Decided this is going to be my last PC

[jaqie]

The way I see it the OP (and a few of the other posters here) have two main problems:
1) they are playing the wrong games
2) they lack any deep insight into the generational capabilities and needs that accompany computers

There are games right now which are just as incredible as the old stuff... I have been gaming since the days of 386: commander keen, doom 1, xcom ufo defense, epic pinball, cyber empires, et cetra. There were also soooo many duds back then, and the pattern continues to this day. A whole lot of people seem to completely miss the fact that there are a lot of duds in pc games and always have been - right now that is the ones that the OP and a few others listed, talked about as being 'copies of eachother' and the like. Sorry, that's just how things are in gaming. And you're buying into the duds instead of the good stuff.

What is the good stuff? Well depending on your tastes, there's games like FireFall, xcom enemy unknown, forza racing, cities XL 2012, dungeon defenders, torchlight 2, portal 2, minecraft, and many more.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I feel ya OP. I am 30 myself, and quite honestly the Q9550 desktop I built in 2008 is still perfectly fine for my desktop use. All of my gaming and most of my web browsing is on mobile devices, and considering I got it running Mountain Lion (it has been a hackintosh from the start) I might not upgrade it for a very long time.

I did build a newer mid-level rig about 9 months ago (2500K, GTX460, 16gb) due to a combination of Ivy Bridge's release dropping prices and how disappointed I was in the Wii U (so I just built my own HD Wii).

But that might be my last desktop build for a very long time. What I see me spending my tech money on is cell phones, and power efficient computer appliances (NASes, media boxes, etc).

 

[Headfoot]

probably because i got in on the new fresh wave of next generation PC games like diablo, starcraft, and counter strike. nothing will ever be those games again, just copies with better graphics. it's cool to see the graphics get better over time, but even that is peaking.

Nope.
Plenty of new and innovative games out there, fun too. You're just falling into the nostalgia/rose colored glasses trap. Or perhaps you aren't aware of the new exciting stuff, which is probable if you don't keep up on gaming much these days.

A few examples of innovative games that have come out since CS/Diablo/SC: Minecraft, Portal (1 + 2), AntiChamber, EVE Online, Garry's Mod (Now on version 13), Assassin's Creed (first one when it came out was awesome), the entire Tower Defense genre (numerous games).

By no stretch of the imagination is gaming peaking. The increasingly lively indie market is actually making now probably the best time to ever have been a gamer. You can scale from 2d quirky indie platformers or even stranger games to AAA multi-million dollar graphics thrill rides. Never before have we had that much choice

 

[cytg111]

Nope.
Plenty of new and innovative games out there, fun too. You're just falling into the nostalgia/rose colored glasses trap. Or perhaps you aren't aware of the new exciting stuff, which is probable if you don't keep up on gaming much these days.

A few examples of innovative games that have come out since CS/Diablo/SC: Minecraft, Portal (1 + 2), AntiChamber, EVE Online, Garry's Mod (Now on version 13), Assassin's Creed (first one when it came out was awesome), the entire Tower Defense genre (numerous games).

By no stretch of the imagination is gaming peaking. The increasingly lively indie market is actually making now probably the best time to ever have been a gamer. You can scale from 2d quirky indie platformers or even stranger games to AAA multi-million dollar graphics thrill rides. Never before have we had that much choice

+1

Crysis3 is also a massive leap forward, rebirth of pc-gaming over consoles imo, and with coming consoles pc-gaming is getting back in the game.
The next big mover coming up will problary be something like the oculus rift. Cant wait.
Oculus rift + kinnect + gyro + accelerometer + (what did i forget) == some epic game immersion.
Imagine some of the horror titles outthere, for the first time they will actually be able to scare the living sh* out of you.

 

[jaqie]

I totally agree in general, but crysis 3... no. hell no. it's part of the problem. (this is firmly IMO of course!)

 

[cytg111]

crysis 3 part of the problem? Ill give that the story was not on epic-par with the visuals, but the visuals is just next-gen.

 

[mikeymikec]

In the last decade I bought maybe 5 games, some of which required higher spec than average hardware, so my PC has a reasonably decent processor and graphics card in. If the games industry can continue to manage to supply a handful that I'm interested in, I'll keep going this way.

I'm playing 'The Simpsons: Hit & Run' again at the moment

 

[Mars999]

You sir need to take a look around.... there are plenty of good games most are mods or indie games.... I am 10yrs older than you and still game as much as I can and will until the day I die. And keep building desktops as long as there are options to do so.... good luck!

 

[AdamK47]

Building the latest and greatest PC is a waste of money.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Building the latest and greatest PC is a waste of money.

Coming from you, is that Irony, or Experience?

 

[AdamK47]

Ironic experience

 

[guskline]

AdamK47, with your Icon, are you in line for the 2014 Corvette?

 

[AdamK47]

Nope, I'll pass... for now.

 

[bleucharm28]

I ain't crazy gamer either, I prefer to play a couple rounds of SCII everynow and then. But building computer is just fun. Especailly when you add water to it. That's how i see it.

I also like to fish, and 90% percent of the time i release my fish. People often ask me why i catch & release my fish. (some are released due to regulations) I tell them is not just catching that is fun, the entire process of fishing is fun.


so my conclusion to this OP is. Do what you think is fun, everones value is differerent. Do whatever makes you happy. Is that simple.

 

[mkmitch]

Until last year I hadn't built a computer since 2000. Before that every 3-4 years. I spent part of my career selling leasing of IBM LANS to Fortune 500 companies during the 80's and remember buying first PC for my bank, old 5.25 floppy no hard drive.

At age 63 got the urge to put together a new computer as my last one was dying a slow death. I remembered how much enjoyment I got out of it. Nothing wrong with taking some time off, but some day you will be back at it, building that is. The curiosity never quite goes away.

 

[hans007]

i switched to a $400 hp probook last year and my smartphone.

i used to build like custom machines and then stopped gaming maybe 3-4 years ago and even then i barely gamed. i still enjoyed keeping up with the latest stuff or whtaever, but at this point i just stopped caring.

really almost any machine you can buy is fast enough to do most of what you need. especiallly with an SSD .

 

[scannall]

I'm still doing fine with my i7-920. I think I'll build a Haswell machine though. It's been a while.

 

[RU482]

Until last year I hadn't built a computer since 2000. Before that every 3-4 years. I spent part of my career selling leasing of IBM LANS to Fortune 500 companies during the 80's and remember buying first PC for my bank, old 5.25 floppy no hard drive.

At age 63 got the urge to put together a new computer as my last one was dying a slow death. I remembered how much enjoyment I got out of it. Nothing wrong with taking some time off, but some day you will be back at it, building that is. The curiosity never quite goes away.

I bet the one you built, and the experience of building it, was quite a bit different from the first ones!