Going from GBA/DS to PSP. Seeing full 3D games like that on a tiny little handheld... wow. Just wow.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
What was your biggest gaming upgrade?
- Thread starter TaySan
- Start date
My biggest upgrades have already been mentioned, so I'll go with upgrading from 56k to cable in 1999-ish when @ home launched in my area. I was really into online FPS at the time and being one of the earlier cable adopters in my circle of friends gave me such an advantage with microscopic ping.
Going from a 1080p TV with built-in speakers to a 4K TV with HDR and 7.1 surround sound. My ass was sitting in that chair like...
Last edited:
Going from my tiny 14 inch tv screen I used exclusively for gaming to a 60 inch HD tv. It was honestly mind blowing.
Going from a single monitor to a triple monitor setup. There's other details wrapped in there, like now i have HDR and other things along with that, but purely having the versatility of multiple monitors has been huge.
I went from NES to N64 but honestly i'd say the jump from old style GBA to DS was an even bigger deal for me.
- No backlighting to backlit screen
- Built in battery pack with battery life that lasted hours instead of like, 40 mins with some 3rd party rechargeables cuz i was cheap
- Menu screens!
- Touchscreen controls!
- ACTUALLY VIABLE MULTIPLAYER!!!
- Short range chat program
- Dem Gamez
- No backlighting to backlit screen
- Built in battery pack with battery life that lasted hours instead of like, 40 mins with some 3rd party rechargeables cuz i was cheap
- Menu screens!
- Touchscreen controls!
- ACTUALLY VIABLE MULTIPLAYER!!!
- Short range chat program
- Dem Gamez
GBA to SP. Clamshell design for a more portable machine and a backlit screen and rechargeable battery.
Thats a Top 5 favorite system for me.
Thats a Top 5 favorite system for me.
Over the past few years, I've had two major changes to my gaming habits.
First was getting into PC gaming. Initially went with a simple Alienware Alpha, before building my own. Cut the legs out from under my poor PS4, leaving it sort of limping from first party title to first party title, with the occasional console exclusive.
Then along came the Switch. In addition to the killer first party games, I've found myself buying more and more third party offerings for it, often picking Switch versions of games over either PC or PS4. I love my little hybrid so damn much.
First was getting into PC gaming. Initially went with a simple Alienware Alpha, before building my own. Cut the legs out from under my poor PS4, leaving it sort of limping from first party title to first party title, with the occasional console exclusive.
Then along came the Switch. In addition to the killer first party games, I've found myself buying more and more third party offerings for it, often picking Switch versions of games over either PC or PS4. I love my little hybrid so damn much.
Switch. A good resolution handheld with plenty of games I wanted to play. Always loved handhelds but Nintendo's previous handhelds had crappy resolutions which were fine for 2D games but made 3D games look like shit while there was not all that much I was interested in on Vita. Switch is the best if both worlds.
In early 2010 I upgraded from both a battered PS2 (which had lots of hardware problems) and my last gaming PC (an already obsolete Athlon 64 with a low-end 2005 NVidia TNT 2 card) to a brand new Xbox 360; I also switched from a very old CRT TV to a flagship, 24-inch, 1080p Viewsonic monitor.
That said, the hardware upgrade was not as impressive as the change of ecosystem. Xbox Live blew my mind and rekindled gaming as my main hobby. Previously, I had seldom played online; now I was able to play with or against a growing number of friends. The controllers, the UI, the social aspects, the achievements and the 2010-2011 360 portfolio (Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Halo Reach, Forza Motorsport 3/4) transformed how I experienced videogames.
Honorable mention: when I upgraded from my beloved Mega Drive to my first 486 DX-4 PC, back in early 1996.
That said, the hardware upgrade was not as impressive as the change of ecosystem. Xbox Live blew my mind and rekindled gaming as my main hobby. Previously, I had seldom played online; now I was able to play with or against a growing number of friends. The controllers, the UI, the social aspects, the achievements and the 2010-2011 360 portfolio (Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Halo Reach, Forza Motorsport 3/4) transformed how I experienced videogames.
Honorable mention: when I upgraded from my beloved Mega Drive to my first 486 DX-4 PC, back in early 1996.
Commodore C64 -> Mega Drive/Genesis
Went to my cousin's house on Christmas and he'd got a Mega Drive.
He put the cartridge for Sonic 1 in.
Then he turned on the console.
And the game started immediately.
No 15 minute loading off of a tape like I had been used to on the C64.
Sonic 1 was the best looking thing I'd ever seen on a TV and it booted instantly. It had the SEGA logo with audio and a bright well animated title screen.
I don't think anything has blown my mind as much since.
From a TV perspective, going to 16:9, even without HD was a big deal.
The original Xbox games that supported true widescreen looked so.... good.
Went to my cousin's house on Christmas and he'd got a Mega Drive.
He put the cartridge for Sonic 1 in.
Then he turned on the console.
And the game started immediately.
No 15 minute loading off of a tape like I had been used to on the C64.
Sonic 1 was the best looking thing I'd ever seen on a TV and it booted instantly. It had the SEGA logo with audio and a bright well animated title screen.
I don't think anything has blown my mind as much since.
From a TV perspective, going to 16:9, even without HD was a big deal.
The original Xbox games that supported true widescreen looked so.... good.
I went straight from the N64 to PS2. Now that was one hell of an upgrade.
We couldn't afford game consoles and so only had old stuff; when the PS2 came out we were still rocking an N64 and a Master System, but some generous friend gave us their old PS2 after they got a silver model and holy shit. Going from Mario 64 to Metal Gear Solid 2's graphics... As a kid I remember thinking "Holy shit this is literally real-life!!!" Blew my tiny little brain.
We couldn't afford game consoles and so only had old stuff; when the PS2 came out we were still rocking an N64 and a Master System, but some generous friend gave us their old PS2 after they got a silver model and holy shit. Going from Mario 64 to Metal Gear Solid 2's graphics... As a kid I remember thinking "Holy shit this is literally real-life!!!" Blew my tiny little brain.
Nintendo 64 to GameCube was the first time I was amazed. Seeing Rogue Leader and Luigi's Mansion blew my mind.
Nothing ever compared to that, but seeing Kameo on the Xbox 360 came close.
Then we have the SD to HD, 4:3 to 16:9, HDD to SSD but you take that stuff for granted after a short while, you know. Or maybe it's just me.
Nothing ever compared to that, but seeing Kameo on the Xbox 360 came close.
Then we have the SD to HD, 4:3 to 16:9, HDD to SSD but you take that stuff for granted after a short while, you know. Or maybe it's just me.
When I stopped to buy day 1 and wait till actual finish (or got bored) a game before to buy and play the next one.
Game changer
Game changer
Technically, the biggest upgrade was when I built my first PC/Gaming PC in 2011 with a 2600k and GTX 570. I had never had something that was as good at gaming. Besides that, see below.
No doubt G-sync @ 144hz. Screen tearing and latency is all but gone.
While an SSD is nice for fast loading times, it doesn't compare to high fps without tearing.
No doubt G-sync @ 144hz. Screen tearing and latency is all but gone.
While an SSD is nice for fast loading times, it doesn't compare to high fps without tearing.
GTX780 -> 1080TI
Hot damn.
Hello 4k. Hello 144hz.
Prior to that, probably going from Sega Saturn to Dreamcast.
The gulf between 3D quality in those generations was VAST.
Will still never forget the first time my dad saw NFL2K.
Hot damn.
Hello 4k. Hello 144hz.
Prior to that, probably going from Sega Saturn to Dreamcast.
The gulf between 3D quality in those generations was VAST.
Will still never forget the first time my dad saw NFL2K.
Last edited:
Base Ps4 with a cruddy cheap monitor
To
2700x / 2800 / 144hz / Gsync / etc... gaming PC
So probably this.
To
2700x / 2800 / 144hz / Gsync / etc... gaming PC
Oh shit, this was me too.
So probably this.
Not sure how to compare things, but here's a few of the most noteworthy:
SCART to HDMI
Stereo sound to 5.1
Gameboy Pocket to PS Vita
N64 to Xbox
GeForce GT 620M 2GB to Radeon RX 480 8GB
SCART to HDMI
Stereo sound to 5.1
Gameboy Pocket to PS Vita
N64 to Xbox
GeForce GT 620M 2GB to Radeon RX 480 8GB
This is going back away, but 1992 I went from a very basic internal PC speaker and chip that I'm not even sure had a name to a SoundBlaster Pro along with very nice speakers and a subwoofer. It was glorious. I started replaying every old PC game I had just so I could hear the difference in music.
Technically SNES/GBC -> N64, but N64 -> Gamecube made more of an impact since I had seen N64/PS1/DreamCast games in motion at my cousins' house for years at that point. I hadn't seen much gen 6 gameplay up until I owned a Gamecube so it impressed the hell out of me.
HD leap was never a big deal to me for some reason. I played my 360 for most of last-gen on an HD CRT with component cables. Stuff like Blue Dragon, Halo 3, and Viva Pinata looked good but it didn't look THAT much better than, say, Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, or even F-Zero GX. And by the time I got a proper HD LCD setup the novelty had worn off.
Edit: Maybe it's GBA -> DS actually. That was huge. Going from SMB3 in SMA4 to SM64DS was unreal.
HD leap was never a big deal to me for some reason. I played my 360 for most of last-gen on an HD CRT with component cables. Stuff like Blue Dragon, Halo 3, and Viva Pinata looked good but it didn't look THAT much better than, say, Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, or even F-Zero GX. And by the time I got a proper HD LCD setup the novelty had worn off.
Edit: Maybe it's GBA -> DS actually. That was huge. Going from SMB3 in SMA4 to SM64DS was unreal.
Going from 60hz to 144hz + Gsync on main monitor
43inch 1080p TV to 55in 4k HDR TV with 5.1 Soundbar + Subwoofer (Yea yea i know a real surround system is better but I don't have the space for good speakers)
HD598c headphones to Hifiman Sundaras with Desktop amplifier
My desktop upgrade in general (upgraded everything but the computer case and hard drives. Already had a SSD)
43inch 1080p TV to 55in 4k HDR TV with 5.1 Soundbar + Subwoofer (Yea yea i know a real surround system is better but I don't have the space for good speakers)
HD598c headphones to Hifiman Sundaras with Desktop amplifier
My desktop upgrade in general (upgraded everything but the computer case and hard drives. Already had a SSD)
Going from Xbox to Xbox 360.
Playing PGR and CoD2 TRULY felt like a generational leap. Not just in terms of graphics, but the console operating system, online cohesiveness, and all around presentation.
Playing PGR and CoD2 TRULY felt like a generational leap. Not just in terms of graphics, but the console operating system, online cohesiveness, and all around presentation.
