Will this computer give TPA all the bells & whistles for now & in future?

Howdy Friendly Forum Fans,

Being a gaming ignorant and not satisfied by not being able to use anti-aliasing - post processing - or hi ball reflections on my Acer Aspire V5-471p. Will this Cybertron PC 3.5GHz 8GB DDR3 tower, in the link below, give me full HD graphics and able to handle the future upgrades in looks and play in the pc version of TPA?

The only game I am going to play on this tower computer is TPA. Plus, I can use this desktop listed below for other things. I can give my Acer to my sister and use the tower as my computer.

Thanks for your help and opinions.....MontanaFrank


http://www.sears.com/cybertronpc-3.5ghz-8gb-ddr3-escape-unleashed-ii-amd/p-SPM1923057714P

Frank, yes, those specs are really good. You'll be able to play all the latest games on that. Looks like a cool case too.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you want to play with post processing enabled, TPA looks better on an Nvidia video card, for now at least. However, with that said, that all will hopefully change when they add DX11 graphics. The post processing we have now is only a temporary placeholder, so it should be optimized for AMD/ATI at that point as well.

Thanks Jeff....That's all the info I need.

Hi MontanaFrank,

welcome to the world of PC gaming

Like Jeff I'd also recommend to buy a PC with a Nvidia Graphics card instead the one you posted (which has an AMD card). At this point, TPA seems to work better with Nvidia (but no idea if future patches will change this).

Do you already know at which screen resolution you will play? Based on that we could recommend specific Nvidia cards for you.

Hi DodgeRodge,

I had to buy from Sears exclusively, it's the only credit I have. I've been looking at Sears gaming computers since this Acer was forced on me in July and this is the best deal I found for a decent gaming machine by $300.00. Plus all the other Cybertron computers at Sears I've viewed in the last few months did not have a Blu-Ray drive .

I think that when they do upgrade DX11 graphics, FarSight will have something for AMD/ATI graphics card.

I have no idea what screen resolution I'll be playing with when I get this computer. This Acer is only 1366 x 768 at highest resolution.

I am sure that once I get the new Cybertron, I will have many questions. The one thing that I do know that there are so many friendly PAFF members and they are very helpful. I know any questions I have will be answered. Plus, Gord and the forum moderators are all very friendly and helpful.

I don't tell anyone not to buy nvidia, but imo there is no reason to recommend nvidia.
I've seen nvidia gamers who report the same issues on Steam forums.

And the support for AMD will be strong in the next couple years,
because all next generation consoles have AMD hardware (Playstation 4 CPU & GPU, Xbox One CPU & GPU and Wii U GPU)
That helps a lot for cross platform development. Also read about AMD Mantle.

DX11 will work as long as you have Windows Vista sp3, Win 7 or win 8 and have a DX11 GPU.
And of course a DX11 version of TPA.

MontanaFrank said:

Hi DodgeRodge,

I had to buy from Sears exclusively, it's the only credit I have. I've been looking at Sears gaming computers since this Acer was forced on me in July and this is the best deal I found for a decent gaming machine by $300.00. Plus all the other Cybertron computers at Sears I've viewed in the last few months did not have a Blu-Ray drive .

I think that when they do upgrade DX11 graphics, FarSight will have something for AMD/ATI graphics card.

I have no idea what screen resolution I'll be playing with when I get this computer. This Acer is only 1366 x 768 at highest resolution.

I am sure that once I get the new Cybertron, I will have many questions. The one thing that I do know that there are so many friendly PAFF members and they are very helpful. I know any questions I have will be answered. Plus, Gord and the forum moderators are all very friendly and helpful.

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Sounds good, man. This looks like a beast of a PC, specs-wise (and the acutal look of it too, hehe), so you're gonna be a kid in a candy store once you get it.

I too am confident that Farsight will have the PC version looking great on both Nvidia and AMD, so I honestly wouldn't worry about it. As Biff said, Nvidia has its own issues, and I personally prefer AMD, especially with the new AMD Mantle stuff coming out that will only work properly with AMD cards. Also consider, as Biff again mentioned, that both the PS4 and Xbone are running on AMD graphics, so it's obvious that AMD is on top of its game right now.

And you're definitely going to want to run at 1080p (1920 x 1080) if your monitor can handle it.

I'm excited for ya, Frank! Let us know if you need any help setting it up or anything, dude.

7770 is a great card! It's the one I run. It may not be the top of the top performance-wise but for TPA you honestly won't even miss the PP since it will be so silky smooth...
11/7 new beta drivers released to help out AA in COD:Ghost, AMD is most definitely on their game.

It's Ford vs. Chevy for a lot of people, both sides have very valid arguments and I'm not telling you which is better, but I can tell you I run a very similar rig 2.7 GHz CPU and 4GB of RAM and assuming the "off the shelf" motherboard isn't a pink elephant, you should enjoy TPA in it's Full DX11 glory with no complaints!

EDIT: Resolution? : Max Max Max! This baby can run 7 monitors at full capability

Larry said:

you should enjoy TPA in it's Full DX11 glory with no complaints!

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Definitely!

Nice specs, reasonably priced rig.

Biff said:

I don't tell anyone not to buy nvidia, but imo there is no reason to recommend nvidia.
I've seen nvidia gamers who report the same issues on Steam forums.

And the support for AMD will be strong in the next couple years,
because all next generation consoles have AMD hardware (Playstation 4 CPU & GPU, Xbox One CPU & GPU and Wii U GPU)
That helps a lot for cross platform development. Also read about AMD Mantle.

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GPU-accelerated PhysX would be one reason, but since MontanaFrank will only be playing TPA, I guess that is irrelevant. I haven't previously heard of AMD Mantle being that I'm a bit of an Nvidia fanboy, but I'm definitely intrigued. Thanks for sparking my interest!

Frank, I am also using an HD R7770 (in my case an MSI), and the rest of my overall specs are probably less than that Cybertron you linked to. (Mine is an Intel I5 CPU, but with only 6 GB of RAM unlike your 8GB.) At any rate TPA is flying for me, and I have a feeling it's because of that R770 video card. I have everything cranked up to the max in the TPA Configuration menu for AA, PP, and reflections. I have only had a little time to play, but I have seen no degradation so far with it all the way cranked up. (I tested on a good monitor, and on a good HD TV.) And of course, we don't have DX11 yet (which I understand this card loves), and TPA still looks great to me. Well, come to think of it, I do see a little fuzziness at times with the lettering on the table in Twilight Zone, but nothing too distracting.

I usually have two monitors hooked up to this video card. Both are running 1920 x 1080. A nice thing about the R7770 is that it is very energy efficient compared to a lot of other graphics cards. By the way, that video card can support 3D. I used it with a better HDMI cable to my LG TV with passive 3D. Only 3D game I tried though was DIRT that AMD gave with the video card in July 2012. (That DIRT was my first introduction to Steam, coincidentally.)

For the heck of it for TPA, I also did the following as suggested on our forum, but did not compare before and after-
I installed the RadeonPro tool, for setting FlipQueue with AMD/ATI as mentioned here, and I used "1" as most folks seemed to like that value: http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...ease-read-this?p=112389&viewfull=1#post112389

Please Note: My R7770 is an MSI "Power Edition" model, but I don't know the extent that is helping over other brands of HD R7770 without that feature. (I do love this model of the R7770. And the price is 50% less (now at around $100) at the same sales site, but then it was a new model.)

I am again grateful for all your opinions and help, it's very much appreciated. I think that the Cybertronic will probably blow me away, since I'm new to this.

I do hope that this Cybertronic computer will play some other pinball simulations. I know that there are some great emulations of EM machines out there and hope that the new computer might be able to run that emulation. I truly don't think that "Fast Draw" will ever make TPA, you never know. Fast Draw is my favorite all time EM machine. Back in my younger days, it was a dime for a game and 3 games for $.25. This is the one machine that I could put a dime in and I was on free play till I was finished.

Again thanks Jeff and the rest of you fantastic forum fans for all your help.

Enjoy your weekend and may all your scores be high scores....Frank

MontanaFrank said:

I am again grateful for all your opinions and help, it's very much appreciated. I think that the Cybertronic will probably blow me away, since I'm new to this.

I do hope that this Cybertronic computer will play some other pinball simulations. I know that there are some great emulations of EM machines out there and hope that the new computer might be able to run that emulation. I truly don't think that "Fast Draw" will ever make TPA, you never know. Fast Draw is my favorite all time EM machine. Back in my younger days, it was a dime for a game and 3 games for $.25. This is the one machine that I could put a dime in and I was on free play till I was finished.

Again thanks Jeff and the rest of you fantastic forum fans for all your help.

Enjoy your weekend and may all your scores be high scores....Frank

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Hi Frank I didn't do anything to help, ( I don't know enough to do so ) but have a great weekend yourself and I hope your Mom is getting better.

Hey Frank, that new computer will be able to run Future Pinball without any trouble at all.

Fast Draw is available and looks like it was created with loving care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mi1x6DUZqA

Naildriver74 said:

Hi Frank I didn't do anything to help, ( I don't know enough to do so ) but have a great weekend yourself and I hope your Mom is getting better.

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Mom's a lot better. Looking forward to going home Monday.

Crazy Newt said:

Hey Frank, that new computer will be able to run Future Pinball without any trouble at all.

Fast Draw is available and looks like it was created with loving care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mi1x6DUZqA

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That does look like it was created with loving care. I look forward to that also.

And, Gee-Whiz to Boot, I found an old belt buckle in my drawer that I paid $20 in 1978. For sh-ts and giggles, I looked up the signature, M. Thomas Jr., on the back of buckle with Google and found it could be worth 10 to 15 times the amount today. Woot!, that's 1/4 of what I need to pay for the computer right there.

MontanaFrank said:

Mom's a lot better. Looking forward to going home Monday.




That does look like it was created with loving care. I look forward to that also.

And, Gee-Whiz to Boot, I found an old belt buckle in my drawer that I paid $20 in 1978. For sh-ts and giggles, I looked up the signature, M. Thomas Jr., on the back of buckle with Google and found it could be worth 10 to 15 times the amount today. Woot!, that's 1/4 of what I need to pay for the computer right there.

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That's fantastic, man!

And hey, be sure to check out Pro Pinball when it comes out too.

Glad to hear you got the computer stuff sorted out. Hope you enjoy your new purchase.

grashopper said:

Glad to hear you got the computer stuff sorted out. Hope you enjoy your new purchase.

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I think I'm going to be blown away by what I've purchased. I am ignorant about gaming computers and have been doing some research into the insides of this computer; from what I've been reading and watching on You Tube, I've got more of a beast than I thought. Plus, it's even upgradable in memory and components. I feel like a kid on Dec 25th.

It seems like the feeling like Dec 25th will last a long time. There's all the features to discover on the computer; plus, there is this whole other world of video pinball to discover.
The Pinball Arcade will always be my first and foremost video pinball that I'll play.

Don't worry FarSight, you'll always will be #1 in my book. It's been almost a year since discovering TPA on Android and this last year has been great. The joy of playing true pinball machines in a video table format and the wonderful people of this forum who've shown me much kindness, has made this the best year of my life since my life-mate passed in 2006.