Console vs PC gaming?

[Spuuky]

Why would you not want that? My PC IS my living room

[Mirage]

Yeah i know but some people are crazy

[Vyk]

Guess I've just been looking at it wrong then. Not really looking to create a PC to just "get by" with, which kinda defeats the whole purpose, but yeah, 8 and 16 gigs of ram is a little unnecessary (and still surprisingly expensive) for these days. And if/when I get or make a new PC it's going to be an HTPC, resolution may not be stellar, but I see no reason to not use my TV. I have my laptop plugged into it half the time already anyway. So yeah, monitors are retarded expensive too. If I had to concede to getting one, I'd probably get one second hand from a friend or get a used one off ebay or amazon

But at least I can see how a $700 built PC would outpace a premade one. And not so much unnecessary bloatware to have to remove upon setup..

[Mirage]

16 GB RAM might be a little unnecessary, but 8 GB isn't. PC monitors may be expensive, but they are also one of the longest lasting devices you use with a PC. I expect my current displays to last at least 5 more years, and they're 3 years old already.

What is the resolution of your TV anyway? If it's a 720p display, you'll get away with an even cheaper PC setup to get way more than the current gen consoles can do.

[Spuuky]

My TV actually cost more than all the rest of my PC combined. I got it 5 years ago, and it's a 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it's aged totally unblemished since then. What a great piece of machinery.

[Mirage]

I just hope my 1080p plasma TV lasts until OLED 4k 50" TVs are reasonably cheap...

[Pike]

This is the way I see it: I'm going to own a decent desktop computer anyway because I can't imagine life without one and I use it for work, socializing, etc. For me I think it costs about the same to upgrade that base computer into a "gaming PC" as it would cost to buy a new console.

That said I usually end up owning both anyway. I just use the PC a lot more.

[Mirage]

What pike says.

The difference between a "decent" all-purpose desktop PC and a gaming PC that can do more than the current consoles can do is usually less than what a current console costs.

After all, you just need a good graphics card, a slightly better CPU, and maybe 50% more RAM.

[Slothy]

And to be honest, RAM is so cheap it barely warrants consideration.

[Mirage]

I need 16 GB anyway when I juggle photoshop and lightroom , which is more than any current game would need

[Vyk]

RAM used to be dirt cheap, bit went back up to ridiculous prices recently. Due to some flood or fire in some chinese or japanese company. I can't remember the story, a friend explained it to me. May have even been an earthquake or tsunami in japan. But either way prices for RAM and hard drives were crazy. Last time I checked they still were a little weirdly high. They may have fallen again recently but I dunno

[escobert]

If most people knew how little I spent building and upgrading my PC over the last seven or so years they'd probably trout themselves and assume I stole things.

same here. I maybe send $100 a year upgrading. I really never have issues running things. And I by no means have anything close to state of the art.

I use a 32" LCD Sony tv for my main monitor. 22" Samsung for a second display.

[Slothy]

RAM used to be dirt cheap, bit went back up to ridiculous prices recently. Due to some flood or fire in some chinese or japanese company. I can't remember the story, a friend explained it to me. May have even been an earthquake or tsunami in japan. But either way prices for RAM and hard drives were crazy. Last time I checked they still were a little weirdly high. They may have fallen again recently but I dunno

Hmm, they are much higher than they used to be. Probably about double what they were last time I put together a PC for anyone. They'll undoubtedly fall again though if the reason for the increase is something relatively short term like a flood or an earthquake.

If most people knew how little I spent building and upgrading my PC over the last seven or so years they'd probably trout themselves and assume I stole things.

same here. I maybe send $100 a year upgrading. I really never have issues running things. And I by no means have anything close to state of the art.

I use a 32" LCD Sony tv for my main monitor. 22" Samsung for a second display.

Yeah, last time I did any major upgrades I got a new motherboard, RAM and CPU. Spent maybe $300-350 tops and it wasn't even me spending it really. Just asked the parents for some parts for Christmas. The real kicker is that I didn't really need to upgrade anything really. I could still run any game I wanted just fine, but it had been 5 or so years since I originally built my PC and the i5's and i7's were just too damn good at the time to pass up. Before that I spent maybe $250 replacing my graphics card because the old one had died. I never go absolutely top of the line there, but for that price you can get something with plenty of performance to last five or more years and not break the bank.

Everything else, my case, power supply, monitor: they've all been going strong since I built the original computer. I imagine I'll replace those too in the next couple of years, but they've lasted me basically the life of any console, and I will probably get a fair amount more out of them yet.

[Vyk]

This sure turned into an informative thread. At least its helpful about it rather than just elitist pc master race jibber jabber you'd get anywhere else. I realize it's basically a thread hi-jack, but I for one appreciate all the info

[escobert]

RAM used to be dirt cheap, bit went back up to ridiculous prices recently. Due to some flood or fire in some chinese or japanese company. I can't remember the story, a friend explained it to me. May have even been an earthquake or tsunami in japan. But either way prices for RAM and hard drives were crazy. Last time I checked they still were a little weirdly high. They may have fallen again recently but I dunno

Hmm, they are much higher than they used to be. Probably about double what they were last time I put together a PC for anyone. They'll undoubtedly fall again though if the reason for the increase is something relatively short term like a flood or an earthquake.

If most people knew how little I spent building and upgrading my PC over the last seven or so years they'd probably trout themselves and assume I stole things.

same here. I maybe send $100 a year upgrading. I really never have issues running things. And I by no means have anything close to state of the art.

I use a 32" LCD Sony tv for my main monitor. 22" Samsung for a second display.

Yeah, last time I did any major upgrades I got a new motherboard, RAM and CPU. Spent maybe $300-350 tops and it wasn't even me spending it really. Just asked the parents for some parts for Christmas. The real kicker is that I didn't really need to upgrade anything really. I could still run any game I wanted just fine, but it had been 5 or so years since I originally built my PC and the i5's and i7's were just too damn good at the time to pass up. Before that I spent maybe $250 replacing my graphics card because the old one had died. I never go absolutely top of the line there, but for that price you can get something with plenty of performance to last five or more years and not break the bank.

Everything else, my case, power supply, monitor: they've all been going strong since I built the original computer. I imagine I'll replace those too in the next couple of years, but they've lasted me basically the life of any console, and I will probably get a fair amount more out of them yet.

yeah, I had been running a core 2 quad up until 9 months ago or so. I paid around 200 for a MSI motherboard, the best i3 available and 8gb of RAM. I got a 1000watt power supply and fancy rosewill case the year before. Still running my old MSIgtx480. I've thought about upgrading that but its still more than powerful enough for what I play. I do want to get a i7 this year and a ssd. Maybe double my ram.