Steam Reveals the Hardware Choices of Gamers

well, no kidding only .2% of Steam users have 2 processors... it's damn near IMPOSSIBLE to run HL2 with dual processors. wtf, over?

I actually like ATi but stuck with nVidia :|

Somebody probably already made this, but since I don't see anything on this thread, here's what's hidden in the dark areas od the image...

http://hosted.zeh.com.br/misc/hl2am_teaser.jpg

There is, not much, just some random citadel way. I think it means HL2:AM it starts right after HL2 has 'ended', meaning you have to make your way out of the tower or something. Also, both characters are characters you find on the citadel.

I think the survey results were pretty cool, and just prove further that some people need to quit taking sides. :P Currently AMD has the high-end advantage with their Athlon64 processors and on-die memory controller, while Intel's P4 CPUs school the Athlon XPs for mid-range performance. ATi and NVidia both have excellent products out now to compete with each other, with ATi bringing superior D3D performance and NVidia owning it up in OpenGL, along with SLI technology and the kickass midrange 6600GT. Finally users can make more purchases based on what they need out of their computer gaming experience versus "company x clearly makes superior products to company y; buying anything else is silly." Being a fanboy is becoming harder, and it's a welcome change.

Also, the massive amounts of DVD drives surprised me. Personally I have little use for one but considering the great prices on both the drives and the media, I'll probably pick one up in the near future. AnandTech has some great reviews if you're in the same boat as I am and aren't sure what drive to get - check out http://www.anandtech.com/storage/ and have a look.

The day all PC games come on DVD I'll be quite happy.

Of course people have DVD drives now. They have been told for quite some time now that games will move to DVD only someday. Publishers are really just assholes who refuse to admit that there is a market for DVD games. They don't want to lose a precious 1% profit due to someone not having a DVD drive.

How is the clock speed of the CPU measured?

I have an Athlon 2800+ , but that is just the rating. I know the clock speed is lower than that. Is it gonna list under 2800, or lower?

Can you even buy computers without DVD drives these days? I've had one in my PC for the last six years; what the fuck is wrong with 14% of Steam users, DVD drives come free in boxes of cornflakes these days!? Homeless people have DVD drives in their cardboard boxes!!??!!

Man, shocking to see this:

256 Mb to 512 Mb 402,437 45.39 %

Todays minimum, just general use, should really be a GB; On a gaming machine there is no question, GB minimum. Id software said something like a typical level of Doom 3 loads anywhere from 200 - 400 mb of data? + os, + drivers, and general overhead.

The rest of the survey is pretty much what I expected though, although I am a little suprised the 6800 GT ranked so high, that's still pretty expensive I think.

So I guess people have to stop using the argument that so many people play CS because it runs on slow hardware. Most Valve gamers have decent hardware.

This whole DVD debacle is quite funny. The industry is pushing the consumers all the time for them to buy $400 video cards, but they're not even trying to get a minority of people to buy a $30 DVD player. What a joke.

I guess LG or someone who makes drives need to step up and 'help' developers/publishers learn how to burn DVDs.

If EA did this type of research you can be sure they would charge megabucks for the results.

Wasn't this already posted ?

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/36508/

Good to see not too many people with dial-up - but I guess if they did, Steam would not be of much use...

I wonder how many of those 'DVD drives' are merely emulated by say, Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120%?

cool stats