'm being honest, I care about power efficiency far more than any reviewers do. And Nvidia is so far ahead on power efficiency it's not even a competition. And the same is true for the 40 series. Despite the product stack being completely nonsense, the naming is very misleading, it's still a huge jump in power efficiency.

So in my mind I'm tossing up two options. Either I go cheaper and get the 4060 which in some workloads probably gives me a 2X framerate boost but with no change in the amount of VRAM. Arguably defeating a lot of the point of having the extra horsepower, I mean what's the point of having power to render at higher resolutions if you need to wait for system memory to load higher resolution assets. Or I spend a few hundred more and get a 4060Ti 16GB which would actually allows me to run some more modern titles at higher settings

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

Pizzamorg

I got very close to spending almost 4 grand on a new PC during Black Friday, however, my understanding is Nvidia is doing some sort of event in January, I believe the 50 series isn't slated to come out until towards the end of 2025, but if in January they announce a 4080 ti / super, I would have been really pissed off spending all that money so I figured I'd just wait.

To be honest, my PC does the job still for most things. Starfield ran terribly on my PC, but that seems to be more on their end. The Fomo really comes more from things like Cyberpunk. That game is very well optimised from a performance perspective, but my rig cannot handle raytracing unless I wanna play in under 30 fps (which you absolutely do not want to do in a FPS) and DLSS 3 is exclusive to the 40 series, so while I can hit like 100 fps on my PC with RTX and a mixture of settings, I am aware the whole time I am playing Phantom Liberty that at least from a visuals perspective, I am playing a lesser version of the game.

Life to the living, death to the dead.

skywake

New plan:

My Christmas bonus for this year is enough to cover a 4070 so, I'm just going to pull the trigger on a 4070. Pricey? Sure. But a GPU upgrade is a once every 5 year thing. It's going to be paired with my 10th Gen i3 in my shiny little ITX case which.... is a bit of a lopsided config but I intend to crank the graphical detail. Should be ok for now. The 1660Ti I have in that build? Moves across to my main PC with the Ryzen 3600X. This is step 1, first upgrade

For late-late next year, assuming I find myself with the space to do the same, I go for a CPU upgrade. My trusty old mATX Ryzen 3600X build gets shuffled down to live under my TV with the 4070. The i3 shuffles down to take on Plex/Docker/Unraid duties, retiring my 4th gen i5. Then I think I build a new PC with a high core count CPU in the ITX case that's currently under my TV. Depends on what's good at the time.

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

skywake

I went cheap and got a 4060Ti 8GB. Was one of the higher end SKUs with a nicer cooler, complete overkill for what it is but it was heavily discounted and was the cheapest SKU. And honestly, it's a pretty significant jump from the 1660Ti. Obviously it pushes more frames which is nice but also because it's so power efficient and the cooler is so overkill, thing is pretty much silent. Can't hear it. Fantastic

Am I taking full advantage of the 4K/120Hz OLED it's hooked upto? No, not by any stretch. But honestly when you throw VRR onto it and render at 1080p with details cranked? It's plenty good enough. Haven't played that much yet but Hogwarts Legacy at 1080p with pretty much everything cranked, DLSS off, RT off, 1080p, not sure what the framerate was but it was smooth. Horizon Zero Dawn? Forget the settings but was sliders to the right for days, 4K, above 60fps

This thing is paired with an i3-10105F BTW, super low power part. Doesn't really hold it back in game, especially if you're turning up the details and are happy with 40-70fps, but certainly the weaker aspect of this setup. Storage is a bit undercooked also, decent 512GB M.2 drive from a few years back and a 2TB SATA SSD for mass storage. But still, good enough

The 1660Ti has been shuffled back to my main PC, Ryzen 5 3600X, 32GB RAM. Plenty good enough for what I do with it still. Certainly do more CPU heavy stuff on this box. The plan is still to eventually upgrade this to a new CPU probably around 2025. i3 goes to the Unraid server, 3600X pairs with the 4060Ti and goes under the TV. Though that's a while off yet

Next upgrade is probably storage, probably a 2TB SSD in my main box. The 512GB SSD I have in there now is kinda tight for space and I'm leaning a bit too much on an old mechanical 2TB drive for mass storage. So replace them both with a single 2TB NVMe SSD and then both the 512GB SSD and 2TB HDD migrate to my Unraid Server. I think I'll probably also make the jump to 2.5Gbps network gear also at some point. But yeah, probably not many "gaming" upgrades for a bit. Pretty happy with the setup I have now

Edited on by skywake

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

JaxonH

@skywake
Have you considered a steam deck oled?

It's complely and utterly become my only method of PC gaming. In fact, between it and Switch OLED, it's all I play now.

I think you'd really love it. You wouldn't have to give up your beefy PC either. But on the side, it's sooooo good alongside Switch OLED.

30g lighter and 50% longer battery life with larger OLED screen makes all the difference. Now it feels like a viable handheld and not a heavy device that dies in 1.5 hrs. Now even the most demanding AAA games get near 3 hrs. It feels much closer to Switch battery life.

I got Prime Trilogy running in Primehack with dual analog gyro aiming, HD texture pack mods and HD text and menu mods, it's insanely awesome. Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, despite being "unsupported" per Valve, runs great with unofficial patch installed and gyro aiming. Pillars of Eternity 2, even without controller support, plays magnificently with community configurations for controls.

I slapped a 2 TB ssd in ($130 on Aliexpress) and a 1.5 TB micro SD, and it's become the Terminator of gaming devices. Should look into it, especially as someone with a passion for PC like you are.

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

skywake

@JaxonH
Valve doesn't sell it to Australians. There are ways to get around that but you end up paying reseller prices so the value equation doesn't quite land in the same spot

Certainly a path I want to go down eventually. But not right now. Between my Anbernic 35XX+ on the go and the 4060Ti at home I have both ends covered fairly well. With Switch sitting somewhere in the middle

Honestly, if Valve or someone else was to release a cheap, GB sized device that had access to my Steam library of Indies? That's the device I'd be after

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

JaxonH

So, the Azeron Cyborg device I ordered a while back, that replaces the typewriter keyboard which was NEVER meant to be a gaming input device. They have refurbished units for $160. Not bad.

I still think a controller with gyro is the most elegant solution. Since using a Cyborg + mouse still requires a flat surface (I got that flat gaming tray that sits across your recliner arms, but point is, it's a hassle compared to just using a controller with gyro). Still, there will ALWAYS be people who prefer mouse. And if you're one of those people, replacing that archaic typewriter keyboard should be your #1 priority. Cyborg is the best keyboard replacement I've found to date.

https://store.azeron.eu/refurbished-keypads

@skywake
Just an FYI, but if you want, I can order you one and ship it to you at cost if you Paypal me the money. That would be no problem at all.

Just throwing that out there. The middle option is best (lowest option is not OLED, and highest option has 1TB SSD, while middle option is $100 less, and you can buy a 2TB SSD for $125 from AliExpress and swap it out in 15 min). So for essentially the same prince as the high tier model, you can have twice the storage.

But ya, just let me know if you want me to help you out. I used to help sinalefa with such things as he lives in Costa Rica. Think I ordered him a PS? Or was a Switch? I can't remember, it's been a while. But ya. Just let me know. I'd be happy to help you if you so desire.

$560 + $80 shipping = $640 total, converted to Australian Dollars is about $1,000 Australian Dollars.

Edited on by JaxonH

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

skywake

@JaxonH
Thanks for the offer but I need to cut back on my tech purchases this year I think. I don't think I can justify another portable gaming device this year, especially given Switch 2 is likely on the horizon

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

JaxonH

@skywake movements.
Fair. Switch 2 is most definitely around the corner. I'd better start budgeting myself. Cause it's gonna be system, screen protector, 2TB micro SD which should be out by then, pro controller, 2-3 games, etc etc. Probably close to $1,000 after tax.

All have sinned and fall short of Gods glory. Wages of sin is death. Romans

God so loved the world He sent His only Son- whoever believes on Him has eternal life. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Whoever believes, rivers of living water flow within them. John

Cotillion

Might be old news, but I just finished the Zelda II Enhanced for PC remaster by Hoverbat.
This guy took the original Zelda II code, so it has all the original feel, control and all that, but its rebuilt, so this is not a romhack, but an actual PC game.
I've been playing Zelda II since its original release and have finished it multiple times over the decades and to me this is amazing. It's what Zelda II should be and the only way I'll be playing it now. He fixed every problem, ones I never even considered.
He added maps, fast travel, new save NPCs, all the villager dialouge is fixed. Its been re-balanced, Death Mountain wasn't the spike it normally is. New items that all make sense, acquired from new quests and locations (red ring, new sword, book of mudora, and so much more). The raft has more use, the boots do more, the spell system is revamped. The list of improvements is long.
A huge thing is the 2nd quest. This isn't just doing it again, but addresses the dropped 'Links blood to revive Ganon' plotline, which is all but forgotten in the original (sure, he defeats Dark Link and wakes Zelda...but the minions are still out there looking for his blood). The 2nd quest is all about stopping that and has a whole new area, town and final bosses. Zelda is even awake for the 2nd quest.

I could gush about this endlessly. Anyone who has a PC and even a passing interest in Zelda II, this is the only way to play it!

Cotillion

Ryu_Niiyama

Has anybody played Symphony of War? Looks to be steam only but I'm curious about gameplay because I have seen many positive reactions to it.

Taiko is good for the soul, Hoisa!
Japanese NNID:RyuNiiyamajp
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