Computer Upgrade vs Xbox 360

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donjn

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 19, 2006
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Computer Upgrade vs Xbox 360

I am really close to purchasing an Xbox 360. I have an HDTV and am looking forward to using it. The thing is, I have limited funds and am torn.

We currently have a Nintendo Wii, and my computer is pretty good. (Athlon 64 3700, 2 GB ram, x1900xtx) But for the same amount of money I can upgrade my CPU (Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor) and get a 22” widescreen LCD monitor and still save $200 to pay bills. The main issue here is sports games. They are just so few and far between on PCs. I have to tell you overall, if Xbox 360 did not have all next-gen football and baseball games, Fable 2 (Fable was one of my favorite games ever made) and Mass Effect, I might not even look their way. In fact, there are no more baseball games being made for PC anymore, and for football, its Madden only. The thing is, Mass Effect and Fable 2 may end up making their way to PC anyways!

The main reason making me thinking of staying with the PC is Gothic 3, not to mention future games like the Witcher, Hellfire London, Spore, etc. Upgrading to a dual core CPU and playing most games that are starting to use multi-cores in widescreen is pure heaven for me. However, new rumors have surfaced saying the Gothic series may make to the 360. Here we go again, because playing that on an HDTV in my living room would be great. I still have the Wii to fall back on, and I heard that these sports games I love will be making their way to the Wii. But, the Wii is for my kids, and it is in their room, on a smaller TV.

I know it’s not true, but sometimes I think this is a grand scheme to get me to own everything and max out my cash flow.

Here is where I need your help friends. Based on everything you know about this situation, what is your advice?

I have listed some pros/cons for each setup. This list was even difficult because you never know what is coming out for what system.

Xbox 360
• Sports Games
• HDTV
• Fable 2
• Mass Effect
• PC will start to show its age
• Gothic series may come

PC Upgrade
• Widescreen Gaming
• Newer games using dual core
• Fable 2 and Mass will most likely come to PC, but later
• More free time to play computer as wife watches HDTV.
• Hardware more reliable than the 360.
• At 37, PCs feel more “mature” to me
• Still have the Wii, but it must stay in kid’s room on standard TV.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
first of all, not all pc games do widescreen. second of all, EVERY 360 game does have widescreen and you mentiioned dual core pc games? well 360 has 3 core's and beleive it or not, not a single 360 game is using all 3 core's of the system YET
 
I have both a pc (see rig) and 360, and in your predicament I would choose the 360. It offers you gaming with your friends when they come by. You can entertain guests, rather than just yourself.
 
Good luck feeling mature if you do a quick connect to any XBL FPS game.

But if you're gonna play mostly sports and racing the crowd is slightly better.
 
The thing I did not mention is that I am getting the Xbox 360 Elite for free. Then I was thinking of flipping it on Ebay for $550, and using that for an upgrade.

Now that you know my whole story, how does this change your opinion? I mean, a free Xbox 360 Elite sounds too good to sell.
 
• Widescreen Gaming
• Fable 2 and Mass will most likely come to PC, but later
• More free time to play computer as wife watches HDTV.


As for those,

I play my Xbox360 on my PC monitor. Just get the VGA cable for the Xbox360(You probably don't have component inputs on your PC monitor, might want to check).

This is a crappy time to upgrade your PC. My video card burned out several months ago and I've just been playing Xbox360 and Wii ever since. I replaced the video card with an ancient Geforce 2 MX 4400(a 64mb vid card). It does the job just fine, it allows me to do everything on the PC except play games, and since the Xbox360 is right next to the PC, it handles the game playing, and right on the PC screen as well.

I'll be buying a new PC in november or so when stable DX10-native video cards are out, along with more games that will take advantage of it. Plus the processor price drops in July, along with new processor and motherboard generations rolling out in fall or so...we're in a transition phase so I'll be waiting. Yes, tech is always moving forward, but the pace varies and right now it's just too unstable.

I can bide my time because the console market is getting so many games. Many of them made specifically for the Xbox360 and just being ported over to PC(and poorly). I recommend renting console games to save money, or buying used. Great PC exclusives are on the way, but most of them are late '07-'08 so I can wait before starting up PC gaming again.

I hate the 360 hardware, you'll have 1 yr warranty now at least instead of the 90 days it used to have. I would suggest buying the extended warranty at the end of the original warranty as well.
 
Free Elite? That's a no-brainer. Keep it and enjoy your HD tv. If it turns out you just hate it... then ebay it. However, pm me first. ;)
 
plus your 360 will last you 5 years if not more before you have to buy your a new upgrade. your pc will be outdated in a year or two.
 
Filter said:
plus your 360 will last you 5 years if not more before you have to buy your a new upgrade. your pc will be outdated in a year or two.
Click to expand...

How does this argument keep popping up? Does anyone have any shred of logic or reasoning around here? This is a NEGATIVE thing, not a positive thing, nice spin though. Basically, if you go PC route, you have the OPTION of upgrading as often as you want, if you buy the 360 you are locked into it and can't do anything when amazing DX10 games roll around and make it look like crap.

Honestly though if you want sports games consoles are the only way to go...
 
I was in the same boat, I finally broke down and got an elite 360. I don't regret it, especially playing Forza 2
 
buy a 360 now, pc upgrade when the next gen of dx10 cards are released and there are new dx10 games worth playing.
 
CodeX said:
Basically, if you go PC route, you have the OPTION of upgrading as often as you want, if you buy the 360 you are locked into it and can't do anything when amazing DX10 games roll around and make it look like crap.
Click to expand...
You buy a 360 and it will always play the games released for it.

You upgrade a PC and in 2 years those amazing DX10 games you mentioned likely wont run that well on it.

I have both... but I also realise that playing PC games involves a rolling investment far greater than my consoles do.
 
Psychotext said:
You buy a 360 and it will always play the games released for it.

You upgrade a PC and in 2 years those amazing DX10 games you mentioned likely wont run that well on it.

I have both... but I also realise that playing PC games involves a rolling investment far greater than my consoles do.
Click to expand...

In PC games you can adjust the performance settings, likely you will be able to play every game released for the next 5 years if you buy top of the line stuff right now, just like the 360.
 
CodeX said:
In PC games you can adjust the performance settings, likely you will be able to play every game released for the next 5 years if you buy top of the line stuff right now, just like the 360.
Click to expand...
True, but it kinda takes away from your point. You'll be playing these games with the kind of settings that make them look like 360 games anyway. At a likely higher cost.
 
The OPTION to upgrade is there, since when is it bad to have options?

...and computers cost more because they do more. To fairly compare the prices you should only include the cost of the video card and any *additional* memory you might put in the machine to make it gaming worthy. The CPU and HDD are there already because it is a computer, the rest is what makes it a game machine.

...if he had no intention of owning a computer whatsoever my stance would be different, but who on this forum would be in that position?
 
there's only one disturbing thing in your post....the part about your wife hijacking the HDTV.....:p i hate when this happens. sunday after 7 is always bye bye HDTV and hello quake 4 on the pc.

you really can't go wrong with either purchase but from the sound of things your comp is still worthy.....the 360 is friggin awesome, i'd be torn too though.
 
having both a 360 and a PC...

my vote for you is a 360.
 
I say neither. To be quite honest, I don't see anything on the console or PC side of things which will really be all that great. Despite all the "technological enhancements" these games are coming with these days, none of it looks to be all that different from what we get today. Just looks prettier.

Benefits of multicore computing in gaming is all an illusion. By this I mean the idea that all the new games coming out within the next couple of months will completely take advantage of multicore CPU's and all of the sudden the game is different from someone with a single core computer, so much so that you will lose something on the single core computer. WRONG. Almost all the multicore functionality to be seen in games don't really change the gameplay and are mostly related to performance management. Might be more pleasant experience to play these games, but I seriously doubt that the gameplay will be drastically different between multicore and single core computers. The day where games are smarter because of multiple cores is still far off. And don't think for a second that it will be here tomorrow, or in a month, or by the end of the year, because it won't. I seriously doubt we'll see anything groundbreaking or anything even remotely interesting until another year.

The console market suffers from the same issue, the difference is that development teams who develop for the Xbox 360/PS3 won't have to worry about whether or not their games will perform as they intended it to be. Everyone has the same stuff, so their incentive to utilize all resources is greater.

I think many people are under the illusion that something great is coming with these games coming out because of multiple cores and what-have-you, but really this isn't the case. Don't let this illusion distract you. Chances are, ignoring potential performance gains, your upgrade from single to dual core will be quite uneventful and perhaps useless in these upcoming games. You won't be losing out very much because you have single core. Just your frame rate might be a little lower. But it shouldn't be such a big deal anyways seeing as how you have an X1900XTX, you probably run games as high as you possibly can which probably means 30-50 fps in whatever game you play.

I think a prudent investment is to perhaps get that LCD screen and save the rest.
 
I vote neither as well. Not a good time to upgrade pc's atm, I'd wait until beginning of next year when the games like crysis and ut2k7 are out.

I'd steer clear of the 360 as well with all the problems it has and ms has yet to fix. That thing is a ticking time bomb, check out the xbox.com 360 hardware forum. If it wasnt built like such a pos I'd reccomend it over the pc though.
 
Since you already have a good PC and a free 360...just keep them both. It's not like you can't game on your PC with what you have now. Plus the 360 does more than just play games...you can take advantage if your Elite hard drive and HDTV to watch the downloadable HD content on the Marketplace.
 
ThunderGod66 said:
Since you already have a good PC and a free 360...just keep them both. It's not like you can't game on your PC with what you have now. Plus the 360 does more than just play games...you can take advantage if your Elite hard drive and HDTV to watch the downloadable HD content on the Marketplace.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%... I think most of these people missed your post on getting the 360 free. Keep em both... don't mess with upgrading your system yet. Plug that elite into that tv and enjoy them both. I can't believe you even asked us ;)
 
When faced with this same dilemma a few months back...I chose the 360 and never regretted my decision. Of course my gaming rig (in sig) can still play any current pc game but I no longer feel the burning need to buy a new mobo, proc, ram and videocard every time a new generation comes around. I'm saving money and playing more games now.:cool:
 
Keep the 360. There's dual core chips for under $100 that'll make your pc experience much smoother. And you're on hardforum...we don't run stock. :D
 
You said you want to go from an athlon 64 3700 to a x2 5200 windsor? Unless I'm mistaken (and I've been known to in the past), the 3700s were only made for socket 939 and the x2 5200s are only for am2, so add the price of buying a new motherboard (and probably ram too) to the price. With the minor upgrades you are talking about, with only replacing the CPU, you aren't going to be leaps and bounds better as you think. The 3700 is a highly overclockable CPU. While the 5200 is a good CPU, you might want to think about getting an 8800 video card to really have a great upgrade from what you are running now. Games coming out now and in the near future are going to require more and more video card power. You are going to be wayyyy past the price of an xbox 360 when you factor in everything you're going to need for a good upgrade.
 
I think what he’s asking is "Should I keep the free X360 or sell it to upgrade?"

Man I have almost the exact same PC as you except I'm running a 7800GT with a Athlon 3700+ 2 gigs of ram. I know its becoming dated, but there’s no way I'm upgrading anytime soon. I'll wait for Vista Service Pack 2, see what and if 64 bit is doing, and what type of hardware is out by then. I say keep the X360 OR *GOD I LOVE THIS PART* :D sell your X360 and buy a PS3 (on no I didn't, wait, I just did). Some people here think a lot of the X360 titles come to PC anyways plus you have all the cross platform games too.















Don't flame me please, I'm just trying to help ;) If Fable is your favorite game you may want to hold onto that X360 or sell it and pay bills, save cash and wait for the newier X360's coming out. Good Luck!.
 
I have a good core 2pc. Got a xbox360 thinking it will replace my pc. All i can say is, if FPS is your type of game, stick to the pc. 360+ FPS games = gay ( no mouse/kb support at all)
So back to video card hunting i go. sigh
 
Yes, I didn't enjoy G.R.A.W. 2 @ all on 360. Now Forza's another matter. :eek:
 
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