PC Powerplay #246 December 2015

By necessity I write my editorials at the end of a production cycle so I can talk about the important events or themes of the production cycle, but thanks the workload I’m sometimes not my best self when I sit down to write my final words for the magazine. Not this month. Although I’m physically exhausted, I’m mentally, hell, even spiritually (in the keeping spirits up, not supernatural way) enervated thanks to the last weekend in October. That weekend was, of course, PAX. I’m not usually one for crowds, preferring solitude to the press of people, but the crowds I’ve experienced every year at PAX have been great thanks to a shared love of all things gaming and a willingness to wear their loves on their collective sleeves, whether it…

DANIEL WILKS Avoided the PAX Pox @drwilkenstein MALCOLM CAMPBELL Made million of magazines BENNETT RING Lost his internets @bennettring JAMES COTTEE Dressed as robot Frankenstein @j_cottee MEGHANN O’NEILL Saw 82 Indie games @firkraags JAMES O’CONNOR Talked about his thesis @jickle BEN MANSILL Felt KFC regret NATHAN LAWRENCE Grew an even bigger beard HEIDI KEMPS Hopefully got paid DAVID HOLLINGWORTH Went hands off ALEX MANN Monitored Facebook CAMERON FERRIS Wanted a break @pcpowerplay SEAN FLETCHER Left PAX early…

It’s a sim rig, used for playing simulation racing games and the occasional flight sim. The specs of the PC itself aren’t all that flash: • 16MB DDR RAM @ 1333Mhz• i7 2600K @ 4.2Ghz, watercooled• 1x128GB Vertex 3 SSD• 1x128GB Vertex 2 SSD• 1x2TB WD Black HDD• 2xR9 280X video cars in Crossfire• 1xXonar DG soundcard The sim gear is as follows: • Next Level Racing GTUltimate V2 “chassis” with triple monitor stand, keyboard tray, and desktop• Fanatec Clubsport V1 wheel with BMW Z4 GT2 rim + Formula rim.• Fanatec Clubsport V2 pedals• Fanatec Shifter SQ• Derek Speares Designs L + R Clubsport Button boxes• Derek Speares Designs hydraulic handbrake• Siminstruments Dashboard• Buttkicker Gamer w/Simvibe software I kept my old gear when I upgraded and built my 3 year old son his very own sim rig. • Intel Q6600 PC w/4GB ram• R9 280X video card• Logitech…

It’s not hyperbole to say that PAX 2015 has been the best yet. After a busy but rocky first year in 2013, the move from the previous event space to the Melbourne Convention Centre has allowed the organisers and the patrons alike to do and see more over the three day event. This year more tech vendors than previous years made their presence known on the show floor. Microsoft, in addition to having a massive Xbox booth, also had a series of high powered, extremely expensive gaming PCs specifically made for PAX on display. When we say high powered and extremely expensive we’re not blowing smoke – one of the machines featured triple SLI with 980 Ti cards and was valued around the 10k mark. Running games like Elite Dangerous,…

To say there is a lot to see at PAX AUS is somewhat of an understatement. I know a few people who had one-day passes, and saw only a small fraction of that they wanted. Personally, I had a three-day pass, and still didn’t see everything. There’s a wide variety of games on show, from soon to release AAA titles with their two-hour long lines, and private booths, to a swathe of fascinating indie games made by a passionate few who are just super-damn-excited to show off what they’ve been working on. There are huge LANs where you can come along and play on a high-spec PC, handheld gaming lounges, and even an array of classic pinball machines! But it’s not just about PC and console, either. The tabletop area…

How’s the upgrade season been treating you? Been splurging gleefully, or are you perhaps engaged in selectively targeted tactical improvements to your system? It’s a tough economic hell, being a PC gamer. Just when something stabilises, the boat goes and rocks again. We have all enjoyed the last few years of no, or very few, CPU upgrades. For most games, any quad-core Intel CPU from 2009’s Sandy Bridge onward is well enough. Even simheads, for whom a powerful CPU is critical, get by fine with five-year-old CPUs. We’ve also been well treated by games when it comes to GPUs. Your needs and desires will vary, but the big $1,000 annual video card tax is well behind us. I would regard anything circa AMD 280x or Nvidia 780 to be totally…