7 Reasons PC Gaming Is Not Too Hard

Megalith

Megalith

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“PC Gaming Is Still Way Too Hard.” That article had to have been bait, but PC Mag fell for it and came up with a list to remind everyone that building a system is, well, pretty easy. Maybe the older folks can tell me stories from back when PCs required real work.

Last week, Emanuel Maiberg of Vice made waves among some Internet circles—all the ones in which I move, apparently—with a column for Motherboard titled "PC Gaming Is Still Way Too Hard." In it, he related his recent painful experience building a gaming PC from scratch and lamented that, despite being happy with the computer he ended up with, he still had to jump through ridiculous hoops in order to get there and play the games he wanted. Though I sympathize with Maiberg's troubles, he let his frustration get in the way of his common sense. Maiberg couldn't be more wrong about the state of PC building or PC gaming.
 
Yeah, built this sig rig at the first of the month and it was about the smoothest sailing I'd ever had building a rig, whit a couple of caveats. The first being SLI and Surround. They just aren't working correctly in the last two NVidia drivers. But that's not directly related to building the rig and with a single card or single monitor would be a non-issue anyway. The only other issue was a lack of USB 2 headers on the motherboard, the Corsair H100i v2 cooler and AX1200xi PSU both need a USB 2 connection. So with only one USB 2 header on the motherboard it was impossible to connect both of those and the USB 2.0 ports on the front of the case. So I got a NZTX USB 2.0 expansion board, problem solved. Installing Windows 10, 15 minutes from start to finish fully updated. Then had to install the Asus and Corsair stuff, latest Geforce drivers and Logitech software. Then there's the overclocking and testing, that went well because I'd researched it.

I think that's the key. You do have to plan this stuff out. So you do need to read through some manuals, measure some things to know if the case is going to fit in space, stuff like that. So it does take some time. But nothing harder than a mid-level home improvement product or repair.
 
As long as you aren't trying to win some "Most cool gaming rig ever" award, you can do pretty good by ordering a Dell Optiplex, full sized case, with the CPU, RAM and drive setup you want. Monitor also if you need a new one. Just take the on board video option. Unless something has changed, the Optiplex line takes standard power supplies and generally has one video slot open. As shipped, it will have a minimal PS so all you have to do is order a 5~700 watt PS plus the video card of your choice. May not be the cheapest way to go but will save a lot of will this work worries plus you get a warranty. Be sure to get the full sized case, the compact ones get weird on replacement parts. You might be able to do the same thing with the Vostro line.
 
Dead Parrot said:
As long as you aren't trying to win some "Most cool gaming rig ever" award, you can do pretty good by ordering a Dell Optiplex, full sized case, with the CPU, RAM and drive setup you want. Monitor also if you need a new one. Just take the on board video option. Unless something has changed, the Optiplex line takes standard power supplies and generally has one video slot open. As shipped, it will have a minimal PS so all you have to do is order a 5~700 watt PS plus the video card of your choice. May not be the cheapest way to go but will save a lot of will this work worries plus you get a warranty. Be sure to get the full sized case, the compact ones get weird on replacement parts. You might be able to do the same thing with the Vostro line.
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Yep, did this a few years ago when I needed a good machine for gaming but didn't want a boss machine for gaming. Those optiplexes just work and do their job very well.

Having said that, it's so easy to make a machine it's stupid. It only gets hard if you want to tweak the machine to the fastest, best the machine can be by trying custom timings on ram, overclock the Cpu and gpu, keep an eye on Temps, thats what starts to scare people. But how many people need to do that? He'll, I don't even do that anymore. Got my i5 3570k only at 4ghz, could definitely do more but it's not needed for gaming.
 
Old timer huh? Here's a brief run through memory lane

Using jumpers to manually change IRQs when adding new hardware.
Knowing by heart how to create custom msdos.sys (remember it had to be larger than 1024 bytes), autoexec.bat, config.sys, himem.sys, etc. etc.
Properly loading emm386 or qemm386

Ah the memories...
 
remember before Plug n Play. and you had to set IO adress irq and dma channesl manually and make sure it all was setup correctly ?
Poking around memmory to make sure everything was loadin in the right order to take maximum usage og UMB ?
 
Title to the first article is all wrong. It should have been titled along the lines of putting together a gaming pc instead implying that playing games on a gaming pc is hard. The other thing seemed to be while the article writer was mechanically inclined, they also didn't know the basics or at least implied they had little clue as to what they were doing.

Seriously, for both sites the subject was putting together a gaming pc, not how hard it is to game on a pc. Though today's problems in pc gaming are kind of like the things of yesteryear. Installing steam, origin, having the right drivers and in some cases an older driver are kind of like the work arounds from back then only in a different form today.
 
DrLobotomy said:
Gaming was a lot harder when you had to type in the game you wanted out of a magazine and pray the power didn't go out before you got it recorded to a cassette tape. LOAD "CHOPLIFTER" ,1,1 took 45 minutes to load into RAM on my Commodore 64.
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That's what those fast load carts are for man!
 
SvenBent said:
remember before Plug n Play. and you had to set IO adress irq and dma channesl manually and make sure it all was setup correctly ?
Poking around memmory to make sure everything was loadin in the right order to take maximum usage og UMB ?
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Duke Nukem's SFX isn't working!!! ARRRGGGHH!!! Oh wait... There we go. Now the damn joystick in Descent.. Grrr!! Ah, there we go..
 
Man I just read that "PC Gaming is Still Way Too Hard" and the author (Emanuel Maiberg) sounds like he was made to build a PC for the article while kicking and screaming the whole way. His bias against PCs is obvious.
For example, he states that "all PC cases are ugly". After reading this article, something tells me he hasn't researched them enough to know that for sure. But that's a subjective thing anyway, so we can let it slide. (BTW, his love of all things Apple and consoles shows through as well, and I think console cases are ugly so there :mad:).

Also this little gem made me re-read it three times because I couldn't believe what I was reading: "This makes the 1070 a no-brainer, and its release is a good excuse to build a new PC, but I wasn't going to spend time researching other PC parts." Really? You weren't going to spend time researching other parts? Yeah, everything will be perfect with that kind of attitude when planning to build a new PC. :facepalm:

He was lazy and bought all parts from Amazon rather than from the cheapest retailer which also meant that he didn't get the case he originally wanted to get. OK, that's fine, and he spent an extra $100 for it. His money, his compromises, his choice.

Then he complains about the 160 page manual for the Asus Maximus VIII Hero and I quote "didn't help me find out where to plug in anything." Really dude? It didn't help you figure out how to install the motherboard and parts at all? I just took a look at the PDF. Did you even LOOK at chapter 2 of the manual? FFS! :vamp::banghead:

Then he states that "It is by far the most difficult product I've ever bought and put together." Well, I guess we know who hasn't played with LEGO Expert Builder or Technics when they were a kid and tried to make something complicated and not from the manual, don't we? OK, fine, maybe he never had LEGO, poor guy.

Then the last quote from the article that I'll include here where he talks about the difficulty in building: "The only reason it's hard is because of poor design, and the design continues to be poor after all these years because they're willing to put up with it." Err, what? The whole reason we can build from various parts is because of the adherence to electrical and physical design of each component per the standards assigned to each and every component and interconnect. Without that, nothing would work. It's incredible that connectors can be designed to handle such high speed interconnects so reliably that we can swap out components at will and continue on like nothing was changed. But yeah, let's say that things have been poor for all these years. How many other systems has the author built again? Oh right, he's an Apple/console kind of guy, so the answer is zero.

Look, if you don't want to learn about building a PC and learn about the CPUs and motherboard and memory etc., that's fine. Not everyone has the time or inclination to learn about PC building and get comfortable with it. But that's why it's an option, not a requirement. That's why Falcon Northwest and Alienware and other high-end builders exist. But don't complain that they cost $500 or more than buying the parts separately. They did the research and building for you so you don't have to. Kind of like Apple, right Emanuel?

In the end, he got a decent gaming system, building it by himself with some help from some buddies when he had problems/questions. But rather than look at it as a successful accomplishment, he looked at it like it was the hardest and possibly the worst thing he's ever done. If you go into it with a negative attitude, you'll always find a way to make it negative in the end.
 
heatlesssun said:
CHOPLIFTER, awesome game!
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Heheh. For anyone who remembered the original, I found that inXile (guys behind Wasteland and other titles!) made a fantastic little refreshed version a few years back - Choplifter HD! It takes the principles of the original, and expands on them significantly while giving plenty of content, easter eggs, and challenge. Choplifter HD on Steam! Oh, and after you play a little, the DLC choppers are well worth it for some of the hardest missions and give different experiences.

But indeed, Azrak has the right of it. This kind of bias is sad to see. Today building a PC is easier and more accessible than ever and I'd venture many could do so if they took the time and embraced the various free resources available. . The hardest parts are A) informational elements, like selecting the parts and learning how to stress test or overclock and B) installing the CPU and cooler, most likely, but there are tons of resources for doing all of the above. . Building a PC is a rewarding experience and will often give the users more power and better value for gaming. It may not be to everyone's interest/time etc... and that's okay. But don't come off whining about something you have little to no interest in doing claiming its too "hard", then balk at the idea of buying a prebuilt and paying a little more.

I could write an entire post dedicated to "consoles and consolization" and the many issues thereof, but suffice it to say that the industry can continue to make 'pick up and play" ease and accessibility more available, but without the pernicious lockdown, proprietary elements, and business models that often follows.
 
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Why is this complete fucking idiot even writing for a tech site if he can't even build a PC? That would be like someone who doesn't know how to drive writing for Car and Driver.

Sounds like the same problem we are having with gaming review sites, where you get these fucking moronic journalists who aren't gamers, and they have absolutely no idea how to play or review games, and start injecting politics into their game reviews.
 
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I guess the however many [H]ardasses here who have the love couldn't get this sub-poser's job??
 
The original article about it being too hard is flawed, because the author's argument is that you have to constantly upgrade to the latest and greatest if you want to play PC games, which is total BS. My system is no longer the best of the best, and with the exception of the video cards, is over two years old, yet scores on 3dMark in the top 99th percentile. Did I spend a lot when I bought it? Sure. But I'm not upgrading every year for those 5 more frames per second. If you do your research, you can have a system that lasts you over 5 years with pretty good results. Instead, buy a Mac if you just want simple. Guess what? You can *gasp* buy a prebuilt gaming PC too! Will it be more expensive than building it yourself? Yes. But the option is still there if you don't feel like installing a motherboard or CPU. And there are places where you can even buy a barebones PC, so you can install what you feel comfortable installing, and let professionals handle the rest. But I guess when presented with options, only the hardest counts when it comes to arguments.
 
The original i7 920 is still fine for gaming almost a decade later. This author just has no fucking clue what he's writing about, and should not be working at a tech site. Go with a decent CPU, mobo, and ram, and the only thing that will need to be changed out for the better part of a decade is the video card. And those take literally two seconds to swap out, and maybe only really need to be upgraded every 3-4 years or so. This guy is just an incompetent retard. He's a Mac/Console using dumbass who should not be writing about tech.
 
My 920 is still chugging along @ 3.8 ghz. It's on its 2nd motherboard!!
 
Origin, Cyberpower, Steam Machines and probably the local shop in your city can also be good options.
 
Lorien said:
Old timer huh? Here's a brief run through memory lane

Using jumpers to manually change IRQs when adding new hardware.
Knowing by heart how to create custom msdos.sys (remember it had to be larger than 1024 bytes), autoexec.bat, config.sys, himem.sys, etc. etc.
Properly loading emm386 or qemm386

Ah the memories...
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Yeah, finding a mouse.com driver from a Genius mouse that used less low memory area than mouse.exe so Doom shareware would run.... Ah the memories indeed.

Not to mention jumpering for CPU voltage and multipliers, adding VRAM chips to VESA local bus videos cards for more colors, resolving memory address conflicts in Win 95, and so on. Man I feel old now lol.
 
A lot of take the simple things for granted, because we ALL know what we consider simple basics. For example, Speccing for a gaming PC, given a certain budget constraint, and subsequently building it after buying the parts, would like driving a car after driving one for 20 odd years.

But for someone who has NEVER anything similar before, and only want to get to the result, it can be daunting task.

IE you have to know what motherboard goes with what CPU, what PSU you need for your GPU, what GPU you need, how to find quality parts etc. It's basically like learning to assemble a car from modularised components, when you all care about is trying to get a transportation method from A to B.

That's still one of the major appeals of the consoles: buying something specifically designed for games, games that are specifically designed for the said console, not having to worry about whether it'll work or not (unlike PC where games say D3 may happily run on a lowish system, but TW3 would crawl to a halt, when both games work on XB1).

This is akin to learning to drive a car to get to work, when you have never seen a car before, but all you care about isn't learning to drive, but getting to work.
 
Am I going crazy or is he really suggesting that boxed games with tons of goodies in the box were a bad thing?

Using jumpers or dip switches to set fsb and multipler was not that hard, only inconvenient. I miss ABIT, they did bring us softmenu after all, even though their quality was shit.

Back in the day (in the last century) we purchased parts because it was cheaper than buying a pre-built system. And coming out of communism we were very price sensitive back then. We had no interest in building a PC but we had to do it to save a few bucks over expensive fancy Dells and Compaqs.

But it was an adventure, and with a technical affinity it seemed fun so we got hooked. Others didn't fare as well, as I've seen horror stories of MBs mounted on the tray without spacers, or CPUs inserted at a 90 degree rotation in the slot, then the pins crushed with the cooler. Or someone trying to rip out a memory from a powered on PC. Or the CPU core being chipped when they put the cooler on unevenly.
 
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Hours on end typing in code from the monthly leaflet Texas Instruments sent out with my Ti-994a just to play chisolms trail. It wasn't even the game that was fun it was changing the code to make the game do what you wanted it to do.
We used to keep on the bleeding edge building pc's, selling parts before our new ones arrived. This always kept me up to date with stuff. Now a good system can last quite a long time before a needed upgrade. With a good amount of research and thrifty shopping you can build that alien gear pc for much cheaper with better components.
 
Everything is just plug in and go today. Get the CPU/Mobo you want and just start going to town. And support from the PC gaming community is HUGE. No need to hunt down Usenet newsgroups or BBS's and stuff. And if building isn't your thing there are TONS of quality pre-built systems out there. You can't go wrong.

This article feels like a massive troll...
 
It's not hard, but it does require a little time be spent on research. If it is too hard for someone to spec parts with the help of just google search, or assemble it with only the help you can find on youtube, it is likely beyond their capability to use the computer past clicking on IE anyway.
There is always Maingear, FalconNW, Alienware, Origin, Cyberpower, etc. if one wants to skip the building step. If you go high end, you will not really need to replace it for 5 years or more. A new high end graphics card at the 5 year point would extend that 2-5 more.

google "pc build guide". First result is PCgamers build guide. PC build guide: high-end gaming PC | PC Gamer

Go to youtube and in the search bar type, "assemble pc step by step". The first page is full of step by step guides from PC and gaming sites/magazines.

Building a PC is not hard at all if one has a bit of patience, and the ability to use a search engine.
Installing Windows has never been easier. Just connect your PC to the internet, MS will install Win10 for you. ;) j/k
But even that is easy. There are guides for that too.
 
When I read the title of this article I thought it was going to be about games on PC not being too hard, in which case I agree. Almost all games these days are dumbed down and simple.

Building a gaming PC has never been difficult. Getting games to work back in the 80's and early 90's was very difficult but the hardware itself has for the most part always been plug and play.
 
Well, I have no issues with someone learning to build a PC. However, it is not as easy as others make it out to be, if you have never done one before. Those here are going to say it is easy or not at all difficult but, then again, most here have been building for years anyways. The thing most should factor into a new PC build, if it is your first time, is the cost of making mistakes. ;)
 
ManofGod said:
Well, I have no issues with someone learning to build a PC. However, it is not as easy as others make it out to be, if you have never done one before. Those here are going to say it is easy or not at all difficult but, then again, most here have been building for years anyways. The thing most should factor into a new PC build, if it is your first time, is the cost of making mistakes. ;)
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I've never built a PC before I built a PC for the first time either. :) And that was before EZ-Connectors and softmenus. Sure for the first time it took more time to double check every connection, but if there are costly mistakes involved that's because the user didn't take enough care, or didn't read the manual properly.
 
I built my first PC in 2008 after reading this book, "Build the Ultimate Custom PC 1st Edition - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes and Kathie Kingsley-Hughes". Emanuel should have read this book first. If Emanuel cannot understand what is going on this book, he shouldn't build a PC.
 
ManofGod said:
Well, I have no issues with someone learning to build a PC. However, it is not as easy as others make it out to be, if you have never done one before. Those here are going to say it is easy or not at all difficult but, then again, most here have been building for years anyways. The thing most should factor into a new PC build, if it is your first time, is the cost of making mistakes. ;)
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If one lacks basic skills with basic tools and assembly you have a point. But if one can replace a light or plumbing fixture they're probably going to be able to build a PC with few issues. The key as others have mentioned is research. And heck, you can learn brain surgery on YouTube these days. In fact I picked out some of the parts I used in this sig rig from a Newegg YouTube on this case I got. I guess the hardest part of it, or at least the part that might be most unfamiliar to someone who has never assembled a PC before is installation of the CPU. It's not at all difficult but I think this is the part where one can make the most expensive mistakes from lack of experience. Again YouTube is your friend with lots of good videos on all of this.

If one is comfortable using basic tools, can do minor to mid-level home repairs, has no problem assembling components like in pre-fab furniture, I can't see why with some research they wouldn't be able to assemble a PC. Of course some basic computer skills would be great to, being comfortable with installing an OS and software. Again, lots of good guides on this.
 
I still think a few things could be improved and standardised. You tear apart a PC and it still looks a little late 1970's there in places..

I would like to see -

A better 'snap in' quick release motherboard mounting system rather than nasty brass stand-offs and screws.

A standardised plug for Power/Reset/HDD Light/Power Light.

A better design for the sockets back plate. Okay there has been a little movement on this at the top end but those nasty chrome/tin plates just have to go.


I think the main thing that annoys me when sorting out other peoples PC's is when you find someone used screws on the other side of the HDD/DVD drive. Grrrrrrr
 
I have a couple of friends who can repair car transmissions, work on any gas engine and is totally afraid of opening a PC case. They have this phobia about computers and they always just bring it to me. When I ask them what did they try to do to fix it, They always reply with "I ain't opening that fuckin' thing!"
 
The original author says it's only hard because the PC industry doesn't see a reason to change it. Somebody should REALLY REALLY REALLY give him some education on computer engineering and bandwidth requirements for various hardware components. And maybe a look at building a computer in the 80s and even the 90s. If he thinks this process hasn't become vastly more simple he's lost his damn gourd. AT power connections that will kill your hardware if you invert them, switches and settings that can cook your processor before you even get to use your computer, jumper settings to make your ISA/PCI cards work at all, master/slave on IDE interfaces, etc. The list goes on and on.

A quick look back at PC building history and that comment alone starts to speak to the level of ignorance he had when he started this process AND the willful igornace he chose to maintain after the fact.
 
daglesj said:
A standardised plug for Power/Reset/HDD Light/Power Light.
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So much this. I still can't believe all the progress we've made in standards for PC components fitting together and yet we still have to deal with this. At least you can't kill your components if you plug one of these in the wrong way.

ASUS has a little clip thingy that is clearly marked and you can plug all the front panel connections into and then connect it to the motherboard. Makes your life a little bit easier.
 
Armenius said:
So much this. I still can't believe all the progress we've made in standards for PC components fitting together and yet we still have to deal with this. At least you can't kill your components if you plug one of these in the wrong way.
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I've always wondered about that connection, but at least more hardware manufacturers are including those little breakout things to hook everything up BEFORE plugging it into the motherboard.
 
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