PC prices and misconceptions.

[zfactor]

My friend just got a PC less then $2000 that will last him probably 10 years, I think he paid around $1200

Well there you go then. Thats what I want. Thats still much more than $500. All I'm saying is that some people look at longetivity as well. $1200 is a lot for a kid in college to save up for a computer. Loans, as well as tuition really put a hamper on these kind of things. You have to take account of everything when looking at these kind of things. Right now, $500 seems like $3000 to me because I am nearly broke, with no prospect of a job until summer comes around. The value of a dollar is different to everyone.

Yup, I paid $1000 for a pre-built three years ago, then upgraded the graphics card (actually I bought another one and crossfired it) and PSU two years ago for a grand total of $1300. It He just turned three years old last week. I plan on getting a better mobo or RAM this year.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

No case and don't forget Monitor+100 and OS +50 to 100

Doesn't that mean you should factor in a solid-sized HDTV into the price of consoles as well?

Not really, people use their consoles on the TV they already have. Although you can, no-one uses their gaming PC through their living room tv.

I do... the only reason more people don't is because there's some stigma that TVs can't be the core of an entertainment center, and by all means they can and should be.

My friend just got a PC less then $2000 that will last him probably 10 years, I think he paid around $1200

Well there you go then. Thats what I want. Thats still much more than $500. All I'm saying is that some people look at longetivity as well. $1200 is a lot for a kid in college to save up for a computer. Loans, as well as tuition really put a hamper on these kind of things. You have to take account of everything when looking at these kind of things. Right now, $500 seems like $3000 to me because I am nearly broke, with no prospect of a job until summer comes around. The value of a dollar is different to everyone.

This is why you use your loans to get a PC in college, that's actually one of the things they are intended for.

 

[Xyliss]

No case and don't forget Monitor+100 and OS +50 to 100

Most people don't want to build their own PC

A lot of us suck at this sort of thing and I don't want to drop 500 bucks on something we can't get to work.

It will cost about 750-800 to get a decent pre-built PC.

I suck at this as well man but forums, forums everywhere! There are literally dozens of sites just for you to ask questions in.

But what about those who don't have time/effort to build one, and want to just buy a decent gaming pc without all the hassle?

 

[Ickorus]

I got my PC in the PS2 era, cost me approximately £400 and I still use it today.

I'll admit it can't run the newest of the new games any more but it would cost me about £200 to amend that and have a PC that will last me another 5+ years.

 

[LightOfDarkness]

$800 will get you a pretty damn good gaming PC.

He may have meant making one from scratch, in which case Windows 7 adds like $130 to the costs of hardware.

 

[Patrick Dare]

No case and don't forget Monitor+100 and OS +50 to 100

Most people don't want to build their own PC

A lot of us suck at this sort of thing and I don't want to drop 500 bucks on something we can't get to work.

It will cost about 750-800 to get a decent pre-built PC.

I suck at this as well man but forums, forums everywhere! There are literally dozens of sites just for you to ask questions in.

But what about those who don't have time/effort to build one, and want to just buy a decent gaming pc without all the hassle?

It's pretty hard to fuck up. The manuals that come with mobos tell you how to install everything and really there's only one kind of slot each thing fits in and it's pretty obvious. The easiest place to mess up is buying incompatible parts but even those when you go to buy say the mobo it'll tell you what kind of ram it needs, etc. Just open up your pc and take it apart. That's how I started, I was curious what was inside it so I opened it up then decided to take it apart. At the time I knew absolutely nothing of how computers worked, now I have a BS in computer science.

Edit: It also only takes me about an hour or two to put a pc together, depending on how much effort I put into cable routing and how much of a pain said routing is.

 

[Jandau]

No case and don't forget Monitor+100 and OS +50 to 100

Doesn't that mean you should factor in a solid-sized HDTV into the price of consoles as well?

Not really, people use their consoles on the TV they already have. Although you can, no-one uses their gaming PC through their living room tv.

That's not really fair. You pretty much need a HD Television for the current generation of consoles, and not everyone has one. Heck, I know more people without one than with one.

Also, if you argue that any old TV is sufficient for console gaming, couldn't you also argue that since most people already have some kind of a PC, they can just use their old monitor for their new gaming Pc?

 

[T_ConX]

The problem is that a lot of people think of 'upgrading' their PC for games, they're thinking of just buying a whole new machine, either a $1,000 package from Best Buy or a ~$2,000 beast from Alienware.

It's actually a lot smarter to buy individual parts and upgrade with those. It's not like you need a new keyboard/mouse/set of speakers/case/optical drive.

I'm in the process of planning a major upgrade to my current box. New Mobo, new CPU, new Video Card, more RAM, new PSU, bigger HDD. Everything else I'm just going to reuse from my old box. I'm still comparing components, but at this point I don't expect I'll be breaking the $700 mark.

 

[AngelicSven]

Built mine myself for about $850 total, with keyboard, monitor, mouse, and headphones. I built this in 2008. Estimation of upgrade at the earliest will be 2013, that'll only be the graphics card probably so like $200 bucks to have an extended 3 years of life, that's like buying a Kinect for an X-Box. Seriously? $800 bucks for 5+ years and it runs Black Ops and Crysis on highest settings. Yeah, I love my PC.

 

[Octorok]

No case and don't forget Monitor+100 and OS +50 to 100

Most people don't want to build their own PC

A lot of us suck at this sort of thing and I don't want to drop 500 bucks on something we can't get to work.

It will cost about 750-800 to get a decent pre-built PC.

I suck at this as well man but forums, forums everywhere! There are literally dozens of sites just for you to ask questions in.

I know dude, I've looked at them. It looks easy but once again, I suck at technical stuff and if something goes wrong then I won't have the first clue where to look.

I probably will give it a go but I was speaking for those less outgoing (then my incredibly un-outgoing self).

It's actually not so hard. The parts fit in nicely and really, as long as you can check online to see if this pin fits in that plug, and the RAM goes there, it's pretty simple.

I'm not all that technical either, but when you've got the parts, a screwdriver and a spare lunchtime you can build a PC.

Of course, this is assuming you don't have a cooling unit on your graphics card. Holy freaking shit, that thing is chunky . I spent longer putting my new graphics card in than I did building the damn thing in the first place.

 

[Jamieson 90]

I bought my gaming rig back in 2008 and its getting on for three years old. It was prebuilt so it was more expensive than if I had built it myself and researched all the parts.

It cost me £700 which today is $1090. Back then though it was probably less since the dollar is so weak against the pound at the moment. If I remember correctly it was around $900 then.

Specs
9800 GTX nVidia Geforce video card.
Intel duo Quad Core 2.5ghz
4 GB of Ram
500 GB of hardrive space.
Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit

I could have quite easily bought a gaming rig that would run games for cheaper but I bought mine to run top of the line. Even today it runs most games easily considering most games have min requirements 1-2 generations behind it at the moment. Come a year I will probably struggle but for now it is fine. The belief that you have to pay $2000 is stupid, thats if your buying Alienware and you probably paya bout $900 for the logo.

This is the thing though, My PC allows me to do my work, listen to music, watch DvD's, play games and browse the internet. I obviously pay my ISP but there are no additional costs for playing games online. Not to mention that games universally are cheaper by around £10, wait a month or so and they go down to £25. Steam sales as well. Works out cheaper in the long run.

 

[SnipErlite]

Well I recently bought my sexy new laptop which cost about...£8-900? Something like that. But it'll last me aaages.

It's true, if you're willing to spend a bit of effort putting it together you can get a good gaming rig for a much smaller price than lots of people think.

 

[Jodah]

I built my computer 4 years ago, it cost me 500 dollars (including case, no monitor but a console requires a TV anyways). Since then I have had two optional upgrades, one is my HDD and one is my monitor. Neither of which was necessary, it was a convenience thing. I run nearly all games on max settings with ease. Now, if you buy a half dozen games on sale via Steam or a similar service you can easily make up the 200 dollar (give or take) difference between a console and pc.

Long story short : PCs tend to cost a bit more up front but you end up saving on games.

 

[Joshimodo]

To be fair, buying a bleeding edge PC will cost you an arm and a leg. However, there's no point since there aren't really any games that really take advantage of it since game graphics don't dare outpace consoles. Basically, as you said, you can get a gaming PC for less than 500$. Heck, you can get it prebuilt as long as you don't go for any big brand names like Dell or Alienware.

Dell and Alienware are one and the same now.


It doesn't cost an arm and a leg to build a very high-end rig. Sure, you could go crazy and throw in dual Xeons, RAID 0 SSDs, 24GB RAM and quad-SLi, but that's pointless. I paid £1100~, and I have:

i7 950 (OC'd)
8GB DDR3 2000MHz RAM (OC'd)
P6X58D-E mobo
XFX HD 5870 (OC'd)
1TB 7200RPM WD HDD
120GB OCZ SSD
Corsair 650W PSU
BD-RW drive
Coolermaster Hyper 212+ cooler
Antec 600 case
3 clear case fans with blue LEDs.


That'll last me for a good few years, and it's a good solid rig to upgrade if necessary.


PCs don't cost much money. Plus, the games are VASTLY cheaper (or even...free), saving at minimum, £10 a purchase.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Will be building a new computer soon as I save up the money and get the time, (current desktop is over 8 years) I was suprised when I looked up prices what you could get in for a £700-£900

 

[Waaghpowa]

Well, if you don't include half of what you'll actually need to play games, then 500$ is reasonable. I'd rather pay 300$ every five years for a console.

You need to read this

This is the thing though, My PC allows me to do my work, listen to music, watch DvD's, play games and browse the internet. I obviously pay my ISP but there are no additional costs for playing games online. Not to mention that games universally are cheaper by around £10, wait a month or so and they go down to £25. Steam sales as well. Works out cheaper in the long run

Fine, you want to spend 300 dollars on a console every 5 years, but the overall cost for pc's is still lower.
Assuming you bought the console 2 or 3 years after release, it wont be JUST 300 dollars. The Xbox 360 was 600 dollars on release and was breaking down left and right.

 

[Diligent]

Well, if you don't include half of what you'll actually need to play games, then 500$ is reasonable. I'd rather pay 300$ every five years for a console.

I paid $500 4 years ago for my PC. I haven't upgraded yet. I can play any multi-platform game that is on the 360 on my PC on maximum. I just finished playing some Crysis on max settings with minor framerate hiccups. I didn't even have to worry about building it myself either, as the place I ordered the parts from put it together for free. And when the next set of consoles comes out, I'll probably put maybe $200 worth of upgrades into this computer and I bet it will run the next generation of games too. $500 is more than enough for gaming.
Source: Personal experience.


Not to mention with a PC you're also getting a machine for using the internet/communication, word processor, graphic designing, game modding (free user made content for lots of games), and it's backwards compatible to the early 90's as far as games go.
OP is right, PC's are not way too expensive.

 

[Xyliss]

No case and don't forget Monitor+100 and OS +50 to 100

Most people don't want to build their own PC

A lot of us suck at this sort of thing and I don't want to drop 500 bucks on something we can't get to work.

It will cost about 750-800 to get a decent pre-built PC.

I suck at this as well man but forums, forums everywhere! There are literally dozens of sites just for you to ask questions in.

But what about those who don't have time/effort to build one, and want to just buy a decent gaming pc without all the hassle?

It's pretty hard to fuck up. The manuals that come with mobos tell you how to install everything and really there's only one kind of slot each thing fits in and it's pretty obvious. The easiest place to mess up is buying incompatible parts but even those when you go to buy say the mobo it'll tell you what kind of ram it needs, etc. Just open up your pc and take it apart. That's how I started, I was curious what was inside it so I opened it up then decided to take it apart. At the time I knew absolutely nothing of how computers worked, now I have a BS in computer science.

Edit: It also only takes me about an hour or two to put a pc together, depending on how much effort I put into cable routing and how much of a pain said routing is.

Yea but I don't have the time to learn it all nor get the degree (I know I don't need it)...I would love to but I don't think I could. I would prefer to buy one ready-made as it will be my first gaming pc (yes I don't have one but REALLY want one but lack of money has prevented me for a long time) so I would rather have one there before I start messing about with them

 

[Delusibeta]

I'm gonna have to ask around on here when it comes to building a gaming PC (once I've saved up some money), because, well because of things like this - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/11/03/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-november-2010/4

I'm really not up on modern PCs, so can you explain to me why people say you can put together a high spec gaming machine for £400 but this place says £1000 + monitor and OS? Where does the price difference come from? If I saved up for the machine in the link would that max games out for the next 8 years?

PC Gamer regularly lists a build for £866 + OS. Throw out the £181 monitor, £36 mouse, £20 keyboard and £20 headphones and we're talking about £600 + OS. And for the OS, either buy OEM (quick check of Dabs says £77, could probably get it cheaper).

Of course, I'm not one to make a statement about the quality of either build, but still. £1000? Nah, more like £700+monitor.

I would also concur with the statement that building (or at least upgrading) PCs is not a big deal. Upgraded the RAM, replaced the disc drive, added a hard drive and upgraded the graphics card on my old jalopy of a computer.