PC Gamers: buys $550 Steam Deck
Console Gamers: . . . shit
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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$460 (64gb version + 1tb SD card)
PC is cheaper in the long run.
You don't need new controllers or any proprietary accessories when switching console and you can buy games on steam sales (which can be insanely cheaper).
You can also update your pc if you want it to last a bit longer.
I think consoles made more sense back then. If you like your console that's fine, but I'm pretty sure pc is much cheaper and last longer when you consider all those factors.
I know it's a meme, but you don't need $3K for decent gaming PC unless you want overkill performance. If you get components on sale, you can build something pretty good for $600 to $700 (excluding monitor, mouse and keyboard). You just be patient and fool around on pcpartpicker.
You aren't getting a "pretty good" gaming PC for $600-$700, be serious now. That doesn't invalidate most of your other points, but your exaggerations weaken your message.
I'm serious. You won't have ray tracing shenanigans or whatnot, but you'll run everything 1080p at max settings smoothly. You just need to wait for components to be on sale (especially the gpu and the cpu). Like I said, it doesn't include peripherals. That's what I did, it totally can be done.
Since you're serious, I'd be very curious to see the part list for this if you have the time. I am quite aware of current prices and GPU prices are currently still rather bonkers, even with sales.
I've double checked and while I think it's still perfectly reasonable, it would be more something between $700 and $800. I've made two mistakes: I slightly overestimated the conversion rate from CAD to USD and I didn't factor in the fact that I didn't have to buy a pc case and a power supply.
Ryzen 5 ($140) on amazon
Radeon 6650xt ($229) on canadacomputers
Msi B550-A Pro ($111) on canadacomputers
T-Force Vulcan [8gb x 4] ($80) one pair on amazon another one on canadacomputers
I checked quickly and I was able to fit the rest (SSD, case, power supply) for something around $760ish.
The cpu and the gpu were bought during a Christmas sale and the rest was bought later. This was bought about two years ago (a bit after the time gpus were insanely overpriced).
I'm going to second this, with a couple asterisks. $800 for the computer is probably about where you get the most bang for your buck in terms of AA/AAA gaming, but you will still need peripherals - keyboard/mouse, speakers/headset, and a monitor, that can tack another $1-200 on the price (notwithstanding that even if the controllers come with the console, you still need a TV.) Logical Increments puts their "good" tier at about $761, suitable for 1080p 60FPS with medium settings.
Arguably the bigger value here is not being locked into a platform - if you find yourself with a little more budget down the road, you can piecemeal out your old PC with newer parts for a lower cost than a new console (with the possible exception of the GPU) and you can get more utility out of a PC than a console.
Any "game" that takes a PC over $600 (or even that) to run isn't a good game, it's a garbage barely interactive movie with vaguely game-like elements that unlock new parts of the story.
The more power required to run something, the more garbage it is. Sell only lowish-end PCs and make good games. Then kill off consoles like they should have years and years ago.
Also, anything over 1080/60hz (also, VR) is a scam made to suck more money out of your pocket for fucking nothing.
You can if you buy used, but yeah, I think $1000 is about the minimum for a complete build, new.
I mean, that was what mine cost back in like 2014, and I would've kept it that way for a while if not for my growing interest in VR, which admittedly had me shelling out another $200 for a GPU in around 2016. It trchnically wasn't a gaming PC, sure, but it's kept up pretty well in recent time. I still don't see myself having to replace any parts for a while now - I'm consistently still able to play current games on medium-high settings, occasionally having to turn things down a bit for games like Darktide.
I mean, technically it referred to itself as an office PC and not a gaming PC, but that's just pedantics when it works all the same.
also steam sales are often way better than sales on console which is only part of the year and only games atleast a year or two old but still if you're patient you can get really good deals for games on pc
You get to run older games that use to run like shit on previous console generations without waiting for a "remaster" and paying $70 for it. Current generation games will run better on future versions of your PC sometimes to a really silly degree.
I heard half life 2 was really hard to run back in the day and now you can run it at 200 fps on a modern toaster.
The real cost is in trying to match parts that look good together (especially white), spending money on RGB/screens, going liquid instead of air so you can see more of your motherboard, and spending way too much on a really nice looking case.
PC is way cheaper long term because you can pirate games
you can pirate on consoles too, although its much trickier
Nintendo 3ds balling
I have a Xbox 360 that has currently more than 800 games installed locally.
Consoles are kinda dying anyways tho. Less and less sales even tho there are more and more gamers.
They are more and more just mini pc's with ads and paid online service.
See Also: Apple Vision users after playing Fruit Ninja for the first time.
Aint heard of no ps5 running linux
ps3 though...
So we‘re already coming to Reddit niveau?
It used to be that you could legit build a PC for fairly cheap, but those days are long gone. Yet another hobby that got gentrified.
Definitely not the case. You can easily get all-in-one mini PCs for $400-500 that can play most any new game at 1080p without much issue. Thanks to all the new stuff like DLSS/FSR, you can get away with a lot more for a lot less.
Maybe they came back down, but when I looked at parts a year or so ago, the prices were extremely high. Unless you're one of the lucky few who lives anywhere near a Micro Center. There's not even one in my state, so I rely on sites like NewEgg, Amazon, and Best Buy.
I built my first PC for ~$1k in 2017, and it was moderately good. Unless something has changed and I've not noticed, I don't think I could even build that again for that price with the exact same parts.
Or maybe I'm clueless, and you can show me an alternative site that I'm unaware of.
Depends on your target. The integrated GPUs from AMD these days are very good, and can run a lot of games at 720p pretty well. Discrete GPUs have also come down in price over the last year.
What happened was the pandemic created a supply chain bottleneck combined with scalpers gathering up what supply there was. The issues were worked out by the end of that generation, but then Nvidia released the next generation with prices where they assumed people would just pay that now. That's bitten them in the ass, and there's been a lot of market correction as GPUs sit on the shelf (though probably not enough).
As usual, AMD comes out looking like the good guy by being slightly less shitty than its competition. They also had elevated prices this generation, but kept it just a bit lower. Looking good by being a smidge less bad than Intel and Nvidia is a plan that's worked for them 100% of the time every time in the past, so why change it?
I mean, in the graphics department, despite starting out rough, Intel is looking kind of sweet if you tolerate some drivers shennanigans every now and then
Modern games and hardware are expensive, but you can get an absolute slayer of titles from previous years for a steal. You won't run new games at the bleeding edge of graphics, but you don't need to.
Yeah, I know that. I'm a very patient gamer, but my comment is referring to the cost of hardware. That can be somewhat offset by the lower cost of games, but you're not getting as much bang for your buck by building your own PC as you would have had in the past. Not even close!
Add to that the fact that game sales and discounts are nowhere near what they once were and that things like HumbleBundle have taken a nosedive, and it's very much a rich person's plaything, in comparison to what it was in the past. Even used gear is going for more than what one would expect.
I agree with your tips, though.
Yeah, prices went super high during the pandemic, and prices for GPUs in particular stayed high for a while due to crypto miners. They're largely back down to earth now, though.
That's good news! They were still high last I checked, but it's been a while since I've even thought about upgrading anything.
Bought a fine used pc for relatively cheap and upgraded it over time. The CPU from 2016/17 is still mighty fine.
Also NVMe SSDs are dirt cheap nowadays, although they are more expensive than last year they now cost about as much as I paid for a crappy HDD back in 2017.
depend if your gpu seller is amd or nvidia
Yeees, let's shit on people who spend money in their hobby and use their computer for more than just running overhyped games at medium settings.
I am so tired of these attempts at justification for "Console Elitism."
Yes, you bought a cheap shit product because you don't have the money or knowledge to build, or operate, a proper computer. Congratulations, you're part of Sony/MS's primary demographic.
It's the same with a 400€ computer though.
Play Super Tux 2 on anything for free.
Really, I'm just thrilled when I can run a game on my PC, at all. Specifically: Getting a game to accept a left-handed configuration and run on a 3840x1600 window on a 4096x2160 screen can often be a challenge. A lot of games don't like running in a window, and they like custom configured window sizes even less.
That said, since I play single-player and co-op games, want my crew operating with the best speed and comfort they can manage. It's not a competition.
I just added water-cooling and a larger PSU, $200 later lol.
When I think about it I realize I could spend my money on other things but hey, having dual 32 inch screens is better than outside.