Maximum PC

Hello All --

Apologies up front for the length of this post -- I will keep them shorter in the future.

I would like some advice on games to get. I am moving from an old rig to a new one (currently under construction).
My preferences run to noirish dystopian SciFi FPS/RPG/Adventure combos, WWII Nazi shoots and suchlike.

Old rig (built 4 years ago):

CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600
RAM: 2 GB
GPU: GeForce 8800 GT
OS: WinXPSP3

Games enjoyed: Deus Ex series, Half Life 2, Far Cry, Crysis, FEAR series, Fallout3, Fallout: NV, CoD, MoH, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.
Also really enjoyed The Longest Journey, even though (and partly because) there was no violence,
although my preference usually runs to drum-fed big-bore shotguns and silenced large caliber sniper rifles.
Oh, also did BioShock: way too creepy.

I like games that combine outdoor adventure, FPS, RPG. I do not intend to play online (I'm too slow for that scene).
I am not generally interested in fantasy, but might make an exception if the eye candy is yummy enough
(not referring exclusively to HD images of big-chested scanitly-clad wenches, but that's a plus ).

Oh, and Puhh-Leeeeze: no more time-limited sprints down tunnels or mazes trying to outrun giant spiders,
zombie hordes or supernatural monsters (occasional plausible mutants are OK)
-- been there, done that, got the bloody T-shirt .

New rig (building now):

MoBo: Asus P9X79 Deluxe
CPU: Core i7-3960X w/ Intel RTS2011LC cooler (I know, JBaz -- WTF )
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB
RAM: 32 GB DDR3 1600
SSD: Samsung Series 830 256GB SATA III
HDD: WD 1TB 7200
PSU: Antec HCP 1200
OS: Win7Pro 64 bit

Oh WTF?!?! lol

BF3, ME3, Skyrim, SWTOR are all on the top of my list. Deus Ex Human Revolution is a very fun single player, specially if you like the older ones and like an RPG/FPS game. Borderlands is fun, a bit odd FPS. Really fun with co-op.

Both Batman Arkham Asylum and City are excellent RPG/Action games. Got both for free with video card and cpu deals.

And if you like Scifi FPS, check out Tribes Ascend. Its just awesome. Playing the beta now and its every as bit good as Tribes 2 with some simplification of the classes, but the same game mechanics.

Another "interesting" game to check out is Dead Island, but probably not your taboo, since its zombies and it gets pretty hairy, but its well lit and they don't exactly scare you. Just a ton of them and it gets annoying to "grind" them when you really want to bypass them.

Red Faction is another great scifi-FPS game, I haven't tried the new one, but heard good things. The older Guerrilla is basically GTAIV on mars with a building physics model. Its just fun going around and tearing down buildings and watching them fall onto helpless enemies. Hehe.

There's also Space Marine FPS, but I haven't tried it or read too much about the reviews. A few friends who like the warhammer 40k series liked it, but wasn't something they would have paid full price for.

"sniper" if you like the big silenced sniper guns. its not new, but sniper 2 will be out in a couple of months, I got sniper on steam when i was bored, it suprised me since it was better than I thought it would be.

Thanks for the ideas. What about Heroes of Stalingrad ? I'm considering getting it.
BTW, if you want nightmares, read "Enemy at the Gate: The Battle of Stalnigrad"
-- I forget the author's name, but it's a serious history read.
The movie of the same name was based on the actual sniper duel which was won by the Russian guy.)

I still have the first ME sitting around waiting to be installed, but maybe it's so dated I should skip it ??

If you have not played the first Mass Effect, I would advise you to play it. It maybe a dated game, but its a great storyline. Some of the game mechanics is very sluggish since its a console port and the graphics are very restrictive, but nonetheless a good game to follow up by ME2 and soon to be ME3. It makes a lot of the small stuff in ME2 make more sense, plus your choices in ME will effect some outcomes in ME2 and then in ME3.

I'm going back and replaying ME/ME2 this week since I don't have any saved files on this pc for ME3.

For gaming, what pixel format is best ? My Radeon software offers several choices for my display.
I have read that RGB Full Range is best form gaming, and YCbCr4:4:4 is best for movies;
but then again, I have also read that the moon is made of green cheese...

For ME/ME2, can't you just copy your game save files over to the new rig ?

would have helped if I actually saved the save files before doing a complete format/full install of win7 last year.

I was looking at that, and then saw that most people thought it was "meh". I don't care if the story sucks, but as long as it represents ballistic physics realistically, I'm fine.

Then it sounds like its a better choice than MW3... hehe

My whole clan laughed at our last lan party when our clan leader bought MW3 and played it on his quad SLI, 3960x rig. He was like "WHY DID I BUY THIS GAME!?!? THE GRAPHICS ARE SO SILLY!!! ARRRRRRGGGG" haha.

should have said, not the original sniper, which sucked, but ghost warrior, its set in a jungle kind of like farcry, good graphics, and they do use ballistics. it is good enough that I think I will get the next one when it comes out.

if you like ballistics, ARMA 2 is pretty realistic.

Anyhow......back to my question about pixel format: does it really matter which of the four I use ? I downloaded Deus Ex: HR yesterday and tried it in two of the four and didn't see any immediate difference, although that doesn't necessarily mean anything I left it set on RBG Standard for now....

RGB is meant for monitors. YCbCr is meant for TVs.

And cbr is for honda's... hehe

CBR ??? Why doncha gitcher se'f a REAL motorcycle, like my Fat Lady (Valkyrie).

LOL... because anyone who rides a Jap made cruiser would get laughed at by the Harley riders at the bar, then asked "why didn't you be completely insensible and actually join the cruiser colt by buying a rubbish Harley like the rest of the fat American, middle aged balding bloats who bought the bike as an act of desperation for capturing their one time youthful nature from the 60's and being completely defiant against their trophy wives who bought a 2nd dog for no apparent reason then spent $1600 on clothes the following morning?"...

And you will never see me on a cruiser. I enjoy my speed and death defying nature of the sports bikes. Nothing beats 180mph wheelies or dragging your once torn acl knees from a previous motorcycle wreck on pavement...

At that point, you might as well tell me to get a "real" car, like a Dodge Challenger (which I think is the ugliest higher-end car)

No, I would tell you to get a real drivers car like a WRX or an EVO. Shit, if Ford made the euro version of the Focus I4 turbo AWD here in the states, I would so be rocking that right now... So unfair how they get the WRC inspired version of that hatchback that's used in Dirt 2 and Dirt 3... grrr

I meant my post to that guy who told you to get a "real" motorcycle.

Not sure about them rally cars either though...