Gaming with AMD: Experiencing Gaming Evolved

There is currently a lot of talk going on around the gaming industry, discussing the new consoles that are about to release. We have the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One both set to advance the way we spend our free time with increasing visuals to stimulate our eyes while racing down tracks and shooting through swarms of enemies. Being involved in the industry, I am just as excited as everyone else with the release of what will surely be two fantastic consoles. However, over the past 3 months I’ve already been enjoying a leap forward of sorts in the way I game.

There are a lot of lovely options for PCs out there that provide gamers with higher quality graphics and performance than what we’re forced to enjoy on our PS3’s and 360’s, computers that will continue to leap well ahead of the new PS4 and Xbox One consoles. PC gaming has always been well in front in terms of graphics and performance, and I’ve recently been enjoying enhanced visuals and performance on my first build PC that runs an i5 2500k processor, 16GB DDR3-1600 memory, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 graphics card. I absolutely love my first build computer, enjoying all the latest and greatest titles at their max potential.

I wanted to dive further into computer gaming and take a look at gaming from AMD’s perspective. With this I decided to build a second computer that runs an AMD FX-8350 4GHz CPU, AMD Radeon Gamer series 16GB DDR3-2133 memory, and a Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB graphics card. Say hello to a beautiful brand-new gaming machine! It’s safe to say that this thing runs extremely well and is very quick.

I’ve decided to name my second build Thor because it is set up in Rosewill’s Thor V2 case. It’s a big and extremely well designed case for keeping the computer extremely cool. It has a large side fan, along with three others, and a top ventilation area that not only keeps the computer cooler, but makes it look extremely cool as well. It’s very easy to recommend this lovely designed case for anyone needing something on the larger side to house their important components in a stylish way.

Thor – my newly named computer – has been brilliant to use thus far with the speed that I’ve gotten out of it. That’s probably the biggest difference I’ve been able to notice between my two computers. I put a solid state hybrid drive in this build and that’s made a difference as well in terms of boot time and system performance. It’s also been nice to sit back and enjoy all the best titles in their full glory without touching any of the overclocking options. Though there is plenty for users to toy with for those who want to get the most out of their machine. I’ve been using it to play games like Bioshock Infinite, Spec Ops: The Line, GRID 2, Tomb Raider, and Call of Duty: Ghosts, all of which look fantastic and run incredibly well.

A new feature I enjoy is AMD and Raptr have teamed up for a new Desktop app that allows users to have their games tracked straight to their Raptr account. The AMD Gaming Evolved App also has easy in-game tools that allow users to easily stream live to Twitch, take screenshots, and chat with other Raptr members. It also automatically optimizes their games based on performance and quality for their AMD machine. Raptr has been one of my favorite services of late as it tracks all my hours played, all my achievements, and my games. So it’s even better than they’ve teamed up with AMD to create this specially designed app.

I love that Raptr has made it so users can easily stream live to Twitch without any trouble at all as there is no extra hardware or software needed, just the AMD Gaming Evolved app. This is definitely a favorite feature of mine and one I made sure to use, though I must note that not all games are able to use this feature. Here is a recorded version of the live stream video that I did of Spec Ops: The Line.

Over the past month I’ve been very satisfied with my AMD machine. The speed has provided the most noticeable difference between my first and second build and that’s really made me appreciate a great processor and memory. Here are some comparable screenshots between my two machines using PCMark 8. It’s a great benchmark tool for people to use to learn more about their machine.

Keep an eye out as I will be sharing a lot more about gaming with my AMD machine and PC gaming in general, and will also be spending a lot of time live streaming to Twitch by use of the the AMD Gaming Evolved app. Upcoming games that I should be covering include Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Need for Speed Rivals, plus much more!

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