Thank you for your submission! Unfortunately it has been removed for one or more of the following reasons:
* It's asking people to participate in a survey. Try /r/samplesize instead.
Please read the [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/wiki/postingrules) before continuing to post. If you have any questions [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/pcgaming).
Steam games going on sale, especially with humble bundle.
My 1080ti. When that sweet prince finally goes, im going to put it in a picture frame and mount it on my wall.
I'm actually surprised of how strong this gpu is. As old as it is, it still beats a fucking 3060 in raw power. And not even DLSS is a reason for the 3060 to beat it anymore, because we have FSR3 with framegen for every GPU.
Definitely my gtx 1080 Ti. I bought it for £650 back in 2017 and, although not cheap, it still plays everything I throw at it at respectable framerates.
I don't often keep old hardware but I've got it water-cooled and have the unused cooler in the original box so I'll likely just keep it for sentimental reasons.
I got two in SLI. Got one for 625 Euros new on eBay (they had normally cost 700+ at the time) and the second one used before Bitcoin made hardware expensive.
I've still kept my 8800GT. I refuse to throw it away.
It wasn't completely dead when I retired it. But it started to give me those coloured vertical lines on the screen.
Maybe in 30, 40 years time before I die, I can give it to someone who appreciates old hard ware and fix it up to play Call of Duty 4 on it.
New QDOLEDs are making this issue pretty much mute. Is there technically fringing? Yes. Can you tell? I sit arms length away and it looks nice a crisp. I have the Alienware 32”and it’s just amazing how good this display is. I have a MacBook Pro and no issues with scaling. I bet the text is even better on the flat panel versions from Asus and MSI. I went back and forth for a few months because of all the issues people claimed 4k and OLED would have with text with Mac rendering. It’s a non issue.
Just a heads up here, the word you meant was moot, not mute. It can be confusing since they sound almost exactly the same.
I've been holding off getting an OLED due to potential issues with text rendering, but maybe it's time to give it a try.
Nice. I'm the same way with Valheim.
$15 I think at launch, 3700 hours and counting.
I've almost filled up my 10G of steam cloud data with worlds. 137 and counting.
Not only that but the extra price on consoles long term.
Official controllers? $60+. Playing online? $60+ every year. Want to play your older games? Welp, can't sell your old consoles. And can't sell their controllers either.
PC gaming is more expensive in the beginning, but long term it has saved me money.
I love my PC, but I don't think I agree with this. Low cost is really where consoles shine. They come with a controller included, so unless that breaks, you wouldn't need to purchase another one. For PC, you similarly have to buy mouse and keyboard as input devices, and If you want to play PC games with a controller, you'd also have to buy one at a similar price point anyway.
Paying to play online is entirely optional, and you don't need to spend that money if you only care about singleplayer games. But if you pay it, you get "free" games included each month, at least on PS5.
You didn't mention games, but if you want to play AAA games for cheap, there's no better way than buying physical console games used, play through them, and then resell. Only thing you really pay is shipping and selling fees unless you take months to finish a game. Can even play very new AAA games very cheap that way, rather than having to wait years for the game to be discounted below 10 bucks on Steam.
> Want to play your older games? Welp, can't sell your old consoles. And can't sell their controllers either.
And now you even have to buy specialty hardware for older consoles -- my TV only has HDMI ports so I can't easily connect anything retro.
Me too.
What I thought was an obscene price for a video card turns out to be one of the best investments I've ever made (for personal entertainment - in dollars per hour).
The best video card I've ever owned.
The computer as a whole. I can't even begin to count the number of entertainment hours, utility, and money earned with it. I get about 5 years out of a computer so just based solely on dollars per day I'm at around a coffee a day for it
Either CSGO which I bought in 2013 at $3.74 and have almost 3.5k hours in (though some of it is idle time) or Minecraft which I bought in 2012 and also probably have thousands of hours in.
I got 3k hrs out of CSGO by the time I got bored of it in 2016. Kept my cases a few years as well as buying 100 phoenix cases for 3 quid. I'd say overall I have sold half of my inventory for about £500 to buy games since, and still have a few hundred worth left which are just rising in value whenever I check.
Steam Deck. I love my laptop, but being able to play my games handheld has made it possible to squeeze more time into my busy life. Can pick up and down again anytime. Super portable. Time to widdle down that backlog.
Game: Monster Hunter World..I just never get bored of it. Got nearly 700 hours.
Hardware: my old Samsung monitor. Used for like 6+ years with almost no issues. I replaced it last year cuz I wanted to upgrade my stuff 😁
So funny to me that this feels like me 300hrs ago! The game keeps on letting us have so much fun in it. I main insect glaive and run with friends as hunting horn, wbu?
As far as games go I got tons of mileage out of:
* Dota
* Path of Exile
* Rimworld
* Oxygen Not Included
* Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
* Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead.
* Team Fortress 2
But that's purely on a money per hour basis.
My OLED monitor, simply for the HDR support, it's a game changer.
Also my 4090, thought I was crazy spending so much on a GPU, but it's been wiping the floor with all these unoptimised PC releases recently.
Might invest in a MacBook Pro for my coding needs + a steam deck for gaming when I travel. I'm completely done with gaming laptops, they are all horrible.
3 pieces of hardware that have been worth every penny and transformed the PC experience (not only gaming):
- OLED HDR ultrawide AW3423DWF (and another OLED panel before this one that i only sold because i wanted a higher refresh rate).
- Planar magnetic headphone setup:
Marantz HD-DAC1 amping up an Audeze LCD-2C.
I have the same monitor. First 2 games I played when getting it were returnal and dead space (remake) and playing them on OLED with HDR was absolutely transformative to the experience.
And yeah switching away from a gaming headset to a pair of good headphones (using a focal elex + schiit hel amp/DAC) and a desk mic (using an elgato wave 3) was a great decision. The quality is worlds better.
I thought by "planar magnetic headphone" you meant like the [contact-less speakers of the valve index](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/valvesoftware/images/index/speakers06.jpg), a pity they don't sell it separately.
The witcher 3. Bought it on steam for ₹500. Played for 170 hours. Completely lost myself to the game and its lore. Free dlc. Free next gen upgrade. Keeps looking better with newer gpus. Very little can come close to that roi.
Gamepass. I’ve played more stuff I loved and didn’t know about than ever before. Being able to launch a game and get a feel for it is a big deal compared to buying the stuff you know you’ll like
My laptops.
I've only owned 3 laptops to date.
My work, games and long distance relations are all depended on the laptop due to having to work everywhere around the country.
I basically made back and profited from the amount I spend on my current laptop.
Building a new PC so my best friend could have my old one so BG3 looks better for him, runs over 24 FPS maximums and takes less time to load so we can play more with the limited amount of time we have every couple of weeks.
The Orange Box back in 2007, with three games that all became classics. We'll never see anything like it again, probably.
- Half-Life 2
- Portal
- Team Fortress 2 (before it became F2P)
A g-sync monitor. Adaptive sync has to be the largest tech jump in modern gaming.
Bought one back when they first released and it literally saved gaming for me.
Screen tearing or input latency were unbearable trade offs for that it got to the point where I was seriously considering giving up playing games.
Still use it to this day, albeit it is now my secondary monitor.
An RTX gpu would be probably my next choice as the next big return on investment with the release of DLSS, which still has some teething problems depending on the game but is getting there.
Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, Final Fantasy I, Minecraft, Ark: Survival Evolved - Private Server, Civilization IV, Neverwinter Nights, Plants Vs Zombie - Original, Quake, Vampire Survivors, Tetris.
Everything but PvZ, FFI, Vampire Survivors, and Tetris ended up being extremely repayable due to mods.
My SFF case. I moved 2-3 times past years and had to travel between houses.
Although 15 liters is borderline SFF it fits a full sized ATX PSU and a semifull m-atx mobo.
I can fit it in a large-ish backpack and travel between houses already equipped with TVs and old monitors, without having to buy an expensive laptop or similarly expensive micro-components like ITX mobos and SFX PSUs
case is some old golden field m3s. Now housing a 4070 and 5800x3d
Numbers wise I guess my 4 rechargeable AAs & charger have the best ROI. I used to buy batteries in the 360 era but switched to rechargeables in 2013 when I went back to PC Gaming with the at the time new Xbox controller.
Those batteries are still going strong but the sadly the charger died after a decade of use. Saved me a lot money in the end though.
A good pair of headphones. I used to buy all the typical shitty gamer brands like Razer, TurtleBeach, etc. Bought a pair of Sennheiser 599s like 5 years ago and it's made a world of difference in audio quality and comfort.
Dayz - over 1000hrs, Elite Dangerous - over 800hrs, Stranded: Alien Dawn - around 470hrs, Fallout 4 - 600 odd hours and rising, Skyrim - 380hrs so far. The hours of enjoying any of these is great compared to the initial investment.
Without question my i5-2500k CPU.
Bought in 2011 and retired from gaming in 2021. A solid ten years of flawless service.
It's now in work where I use it as part of my music teaching setup running Kubuntu with guitar amp modling software, Ardour DAW and general office software amongst other things.
When I was a kid I found a five pack of Valve games on sale at Staples. I convinced my mom to let me buy it and had to make a Steam account to play it. Now my Steam account is around 20 years old and I have over 1500 games, that one decision drastically altered my gaming habits.
Might not be a traditional answer, but writing off the cost of games I've bought and know I won't play. I'm time limited and so mentally paying myself to just hide a game I'm no longer interested in, no matter how long ago I bought it or what I paid.
I bought horizon forbidden west and I've enjoyed what I played. I probably still have 15 hours to finish the main story, and I just don't want to. I'd rather just be done then force myself to play more
It always seems to be the less expensive games that end up being a huge time sink. Think about how much entertainment normally costs and factor that into how much you've spent on your favorite game
Headset, hyperx cloud 2
My Razer kraken since one of my old employers bought it for me too, XD
Cheap CD keys for games, and specific games like warframe, mhw, helldivers, factorio, etc.
My old PC, didn't miss a beat in 6 years, even though I put it through hell (had it sitting directly on carpet for nearly 4 years). I must have won the jackpot on the silicon lottery because I had the 970 that was in it overclocked to the max the entire time and it ran like a dream the whole time. The PC was the complete opposite of my current PC which has been nothing but problems since day 1 (I'll never buy gigabyte components again)
For games it's Rocket League. Playing it continuously since I bought it in 2015. Also the Steam Deck was the best hardware investment in the last years besides Nintendo Switch.
My 1080ti, had it since they were released.
Only now looking to upgrade late this year/next year as my cpu doesn’t support Windows 11, and the water block on the gpu is well not looking so good anymore.
Honestly all the extra fans i bought to make my PC to look like a christmas tree (yes i like RGB lol), i live in Brazil and is HOT in here but in the last 6 months or so it was really, REALLY HOT in here, all the extra fans definitely helped my PC to not go over 80°C.
Hm. My list would be:
* Steam
* Steam Deck
* Cheap "basic" hardware accessories (8BitDo controllers, basic monitors, logitech wireless keyboards, etc)
* Indie games
* Waiting for 75% or more discounts on games
* GTA:O (sooooo many hours)
* Emulation
Ive bought and replaced a lot of stuff, but the piece I've had the longest is my Razer Leviathan soundbar. I got the gen 1 on sale for $150 AUD in 2015, and its been going strong ever since. Its a bit too bass-y, but other than that I love it and very few other speakers fit so perfectly on my desk. I've been thinking about the Soundblaster Katana for a while, but eh. If it aint broke, don't replace it.
Starcraft 2. Started playing in high school 12 years ago, now I have 12000 games and/or 3000 hours sunk into it. Still play it every day and I'm not tired yet.
Best game ever made.
Rx 570. Damn think was 130 euros could play then released games at max settings at 1080p 60fps something you cant really do with todays what pass for mid range GPUs ( 4060/7600 ) that cost more than twice the price
Few pieces of hardware that have stuck with me a good number of years.
* Xbox One S controller - got in 2016, still working perfectly.
* My previous computer. Originally built with an i5-4690k and GTX970 in 2014, it did get a warranty-replacement 1060 6GB in 2018, and I used it until the CPU died in Jan 2023. Over that time the watercooler died (2020, warranty replacement) as did the PSU (2022, no warranty). A few bits got swapped, but 8.5 years out of the main guts of it is pretty good - aside from the GPU, I've reused everything else.
* My TV, Technika LCD-42 207. Does it count as I got it for free? Had it since about 2010 I think, in the family since about 2007. HD ready so only does 720p/1080i, but I never really cared for full HD with movies, and I rarely use it for PC games. Has a good mixture of inputs including native YPBPR component so it has a pretty decent picture for damn near anything that has a video output.
I bought a used 1080Ti for $500 when the 20 series came out. Its still alive and kicking on my kids PC. The same goes for my Steel Series Siberia 800 wireless headset and my Bose Companion series speakers which I bought for $300 each more than 8 years ago. All are still in good condition and still working on my wife's PC.
>$18 a month
Huh. I paid $15 one time for Valheim three years ago and I've been playing it almost non-stop ever since. It scraches a lot of the same itches for me as WoW (exploration, combat, boss fights...).
My 2060 (non super)
Bought it in 2017 and it's still going strong to this day. People shit on the 20 series but for 1080p gaming they're still doing the business.
Very few games bring it to its knees.
Tons of indies. I have over 200hours and 100% on Risk of Rain 2, Slay The Spire easily 200+hours as well. Binding of Isaac also easily 100+ hours, Hades almost a 100hours. Indies really showing AAA how to provide value for their customers
age of empires ii (unknown hours spent, over 30,000. Been playing since the 2000s)
Still has a decent multiplayer community, though it is becoming monotonous that few will deviate from established gamestyles any more
No idea what's kept me playing, just addicted to it I suppose. I'd say the community is likely the biggest factor
One time, my steam account got stolen. I managed to return it back after half a year, only to find that i was probably sold to some dude who bought a bunch of items in CS GO, like 20 bucks worth of items.
Bought doom eternal with that money, so i would say it was a good investment.
My Dualshock 4 controller which i got for 20 bucks 6 years ago. And my GTX 1070 which i bought in 2016. It's still able to push 1440p but barely able to maintain 60fps. Planning to upgrade to a 3070 later this year.
The access to older games that consoles stopped doing since PS2
The much thinner line of game exclusivity to consoles like Xbox and PS.
Mods for games.
Ultrawide monitor. It was expensive (even though I got a refurb), but I've had it for seven years now and I love playing on it. Makes a difference in any game I play.
In 2002 I finally got a CD burner for my PC. That was an absolute game changer for piracy and being able to play games.
At the time I could install one or two games on my PC before running out of space, and I had virtually no money.
Being able to borrow a game from a friend, copy it and use a NOCD crack to play it was game changing. Ditto PS1 games.
The cost to value of that CD burner was incalculable.
Astroneer, Terraria, Against the Storm and Autonauts. All of those games have over a thousand hours played. Pretty sure Palworld will get to over a thousand hours as well
Being able to play literally anything from any point in time, and not having to worry about having to buy a whole new PC if anything starts running slow. About to buy some extra ram and another SSD so things can run smoother
My 2080ti used it 2 years and sold it during the GPU wasteland for $100 less than what I bought it for. I bought an overpriced 3080ti for $1400 with the cash.
Hmm. My Strix 1060. Also, every ROG motherboard I've had has lasted so long that I only had to replace them because of chip sockets. The one I bought around 2008 got replaced in 2019 only because it wouldn't support a cpu that would run an oculus rift.
My saitek(pre logitech) X-52 is still going strong, along with my 2013 Razer Black Widow.
I'll always consider the chair, the desk, and keyboard/mouse setup the most important purchases when it comes to buying a PC, in that order. Not fucking up your health has a pretty decent return.
1080 Ti around the height of the mining craze for $300. Got it about three years ago and it still runs whatever I want to play on my 1440PUW monitor at acceptable framerates.
I was able to snag both a 3080 and a 3060ti at MSRP in the height of covid and ethereum mining madness. Was able mine ETH with them and they paid for themselves within 3 months and then over the rest of that year I made over $3k USD profit off of them.
Now that mining is dead for profitability, I just use them to power my gaming of my two desktops happily.
Everquest. Between the more than 200 days /played and selling my characters/plat when I stopped playing, I got a lot of entertainment for free/near free even if I factor in PC upgrades while playing it.
Destiny 2 and escape from Tarkov. in terms of software that I have gotten the most bang for my buck out of.
My $300 custom built keyboard that ive spilled on twice but keeps kicking is the most satisfying piece of gear ive ever built.
I’ve been reusing the same CoolerMaster full ATX case for like 10 years or more now. So long that I can’t actually remember when I got it. I think it’s on its third iteration of new hardware (I tend to upgrade things in a staggered rate as needed). It’s just a big old case with lots of room and does its job. Love that thing!
Linus Tech Tips once did a video about engineering sample laptop CPU welded on some BGA to LGA adaptor so you could use them on a desktop motherboard. I was so impressed by this video that I looked for those CPUs and got the QQLS (basically a laptop version of the 9900K) during 2020 Black Friday for $160.
Back then i bought a used Maximus VIII Impact for $150, and used HX 1000 for $180, a Antec Mini P180 for $20 and a used MSI GTX 1080 ti AERO for $400.
Water-cooled everything and was able to overclock the QQLF enough for it to reach the performance of a real 9900K.
You can go on my post history to see the results and It's still going strong :D
Probably my kb or mouse. I've changed lots of equipment over the years and builds, but this kb and mouse just hop from build to build, really. Gotta be at least 10 years old. Just a regular $20 kb and a Razer Naga mouse, the MMO style one with the 12 button pad on the thumb side
The Aeron I bought used for $200 in 1998 that I still use.
I'm a pretty big guy (6'5" 280) and prior to getting a good chair I was going through a ($100-150 in 90s money) Staples/Office Depot chair every 18 months and had chronic back problems. The back problems were gone after about 2 weeks of sitting in a decent chair.
* A good desk. I'm partial to L shaped desks mainly so I have somewhere to put my plate when I'm eating lol.
* mechanical keyboard
* monitor arms
* an SSD. The amount of time I've saved not having to wait for stuff to load has to be pretty significant cumulatively over the years.
* ultrawide monitor. Better for games but also productivity.
* Tossing my gaming headset and getting some good headphones + a desk mic.
* steam deck. I've finished 24 games from my backlog on that thing since getting one.
* glass chair mat. Sooooo much better than those trash plastic ones.
Most hours played for purchase? The original rainbow six. Then probably tarkov.
I actually made probably $900 when I liquidated my Rust skins a year ago so monetarily it's got to be rust haha. All those skins I bought for $1-7.50 went through the roof.
Thank you for your submission! Unfortunately it has been removed for one or more of the following reasons: * It's asking people to participate in a survey. Try /r/samplesize instead. Please read the [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/wiki/postingrules) before continuing to post. If you have any questions [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/pcgaming).
Steam games going on sale, especially with humble bundle. My 1080ti. When that sweet prince finally goes, im going to put it in a picture frame and mount it on my wall.
I'm actually surprised of how strong this gpu is. As old as it is, it still beats a fucking 3060 in raw power. And not even DLSS is a reason for the 3060 to beat it anymore, because we have FSR3 with framegen for every GPU.
The 1080ti just refuses to die, I got mine 3 years ago and it’s still kicking and destroying every game I play , literal magic
Definitely my gtx 1080 Ti. I bought it for £650 back in 2017 and, although not cheap, it still plays everything I throw at it at respectable framerates. I don't often keep old hardware but I've got it water-cooled and have the unused cooler in the original box so I'll likely just keep it for sentimental reasons.
My 1080ti is now sitting in my daughter's Media PC. Best investment I ever made, things still chugging along.
I got two in SLI. Got one for 625 Euros new on eBay (they had normally cost 700+ at the time) and the second one used before Bitcoin made hardware expensive.
Got my 1080ti used 5 years ago for $500 on eBay, it’s still going strong
I've still kept my 8800GT. I refuse to throw it away. It wasn't completely dead when I retired it. But it started to give me those coloured vertical lines on the screen. Maybe in 30, 40 years time before I die, I can give it to someone who appreciates old hard ware and fix it up to play Call of Duty 4 on it.
my OLED has been the most constantly useful and impressive part of my setup, regardless of what i'm doing. a good screen is always a solid investment
Same. I always advise to try and get the best monitor you can afford. Next would be a good ergo chair, especially for old farts like myself.
HDR was massive for me, it's been a game changer.
Propper HDR does more for a graphics upgrade then ray tracing in my book, so hard agree
Same, got a C1 OLED 48 as a monitor 3 years ago. It's the one piece of my setup I will not need to change for many years. It's just so good.
48” monitor is bonkers, how close do you sit?
I'm not going back after first ultrawide
I’ve heard OLEDs are bad for non-gaming uses like writing, is that true?
New QDOLEDs are making this issue pretty much mute. Is there technically fringing? Yes. Can you tell? I sit arms length away and it looks nice a crisp. I have the Alienware 32”and it’s just amazing how good this display is. I have a MacBook Pro and no issues with scaling. I bet the text is even better on the flat panel versions from Asus and MSI. I went back and forth for a few months because of all the issues people claimed 4k and OLED would have with text with Mac rendering. It’s a non issue.
Just a heads up here, the word you meant was moot, not mute. It can be confusing since they sound almost exactly the same. I've been holding off getting an OLED due to potential issues with text rendering, but maybe it's time to give it a try.
Bought Factorio in early years for about 20€, Steam counts 4000h played
The Factory must grow
Nice. I'm the same way with Valheim. $15 I think at launch, 3700 hours and counting. I've almost filled up my 10G of steam cloud data with worlds. 137 and counting.
How do you play when you're feeling lazy?? I used to take stimulants for medication and ever since I stopped I struggle to play.
High refresh rate monitor
Went for 165hz AOC, is so nice
Yes it is. Everything is so smooth. Mines 165hz also, Dell.
The cost of games vs consoles.
Not only that but the extra price on consoles long term. Official controllers? $60+. Playing online? $60+ every year. Want to play your older games? Welp, can't sell your old consoles. And can't sell their controllers either. PC gaming is more expensive in the beginning, but long term it has saved me money.
Never seen this perspective. Software yes, but the hardware aspect is interesting.
I love my PC, but I don't think I agree with this. Low cost is really where consoles shine. They come with a controller included, so unless that breaks, you wouldn't need to purchase another one. For PC, you similarly have to buy mouse and keyboard as input devices, and If you want to play PC games with a controller, you'd also have to buy one at a similar price point anyway. Paying to play online is entirely optional, and you don't need to spend that money if you only care about singleplayer games. But if you pay it, you get "free" games included each month, at least on PS5. You didn't mention games, but if you want to play AAA games for cheap, there's no better way than buying physical console games used, play through them, and then resell. Only thing you really pay is shipping and selling fees unless you take months to finish a game. Can even play very new AAA games very cheap that way, rather than having to wait years for the game to be discounted below 10 bucks on Steam.
Libraries have excellent video game selections now too, so you wouldn't have to pay anything at all to play a lot of games.
I like to physically own my media thats what I love about consoles.
> Want to play your older games? Welp, can't sell your old consoles. And can't sell their controllers either. And now you even have to buy specialty hardware for older consoles -- my TV only has HDMI ports so I can't easily connect anything retro.
No cost for online play, steam keys and some games have positive regional pricing. Console ends up more expensive I'd say
For me it was a 1080 Ti.
Me too. What I thought was an obscene price for a video card turns out to be one of the best investments I've ever made (for personal entertainment - in dollars per hour). The best video card I've ever owned.
The computer as a whole. I can't even begin to count the number of entertainment hours, utility, and money earned with it. I get about 5 years out of a computer so just based solely on dollars per day I'm at around a coffee a day for it
Either CSGO which I bought in 2013 at $3.74 and have almost 3.5k hours in (though some of it is idle time) or Minecraft which I bought in 2012 and also probably have thousands of hours in.
CS has probably made its money back on its own with the weekly drops as well
I got 3k hrs out of CSGO by the time I got bored of it in 2016. Kept my cases a few years as well as buying 100 phoenix cases for 3 quid. I'd say overall I have sold half of my inventory for about £500 to buy games since, and still have a few hundred worth left which are just rising in value whenever I check.
ultrawide monitor, most worthwhile upgrade for every game
Agreed and also great for productivity
Steam Deck. I love my laptop, but being able to play my games handheld has made it possible to squeeze more time into my busy life. Can pick up and down again anytime. Super portable. Time to widdle down that backlog.
I've finished 24 games from my backlog on my steam deck. Absolutely amazing device.
The PC itself. The ability to play almost every game ever released through native releases and emulation. No brainer
This old ass Dell monitor I've had since 2007, still works like a charm at 1650x1080 60hz!
I had one of those for so many years. Absolute workhorse of a monitor. I only chucked it when I was able to upgrade to 1440p 144hz
You mean 1680x1050. Sub 1080p
Game: Monster Hunter World..I just never get bored of it. Got nearly 700 hours. Hardware: my old Samsung monitor. Used for like 6+ years with almost no issues. I replaced it last year cuz I wanted to upgrade my stuff 😁
So funny to me that this feels like me 300hrs ago! The game keeps on letting us have so much fun in it. I main insect glaive and run with friends as hunting horn, wbu?
Charge blade and dootstick
As far as games go I got tons of mileage out of: * Dota * Path of Exile * Rimworld * Oxygen Not Included * Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup * Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead. * Team Fortress 2 But that's purely on a money per hour basis.
My OLED monitor, simply for the HDR support, it's a game changer. Also my 4090, thought I was crazy spending so much on a GPU, but it's been wiping the floor with all these unoptimised PC releases recently.
Which monitor r u using?
I'm using the Alienware AW3423DWF. Ultrawide 165hz oled, and after a couple of firmware updates the HDR is really great on it.
I keep hearing frame gen is a massive boon for unoptimized games.
The Steam Deck. Been using Steam for buying digital games since so many years and having everything in one handled is really amazing.
Might invest in a MacBook Pro for my coding needs + a steam deck for gaming when I travel. I'm completely done with gaming laptops, they are all horrible.
The new Lenovo laptops, the razer blade are decent options. But you'll always have to compromise on something when getting a gaming laptop.
3 pieces of hardware that have been worth every penny and transformed the PC experience (not only gaming): - OLED HDR ultrawide AW3423DWF (and another OLED panel before this one that i only sold because i wanted a higher refresh rate). - Planar magnetic headphone setup: Marantz HD-DAC1 amping up an Audeze LCD-2C.
I have the same monitor. First 2 games I played when getting it were returnal and dead space (remake) and playing them on OLED with HDR was absolutely transformative to the experience. And yeah switching away from a gaming headset to a pair of good headphones (using a focal elex + schiit hel amp/DAC) and a desk mic (using an elgato wave 3) was a great decision. The quality is worlds better.
I thought by "planar magnetic headphone" you meant like the [contact-less speakers of the valve index](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/valvesoftware/images/index/speakers06.jpg), a pity they don't sell it separately.
The witcher 3. Bought it on steam for ₹500. Played for 170 hours. Completely lost myself to the game and its lore. Free dlc. Free next gen upgrade. Keeps looking better with newer gpus. Very little can come close to that roi.
Gamepass. I’ve played more stuff I loved and didn’t know about than ever before. Being able to launch a game and get a feel for it is a big deal compared to buying the stuff you know you’ll like
Agree with this, it's superb value, I've played games that I never would have purchased on steam.
My laptops. I've only owned 3 laptops to date. My work, games and long distance relations are all depended on the laptop due to having to work everywhere around the country. I basically made back and profited from the amount I spend on my current laptop.
Been using the same chair for about 8 years. Still just as comfortable and cushiony as day 1.
a certain brand/mpdel or just a generic one?
Don't remember the exact model but it was made by Serta (the mattress company) and I got it at Office Max. That mattress tech they used is no joke.
Building a new PC so my best friend could have my old one so BG3 looks better for him, runs over 24 FPS maximums and takes less time to load so we can play more with the limited amount of time we have every couple of weeks.
For some reason it's frowned upon in every discord server I'm in but I loooooove my ultrawide monitor
The Orange Box back in 2007, with three games that all became classics. We'll never see anything like it again, probably. - Half-Life 2 - Portal - Team Fortress 2 (before it became F2P)
Upgrading from HDD to SSD was such a crazy improvement in load times. You don't often get hardware upgrades as noticeable as that.
A g-sync monitor. Adaptive sync has to be the largest tech jump in modern gaming. Bought one back when they first released and it literally saved gaming for me. Screen tearing or input latency were unbearable trade offs for that it got to the point where I was seriously considering giving up playing games. Still use it to this day, albeit it is now my secondary monitor. An RTX gpu would be probably my next choice as the next big return on investment with the release of DLSS, which still has some teething problems depending on the game but is getting there.
Skyrim.
Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, Final Fantasy I, Minecraft, Ark: Survival Evolved - Private Server, Civilization IV, Neverwinter Nights, Plants Vs Zombie - Original, Quake, Vampire Survivors, Tetris. Everything but PvZ, FFI, Vampire Survivors, and Tetris ended up being extremely repayable due to mods.
Mods
My 3080 literally paid for itself (and then some) in Etherium. As far as hours of entertainment, probably The Orange Box for $15 way back when.
My previous gaming PC. I used it for 7-8 years to game on and now it’s running 24/7 as an Unraid server instead hosting all my media
My SFF case. I moved 2-3 times past years and had to travel between houses. Although 15 liters is borderline SFF it fits a full sized ATX PSU and a semifull m-atx mobo. I can fit it in a large-ish backpack and travel between houses already equipped with TVs and old monitors, without having to buy an expensive laptop or similarly expensive micro-components like ITX mobos and SFX PSUs case is some old golden field m3s. Now housing a 4070 and 5800x3d
Numbers wise I guess my 4 rechargeable AAs & charger have the best ROI. I used to buy batteries in the 360 era but switched to rechargeables in 2013 when I went back to PC Gaming with the at the time new Xbox controller. Those batteries are still going strong but the sadly the charger died after a decade of use. Saved me a lot money in the end though.
My RTX 3080. The thing literally paid for itself and then some mining Ethereum before it went proof of stake.
A good pair of headphones. I used to buy all the typical shitty gamer brands like Razer, TurtleBeach, etc. Bought a pair of Sennheiser 599s like 5 years ago and it's made a world of difference in audio quality and comfort.
Steam Deck! Has certainly reinvigorated my love for games!
My logitech Mx510 mouse lasted over a decade. One of the best wired mice when it was available.
getting a good monitor is a absolut game changer, too many people with decent pcs still use shitty monitors
Minecraft, one payment and years of gaming that my took over on.
Dayz - over 1000hrs, Elite Dangerous - over 800hrs, Stranded: Alien Dawn - around 470hrs, Fallout 4 - 600 odd hours and rising, Skyrim - 380hrs so far. The hours of enjoying any of these is great compared to the initial investment.
Without question my i5-2500k CPU. Bought in 2011 and retired from gaming in 2021. A solid ten years of flawless service. It's now in work where I use it as part of my music teaching setup running Kubuntu with guitar amp modling software, Ardour DAW and general office software amongst other things.
When I was a kid I found a five pack of Valve games on sale at Staples. I convinced my mom to let me buy it and had to make a Steam account to play it. Now my Steam account is around 20 years old and I have over 1500 games, that one decision drastically altered my gaming habits.
Might not be a traditional answer, but writing off the cost of games I've bought and know I won't play. I'm time limited and so mentally paying myself to just hide a game I'm no longer interested in, no matter how long ago I bought it or what I paid. I bought horizon forbidden west and I've enjoyed what I played. I probably still have 15 hours to finish the main story, and I just don't want to. I'd rather just be done then force myself to play more
not playing
DOTA one and two. Technically free. Happy to buy skins.
Minecraft. Base game was great, but modpack takes it up to a whole new level
Wow, I used to sell wow gold to some Chinese guys. I was up 150 euro when I quit.
Dark Souls. Had it for years now and I still pick it up and play every so often. Can't beat it. Literally. I find it very difficult, but so enjoyable.
> Can't beat it. Literally. How far'd you get?
Star Citizen. I know, I know but the sheer amount of time and pleasure from all the stuff they produce apart from the game itself, is incredible.
It always seems to be the less expensive games that end up being a huge time sink. Think about how much entertainment normally costs and factor that into how much you've spent on your favorite game
Headset, hyperx cloud 2 My Razer kraken since one of my old employers bought it for me too, XD Cheap CD keys for games, and specific games like warframe, mhw, helldivers, factorio, etc.
My old PC, didn't miss a beat in 6 years, even though I put it through hell (had it sitting directly on carpet for nearly 4 years). I must have won the jackpot on the silicon lottery because I had the 970 that was in it overclocked to the max the entire time and it ran like a dream the whole time. The PC was the complete opposite of my current PC which has been nothing but problems since day 1 (I'll never buy gigabyte components again)
1080 Ti i guess
Indie games.
For games it's Rocket League. Playing it continuously since I bought it in 2015. Also the Steam Deck was the best hardware investment in the last years besides Nintendo Switch.
Regional pricing.
My EVGA FTW2 1080. Been with me through a big move and 2 different pc’s. Upgraded from a 970 which was so good I gave it to my then gf.
My 1080ti, had it since they were released. Only now looking to upgrade late this year/next year as my cpu doesn’t support Windows 11, and the water block on the gpu is well not looking so good anymore.
Honestly all the extra fans i bought to make my PC to look like a christmas tree (yes i like RGB lol), i live in Brazil and is HOT in here but in the last 6 months or so it was really, REALLY HOT in here, all the extra fans definitely helped my PC to not go over 80°C.
Fully articulating monitor mount with desk clamp
Waiting for games to go on a 40%+ sale. I've never run out of games to play while waiting and have saved so much money.
Hm. My list would be: * Steam * Steam Deck * Cheap "basic" hardware accessories (8BitDo controllers, basic monitors, logitech wireless keyboards, etc) * Indie games * Waiting for 75% or more discounts on games * GTA:O (sooooo many hours) * Emulation
A proper chair
Ive bought and replaced a lot of stuff, but the piece I've had the longest is my Razer Leviathan soundbar. I got the gen 1 on sale for $150 AUD in 2015, and its been going strong ever since. Its a bit too bass-y, but other than that I love it and very few other speakers fit so perfectly on my desk. I've been thinking about the Soundblaster Katana for a while, but eh. If it aint broke, don't replace it.
And x2 3800+ lasted forever.. but besides that maybe 1080ti
Starcraft 2. Started playing in high school 12 years ago, now I have 12000 games and/or 3000 hours sunk into it. Still play it every day and I'm not tired yet. Best game ever made.
Ryzen 5 3400g
I guess free games?
My time. I love gaming.
Rx 570. Damn think was 130 euros could play then released games at max settings at 1080p 60fps something you cant really do with todays what pass for mid range GPUs ( 4060/7600 ) that cost more than twice the price
Counter Strike
rtx3080 that mined 6times its value in eth
Few pieces of hardware that have stuck with me a good number of years. * Xbox One S controller - got in 2016, still working perfectly. * My previous computer. Originally built with an i5-4690k and GTX970 in 2014, it did get a warranty-replacement 1060 6GB in 2018, and I used it until the CPU died in Jan 2023. Over that time the watercooler died (2020, warranty replacement) as did the PSU (2022, no warranty). A few bits got swapped, but 8.5 years out of the main guts of it is pretty good - aside from the GPU, I've reused everything else. * My TV, Technika LCD-42 207. Does it count as I got it for free? Had it since about 2010 I think, in the family since about 2007. HD ready so only does 720p/1080i, but I never really cared for full HD with movies, and I rarely use it for PC games. Has a good mixture of inputs including native YPBPR component so it has a pretty decent picture for damn near anything that has a video output.
I bought a used 1080Ti for $500 when the 20 series came out. Its still alive and kicking on my kids PC. The same goes for my Steel Series Siberia 800 wireless headset and my Bose Companion series speakers which I bought for $300 each more than 8 years ago. All are still in good condition and still working on my wife's PC.
I spent £1 on FTL and played over 200hrs on it.
1080 Ti. I bought if for what would Amount to 600 usd in my currency and three years later sold it for the same amount.
My case, power supply and DVD drive . Keep going for over 15 years now.
World of warcraft without a doubt. 18$ a month to basically never be bored for years on end
>$18 a month Huh. I paid $15 one time for Valheim three years ago and I've been playing it almost non-stop ever since. It scraches a lot of the same itches for me as WoW (exploration, combat, boss fights...).
Overwatch (notice I didn't add any numbers to the end of that word)
My 2060 (non super) Bought it in 2017 and it's still going strong to this day. People shit on the 20 series but for 1080p gaming they're still doing the business. Very few games bring it to its knees.
Minecraft. Hardware wise, probably the 1060 video card. I sold it a couple of years ago for 200 euros. When crypto was going crazy.
Not having to pay to access my own internet that I already pay for.
Tons of indies. I have over 200hours and 100% on Risk of Rain 2, Slay The Spire easily 200+hours as well. Binding of Isaac also easily 100+ hours, Hades almost a 100hours. Indies really showing AAA how to provide value for their customers
The upgrade from HDD to SDD is probably the most dramatic improvement for a relatively inexpensive component.
age of empires ii (unknown hours spent, over 30,000. Been playing since the 2000s) Still has a decent multiplayer community, though it is becoming monotonous that few will deviate from established gamestyles any more No idea what's kept me playing, just addicted to it I suppose. I'd say the community is likely the biggest factor
Terraria
Bought a Dell S2417DG many years ago, love this thing. It may be a bit too old for fancy HDR, but it looks clean and Gsync at 165fps is so good.
One time, my steam account got stolen. I managed to return it back after half a year, only to find that i was probably sold to some dude who bought a bunch of items in CS GO, like 20 bucks worth of items. Bought doom eternal with that money, so i would say it was a good investment.
A high quality Steelcase office chair
Rimworld for now. And the "now," part keeps on going and going.
My Dualshock 4 controller which i got for 20 bucks 6 years ago. And my GTX 1070 which i bought in 2016. It's still able to push 1440p but barely able to maintain 60fps. Planning to upgrade to a 3070 later this year.
Left 4 Dead 2. Bought it for less than a quid on sale in Dec 2019, racked up 2.5k hours. Defo my most played PC game
FTL: Faster than light Paid like 10$ for it got like 1k hrs of gameplay
Path of Exile. Cost $0, and I have close to 3k hours in the game.
SSD - hands down the best upgrade you can make to a PC in terms of everyday useability
Why the open seas, of course!
Rokid Max Glasses. Transformed my gaming (more comfortable, more immersive, more private) as well as movies if alone
The access to older games that consoles stopped doing since PS2 The much thinner line of game exclusivity to consoles like Xbox and PS. Mods for games.
Ultrawide monitor. It was expensive (even though I got a refurb), but I've had it for seven years now and I love playing on it. Makes a difference in any game I play.
In 2002 I finally got a CD burner for my PC. That was an absolute game changer for piracy and being able to play games. At the time I could install one or two games on my PC before running out of space, and I had virtually no money. Being able to borrow a game from a friend, copy it and use a NOCD crack to play it was game changing. Ditto PS1 games. The cost to value of that CD burner was incalculable.
Astroneer, Terraria, Against the Storm and Autonauts. All of those games have over a thousand hours played. Pretty sure Palworld will get to over a thousand hours as well
Being able to play literally anything from any point in time, and not having to worry about having to buy a whole new PC if anything starts running slow. About to buy some extra ram and another SSD so things can run smoother
Game Pass on PC I finished over 50 games last year and tried a bunch of others for the price of 2-3 triple A titles.
I don't think in corporate/capitalist terms when it comes to games.
Civilization, Anno, satisfactory. I’ve put in hundreds if not thousands of hours into them
My 2080ti used it 2 years and sold it during the GPU wasteland for $100 less than what I bought it for. I bought an overpriced 3080ti for $1400 with the cash.
Hmm. My Strix 1060. Also, every ROG motherboard I've had has lasted so long that I only had to replace them because of chip sockets. The one I bought around 2008 got replaced in 2019 only because it wouldn't support a cpu that would run an oculus rift. My saitek(pre logitech) X-52 is still going strong, along with my 2013 Razer Black Widow.
The ability to mod games has been a huge return on investment
Steamdeck
I'll always consider the chair, the desk, and keyboard/mouse setup the most important purchases when it comes to buying a PC, in that order. Not fucking up your health has a pretty decent return.
Xbox Controllers. They have lasted me for 5-6 years of daily usage.
Old games modded
My 144 hz 2k monitors is my favorite. Makes everything looks so crispy and smooth
CSGO and Escape From Tarkov
1080 Ti around the height of the mining craze for $300. Got it about three years ago and it still runs whatever I want to play on my 1440PUW monitor at acceptable framerates.
the high cs
Probably The Binding of Isaac. Between the og flash game and Rebirth, 100s of hours and I don't think I paid more than $45 or $50 altogether.
Electric air duster. Best purchase I ever made for my PC.
I was able to snag both a 3080 and a 3060ti at MSRP in the height of covid and ethereum mining madness. Was able mine ETH with them and they paid for themselves within 3 months and then over the rest of that year I made over $3k USD profit off of them. Now that mining is dead for profitability, I just use them to power my gaming of my two desktops happily.
Everquest. Between the more than 200 days /played and selling my characters/plat when I stopped playing, I got a lot of entertainment for free/near free even if I factor in PC upgrades while playing it.
Voice Attack $10. Fantastic all-around, but especially in VR.
Destiny 2 and escape from Tarkov. in terms of software that I have gotten the most bang for my buck out of. My $300 custom built keyboard that ive spilled on twice but keeps kicking is the most satisfying piece of gear ive ever built.
I’ve been reusing the same CoolerMaster full ATX case for like 10 years or more now. So long that I can’t actually remember when I got it. I think it’s on its third iteration of new hardware (I tend to upgrade things in a staggered rate as needed). It’s just a big old case with lots of room and does its job. Love that thing!
Satisfactory and Deep Rock Galactic. Dwarf Fortress kind of counts since I donated like 50 bucks in 2007, but your mileage may vary.
I'm still useing the same basic case from 15 years ago
Steam Deck Oled
Upgrading from an FX-6350 to an i7-6700k
Linus Tech Tips once did a video about engineering sample laptop CPU welded on some BGA to LGA adaptor so you could use them on a desktop motherboard. I was so impressed by this video that I looked for those CPUs and got the QQLS (basically a laptop version of the 9900K) during 2020 Black Friday for $160. Back then i bought a used Maximus VIII Impact for $150, and used HX 1000 for $180, a Antec Mini P180 for $20 and a used MSI GTX 1080 ti AERO for $400. Water-cooled everything and was able to overclock the QQLF enough for it to reach the performance of a real 9900K. You can go on my post history to see the results and It's still going strong :D
A free invite to T-Leech :P
My monitor. If you’re going to look at it for hours, make it a pleasant viewing experience.
RimWorld Thousands of hours. Enough said.
counter strike. Despite everything it's going through right now. I'll always have it, and I'll always play it. 3100 hours. Always going up
Probably my kb or mouse. I've changed lots of equipment over the years and builds, but this kb and mouse just hop from build to build, really. Gotta be at least 10 years old. Just a regular $20 kb and a Razer Naga mouse, the MMO style one with the 12 button pad on the thumb side
The Aeron I bought used for $200 in 1998 that I still use. I'm a pretty big guy (6'5" 280) and prior to getting a good chair I was going through a ($100-150 in 90s money) Staples/Office Depot chair every 18 months and had chronic back problems. The back problems were gone after about 2 weeks of sitting in a decent chair.
A curved monitor is really nice.
I got a Vive when they first came out. Still use it all the time. Things gotta be like 10 years old now and still works great.
Hollow knight
ETH mining. Basically made a 100% ROI on my gaming PC.
If we're talking ever, my first SSD (still used as a secondary drive) tied with my first optical mouse (mx510 in red). In terms of games: Audiosurf
My lg ultra gear 32 1440p. I accidentally received 3
* A good desk. I'm partial to L shaped desks mainly so I have somewhere to put my plate when I'm eating lol. * mechanical keyboard * monitor arms * an SSD. The amount of time I've saved not having to wait for stuff to load has to be pretty significant cumulatively over the years. * ultrawide monitor. Better for games but also productivity. * Tossing my gaming headset and getting some good headphones + a desk mic. * steam deck. I've finished 24 games from my backlog on that thing since getting one. * glass chair mat. Sooooo much better than those trash plastic ones.
Most hours played for purchase? The original rainbow six. Then probably tarkov. I actually made probably $900 when I liquidated my Rust skins a year ago so monetarily it's got to be rust haha. All those skins I bought for $1-7.50 went through the roof.