I Think I'm Ready for Next-Gen: Part 2
By colourful_hippie 21 Comments
In my recent blog I talked about finally putting together my dream PC. Well now it's time to actually put the thing to use and play some shit on it. Before I continue I'll go ahead and copy/paste my PC specs
- Phantom 410 case
- i7 4770k (Haswell)
- Asus Z87-A
- XIGMATEK 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler
- Seagate 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD
- 128 gig SanDisk SSD
- 2x4 gig 1866 G.Skill RAM
- GTX 660ti
- Seasonic modular 750w PSU
As one can see, I'm rolling with a 660ti mainly because I'm planning on holding onto it till Black Friday when I can get a 770....but my friend just happened to have upgraded his card to a...770. I wanted to have a taste of the full potential I'll eventually have soon but why wait when I can try out his card now in my PC?
The following games have all been played on a 770 all maxed out except for specific AA tweaks to help accommodate the 60 fps.
Bioshock Infinite
I didn't spend that much time in this game because it isn't exactly all that demanding. The difference between this on my last machine (i5/660ti) and on the new one is that the new one never drops versus the random stutter on the old one. Everything is all maxed out, it's a pretty game.
Tomb Raider
This one I had to play between 2x to 4x SSAA (crazy version of anti-aliasing) and this game is a looker, right down to the crazy hair that no longer eats all of my frames. on 2x SSAA I can get a steady 60 frames with very few drops, the framerate drops to 40 or so when I bump it up to 4x SSAA.
Crysis 3
Ridiculous is a nice way to sum up the visuals in this game. Crytek outdid themselves here; their engine is streamlined to the point that I can just about max it out on a 660ti but then I can add all of the bells and whistles plus keep the framerate with the 770. Everything maxed out including AA gives me about 30 frames in open areas but that opening with the heavy rain was at 20 or so but you can see just how nice it looks in that shot above. I scaled the SMAA down to low and was able to get closer to 60 but the game just won't lock to it at that, it's still demanding. Either way though, the amount of eye candy on display is just stupid.
Farcry 3
I already finished this on my old machine but now that I'm able to play the game with every single thing maxed, AA and all, and never experience a drop in framerate is making me want to play it over again. My jaw was on the floor from being able to soar through the sky, use the glide suit, and hit the ground running without seeing a single hitch in performance. It's moments like that where I'm able to forget that I'm playing a game and can then allow myself to get lost in the game's universe.
Metro Last Light
Fuck dude, this game means business. This and Crysis 3 are the perfect benchmarks to get a sense of where your rig will stand for the beginning of the next gen. Completely maxed out with SSAA and all I can get 40 fps with slowdowns to 30 or even lower in action heavy sequences, but if I drop the SSAA to .5 I can keep everything going at a silky 60. It's not as easy to move around the game's locations as it is with the other games so I'm lacking a variety of screenshots.
Emulation
This was my main reason for wanting an i7 over an i5, I simply wanted to play around more in the Dolphin emulator and my choice in CPU has paid off. I'm able to run quite a few Wii games all at 1080p without nasty hitches and the Gamecube games are doing just as well. My biggest surprise is how well Nintendo's art holds up at the higher resolution. All I'm missing is a wireless Wii motion sensor so I can use my controllers to play Skyward Sword properly...maybe I'll actually finish that game now instead of letting it collect dust with the forsaken Wii in the closet and why waste my time with a Wind Waker HD remake when I can do it myself and keep the artstyle exactly the way I want it?
Closing Thoughts
In the end, I am very satisfied with what I have (which I should be considering the parts) and after using my friend's 770 in my own rig, I simply can't wait to get my own so that I'll be ready for Watchdogs. Looking at my monitors for the CPU and video card, I can see that I'm doing just fine. The CPU idles at 30 C and stays around 50-55 C when being pushed in open world games or through the Dolphin emulator. The video card is cruising along just as well and caps out at 75 C when being pushed by heavy hitters like Metro or Crysis 3.
Thanks for reading or skimming down the page really fast.