Does the most powerful games console make sense as a secondary gaming rig or, heaven forbid, a PC replacement?
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Cant people just review stuff as consoles, instead of always trying to review them through the eyes of a pc.
Xbox Series X verdict
The Xbox Series X is a tough one to review as a PC gamer, especially one coming off the back of testing a host of new Nvidia graphics cards. But there is some equivalence there. This machine isn't
really representative of a new generation of consoles, it's actually far more like dropping a new graphics card into your PC.
Your existing games library still works, but suddenly performs better, you now have access to graphical features your old hardware might not have afforded you in new games, but otherwise it's essentially the same experience, only better. That's maybe a little unfair given the difference the SSD and supporting Zen 2 CPU cores make—the One X showed the limitations of simply bumping up the GPU power—but as a PC gamer using the Series X feels like an upgrade more than a whole new world of gaming.
Around launch there will be some titles arriving to use the power available to the Series X, and down the line developers will squeeze more and more impressive things out of the system. But, given that
everything coming to the Series X game-wise will also be hitting the PC, it's tough to make the call that it's a worthwhile TV-based companion to your gaming rig right now.
I picked up an Xbox 360 back in the day, despite having a powerful gaming PC, simply because there were game experiences I had to have that were only available on the console. With Microsoft making Windows and Xbox practically the same platform that's not a pull anymore.
Even the PS5, which actually does have some first-party exclusives, isn't really tempting me away from the PC. Couple that with the fact that the thing which made console gaming stand apart from the PC, the one-size-fits-all, just-play-your-games approach has vanished, and you're not really getting an easier ride opting for the console.
If you're a PC gamer, with a system from the last five years or so, I simply can't recommend the Xbox Series X as a viable purchase, whether as a replacement or secondary machine. The new consoles are coming at a point where the PC is getting a whole new step change in hardware—so take that $500 and drop it on an
RTX 3070 instead. Well, if you can find one...