PS4 performance on a ~£300 PC. Can it be done? (spoiler: yes)

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Sendou

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CPU: Intel Pentium G3258
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Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 750 Ti 2GB
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The hardware capabilities of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are defining the next era of AAA gaming. We went into this project half-expecting to find graphical performance from our build at a mid-way point between the two consoles, but instead found that the GTX 750 Ti is capable of matching PS4 visuals point-for-point in many cases, even on the most recent titles. Of course, as developers get to grips with the consoles, we may find that the PC we've created falls behind (already there are issues with texture quality in a couple of games - the amount of VRAM on the GPU will probably become much more important this year), but the beauty of the platform is its upgradability - RAM, CPU and GPU can all be replaced with far more capable parts. The fact that entry-level enthusiast kit competes so closely is a double-edged sword: on the one hand it means that PC owners can enjoy the latest games on relatively modest kit. On the other, it means that scalability worthy of higher end PC hardware does tend to be rather limited - resolution and frame-rate gains are welcome, but improvements elsewhere can be thin on the ground.
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I found the article interesting because they're actually trying to compare the games to the closest equivalent to console settings found on PC. If the game is locked at 30 on consoles then so they did on PC.

Source: The Digital Foundry 2015 budget gaming PC guide
 
Articles like are really moot. There is no real or concrete point in compairing these, because some games are simply not on pc. So the only point of compairing, is to show hardware differences. And gee, is that so hard to figure out?

Hate these with passion. Pure amaturish work. Imho.
 
As someone who is temporarily moving out of PC gaming for a while, these builds just don't make any sense unless you're really pushed for space and need both a gaming device and PC.

I'm not sure what scenario i'd ever be in where I'd recommend someone spend PSXB1 money on an entry level PC. That isn't even scratching the bottom end of the PC platforms advantages graphically.
 
Reminds me of the thread I created a while back about the 750 Ti often matching or slightly outperforming the PS4 despite the FLOPs, bandwidth and fillrate advantage held by the latter.
Also one thing to bear in mind is that some PC games are starting to require quad-core processors- even a dual core with Hyperthreading doesn't always cut it
 
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Tough choice
 
Terbinator said:
I'm not sure what scenario i'd ever be in where I'd recommend someone spend PSXB1 money on an entry level PC. That isn't even scratching the bottom end of the PC platforms advantages graphically.
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I could recommend an entry level build to someone interested in PC gaming. PC has literally thousands of indie games that would run perfectly well on that PC and a huge back catalogue on top of that. It's the best indie game platform on the market and has way more exclusives than any other platform.
 
Tomeru said:
Articles like are really moot. There is no real or concrete point in compairing these, because some games are simply not on pc. So the only point of compairing, is to show hardware differences. And gee, is that so hard to figure out?

Hate these with passion. Pure amaturish work. Imho.
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But they are not though.

Majority of games purchased are multiplatform games and some people don't care for exclusives. So for people like that articles like this give them an opportunity to make an informed decision in terms of which platform they invest in.

In addition one could argue that the PC in many ways has more exclusives than any single console platform would ever have.
 
Tomeru said:
Articles like are really moot. There is no real or concrete point in compairing these, because some games are simply not on pc.
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And some games are simply not on PS4, or XBO, or WiiU, or any given platform. I'm not clear what the point you're making is. A lot of people argue that PCs are unaffordable or offer worse value propositions than consoles, the point of a guide like this is to see what is possible on an entry level system. The comparison to PS4 is to serve as a benchmark for console-level performance, to see if it would be a viable platform to play multiplatform games on at this price point.

This thread does not need to descend into the salt mines. Nobody needs to defend anything, there is nothing at stake here.
 
GHG said:
But they are not though.

Majority of games purchased are multiplatform games and some people don't care for exclusives. So for people like that articles like this give them an opportunity to make an informed decision in terms of which platform they invest in.

In addition one could argue that the PC in many ways has more exclusives than any single console platform would ever have.
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People who don't care about exclusives make up most of the casual market, i.e. the opposite of an enthusiast that would build or do most of their gaming on a PC. They usually want annualized franchises and just want to game on the plug and play consoles their friends have, with zero patience for fiddling with a platform as open as a PC.
 
Well of course, it's feasible to have a PC with comparable performance. But the problem it's more for some multiplat games which require a more powerful hardware compared the ps4 to work on PC.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
This thread does not need to descend into the salt mines.
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It doesn't need to but it probably will. A lot of people think that current gen consoles follow the same business model as previous generations, with heavily subsidized hardware. That is just not true anymore. Consoles are budget gaming boxes, they are reasonably priced but in no way a bargain. The fact that you can get similar performance from a gaming PC at more or less the same price point is undeniable proof of that fact.

omonimo said:
But the problem it's more for some multiplat games which require a more powerful hardware compared the ps4 to work on PC.
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Not really.
 
Cisce said:
Depends if you already own Windows 7/8 or don't mind using the Windows 10 Technical Preview.
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It's not a fair comparison then, PS4 comes with an OS that can play all games.

Free OSes such as Linux and SteamOS are limited as to what games you can play, you have to buy Windows if you are buying a gaming PC instead of a console.
 
TheLegendOfMart said:
It's not a fair comparison then, PS4 comes with an OS that can play all games.

Free OSes such as Linux and SteamOS are limited as to what games you can play, you have to buy Windows if you are buying a gaming PC instead of a console.
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I'm merely suggesting using Windows 10 Technical Preview. It's available as a free download until they have enough money to either buy Windows 8 or wait for Windows 10's release.
 
If one bought all the parts at Amazon.de today, it would cost roughly 370£. Windows not even included. And no - using Windows 10 preview is not suitable at all.
 
alexandros said:
It doesn't need to but it probably will. A lot of people think that current gen consoles follow the same business model as previous generations, with heavily subsidized hardware. That is just not true anymore. Consoles are budget gaming boxes, they are reasonably priced but in no way a bargain. The fact that you can get similar performance from a gaming PC at more or less the same price point is undeniable proof of that fact.



Not really.
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Ubisoft said hi.
 
The Janitor said:
Then you should also take in to account the fact that on consoles you have to pay a subscription fee for online, which is free on PC.
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It doesn't say anything about playing online, it said can you get PS4 performance on a £300 PC.

Technically you can, but you cant use that power because you don't have an OS.
Cisce said:
I'm merely suggesting using Windows 10 Technical Preview. It's available as a free download until they have enough money to either buy Windows 8 or wait for Windows 10's release.
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It's still not a fair comparison.
 
If you decide to build a PC with surpassing a console's performance as your ultimate aim, then there's no reason to build it, you're doing it wrong, and you absolutely get what you deserve.
 
Is there much point in building a PC like this anyway? With PC the benefit is that it can run at much higher settings and framerates than the PS4. However, at the same time it's quite expensive to cram a decent PC into an enclosure as small as the PS4 due to mobile components not being easily available.

While DX12 will most likely make the performance differences to PS4's low level APIs negligible, it will be quite a while before those are on the market and there's still going to be some overhead from Windows 10.
 
Rawket Lawnchair said:
If you decide to build a PC with surpassing a console's performance as your ultimate aim, then there's no reason to build it, you're doing it wrong, and you absolutely get what you deserve.
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Exactly this. PC needs a bit of a higher initial cost to reap the benefits in the future. Else it'll be a short lived investment.
 
TheLegendOfMart said:
It doesn't say anything about playing online, it said can you get PS4 performance on a £300 PC.

Technically you can, but you cant use that power because you don't have an OS.


It's still not a fair comparison.
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But don't you need online to download updates? Which is pretty much required even for singleplayer games.
 
TheLegendOfMart said:
It doesn't say anything about playing online, it said can you get PS4 performance on a £300 PC.

Technically you can, but you cant use that power because you don't have an OS.


It's still not a fair comparison.
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Steam OS is free and even the Linux is library is way bigger than what MS/Sony can offer content wise.

Also you can get legit Windows 7 versions for like 30€.
 
Bloodborne, THE LAST OF US, 30fps is fine, drivers, upgrades, viruses, the cost of cables and antistatic wrist bands, PC has no exclusives except RTS, I've never heard of Pillars of Eternity, plug'n'play, I can't rearrange my living room now I have $400 of amiibo's, nvidia salt, Mark Cerny optimization, the PC won't last 5 years, XBL/PSN is better than steam, I can't build a PC, I like form factors that are as small as PS4 but Alienware alpha is too small, Steam is anti-consumer, I only play niche jrpgs of which there are 3 a year, I can't max everything on a $300 PC, the human eye can only detect graphical differences between PS4 and XBONE.
 
LilJoka said:
Exactly this. PC needs a bit of a higher initial cost to reap the benefits in the future. Else it'll be a short lived investment.
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Then again if you can't afford to pay more than let's say $400 at a time then like this article shows it's not an impossible pricepoint. You can always upgrade PC's down the line and even if you never do on a PC like the one in OP you have more good games to play than you ever have time to. So why won't we drop this bullshit right here.
 
Tomeru said:
Articles like are really moot. There is no real or concrete point in compairing these, because some games are simply not on pc. So the only point of compairing, is to show hardware differences. And gee, is that so hard to figure out?

Hate these with passion. Pure amaturish work. Imho.
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The only thing moot here is this post. These comparisons are interesting for people who are interested. If you are not, nobody forces you to read.
 
Steiner84 said:
will it play bloodborne, driveclub, tlou, uncharted, god of war, gt?
no? so whats the point?
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Nope, but there's too many advantages that can swing it, of course if your favourite games are on PS4 then no need to consider PC. Doesn't mean there is no point.
 
Steiner84 said:
will it play bloodborne, driveclub, tlou, uncharted, god of war, gt?
no? so whats the point?
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Multiplatform games and PC games? (Sales of multiplatform games take up most of the marketshare)

Digital Foundry is just showing it's perfectly possible to build a moderately powerful PC that is suited for good video game performance, and not that expensive. It's totally possible to like and/or prefer PS4, but it doesn't mean there's no point in comparing the two in terms and finding an equilalent PC build in terms of performance and price.

Edit: since PS4 comes with an input/controller already, I think they should include the cost of a controller or mouse & keyboard set as well. Arguably OS as well.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
And some games are simply not on PS4, or XBO, or WiiU, or any given platform. I'm not clear what the point you're making is. A lot of people argue that PCs are unaffordable or offer worse value propositions than consoles, the point of a guide like this is to see what is possible on an entry level system. The comparison to PS4 is to serve as a benchmark for console-level performance, to see if it would be a viable platform to play multiplatform games on at this price point.

This thread does not need to descend into the salt mines. Nobody needs to defend anything, there is nothing at stake here.
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Like I said, it's not about the games but the hardware, and that is moot because we buy these for the game. Yes we play multiplatform games on it, which make it viable. But we already knew that. So what is the point other than no point exactly?

And just to enforce a point: If a pc can't play ps4 exlusive games, how can it replicate a PS4-like Exprience exactly? This is all about the hardware, like the title says, which is pretty much pointless because we play much more than the hardware.
 
laxu said:
Is there much point in building a PC like this anyway? With PC the benefit is that it can run at much higher settings and framerates than the PS4. However, at the same time it's quite expensive to cram a decent PC into an enclosure as small as the PS4 due to mobile components not being easily available.

While DX12 will most likely make the performance differences to PS4's low level APIs negligible, it will be quite a while before those are on the market and there's still going to be some overhead from Windows 10.
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That isn't the benefit of PC. That's a side effect of the benefit of PC which is it's openness. Possibly more powerful hardware just come from that. So does the larger software ecosystem and better community around games.
 
Sendou said:
Then again if you can't afford to pay more than let's say $400 at a time then like this article shows it's not an impossible pricepoint. You can always upgrade PC's down the line and even if you never do on a PC like the one in OP you have more good games to play than you ever have time to. So why won't we drop this bullshit right here.
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Point will not be dropped, but you are also right, depends on the individual of course. If you just want to play AAA games then it's probably better to spend the extra 100-150$ upfront.
 
Will it run same as PS4 after an year or two? once developers get used to PS4 hardware then it will have optimizations to push the hardware even further so PS4 guarantees all the games run as much as it can for next 5 years but this PC will not survive to match PS4. Also PS4 has exclusives which this cannot play..
 
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