Poll: PC or PS3?

megadraco

New member
Feb 5, 2013
18
0
0
Before we start, we are going to be using both dollars (U$D) and Argentine pesos (AR$) on this thread. The U$D is, officially, at AR$ 5.50, but can also be at about AR$ 10 through side-markets. I've got dollars, and it's pretty much impossible to change them for pesos officially, so I'm going to use the second option.

So, I've been saving up money to get myself a PC and a PS3. I'm eventually going to get both, but I can't decide which one to get first. Therefore, I've decided to ask which do you think I should.

For the PS3, I've got about... AR$ 250, more or less. I can get it at AR$ 2,700. I'm actually waiting for Children's Day (I'm 14) to start seriously thinking about saving much money, but I do get AR$ 30 per week from my grandma. I pay half a Netflix account with my mother, which means that, with that alone, I get about AR$ 100 per month. That's... U$D 10. I'm attracted to the PS3 because of KH 1.5 HD Collection, mostly.

For a PC, I have said AR$ 250, plus U$D 100, which are especiffically for it, and can be traded in at about AR$ 1,000. I've got somebody at a computer Store to make me the specs I'd need, which would sum up about AR$ 5,028. I wanted to post the specs, mostly so you you could also check them out and tell me if I was being ripped off, but I seem to have lost the paper with them. I am attracted to the PC because of LoL, but I also want to check out TF2. Besides, I've looked at the main Steam website and holy s**t those prices.

So, do you think I should buy a PS3 first, or a PC?
 

J Tyran

New member
Dec 15, 2011
2,407
0
0
PC first, the PS3 is great and has some good games but if you already have a Blu-Ray player and have a device you can use for streaming the PC does more. You can stream with it, connect it to the TV and play like a console and it does everything a PC does.

If you can post the specs and the price they want I can check it out for you, personally I would recommend building it yourself for ultimate value for money. It sounds daunting but its not that bad, get some advice on parts and compatibility and someone can check data sheets etc for you. After that its just like Lego, if you can use Lego and wire a plug or connect up something like a home cinema or sound system you can build a PC.

The manuals have diagrams showing where the wires need to be plugged in, its almost like flat pack furniture. A steady hand and a bit of patience and boom you have a self built machine.

Its really not as daunting as people think.

People don't realize how easy it is, its like wiring up a home cinema and building flat pack piece of furniture and following diagrams. The hardest bit is choosing parts, deciding where to spend the money and get the best performance takes some thought and a bit of research. There are loads of friendly people on various forums who like to help and give advice.

OT: However you choose to get the PC the PC is the better option over the PS3, the PS3 is good as a secondary device and for its exclusives.
 

ShinyCharizard

New member
Oct 24, 2012
2,034
0
0
Get the PC first. It has an almost endless library of games at ridiculously good prices. I'd pick up a PS3 later on down the track when it gets another price cut.
 

TehCookie

Elite Member
Sep 16, 2008
3,923
0
41
Look at the games you want to play, if you want PC games get a PC. I love JRPGs so I'd go with PS3 but that's pretty much the only genre it has more of.
 

J Tyran

New member
Dec 15, 2011
2,407
0
0
I should add that the amount of cash I have saved buying PC games via digital distribution and Steam sales has more than paid for itself, the extra cost of a gaming PC was cancelled out by the savings on PC games.
 

Auron

New member
Mar 28, 2009
531
0
0
You're really gonna let a poll on the Escapist decide that? Perhaps more consideration should be given, anyway PC is a much superior option and it's not going to be dead by the end of the year depending on specs, ps3 will die come ps4.
 

megadraco

New member
Feb 5, 2013
18
0
0
Thanks for the advice, everyone!

BTW, Auron, I gave it much consideration, but every time I thought about it, my decision changed, so I decided to get some advice. Besides, if either the forum or the poll had been less one-sided, I would have thought more about it, but the PC's victory was pretty overwhelming.
 

Bad Jim

New member
Nov 1, 2010
1,763
0
0
The PS3 does not sound like a good idea. I don't know what it is like in Argentina, but once a new console generation hits in the UK, games for the old generation become hard to find. It might be a better idea to wait for the next console generation.

The PC on the other hand should be good for a while. You are paying a reasonable amount of money and will hopefully get a nice PC that will be good for many years to come.
 

Maximum Bert

New member
Feb 3, 2013
2,149
0
0
I prefer games on the PS3 over PC and I generally find them cheaper too at least over time as the PC tends to be mainly digital now so you rarely get price cuts even steam sales may not get the games as cheap as you can get elsewhere when they are not on sale, although as always it pays to shop around.

If you have neither I would go PC it just does so many more things, for pure gaming I would go PS3 but then again I just dislike the horrible DRM on PCs that seems to be extremely prevalent GOG excluded.

But then again the PS3 is coming near the end of its life so it would probably pay to get a PC first and then pick up a PS3 dirt cheap when the PS4 hits or soon after anyway.
 

Jordi

New member
Jun 6, 2009
812
0
0
Err... Maybe I'm not calculating it right, but it seems to me that if you want the PS3 you still need to save AR$ 2450 and for the PC it's AR$ 3778. Your income is AR$ 100 a month. You'll probably make more money when you're older, but assuming it stays constant for a while, it would take you over two years to be able to afford a PS3 and three years for a PC. So why are you asking this now?

Anyway, I've always been a PC gamer. On the other hand, I don't have enough experience with the PS3 to tell you it's worse and sometimes I'm jealous of the exclusives. The reason I'm a PC gamer is that I always liked having a good PC anyway, as I also use it for lots of other stuff. The same is not really true for a console. Furthermore, I think it will be much easier to get cheap games for the PC than the PS3. So yeah, I'll vote for PC.

Edit: Just saw that the poll results are currently 90% for PC. While I stand by my vote, I feel it may be helpful to point out there are dispropotionately many PC gamers on these forums (at least when you look at polls on this site vs. sales figures for PC and consoles). Most people probably took your unique situation into account, but there might still be some bias.
 

loc978

New member
Sep 18, 2010
4,900
0
0
...so... did you post this thread from a PC that can't actually run LoL, or at a library or something? Because honestly, I'd say by the time you can afford the PC you're talking about, the PS3's price probably will have dropped by a lot (due to the upcoming release of the PS4).

Thus I'm leaning toward recommending you go for the PS3 first, despite my personal views on the value of each system. If, however, you have no PC in your home capable of even the most rudimentary current-gen gaming, I would recommend you try for one with perhaps weaker specs than what you have your eyes on (it would help to know those specs, if you find that sheet). I know for ~$500 I could build a system (A10 APU based) that could run circles around games like LoL, and play games like Crysis 3 smoothly at medium settings... for ~$300 I could do one that plays such high-requirement games on low (A4 APU-based... approximately equivalent in power to my 6-year-old ~$1300 gaming rig. Well, a little lower on GPU performance, really).
...but that would be taking advantage of a local used market for such things as Hard drives, optical drives, monitors and input peripherals. Your mileage may vary.

For clarification: vote withheld for want of information. I'll be checking back on occasion.
 

ScrabbitRabbit

Elite Member
Mar 27, 2012
1,545
0
41
Gender
Female
Bad Jim said:
The PS3 does not sound like a good idea. I don't know what it is like in Argentina, but once a new console generation hits in the UK, games for the old generation become hard to find. It might be a better idea to wait for the next console generation.
Uh... they do? I still regularly buy Megadrive games, much less PS2 games! I dunno where you live, but there's a shop in central Manchester, right across from HMV that has an entire wall dedicated to PS2 games.
 

Bad Jim

New member
Nov 1, 2010
1,763
0
0
ScrabbitRabbit said:
Bad Jim said:
The PS3 does not sound like a good idea. I don't know what it is like in Argentina, but once a new console generation hits in the UK, games for the old generation become hard to find. It might be a better idea to wait for the next console generation.
Uh... they do? I still regularly buy Megadrive games, much less PS2 games! I dunno where you live, but there's a shop in central Manchester, right across from HMV that has an entire wall dedicated to PS2 games.
Well I live near Southend, Essex and here I basically have a choice between games that have been released in the last three months or used games. And the used games are mostly shit, because that's what people tend to trade in. I used to be able to find any game that wasn't too old or obscure but now I have to keep checking the used games to see if anyone traded it in. But even back then, console generation X would generally be gone after generation X+1 had been around a couple of years.

It might be because you live in a city whereas I live in a town. It might be because Essex is crap. But I am not expecting to see a great selection of PS3 games in a few years.
 

Strelok

New member
Dec 22, 2012
494
0
0
PC first, that way with Steam sales you can still save up for the PS3 and play games where as the high cost of console games would you slow you down if you still wanted to play games during the time saving up. Also PC + PS3 is the best combo for gamers, its the combo I have been using since the PS2.
 

megadraco

New member
Feb 5, 2013
18
0
0
Jordi said:
Err... Maybe I'm not calculating it right, but it seems to me that if you want the PS3 you still need to save AR$ 2450 and for the PC it's AR$ 3778. Your income is AR$ 100 a month. You'll probably make more money when you're older, but assuming it stays constant for a while, it would take you over two years to be able to afford a PS3 and three years for a PC. So why are you asking this now?
I'm asking now because Children's Day, Christmas and my birthday will probably make the process faster. And to stop changing my mind every two weeks.
loc978 said:
...so... did you post this thread from a PC that can't actually run LoL, or at a library or something?
Yeah, the PC I posted the thread on can't run LoL, at least from what my cousin reported (he has the same computer) and in any case, my mother doesn't let me install any games in that notebook anyway because she says they use too much memory.

Also, thanks everyone for the suggestions and advice.
 

Grape_Bullion

New member
Mar 8, 2012
198
0
0
Buy a PC first. If you had more interest in the PS3 I'd suggest you get that first, but the PC is probably the better choice, outside of instant gratification and simplicity.
 

GoaThief

Reinventing the Spiel
Feb 2, 2012
1,229
0
0
PS3 first as it's the cheaper option and you're on a very low income. Also when the new generation of consoles are released expect the PC ports to push the recommended specifications substantially upwards despite sharing the same architecture.

Get a mid to high end PC in a couple of years or less and replace it roughly every two after that, it's the most cost effective method and enables you to constantly play the latest games on the highest quality settings.