Computer Build Marathon Day 4 was a very good article. Here is an important note, your LCD monitors do not display more than 60Hz refresh rate and the human eyes cannot detect a big difference above 60Hz or 60fps, they are most comfortable at 85Hz. So even if the gaming benchmark says 200fps on Doom 3, it does not matter. Even if it says your 3D Mark score is 10000 it is worthless. So as long as your video card can handle at least 60fps on a certain video setting, it would be sufficient to play that game at the right experience.
Common Resolution Gaming (up to 1280x1024):
Medium Computer ($1250)
High Resolution Gaming (at least 1600x1200):
Low end special w/ high end video card ($1000)
Note: This is very ironic, so you pay less to play games with better experience because of high resolution.
One more thing to consider and I think THG did not address this:
Another dimension to consider the computer worth:
Price vs. Performance vs. Time Can I get a computer now that can last me up to 5 years, or being able to play games that are released in the next 5 years at refresh rate of at least 60fps?
I thought of several ways: Consider this, top gaming video cards back in 2002 is tied between Radeon 9800XT and Geforce FX 5950 Ultra (~75fps on RTCW 1280x1024). Medium level video card back in 2002 is tied between Radeon 9600XT and Geforce 5700 Ultra (~61fps on RTCW 1280x1024). Clearly, you can see that the top video card cannot last 5 years, maybe max 2 years. So in 5 years time frame, you would have to buy 2 other video cards to upgrade your computer to achieve that goal. Let’s say a medium level video card cost $250. So in 5 years, using the medium level computer, you would have to spend $1250+$250+$250 = $1750.
Here are the scenarios to achieve the 5 yr plan: 1. Low end w/ top video card + one low end CPU upgrade($100) and one HIGH video card upgrade in 2.5 or 3 yrs ($500) = $1000+$100+$500=$1600
2. Medium computer + two medium video card upgrades ($250 each) = $1250+$500=$1750
3. High end computer w/ no upgrade = $3600
4. Buy another low end w/ top video card in 2.5 yrs = $2000
5. Buy another medium computer in 2.5 yrs = $2500
6. Med-High Level computer (e6600, 8800GTX) = $2000 (may need another upgrade)
These considerations did not take overclocking into account, but what if I buy super overclocking potential components and let it sit for 2.5 yrs and then overclock it to bump it up?
I would say my med-high level computer would be sufficient.
Here’s the spec, I’m about to buy. Core2Duo E6600 2.4Ghz ($227)
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Heatsink ($55)
Silverstone 110CFM FM121 120mm Fan ($15.99)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe 975X Chipset Motherboard ($209.99)
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB PC2-8000 ($110 w/ $40 rebate)
Foxconn FV-N88XMAD2-ONOC GeForce 8800GTX 768MB ($549.99)
Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 8MB SATA3.0 (3qt. For 3x Raid 0) ($128.97, $42 per drive)
LG Black 18X 2MB Cache IDE Super-Multi DVD Burner - OEM ($28.99)
Ultra X-Infinity 600W ($65 w/ $65 rebate)
Antec Performance One P180B Black 0.8mm ($79.99 w/ $50 rebate)
Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 C6W-00001 2-Tone 4 Buttons ($20)
Microsoft Wired ZG6-00006 Black 103 Normal Keys ($12)
