Valve's computer spec survey

[hellfish6 7]

Sorry but that is ABSOLUTELY UNREALISTIC

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">Language

English 503,020 90.63 %  

French 27,174 4.90 %  

German 7,647 1.38 %  

Spanish 7,169 1.29 %  

Simplified Chinese 3,592 0.65 %  

Traditional Chinese 3,351 0.60 %  

Korean 1,658 0.30 %

Italian 1,429 0.26 %

Unknown 1 0.00 %

Chinese and eastern european nations MUST take much more of the pie. Not to talk about India and pakistan. Absolutely ridiculous! French, second most used language? LOL and spanish 4th BIG BULLSHIT THIS IS!

I think maybe because a lot of people leave the default English language on in Steam, and that's what Valve is checking? I bet if you looked at the language settings of their operating systems, as opposed to Steam's language selection you'd find a much higher percentage of people speaking different languages.

I mean, Steam/CS/DoD isn't exactly the hardest thing in the world to figure out, even if you don't read English.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Sorry but that is ABSOLUTELY UNREALISTIC

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">Language

English 503,020 90.63 %  

French 27,174 4.90 %  

German 7,647 1.38 %  

Spanish 7,169 1.29 %  

Simplified Chinese 3,592 0.65 %  

Traditional Chinese 3,351 0.60 %  

Korean 1,658 0.30 %

Italian 1,429 0.26 %

Unknown 1 0.00 %

Chinese and eastern european nations MUST take much more of the pie. Not to talk about India and pakistan. Absolutely ridiculous! French, second most used language? LOL and spanish 4th BIG BULLSHIT THIS IS!

I think maybe because a lot of people leave the default English language on in Steam, and that's what Valve is checking? I bet if you looked at the language settings of their operating systems, as opposed to Steam's language selection you'd find a much higher percentage of people speaking different languages.

I mean, Steam/CS/DoD isn't exactly the hardest thing in the world to figure out, even if you don't read English.    

As always you are right! I assumed something simillar. I think they should check the three most used "language spelling check" in Word. That would make more sense.

That the "average" french is not so strong in english explains why they could never live with a standard US/UK version of Windows.

Me, personally I prefer the english version. Especially for Excel.

[shinRaiden 0]

My %GUESS% is that they just did a a query on their steam DB.

Couple points of concern:

The 2 Gf() MX boards still account for 25% of all boards, and adding the 5200 and GF3 you get about one third of the users using n00b boards. I'm not flaming anyone who happens to have one of those boards, I'm just mentioning that the marketing on those boards is not targeted at the DIY or technical markets, and fits closely the hl/cs demographics.

The connection speed has 46% of nodes with 3/4 or more mbit connections. You aren't playing in your dorms are you people? Seriously though, there is likely a ton more 56'kers out there than reported, for the express reason that they can't just leech. This in turns fools devs into thinking thay don't have to worry about tight netcode.

Finally, on the front page they say thanks to all who have "participated". If this is a opt-in survey, the results are bogus.

[shinRaiden 0]

My %GUESS% is that they just did a a query on their steam DB.

Couple points of concern:

The 2 Gf() MX boards still account for 25% of all boards, and adding the 5200 and GF3 you get about one third of the users using n00b boards. I'm not flaming anyone who happens to have one of those boards, I'm just mentioning that the marketing on those boards is not targeted at the DIY or technical markets, and fits closely the hl/cs demographics.

The connection speed has 46% of nodes with 3/4 or more mbit connections. You aren't playing in your dorms are you people? Seriously though, there is likely a ton more 56'kers out there than reported, for the express reason that they can't just leech. This in turns fools devs into thinking thay don't have to worry about tight netcode.

Finally, on the front page they say thanks to all who have "participated". If this is a opt-in survey, the results are bogus.

[Pathy 0]

thanks for calling me a noob, but my fx5200 works awesome on anything ive used. The main buying point was that im a poor student, and i got a 128mb card for Å40......plus ive had bad experiences with ATI (they have been generally crappy with me, alot of texture glitches ect(YES I HAVE DOWNLOADED THE NEWEST DRIVERS!!!)

[hellfish6 7]

My next FX card isn't gonna be an ATI. I have a 7500 now, and I don't like it one bit. I can't play the CoD demo, OFP has/had memory issues with it... just too much of a hassle. Nvidia is the future for me.

[toadlife 3]

Finally, on the front page they say thanks to all who have "participated". If this is a opt-in survey, the results are bogus.

I participated in this survey - it was Optional.

My system was right on the average (~2Gz/Geforce4/512RAM/256kbit connection)

[Pathy 0]

I have an ATI 9200 in one of my machines, as i mentioned before, texture glitches ect......the only advantage if found is taht in some games, thin lines of streched texture point back to thier owner, ie i can tell where people are on a map ......well, if im gonna be disadvantaged by pink and blue tree bark, i might as well use whatever i can to my advantage.......

Contrast this with "n00b" nvidia cards, which ive never had any trouble with at all.............

[m21man 0]

And my Radeon 9800 Pro has always worked very well for me   .

[ale2999 0]

i have a 9800 pro, but my next is gonna be an nvidia

[Baphomet 0]

Quote[/b] ]Sweet, my system kicks everyone's ass. Of course, the fact that this survey mostly encompasses the machines of people who just can't let Counter-Strike go is not especially encouraging.

Dude. Are you taking a piss?

Not everyone goes out and buys a new pc every year. Or two years.

They're fucking expensive.

The nividia thing doesn't surprise me and it has nothing to do with CS. I don't know how many times I've heard people in ofp or otherwise complain about Radeon cards and getting them to work properly with a game. Powerful they may be. Nividia cards generally over a wider range of value oriented options. Not everyone lives in a little hobbit hole spending every paycheck upgrading their rig. Or could afford to.

Not everyone is a techie or has a techie friend or just has more money than... "something else" to spend on PC components at any given time.

It goes to show there's going to be a lot of people forced to upgrade their computers to even have a shot at playing halflife 2. Like I could care about that game so much though.

I need to upgrade my pc but for an entirely different reason.

I've had it with my RDRAM. With the amount of money I could use to replace my defective stick. I could probably pay off a significant portion of a new mainboard, and a gig of DDR ram. I might as well get a new proc with that anyhow.

I'll probably need a new powersupply too what with mine only being 400mhz *grumble*...

[shadow 6]

My next card will be Nvidia too.

Heard too many driver-stories.

I prefer the "one driver fits all" over slightly higher fps in some games and one driver for every other game.

Toadlife: when was this survey?

Is it old?

[Vognsen 0]

Ive got a gf4 4600 128 ddr... Boughht it about 1Ë years ago... Runs any game i tried this far excellent, no complains for me.

[Baphomet 0]

Nividia cards are nice because they're low maintenance. That's hardly worthy of any kind of CS inspired derision. And it's not like they're low maintenance and perform really... badly. Like SIS cards.

I've heard radeon cards characterized as thus, for those who know what they're doing "tweak wise" to get the most out of their graphics cards for that extra bit of performance. Most people aren't technically savvy enough for that. I'd like a radeon if I had a ton of money to spend and I knew how to fix a problem with it if one occurred. Still. I'm happy with my geforce.

Still the idea that because the survey is voluntary that the results are a load of rubbish isn't quite true I think. How would you force people to supply that info? I thought just taking information from someone was a crime.

So yeah, people interested in Valve products might be inclined to participate. It might not be dead on but I think those figures on that survey are generally accurate (the whole nividia issue aside, along with the broadband bit. I seriously doubt 56kers are in the minority as far as the computer gaming demographic goes) as far as the capabilities of the average gaming populace.

It's starting to occur to me that most games these days seem to be moving further and further beyond the reach of the average user. Or will be what with the release of games like Doom 3 and Halflife. I'll bet it'll even put those new fandangled 3+ghz HT machines through the wringer.

[Balschoiw 0]

When will Half Life 2 be released btw ?

2008 or 2010    ?

Still waiting for Duke Nukem also...

[Tigershark_BAS 0]

Before people give up on Radeon..this is a good read

http://www6.tomshardware.com/business/20030911/index.html

and

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030912/index.html

Check out the benchmark figures.

Seems like Nvidia suffered from Intel disease for a while and slowly ATI is whooping their butts.

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

When will Half Life 2 be released btw ?

2008 or 2010 ?

Still waiting for Duke Nukem also...

latest direct valve quote is summer 2004

[aj_addons 0]

the ati may be faster but i tend to go more for reliability plus ive just flashed the bios on my fx 5900 turning it into a 5950 for free

[jgk6 0]

Quote[/b] ]It's starting to occur to me that most games these days seem to be moving further and further beyond the reach of the average user. Or will be what with the release of games like Doom 3 and Halflife.

Put on your tin foil hat and talk conspiracy theories.

The Xbox versions will run just fine probably. And hey, it's only two hundred dollars?

If I wanted to start a rumor I'd say that it's a plot to get you locked into a game console.

But to interject a dose of reason: the games will probably do "okay" at 1024x768 or less and 16-bit textures, low sample rate sounds, view distance fifty meters, etc...

[SpongeBob 0]

When will Half Life 2 be released btw ?

2008 or 2010    ?

Still waiting for Duke Nukem also...

Or how about TeamFortress 2?    I remember seeing screen shots back in 1999

[August 5, 1999] - PC Accelerator Previews TF â„¢ 2

In their August issue, PC Accelerator raves about Team Fortress â„¢ 2 saying, "It'll make Quake III and Unreal Tournament its bitches." We're not going to publicly support these claims, but check out the latest issue of PC Accelerator and judge for yourself.

From the official Sierra TF2 web site.

 

Or better yet:

December 18, 1998 - I Want My TF â„¢ II

Well folks, Team Fortress â„¢ 2 will be here shortly and community sites are popping up all over the web. Clans are starting to form, Tournaments are being planned, and information pages are being posted. If you haven't checked out the sites yet, be sure to visit our links section or visit PlanetFortress.com for more information.

[Pathy 0]

the ati may be faster but i tend to go more for reliability plus ive just flashed the bios on my fx 5900 turning it into a 5950 for free

Tell me how! (by PM if necessary)

[SpeedyDonkey 0]

the ati may be faster but i tend to go more for reliability plus ive just flashed the bios on my fx 5900 turning it into a 5950 for free

Tell me how! (by PM if necessary)

You can do that with several ATI cards too

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]It's starting to occur to me that most games these days seem to be moving further and further beyond the reach of the average user.

Wow, you just noticed this ? That's how the video game industry works, the games get progressively more complex. If the video game industry only made games for the average computer, then you'd have a weird effect when people upgraded en masse (For instance, when a new CPU/GPU becomes cheap). Suddenly every single game on the shelves would become obsolete as the industry designed games for the new average specs.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

Quote[/b] ]It's starting to occur to me that most games these days seem to be moving further and further beyond the reach of the average user.

Wow, you just noticed this ? That's how the video game industry works, the games get progressively more complex. If the video game industry only made games for the average computer, then you'd have a weird effect when people upgraded en masse (For instance, when a new CPU/GPU becomes cheap). Suddenly every single game on the shelves would become obsolete as the industry designed games for the new average specs.

Games these days have one massive problem - they are some of the most inefficiently coded programmes commercially available. They can get away with it, however, because the hardware is getting faster at a pace that software can not match at all.

An example would be Halo. The PC version was so inefficient that even the latest hardware was struggling to cope. If game designers spent an extra month or two on making their programmes just a tiny bit more efficient, you would be able to play something like Doom 3 on a 800MHz machine.

[Gadger 0]

Yep appears the designers of Total War have put this into practice with the same minimum spec needed for Rome: Total War as that of its 3 year old predocessor Medieval.