Super Computers

[scofthe7seas]

Hello all,

Forgive my potential ignorance on the subject, but I was wondering why so many people pour over 1000 dollars into the computer component of their digital pinball cabs. I have a 300 dollar PC that plays every table I've put on it at enough fps to not notice any hangups (at all). The high res ones, FP, all at 1920x1200. Is this for future proofing upcoming potential new software for tables? When I build my pinball cab, I have no intention of spending more money then I did on my other PC. The other parts cost enough already!!

[lilshawn]

 i just built an AMD quad core 3ghz , 4gb RAM, nvidia 9600 videocard and a case with a powersupply to put it all in, and it was a little over $200 (i reused my harddrives from the old computer)

maybe people don't know how to shop 

[scofthe7seas]

Well, not just that, I've seen multiple people putting in things like Core I7s and GTX 480s. Stuff like that.
I have 2 gigs of ram in mine, and a Pentium "dual core" (it's a value priced core2duo) with a Geforce 9600 GSO 512 (goes up to 1024 with turbocache (borrows from RAM)

[lilshawn]

Well, not just that, I've seen multiple people putting in things like Core I7s and GTX 480s. Stuff like that.

you know, i always smell bullplop when people say they buy ridiculously expensive parts...but some people still seem to ACTUALLY do it.
maybe it's just plain ignorance of the requirements to attain what you need to do. you don't need to play video games at 4096×2160 (almost 4 times the resolution of a blue ray movie)

i guess it's no different than those people that spend thousands of dollars to make a crummy old honda civic look/act? like a race car even though it could never possibly have more than 200 horsepower. 

[Donkbaca]

Well, is there a 64 bit version?  If so you would want at least 4 gig of ram.  On a cab you are driving three monitors, so you need at least 2 fairly good video cards.

Not sure if its a fair comparison to compare what is running on your machine where the whole table isn't being shown, to a cab that shows the whole screen while driving 2 other screens.  Plus on a screen that huge, little hiccups will be more noticeable.  That is just my 2 cents.

[scofthe7seas]

Why would you need two video cards? Most modern cards (I would say all, but some dirt cheap ones don't) have dual monitor output. Maybe if you wanted the third screen for the DMD, then yes, but from what I've seen, most people just put the DMD on the second one. Plus, for 64 bit, you don't need 4. The only thing a 64bit OS allows is the (full) usage of 4 Gigs on up. I am running 64bit windows 7 on my cheapy CPU.

[Donkbaca]

From what I have seen, most people have 3 monitors, at least most of the good cabs I have seen. 

Are you saying it runs flawless on your PC with the full playfield being viewed?

I guess if you are willing to spend all that money for 3 monitors, and all that time building the cab, and knockers and solenoids, and all that other stuff, a couple hundred bucks to run things at the max level isn't a deal breaker, and you want the experience to be the best it can be.

[scofthe7seas]

Are you saying it runs flawless on your PC with the full playfield being viewed?

Yes, flawless, full playfield. No problems. Maybe not 10000 FPS, but more than enough that my brain can't comprehend a drop.

If you did want 3 screens, for the dmd you could certainly get a super crappy 20 dollar video card for that. A Pci one should be able to handle it no problem.

This is what I'm saying, a Core I7 and a GTX 480 are not a few hundred more. Together they equal more than the price of one (or two if you get a good deal) of the screens on the thing!

maybe it's just plain ignorance of the requirements to attain what you need to do. you don't need to play video games at 4096×2160 (almost 4 times the

This. I think this is probably the answer, but wanted confirmation that there wasn't a better reason. I mean, maybe in the future there could be some new software (Futurer Pinball?) That needs something beefier, but I think the people who buy these kinds of parts now will surely will just buy new parts when that happens..

* Also, I think some people in the pinball community might actually literally physically be made of money. At least it seems that way with some of the collections I’ve seen!!

[Dazz]

I think that VP is more optimized for use with AMD processors.  VP will run better on lower spec'd AMD machines than it will on higher end Intel CPU's.

[scofthe7seas]

I have a fairly modest (by today's standards.. 60$) Intel processor.. maybe they're catching up, or compensating?