The $500 Gaming PC

[Anton P. Nym]

I didn't even bother to look up Dawn of War 2 because my system just wouldn't handle it...[a]lso remember that you can get an entire netbook for what a mid-line graphics card costs these days...

You can get a card that'll run DOW2 maxed out for $70 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127420], if you want to play it.

It's nice to see that I'm wrong on that particular, but this furthers my main point... my motherboard can't handle PCI-X cards like the one you linked to. I can buy AGP cards only, and I'm not certain it'll take AGPx8 come to think of it.

-- Steve

 

[Signa]

but I do agree that the "faster, stronger, higher-res" thinking of the A-list PC studios needs to be rethought.

That is seriously what is killing the PC games industry. What can you do in Crysis that you can't do with half-life graphics? Is the extra processing speed in newer computers actually required to help you aim? Does the rag-doll effect on blowing up your enemies make the rest of the game fun? It's just stupid that the game is only average, and yet you need a high-end PC to run it.

The only game I've played that actually warrants a high-end PC is Supcom. Having Thousands of units with their AI and projectile calculations is going to eat up a lot of CPU cycles. Not to mention all the extra dead bodies laying around from earlier battles. Other than that, most modern games are just rehashes of older games with very little added beyond the shine. Not a very good argument for people to upgrade their PCs.

Personally, I don't mind eating the cost because I use my PC for so much more than gaming, but not everyone feels that way, and average-Joe-Blow isn't going to be smart enough to maintain a PC properly. It's no wonder so many 'tards inhabit LIVE. It's been dumbed down and made accessible to people who can barely wipe their ass.

 

[Goldbling]

Still. $500 is PS3 money. Not to mention the main reason I gave up following PC gaming; after a year or so you'll have to upgrade at least 1 part of it to play the latest game-

-on ultra high at 60 FPS I believe you ment to say. Surely you aren't implying that PC components somehow age faster than console components, especially since they're all the same damn parts.

This is true, mine costed about 1200 dollars, and I think it will last even longer than my last one, knowing that i dont HAVE to play of 60 FPS (even though I can right now)

 

[PhoenixFlame]

As an IT professional who works mostly with servers and network equipment but who paid his dues working on many a desktop computer, the idea that you have to upgrade every year for PC games is a myth. Every so often there are games that force you to have to upgrade - Crysis being the most prominent of examples. But for the most part, if you have a PC, expect it to last 4 - 5 years with minimal upgrades to play most games out there.

There's a reason why PC developers don't always build for the latest and greatest - to do so would be to cut into your profits by only servicing a small portion of your target audience. Not everyone can afford to upgrade rigs every year.

Most PCs are just fine even without upgrades for a while. You don't have to have a gaming experience akin to tech Nirvana to enjoy the games.

 

[Raptoricus]

IMO, PC's are always worth the money, because:
A I'm a programmer
B With a console, you're stuck to playing games and watching movies etc, with a PC, there's a ridiclous amount of versatility that you can get from the thing, if you're into audio, with a half decent sound card you can set up a little studio with something like Cubase or whatever, you have photoshop and graphics programs, it's just a hotbed for creativity.

 

[-Seraph-]

B With a console, you're stuck to playing games and watching movies etc, with a PC, there's a ridiclous amount of versatility that you can get from the thing, if you're into audio, with a half decent sound card you can set up a little studio with something like Cubase or whatever, you have photoshop and graphics programs, it's just a hotbed for creativity. endless.

The very reason I love PC's, that magical little word.

 

[samsonguy920]

$500 aint bad for what goes into the pc alone. Most likely you can carry forward items from your previous pc (unless this would be your first, but even then its still a cheaper option than what Dell and Gateway would try to sell you). I've been using an LCD monitor for a few years now over two pc's lifetime as well as a keyboard that I've had for about a decade. If you have to have a Corvette with all the bells and whistles, expect to pay $2-4k. But if you just want to play your games without your pc glowing in the dark, this is definitely a good option.

 

[Lancer723]

To each his own I guess.

Prefer console gaming myself, though I believe I'm largely in the minority on this site. If you can keep up with the upgrades, find affordable parts then kudos to you. Personally it all seems like too much work to me to keep track of all that, though I'll admit I'm not very tech-savvy. I get plenty of entertainment out of my 360, and the beauty of dorm living is that there's always people to play with and other systems and games to try out. (Wow I really came across as a stereotypical 360 gamer there didn't I?)

I can, however, appreciate the PC gaming allure and its advantages over console gaming (sorry to burst the fanboy's bubbles out there, but yeah PC gaming does have numerous advantages over consoles). Seriously though, can't we all just agree that people have different tastes and leave it at that?

 

[Lancer723]

EDIT: Double Post, my bad.

 

[CIA]

gaming pc = bi-annual upgrades of at least one component minimum depending on how much of a nerd u are.

Do you have any idea how much fun it is to build your own computer? I actually like upgrading.

 

[Lunar Shadow]

Nice. I remember when I built my "$999 Thunderbird Athlon" gaming rig using similar methodologies 10 years or so ago. You basically have to not care about bell and/or whistles and just go for raw, middle-of-the-line power. As a result, you get what you pay for, and if you're looking to get into PC gaming quickly and cheaply, it's the best way to go.

Unfortunately, as I discovered, the Achilles heel for self-built, mid-level gaming PCs is an extreme lack of future utility. All of the mid-level game rigs I built (I've built several) suffered dramatic drops in reliability and utility after only a couple of years, necessitating frequent upgrades to continue playing new-release games, which extended the cost significantly. In other words, the low cost of entry represented by self-built mid-level PCs obfuscates the true cost of PC gaming: Moore's Law.

You also forgot Murphy's law as well for those first timers
Mt first scratch built had it's processor literally melt during a game of L4D because my dumb ass forgot to buy an intake fan.

 

[dragnmoon]

I am a PC Gamer/Console gamer... I own a Xbox 360/PS3/Wii

I buy Games that are on both, for the PC, and Console only games for the the console.

In the long run I have spent much more money on the console... Mainly because the game are so much more expensive...

~ 2 years ago
My PC cost me ~3000 fully functional with software and 22" wide screen monitor and 7.1 SS
My First Console set up (Xbox 360)cost me about ~3000 also with a 48" LCD 1080P TV and 7.1 SS

PC Games have cost me about 20-50 a pop
Console Games have cost me about 60-180 (Rockband) a pop

Though I love my Console for the ability to easily invite friends over for some fun gaming.. I have gotten much more bang for my buck with the PC... The Consoles can do alot... but I still can't do homework on it, or make web pages, or play a decent Strat game on it.. In the long run I think my better investment has been the PC... and I still have not upgraded it and It has no problems, still looks better then my console.

That said... people who really have no money can probably spend less on a console set up with a crappy TV and sound system. But why would you want to game that way ;-)

 

[konkwastaken]

There are lots of little snippets being ignored.... The OS, the monitor, a stone-age hard-drive (I have little to nothing except my OS/office/a few games installed and it already takes 200 gigs), and probably weak power-supply/case as well.

I'm sorry but how many games to you is "a few games" i have installed 3 copies of WoW (one is pretbc one is tbc and one is wotlk) Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, The Sims 2 + 10 expansions, FarCry 2, Company of Heroes and all of those are equal to about 90gb...Office is less than 1gb and my Windows Vista takes up 12gb...i know things add up quickly but thats a bit of an exaggeration don't you think?

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Still haven't upgraded in a while, and people still say "you have to upgrade too much hurr hurr".

Fine, the myths will stay alive forever and no one can bust them. I'll live with that I guess.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Still. $500 is PS3 money. Not to mention the main reason I gave up following PC gaming; after a year or so you'll have to upgrade at least 1 part of it to play the latest game.

It's funny how when people talk about PC gaming and say "play the latest game", they mean "play the latest game on highest settings in a high resolution."

=P

I think it's forgotten that you don't even need to have a high-end PC to play the newest games, you just need a high-end PC to have them looking pretty. If you don't care about graphics much, you can just keep an "okay" PC to keep playing games on say, medium graphical settings; and it turns out to be much more affordable than buying consoles...

I played and finished Crysis on a 7600GS graphics card, I don't remember the rest of my specs now but it was pretty basic stuff that most other PC gamers would have scoffed at. That's a very extreme example, as I did play it in lowest settings, except for Physics being on high. But you know what? I enjoyed it a lot... That card cost me about half the price that Crysis cost... lol

I am now looking to get a great high-end PC, but I know for a fact that whenever i'm short on money, I will never HAVE to spend a lot on upgrading my PC, because i'll always be able to play games and enjoy them on pretty cheap components.

PC gaming is only expensive if you mentally NEED to have all the latest stuff. There is no reason at all why it HAS to be expensive. I know this from experience.

 

[antipunt]

There are lots of little snippets being ignored.... The OS, the monitor, a stone-age hard-drive (I have little to nothing except my OS/office/a few games installed and it already takes 200 gigs), and probably weak power-supply/case as well.

I'm sorry but how many games to you is "a few games" i have installed 3 copies of WoW (one is pretbc one is tbc and one is wotlk) Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, The Sims 2 + 10 expansions, FarCry 2, Company of Heroes and all of those are equal to about 90gb...Office is less than 1gb and my Windows Vista takes up 12gb...i know things add up quickly but thats a bit of an exaggeration don't you think?

I have about like...1/3 of the games you have in terms of total disk space. Thus, you're probably ignoring something right? Because I recently did a -complete- reformat as well. So do you have a legit version of windows, maybe it's windows updates...(also, if you are counting 'disc space used' by right clicking-->properties on your windows folder, that's not at all an accurate estimate of how much space windows is taking up...for example, my windows folder takes 12 gigs only, and my program files page takes around 27 gigs (games, etc.). Total usage is 210gigs.)

 

[samsonguy920]

(Wow I really came across as a stereotypical 360 gamer there didn't I?)

That's okay, the first step to a cure is admitting you have the problem.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

its a good thing my set-up is cheap and effective. And Crysis-free.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Yeah, for making a one word post in a troll thread.

Which seems a little odd, considering he had several thousand posts, and had quite proven he was capable of intelligent in depth and on topic conversation. I thought the mods would've been more case considerate for something like that, but hay, I can't presume to know what history of warnings or offenses he had. :/

He got banned for being an ass in general.

Now, I think this is the perfect time for a...

[HEADING=3] Blatant Plug![/HEADING] [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.67044?page=1]

 

[chronobreak]

*gasp* One year or more?!?!

Do you not save up money?

Maybe he does, but has bills or something more important to pay for. The reason I quoted this is because I see this point a lot with PC gamers, which leads me to believe most PC gamers are "hardcore", dropping money on their "rig" like it was no big deal, while people who own consoles are generally more laid back, and just have to worry about what game they want to buy - Not the specifications it takes to play it.