In an effort to find out a bit more about our vast, seething readership we’re running a series of informal polls in the comments, like the one about games. This one is about your PC. What do you play on? Is it a clockwork steam-powered Pentium from the last century? Is it a mercury-cooled hyper-computer from 2009? Is it a ponce-sculpted Macintosh? Do you have a laptop too? We want to know what your gaming machines are like. And one other question: Do you own a gamepad for your PC?
I’ve currently got a cranky old Celeron 1.6ghz Aria laptop which I use as a second account machine for playing Eve. I also have an Asus EEE which will soon have XP on it for portable game fiddling, and my main maths-horse is a 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2gb RAM, with a Geforce 8800 GS.
I own three gamepads.
What about you?
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Until this year my glorious computer was a eMachine.
733MHZ
300 or so ram
32mb intel integrated graphics chipset
20 GB harddrive
with windows xp
I was able to kick ass at Peggle and BookWorm Adventures. At least BG2 played pretty well.
Now I have
2.8 GHZ Intel Pentium D
250 GB SATA HDD
ATI Radeon HD 2400 (I know right)
1 gig of ram
with Vista Home Premium
and some cheap gamepad my brother bought.
It could be better, but it’s such a vast improvement over the old one, I don’t even care. I can at least play Kotor now.
PC: Custom Built
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
RAM: 2 GB
GFX: 8800 GTS 320 MB
Storage: 300 GB Western Digital
Display: Acer 19 inch LCD (widescreen)
OS: Windows Vista
Got a Logitech gamepad.
AMD Sempron 2600+
1.5GB RAM
Radeon 9550+ 256MB
17″ CRT monitor
USB Joypad
Joystick (ya, rly)
Windows XP
and you know, I’m quite happy with it :)
Desktop (to be replaced this november):
Athlon 64 3000+
Radeon X1600 Pro
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
1.5GB RAM
200 GB HD
17″ CRT
WinXP
Laptop:
Dell Vostro 1500 (15″ LCD)
1.6GHz Core 2 Duo
GeForce 8600M GT
2GB RAM
120 GB HD
WinXP
Here’s my desktop:
Processor: Intel Core 2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Hard Drive: 74 GB Raptor + 750 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Monitor: SyncMaster 931BW (wide 19″)
Sound Card: SB X-Fi Audio
Mouse: Razer Copperhead
Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP3
I also have an old Alienware laptop with the mobile equivalent of a GeForce 6800 that I still occasionally use for LANs.
I own a PS2 pad w/ usb adapter, a Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 and a wireless 360 pad w/ blutooth adapter.
My home system, similar to LQB above:
CPU : Q6600 OC’d to 3.2Ghz (ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 heatsink)
GPU : ECS 8800GT (Not OC’d, passively cooled)
MOBO : Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
RAM : 8GB A-Data DDR2-800 (4x 2GB)
HDD : Western Digital 500GB SATA 3.0
OS : Windows Vista 64bit Home Premium
DISPLAY: 21″ NEC CRT
CASE: Antec P182 Gun Metal Black
CONTROLLER: Xbox 360
Custom built, mostly from NewEgg. 8 gigs of ram was so cheap I was giggling when I installed it. It’s pretty dang quiet too.
I have the out of the box HP Elite, which runs games surprisingly well.
4GB of RAM
Intel Quad Core (Don’t know the exact name)
8400 GS
And I own a dualshock-ish game pad that I got so I could play MGS2 Substance.
I’ve got a Shuttle small form factor mobo & case with a Athlon 3Ghz (although this is ‘performance rated’ – i.e. a lie), 1gig RAM and an ATI X1600 Pro. Most of it’s about 5 years old as I only replace parts when they fail. It runs windows XP and xubuntu.
It manages last years games with a bit of chugging. I normally keep a couple of good books handy to occupy my mind while levels load, as it takes an inordinately long time.
No real person could even read this, let alone make something useful of it. I therefore assume it’s to wave in the face of marketing folks.
My specs are:
Computer That Can Play Anything That’s Out Right Now On At Least Medium Settings (Windows XP/linux).
Ancient Laptop That Can Barely Play Quake 2 (Windows 2000/linux).
Ancient Ultraportable Laptop That Can Play Quake 2 Slightly Better But Has A Tiny Screen (Windows XP).
And I have:
A Couple Of Those USB-Console Adaptors With Which I Can Plug In Various Gamepads (But Not Xbox/360), My Guitar Hero Guitar Or My Dance Mats.
A Force Feedback Flightstick Which I Haven’t Used In Years But I Keep In Eternal Hope Of TIE Fighter 2.
Processor: Pentium 4 2.4GHz (the pre Hyper Threading one)
Memory: 1GB DDR
Hard Drive: 160GB Seagate Barracuda
Video Card: GeForce 7600 GS AGP
Motherboard: Intel somethingorother
Monitor: Sony SDM-HX73
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2
Operating System: Windows XP Home SP 3
Keyboard: Microsoft MultiMedia Keyboard 1.0A (with the annoying F Lock nonsense)
Mouse: Logitech MX510
Gamepad: Wireless Xbox 360 Controller
Intel E6700, ASUS P5B, 1GB DDR2, 8800GTS 640MB, 500GB HD, SB X-Fi Gamer, Windows XP Pro, MX510, $7 Logitech keyboard, Sennheiser PC161 headphones. No gamepad, but I do have a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick which I love like the child I’d never let past the fetus stage and therefore never have.
Processor:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory:
2048MB RAM
Hard Drive:
500 GB Total
Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Monitor:
ViewSonic VA1703w-2 SERIES
Sound Card:
Realtek HD Audio output
Speakers/Headphones:
Fatal1ty Gaming Headset
Keyboard:
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Mouse:
Razer 1600dpi 3 Buttons Optical Mouse
Mouse Surface:
cushioned mouse mat
Operating System:
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2
Asus P5DH Deluxe, Core 2 Duo E6600, 4GB Ram, Vista x64 & XP, 600gb drive space, 2×3870, SB X-FI Fatality in an Antec P180 with a 550w PSU, 22″ Samsung TFT, 360 Gamepad, Medusa 5.1 headphones + Creative 6.1 speakers
Kinda hoping that’ll get me through to the 2nd half of 2009 before i feel i really have to buy a new PC…
I only have a 486 DX2 at 66Mhz… I mainly use it for browsing but from time to time I ran a little Crysis but with no anti-aliasing unfortunately – tends to slow it down a bit.
e8400 @3.6Ghz
4Gb Crucial Ballistix 8500 @ 5 5 5 15
2 x 8800 GTS 640Mb Sli @ stock
Vista 64
Right, let’s see. Two systems in this flat. One is a core 2 duo E8200 (running at 2.66ghz, overclocking is for suckers*) with 4gb ram and a GeForce 8800GT. Attached to that is one 19″ widescreen monitor and one 17″ 4:3 monitor. Oh, and a Creative Audigy 2 pro (WHY DO PEOPLE USE ONBOARD SOUND. WHY. IT SOUNDS TERRIBLE). That system dual-boots Windows XP Pro and SuSE Linux 11.0. The other system in the flat has an Athlon XP64 3200+, 2gb ram and a GeForce 6800GT, on a 17″ 4:3 monitor and an Audiophile m-series soundcard. This system dualboots SuSE Linux 11.0 and Slackware (yeah, it’s not really a gaming system, I use it for servers sometimes and emulation. Mostly it’s a media server/I can’t be bothered to go ten feet to look at the internet box). Between the two are well over 3TB of hard disk storage.
*Please, please, please, do not take this as an opportunity to call me a clueless n00b or tell me why I’m wrong. It’s just my opinion. That system handles Crysis on high with no problems, and there are few better systems in the hands of the average consumer. So why overclock? Why potentially damage the chip, void its warranty and decrease it’s life for the sake of another seven fps?
New Laptop with a Core 2 Duo T5670 @1.8 GHz, Geforce 8600M (for cheap cos Dell couldn’t find an 8400 – lucky me), 2 gigs of RAM, 17″ screen. Runs the Crysis demo fine with medium settings, no anti-aliasing at 1280×1024, which would be great if I had any desire to play Crysis.
OMG CitizenErazed u r such a n00b!!
Seriously though, I’ve always joke that only a NASA computer can handle Crysis. But it seems I’m pretty close. Somewhat close. Though I have little desire to play Crysis. I don’t even know what it’s about.
Wikipedia here I come. Bring me to your inaccurate tales.
p4 2.8ghz ht
1 gb dual channel ram
7600 gs (passively cooled.. yeah..)
It handles everything that I throw at it (which = modern Valve games and lots of old stuff bought from Steam)
No gamepad.
Core 2 Duo E2180 OC’d from 2.0 to 2.8GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
320MB 8800GTS Graphics Card
24” TFT Screen
500GB HDD
WindowsXP Pro (the only choice)
More fans than you can shake a stick at.
Fun fact: This computer is the reason why half my evenings are wasted at Sainsbury’s.What else are students meant to spend their money on?
Yay! It’s show off your hardware/nerd cred day..
So lets get to it, shall we?
My main computer is a MacBook Pro 3rd Gen (Summer 2007)
Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz w/ 2GB RAM
GeForce 8600M GT 128 MB
It’s hooked up to a 19″ Samsung SyncMaster CRT.
I have found this to be more than adequate for my gaming needs, for example Bioshock runs like a charm on native 1440 x 900 resolution with everything turned to max.
I find it Interesting that I am already the 15th person to mention that they own a MacBook/Pro (and this on a PC gaming website) – the switch to Intel is certainly proving itself as a major boon to Apple and their hardware sales.
(And now for the nerd cred part: This machine is set up to triple boot Mac OS X, Win XP and Ubuntu Studio, with NTFS-3G and FUSE tools installed on all OSes to enable read/write access to HFS , NTFS and ext3 partitions, which has worked pretty well so far. So that was that.)
And oh, no gamepad (although I have contemplated buying one on many an occasion).
Core 2 Duo E6300
recently upgraded to:
4GB Ram
512MB 8800GT
21.6″ widescreen LCD
I always get my bro’s hand me downs, I think I’ve only bought a power supply and some RAM in several years….
Athlon 2.1 GHZ CPU
NVidia GeForce 7600
2 GB of RAM
NVidia nForce motherboard
Windows XP SP2
I own 3 game pads, a generic playstation styled one, a very old Microsoft Freestyle Pro and I’ve got an adapter to hook up a Gamecube controller, although I think I may have lost the drivers for it and can’t use it anymore, not that I do.
I have a main PC:
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (single core, getting on for obsolete)
1GB of Crucial ballistix memory (just the one)
GeForce 7900 GTX
Logitech G15 and G7 (keyboard and mouse)
NEC 20WGX2 widescreen monitor
Lacie D3 external drive running on FW800.
Some broken speakers (I’m using headphones atm).
WinXP ftw.
No gamepads. I have a laptop, but it can barely run source-engine games, and it can’t handle the orange box source engine at all. I can play Freelancer on it, which strangely I cannot do on my main PC…
I wanted to upgrade my CPU, but it’s socket 939. If anyone knows where I can still find a decent multi-core 939 processor, let me know. Unfortunately, if not I’ll have to wait for something to break and then strip the lot out. New mobo, CPU and RAM, since they’re all obsolete now.
Desktop:
Core 2 Quad Q6600
4 GB RAM
Vista Home Premium 64 bit
VisionTek Radeon HD 4870
22″ Samsung moniitor
Logitech G15 keyboard
Logitech G5 mouse
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers
Upgraded a few months ago; quite happy with it as I can play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. & Battlefield 2 at maximum settings at 1440×900…
E2160 (running at 3GHz)
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L motherboard
XFX Nvidia 9600 GT (mildly overclocked)
2 GB G.Skill DDR2 RAM
LIAN-LI PC-A05B case
Western Digital 500 GB HD
Original (red) Momo Force wheel
Logitech G7 laser cordless mouse
19″ LCD, widescreen (cannot remember brand).
Cheap Kensington keyboard
1 x DVD drive
1 x DVD/RW drive
Oh and a dusty “custom painted” (ie crap rattle can paintjob) black Amiga 1200 next to it.
Core 2 Quad Q6600
Nvidia 8800 GTS 640MB
2 GB Ram
19″ monitor
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers
Kubuntu 32bit – Primary OS, used for almost half my gaming and everything else
XP 32bit – for those pesky games that don’t play well with wine or crossover
and I’m soon to get Vista 32bit, just to play the new STALKER :)
Gaze upon my mighty system, fiends, and FEAR:
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (Socket A, just about 2GHZ)
Graphics: ATi Radeon X1600Pro (AGP, 512MB)
RAM: 1GB (Maybe DIMM, probably DDR)
Sound: C-Media 8738 (Gives me constant trouble)
Other Stuff: DVD drive, CD-RW drive, Network card, LCD of some sort, Dell mouse & keyboard (usurped from another person’s PC)
It runs HL2 very admirably, TF2 well, STALKER + Bioshock surprisingly playable, Crysis just about runs. I have had the system for a few years now.
I plan to upgrade within the next month or so; spend best part of a grand on some game-spanking super-beast. (Compared to my system, that would be fairly easy)
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
1.25 GB of RAM
Radeon X1600 Pro (not a particularly good card, should have done the research!)
I own a wired XBox 360 controller, one of those wireless things that lets you use a wireless XBox 360 controller on your PC, a couple of adapters through which I use Saturn and N64 controllers (used to use PS2 controllers too until I got the 360 pad), and I recently bought a Saitek Cyborg Evo joystick for X-wing vs Tie Fighter.
Im currently on:
Intel Core 2 Duo e4300 @ 3.0GHz
Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6
2Gigs of OCZ Platinum Rev2.0
NVIDIA 8800GTX
Seagate 500GB 7200.10
Corsair HX620
Samsung DVD Burner
Antec 900
Saitek Gamers Keyboard
Logitech MX518
And I switch around monitors every month.
Athlon 6000+
2 Geforce 8800 GT’s (only 256MB each) in SLI
2 GB RAM
Audigy 2 ZS sound
Still running XP.
But shouldn’t you have provided us some sort of form so you can put this in a database then give us some sort of percentages of RPS readers who have which hardware?
AMD Dual Core 4800+
2GB
Nvidia 9600 something or other [512MB]
No game pads.
ASUS P5L-VM 1394
Pentium 4 631 3.0 GHz
2 GB Kingston DDRII667 RAM
XFX Geforce 7600GT
Onboard Audio
Samsung 80GB 7200RPM
Samsung 17″ 795MB
Gamepad XFX XGear Dual Reflex
As you can see, I have a sweet ass gamepad. I also have a PS1 style gamepad that I never use.
Also, it runs every game maxed except for Crysis. Not bad for a two year old machine.
Currently on a pathetic AMD 64 2.0 GHz machine with 1 gig of ram and a donated x700 pro card. In 3 days I will be on a top shelf Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz with 4 gigs of OCZ Reaper ram (3.3 recognized due to XP), an 8800GTS pre-overclocked to 678MHz core and an Asus P5N-D motherboard. It will fly.
q6600 @ 3.2ghz
4gb DDR2
8800gtx
24″ BenQ
Runs the ZX Spectrum emulator just fine with a frameskip of 6
Telly: A64 3000, 1GB RAM, 200GB HDD, 6800GT.
Bedroom: Q6600, 4GB RAM, 8800GTX, 1TB across about 7 drives, 2 * 20″ monitors on some cheapo PCI-X gfx card, 1 * 30″ widescreen.
Plus a laptop that can just about manage FM2008.
A 360 wireless pad that moves around a bit depending on where I am.
XP except as required for work – then Slackware as required.
My gaming PC is:
AMD X2 4800+
2GB RAM
2x GeForce 7900 GT in SLI (I think… cards like those anyway)
Creative Fatal1ty X-Fi
Other gubbins
My general use computer is a black MacBook though. I keep meaning to get Windows on here so I can run all these cool indie games I keep reading about on here, but I never get around to it.
(I’ve also got a X360, PS2, Wii and DS as well as Sony Viao Blu-Ray Media Centre under my TV)
Up until around a year ago I had taken a break from gaming and was focusing mainly on university and related activities. My machine was a decent Athlon64 with 2GB RAM, but it had only a Geforce2 MX for graphics.
It has since been replaced by this:
ASUS P5B
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
2GB RAM
Geforce 8600 GTS
17″ Samsung Syncmaster (this one’s likely to stay until it dies, or I decide to get a dual-monitor setup)
I got a wired Xbox 360 gamepad a few weeks ago to play GRID.
C2D 6750, 2 GB RAM, 8800 GTS (the older 640 MB version), running Vista 32. Using a 22” widescreen monitor, and a Logitech G9 mouse.
And one of them newfangled input devices called “Xbox 360 – Controller for Windows”.
It cost a million pounds, and needed upgrading two weeks before I bought it.
2.14 ghz CTD, 2gb of ram, 1950 pro, XP pro, logitech G5, 19 inch screen.
I do however have a saitek p2600.
woo!
AthlonXP 1700+ (1,47 GHz)
Radeon 8500 64MB/Matrox G400 16MB (if I’m toying with fitting passive cooling on Radeon, which I’m doing ATM)
768MB ram
ASRock SiS 746fx mobo (worth mentioning…uber non-problematic)
Aureal Vortex SQ2500 (still great in old games with A3D support…but it probably goes on retirement with next upgrade – no drivers for anything above XP/2k3)
Matrox G450 PCI 16MB – for second monitor (too bad bad hardly any games support it, I’d especially like to have Diablo2 with map on second monitor; oh well, perhaps D3)
Floppy drive! :P (though disconnected for teh past 3 years)
And three joypads – generic one (in style of old digital Playstation controller) for gameport, Dual Shock 1 and Negcon (via PSX->USB adapter)
Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3ghz
Geforce 8800 GT 512mo
2go DDR2 ram
Three joypads : 3 DualShock Adaptators.
Athlon Dual Core 4200
Ati 1950 pro 512mb
2 GB Ram
X-fi Gamer
360 Gamepad
I’ve also got a joystick which I dont use anymore as the Flight sim fad faded. Two monitors, 5.1 surround and a USB torch.
My aging pc started as an opteron 1.8 with 1 gb ram and a 7800gt then and sli’d 7800 gt’s
but is now
athlon fx 60 oc to 2.8
2 gb ram
nf4 mobo
8800 gt
xfi sound
19″ 4:3
xp
5 hds @1.45 TB (I dont like burning dvds :S)
watercooling on cpu nb and vga
and I have the pad you got with prince of persia sands of time (not sure what make it is)
and I use this pc for folding/browsing/tv/film/games casual and ‘real ones’
AMD Athlon 3700+
2 Gigs RAM
A8R-MVP Deluxe MBB (I think)
Radeon 1900XT 512MB
I have some joystick I dont remember the make of for TIE Fighter, and I do not use a gamepad of any type.
amd opteron 180+
2 gb ram
3 hard drives (1 sata, 2 ide, about 600gb total storage)
evga 8800 gts 640mb
27″ viewsonic lcd tv
delta 1010 soundcard
windows xp
i use a sony dualshock 2 with a ps2–>usb converter
It’s a beige Commodore, with brown keys. I can’t remember what it’s called though as the glue holding the labels on perished ages ago…
too bloody many ..
1 core 2 quad @3.2ghz
ati 1950 thingy
4 gig ram
running on xp so part of the ram never registers (stoopid me)
1 ancient box running ubuntu happily
1 medium spec box that does some light gaming or works as server.
1 p4 laptop that sit under the telly and keepsme entertained while the missus is watching hollyoaks.
1 imac g4 (20″one)
2 psps
1 wii
and a rubbish old laptop i use to prop open a door
sweet mercy i need a clear out – i aint even used my proper one in a week
MAIN COMPUTER:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
Motherboard: EVGA 680 SLI T1
RAM: OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition – 2Gb
Video Card 1: XFX Geforce 8800 GTX
Video Card 2: XFX Geforce 8800 GTX
Speakers: Creative Gigaworks 750 7.1
Hard Drive 1: Western Digital Raptor 150Gb SATA 10,000 RPM (RAID-1)
Hard Drive 2: Western Digital Raptor 150Gb SATA 10,000 RPM (RAID-1)
DVD-RW: ASUS DVD-RW SATA, Dual Layer, LightScribe
Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower 850W Modular w/APFC EPS
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
Mouse: Logitech Mx500
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 226BW 22″ 1680×1050
OS: Windows XP Professional
SECONDARY COMPUTER:
CPU: Intel Pentium4 3.4GHz (800MHz FSB)
Motherboard: Asus P4c800-E Deluxe
RAM: Micron 1Gb PC4000 (DDR500)
Video Card: ATI Radeon x850 XT 256Mb AGP
Sound Card: Creative Audigy2 ZS Platinum
Hard Drives: IBM and Western Digital, both 120Gb SATA150 (both in RAID-1)
DVD-RW: Plextor 8x PX-708A DVD±R/RW/CD-RW
Floppy/Flash: Mitsumi 1.44 FDD with a 7 flash card reader (USB 2.0)
Power Supply: Antec True Control 550 Watt power supply with a front panel
Monitor: SONY 19″ SDM-HS94P
OS: Windows Xp Professional
GENERAL PURPOSE LAPTOP:
Make/Model: Dell Latitude D630
OS: Windows Vista Business
BEDSIDE READING LAPTOP:
Make/Model: IBM ThinkPad T30
OS: Windows XP Professional
Not that it will get read, all the way down here but all my PC gaming takes place on the machine I built this last xmas.
It contains:
Q6600 running at 3GHz
4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
Inno3D 8800GT running at 700MHz Core, 2000MHz Clock
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
~400GB HDD Space
Lovely P182 Mirror Finish
24″ VA Panel Monitor
5.1 Creative Surround Sound
Although I do not own a gamepad, I do own a Wii, and several controllers. I have also just bought a wireless Sensor Bar and a Bluetooth Dongle, so I shall soon have a Wiimote for my PC.
=D