The Gaming Gamers Thread - (No Spawn Camping)

[Dov]

It most certainly appeals to the Nintendo Switch lover that I absolutely am...

Yeah, I've been looking at the Steam Deck partially because my gf really loves her Switch I got her, prior to the Nintendo Switch she was using Razer Edge Pro (not the Blade laptop but the Tablet gaming PC) though she is more of a Zelda gamer than PC gamer. But also for the portability.

I really like her Razer Edge Pro, though don't really use it for anything anymore since for practical reasons its stuck on Windows 8.1, always used it in dock for gaming but it was still very portable.

The nerd in me likes the Switch but my health/pain issues make using Controllers pretty much no go, even with keyboard & mouse I really can't do APM intensive games anymore. Age and health issues suck.

I'm hoping the Steam Deck is successful, I really don't want to move to Windows 11 even for games, and it will have nice portability. And if they are successful, there would finally be financial motivation for game developers to make stuff work with Linux so gamers might not have to use Windows in the future.

I'm not an Apple or Linux fanboy, I am platform agnostic, hate them all. I just hate Windows more

[Chance]

How many people here have Steam Deck orders in? I've got the 512GB model for Q3.

[Elwin]

Jumping back a topic, I've got 22 hours into Insurgency and I'm loving it. It's working great on a tired old 2015 Macbook Pro (using a second, larger monitor, but I wouldn't feel handicapped using the 13"). The PVP is good, but what I didn't even know getting into it was that the game has a really fun co-op mode, players vs. bots. Plenty of public servers are running that both in the vanilla game and in completely modded-out servers (want to run an MG42 and an RMRed Glock 18 in a dungeon crawl style map against hundreds of bots - there's a server for that). It's plenty challenging - if you have fewer than 5 people on your team, the bots are going to win most rounds. But it's still fun to keep trying.

Whether co-op or PVP, my initial impression was correct that the distances aren't long enough to make resolution-hacking a requirement. Most maps are urban environments, and the rest are really only semi-rural. By way of example, when it comes to equipment selection, I very rarely opt for a magnified optic even when I have supply points left over. I'm running irons or a dot easily 95% of the time.

Overall the game is really satisfying. It's realistic enough that I'm not constantly rolling my eyes at weapons mechanics or how bullets work, but it's still "arcade" enough that it's fun. It's basically everything I wish COD4 was but isn't even on the best hardcore servers.

If anyone does buy it and is interested in teaming up, let me know. I'm pulling up a Discord server and getting some brothers-in-law and friends together to form a team to hop on empty co-op servers. There are plenty of those available on a given weekend or evening due to timezone differences. Play while the Russians are asleep.

[Elwin]

Another thread drift - does anyone have recommendations for an "easy button" gaming PC? Meaning something I don't have to put together that provides the performance I need for most gaming without having to pay for features or performance I don't really need. The "Glock 19 and a case of ammo" of the PC gaming world, to put it another way. I'm not looking to push the bleeding edge of graphics performance, but the games I'm interested in do have some performance demands in the form of online play with large numbers of players (exe, Squad).

I need to replace my aging Macbook at some point. I hate Windows, I wouldn't like being without a Macbook for the first time since 2011, and a mixed Apple and Microsoft environment may drive me nuts. But I've already been tossing around the idea of having a gaming PC in addition to a Macbook. Realistically, I'm not doing enough with computers to justify having two separate ones, and nothing I'm doing specifically requires a Mac (or a laptop - my Macbook is actually desk-bound due to a dead keyboard and trackpad). I'm on a PC at work anyway, and one of the main uses of my home computer is to use remote desktop to work from home when necessary. Also, I really can't afford two new computers. Affording one is already a stretch.

As much as I don't love PCs, a PC would do everything I actually need a Mac to do in addition to being the actual right answer for gaming, so...

[Wise_A]

Huh. I would look at something with a GTX 3060, a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and an SSD of 500GB-1TB for OS install and games (preferably NVME). I don't know pre-built brands well-enough to recommend any, sorry. That spec should have no problem with any title at 60-90 fps and 1920x1080 at high-end settings, or 60fps 1440P.

[Elwin]

Huh. I would look at something with a GTX 3060, a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and an SSD of 500GB-1TB for OS install and games (preferably NVME). I don't know pre-built brands well-enough to recommend any, sorry. That spec should have no problem with any title at 60-90 fps and 1920x1080 at high-end settings, or 60fps 1440P.

That resonates with what a friend was recommending for a specced build. I’m gathering there’s more to this than I thought.

[Chance]

Got my Steam Deck in. I've only had about four hours of gameplay with it, but my initial impressions are favorable.

The "Great on Deck" games seem to be idiot-proof - fire them up and go. I have tried three "unsupported" games thus far: Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and War for the Overworld. SFV seems to work flawlessly out of the box. I could not get in to gameplay on Tekken without some tweaks (changing Proton version) and I dropped the frame rate for a smoother experience; the result is sub-optimal, but playable, if you're casual. War for the Overworld runs, but is going to take some figuring out with regard to control schemes. I have not tried anything online yet.

I was surprised at how immersive the screen is. I thought the size of the screen was going to be a little underwhelming, but the crispness and brightness really sucks you in when it's 18" from your face.

The most common complaint I've heard is the battery life, and that definitely seems to be the sticking point. Forty-five minutes with SFV drained the battery about 20% and that's an older game that's not very graphics intensive. You will definitely be toting around a charging cable.

Overall, if you don't mind fiddling with it, I think it's easy to recommend. If you want it to "just work", I'd give it a few more months before putting in your reservation - Valve and the Linux community will get it to its full potential eventually, but I think it'll take another 6-12 months, probably.

[Wise_A]

That resonates with what a friend was recommending for a specced build. I’m gathering there’s more to this than I thought.

Yes--pricing sweet spots. The Ryzen 5 and 7 are really all the processor you need. 16GB of RAM is more than enough for most games (there are exceptions where you will want 32GB, mostly things like city builders or stuff with tons of textures), and DDR4 performs well while DDR5 is still high-priced for little gain, comparatively speaking. NVME drives are a massive boost to performance and load times.

If you had room left over, I would frankly invest in a high-quality monitor, or move from a 3060 to a 3070.

I want with a Ryzen 9 5900x, a 3080, and 32GB of RAM, and I don't regret it for a second at 1440P.

Considering building your own. It really is a matter of popping stuff in slots, tightening a few screws, and plugging things in.

[Andy T]

Yes--pricing sweet spots. The Ryzen 5 and 7 are really all the processor you need. 16GB of RAM is more than enough for most games (there are exceptions where you will want 32GB, mostly things like city builders or stuff with tons of textures), and DDR4 performs well while DDR5 is still high-priced for little gain, comparatively speaking. NVME drives are a massive boost to performance and load times.

If you had room left over, I would frankly invest in a high-quality monitor, or move from a 3060 to a 3070.

I want with a Ryzen 9 5900x, a 3080, and 32GB of RAM, and I don't regret it for a second at 1440P.

Considering building your own. It really is a matter of popping stuff in slots, tightening a few screws, and plugging things in.

I built my own, and while it's true to an extent, if things don't go as planned, you are left to youtube, reddit and the internet to try and troubleshoot the issue vs a single contact for warranty.

[Guerrero]

Wow, reality meets fiction.

I've never played any of the Assassin's Creed games, but I found myself watching a video of AC2, where the protagonist is running around Florence, Italy. I had to stop the video because at one point I said, "I've walked down that exact street!"