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

[TopaZzz]

A box of kittens is expensive, but a PC, noooo!

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

A box of kittens is expensive, but a PC, noooo!

Kittens are cheap if you just use them for stewing.

 

[R3dF41c0n]

I don't find PC gaming expensive. Of course I have the technical skills to build my own PC, maintain it, and fix just about any problem that comes up. Most people dont have those skills and end up thinking PCs gaming is expensive because they see $2k+ priced premade computers and high prices for computer repair. And thats ok, I can understand someone who just wants to play a game but that isnt enough for me.

 

[veloper]

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

A 8800GT is almost identical to a 9800GT. Same G92 GPU, but sometimes produced on a smaller 55nm die.
It's very hard to justify getting the more expensive cards from nvidia(poor value for money). The old G92 performs more than adequate enough.

If I wanted something (slightly) faster than that only the amd HD4770 and HD4870 offer good value for money.

 

[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.

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.

See? This is exactly what I'm talking about. When you say stuff that implies "You must be stupid if you can't figure it out" you're not exactly encouraging people.

 

[Vek]

On the whole, I've found console gaming to be a bazillion times less buggy than PC gaming. I hate having to deal with bugs - I'd much prefer to be able to just put the disk in the tray and play the damn game. Also, with console, theres no install time, no online registration, no DRM...

ALl good points on why console gaming is more convenient than PC gaming.

However, the DRM part isn't exactly true. Each console is the DRM. Proprietary CPUs, GPUs, special optimized OSes, uniquely coded storage media. THe entire console is an amalgamation of DRM, right down to the socket on the back which prevents a PS3 power cord being used on a 360.

 

[TopaZzz]

A box of kittens is expensive, but a PC, noooo!

Kittens are cheap if you just use them for stewing.

O_O

 

[Rascarin]

On the whole, I've found console gaming to be a bazillion times less buggy than PC gaming. I hate having to deal with bugs - I'd much prefer to be able to just put the disk in the tray and play the damn game. Also, with console, theres no install time, no online registration, no DRM...

ALl good points on why console gaming is more convenient than PC gaming.

However, the DRM part isn't exactly true. Each console is the DRM. Proprietary CPUs, GPUs, special optimized OSes, uniquely coded storage media. THe entire console is an amalgamation of DRM, right down to the socket on the back which prevents a PS3 power cord being used on a 360.

True enough... but everything you need to play the game is included in the package, and the same can be said of PC games. You can't play a PC game on any of the other consoles.

I meant more like EA's attempt at DRM; where you can only install the game three times, and it writes a programmes like Starforce (I think thats the name, I could be wrong...) which can't be removed easily by the average user, and simply uninstalling the game leaves the programme in place. The original plan from EA was to require online verification every 10 days - without it, the programme would not run. To which I say; "WTF?"

 

[Vek]

True enough... but everything you need to play the game is included in the package, and the same can be said of PC games. You can't play a PC game on any of the other consoles.

I meant more like EA's attempt at DRM; where you can only install the game three times, and it writes a programmes like Starforce (I think thats the name, I could be wrong...) which can't be removed easily by the average user, and simply uninstalling the game leaves the programme in place. The original plan from EA was to require online verification every 10 days - without it, the programme would not run. To which I say; "WTF?"

Yeah, DRM is a *****. Starforce's Starbreeze is a pain in the ass, and SecuROM and others are just ignorant. Punkbuster above all, as it's craptastic as hell. I don't even understand why people continue to use PB. If you need any proof to why PB is horrible, just search mygOt on youtube.

 

[Dys]

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.

Every mac notebook I've seen uses a "mobile" edition of a graphics card, regardless of what you're bootcamping that, thing isn't going to get support from most game devs, and even if it did an x600GT isn't going to be a well performing graphics card for any period of time.

$3000 worth of mac gaming is a cripple compared to $3000 worth of pc gaming. Yes they tend to have graphics cards so the can often run games, but they certianly aren't comparable to a PC of equal value. Even the laptops, which are generally more powerful than other makes, can be substituted with "gaming laptops" which will again give a lot more performance per $.

I'm going to go back to the rolls royce example, sure it can go fast, and a roller is probably faster than a lot of other cars out there, but compared to a ferarri or Aston (actually we'll call it nissan GTR so the price difference is realistic), it will always lose. We are comparing two incomparable machines, and it's silly.

 

[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.

See? This is exactly what I'm talking about. When you say stuff that implies "You must be stupid if you can't figure it out" you're not exactly encouraging people.

I consider 90% of the population stupid.

So yes, I do mean what I imply. If you can't compare the terms "SATA" and "SATA" and work out that they're the same, I would say that it's pretty reasonable for me to call you stupid.

(No personal insult meant by "you", of course.)

 

[oliveira8]

So when are people going to notice that a PC is a tool, that happens to be able to play video games and that consoles are toys that are made to play video games?