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I just preordered Far Cry 3!
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Andrew MacPherson
Nov 9, 2012, 3:57:00 AM11/9/12
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Despite my lack of love for FC2, and even though I have sworn never to pay full
price for any mainstream game ever again (in order to minimise disappointments) I
bought Far Cry 3 yesterday.
Was this a bad attack of optimism? Did the marketing hype get to me? Did I win the
lottery and throw all caution to the wind?
Well, no. It was a bad attack of hardware-itis, and my three screen sim racing
habit finally led me to crack and upgrade from a 5870 (which I bought in an end of
life deal 2 years' ago) to a 7950. The deal with FC3, Sleeping Dogs, and whatever
else is in the current deal was a small factor, because FC3 was the only title I
wanted, and not at full price. But a good price overall and the fact the card I got
will use the adapter I already use on the 5870 helped tip it under the upper limit
of what I was prepared to pay.
On paper it's not a massive upgrade (maybe 50% at best) but with three screens
it'll help a lot, while moving from 1GB to 3GB will give me some much needed elbow
room to pay in. And it will also free up my 5870 to replace the GTX260 in this
machine... which I tend to use for most normal games. Since adding a cheap 27" IPS
to this machine the 260 has been showing its age.
Mind you, not as much as the E8400 in it! Lightroom struggles a fair amount now
that it has so many pixels to process on screen in one go. So much so that I'm on
the lookout for a 4 core C2D processor which will shine in situations like
Lightroom. For gaming I've seen no evidence that the CPU's an issue, despite this
machine's age.
Andrew McP
PS The piss-take part of the AMD promo is the 20% off coupon for MOH. Based on the
reviews I've listened to, 90% might be more like it. :-)
PPS Until this week I thought I might end up with a 670 when prices dropped closer
to 200ukp, but in the end sticking with the Eyefinity devil I know is a big factor.
As is the fact I feel a bit sorry for AMD, who are having a rough time overall
these days... in fact I wish ATI had stayed independent. I keep wishing AMD'll find
some miracle pixie dust to sprinkle on their processors, but I don't think that's
going to happen, sadly. However the graphics division may become attractive on its
own if they have chipsets in both the new consoles (as rumoured).
price for any mainstream game ever again (in order to minimise disappointments) I
bought Far Cry 3 yesterday.
Was this a bad attack of optimism? Did the marketing hype get to me? Did I win the
lottery and throw all caution to the wind?
Well, no. It was a bad attack of hardware-itis, and my three screen sim racing
habit finally led me to crack and upgrade from a 5870 (which I bought in an end of
life deal 2 years' ago) to a 7950. The deal with FC3, Sleeping Dogs, and whatever
else is in the current deal was a small factor, because FC3 was the only title I
wanted, and not at full price. But a good price overall and the fact the card I got
will use the adapter I already use on the 5870 helped tip it under the upper limit
of what I was prepared to pay.
On paper it's not a massive upgrade (maybe 50% at best) but with three screens
it'll help a lot, while moving from 1GB to 3GB will give me some much needed elbow
room to pay in. And it will also free up my 5870 to replace the GTX260 in this
machine... which I tend to use for most normal games. Since adding a cheap 27" IPS
to this machine the 260 has been showing its age.
Mind you, not as much as the E8400 in it! Lightroom struggles a fair amount now
that it has so many pixels to process on screen in one go. So much so that I'm on
the lookout for a 4 core C2D processor which will shine in situations like
Lightroom. For gaming I've seen no evidence that the CPU's an issue, despite this
machine's age.
Andrew McP
PS The piss-take part of the AMD promo is the 20% off coupon for MOH. Based on the
reviews I've listened to, 90% might be more like it. :-)
PPS Until this week I thought I might end up with a 670 when prices dropped closer
to 200ukp, but in the end sticking with the Eyefinity devil I know is a big factor.
As is the fact I feel a bit sorry for AMD, who are having a rough time overall
these days... in fact I wish ATI had stayed independent. I keep wishing AMD'll find
some miracle pixie dust to sprinkle on their processors, but I don't think that's
going to happen, sadly. However the graphics division may become attractive on its
own if they have chipsets in both the new consoles (as rumoured).
Rin Stowleigh
Nov 9, 2012, 11:05:44 AM11/9/12
to
On Fri, 9 Nov 2012 08:57 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
mcp.a...@DELETTHISgmail.com (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
>Despite my lack of love for FC2, and even though I have sworn never to pay full
>price for any mainstream game ever again (in order to minimise disappointments) I
>bought Far Cry 3 yesterday.
I pre-ordered it as well. I had the opposite reaction to FC2 that you
mcp.a...@DELETTHISgmail.com (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
>Despite my lack of love for FC2, and even though I have sworn never to pay full
>price for any mainstream game ever again (in order to minimise disappointments) I
>bought Far Cry 3 yesterday.
did, although mostly on behalf of the MP. Although I also enjoyed SP
enough to play maybe 6-8 hours, I played MP hundreds of hours and due
to the never-ending supply of maps never really got tired of the game
itself, I just got tired of the match lobby mechanism which became
intolerable after a year or so when the number of players dwindled.
I just hope FC3 continues along the path of what made the MP in FC3 so
great, improves upon it, and... oh yeah.... still offers a decent SP
game :)
Andrew MacPherson
Nov 10, 2012, 2:39:00 PM11/10/12
to
mcp.a...@DELETTHISgmail.com (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
> Well, no. It was a bad attack of hardware-itis
It was also a bad attack of not-thinking-properly-itis. My "next day delivery"
> Well, no. It was a bad attack of hardware-itis
turned out to be "maybe Monday if we can be bothered to send the van in your
direction", so I've had time to realise I didn't measure up the card first.
It turns out this three slot Asus solution is almost 12" long, thanks to a cooler
big enough to chill my fridge. So, in preparation, I've just had to sacrifice my
hard drive cage and blu-tac a second HD to the bottom of my case.
On the plus side I did discover I had a spare 250GB drive in there which I'd
forgotten about. I guess storing unused components in a PC is as safe a place as
any.
I think I must be getting rusty at this upgrading lark. I used to spend ages
planning these things and plan every step of the way. Now I seem to just hit "buy"
and worry about the consequences later.
Maybe it's just the closest thing to living dangerously I get up to? :->
Andrew McP
Andrew MacPherson
Nov 10, 2012, 2:46:00 PM11/10/12
to
rstow...@gmail.com (Rin Stowleigh) wrote:
> I had the opposite reaction to FC2 that you
> did, although mostly on behalf of the MP.
Thie biggest difference between us is that I spend 0% of my time in multiplayer. I
> I had the opposite reaction to FC2 that you
> did, although mostly on behalf of the MP.
don't even like it very much in iRacing, but there's no AI so I have no choice. :->
Still, it will be interesting to be part of a day one release for a change. I get
to discover just how sh*t FC3 is at the same time as everyone else. :-)
Andrew McP
PS From the footage show so far I'm expecting it not to be sh*t, but I like to
prepare for the worst.
PPS Watching the Star Citizen stuff again this week I did find myself getting just
a little bit tempted by online activity. It's just that I know what'll happen...
I'll try it out, discover I'm right at the bottom of the pecking order again (just
as in all other online activity!) and feel like cannon fodder.
Maybe Roberts will build in the ability to be a shuttle pilot ferrying spares to
the front line. I might be able to do that competently, as long as there's a
satnav.
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