Have a friend getting into PC gaming

[gothamhunter]

Hey guys,

I have a friend who's been a long-time console gamer, and he's just now getting interested into PC gaming. I'm helping him build a rig, which should be fun since he's been working on cars for a long time, so he will have sort of an idea on how to piece things together.

However, tbh, he's kind of...ignorant as to basically anything PC. Does anyone have any resources or sort of a Dummies Guide to PC lingo/information? I want to make sure after I leave him to his PC to know about temperature and framerates and VSync and resolution and etc...

Also, since he's never played a PC game, he'll need to get used to a KB+M setup. Any thoughts on this?

I'm also way too worried about him porning him computer up...he'll probably call me within a couple weeks saying he has viruses and crap already lol.

Thanks.

 

[MustangSVT]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/05/10/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-may-2011/1

pretty good guide to start with.

and image his computer once it is set up. when he fucks it up, restore image.

 

[Aikouka]

When it comes to settings, gaming on a PC is a little more daunting, but it's all about understanding what you've got and what it can handle.

Since you built it, you may have a better idea of what resolution he'll be playing at and what his hardware can handle. You can suggest how high he should try and turn up things like anti-aliasing (it isn't considered "as necessary" at higher resolutions).

Also, you really may want to consider showing him what these settings do rather than explaining them in a bunch of techno-babble. Load up a game, look for jaggies and then turn on anti-aliasing. Do a similar thing for a room with a tiled floor and no anisotropic filtering (it will look like a blurry mess at a distance). You could probably also show off screen tearing as well and explain how V-Sync helps to alleviate that.

 

[Texashiker]

Toms Hardware has a monthly buys guide for low end, medium end, and high end systems. Reading through the recommended hardware specs for each one, and you should get an idea of where to start.

As for malware, use chrome or firefox.

I have not used internet explorer in maybe 5 - 6 years, and have very little issues with malware. When I was using interent explorer, I was having to remove malware every 3 or 4 months.

 

[gothamhunter]

I'm tech savvy myself, and we have the PC components already figured out. I'm just more worried on trying to help him understand PC gaming.

 

[Texashiker]

I'm tech savvy myself, and we have the PC components already figured out. I'm just more worried on trying to help him understand PC gaming.

Are you going to introduce him to Steam?

 

[gothamhunter]

Are you going to introduce him to Steam?

That's the plan At least he'll have a library manager then.

 

[wuliheron]

The Tweak Guides is a great resource for PC gamers. Its not a dummies guide, but it has everything you could want from definitions to detailed instructions on how to tweak your operating system and instructions for tweaking specific games.

http://www.tweakguides.com/

As for getting used to a keyboard and mouse, that depends on what kind of games he likes to play. If he likes shooters then a simple shooter like Half Life 2 with more intuitive controls is a good way to get familiar.

 

[GundamW]

I'm tech savvy myself, and we have the PC components already figured out. I'm just more worried on trying to help him understand PC gaming.

Depends on what type of games he likes in the consoles.
If it's fighting games (SF4, Tekken, etc) or God Of War/Gear of War/Metal Gear Solid or jrpg or mario, then he might have a harder time switching to pc gaming.

If it's COD, Halo, FO3, ME, etc, then he should be fine.

And whether he's willing to learn and try new things (RTS/turn-based/mods).

 

[AstroManLuca]

I'm not sure he needs to know all the lingo. He'll figure out the important stuff on his own.

When it comes to game settings, I sometimes look for guides to optimize performance and visuals, but usually I just max everything out and then dial certain settings back. Starting with VSync (causes lag and slowdowns in many games), motion blur, antialiasing, and shadow quality. Anisotropic can usually just stay maxed out for most games.

Keyboard and mouse shouldn't take too long to get used to. When I switched from old school FPSs like Doom, Marathon, and Dark Forces to ones with mouselook like Quake and Unreal, it took me no time at all to get used to things.

Temperatures shouldn't matter if his system is built properly and he doesn't keep his computer in too hot of a place. Don't have him overclock at all. Stick to Steam games at first since they're convenient. Good Old Games is also okay if he cares at all about playing the older stuff.

 

[ShawnD1]

Has he ever played on pc before? It might be a bad idea to blow money on this before he tries pc games. Pc gaming is hardcore expensive.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I'm also way too worried about him porning him computer up...he'll probably call me within a couple weeks saying he has viruses and crap already lol.

Thanks.

Get Firefox, install flashblock and Adblock+ then show him how to whitelist websites in flashblock. Tell him that only highly respectable sites should be put on that whitelist, everything else keep blocked.

Also, Windows Security Essentials.

 

[Texashiker]

Has he ever played on pc before? It might be a bad idea to blow money on this before he tries pc games. Pc gaming is hardcore expensive.

I would not really call pc gaming "hardcore" expensive - a lot of it has to do with how much your willing to compromise with.

My motherboard and cpu are 1 1/2 years old. The last upgrade I did was a video card. On average, I might spend $150 - $200 a year on upgrades.

But on the other hand, you have people that buy the latest and greatest. One guy I know, he probably dumps $500 - $800 every 4 or 5 months into his system. If there is a new video card coming out, he buys it the day it hits the market.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I would not really call pc gaming "hardcore" expensive - a lot of it has to do with how much your willing to compromise with.

My motherboard and cpu are 1 1/2 years old. The last upgrade I did was a video card. On average, I might spend $150 - $200 a year on upgrades.

But on the other hand, you have people that buy the latest and greatest. One guy I know, he probably dumps $500 - $800 every 4 or 5 months into his system. If there is a new video card coming out, he buys it the day it hits the market.

Yep, best way to dispose of all that extra money you've got lying around is to buy high end graphics cards. They're usually less than 5% faster and cost hundreds more.

My system is starting to show its age, a little... Phenom II X3 and a 1 GB Radeon 4870. Still aces most things although I can't go full AA on newer games. Probably won't handle Battlefield 3 all that well. But hey, for $180 more than two years ago, I'm not complaining.

Every few months I'll check up on what's considered good in the $150-$200 segment, and for the longest time, there were no meaningful upgrades from my card for under $250. The Radeon 6850 is finally getting there but I'm not sure it's enough of an upgrade.

 

[wuliheron]

I would not really call pc gaming "hardcore" expensive - a lot of it has to do with how much your willing to compromise with.

My motherboard and cpu are 1 1/2 years old. The last upgrade I did was a video card. On average, I might spend $150 - $200 a year on upgrades.

But on the other hand, you have people that buy the latest and greatest. One guy I know, he probably dumps $500 - $800 every 4 or 5 months into his system. If there is a new video card coming out, he buys it the day it hits the market.

I know guys who've spent as much on consoles that constantly die on them as their PC rigs. If you build your own its a pretty cheap hobby and the only drag is the initial startup costs but, even then, the cost of a decent rig these days is down around $800.oo.

 

[ShawnD1]

I know guys who've spent as much on consoles that constantly die on them as their PC rigs. If you build your own its a pretty cheap hobby and the only drag is the initial startup costs but, even then, the cost of a decent rig these days is down around $800.oo.

Consoles aren't that expensive. xbox and the bullshit rings of death were covered under warranty for the first 3 years. After the 3 years had passed, the console could be purchased for $200. Now compare that to my gaming PC. The gaming machine I bought in late 2006 was about $1000 and it lasted about 4 years. I don't think I know a single person who spent $1000 on Xbox replacements. After that, I bought another gaming machine and this one cost me $800 because some of the parts were used again.

Now keep in mind OP's friend already owns a console. This isn't $1000 in place of buying a $200 console, this is $1000 on top of a $200 console he already has. That's a good chunk of cash to blow on something that he may or may not like. The friend should play games on OP's computer and see if he likes the feel of it before he puts down any money on a new computer.

PC gaming is probably my most expensive hobby. It's the only reason I upgrade anything computer related. For general computing, the $500 laptop I bought in 2006 still works fine. Gaming is the only reason this newer computer has 8gb of memory, gaming is the only reason it has a huge power supply, gaming is the only reason it has discrete graphics, gaming is the only reason it has a 6-core processor. When I'm not playing games, even a little shitty netbook does 99% of what I need.

 

[Rhoxed]

Show him the basics, and if he is interested, he will learn from there. How many of us has a "PC Teacher?" I know I learned everything by myself, and built my first computer with little knowledge but figured it all out.

I put maybe $800 a year into computers, and it involves mine and my girlfriends - able to play recent games at 1080P settings.

^ I have to agree with ShawnD1. If he is not going to fully enjoy the computer gaming experience, spending that initial set-up money seems like a huge waste if he already has a computer for general tasks.

 

[MustangSVT]

all I gotta say is SEXY BEACH

and he is hooked.

 

[gothamhunter]

Thanks for all the feedback.

He gets jealous of another friend of ours and me when we load up our PC's and start playing TF2 or other awesome games and are able to play online and all that.

I know about Microsoft Security Essentials, and about Firefox and Adblock and all that. The problem is, the guy's going to go to like OMGZFREEPORNZ4DOWNLOADZ.COM no matter what and find out what he free smileys for download to get your pornz really are.

He doesn't have a PC at all, but he really is interested in the PC gaming thing. He mainly plays FPS, so I think the Orange Box would be a good initial purchase for him. He has it on his PS3 but...that doesn't really compare lol. I tried playing TF2 on his PS3....just terrible.

I want him to know some of the lingo and ideas behind PC gaming so that he doesn't call me for everything. Not everyone had a teacher ( I didn't), but he'll start using me for his for every single question if I don't show him up-front I think...

 

[Texashiker]

He mainly plays FPS, so I think the Orange Box would be a good initial purchase for him.

The orange box would be a good first purchase. But if you get the orange box, download Fortress Forever for your buddy - http://www.fortress-forever.com/

Fortress Forever is a free team fortress modification for the Valve Source engine; its a lot faster paced then tf2.

If your going to get your buddy into steam, I suggest counter-strike:source and the left 4 dead series. If you have buddies that you play with all the time, left 4 dead & left 4 dead 2 is a blast.

Some of my top ranked valve games

team fortress classic
counter-strike:source
left 4 dead
left 4 dead 2
half-life
half-life 2

Tell your buddy to start saving some money right now for the christmas - new years sales. With the specials that steam runs, he should be able to grab some good games for a little bit of nothing.

Yep, best way to dispose of all that extra money you've got lying around is to buy high end graphics cards. They're usually less than 5% faster and cost hundreds more.

One time I went over to my buddies house, and he asked me, "you see that new card that just came out?" It was something like $800 when it hit the market. He told me he bought it.

I asked him something like "didn't you just buy a new video card like 4 months ago?" He said yea.

In about a 4 month period, my buddy had dropped something like $1,400 in 2 brand new video cards.

I can not afford to do that kind of stuff. I "might" spend $1,400 on a system in 8 years.

 

[gothamhunter]

I'm a big Steam person; I know all about the Steam games and sales and etc. I prefer TF2 over FF or TFC and knowing his style he probably would too.

 

[finglobes]

Game like HL or HL2 are easy on hardware and not too hard for beginners. A good video walkthrough on YouTube will make things a lot easier. With the HL games you have a few weapons and health to focus on. The games with all the maps and menus and dialogue etc etc can be a hindrance.

 

[biostud]

maybe take a LAN weekend with him just to get him into it all the initial questions.

 

[JTsyo]

For keeping his system clean, if he's going with a Win7, get MS Defender and Security Essentials. They do a good job for being free. Maybe set his browser to run in a sandbox, though I don't know of one that's perfect.

 

[Aikouka]

I know about Microsoft Security Essentials, and about Firefox and Adblock and all that. The problem is, the guy's going to go to like OMGZFREEPORNZ4DOWNLOADZ.COM no matter what and find out what he free smileys for download to get your pornz really are.

Show him some good sites for that kind of stuff. It may sound like I'm kidding, but I'm not. If you think he's going to look up some naughty material, at least give him a couple places that are safe. There are plenty of safe sites for that stuff. Just make sure to stress to try and avoid other places because they may be malicious.

I want him to know some of the lingo and ideas behind PC gaming so that he doesn't call me for everything. Not everyone had a teacher ( I didn't), but he'll start using me for his for every single question if I don't show him up-front I think...

Like I said earlier, SHOW HIM THE DIFFERENCES. You can explain things like Anisotropic Filtering all you want, but who is going to sit there while you talk about texture rendering at a distance when being viewed by the camera. You could even find websites that point out the difference if you don't want to do it in-game.

EDIT:

Even the Wikipedia article on Anisotropic Filtering has a good picture as an example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisotropic_filtering

Their article on Anti-Aliasing doesn't has a few decent pictures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing