Played Skyrim on the PC for the first time today...

and holy s*** the jump in performance from the Xbox 360 to this is like more than a generation. Everything just looks better from texture to performance. To boot the load time are almost non existing with an SSD. The consoles took like over a minute every time it needed to load and that just took me out of mood. Skyrim was truly meant to be played on a PC.

Any other game like this where the PC version is SIGNIFICANTLY better on PC? I have Tomb Raider too. New master race owner here looking to built his collection. Console version of some of these games just disgust me now.

I do have a PS4, Wii U, Xbox One, PS360 and 3DS but I must admit that PC gaming is just something on a whole different level.

Basically 98% of all games.

Welcome to the Master Race.

Sometimes I feel like I have too much power.....

I was maxing out Call of Duty Advanced Warfare with only around 56% GPU usage at 1440p with 60fps capped.

I then found out the recent driver update disabled SLI so that whole time I was only running the game with 1 GTX 970 instead of 2.

Re-enabling SLI dropped GPU usage to like 28%....

I'm going get a second STRIX soon. There's a sick joy buying a game and cranking everything to max seeing it run smoothly at 60fps. Just played the Batman Arkham City demo and same deal. Loaded a lot faster, looked better and performance better.... much better and this is just on a single card that cost me $250.

The bad part about PC gaming is when you try a game on consoles and you notice the 30fps cap, the "jaggies", the lower res textures etc, things you never used to notice.

Happened to me recently on Destiny (I have a PS4 I mainly use for FIFA). I had to return it cause the 30fps cap on a shooter makes me dizzy.

I am going to keep all three of my consoles for exclusives and only that but damn I am a bit nervous about playing anything on the Xbox One especially at sub HD and unstable 30-40 fps. I had MGSV, Witcher 3, Dragon Age and Unity all pre ordered on PS4 but guess I'll cancel them now. Unity will be free for me with the purchase of the 970.

Damn PC gaming and their awesome deals! All of these wasted years. =(

Stuff I didn't know existed on PC prior to researching and building one:

• multi display monitor
• perfect controller mapping on many games (360 button appears instead of keys for crying out loud in many games)
• 5-7second bootup time on SSD (almost as fast as consoles)
• Pretty much everything run at least 60fps
• high professional level modding (use to think all mods are glitchy, nope coughleft4deadcough)

What monitor do you have?

PC gamers used to use 60hz monitors, but once you go 120hz-144hz the difference is amazing.

I can't go back to a normal 60hz monitor now, especially for shooters.

Oh thats nothing... Wait until you try out all the mods.

Basically if you play any game on PC with 120+ Hz monitor and you're able to run on 100+ fps it's better than any console, aside from the crystal sharp resoltuions with AA (4K on TVs, 1440p on 27-32' monitors) and the fast loading times with SSD.

Sometimes even better graphics by mods - you should try some I know Skyrim has those.

@FelipeInside:

I'm using dual monitor atm. One is a BenQ 24' 1080p 60Hz and the other is 17' 900p 60Hz. Might drop that baby 17' for this though.

http://www.amazon.com/VG248QE-24-inch-LED-lit-Monitor-response/dp/B00B2HH7G0/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

for priority, which should I get in what order?

• $250 Astro Gaming A40 (rocking the Turtle Beach x12 right now)
• $250 Asus 24 inch 144Hz monitor
• $350 Second 970 Strix

Skyrim is exceptional on PC thanks to mods and also Bethesda did a pretty good job with the PC version. So the same is true for Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Oblivion.

There are other good PC games too, look for ones that support mods and are from a strong developer. e.g L4D2, CS:GO

I'm using the RE6 skin mod on L4D2 atm, lol

well if you think vanilla skyrim was a generational jump then try it with skyrim total enhancement project. Its a new game and not just the graphics but interface as well

How did you get a GTX 970 for only 250USD?

@RyviusARC: TigerDirect had it for $339.99 a couple weeks ago and they offered a $27 off coupon for orders over $240 making it about $313. Now Nvidia is offering a free game and Unity happens to be a game I had preordered so that's technically a $60 back to my pocket.

Damn they had the one per household limit on this card. Woulda got two for SLI since Fry Cry 4 was another game I had pre-ordered.....

- You don't need a second 970. One 970 will play all games at high/max graphics.

- Those are good headphones you're looking at, but you should check out Senheiser's gaming range. They are great quality but a bit cheaper (depending on model).

- Good monitor but go 27 inch if you can fit it on your desktop.

Out of all those, I would go the monitor first.

If you have a friend just use his address.

Also I would go for a good pair of headphones then a separate mic.

You can pic up a much higher quality set of cans for a cheaper price than a headset.

Can you guys recommend me a good headset with those nasty irritating background noise like the X12? I want something that blocks all the outside noise while giving me surround sound experience. Probably will get the head set after the monitor.

Take your pick: http://en-au.sennheiser.com/pc-gaming-headset

Just choose one that's "closed" so it blocks out noise.

Welcome. Now you'll understand why we die on the inside on a bad port job.

Good thing skyrim is a really good game...

Indeed, high refresh rate makes a huge difference on the way the game feels. I always wanted to go 120+hz, but also wanted to go higher res than my old 1080p monitors. Thankfully, the ROG swift came out and it met my needs and with G-sync as well! Best gaming monitor ever.

?? just curious TC, why are you pretending new to PC gaming all of sudden? I remember seeing you posting PC fanboyism stuff last time I logged in(about skyrim), which is couple month ago

I have a question, tc.

Was there ever a time you doubted when PC gamers would claim their versions of games were far superior to console versions? :p

It's a great feeling I know. There are no multiplats I'd rather play on consoles anymore. Even the worst PC ports seem to feel and play better on PC (since console performance is usually questionable for these games as well)

just wait until he gets to mod skyrim... :P

http://i.imgur.com/dHHzqEM.png

you can get it to look as good as mine

I second this! The mods will make the game even more amazing. It did for me. You get gameplay changes, graphical changes, UI changes. Its awesome.

Well if you think that's a leap do some modding. Currently running 68 mods and the game looks literally leagues better then I ever thought it could get to. I am having issues now about 280 hours in with the 68 mods running but I played most of the game and the dlc without any hiccups(except actual skyrim bugs) up untill that point. And plus you don't have to go as crazy as me I changed a lot of thins including gameplay which could have been my main issue in the end.

I thought it was great when my younger brother was drooling over Gears of War on the Xbox - I had picked up the PC version eventually and I was laughing at him playing the game on the Xbox because he said it looked really good. I told him the PC version is leaps and bounds better and he refused to believe me.

Once he eventually paid a visit I had the game running on my PC below 720 and on medium settings - he saw this and said it looks just about as good as the Xbox version and thought I was full of shit. That's when I cranked up the resolution to the native 1680x1050 my monitor supported and put all the settings up max - he damn near pissed himself once he saw the difference. Since then he's been more of a PC gamer than a console gamer.

First step is to buy headphones from an audio company, not a gimmicky gaming company that know nothing about audio. You will have a lot more choice if you buy headphones and mic separately.

Recommended brands to look at are AKG, Beyerdynamic, Audio Technica, Sennheiser

I wish I could play shooters on my PC.. but my fingers just aren't fast enough with WASD. I find the controller more comfortable for me. But I agree..I used to think PS3 games looked good and then I started PC gaming and I notice all that crap. But I really only game on my PS3/PS4 for sports/shooting games.. the rest on PC.

Same here

I know everyone says that a keyboard and mouse is the way to go with FPS's, and I've been primarily a PC gamer for about 3 years now, but I still prefer a controller.

And I couldn't fathom trying to play NBA 2K, Fifa or Madden (if it ever comes back to PC) with a keyboard.

You try playing with a controller online on a PC (shooter) and you will get destroyed, lol...

But I agree... games like FIFA or NBA better with controller.

Play BF3 if you want to see a big difference between PC and consoles. Also The Witcher 2.

Play The Witcher 2 and get ready to be blown away.

I have had Skyrim for about 2 years now and just haven't found the time to play it.

Reading your post has just reminded me how excited I was to play it when I originally clicked "buy now" - I imagine it only gets better when texture packs etc. are installed.

On a side note...I am massively jealous of your console collection. I love my PC, but there are lots of exclusives that I would like to play from each of the consoles you have mentioned.

I have a PS3, 360 (used to have an XBOX as well), Wii U, and Vita. Like most PC gamers, if a game is available on PC, I play it on PC. This mostly due to better performance, but also because PC exclusives tend to be strategy games, and you need multi-plats for a little variety :)

You might find the Wii U to be your favorite console once you start playing multi-plats on PC. I can't really think of a Wii U game that I would rather play on PC. They perform well, and Nintendo knows how to make games for a controller (apart from no analog triggers, the Wii U pro controller is also the best controller I've used).

Now go install some mods and an ENB

You havent played skyrim properly until you install an ENB (seasons of skyrim being my favorite) and have installed a tbbp body (trust me.. when you see dat jiggle.. )

I had a similar experience when I got Oblivion on PC. I originally played it on the 360 then got it on PC after that. Load times on the 360 were insanely long... on pc virtually instant on ssd. After that I got Skyrim on PC first, consoles are just too weak.