I managed to download minecraft and try it while at work. My fps was 40-59 and dipped down to 20 once, a major improvement. I'm installing Starcraft II now, it doesn't require a keyboard.
Where are my Satellite Guy's gamers at?
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Was that before or after installing the GPU drivers? If it was before you should expect even better performance once it's installed.
I just finished up the main story of inFamous Second Son. I was actually within about a half hour of finishing a week ago but didn't realize how close I was and didn't have another chance to play until tonight.
First, I will say that I liked Zeke and Cole better than Delsin and Reggie. I think the story of inFamous 2 was better too although this was probably a step up from inFamous 1. Everything else about Second Son was better than previous games. The acting was great and the game was just pure fun. I say acting instead of voice acting because that's really what this is. They used motion capture so you are really seeing Troy Baker when you look at Delsin in the cutscenes. The graphics were right up there with anything I have ever played too. This is impressive considering that this is an open world game.
The various powers were all fun to use and felt different enough from each other to change the game up. I would consider doing an evil playthrough but the story is the weakest part of the game so I don't feel the need to experience it again right now. Instead I think I will try to 100% everything I can do in this good playthrough. It's not that the story was bad. It just wasn't Mass Effect/The Last of Us style riveting and I rarely play a game twice.
If Watch Dogs wasn't releasing in a couple weeks I would probably think about the second playthrough and a platinum trophy attempt. Right now I think I'd rather be in the first wave from Gamefly when they start shipping out Watch Dogs. Who knows? Maybe I will rent this again during some gaming dry spell. I would consider it if they release compelling story DLC.
First, I will say that I liked Zeke and Cole better than Delsin and Reggie. I think the story of inFamous 2 was better too although this was probably a step up from inFamous 1. Everything else about Second Son was better than previous games. The acting was great and the game was just pure fun. I say acting instead of voice acting because that's really what this is. They used motion capture so you are really seeing Troy Baker when you look at Delsin in the cutscenes. The graphics were right up there with anything I have ever played too. This is impressive considering that this is an open world game.
The various powers were all fun to use and felt different enough from each other to change the game up. I would consider doing an evil playthrough but the story is the weakest part of the game so I don't feel the need to experience it again right now. Instead I think I will try to 100% everything I can do in this good playthrough. It's not that the story was bad. It just wasn't Mass Effect/The Last of Us style riveting and I rarely play a game twice.
If Watch Dogs wasn't releasing in a couple weeks I would probably think about the second playthrough and a platinum trophy attempt. Right now I think I'd rather be in the first wave from Gamefly when they start shipping out Watch Dogs. Who knows? Maybe I will rent this again during some gaming dry spell. I would consider it if they release compelling story DLC.
I can't remember. I just installed Starcraft and can't play it because I can't type in my login.
Have you seen your Windows Experience score? You should check that. I'm not sure how you check that in Windows 8. I'd think that Minecraft would show NO instances of lag. Hell I'm pretty sure you can run that on a netbook.
As far as the keyboard goes, just go to Target or your local store and then return it once your new keyboard arrives. Yeah it's not the BEST way to do things, but just once is okay.
They removed the Windows Experience score with the upgrade to Windows 8.1. I'm not sure why they did because it was there in Windows 8. Yeah, I was surprised to see that he had a frame dip on that game too. That's why I asked if it was before he installed the GPU drivers.
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Actually they didn't completely remove it. They just made it hard as hell to get to. It's not a GUI based system anymore.
http://www.cnet.com/how-to/find-your-windows-experience-index-scores-in-windows-8-1/
Of course his base score will likely be like a 5.5 due to his HDD, but everything else I'm assuming should be 7.5+ or at least 7+.
Ah. I knew it was there in Windows 8 because I checked my score when I first built my system. When I installed the SSD I wanted to test it again because the HDD was my bottleneck but I couldn't find it in Windows 8.1.
Yeah nothing like building a top of the line system only to see your score be a 5.7 due to your damn HDD. That "your lowest score is your experience" is the stupidest rating I've ever heard. Imagine if your school graded you like that. Mine is about a 7.7 I believe.
I'll have to check the score when I go home for lunch or after work today. I'm just going to bring a keyboard from work home with me today so I can do more. I can't remember if I had the GPU driver downloaded before or after I tried Minecraft, I'll check on that too. So far it looks very nice and I'm getting use to Windows 8.1.
I did get DayZ downloaded last night and I started a game. Everything looked and sounded great but I was unable to move due to the lack of keyboard. I was able to move the view around with the mouse and didn't experience any lag so I thought that was a major improvement already.
So far I haven't really done anything with my PC other than install Windows and download Steam, DayZ and Minecraft. Do you guys have any recommendations for me to optimize my PC? Are there any setting I should have on or turned off? Are there any programs I should have installed?
I did get DayZ downloaded last night and I started a game. Everything looked and sounded great but I was unable to move due to the lack of keyboard. I was able to move the view around with the mouse and didn't experience any lag so I thought that was a major improvement already.
So far I haven't really done anything with my PC other than install Windows and download Steam, DayZ and Minecraft. Do you guys have any recommendations for me to optimize my PC? Are there any setting I should have on or turned off? Are there any programs I should have installed?
A disk defragger could help. I use Auslogic DiskDefrag.
Note: I know this doesn't apply to you now, but DO NOT use a defragger on a SSD.
Note: I know this doesn't apply to you now, but DO NOT use a defragger on a SSD.
If everything is working ok the score doesn't really matter. As for optimizing the PC there isn't a ton you probably need to do. One thing I would do is install a lightweight program called CPU-Z. This will allow you to see a lot of info about your hardware.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
This is how I found out my motherboard was running my RAM at 1333MHz instead of the 1600MHz I bought. That probably wouldn't make a huge difference but I wanted to get the full memory speed I paid for. This can be a little confusing because both CPU-Z and the BIOS in my motherboard show the RAM number as half the rated speed. This means that my 1600MHz RAM should show as 800MHz DRAM frequency in CPU-Z but out of the box it was showing as 666MHz (or half of 1333MHz). Once I figured it out I just had to go into the BIOS and manually change the RAM speed. Hopefully this is something you don't even have to worry about but since we have the same brand motherboard it might be.
That's good to know. I would think that the RAM speed could have an affect on things. My RAM is 1600MHz and I think it would be best to take advantage of it.
I tell you one thing, I sure have learned a lot over the last few months while deciding to build a PC. A lot more than I ever thought I'd know.
You will mostly just gain performance by tinkering with the video settings for each individual game. Many games will auto-select settings it thinks you should use based on your hardware but I have found that they are almost always overly conservative. Certain games like Battlefield 3 auto select 720p and medium settings for me even though I can play at ultra and 1080p and still be solid at 60 frames per second.
I always start at 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution and all settings maxed out. For the vast majority of my games it is completely playable with those settings. If the game stutters I will start turning down certain things. The first place I start is usually AA. I will drop it from 16x to 8x or 4x. If that doesn't work I might turn down draw distance a little bit.
You will probably want Physx turned off for some games that use that physics engine too. It is a Nvidia proprietary engine that doesn't run on AMD GPUs. If you have an AMD GPU it will run off your CPU instead which may or may not work smoothly. Most games don't use this but I have several that do. Mirrors Edge, Metro 2033, and the Arkham games run great with Physx running off my CPU and Metro 2033 is one of the best looking PC games I have. Borderlands 2 on the other hand gets slowdown to the point where it is unplayable once you start shooting a group of guys unless you turn off Physx.
The last thing I always do is turn on V-Sync if it is an option for a given game. What V-Sync does is limit the frames per second to the refresh rate of your monitor. For those of us playing on a TV that is probably 60. There isn't much benefit to your computer running a game at more than 60 frames per second if the monitor you are playing on can only display 60 frames in a second. This can cause screen tearing when the monitor and computer don't match up. Of course, if you can't hit 60 frames per second with a game turning on V-sync will have no effect.
Plus I occasionally run FRAPs to see what framerate a game is running at the first time I boot it up. With V-Sync turned off I have seen games run my GPU at 100% utilization to put out stupidly unnecessary framerates. I have seen low powered indie games maxing out my GPU and putting out over 250 frames per second.
I don't want my GPU maxed out unless it's necessary to make the game run smoothly at the best possible settings. I don't need 250 frames per second when my TV can only display 60. 100% utilization means higher temperatures. Higher temperatures mean a shorter lifespan for your hardware. That's why it makes sense to me to turn on V-Sync and lock a game at 60 frames per second and give the GPU a break. With many AAA games this isn't an issue because you won't hit 60 frames per second.
I always start at 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution and all settings maxed out. For the vast majority of my games it is completely playable with those settings. If the game stutters I will start turning down certain things. The first place I start is usually AA. I will drop it from 16x to 8x or 4x. If that doesn't work I might turn down draw distance a little bit.
You will probably want Physx turned off for some games that use that physics engine too. It is a Nvidia proprietary engine that doesn't run on AMD GPUs. If you have an AMD GPU it will run off your CPU instead which may or may not work smoothly. Most games don't use this but I have several that do. Mirrors Edge, Metro 2033, and the Arkham games run great with Physx running off my CPU and Metro 2033 is one of the best looking PC games I have. Borderlands 2 on the other hand gets slowdown to the point where it is unplayable once you start shooting a group of guys unless you turn off Physx.
The last thing I always do is turn on V-Sync if it is an option for a given game. What V-Sync does is limit the frames per second to the refresh rate of your monitor. For those of us playing on a TV that is probably 60. There isn't much benefit to your computer running a game at more than 60 frames per second if the monitor you are playing on can only display 60 frames in a second. This can cause screen tearing when the monitor and computer don't match up. Of course, if you can't hit 60 frames per second with a game turning on V-sync will have no effect.
Plus I occasionally run FRAPs to see what framerate a game is running at the first time I boot it up. With V-Sync turned off I have seen games run my GPU at 100% utilization to put out stupidly unnecessary framerates. I have seen low powered indie games maxing out my GPU and putting out over 250 frames per second.
I don't want my GPU maxed out unless it's necessary to make the game run smoothly at the best possible settings. I don't need 250 frames per second when my TV can only display 60. 100% utilization means higher temperatures. Higher temperatures mean a shorter lifespan for your hardware. That's why it makes sense to me to turn on V-Sync and lock a game at 60 frames per second and give the GPU a break. With many AAA games this isn't an issue because you won't hit 60 frames per second.
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Right now I'm just running my PC on an LG 32" LCD that is 720p. I already changed the setting to output in 720p. How do I run FRAPS?
Really neglecting this thread lately as all I've been playing is Diablo III, new daddy 2.0 and just picked up The Show to tinker with the superstar mode.
Traded in a handful of launch titles to paid off The Show and Watch Dogs with them though. Infamous probably has scared me away from digital for a little while, Madden will probably be my next digital retail title unless there's a nice sale.
Traded in a handful of launch titles to paid off The Show and Watch Dogs with them though. Infamous probably has scared me away from digital for a little while, Madden will probably be my next digital retail title unless there's a nice sale.
http://www.fraps.com/
FRAPS is a little program that runs in the background. It will display the frames per second you are currently getting in the bottom left corner of the game. All that really matters to me is that a game is running smoothly. I don't want to see stuttering when I'm playing. For me that is usually around 30 frames per second but the closer you can get to 60 the better. A consistent 25 frames per second is also usually less jarring than one that jumps beteween 25 and 45 depending on the action on screen.
In the end the numbers don't really matter but the tech geek in me likes to see them the first time I boot up a new AAA game. I don't play with it on after that because the changing yellow number in the corner gets distracting.
YEah don't get too hung up on FRAPS. As a console gamer you can tell when a game runs at the right speed. The goal is to achieve the best marriage of speed and graphic fidelity.
Really if you want to record gameplay you're better off with Shadowplay now if you have the right hardware I think, no? http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/shadowplay
That's what I recorded this with, it was after the fact too, just had Shadowplay enabled and kind of like the PS4 I hit a hotkey so that it saved the previous footage.
Hardware-based so minimal impact if at all, unlike FRAPS which is software competing for system resources. The above video was in beta, it didn't capture my voice for some reason, thankfully, I yelled and probably peed a little when that monster appeared and ate Derrick
That's what I recorded this with, it was after the fact too, just had Shadowplay enabled and kind of like the PS4 I hit a hotkey so that it saved the previous footage.
Hardware-based so minimal impact if at all, unlike FRAPS which is software competing for system resources. The above video was in beta, it didn't capture my voice for some reason, thankfully, I yelled and probably peed a little when that monster appeared and ate Derrick
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First, congrats on the new kid! I picked up Diablo III on sale for $20 right before the new expansion came out but I haven't put a ton of time into it yet. I was preoccupied with trying to get inFamous back to Gamefly before Watch Dogs came out. I really like what I've played of Diablo so far except for server issues causing a bunch of lag the first night I got it.
I really wanted to get into The Show. I love baseball and the graphics look amazing. I just didn't pick it up for the same reason I haven't put much time into Diablo yet. I didn't want to get myself addicted to Road to the Show again with all the games I want to play right now.
I'm kind of surprised to hear you didn't like inFamous though. I just finished it up last night and I really liked it.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...tellite-Guy-s-gamers-at?p=3445469#post3445469
