Placebo Effect? I don't know!

trevb0t · April 10, 2019

I built my system in January (Ryzen 5 2600, RX 580 8GB, MSI B450 Gaming Plus, 16GB DDR4 3000, SSD etc.) I love this machine! (I know it's not a monster by any means, but I've got a few children and a mortgage, okay!?) I use run-of-the-mill peripherals. (A 1080p 60mhz monitor, Redragon S101 Gaming Keyboard Mouse Combo.)

I also have an old Early 2011 Macbook Pro 15" from college that I've added an SSD and some RAM to for kicks. It runs as well as it ever has honestly (except the poor cooling system. It struggles.) And sometimes I play LoL on this while I watch tv with my wife. This operates at a native 1440/900 resolution, but may default to 720p. I don't see any available specs on the actual display timings (though I'm sure they aren't anything to write home about.) It pulls 100+ FPS on it's natural graphics settings, and I use a cheap logitech wireless mouse intended for home computing.

I LOSE SO MANY MORE GAMES ON THE LAPTOP! I know there's plenty of psychology that could contribute to this, but I honestly think there is something about the newer PC hardware that is contributing well to my gameplay. The mouse motions feel very crisp, obviously the gameplay LOOKS better... But should that actually make a difference in gameplay if both are at playable frame rates?

As a guy who has never fronted tons of money on peripherals, I want to believe that on some level this isn't the case. Anyone else had a similar experience?

jiyeon · April 10, 2019

I think it is down to hardware as well as personal experience with the devices.

Whenever I play CSGO on my main PC - i5-8600K, 16GB DDR4, GTX 1060 - on my huge 29" ultrawide and my nice peripherals, I obviously do better than my laptop because of my fleet of hardware, and also because the experience is more enjoyable on a full-blown desktop.

Compare that to when I play CSGO on my laptop - i3-8130U, 12GB DDR4, Intel graphics - and on that small 14" display, it doesn't feel the same and I personally felt like I downgraded especially in screen size.

Personally I think it's down to psychology and hardware, because your mind is your most powerful weapon.

trevb0t · April 11, 2019

6 minutes ago, seoz said:

I think it is down to hardware as well as personal experience with the devices.

Whenever I play CSGO on my main PC - i5-8600K, 16GB DDR4, GTX 1060 - on my huge 29" ultrawide and my nice peripherals, I obviously do better than my laptop because of my fleet of hardware, and also because the experience is more enjoyable on a full-blown desktop.

Compare that to when I play CSGO on my laptop - i3-8130U, 12GB DDR4, Intel graphics - and on that small 14" display, it doesn't feel the same and I personally felt like I downgraded especially in screen size.

Personally I think it's down to psychology and hardware, because your mind is your most powerful weapon.

Great insight! I am sure part of it is. I think if I ever used my much newer wired mouse with some macro buttons it might help things on the laptop, but yeah it probably falls on my brain.