Poll: PC... Expensive... Wait what?

[Nimbus]

The most important bit in your PC when it comes to games is your video card

If its nVidia, it needs to be a 7800, 7900, 8800 +

The 8600, or 7600 are second rate video cards.
In practice, a 7900 is better than an 8600

I have no idea about Radeon cards, maybe someone else can explain them

Those are all really old cards. Even the 9 series is a bit dated now.

 

[freakaknight]

To compare a mac to a gaming rig of any sort is foolish, you understand that they are not built for gaming and with the money you spent on that you could have bought something more than competent for gaming that would last a long time, right? That's a bit like buying a rolls royce and complaining that it won't outsprint a ferrari.

Going to pretend I didn't read that. Macs aren't BUILT -FOR- GAMING. But they can surely do it as good as any PC, check the hardware they have. Hell, bootcamp any of the more recent Macs onto Windows XP and they'll run faster than a Kenyan for gaming as far as I'm concerned.

No MAC really Wasn't DESIGNED for gaming..mac is and always has been based in media: art, music etc and for these things it's amazing. They wouldn't be as good in any way, it's not just about the hardware but about the software and programming of most macs. These are the kind of things most moronic people don't understand ( by this i mean most people not even on escapist), 'Oh i see a mac, huge brand, ipod, so popular i'm going to buy it and demand it cater to EVERYTHING because it is a computer'

I think i have misread or misinterpreted something there, which i apologize for before i get impending rage. But the point still stands, Mac - Media, Pc (windows etc)-...Pretty much everything else and partially including

 

[DragunovHUN]

A: You only have to buy a console ONCE and it's there for years. With computers, at the end of the year you're lucky if you still have the original computer's casing
B: Most computer games these days can only be installed xxx times before the protection on it will prevent you from installing it again even though you own the bugger.
c: In the long run, consoles are cheaper, better and less likely to implode whilst playing today's equivalent of Crysis.

A: WTF?
B: No, that's just for a few games and even that's a dying trend
C: 1) definitely) 2) How so? 3) RROD

I have both a self-built gaming PC and an Xbox 360. I don't see any adventage to my 360 other than a few exclusive games.

 

[Grampy_bone]

I don't think the expensiveness of the PC is really what keeps people away from the platform, rather it's the technical hurdle of buying and upgrading one. People don't want to say things like, "I can't figure out what all the gobbledegook and whatzimacallits mean, it's too hard for me to understand, I'd rather just buy a console and be done with it." If they say this they get attacked for being stupid by internet nerds (though why anyone would seek the approval of internet nerds escapes me).

I'm about as nerdy as you can get yet even I have trouble navigating the maze of jargon and specs whenever I want to upgrade my PC. You literally have to be immersed in the technology 24/7 to have any hope of keeping up with it. It doesn't help that the hardware companies and the uber-nerds they service seem to pride themselves on being as esoteric and byzantine as possible. They like the high barrier of entry for the platform because it makes them feel special.

 

[Sebenko]

I don't think the expensiveness of the PC is really what keeps people away from the platform, rather it's the technical hurdle of buying and upgrading one. People don't want to say things like, "I can't figure out what all the gobbledegook and whatzimacallits mean, it's too hard for me to understand, I'd rather just buy a console and be done with it." If they say this they get attacked for being stupid by internet nerds (though why anyone would seek the approval of internet nerds escapes me).

I'm about as nerdy as you can get yet even I have trouble navigating the maze of jargon and specs whenever I want to upgrade my PC. You literally have to be immersed in the technology 24/7 to have any hope of keeping up with it. It doesn't help that the hardware companies and the uber-nerds they service seem to pride themselves on being as esoteric and byzantine as possible. They like the high barrier of entry for the platform because it makes them feel special.

I think it's more an unwillingness to learn. Just buy the parts with the same techy words in the specifications, then when you get them, just plug anything into anything else that fits.

I've built more difficult lego models.

 

[veloper]

I'm about as nerdy as you can get yet even I have trouble navigating the maze of jargon and specs whenever I want to upgrade my PC. You literally have to be immersed in the technology 24/7 to have any hope of keeping up with it. It doesn't help that the hardware companies and the uber-nerds they service seem to pride themselves on being as esoteric and byzantine as possible. They like the high barrier of entry for the platform because it makes them feel special.

You have internet. I hadn't been following the industry for a whole year, about 2 years ago, but it just took me a couple of visits to xbitlabs and anandtech to learn where the best value for money was.

It's not hard and if you got a knowledgeable friend or relative you don't even need the info.

 

[Dyskresiac]

Assuming you bought a $1200 when Oblivion came out in order to run the game on a PC... chances are you won't be able to play Crysis 2 on that same PC without some significant upgrades.

Except that the 360 can play both in HD, no upgrades needed.


Also: It is stupid to compare a PC that can run a game at 800x600 with AI/AA off at 20FPS to a console that can play a game at 1080i.

Not to mention, all of this is moot in that the PC gaming market is failing misserably outside of MMO's.

 

[xChevelle24]

I keep seeing people complain about the price of a decent PC (and that is the only thing really negative about the PC that anyone can really say...) yet it's not even THAT expensive to upgrade, especially if you upgrade to a good one and fuck you our games are cheaper than console games.

If you already own a PC then you usually only have to upgrade your graphics card, RAM and processor and in Australia that's about $700 (I got a 9800GT, an extra GB of RAM and a 2.5ghz E5200 Dual Core for that at least), if things don't work then you can get a cheapass motherboard that does work with them for probably $150.

So, $850 Australian dollars later... I've upgraded, I could've spent that $850 on a PS3 and a game if I wanted to, but didn't because none of them really interest me. It really isn't that expensive to upgrade if you've already got a decent computer (higher half of the low-end).

The technology in PCs IS changing but it's not changing so fast that you need to upgrade once a year. Hell, I had a PC that ran just about everything that I got in 2003 for like 6 years.

side note: Yes... I know the E5200 sucks... I got it so it wouldn't explode when I overclocked it, check the figures.

Okay. Just because not everyone has $850 to spend on upgrades for a computer doesn't mean that it's expensive. That's actually a lot of fucking money. $700 for 3 parts? Wow, you way overpayed....I'm looking at good gaming PC's for about $700 dollars, thats around 30 or so parts. $850 for a PS3 and a game? Are you fucking kidding me? You seriously think a ps3 costs $790? That has to be the most ignorant thing I've read this morning.

All I hear from you is "I'm rich and can afford anything I want, so stop complaining that you can't afford everything that I can!"

 

[Caimekaze]

Okay. Just because not everyone has $850 to spend on upgrades for a computer doesn't mean that it's expensive. That's actually a lot of fucking money. $700 for 3 parts? Wow, you way overpayed....I'm looking at good gaming PC's for about $700 dollars, thats around 30 or so parts. $850 for a PS3 and a game? Are you fucking kidding me? You seriously think a ps3 costs $790? That has to be the most ignorant thing I've read this morning.

All I hear from you is "I'm rich and can afford anything I want, so stop complaining that you can't afford everything that I can!"

For the sake of clarity, he's saying the Playstation 3 costs around $720. Still an oversight, but not as much as your believed. Here in Australia, we have to pay around $120 for Playstation 3 games. It's lovely.

 

[Uncompetative]

You can't run Halo 3 Multiplayer on a PC - no matter how much you upgrade it.

 

[Chezzz]

I spent £400 on a pc and it is far superior to all consoles I've played on (not that i didn't already know that, this was an upgrade) now all my consoles gather dust in a corner

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

I prefer buying a console and knowing it'll run anything on the system for the next few years. That and PC's are generally more expensive to buy originally.

Or you can buy a PC which will always run games at better settings than that system will ever run, even if it's no longer running everything at max.

It's not like your PS3 will be able to play Quake 7 on low at 12 frames per second.

 

[xChevelle24]

Okay. Just because not everyone has $850 to spend on upgrades for a computer doesn't mean that it's expensive. That's actually a lot of fucking money. $700 for 3 parts? Wow, you way overpayed....I'm looking at good gaming PC's for about $700 dollars, thats around 30 or so parts. $850 for a PS3 and a game? Are you fucking kidding me? You seriously think a ps3 costs $790? That has to be the most ignorant thing I've read this morning.

All I hear from you is "I'm rich and can afford anything I want, so stop complaining that you can't afford everything that I can!"

For the sake of clarity, he's saying the Playstation 3 costs around $720. Still an oversight, but not as much as your believed. Here in Australia, we have to pay around $120 for Playstation 3 games. It's lovely.

Which brings me to tonight's word.

Rebel.

 

[Flour]

Assuming you bought a $1200 when Oblivion came out in order to run the game on a PC... chances are you won't be able to play Crysis 2 on that same PC without some significant upgrades.

Except that the 360 can play both in HD, no upgrades needed.


Also: It is stupid to compare a PC that can run a game at 800x600 with AI/AA off at 20FPS to a console that can play a game at 1080i.

Not to mention, all of this is moot in that the PC gaming market is failing misserably outside of MMO's.

The 360 has almost no games that run at 720p or higher, it just doesn't have the hardware for it. If games actually ran at 720p, the framerate would suffer and could become unplayable. The 360 simply stretches the image to 720p or higher.

 

[D_987]

I prefer buying a console and knowing it'll run anything on the system for the next few years. That and PC's are generally more expensive to buy originally.

Or you can buy a PC which will always run games at better settings than that system will ever run, even if it's no longer running everything at max.

It's not like your PS3 will be able to play Quake 7 on low at 12 frames per second.

Meh. I'm not a fan of PC controls - I've always used a controller and always will - that and I find many PC games to be unappealing, many of my favorite games are console exclusive.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

I prefer buying a console and knowing it'll run anything on the system for the next few years. That and PC's are generally more expensive to buy originally.

Or you can buy a PC which will always run games at better settings than that system will ever run, even if it's no longer running everything at max.

It's not like your PS3 will be able to play Quake 7 on low at 12 frames per second.

Meh. I'm not a fan of PC controls - I've always used a controller and always will - that and I find many PC games to be unappealing, many of my favorite games are console exclusive.

You can use a gamepad with a PC, you know.

 

[D_987]

I prefer buying a console and knowing it'll run anything on the system for the next few years. That and PC's are generally more expensive to buy originally.

Or you can buy a PC which will always run games at better settings than that system will ever run, even if it's no longer running everything at max.

It's not like your PS3 will be able to play Quake 7 on low at 12 frames per second.

Meh. I'm not a fan of PC controls - I've always used a controller and always will - that and I find many PC games to be unappealing, many of my favorite games are console exclusive.

You can use a gamepad with a PC, you know.

Point taken - doesn't mean I'm going to waste a lot of money buying a PC that'll play the few games I'd actually buy for it...

 

[HentMas]

In my case, well, i buy pre bult PC´s so, maybe thats why i see it as expencive, i have neither the time or the will to build one the way i want... and here in MX it would probably cost 2500 dollars to get it the way i want... probably more

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Point taken - doesn't mean I'm going to waste a lot of money buying a PC that'll play the few games I'd actually buy for it...

Buy whatever has the games you want to play. I'm not trying to talk you into trading your PS3 (or whatever you have) for a PC. I'm just informing you that the PS3 isn't somehow the defacto better choice, and there are legitimate reasons for preferring a gaming PC.

Another thing I'll say about PC gaming, the backwards comapatibility easily kicks any console's ass. Especially if you include emulators like DOSbox.

Anyway, have fun with your exclusives. I am totally envious of them. No joke.

 

[Sneaklemming]

The most important bit in your PC when it comes to games is your video card

If its nVidia, it needs to be a 7800, 7900, 8800 +

The 8600, or 7600 are second rate video cards.
In practice, a 7900 is better than an 8600

I have no idea about Radeon cards, maybe someone else can explain them

Those are all really old cards. Even the 9 series is a bit dated now.

Thats a very good point, and notice the "+" included... but from someone trying to cut cost, an 8800GT still does the job very well