[TheAudioDude]

It's still in the planning stages, but here's the PC that will get me back into PC gaming and started in HD-video encoding:
 
Intel Core i7-2600K (will overclock to >4GHz)
Haven't decided on motherboard yet... still researching
G.Skill Ripjaws 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 1600 RAM
Radeon HD6970 2GB GPU
Crucial 64GB Sata-III SSD
Western Digital Black Caviar 1TB Sata-III harddrive
SeaSonic X760 760W PSU
Noctua NH-D14
2 Scythe S-Flex 120mm fans (the two I would use are in my HTPC)
Cheap DVD drive which has yet to be determined
Re-using my Silverstone KL02 case
 
Will it run Crysis on my 61" DLP?

 
On second thought, all of these on Newegg are ~$160 cheaper than my budget, and I can get some parts even cheaper at Microcenter.  Upgrade to GTX580 you say?

 

[Speedv1]

Quote:

I got a question for you guys with extremely powerful (and costly) computers: Just how much of that power are you using most of the time?

Not that often. Honestly to really work my laptop I'd have to do a LOT of stuff - I mean watch tv on an external harddrive, backup my harddrive, update gbs worth of stuff, download from itunes store, listen to music, edit using photoshop, lol you get the idea. I just really hate lag - so the lack of it is awesome .

 

[Xpresser]

Quote:

I got a question for you guys with extremely powerful (and costly) computers: Just how much of that power are you using most of the time?

When playing one of my favorite games, Bad Company 2, my GPU is often at 80-95%. When running Photoshop, converting videos, running multiple tasks my CPU is running at 90-100%.

 

[Jodiuh]

I've seen BC2 hit upwards of 90% usage across 4 physical cores w/ 99% usage on a GTX 460. I have no idea how this runs on consoles.

 

[mralexosborn]

Xbox 360 has graphics on par with 16 bit systems, what?

 

[Jodiuh]

I mean, it's not terrible, but playing the Crysis 2 demo exhibits the same sort of "anything past 10 feet" looks the same feeling I get w/ other console shooters. It's too hard to pick things out...no contrast, everything jumbles in together.

 

[mralexosborn]

Hey guys, isn't fun to try and argue that PC gaming is superior to console gaming and all you hear back is ignorant rage? I have a PS3 and my "gaming rig" and I go to my computer 99.99999%. Hell even the online community on PC is nicer, still immature, but more courteous in some ways. 
Grr.

 

[Jodiuh]

I had been gaming on the console for a little while...Forza 3, MW2, and a bit of Halo Reach. But after playing L4D on PC and trying the L4D2 demo on the 360...well, it sucked. I couldn't see anything.

It's so nice to sit on the couch w/ the bigger A/V experience too. But as rarely as I game nowadays, it's more often than not on a pc...at a LAN party, lol. I'm so terrible for lack of play...always getting owned, haha!
 
 
 
 
 

 

[mralexosborn]

Sitting about two feet away from my 23 inch monitor, I can safely say I can see, but I see your point. L4D2 multiplayer can be the most stressful, intense experience ever. Many-a-time I have found myself playing until 4am...

 

[sari0n]

Quote:

I got a question for you guys with extremely powerful (and costly) computers: Just how much of that power are you using most of the time?

Well, my computer isn't "extremely powerful" but it's relatively new.
According to my CPU meter, I usually use around 2-3 gb of ram and generally under 15% of my cpu (i7 720qm).  That's just for normal functions such as web browsing, downloading/uploading, chatting, word processing, and music.  I generally like to keep all of my stuff open so I'll almost always have at least 10 tabs, skype, msn, gtalk, windows media player, utorrent, dropbox, ms word, and various other random programs open at any given time.  I don't play any mmorpg's currently because they take too much time but back when I did I used to keep 4-5 clients running at all times - that's like another 2gb of ram. 
When I actually do stuff like play games or do CAD I obviously use much more power.  Since I don't like to close my programs the 8gb of ram does come in handy.  It's really nice being able to dual screen and have, say, 3ds max on one, Unity3d(some engine I've been playing around with) on another, and still be able to chat and look up online tutorials easily.  Even then I rarely go above 6gb of ram although it's nice knowing you have a little extra elbow room.  My CPU only occasionally gets close to 100% when I burn disks/render/decompress stuff while doing some other tasks.
So I'd say I do make use of the power on my computer.  

 

[stang]

Wouldn't call my computer extremely powerful (i7 920 @ 3.2ghz, 6GB 1600mhz RAM and two ati 6870), but I probably use about 15% of that most of the time Thing is, when I want to do something, I want to do it properly. I don't want things on my computer to take ages to load, get lag and/or low fps etc.

 

[3602]

Yeah that's always cool. And come on, what is more powerful than an i7 (probably 980X) right now? Xeon? Phenon II x4? Of course ATI Crossfire is always impressive.
It's interesting. I have 4GB (actually 3.6) of RAM and I most use like 800MB of that, and according to some Ubuntu software my P540 stays at 800 (833?) MHz for 97% of the time. But we all use computers differently and the Dell Precision has 32GB of RAM. Long as they don't run 30 Crysises (Crysii?) together.
That said, DIY gaming rigs are always a marvel to behold. Just the sheer lights and fans.

 

[dscythe]

nothing to brag about really, 3.1ghz amd quad core, 4gb ddr3 ram, ati radeon 5770 1gb, 500gb WD caviar blue, 19 inch monitor and a deathadder

 

[BlutoSlice]

Intel Q4400 @ 3GHz
4GB DDR2
ATI  6850
Xonar Essence STX
2 X1GB SATA
 
I have my eye on a nice i7 sandy bridge system but that can wait untill Battlefied 3 is released !

 

[Dr-Ludvig]

Well, i got myself 2 year old home built computer, still going strong, though i most say that it is beginning to show some signs of aging :b

SPECS:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3,16 Ghz @ 4.2 GHZ
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P
MB: Asus P5Q Deluxe
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 (The first one)
Ram: 2x2 GB DDR2 1066 Mhz Mushkin
HDD: 3x1 TB + 1x2 TB (Samsung Spinpoint F1/F4 and WD Green's) for storage, and an Intel X-25M G2 80 GB SSD for OS
PSU: Enermax Modu82+ 625 W
Sound: Creative X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty
Case: Antec P182 all fans replaced with Noctua
 
 
Could use some upgrades, but then again, it plays pretty much any new game, and with that SSD it feels just as snappy as a new!