Misc. Info

July 12, 1997

The $2,500 PC come Fall 1998
(Assuming you have $2,500 to spare...)

Consoles have always had the edge in video games. Better graphics, better sound, better playability, better controllers, easier setup etc. PC's, on the other hand, came off to a very rocky start. Let's briefly look at the past and present, and then see what the future holds as far as the PC is concerned.

Humble Beginnings

The PC had very poor graphics, virtually no sound, keyboard only control and all kinds of setup difficulties. There were still good games like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Infocom, but ant console was above and beyond anything the PC could produce. Things quickly improved, however, especially with the introduction of the Soundblaster from Creative Labs and VGA from IBM. Suddenly the sound was pretty good (compared to no sound) and the graphics looked much better. Now you could even hook up a joystick to your PC. I remember playing Tetris 3D and Wolfenstein 3D for hours and hours. With the intro of the 486 from Intel and the CD-ROM, things became even better. More and more games flooded the market, with games like Doom to show the way.

Current Status

Today there are a plethora of quality games available for the PC. I won't even try to list even a friction of them. (Warcraft II, Red Alert, Quake, Mechwarrior II are just a couple of the stunning titles available now.) Configuration has become much easier, with semi-plug and play hardware and more intelligent setup programs. Graphics is quite good, with sound even better than the consoles. Even with a Pentium 166 and a descent 3D accelerator, Wipeout XL, Descent II, Tombraider and Quake look gorgeous. With multiplayer across a LAN or across the Internet, gameplay can get really exciting!

We're finally at a tie, with the PC's matching the consoles in both the graphics (assuming a 3D accelerator) and sound department, even surpassing them when it comes to depth of gameplay in many titles and breadth of titles available.

The War Continues

Whereas the PC evolves continually with faster and faster processors, better and better graphics cards, more and more memory etc. the consoles are stuck with what they have. Only better libraries and brilliant programmers can get more juice out of the machines. Add-on hardware have been contemplated by most manufacturers, but horror stories like the Sega 32X makes such adventures highly unlikely. Sega has stated that there will be no hardware add-on for Virtua Fighter 3, likewise Namco won't rely on such a device for Tekken 3 for the PlayStation. Nintendo, being stuck with the obsolete cartridge format, has to do something. So they're coming out with the 64DD sometime in 1998. So the only option to stay in the race , of course, is to introduce brand new hardware. Little is known about what is coming, I'll save the console market to a future Corner. Whatever happens, nothing new is coming from either Sony or Sega to the US for at least a year. Let's look at what those machines will have to compete agains!

The PC Will Rule The Gaming World

You better believe it! PC gaming has never been more exciting! A year ago none of the following was readily available, today most of it is considered standard equipment.

• 200 Mhz Pentium Processors
• 3Dfx 3D accelerators
• Force feedback joystick
• Surround sound
• 17"+ Monitors
• 56K Modems

However, I'm happy to report, this is only the beginning. Let me give some of my predictions on what the gaming PC will look like Fall 1998.

Change

Never since the intro of PCI or VGA has the PC changed more than what it will over the next 12 months. Hang on to your money! Seriously, this stuff is worth the wait. Don't let eager salesmen talk you into an upgrade you don't need. If you got a 166/200MHz Pentium, you can wait. Let's list some of the new stuff coming out.

• AGP. The Accelerated Graphics Port is a real funky setup. Instead of plugging your graphics card into your PCI slots, a brand new slot has been developed, allowing for a much faster communication between the graphics card and the processor/memory, sorely needed for 3D games. Of course, it will require a new graphics card and a new motherboard for those looking to upgrade, but wonder not: It will be worth it.
• 3D Accelerated Graphics Cards. With the AGP, as mentioned, new cards are needed. By the time AGP really hits the street, there will be plenty of cards to support it. 3Dfx AGP cards will feature the next generation of the 3Dfx chipset, greatly improving 3D performance from todays level. Expect all games to run in 800x600 or above, 30FPS+, 65K colors.
• 100MHz Bus. Instead of the 33/66 Mhz setup we have now on all the PCI2.1 computers, the PCI bus itself will finally hit the 100MHz mark. It will indirectly improve AGP performance, too! (The first chipset from Intel to support 100MHz will probably be the BX, coming spring'98)
• USB. The Universal Serial Bus is still not widely used in the industry. However, with lots of vendors signed up and Windows 98 supporting it, by next fall a while slew of USB products will be available. Of course for us, the joystick will be the main USB device. On todays PC's over 10% of the CPU power is spent reading the joystick, the same stick on USB takes 0.02% of the CPU power! 10% extra performance for free! Another great is being able to plug/unplug devices while your PC is running.
• PCI soundcards. Finally we will be out of the clutch of the ISA bus. Another 10% or more of the CPU power is spent doing the sound is saved when moving from ISA to PCI. Only a couple of PCI soundcards are avilable, more are coming soon. Expect the sound to be more immersive than ever! (For an example, check out the Diamond Montster Sound Card.)
• 300MHz Pentium II. By Fall next year, the Pentium II 300 will have dropped significantly in price. (At the time of writing this article, the chip itself is $1981!) With it's MMX capabilities and fast clockspeed, it will be very hard to beat. (Deschutes, the next generation from Intel {Pentium III?}, will start out at 300MHz and include MMX2 will probably be avilable next fall, but price will be an issue.)
• DVD. Say goodbye to your new 24X CD-ROM's, DVD is taking over! Instead of the 650MB relics now in use, 4.7 GB will be the standard. 8.6GB if you use both layers on one side (this fall any problems with manufacturing double sided disk will have disappeared), or 17GB if you use both layers on both sides. We're talking major storage! MPEG2 playback will be provided in one form or another, allowing for true movie quality video. 2x drives will be the standard, giving transfer rates of about 2.7MB pr. second, beating many of todays harddrives. It's wonderful! (Check out this Hitachi drive, or goto Sony
for more general DVD info.)
• IEEE1394, FireWire. Although not so related with gaming, this interface will make the PC faster and easier to configure. 400MB/s transfer rates from anything from harddrives to Digital Video cameras.
• Windows 98. Windows is steadily improving, by next fall Direct X5 should be stable... Support for DVD, USB and MMX in the core will greatly boost performance. Plug and play is refined further. OpenGL support should be even better. And the system will be more stable!

Conclusion

So, what are the console industry facing on the PC front next fall? A well equipped PC will look have the following feature (I'm factoring in price, so although a 400MHz Pentium II might be available, it will be too expensive for the average gamer):

• 300 Mhz Pentium II processor
• 32MB SDRAM
• AGP 3Dfx (2nd or 3rd generation) 3D accelerated Graphics Card, 16MB RAM, MPEG2 playback, TV tuner, TV output
• 9GB FireWire/SCSI/EIDE Harddisk
• 2x DVD-ROM drive
• PCI based Sound Card
• 18" Monitor (1600x1200 max)
• 4 speakers + Subwoofer
• USB keyboard and Force Feedback joysticks
• 56K Modem
• Windows 98

Price about $2500,- (18" monitor/Force Feedback might bump it up a tad)

How do you surpass this kind of performance in a <$300 console? You can't, plain and simple. (For the first time in video gaming, it is the consoles playing the catch up, not the PC's.) It will be very interesting over the next few months to see what's coming from Sony, Sega and Nintendo. All of them will be facing challenges never before seen in the industry.

This isn't the end of consoles, of course. The market for <$300 machines will still be enormous and their performance will be spectacular compared to what's available today. Rest assured that both Sony and Sega are working furiously on their next generation hardware. (I'll post a more PlayStation specific prediction soon.) The overall gaming market will still be split as it is today, but at least PC owners won't have to look at consoles with longing in their eyes anymore!

Please email me any comments or suggestions to this article!)

- Nils

P.S.
I'm not abandoning the PlayStation, don't worry. I'm just acknowledging a shift in the industry. After posting this article, I found this interesting info: PC 98 System Design Guide.

Still waiting for Air Force One!