I'm currently researching and building a new PC, and though I'm not a "serious" gamer, I do want it to handle the newer games like Oblivion or FEAR decently.

What I've put together so far isn't the fastest PC around by any means, but it's still pretty high-end: AMD 3800+, 2 gigs RAM, ATI X1800XTX video card, etc..

The problem is, even a system like that, which will play Oblivion, FEAR, COD2 pretty well, is on the verge of being obsolete. If PC gaming requirements go up a few more notches, which they will in the next year or two, that PC would be barely adequate.

Are we really reaching a point where you need dual video cards and an overclocked $500 CPU just to stay in the game, so to speak?

I think for the first time in a while, console systems are actually having a direct impact on the evolution of the home PC. The most popular console games are now available on PC as well, which didn't happen too often in the past, but now it's standard.

There's a point somewhere in all of this Just curious if anyone else has thoughts about the PC's place in the gaming world right now..

I agree with you. Requirements for games are stacking up, and few will keep forking out money to upgrade their computer or get a new one. My solution: buy games with incredible replay value, such as the Elder Scrolls games. This way, you can play great games but not go in debt just to play a decent game that boasts mostly with its graphics.

before the nvidia GeForce video cards came out, the 3dfx voodoo 1/2 3D GPU's would have had the same problem. most games were based on 2D or isometric views of a 3D space, true 3D environments like simulators were just akward and offered very little reality.

there will always be a new 'x' factor to make games more power hungry for new hardware, physics cards are on the horizon for 2007, the OpenGL/DX support is not even there yet for games to support offloading the game engine physics processing to a separate device, i.e. explosions, shadows, rendering, AI, etc.

i figure that DX10 and physics processing will likely step up the requirements for 2007/2008 games now that dual-core processors and separate chips for audio, video, 3d, IO, etc are the modern requirements for video games and even video game consoles. it will lead to more involving interfaces that will lead to better experiences while requiring more upgrades and better features overall.

i dont think you can really get ahead of the treadmill of the IT industry's upgrade process, and i wouldnt even try to do it.

If we look at when PC's were made around in the 1970's? But people only cottened on around the 1980's was it anyhow? 30 years or so we've got from beeping or no sound 2-d games to realistic animations with 7.1 direct sound etc.

The point is that that took a heck of a time and only within the last 5 years or so the gaming industry have found its full potential.

All I can say is that I won't be expecting a PC upgrade for quite some time now as I boubt that games will require that much processing power in the rest of this deckade, but who know's what goes on in Intel/AMD/NVIDIA/ATI's laboratories?

The first "modern" processor's in the '70's was like 2.2 MHz, now, Intel's Pentium IV 670 is 3,800 MHz. What will the future hold? Quad-core, 4 graphics cards?

We now enter the digital age, what the future will bring is in the history books tommorow.

you think about it we already have quad core with intel bringing out the kentsfield processor and with IBM trying to work out how to cool there 500GHZ processor without using liquid hydrogen for the mainstream market the future of pc gameing is starting to look nuts think about it pc's have always had better graphicks then consoles and this trend should hopefully continue for the forseable future.

As an example Cell Factor is apparently going to be a resource hogging game as well as UT2007
both requiring over 3Ghz processors and 2gig of DDR2 ram just to run nice let alone a graphicks card and physx card to enjoy the whole experience as it should be

The things I've been noticing;

. Physics cards are showing up on the 'Recommended' part of PC requirements lately.

. Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the game out right now with the absolute highest system requirements.....What is this world coming to?

. The prices of pc components have dropped more in this last year, as far as price/performance than they have in the last 10 years.

. The number of console to pc conversion games is alarmingly high.

. The number of good pc to console conversions is alarmingly low. (*cough* Half-Life 2 *cough* YUCK!)

. I will always like pcs more than consoles.

It annoys me to no end! My PC turned five this December, placing it somewhere between a relic and an artifact...only without the value of either.

Also, thanks to my ignorance, I have RDRAM memory, so it costs a small fortune for me just to get a gig of RAM. Generally, I get one or two computer games a year (as I don't own a console I don't feel too guilty about this). This year what I wanted to buy was Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights 2...what I ended up getting instead was Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. That's just about the only game of the year my computer can handle.

(It's a great game, by the way, but that's not the point!)

yep is sure as hell is a pain in the backside. My computer is about 3 years old and now i cannot play any new games that come out such as Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Dark Messiah etc etc. If they do work, i have to turn the graphics down considerably (probably down to lowest) to prevent painful lags and glitches.

Now with Windows Vista out i am afraid that new games will not run on Xp or will need a new DirectX only available on Vista or something along those lines. Man its annoying

I Tend to play my X360 now as theres no problems with specs and also with Xbox live theres really decent multiplayer games, so that might be an answer for PC gamers who have specs problems. Remember the Xbox360 is made by microsoft aswell