No, the “challenge” is really just a hyperbolic title for the series.
Every 6 months or so they come up with a low cost gaming machine, a mid range gaming machine and a “Dream” machine that the automaker CEO’s would get only if the government promises to bail them out afterwards They call these series of articles the “system builder challenge” articles.
It’s not hard to build a machine for around that money, or even less. All it takes is a visit to newegg or microcenter, or a number of vendors. Alternatively, you can get the parts and pay your local shop $50 to build it for you.
but to put it another way, that system is pretty crap
Let’s look at it compared to some new games that have released.
That system you showed me had a duo core 2.0 ghz CPU with 2 gigs of RAM and a GeForce 8800 (I had a duo core 2.4 ghz two years ago and it wasn’t top of the line, but this is a cheapo system, so aside from that)
Fallout 3:
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows XP/Vista
1GB System RAM (XP) / 2GB System RAM (Vista)
2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
Direct X 9.0c compliant videocard with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better / ATI X850 or better)
Won’t run
FarCry 2:
Minimum requirements
CPU: Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, Pentium D 2.66 Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better
RAM: 1 GB
Video card: NVidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better, Shader Model 3 required, 256 Mb of graphic memory
Media reader: DVD-ROM
Hard drive space: ~12 Gig or HD space. (tbd)
won’t run
Call of Duty 4:
迭equired (min) Specs・/b>
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.4 GHz or AMD(R) Athlon™
64 2800+ processor or any 1.8Ghz Dual Core Processor or better supported
RAM: 512MB RAM (768MB for Windows Vista)
Harddrive: 8GB of free hard drive space
Video card (generic): NVIDIA(R) Geforce™ 6600 or better or ATI(R) Radeon(R) 9800Pro or better
Won’t run
Spore:
Windows XP/Vista Processor 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
RAM XP: 512 MB / Vista: 768 MB
Graphics card 128 MB with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
Hard disk drive space At least 6 GB
WILL run
The Witcher (over a year old, though was high-end for it’s time)
Minimum requirements:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2, Vista (Operating System must be up to date with the latest fixes)
Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon 64 +2800
1 GB RAM for Microsoft® Windows® XP / 1536 MB for Microsoft® Windows® Vista
128 MB Video RAM or greater with DirectX9 Vertex Shader/ Pixel Shader 2.0 support (NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or ATI Radeon 9800 or better)
8.5 GB available hard drive space
DirectX 9.0c compliant soundcard, plus speakers or headphones
DVD-Rom
Won’t run.
So yea, it’s a gaming PC, but it won’t play any of the newer “blockbuster” games that have come out recently other than Spore.
You’ve proven that ia gaming rig can be built for $500. I accept that. but it’s a gaming rig that isn’t capable of playing any of the games I actually want to play.
Seriously man. If you don’t know what you are talking about. And I think we’ve established that. I’m not sure why you are going on with this.
Why won’t it run? The processor required is a 2.4 Ghz PENTIUM 4 class processor. The core 2 duo is three generations ahead of that. It’s equivalent to a 6+ Ghz Pentium 4. The video card smokes the minimum required. In other words, it can run it, and will run it at HIGHER settings and with more bells and whisltes and at a higher fps than the xbox 360.
Seriously man.
Sigh. Give it up dude. Again, you’re tying up your hopes on the processor. That Pentium D is a generation behind the core 2 duo. It’s way more capable. Shall I repeat myself? That PC can run this game at a higher resolution and with MUCH higher video quality and advanced lighting and rendering tech (DX10) than any console.
My hand is getting tired man. That was your plan all along, wasn’t it? You want ot give me carpel tunnel and then laugh at me when I try to play Left 4 dead tonight. Right?
I’ll give you a hint: System requirements are still being written with the old pentium 4 or pentium D standard. You can go to the “can you run this” website to see how your actual hardware stacks up to system requirements for just abotu any Pc game out there.
Another note. Even if the PC’s processor just met the requirements, or even just came under them, it does not mean the game won’t run. The graphics card can make the difference, as can simply lowering the graphics detail… perhaps to a level closer to the current gen consoles.
And that’s enough. It’s the same story for every other game you mention. And I really am starting to get carpel tunnel.
So in conclusion, your conclusion is erroneous.
Let me ask you something: why do you hate PC gaming so much? Did a PC kill your mom and sleep with your wife or something?
alright fair enough. As I said, I haven’t built a PC in several years, nor have I been keeping up with CPU standards. Didn’t realize the difference between a Pentium duo and a D.
I don’t hate PCs, though since you asked one did strangle my cat… poor Lucky… er anyway, I said before I used to be a PC Gamer and still would be if it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to have my PC sent to Japan with no guarantee customs wouldn’t hold it for several months for inspection for no good god damn reason. PC Gaming has a lot of advantages over Console gaming, most specifically in the modding scene (Fallout 3 will kick even more ass a year from now on the PC, whereas it’ll probably just be quite a bit better on the console and you’ll have to pay for those upgrades). But there’s no denying the hassle of PC gaming is far greater than that of console gaming. Plus trying to run a PC game on minimum specs is really crappy, we hated the min spec rigs when I worked at EA, they were all but unplayable.
Which brings up another point, testing a game (doing Quality Assurance) on a PC is a lot more expensive as it has to be done on hundreds of different configurations with most of the commonly used sound/graphics/processors on min, max, and everything between spec’d machines.
So trying to bring this back to the original arguement Console gaming is gaining momentum for a reason, it’s the go-to choice for most gamers for a reason. Will it ever completely replace PC gaming? Hell no. Nor will PC gaming ever simply fade away. But there are quite significant reasons that it’s the more popular medium
Wouldn’t this basically mean that the PC market is shrinking and the console market is growing, what I’ve been saying all along?
And the system requirements discussion above is exactly why people shy away from PC gaming (I know it’s why I did, for a few years in the mid-90s I was exclusively a PC gamer). Knowing the difference between several similarly named components is a lot more difficult (and costly since PC software cannot be returned or traded in) than looking for the Wii, Xbox 360 or PS3 band on the top of the case.
For all we know, your opponent may have just sucked.
I’d like to see this in action. May I suggest half-life 2 deathmatch? I pick that because it’s free off steam to anyone with an ATI or Nvidia graphics card (so basically anyone), and it’ll run fine on a mid-range 4 year old system. I doubt you’d have other games like Call of Duty 4 on PC since you’d have them on the xbox.
I don’t see why I’d try that though - I’d be downgrading my experience in every way - graphics, control scheme, interface… I’m sure I could force my way through learning to play FPS games on a console, and grudgingly learn to hate it less - but why would I? I guess if I had to, I could also learn to play FPS games using an atari 2600 controller with my feet while angry midgets used sandpaper to scrape my skin off, but I’d rather not.
FWIW, my friends were in to play Halo or maybe Halo 2 on my friend’s xbox a while back. I tried to like it but it was just so frustrating that it wasn’t fun at all.
They call these series of articles the “system builder challenge” articles.
