Hi guys, I am brand new to the board, and am feeling pretty brand new to PC gaming. My last gaming machine had an AMD 64 processor at What I think was around 2.0 Ghz and had a Geforce 3. I have since stopped PC gaming and have just stuck to consoles, as I really couldn't afford to continue with upgrading my system to keep up with newer and newer games. Honestly, I think the last game I played for any real length of time on the PC was Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic! That was a LONG time ago. Since I primarily use computers as a student and audio engineer, I have been using Apple Macbook Pros and desktops since then, and just gave up on the PC gaming. As I'm sure most can attest to, my choice to switch to Apple meant that the computer games I could play were few and far between.
A couple of weeks ago, my father died. One of the things he left behind, and that was subsequently given to me was a fairly new PC that he had intended to use for Maya and 3D Studio. From what I can tell at a glance, the system has:
Intel Core i7 970 3.4 Ghz (6 cores)
Nvidia Geforce GTX 550 Ti
12 GB Ram
2 TB hard drive
Now, as I had said before, I have been away from PC gaming for a while. This computer is more than I could have ever afforded to spend on a machine, and I have been taking advantage of Steam's summer sale. I have been maxing out games that I have drooled at from afar for a while, such as The Witcher 2 and Crysis. I have also been seeking out games that I had previously played on console, but heard were FAR better on PC. Games like Metro 2033 looked like entirely different games from their console counterparts. Metro is simply breathtaking, and even older games like Fallout New Vegas look light years beyond the PS3 version I played, given the enhanced draw distance, higher res textures, improved interface and such. The Witcher 2 looks amazing, and so far is really the only game that has made the system chug on max settings. I really just didn't know what I was missing. I have also been enjoying the fact that i can now play Star Wars The Old Republic, which I couldnt do previously, but this machine obviously has no problem running that game.
Now, my question stems from the fact that, in my absence, I have become pretty ignorant to current benchmarks. How does this system rank to you guys? It looks pretty awesome to me, but I am not a good point of reference anymore. It looks like a very nice mid-range system to me, and if that is the case, then what are the first things I should consider improving if I am going to keep up with PC gaming? The processor seems pretty solid, and I have previously had systems with like 4GB of RAM, so 12 GB seems astounding to me. I know that the video card isn't the latest or the greatest anymore though.
Also, I have been looking at some screen shots of games like Skyrim that have been modded to look absolutely incredible(remember, I played this on the PS3). Are mods like this difficult to integrate given my time away?
Any help would be awesome, as I find myself in uncharted waters with nary a life preserver to cling on to.
A couple of weeks ago, my father died. One of the things he left behind, and that was subsequently given to me was a fairly new PC that he had intended to use for Maya and 3D Studio. From what I can tell at a glance, the system has:
Intel Core i7 970 3.4 Ghz (6 cores)
Nvidia Geforce GTX 550 Ti
12 GB Ram
2 TB hard drive
Now, as I had said before, I have been away from PC gaming for a while. This computer is more than I could have ever afforded to spend on a machine, and I have been taking advantage of Steam's summer sale. I have been maxing out games that I have drooled at from afar for a while, such as The Witcher 2 and Crysis. I have also been seeking out games that I had previously played on console, but heard were FAR better on PC. Games like Metro 2033 looked like entirely different games from their console counterparts. Metro is simply breathtaking, and even older games like Fallout New Vegas look light years beyond the PS3 version I played, given the enhanced draw distance, higher res textures, improved interface and such. The Witcher 2 looks amazing, and so far is really the only game that has made the system chug on max settings. I really just didn't know what I was missing. I have also been enjoying the fact that i can now play Star Wars The Old Republic, which I couldnt do previously, but this machine obviously has no problem running that game.
Now, my question stems from the fact that, in my absence, I have become pretty ignorant to current benchmarks. How does this system rank to you guys? It looks pretty awesome to me, but I am not a good point of reference anymore. It looks like a very nice mid-range system to me, and if that is the case, then what are the first things I should consider improving if I am going to keep up with PC gaming? The processor seems pretty solid, and I have previously had systems with like 4GB of RAM, so 12 GB seems astounding to me. I know that the video card isn't the latest or the greatest anymore though.
Also, I have been looking at some screen shots of games like Skyrim that have been modded to look absolutely incredible(remember, I played this on the PS3). Are mods like this difficult to integrate given my time away?
Any help would be awesome, as I find myself in uncharted waters with nary a life preserver to cling on to.
