PC Gaming on HDTVs (Emulating the Console Experience)

[skipsneeky2]

Been thinking of purchasing a smaller hdtv,perhaps in the 22-26'' inch range and a 720p version to replace my 1440x900 monitor.

With so many games especially console ports tanking on the 7850 and even on single 7970s at 1080p,i could get perhaps a few years out of the damn card if i emulate console gaming on the pc sticking to lower resolutions.

To damn bad i had nothing but stuttering issues with my gtx670.......for once i actually prefer amd cards and their drivers.....

 

[tential]

He doesn't realize I'm older, more educated, more experienced, and more knowledgeable.
(And I don't resort to insane personal attacks, I call him out when he's wrong.)


TB: Tell me you've actually used such a setup, and I'd possibly respect that. As it is, I doubt you have and just go on hearsay, using terms like "laggy, ghosting, ms" etc.
I have an incredibly fun time using my slow TV and slow controller, and my friends love it. I can't see any downsides!

toyota: It does suck that the ME series and Bioshock II don't support controllers, I was disappointed when I found out about both, but just busted out my wireless mouse and keyboard for them. It's not a problem that can't be worked around, and most popular games support the 360 controller. I use my C3P0 360 controller from the Star Wars bundle (I heard it had .2 ms less lag than a regular controller once I defrag it weekly.).

Today's PC game played on a 65" HDTV and 7.1 Klipsch surround with my C3P0 controller is Family Guy : Back To The Multiverse - HILARIOUS!

p.s. - Can anyone tell me what Madrid, Spain has to do with anything?

I didn't even know who to quote first off I didn't even expect this many responses. I didn't know Bioshock 2 didn't support controllers though. TBH, I thought all games being released recently did. I'm happy to see the amount of support for this idea and will now DEFINITELY be moving forward with this. I thought it was a insane dream at first, and many forums I'd read had laughed at the idea. I'm not really sure why since if you're building an entertainment PC why not let it do all of the entertainment. Sure you miss out on some resolution maybe and it's not as convenient for certain styles of games, but now that I'm a more casual gamer it makes more sense.

Anyhow, my current set up is a 5.1 surround sound Polk Audio, with Klipsch sub. I have a 70 inch LED Sharp TV. I have an OLD pc that I want to convert into this set up (I understand everything in it except the drives have to be overhauled).

So what card am I looking at to achieve 1080p gaming at Ultra settings for most games? Literally, the last card I looked at was the 9800GT, and recent reviews I read for cards (I just read the 680 review awhile back), have me believing that I can now purchase a card and have it run 2 screens relatively easy (correct me if I'm wrong about that). Since I'm only gaming at 1080p with a goal of Ultra, I was looking at the 660TI and the 580. It looks like the 580 wins, and the price difference is only on average like 30-40 dollars. However, I'm not factoring in CPU or anything either yet so I dunno maybe the performance will be exactly the same if I'm CPU bound.

Conclusion
What price range am I looking at to achieve 1080p gaming at maximum graphics levels?
What graphics cards should I be looking at?(I was thinking it should be the 660TI, 580, or 7950?)
Am I even looking at the right price range?

Sorry if I'm a little bit of a scatter head, I've been studying each day for 12 hours straight for this CFA exam and it's killing me.

@skipysneeky
I see no reason purchasing a 720p HDTV when 1080p tvs are so cheap. What if you watch a movie in 1080p? Just the resolution alone is worth it. That's my 2 cents though. Since I've got a 1080p resolution screen (actually a little more) on my laptop, and since I moved to 1080p HDTVs I'd never go back. I may not benefit gaming wise that much, but it's nice for movies, anime, TV (well I rarely will get a show in 1080p), and just generally using my PC.

Again just my 2 cents.

 

[-Slacker-]

You can emulate your keyboard and mouse on any gamepad using and emulation software like xpadder - the downside being that you loose analog control on one of your sticks (one becomes 8-directional only, and the other simulates your mouse - but that's just one configuration).

 

[cmdrdredd]

I have never been able to get my desktop as crisp looking as a PC monitor. Things are a bit difficult to read but it could be my TV in the bedroom, it's not that new (60hz 1080p Samsung something).

That said, games always worked and looked fine on it.

 

[tential]

I have never been able to get my desktop as crisp looking as a PC monitor. Things are a bit difficult to read but it could be my TV in the bedroom, it's not that new (60hz 1080p Samsung something).

That said, games always worked and looked fine on it.

Ya, I mean I expect games to be crisper on a smaller monitor with the same resolution. Luckily, I haven't pc gamed in a long time so I'm used to playing on my tv. There will only be a graphics improvement.

My only concern now is that I can't play much right now. Will there be any cards out that will be significantly betterin tthe next 4 months? I don't just Wana beat out360 performance but also next gen consoles. I hear they'll be using this gens gfx cards so kind of curios about that. Then again, I'm at the peak of what I can achieve at 1080p with a 660ti so curious to hear your thoughts.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Ya, I mean I expect games to be crisper on a smaller monitor with the same resolution. Luckily, I haven't pc gamed in a long time so I'm used to playing on my tv. There will only be a graphics improvement.

My only concern now is that I can't play much right now. Will there be any cards out that will be significantly betterin tthe next 4 months? I don't just Wana beat out360 performance but also next gen consoles. I hear they'll be using this gens gfx cards so kind of curios about that. Then again, I'm at the peak of what I can achieve at 1080p with a 660ti so curious to hear your thoughts.

The next consoles are rumored to use GPUs that are roughly 4 generations old in terms of power(I could be wrong but it does not change what I'm trying to say). Not sure about what level of API they will support or be the equivalent of. I mean they could support some DX11 features or do similar things but be running something slower than a 6950 GPU in terms of raw performance.

So anyway it's safe to say that a HD7950 or GTX 670 will be much better than the GPU used in the consoles. It's just that consoles have a very tightly controlled hardware set. So games and other software written for it will perform consistently.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Tential,yeah since that post i have decided to step up to a 7970 and will be purchasing it later this week so i could switch on over to 1080p come about January or the moment this monitor fails basically whichever happens first....had to take it apart and fix it after it failed to work,seems fine now but for how long idk.

Prefer a smaller monitor,no bigger then 24"" over a t.v any day.

Have actually been kinda fond of how well my games run on my 7850 and my 17'' 1440x900 monitor and it looks pretty good actually,just not gonna use my 7850 when i get a 1080p monitor,i am super sensitive to fps dips and always aim for a sustainable 60+ fps experience.

 

[tential]

From reading reviews its my understanding that the 7970 is very fast and that you wouldn't be anywhere close to using its potential unless your driving resolutions above 1080p.

Unless your plan is to have a strong card for the future. That's the impression I got from the reviews. Hell, they barely dedicated much time to 1080p pretty sure that was like their budget resolution in those reviews.

 

[toyota]

From reading reviews its my understanding that the 7970 is very fast and that you wouldn't be anywhere close to using its potential unless your driving resolutions above 1080p.

Unless your plan is to have a strong card for the future. That's the impression I got from the reviews. Hell, they barely dedicated much time to 1080p pretty sure that was like their budget resolution in those reviews.

what? plenty of games will tax the 7970 at 1080 and will not stay above 60 fps. the kind of person that wants to stay above 60 fps on all their games using max settings will always want the most gpu power they can get.

 

[hawtdawg]

My HTPC has a 6950 in it, I played hella Skyrim on it. It also has a Wii emulator that I use the actual Wii controllers on, it runs most Wii games perfectly at 1080p with AA

 

[felang]

Wrong.

Tweakboy is always wrong.

 

[Imaginer]

Sure, but most games that you would play on a tv have support. Who cares if an rts doesn't have support for example, you would never play one from your couch.

The Logitech M570 and a multitudes of wireless keyboards says otherwise. Pointing ease that already exists out there and once acquired (once you learn trackball by thumb) you are good to go. Plus no surfaces to worry about.

Plus it opens up all the other PC games that are not controller bound. And it is just this forum poster but the disjointed feel of my hands and arms are better than any hunched over controller handling anytime.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Lmao Tweakboy has to be one of the best unintentional trolls ever

Im 35, come at me bro (in your diapers)

 

[tential]

what? plenty of games will tax the 7970 at 1080 and will not stay above 60 fps. the kind of person that wants to stay above 60 fps on all their games using max settings will always want the most gpu power they can get.

Rereading the 660ti review I see it doesn't. Run all games above 60 fps like I thought. I going to look at the 7970 I just think I wqs thinking more along the lines of games I play lol. I completely disregarded a couple of games. I guess I have some research to do. However, I think one thing to consider is all the benchmarks we are looking at here are 1920 by 1200. If we're using 1080p tvs well be missing a bit of that resolution and probably will see slightly higher fps. Just a thought.

When are new video cards for amd and nvidia due? I was thinking considering I'm not playing pc games a lot until I graduate college in the spring, if i could hold off and get a newer architecture I'd have a better chance at beating out xbox 720 graphics.

On the note of the new xbox though, I heard the gpi being using was the 7000 series amd gpus. So being on the same level of gpu as the new xbox and seeing better graphics on it than my pc would be a huge bummer and something I'd not be happy with. Especially when you know they sell new consoles at a loss so you're always getting better hardware for the price.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Last rumor I saw was the next Xbox will have a 7670 which is not that fast. Not if you have a gtx 660 or 670, 7950 etc

 

[Corporate Thug]

guys, I don't mean to tread jack, but I had the same thought as OP but every single game I've tried to run shows very noticeable screen tearing for me (Yes, vsync on).

This is my tv:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

 

[Durvelle27]

Just get a nice HD 7950 and oc it and gaming on a nice TV will be fine.


I game on a Vizio 1080p 3D 32" tv with no problems and with a 5.1 Surround sound setup.

 

[tential]

guys, I don't mean to tread jack, but I had the same thought as OP but every single game I've tried to run shows very noticeable screen tearing for me (Yes, vsync on).

This is my tv:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

By all means man go ahead. I might have the same problem in which case an answer to yours would help me. Did you disable all the 120hz and extra things the TV does? That's the first step.

Just get a nice HD 7950 and oc it and gaming on a nice TV will be fine.


I game on a Vizio 1080p 3D 32" tv with no problems and with a 5.1 Surround sound setup.

Being a 70 inch television I notice a lot more imperfections so I'm looking for high quality graphics. I played NBA 2k12 and it was horrific on my TV due to the low quality of graphics ni that game on the xbox 360.