Generations in PC Gaming

[radiofloyd]

Was just thinking about this yesterday - how do you decide when pc games have jumped up a generation and it's time to upgrade? I mean in terms of being able to play games comfortably, not maxed out.

It was pretty obvious if you needed a 3D graphics card, but these days the improvements seem pretty incremental. Do people go by length of time, hardware improvements, the latest Windows OS, the latest game from a certain developer? A bit of everything?

At some point in the last few years, the requirements for PC games have taken a step up. Is The Sims a good barometer? The Sims 1 was released in 2000, along with Baldur's Gate II, Diablo II, Deus Ex, Unreal Tournament. The Sims 2 came out in 2004, alongside Half-Life 2, Far Cry, World of Warcraft, Rome Total War, Dawn of War - a clear generational gap. The Sims 3 was released in 2009...hardly a vintage year for PC gaming, only Dragon Age Origins springs to mind. But games like Bioshock and Crysis had already been released.

Where do you think we are now in the generational cycle?

[DANGERMAN]

I don't know how you separate it but I feel like DX plays a part in it. I could see someone wanting to upgrade now to get the most out of DX11 as that's what's getting pushed at the minute

[Manicm]

Will admit after the pentuim days pc gaming left me behind, i remember when it was easy i had an 8086xt pc, went to a 486sx to an sx2 then dx4 100mhz crazy days!! then up to pentuim, nowadays just don't seem to bother keeping up. I have no idea whats current generation anymore or even what to look for, for a new PC, something i should i really look into as i need a new laptop!

[Uncle Dokuro]

I don't think PC gaming uses the same generational system as consoles. PC gaming is wide and vast, with diffrent configs depending on the end users budget and they type of games they play. It's not like a consoles where everyone has the same hardware config and the manufacure releases a new one every 5 - 8 years. Some PC games push the limits for their min requirements and a large of PC amount still use DX9 and can run on XP for min requirements.

[wholehole]

I think Dangerman has hit the nail on the head with the DirectX stuff.

Something like Far Cry 3 has an option to switch between DX9 and DX11. Opting for (or being forced to use) DX9 fully disables the options for MSAA and SSAO. It doesn't affect it too much in reality but to get the absolute most out of the game you would need a DX11 compatible card.