PC Game Fun Time

It has been a very long time coming, but pricing on DDR3 memory is finally getting to the point where it is just about worth it.  The last time I checked on www.newegg.com, 4 gigabytes of DDR3 1333 could be had for around $125.  This is still several times the going rate on the older, slower DDR2 standard, with the same amount of DDR2 routinely going for $50 or even $40.

In the grand scheme of things, though, $125 is not that much to spend on system memory, and prices will continue to drop.  Also critical is the fact that there are now plenty of DDR3 supporting motherboards available at reasonable prices.  Perhaps most importantly, the new line of processors from Intel, the Core i7, will only support DDR3.  The Core i7 is Intel’s successor to the Core 2 line of processors, due out later this month.  It will be a little while before Core i7s become mainstream, as the early motherboards are all in the $300+ price range.  However, rest assured that once there are some good Core i7 motherboards at lower prices, DDR3 will pick up some serious steam.

There are a few reasons why DDR3 has taken so long to become popular.  The primary factor that provided momentum to DDR2 and kept DDR3 from taking hold was the pin incompatibility between the 2 formats.  While some newer motherboards now have slots for both types of memory, DDR3 memory will not fit in a DDR2 slot.

Also, faster memory speeds generally do not translate to significant performance increases in real world tests.  From a gaming perspective, you might see an increase of a few frames per second going from DDR2 800 to DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600.  However, this will not hold true forever.  Currently, memory speeds are rarely a bottleneck, and so faster speeds won’t help you much.  Nonetheless, progress keeps marching on, and eventually DDR2 memory will be slow enough compared to other system components that it will become a problem.  This may not be very far down the road.

Of course, the pricing of actual DDR3 memory sticks has also been limiting.  Typically, DDR3 memory has costed about 3 times as much as DDR2 memory for quite some time.  However, DDR2 now costs about 1/3 what it did 12 or 18 months ago.  It is now so cheap that putting 4 gigabytes into even the lowest cost desktops is recommended.

With all these facts in mind, I think we have now reached the turning point.  If I were to build a gaming machine today, I would go with DDR3 memory.  It is not that expensive, and it will give you a lot more upgradeability options in the future.  Of course, I would also probably wait on building anything until Core i7 motherboards come down in price, but that is another story.

The biggest, sharpest, and rustiest jagged double-edged sword in PC gaming is without a doubt the hardware itself. On the one hand, the ability to choose each component in a computer is a great positive, allowing a smooth upgrade cycle the envy of console gamers everywhere, the ability to get as much performance as you’re willing to pay for, and of course the sheer fun of assembling a custom rig that uses as many blue LEDs as your power supply can handle. But on the other hand, PC gaming can be a sheer hassle sometimes (whereas on locked-down console platforms games “just work”), and no one can argue that it’s cheaper. But those are the breaks, and everyone reading this blog is here because they’ve found that, on the balance, the positives outweigh the negatives.

I had a blast back in January 2007 specing and assembling the computer that is still my primary Windows XP gaming desktop. I built it to be able to play Supreme Commander, a really demanding real-time strategy game that fully utilized multiple core processors. The components were good for the time: an Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 processor, Nvidia GeForce 7950GT graphics card, and 2 GB of RAM all wrapped inside of an Antec P180 “black monolith” case (I got over my plexiglass and blue LED obsession in college). Since then I’ve added another 2 GB of RAM which, thanks to plummeting prices over time, cost 20% of the first 2 GB. I also replaced the video card last month when it steadfastly refused to stop frying itself at temperatures of 120°C, even with the sides of the case off. So I’m now running an ATI Radeon HD 4850, which is the best bang for your buck out of any video card. It runs Crysis at my 20″ monitor’s native resolution on high graphics settings with full anti-aliasing at a smooth frame rate, so yeah, it’s sweet.

Along the way something curious happened, though. I bought a cheap pre-made Dell computer to serve as my primary desktop, and installed Ubuntu GNU/Linux on it (yes, I’m that kind of computer user). In fact, I’m composing this very blog post on said computer right now. So I have a perfect computer dichotomy right now: the good one is used exclusively for playing games, and the other one is used for everything else. It’s almost as if my gaming computer was a dedicated game console — except, of course, it plays games that don’t suck with a peripheral that doesn’t suck. I’m sorry gamepads, but you’ll never match the sheer versatility of the mouse and keyboard. We have three PC gamers living in this house with nary a console in sight and that’s the way we like it.

As for what’s next with my gaming computer, I’m looking to upgrade the processor and motherboard in the intermediate future. Everything else should last me for awhile. And I have some recommendations to anyone building a new computer from scratch (or upgrading an existing one). Absolutely, positively get 4 GB of RAM. RAM is so cheap these days that maxing out is mandatory. Also, don’t spend too much on a video card. $150-200 is the price range you should be looking at (a range that is currently ruled by the ATI Radeon HD 4850, I might add). If you have more money than that to spend on a video card, buy a decent video card now, and then use the rest of the money in a year to a year and a half to get a better video card. You’ll get a lot more performance averaged over time for the same cost.

And to anyone who’s into PC gaming but hasn’t built a gaming computer — what are you waiting for? It’s one of the best aspects of the hobby. Start by maxing out your RAM as an interim upgrade and then plan more drastic measures. Relish in the freedom to upgrade that console gamers completely lack. You’re already committed to the hobby, so do everything in your power to have the best possible time with it.