What an amazing year 2017 has proven to be for PC enthusiasts in terms of hardware choices on offer!
AMD has finally delivered some serious competition for the incumbent market leaders in both CPUs and GPUs.
This has affected pricing - and the delivery of technology improvements ahead of their originally planned market introduction dates - to the benefit of consumers.
Exemplifying this is this article on "Best Gaming CPUs" by Toms Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html
I'm really glad I held off upgrading my current gaming machine until now - it's still very capable and runs T:ANE really well, but its immediate future is to be relegated to just another of my networked support PCs, as I now have a clear insight into which
Now that the hype and hoo-hah associated with new product launches such as Ryzen, Vega, and 8th Gen Core i7 and i9 and X-series chips from Intel has subsided - we've had a chance to absorb the myriad of hardware reviews and build options and pricing combinations involved in crafting a rig capable of delivering optimal performance at 'a reasonable price' in demanding simulators such as T:ANE and Star Citizen.
Unfortunately for me, that resolve has resulted in my new rig being a replacement, rather than an upgrade of my current i7 4790K/ GTX 1070 platform: i.e. new motherboard and chipset, new RAM and cooler solutions, etc. and eventually, a new graphics card to boot. That's the only way I can concoct a gaming PC solution that's demonstrably faster than my current one - and one that will also serve my productivity and business applications needs for several years to come.
What about you? Which way will you choose to go if you're considering a new build?
How much does being able to run T:ANE smoothly and at the highest possible quality settings influence your decision-making and expenditure planning processes (as it does mine!)?
AMD has finally delivered some serious competition for the incumbent market leaders in both CPUs and GPUs.
This has affected pricing - and the delivery of technology improvements ahead of their originally planned market introduction dates - to the benefit of consumers.
Exemplifying this is this article on "Best Gaming CPUs" by Toms Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html
I'm really glad I held off upgrading my current gaming machine until now - it's still very capable and runs T:ANE really well, but its immediate future is to be relegated to just another of my networked support PCs, as I now have a clear insight into which
platforms and components my replacement gaming rig will include.
Now that the hype and hoo-hah associated with new product launches such as Ryzen, Vega, and 8th Gen Core i7 and i9 and X-series chips from Intel has subsided - we've had a chance to absorb the myriad of hardware reviews and build options and pricing combinations involved in crafting a rig capable of delivering optimal performance at 'a reasonable price' in demanding simulators such as T:ANE and Star Citizen.
Unfortunately for me, that resolve has resulted in my new rig being a replacement, rather than an upgrade of my current i7 4790K/ GTX 1070 platform: i.e. new motherboard and chipset, new RAM and cooler solutions, etc. and eventually, a new graphics card to boot. That's the only way I can concoct a gaming PC solution that's demonstrably faster than my current one - and one that will also serve my productivity and business applications needs for several years to come.
What about you? Which way will you choose to go if you're considering a new build?
How much does being able to run T:ANE smoothly and at the highest possible quality settings influence your decision-making and expenditure planning processes (as it does mine!)?
Last edited: