Video game addicts...

Got a copy of rocksmith this evening. Pretty fun so far, but for fucks sake my achin fingers. I haven't plonked a guitar inyears.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=387487

How cheap are we talking here? Barebones use-some-of-your-old-stuff, $750, $1000, $1300? There's quite a bit of difference between the different budget levels. I'm to understand you're going for used/second-hand?

Edit: I forgot to ask what is your current config.

Thanks Yak.

Cheap as in as little a possible, but don't want it to be outdated and unusable with games that come out next year. I've been looking on craigslist and see gaming computers advertised anywhere from $500 to $2000, mostly new, but built by individual nerds from parts bought separately. curious for info as far as min. processor, graphics card, etc. I don't know what any of that means.
The is nothing useable in my current computer. Its a six year old emachine that was a cheap closeout model when I bought it. there's websites I can't go to because it locks up just trying to handle auto playing videos.

Does anyone know of a turbo grafx emulator that will work on 64 bit windows 7? I have my old system downstairs but can't find a controller for the thing and I'm really missing those games like Bonk, Blazing Lazers, Ninja Spirit and Alien Crush.

What do you want to play?

Single player? Multi-player?

Do you want max frame rate when playing it?

What size screen are you using? (native resolution)

The more generalized the PC the more money it takes to do everything well. Certain types of games are going to push the limits, too.

Look at it this way; you know you need at least 350hp for your next vehicle but unless you know if you're going to be towing a load or hauling a hockey team we don't know whether you want a truck, an SUV or a Challenger.

Also look at refurbs, and wait for sales. My ~400 dollar PC is not a top notch gamer but it does pretty well.

Specs are Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM CPU
8 GB of RAM
And a separate but lower end video card.

If you get a desktop you'll get even more bang for your buck.

I built my own desktops for years. Got busy with time and had a bit more cash and had these guys Cyberpower build my last comp. Cost me about 1k at the time, no monitor. 4 and a half years later still plays the latest games at max settings. Borderlands 2? NP. Skyrim? Without a hiccup.

I would do it again in a second. 100% satisfied.

For real savings, avoid Intel altogether. My son and I built a machine last December with an AMD quad-core CPU and an AMD GPU, and it plays everything we throw at it, all for $600, sans monitor.

Not even the DVD rewriter? You can use a SATA-to-IDE adapter for newer motherboards without IDE ports.

Anyway, if you're going for heavy-duty second-hand pennypinching, try to find a good deal on a Nehalem-based Core i7 (either the 880, or the 875K for an extra bit of overclocking goodness). They should have dropped in price by now, given they're a dead end, upgrade-wise (Intel suddenly dropped support for the LGA1156 socket early 2010). Even so, with 4 physical cores and an extra 4 logical ones, they should offer more than enough raw power for the next two, even three years.

Graphics-wise, you should again go for a previous generation. The nVidia GTX580 is still very expensive, so try to find either a GTX570 or an AMD Radeon 6950 (better yet 6970) 2GB at a reasonable pricepoint.

I know that was the case 10 years ago, but what about now with the Intel I7 chips? I heard they are about the same price, run cooler and are more stable.

Heard the quality control with AMD suffers because of multiple manufacturers, but what the fuck do I know. I used to be a HUGE AMD fanboi back in the day.

Single player mainly. Fallout, skyrim type games are my fav.

I'm using one of those old 15" tv type monitors. I think I'll be upgrading that as well.

Got it, sorta.

As it stands AMD lost its price advantage to the i5 and i7 chips. Until you get into the 6 core 3900 series i7. Added bonus Ivy Bridge is also the 1155 chipset like the older 2000+ series, so obsolescence is pushed by a couple years.

Bulldozer has throughput issues with a lot of processor intensive applications from what I've read. So it only ends up working as well as an overclocked i5, for $200 more.

^^^ That's not very relevant for the secondhand market. Frankly, I think Ivy Bridges are stupid expensive. Intel jacked up prices just 'cos they can, and they all but admitted it.

When shopping for used parts, it's better to go for whatever had the biggest price drop (due to various reasons) compared to its performance.

Early days rocksmith for PC review.

Game itself......Not bad. Decent selection of songs IMO stock, and they are the actual songs not someone covering them. Kind of guitar hero taken to it's logical conclusion.

Difficulty... ramps up a little too quickly for me. Maybe not possible to have it any other way when using actual chords and notes that match up with a real song though. And I suck. Really badly. Could use a little more info on the actual fingering it wants you to do. It does that with chords, but single notes it just kind of leaves you to do whatever.

Interface. Sucks ass. But I haven't met a game in years that I liked the interface for. for those used to console type interfaces, probably not that big of a deal. You have to check and re-check your guitars tuning before every song. In 3 days I haven't had to adjust it and I've been playing probably 4 hours a day. Having said that, the actual tuning and re-tuning from standard to drop-d is easily accomplished and sounds right once it's done. For some reason you can fail out of the riff repeater. :huh But not actually performing the song.

Bass emulation: works quite well as far as I can tell. Bass arrangements are quite a bit easier(so far) than the guitar arrangements.

multiplayer: haven't tried it yet. I believe you are supposed to be able to plug in a second guitar or bass and play split screen. No idea about networked playing.


4 sore, blistered, uncalloused fingers out of 5

I think that's the biggest complaint. The game never lets you feel like you've accomplished anything and that's a bit frustrating. There are game specs to Rocksmith but it's really tricking you to learn how to play guitar.

So the game forces you to tune and retune after each song or your just have to to stay calibrated? For playing guitar, especially for beginners it's important to play in tune so I can see them wanting that. If the the later, that probably has more to do with the guitar. The combo set comes with a very cheap Epiphone Les Paul Jr. For a guitar it's pretty much at the bottom of the barrel. A better guitar would be less frustrating and stay in tune better. (it's common with cheap guitars.) Although there are tricks to that as well. Like adding graphite between the nut and the strings. Also always tune up and not down. G will usually drop out of tune because of the angle of the string fron the head through the nut. It's a issue with just about all Les Pauls.

I've been wanting to try Rocksmith but the PC version got pushed back a year after the console version and is twice as much for some reason. I'll stick to just playing guitar without the nanny.

A good 24" HD (1920x1080 or better yet 1920x1200) monitor will run ~250. I'm partial to the Dell Ultrasharp / USB ports. If you've been using a crt all this time it will melt your eyeballs right out of your head.

Graphics card should probably be nVidia GTX 650 TI or better.

Processor should be an Intel Core i5 or better.

Ironically, building your own system is no longer the cheapest way to get a good computer. I'd recommend going down to the local newstand and getting a copy of PC Gamer and Maximum PC. Both will usually have a recommended build for "Best Bang for the Buck!" plus all of the advertisers inside can give you an idea of what builds are generally priced at.

Note that the three things that usually cost the most to upgrade when custom building a system (Storage, Graphics and Ram) are some of the easiest and cheapest to do by yourself. So you could buy a system for ~$400 see what you like about it, play some games and then target upgrades for what's really needed. I've upgraded my graphics card twice since building my current system, Once for Fallout 3 and again for Skyrim. I currently have an Invidia GTX670 so I'm good until Fallout 5.

I will be honest, you'll never build a good game computer cheaper than a console of any kind, but a computer is the best pr0n machine ever built. Plus, first release games are usually the same price (except for the Lego Games) as console games. However, the computer games are always discounted first, are more likely to go on sale cheaper and are easier for companies to patch. Not only that but services like Steam and GOG (Good Old Games) are always offering nut-buster sales of all sorts and GOG updates the old classics to play in modern versions of Windows and Mac(!).

Here's one I was considering.....till I saw the $2k price tag:huh

Then I see ones like this for $400, and I get all kinds of confused.

No idea what the difference is.


Anyway, A friend loaned me Rage for the xbox. I'm digging it. Probably be able to put off buying that new computer to play war z for a few weeks at least.

It has tricked me into learning a couple of things. My big gripe about the fingering is that i have no clue about whats right. Hell maybe it's in there and i'm missing it.

The in tune thing... I know why its doing it, it's still annoying though. The only place I've found that it doesn't make you check is in between songs while "performing" them, and in the virtual play what you want amp mode. Otherwise every mini game, playthrough of a song, riff practice, makes you sloowly pick each string from low to high.