PC gaming is cheaper then Console gaming(according to IGN)

Well it cost more at first.. if you buy a dedicated gaming machine.. maybe it will cost around 800$ (CAD) for something really nice in 1080p (like a 560 TI for example)... but after that. IF you buy games... they are generally 10$ less, and the drop really fast on Steam. I've grabbed most my games for around 42$ (with 10$ preorder) while in Canada console version are 70$ almost..., even if the console is 299$+tx, if you buy a lot of games you can get in you're cash within 1 years.

Off course in Console you can exchange games, while on PC, not. But i never did it except with COD MW1

IGN is crap for everything. The do Blu Ray movie review and they suck at it, almost like they watch their movies on 14' 10 years old LCD..
 
I'm having a hard time making sense of that article since I don't know how many dollars equal a British pound.
 
Don't you think it is unfair to compare a top of the line PC to a console? If you were to build a PC with comparable level of graphics performance, don't you think the price gap in hardware would close significantly? Many of us have GPUs that cost twice as much as consoles, but they aren't necessary to run the games at levels equal to that of consoles, right? Just curious. I've also wondered about the monitor/TV cost consideration. Large TVs are generally much more costly than desk-bound monitors.
 
Software wise it isn't even close. Games on consoles have inherit trade in values. It is completely retarded to buy and hold games. Studies show that people in general do not play through games multiple times.

If you buy a piece of software on the PC there is no trade in value. I buy games for a few months at a time, but I maybe lose 15-20 dollars per 60 game. I have probably spent 500 dollars this year and gained back 350 of that in amazon credit etc.

Therefore if I spent the same amount on PC I wouldn't get any money back.

No study measures this.
 
cmadki4 said:
Don't you think it is unfair to compare a top of the line PC to a console? If you were to build a PC with comparable level of graphics performance, don't you think the price gap in hardware would close significantly? Many of us have GPUs that cost twice as much as consoles, but they aren't necessary to run the games at levels equal to that of consoles, right? Just curious. I've also wondered about the monitor/TV cost consideration. Large TVs are generally much more costly than desk-bound monitors.
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Very good points.

Hell, if someone feels like it, pretend you're going to DIY build a PC that's equal to either a 360 or PS3 these days. I'd be interested to see what you come up with and what it would actually cost to do it more or less.
 
Q-BZ said:
Very good points.

Hell, if someone feels like it, pretend you're going to DIY build a PC that's equal to either a 360 or PS3 these days. I'd be interested to see what you come up with and what it would actually cost to do it more or less.
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With used hardware off the FS/FT here I could build a setup under $300 I'm certain.

GTX260 $50
OCZ500W $25
e6600+P35+4GB DDR800 $90
Case $20
DVDRW+500GB Sata $40

This is based on either stuff I've bought here or sold here. $225 or there abouts. Probably the most difficult expenditure right now is RAM. a 4GB kit of ddr2 can run you any where from $40 to $80 where as a 8GB kit of DDR3 12800 can run as low as $20AMIR. However the price difference is made up by how much more expensive DDR3 motherboards and processors are. I can get a C2D or AM2+ kit for $50< but iSeries and newer AM3's I cant get for under $150. It's been very frustrating lately with my family coming to me asking for build advice.


I am however certain I can run any console game that has been ported to PC or has a PC counterpart at console graphical settings with this setup. Ironically this would not be tough enough to run a PS2 or Gamecube emulator, but I won't even get into that.

No I can't beat a console price with the Xbox360 at running as low as $160 right, bbuuuutt no subscription fees so the PC destroys the Xbox360 there. The console trade in argument doesn't really work because PC preorders are cheaper and PC games go down in price sooner. Even so I dont buy console games unless I plan to keep them thats a personal choice.
 
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BS

between parts, software, OS, time, etc... there is no way that PC gaming (assuming it's a dedicated gaming PC) is cheaper than console gaming. Then add to that resale value of games, accessories and the system itself, and it's no contest.
 
Kinda makes sense, saying that games are a little cheaper and you can get better graphics for it. Yet if you throw in the cost of the machine/ console. It becomes unbalanced. Depends on the type of person I guess if they want to be with a bunch of random people on Xbox live or with friends on a PC, i.e. Steam/ Origin.
 
cmadki4 said:
Don't you think it is unfair to compare a top of the line PC to a console? If you were to build a PC with comparable level of graphics performance, don't you think the price gap in hardware would close significantly? Many of us have GPUs that cost twice as much as consoles, but they aren't necessary to run the games at levels equal to that of consoles, right? Just curious. I've also wondered about the monitor/TV cost consideration. Large TVs are generally much more costly than desk-bound monitors.
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Its a difficult comparison to make right now because we're already 6 or so (?) years into the current gen console life cycle. "How much does it cost?" is a very open question. I think its more useful to ask the question retrospectively "Has it been more expensive?" rather than trying to be predicting of future usage.

Buying a PC of equal power to a console these days isn't really as practical for gaming, IMO at least, and might not last you as long as an actual console will, due to the nature of PC games becoming less tuned to low end hardware as the high end increases while console games become better tuned to low end hardware as the hardware doesn't advance, but the games take better advantage of it.

I mean, to play at equal level to a console, you're basically saying playing at 720p or lower and at medium to low graphics settings, and I'd never be recommending someone actually buying a PC with that in mind to do that, as you don't know how long it'll remain useful... where as its easy to still recommend a console as you know it'll remain up until a bit after the next gen consoles come out and the new games start to dry up.
 
One thing to note. Every game thats ever come out on PC is still playable on PC. The same can't be said of consoles. If I wanted to play an older game I have to have to buy an older system. I have to have an entire room dedicated to having all my consoles and games. PC takes up a small corner. You also still need physical media for console gaming which is fucking annoying as well. Steam/Origin/GOG/D2D/GMG etc have made me one portable mutherfucker.
 
piscian18 said:
One thing to note. Every game thats ever come out on PC is still playable on PC. The same can't be said of consoles. If I wanted to play an older game I have to have to buy an older system. I have to have an entire room dedicated to having all my consoles and games. PC takes up a small corner.
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that's assuming that said person didn't keep their old consoles. I still have my original NES and DC. You do make a good point though, It's not like you have to re-buy a game for a new PC build. It should work across multiple OS's and hardware configs.
 
Q-BZ said:
Hardware wise? No. Software wise? Definitely yes.
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This. Software is often cheaper, but the hardware most certainly isn't. Though if you've ever lost XBOX's to red rings of death and PS3's to the yellow light of death you may have bought enough expensive consoles to pay for a really nice PC.
 
piscian18 said:
With used hardware off the FS/FT here I could build a setup under $300 I'm certain.
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Did you actually look at the FS/FT page to get those numbers? Some sound very low, are they ancient and worn out or something? But if you resort to 2nd hand you can get the consoles cheaper as well.
 
dr.stevil said:
that's assuming that said person didn't keep their old consoles. I still have my original NES and DC. You do make a good point though, It's not like you have to re-buy a game for a new PC build. It should work across multiple OS's and hardware configs.
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I say that because I recently moved to montana and I had to leave everything but my PC at home. I have ten or so big boxes at home filled with my gen,nes,snes,dc,ps1,ps2,xbox360 etc and games. It's frustrating that I'll have to pay massive shipping costs to move all that stuff but such is the life of a collector :(
 
Tudz said:
Did you actually look at the FS/FT page to get those numbers? Some sound very low, are they ancient and worn out or something? But if you resort to 2nd hand you can get the consoles cheaper as well.
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Yes those are all stuff I've either bought or sold. You have to be a bit of a bargin hunter but given a week of hunting I could put that together again or something similar. Youd be surprised what people will let go of if you post teh right WTB on here. A lot of people just want stuff gone. I sold a HD 5770 1GB a couple weeks ago for $40 because I was in a moving hurry. Gave away my CoolerMaster storm Sniper.
 
Q-BZ said:
Very good points.

Hell, if someone feels like it, pretend you're going to DIY build a PC that's equal to either a 360 or PS3 these days. I'd be interested to see what you come up with and what it would actually cost to do it more or less.
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Any Core 2 Duo CPU, a video card better than an Nvidia 7800 or so, and 1GB of RAM. So, with some quick newegg prices:

CPU: Intel E6600 $75
Motherboard: there's a bunch around $50 or $60 that even have DDR3 RAM slots, so...
DDR3 RAM: could do 1GB for $8 but 4GB is $17.
Video card: Nvidia GT 240 $50
PSU: Any $40 PSU is probably better than what you find in an XBox360 or PS3.
Case: There's several for $20 that review well.
Xbox360 controller: $30
DVD drives are $18, Blu-Ray drives are $55
Hard drive: prices and availability for SATA drives under $100 are nuts due to flooding. If recertified is okay, there's a 320GB for $65 at the moment.

Without counting OS (linux build for free?), keyboard or mouse, that's roughly around $400.

This is a crappy build, not proud of it and not what I would do for a minimal gaming PC build, but it's better than a console.
 
evilsofa said:
Without counting OS (linux build for free?)
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OS is a big one unless you are a pirating bastard :p You can't really play much on linux. Even the cheapest PC build you have to add the cost of Windows, unfortunately.
 
Dan_D said:
This. Software is often cheaper, but the hardware most certainly isn't. Though if you've ever lost XBOX's to red rings of death and PS3's to the yellow light of death you may have bought enough expensive consoles to pay for a really nice PC.
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I don't know...posts 11 and 22 make a couple of compelling examples although to be fair:

piscian18 said:
With used hardware off the FS/FT here I could build a setup under $300 I'm certain.
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You're cheating. It's got to be new hardware. ;)
 
I built the machine I had for around $600 ish years ago, aka the price of a PS3 at launch.

It comfortably completed Crysis on max settings. It's still chugging along fine in BF3, Skyrim, etc and it's still ahead in resolution and settings on consoles. Parts are getting faster and cheaper yet... I've probably made up the rest of the difference more in software anyway.


holy shit for $1,868 i'd have a fucking monster of a machine.
 
Computer hardware is typically more expensive, even taking advantage of deals, you're going to be spending a bit on hardware. 250 gig Xbox 360's were being sold online during black friday for 200 bucks, not going to build any sort of rig for 200. I get that there's peripherals, additional controllers and whatnot, but it still doesn't add up to a decent rig. However, if you're willing to take advantage of stream sales, and not purchase games when they're brand new for 50 or 60 dollars, you'll make that money back in no time. Console games are always more expensive, even trade games or used games or what have you.
 
socK said:
I built the machine I had for around $600 ish years ago, aka the price of a PS3 at launch.

It comfortably completed Crysis on max settings. It's still chugging along fine in BF3, Skyrim, etc and it's still ahead in resolution and settings on consoles. Parts are getting faster and cheaper yet... I've probably made up the rest of the difference more in software anyway.


holy shit for $1,868 i'd have a fucking monster of a machine.
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But if you'd bought a $600 PC, the launch price of the PS3 at the time of the launch of the PS3, it'd be about as good as a door stop now :p
 
Bloged about this a few years ago now - http://www.pcgamingstandards.com/Blog.aspx?blogid=4

Basically what it boils down to is that the console business model gets you to invest in cheap hardware and bleeds you for cash with every game you buy.

Which works out cheaper depends on how many games you buy, if you buy a single game then consoles are almost always cheaper, but if you buy many games over the lifespan of the console then at some point console gaming becomes more expensive.
 
Q-BZ said:
You're cheating. It's got to be new hardware. ;)
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Impossible then. Thanks to manufacturers making stores dump old stock rather than discount it I can't come anywhere near a console. Ok wait

Motorola Droidx2 $150
VS
Nintendo DS3Di $179

PC's wiiin!!!
 
The games are certainly cheaper , I don't remember Gamestop doing half off sales during Cyber Monday and steam/d2d/amazon offer deals all the time.

But the hardware upgrading is expensive (although far less frequent then it use to be). The PC gives you the freedom to create a gaming PC around your budget and alter that accordingly if your budget changes. Consoles give you no such choices , you either buy or don't fucking play. And counting one day a year when console systems are half off is bullshit , 1 day does not equate to all sales for the entire year and it shouldn't be presented as such.

Some how saying that its "News" that PC gaming is more flexible and cheaper in the long run is like also reporting that space is a vacuum. More cutting edge reporting from the worst video game editorial site on the net.
 
piscian18 said:
One thing to note. Every game thats ever come out on PC is still playable on PC. The same can't be said of consoles. If I wanted to play an older game I have to have to buy an older system. I have to have an entire room dedicated to having all my consoles and games. PC takes up a small corner. You also still need physical media for console gaming which is fucking annoying as well. Steam/Origin/GOG/D2D/GMG etc have made me one portable mutherfucker.
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This isn't entirely true. I own tons of games for which I have specific systems because they won't play on DOS X or Windows Y, or just the new hardware is incompatible. Things like DOSBox help, but aren't perfect, and can't play everything.

That being said, for once, I'd love for people to stop with promoting this stupid argument about console costs vs pc costs, and actually look at their expenses. Rather than stating a stupid, spinnable statement like "PC gaming isn't really more expensive than console gaming" or vice versa, why not actually look at the facts and come back with a statement such as "I've spent more on XBox 360 gaming since 2005 than I've spent on PC gaming".

Look at the total money spent on hardware, including monitor, sound system, etc. The article is at least taking a step in the right direction by including a TV this time for the console. I'm really sick of the stupid baseless argument where a console player only has to buy one console for their lifespan, where the PC user has to include the monitor, electricity cost, the house he (or she) lives in, etc. People upgrade, consoles break, people have spare components around, etc. If you're still using that 25 year old CRT, why include it? If you're on your third (or 6th XBox) which was not under warranty, include that cost too.

Look at the total money spent on software. Include everything, from sales on steam, to EBay, to even reselling games for a deduction on your cost. I just love arguments where people say, "Well, if you discount the $9000 I've spent on Steam over the past 3 years, I've easily outspent the PC side with the XBox side".

In the end, it's personal. For some people, the PC is cheaper over time than the XBox. For others, it isn't. And for a few others, they might have a PS3 or Wii. But let's be serious for a moment. While everyone apparently owns a Wii, have you really ever seen anyone play one?:p
 
Remember, even if you're a console gamer you have to buy a PC anyway.
A lot of times the only difference between a "gaming" PC vs "standard" PC is a video card. Consoles are around $200 to $300, take that cash and put it into a video card and you're set.

Derp.
 
As far as "cheaper" goes, a friend of mine plays BF:BC2 on a laptop with Nvidia's integrated graphics at 1366 x 768, low quality settings, and pulls around 30fps.

Considering virtually any desktop graphics card is going to be more powerful than that, if you keep the resolution down (like consoles do) its completely possible to play games at reasonable frame rates at low cost. Maybe not $300 if you're buying new, but definitely in the $500 - $600 range.

My laptop with a GTX460m can keep BF3 over 55 fps on high settings at 1366 as well. IIRC, the GTX550 blows this card out of the water. Again, if you can keep resolution down, the price drops quickly. If it weren't for the fact I only have ~1.25 gigs of vram, I could probably run at ultra at this resolution and stay above 30.

Can pc gaming be more expensive than console gaming. Most def. But IMO, it doesn't have to be.
 
Nytegard said:
That being said, for once, I'd love for people to stop with promoting this stupid argument about console costs vs pc costs, and actually look at their expenses. Rather than stating a stupid, spinnable statement like "PC gaming isn't really more expensive than console gaming" or vice versa, why not actually look at the facts and come back with a statement such as "I've spent more on XBox 360 gaming since 2005 than I've spent on PC gaming".
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Yeah, I'd like to hear more of this too. Its not hard to come up with circumstances where PC gaming is cheaper... but how many people actually do that and how realistic is it to do?

I'd love to hear personal run downs of what people have spent rather than theoretical stuff about how it can be cheaper... I have a calculator, I can figure out how it can be cheaper myself :p

Personally I think I've spent about as much on PC gaming as I would have if I'd bought both a 360 and a PS3. That's based on the fact that, yes, I have upgraded my PC, but those were for work purposes, the only "gaming" upgrades I've done is the video card, which over the course of 5 years has cost me $600AUD. But if you consider the computer as a whole... its more like $3000 over the that time, +$500 for monitors, +$200 sound card, +$300 headphones, +$300 SSD, +whatever else. The only thing is that I use it for work and research as well, and before work I used to use it for study and research. Its also my entertainment centre, so I use it for TV and movies.

But all the people saying PC gaming "can" be cheap are probably the same people who have spent $5000 to $15000 on PC gaming since the current gen of consoles was released :p
 
Tudz said:
Yeah, I'd like to hear more of this too. Its not hard to come up with circumstances where PC gaming is cheaper... but how many people actually do that and how realistic is it to do?
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Is it realistic? Definitely. Could we on [H] do it? Likely not. The group we reside in is the polar opposite of "budget". We buy 30 inch monitors and several high end GPUs not because we just want to play games, but because we want to play games at extremely high levels.

If the goal is to bring console level experience to a desktop, a computer could be built on an extreme budget that would allow you to play at decent frame rates at low - medium quality settings when using a relatively low resolution.
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
Is it realistic? Definitely. Could we on [H] do it? Likely not. The group we reside in is the polar opposite of "budget". We buy 30 inch monitors and several high end GPUs not because we just want to play games, but because we want to play games at extremely high levels.
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While I ball on a budget this excludes me as well. I'm a console collector having a plethora of weird expensive shit like Dungeons & Dragons for Sega saturn, but even with all that the amount of money I've spent over the years tinkering around with my PC buying weird cooling setups or anything from http://www.xoxide.com/ far far outweighs what I've spent on my consoles.
 
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Why are people so worked up about which one costs more? Who freaking cares? Consoles and PCs have certain advantages and disadvantages, and it's up to the individual to decide what works best for them. Is everyone so insecure about their purchase that they need to vehemently prove they made a good choice to the internet? That's just dumb.
 
ryken said:
Why are people so worked up about which one costs more? Who freaking cares? Consoles and PCs have certain advantages and disadvantages, and it's up to the individual to decide what works best for them. Is everyone so insecure about their purchase that they need to vehemently prove they made a good choice to the internet? That's just dumb.
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Its a discussion guy. That's kinda what happens on a forum. lol
 
piscian18 said:
One thing to note. Every game thats ever come out on PC is still playable on PC. The same can't be said of consoles. If I wanted to play an older game I have to have to buy an older system. I have to have an entire room dedicated to having all my consoles and games. PC takes up a small corner. You also still need physical media for console gaming which is fucking annoying as well. Steam/Origin/GOG/D2D/GMG etc have made me one portable mutherfucker.
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Even though I wouldn't consider this a standard it depends how old we are going.

NES/SNES/Genesis all fully playable on a Wiibrew, but then you get the slippery slope that can lead to piracy because older games are easy to pirate.

Still though when you get down to it how many of us are playing older games? I kept my saturn for what like 10 years? In the last 3 years I have maybe fired it up twice, out of boredom.

What I am saying is nostalgia while totally awesome at times doesn't last. While I have older games I never play them and the same can be said for people I know.
 
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