I'm played mostly on my PC (P4 2800 with very slow intel gma graphics) but it got old so I'll have to upgrade. There are 2 other PCs in the house I use sometimes, (E2160 with intel gma and P3200 with Radeon HD 3850), they're faster but still getting too slow. Time to get a new one, still thinking if I should get something used or buy new. My new gaming machine will probably be an A8-7600.

With GOG even the very old computers work for gaming, recently played Battle Isle and Pirates Gold for which they are much faster then needed, for the Witcher 3 I'll need something faster.


I'm in for:

Longest Journey, The
Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!
Deponia

I'm gaming on my trust Toshiba Satellite laptop.
Core i7-2630QM @ 2Ghz
4GB RAM
GeForce GT 540M @ 2048 MB

The hardware is pretty dated but it can handle the majority of games I play which are indies and oldies from GOG.
I've always had gaming laptops because they're more convenient to carry and travel with. As a college student I can't really afford a super awesome rig and I need the mobility, but once I settle down somewhere I'll buy all the best stuff in the market and try out the awesome looking games that have come out recently. Until then I have GOG and Indies to keep me busy.

I'd like to be in for Theme Hospital.

Thank you for this awesome giveaway and I hope you enjoy your new rig. Did any game manage to challenge it yet?

Bumping this; since we're on the topic of hardware, does anyone think the Oculus Rift will bring anything interesting to games?

IMO its a gimmick better used for teaching than gaming. It only adds something to first-person games and they are quite crappy these days. Also, after paying $500+/-, you still won't get anything in the realm of performance improvement. Seen people on Steam giving lack of Oculus support as a negative point in games. I mean, why would a developer spend money and time optimizing for OR when barely any people have it and normal audiences aren't likely to buy it? We can't add something as unreasonable as that when it'll benefit only a very very small minority, right? Should games have support for OR? Opinions please!

Thank you RWarehall and congratulations for your new pc!

I'm in for "Divinity: Dragon Commander Imperial Edition" and "Unrest Special Edition".

I build pc's for friends and family all the time, so I always want to hear how these rigs perform after putting the various parts together.
I have my current pc for the last 2 years and it is still a worthy machine. It's the 5th I ever owned and I'm very happy with it because every game I put in it runs smoothly.
CPU: Intel Core i5 3470 ( 3.2 GHz , 6 MB cache). I got this because I wanted to spend more money on GPU, but I haven't regret it because it's more than worth its money. When I was trying to decide on the cpu, I remember it was equal to the Bulldozer, but I chose intel because of the lower power consumption.
Mobo: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H (Z77 chip, DDR3, HDMI, CrossFireX, 7.1 sound card). Again this was intended to be an economic purchase, but from a trustworthy brand nonetheless. It allows some room for upgrades.
RAM: 2xCorsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3-1600 kit (9-9-9-24). Because that was the fastest that the motherboard supported. I would buy 4 modules if the cpu was quad-channel.
GPU: Club3D HD7950 with 3GB DDR5. The jewel of my pc. My previous card was also a Club3D product (a 9600GT that was unstoppable for 5 years) so I only looked for Club3D products when I wanted a new one. Not the one with the fastest clock, but with the 384-bit bus and the 1972 Stream processors, it is just awesome. I haven't had any problems with any of the games I played the last 2 years. I kind of regret spending much on this one because the price dropped 50% in just a year.
Storage: I had a very fast 120GB SSD, but it crashed a couple of months ago so I now use my old 1TB WD green sata. I didn't understand exactly how mush faster an SSD is until it crashed. It's a huge difference between 150 MB/s and 500 MB/s.
PSU: This is a part that is overlooked by many, but after watching my Pentium2 burn because of a faulty psu, I always think before gatting a new PSU. Right now I have a Coolermaster 750W, with 80+ silver certification. And a 5-year warranty.
Monitor: LG Cinema 3D D2542P. The monitor is older than the pc, but it was a great opportunity when it was on sale. The 3D feature is just ok, but it has a program that can make any game in 3D.

There is also a 1200VA UPS for security, because in the place where I live, power spikes are very often and very dangerous.
The totally unnecessary part is 4 Sharkoon green cold cathode lamps, that make the interior green. (I also have one of these for fun)
All of the above were bought 2 years ago, during a 6 month period (because I couldn't afford them all at once)
Liquid cooling is the next thing I have in mind, but not until I have some spare money....

I'm in for SimCity 4, thanks a lot RWarehall :) Congratulations for your new rig, it must be a really happy time, I can say it!

I built my own rig about two years ago. Really happy with the result, all those research and internet browsing really pays off. My first installed game was Torchlight 2, and the new PC kills that game :P I was gaming in laptop before, with integrated GPU :P So the leap of performance really amaze me.

Hey we got the same CPU :P 3470 is really good value for its performance, doing really good with newest game/app. Not so much difference even compared with the latest haswell chip, very happy.

My next upgrade will be GPU, as it is the oldest component in my rig right now, ATI 5850 (card from around 5 years ago). It's still strong enough for nowadays game though, even in 1080 res. A few games able to make it struggling, like Bioshock Infinity and Metro Last Light, so I need to adjust it to High/Medium detail - which is still pretty good :)

I still think the most wowing hardware (for now) is GTX 970. That chip must be a result from witchcraft.

In the future, I think the one who really will turn the table around is VR. (Oculust Rift or something else)

=========
Tips for you who live in the states, use pcpartpicker.com when you look for new hardware. Very good website.

I'm totally with you, these days with even a low-range machine there is access to such an enormous range of titles that you can play for a decade without needing to buy a single new game. I may buy a new, ~$120 GPU next year and then I bet I will not make an upgrade for gaming reasons for years to come.

I will be closing this today, so feel free to get any last minute wisdom in before I do later today.

I'm in for Dust: An Elysian Tail ...


I'm a computer modder. I build all my systems myself, using only reliable parts. In each of my builds, I want to get the best performance, while keeping the whole beast as silent as possible. Here's why:


I started computer modding back in 2004, mainly for a quest for silence, but also for performance. I suffers from hyperacusis since 2004, and I like to enjoy using my PC without having to wear earplugs...

In 2004, I decided to take the way of the watercooling. I built a "heavily" modded PC who was almost fanless, except for a 120mm Nexus fan at the back of the case, running at only 5V. The whole system was cooled by a Zalman Resorator (v1), an external watercooling tower that acts as a big radiator. The pump was submerged in 2.5 L of distilled water, with a drip of water wetter. I had an AMD Athlon XP 3400+ and an ATI Radeon X800 XT PE, which were very powerful at that time. The whole system never reached 40°C at full load, and was dead silent. I covered the whole interior of the case (an Antec Sonata) with sound deadening material, and the hard drive was suspended inside a heatpipe cooler, in one the 5.25" bays. I sold the computer to a friend in 2010, and he still uses it! I made a thread in 2004 on silentpcreview , with all the details and a few pictures. The thread is still there and <span class="bold">here's the link to view it</span>.


In 2010, I built a new watercooled system to replace the old one, using this time a "heavily" modded <i>Zalman LQ1000</i> liquid cooling tower. Here are the specs:

▪ Zalman LQ1000 liquid cooled case
▪ Sound deadening material
▪ PVC tubes
▪ MCP350 with EK top (acetal) and a decoupling kit
▪ Nexus 120mm
▪ Xigmatek 200mm (decoupled)
▪ HDD cage removed
▪ Asus Maximus III Formula (ROG) motherboard
▪ Intel Core I7 870 + EK Supreme (acetal)
▪ 8GB Kingston memory
▪ AMD Radeon HD 5850 1GB O/C + EK full cover block (acetal)
▪ Western Digital Black 1TB + NoVibes III + Nexus 120mm (5V)
▪ Seasonic X-850 power supply


in 2013, I made a few changes to this system, and went back to air cooling. The case was replaced by a <i>Fractal Define R4</i>, with the hard drive cage removed, and using 2 front fans at 5V, and one fan at 5V on the back (push-pull ventilation). I also changed all the stock fans for Noiseblocker ones. I switched the power supply for a fanless <i>Seasonic X-520 Platinum</i> (520W, 80+ Platinum certified) and put a Megahalems Black Series cooler on the CPU, with a Noiseblocker 120mm fan (all the other fans are 140mm). I finally replaced the ATI card with an <i>Asus GTX670-DC2-2GD5</i>. The "whole" system is very quiet, even under heavy loads (Unigine, furmark, etc.). It's also very powerful! I'm very happy with it and have no problem running every single game on it. I also have a Samsung 120Hz monitor and Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 speakers, who make wonders!

...

A little late, but the winners are....

Tier 2 prize:
Lifthrasil wins Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader!

The for the main prizes
Pardinuz wins Theme Hospital
stellathestud10 wins Simcity™ 4 Deluxe Edition

But the big winner is...
Hardrada winner of Divinity: Dragon Commander Imperial Edition

PM's going out shortly...

Congrats to winners. Thanks for the giveawayay RWarehall and everyone for the discussion

Congrats to all winners and thanks to RWarehall for yet another awesome giveaway! Let your gaming rigs chug along forever, ladies and gents!

Expect the next unscheduled giveaway to occur some time in mid-January in the vicinity prior to the 12th of the month

YAY! Thank you very much!
And congratulations to all other winners!

Congrats to the winners!

My new rig I mentioned earlier just arrived, btw. It's name is "Thor" and it is the most massive computer I've ever seen. I feel like it came from NASA in the '60s.

Haven't had a chance to really play with it yet. Apparently, it achieved a score of 11,495 form 3dmark.com, whatever that means, but I'm assured that's really good.