Are High End Gaming PCs relevant?

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

So I am 29, and have been using computer since 95, today I find myself asking the question do gaming PCs still matter. 

 

Reasoning top 20 game benefit from 1080p 120hz, and visuals are turned down for competitiveness. 

 

 

 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

So I am 29, and have been using computer since 95, today I find myself asking the question do gaming PCs still matter. 

 

Reasoning top 20 game benefit from 1080p 120hz, and visuals are turned down for competitiveness.

You do realize that there are a fucking shitton of games out there that aren't competitive and not everyone who plays competitive games, actually plays them competitively?

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

So I am 29, and have been using computer since 95, today I find myself asking the question do gaming PCs still matter. 

 

Reasoning top 20 game benefit from 1080p 120hz, and visuals are turned down for competitiveness. 

 

 

 

They don't matter in your very limited use case.  

 

For the rest of use that like high refresh AND resolutions... yeah they kinda matter.

 

It's like asking if sports cars matter since we have SmartCars now.  Niche market..

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

11 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

You do realize that there are a fucking shitton of games out there that aren't competitive and not everyone who plays competitive games, actually plays them competitively?

You missed my point.... 

 

If 85-90% of gamers are in the lower end, then are high end gaming machines as relevant they used to be.  Active player base is not the same as number of games. 

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

13 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

They don't matter in your very limited use case.  

 

For the rest of use that like high refresh AND resolutions... yeah they kinda matter.

 

It's like asking if sports cars matter since we have SmartCars now.  Niche market..

Yes, I am a RTS, RPG, and indie gamer, I don't play fortnite, dota, rocket league etc...

 

No need to get defensive, this is a discussion not an attack on your buying decisions, 

 

[ImNotThere]

Just now, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

You missed my point.... 

 

If 85-90% of gamers are in the lower end, then are high end gaming machines as relevant they used to be.  Active player base is not the same as number of games. 

there are plenty of demanding games that have very active communities, people who want to play these games and become immersed need high end machines.

BUUUT, a high end PC is only really worth what games you would play on it, I have a mid range machine myself bc I don't play too many demanding games, I enjoy 1080p high fps so I am fine

[Dedayog]

Just now, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

Yes, I am a RTS, RPG, and indie gamer, I don't play fortnite, dota, rocket league etc...

 

No need to get defensive, this is a discussion not an attack on your buying decisions, 

 

Wasn't defensive.  It was my normal typing and speech patterns.

 

I was short of calling your question ridiculous and asking if you even tried thinking it thru at all.

 

Especially since you're now posting random numbers to support your theory, but have no data to back it up at all.

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

If 85-90% of gamers are in the lower end, then are high end gaming machines as relevant they used to be.  Active player base is not the same as number of games. 

And where do you pull those numbers from? Steam, for example, definitely doesn't agree. Besides, you're only looking at online, multiplayer-, competitive-games -- what about all the single-player games? Or all the non-competitive games? Or the ones that don't require 24/7 online-access? Besides, looking at active players just simply doesn't work for single-player games all that well, because people tend to play through them and move to the next one -- it doesn't mean that there's no demand for higher-end PCs to play those games, even if everyone isn't playing every game 24/7.

[Arwanell]

17 minutes ago, yaboistar said:

if someone told me to go back to 1080p just so i can run 120hz i'd shoot them. i'll take my 4k machine over a low settings ultra fps build anyday

Exactly

4K medium looks a lot better than 1080p ultra for me

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

6 minutes ago, Arwanell said:

Exactly

4K medium looks a lot better than 1080p ultra for me

Definitely, 1080p is like a dull stone

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

3 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

And where do you pull those numbers from? Steam, for example, definitely doesn't agree. Besides, you're only looking at online, multiplayer-, competitive-games -- what about all the single-player games? Or all the non-competitive games? Or the ones that don't require 24/7 online-access? Besides, looking at active players just simply doesn't work for single-player games all that well, because people tend to play through them and move to the next one -- it doesn't mean that there's no demand for higher-end PCs to play those games, even if everyone isn't playing every game 24/7.

 

I am dramatising the numbers.

 

This post was meant to be thought provoking and fun....

 

You have taken it very seriously.....

 

[WereCatf]

Just now, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

You have taken it very seriously.....

You should have worded it differently, if you didn't want it taken seriously. I only replied to how it was presented.

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

Just now, WereCatf said:

You should have worded it differently, if you didn't want it taken seriously. I only replied to how it was presented.

Clearly my humour doesnt translate across well in text. Ah well...

[Dedayog]

4 minutes ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

Clearly my humour doesnt translate across well in text. Ah well...

No, it doesn't.  Since nothing in the OP indicated a tongue in cheek or even gallows humor trait.

 

Thought provoking only works if there is a modicum of truth to a question, which there isn't.

 

Then again, you're English and I'm American, so I probably missed any humor anyway

[cluelessgenius]

i find the car metaphor pretty fitting

 

sure most people drive civics and whatever else does the job well enough but without the porsches and lamborghinis of theis world the industry wouldnt move forward. people need something to dream about. striving for more is only natural. 

 

next time a fancy sportscar rolls down the street dont look at it look at the little kids that freak out seeing it. nobody gets excited about a family van.

 

so idk.... but i wouldnt say they arent relevant ....depends on your point of view

[Commodus]

They're relevant, they're just not as relevant as some would like them to be.

 

There is a tendency on forums like this to act as if any computer that isn't capable of playing the latest games at 4K60 is a piece of trash, that a system's relevance is based on whether or not you can stuff an RTX 2080 Ti inside.  Gaming rigs do push the boundaries by pushing companies to develop certain kinds of CPUs and GPUs, but so do workstations, ultraportable laptops and even budget PCs.  And let's be honest, there are many more people buying $1,200 ultraportables than there are $3,000 gaming rigs.

[jones177]

I need my high end PCs to do what I like.  If I could do with less I would.

 

Before the year 2000 my PCs were average but then I bought MS Flight Simulator 2000 and my average rig could only to about 10fps on the ground and 15fps in the air.  With MS Flight Simulator you can add content and I did for years so when I stopped playing I was only doing 30fps in the air and 20 on the ground with a high end PC.

Then it was MS Train Train Simulator and I loved my 100 plus car coal trains with multiple engines. Lots of physics going on one core so I bought the fastest CPUs I could afford.

 

I then went fantasy with Oblivion in 2007 and modded it until Skyrim came out in 2011. It needed more than a 7200 rpm HDD to load in the extra content as I moved around the world so I started using 10,000 rpm dives that cost more than double standard drives. They removed stutter. I am now moving from SATA SSDs to NVMe M.2(2tb 970 EVO) for the same reason.

 

With a heavily modded Skyrim  powerful cores were not enough, it needed a powerful GPU with lots of vram as well. I went from a GTX 670(2gb) to a 680 4gb just for the extra vram and skipped the 700 series because they only had 3gbs. I now need more than the 11 gbs I have with the 2080 ti since I am using 10.5 on one of my modded games.

 

Then in 2015 I discovered 4k and wanted to play everything at 4k. My Skyrim(with ENB) could do 60fps at 1080p with a GTX 980 but less than 20 at 4k so the goal was to get it to 60. It took a RTX 2080 ti to do it.    

 

Now Ray tracing has come. Right now I can do 1440p 60fps in my RT games with it on but the goal is again 4k 60 and soon that will change to 4k 120fps.  Then it will be 2160p 21:9 120.

 

Right now I am playing Space Engines at 4k averaging 120fps. As I build more and more the frames will go down but I will still build more. 

It will never end.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

[maverick_brent]

4 hours ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

You missed my point.... 

 

If 85-90% of gamers are in the lower end, then are high end gaming machines as relevant they used to be.  Active player base is not the same as number of games. 

Are they relevant, well thats a subjective matter, is 4k relevant or needed for your use? are you happy at 1080p? or 1440p? Its up to the end user really, Some would rather play 1080p @144hz, others are happier with 4k@60fps, or even less. As you slide up the scale for high end gaming machines the value/performance ratio can shrink very quickly. Its similar to saying is a ferrari or bugatti a relevant car to drive compared to a low cost Volkswagen jetta? Well depends on what you want to use it for.. driving @ 60km/hr the highend cars serve no other purpose than the end users desire to have them...if your driving in a highspeed race then the jetta isnt going to be much good. Its the use of the equipment that is relevant. 

[MadAnt250]

On 2/26/2020 at 8:55 AM, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

Definitely, 1080p is like a dull stone

That will depend on the display, for me 900p on my VX920 looks as good or sometimes better than 1080p on an LCD, and no, I am not joking.

 

On 2/26/2020 at 8:28 AM, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

I find myself asking the question do gaming PCs still matter. 

High end gaming systems matter enough for there to be a market for them.