I feel like I just got my driver's license and someone sold me a bugatti. I lucked out on this build for $800 yesterday. A friend just built it a month ago, but life is life, and needed cash, so he sold it to me. Did a fresh install, and am good to go, but I have no games, and I'd like to really test it out. What do you recommend?

Specs:

i7 4790k

GTX 1080 Founders

3TB hard drive (with 3 extra slots)

32Gb of ram

Liquid cooled

Alienware aurora

Fallout 4 + console commands. Generate as much exploding crap on the screen as you can.

Also, Devil Daggers... not to put the computer through it's paces but to put YOU through the paces.

EDIT: Completely forgot about GTA5, gorgeous game. You can also add mods to try to push your PC to its upper limits.

Your just looking for eyecandy to test it out? I'd say Crysis 3 is still one of the best looking games and a perfermance hog on most systems. Rise of Tombraider is a good looking game, i can't 100% max it out at 1440p. Witcher 3 is still one of the best looking games at all time, especially at 1440p and above. If your rocking a 1080p monitor then i'll suggest DSR at atleast 1440p or a little higher.

Doom looks and plays great, but if you really want to take the Herculean new PC test then get Rise of the Tomb Raider. Game is known to really put pc's through their paces and it doesn't hurt that not only does it look gorgeous but is a ton of fun to play.

DOOM would be a perfect fit for breaking in a new rig. Show off the beauty of that game on the ultra settings at 150+ FPS.

Doom is fucking great, and can look incredible.

MechWarrior Online is free, and can also push out some pretty nice looking visuals, as it uses the Crytek engine. I forget which version.

There are some parts of the newest Unreal Tournament that are more finished than others. Depending on what map you end up on, you can really appreciate a good rig. That's also free, as long as you are willing to make an account and download the Epic Games Launcher.

Doom and Witcher 3.

Seconding this (aside from the incorrect spelling of DOOM).

The Witcher 3 will show off the graphics, DOOM will show the blistering performance. GTAV will still treat you well in terms of the scale of the urban sprawl. Dying Light is another open world game which should look great. Maybe Assetto Corsa if you want to drive. The most recent 2 Tomb Raider games will be good for third person action type stuff. Maybe Alien Isolation for Horror.

Agreed. Though Rise of the Tomb Raider also sounds like a great game to test a new machine.

CS 1.6

I would tell you to buy Skyrim and go mad with mods, especially ENBs but as it's your first PC that'd be a frustrating initial assignment.

In terms of GPU-pushing eye candy, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Witcher 3 are hard to beat, as well as being great games to actually play.

wow you got a deal, graphics card alone is almost all of that value.

I'll also say Doom and Witcher 3 if you want some eye candy.

Crysis and Doom 3.

DOOM

New: Doom

Newish: Witcher 3

Oldish:Sleeping Dawgs

Oldish and fun: Skyrim +MOOOOOODS

Witcher 3 on max seems like the way to go, get that sick HairWorx tech up and running.

• Doom
• Witcher 3
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• GTA V

Many people have mentioned the Witcher 3 and I cant agree more.

If you haven't played it yet, you owe it to yourself and to your machine to allow this glorious game on your hard drive.

Also, dare I say, Mad Max?

I just got it on Steam Sale for $17 and that game looks real nice too.

I am definitely in the minority, but if your going strictly for graphics doom 3 isnt much of a looker imo. Runs great though.

@oursin_360: Well you know Doom 3 was pretty good looking at the time.

Now DooM 2016? That game looks nice. It's not a "take a screenshot and drink in the detail" type of nice though. DooM looks great in motion because it's a smooth 60 and theres a ton of stuff happening on screen. Plus, just like with Rise of the Tomb Raider, you get the added benefit of it being a kick ass game.

@hassun: I would pick Forza Apex over Assetto Corsa. Not that it is the better game, but it's definitely the better looking and more taxing on the system one. And it's free!

DOOM (well, not really a system melter, but you can marvel at it's technical performance and optimization), Witcher 3, GTA V, a Frostbite game of your choice and the Division are probably the most recent system 'melters' I guess. The Crysis games still look good and require a decent PC (mostly because they are badly optimized).

I prefer the old standbys of Solitaire and Minesweeper. If those run okay, the next logical check is Crysis.

Original Crysis. Also Metro last light in 4K makes every system chug.

@humanity: ha i meant new doom, never even played doom 3. Whoops

Its definitely a good feeling game and not ugly at all but not one of those games you get a new card to admire your new shiny graphics lol.

Also to add to the list i think assassins creed syndicate on pc is one of the best looking games as well, especially with some mods. Kinda boring though but looks pretty.

I put my vote for Rise of the Tomb Raider. I've not played it but Tomb Raider 2013 already looks awesome to me and the new one must look a lot better.

Dragon Age Inquisition is IMO a nice looking game at ultra settings.

I've not played it but Shadow of Mordor is supposed to look great if you have the VRAM to max it and with 8GB you have more than enough.

First thing I did when I got my 1070 was install the ultra textures pack. Bit underwhelming, honestly, but worth doing if you already own the game.

Witcher 3, on the other hand, made me shed a tiny tear of joy on ultra at 60FPS.

Dragon's Dogma, because I sometimes forget that it came to PC this year. And also Fallout 4 with several mods from NexusMods, the Fallout 4 script extender which is needed for certain mods, and an ENB to make the game look better.

METRO LAST LIGHT

@soulcake: But it's so worth it. I remember getting kind of freaked out by how good that game looked when I had it running at full speed, especially outdoors.

RIP AND TEAR

Metro Last Light

Witcher 3 and especially the newest DLC Blood and Wine. Best looking game sofar on any platform.

If you really have no PC games, Humble Bundles are a great way to build up a collection in no time (and not much money). But be warned that you'll have amassed a massive backlog before you know it.

Yeah. I just picked up a machine with a 1070 and tried Witcher 3 again. Wow. GTA5 looks amazing as well.

Rise of the Tomb Raider and GTA5.

Nice rig! All of the above suggestions are pretty great. If you are into driving games Project cars is about as good looking as they get. Racing in rainy conditions will give your system a decent workout.

Go spacey with Rebel Galaxy which has great visuals and great sound on top of that.

There isn't really a game that does that anymore if you have a modern PC of even mid tier (which you have above that). Just buy what you want to play. It'll most likely look amazing if you know what options are important to turn on or off.

But can it run Crysis? No, really, it's a great game if it can.

Steam?

Metal Gear Solid V and Battlefront. MGS is amazing to play and watch. Battlefront gets old quick but looks fantastic.

Your friend is insane, he could have got like 1600 for that

Wow, that is a REALLY good deal for that config. Almost too good, like maybe if you consider this guy a close friend, throw him some extra money back someday! :)

A generic rig like that could easily cost $1500, and Alienware probably priced it at $3000!

If you're looking to benchmark, compare, or stability test... the free version of 3DMark is pretty decent (on Steam). It's not a good indicator of "real" gaming performance, but it's great for comparing your results (in detail) to others with similar configs to make sure yours is performing as it should in each individual area and overall. It's also pretty good for extended stress testing for stability or if you're overclocking (and you should be with that rig, the CPU and GPU could easily be bumped up by a good amount [10-20%] with no stability issues). Don't pay for 3Dmark though, the demo is fine and paying for it has never been worthwhile because so few people do, that the "paid" tests have little to no results to compare yours with.