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[firex]

I don't like RTS games, I moderately like FPS games and I like playing them on a couch+console just as much. The games selection is far more diverse on consoles and PC exclusives are simply not that great. How about racing games? Where's the PC equivalent of Burnout Paradise, Gran Turismo or Forza? Grid? I can play that on my PS3 as well. How about platformers like Mario or Ratchet & Clank? How about JRPGs? There aren't any on the PC. Japanese games in general are very rare on the PC. Capcom ported Lost Planet and Devil May Cry 4 to the PC, but sales have been so poor that its doubtful they'll continue.

first of all, lol @ thinking a blizzard game will require better than a 7900gt to run. I seriously bet it will be able to run on integrated video, especially on your average dell desktop.

Anyway, to answer your question about racing games: Trackmania United Forever. it's true that there's nothing much in the other 2 genres you listed, though. Maybe if there were more high quality western developed platformers, we'd get them on PC like we did with BG&E and Psychonauts last gen.

 

[Scott32020]

I bought a HP from Circuit City and I'm happy with it

HP Media Center ($720) - Vista 64-bit, AMD Quad Core 2.2 GHz, 5 GB RAM, Nvida 9400

 

[Mohonky]

I'm sorry, I must have slipped into an alternate universe where 700-900 dollars isn't a lot of damn money.

...

I'm trying to figure out how $700-$900 is "really not [a lot of money] for most people". For many people -- heck, possibly for most people.

Median income in the USA is about $48,000 a year now. After taxes (assuming married, filing joint) that's about $41,500 (ignoring state tax and a host of other things.) Ignoring ALL deductions and such, that's a weekly salary of about $850.

I find it hard to believe that about 1/4 of a month's paycheck isn't "a lot of money" for most people, especially with rent/mortgage costs probably being near the same range.

Considering the setups in the 'Post a Picture of Your Setup' thread and a thread where some guy thought $30 an hour was 'just average' I'd say some people here are really out of touch with what average pay and expenditure really is.

 

[MrHicks]

...



Considering the setups in the 'Post a Picture of Your Setup' thread and a thread where some guy thought $30 an hour was 'just average' I'd say some people here are really out of touch with what average pay and expenditure really is.

true
the "600 dollar/euro" PS3 made people go batshit insane saying how expensive it was and for the most part at the 600 pricepoint only the hardcore or the rich bought it

now we have pc gamers saying "you can have a kickass pc for ONLY 900 folks"
yeah....

 

[zoku88]

But considering that you can make a decent gaming rig from just a computer that you would use for work (which almost everyone has these days) and just insert a gfx card in it...

 

[TheSonicRetard]

After avoiding building a new PC for YEARS AND YEARS (seriously, the last time I had built a PC was 1999) I built a new one this summer. I'd always been weary of high PC prices, but I was pleasantly surprised. All in all, I spent about $700, $1200 if you want to count the "monitor." My PC preforms as I need it, but I suspect I use my PC differently than most. My PC is a dedicated HTPC (home theater PC) that acts mainly as a client for my media server.

$1200 and some very thrifty spending got me:

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz Quad-Core Processor
8800 GT 512 MB
4 gb Corsair DDR2 800 memory
Audigy Z2 Pro
320 gb HDD
DVD drive
cheap ass case
500w PSU
cheap wireless keyboard and mouse
A gyration motion-controlled universal remote
black, wireless 360 controller
42" Winbook HDTV

For $1200, I think this is a steal. My PC sits on my entertainment center next to my PS3, 360, and wii, and is hooked up to the HDTV using HDMI. Since it's hooked up to an HDTV, it runs at 1920×1080 most of the time.

Now, like I said, I use my PC a little different than most. For starters, I don't really use a keyboard and mouse with the PC since it's a media computer. My gyroscopic remote works like a wii-mote in that I can wave it around and move the mouse. It's running MediaPortal as it's front end and it basically hides the x64 vista running behind it.

I bought pinnacle profiler for $10 and it lets me map games controls to my 360 pad. For the most part, I'm not a very snobby PC gamer since I use my PC like a console. I sit on the couch and play mainly with a gamepad. Games like crysis, for example, I play exclusively with the pad. I don't really care about competitive gaming.

For games where mouse is a must, like World in Conflict, or Unreal Tournament 3, I map walking and stuff to the left side of the 360 controller, and the rest to my gyration remote, which lets me play with a pseudo-wiimote. Works very well - I was able to beat World in Conflict very easily.

Since I got my media PC, I've been buying up games like crazy since, as people pointed out, they're cheaper on the PC. In the last 2 months I've gotten Crysis, Call of Duty 2, Devil May Cry 4, GRiD, Assassins Creed, World in Conflict, Brothers in Arms, Kane & Lynch, Lost Planet, Bioshock (OMG way better than the 360 version), Aquaria, Oblivion, Penny-Arcade Episode 1, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Prey, Turok, UT3, and Tomb Raider Anniversary. With the exception of Crysis, which has to be run at 1280×720 and medium settings, and Assassins Creed, which runs at 1280 x 720 on high settings, everything runs flawlessly at 1080p on high settings.

This entire experience has completely changed my view of PC gaming. While I still think it's on the decline, I don't think it's expensive (or at least, more so than console gaming) nor is it difficult. My PC is my 4th console, and I love it. Had I held off on the Gyration remote (which was $100 itself), used an old HDD and and old monitor, I could have easily built my system for $400. And while it's not top of the line, it's upgradeable and still powerful enough that I don't need to really look at the minimum PC requirements.

Plus, since it's connected to my media server, it completely trashes the PS3 and 360 when it comes to video. I use my desktop for surfing the net and general computing, so I don't need to do that with my media PC, but let me tell you that watching video in 1080p on my PC is sex.

Since I'm so proud of my first gaming class PC since 1999, here's some pics of my setup... sorry about the low quality, they came from my phone:

my setup

crappy case

MediaPortal

Games selection

Remote

Bioshock

Planet Earth in 1080p

If anyone's curious, I can capture some video or pics of how I play World in Conflict using my remote.

No real point to this post other than to give the experience of basically a first time PC gamer after being a life long console gamer.

EDIT: Oh wow those pics are bigger than I expected... do I need to resize?

 

[zoku88]

Yea, I do want to see how you play games with your remote. It sounds hard! :lol :lol

 

[sankt-Antonio]

i stoped pc gaming after diablo2 , why ? i bought this game day 1 ,ran home, installed it...
error 1298748... reinstalled it ten times with diverent drivers... hours later it ran, but i couldnt enjoy a game i have waited years to come to me the first time i played it... fuck the money this shit killed my pc gaming needs.

some could say:
if i would be a "pc doctor" i would have gotten 100€ working that long on a pc.

 

[TheSonicRetard]

Yea, I do want to see how you play games with your remote. It sounds hard! :lol :lol

It really isn't that hard. I grip the left half of a 360 remote in my left hand, and rest it in my lap, then use my right hand with the remote. The Left trigger and Left Bumper on the 360 remote are mapped to moving the camera along the Y axis, and the thumbstick is mapped to wasd. The back button on the 360 pad is mapped to escape, and the 8-way d-pad is mapped to a bunch of shortcuts. If I click the left stick on the 360 pad, it's the same as holding shift.

over on the remote, I really only use

those buttons. The big button in the middle is the mouse button - when it's pressed, then you can wave the remote around and have it act like a wiimote. Alternatively, you can double click it and it'll toggle mouse movement, and you click it again to toggle it off. To the left and right of it is right and left click. Moving the mouse is really simpler than you'd think. It doesn't take long to get used to double clicking the toggle button to move the mouse around, or clicking it once real quick to recenter the mouse.

The buttons above it are used for macros.

Finally, the vista button below it is mapped to the mouse center click, which lets me move the camera around if I hold it.

I promise, it works really well. I believe asus is selling a wireless controller that is basically a wii nunchuck ripoff, and I'm so gonna buy one. I'll try to take video once I have someone over who can hold the camera.

EDIT: All in all, I have 24 buttons and 4 axis at my disposal from my 360 pad/gyration remote set up. More than enough for most PC games.

 

[Kadey]

You can still get very great results with 99% of the games out there with an 8800/9800GT, currently going in the low $100 range and is now a low budget card. An even higher level is the 4850 close by and 4870 after that. The latter ripping every single game out there cept that one game.
Building a complete PC under $1000 that makes consoles cry is not out of the question. Myth totally busted.

 

[TheSonicRetard]

So yeah, with regards to "that one game..."

Is it possible to run it maxed out? What kind of machine would you need to do that? How much of an improvement would SLI 8800 GTs be over a single 8800 GT?

Good call on the card, the 8800GT is great. The 9 series isn't much of an improvement, so the 8800 GT still functions adequately. It's the kind of card that seems like it'll last a good 3 or 4 years before becoming completely worthless.

 

[otake]

you can also get a lot more out of your pc. slap in a tv tuner and now you've got your own tivo. want to do some game development? join xna and play your own games or take the editors in UT3 or crysis and make your own mod. need a media server? just slap another harddrive and your done.

pc is a lot more expandable. ultimate gaming machine, ultimate anything technology related. you can do anything with your pc. even boil an egg if your overclocking.

 

[Jenga]

So yeah, with regards to "that one game..."

Is it possible to run it maxed out?

Nope. No cards available can run it maxed out at a decent framerate. For the moment at least, I hear the expansion Crysis: Warhead will bring some optimizations so getting closer to that maxed out settings might be plausible.

 

[Smidget]

IMHO:

Everyone has to give up and realize console gamers aren't going to become PC gamers and vice versa. I think I have some PC gaming in me, but mostly lean towards the console side.

If someone doesn't want to fiddle with drivers/cfg files/etc, just pop in a disc, play for 30 minutes and shut it off, a console is a much better avenue to take. Some people like to tweak settings and then play a game. Although a lot of multiplatform games overlap, the type of PC exclusive games versus console exclusive games are very much on the opposite sides of the spectrum.

And no matter how many times you might tell a console gamer that PC gaming isn't that expensive, it's not going to convert them. True gamers won't care about the platform, and just find a way to play the best games out.

 

[Draft]

I mean, OF COURSE a PC is going to be more expensive than a console. It's a fucking COMPUTER. It does like a BILLION THINGS.

 

[Draft]

As requested... mind you I am building this with $800 in mind, so I'm going for performance that comes in under that and not strictly the cheapest build:

MSI MBOX LGA775 - Case/Motherboard/PSU - $104.99
Intel C2D E8400 CPU - $169.99
XFX 8800 GT 512MB w/ Call of Duty 4 - $129.99
Seagate Barracuda 640GB SATA HDD - $84.99
Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 RAM - $87.00
Samsung 22x DVD Burner w/ LightScribe - $29.99
Vista 64-bit SP1 OEM - $99.99
Logitech basic KB & Mouse (optical) combo - $12.99
CA 68w Sub + 2 Speakers - $38.99

Total: $758.92

Note - total does not include $40 of MIR from RAM or GPU.

I didn't really spend much time on it so it's probably not even close to optimal, but it's very simple to create a gaming-class rig if your ceiling is $800 w/o monitor.

Ho ho ho, I think you blew that one dude straight off the forum. He's registering at gamefaqs as we speak.

 

[ianp622]

IMHO:

Everyone has to give up and realize console gamers aren't going to become PC gamers and vice versa. I think I have some PC gaming in me, but mostly lean towards the console side.

If someone doesn't want to fiddle with drivers/cfg files/etc, just pop in a disc, play for 30 minutes and shut it off, a console is a much better avenue to take. Some people like to tweak settings and then play a game. Although a lot of multiplatform games overlap, the type of PC exclusive games versus console exclusive games are very much on the opposite sides of the spectrum.

And no matter how many times you might tell a console gamer that PC gaming isn't that expensive, it's not going to convert them. True gamers won't care about the platform, and just find a way to play the best games out.

That's not true. I used to be a PC gamer, and now I'm a PS3 gamer. I haven't had major problems with games, it's just that process of going through optimizations that wears on you. I used to be somewhat hardcore, overclocking my video card and processor, I had watercooling, I disabled services and such.

The reason why I switched is because I just find console games more fun. It's not just sitting on the couch either. At college I would sit in my PC chair and hook my PS3 up to my monitor, and it was still tons of fun.

Even if it's not too expensive to get a good gaming PC, I don't think you're rewarded with games that look alot better than those on consoles. PC developers have to develop with low-end gaming machines in mind, lest their sales suffer like with Crysis. And there are some things that are difficult to tweak for the entire range of gaming machines, such as polygon counts. The Source engine does this, but it takes alot of work. And Killzone 2 shows that consoles can have better graphics than many PC games.

Even if the graphics were better, the gameplay has pretty much stayed the same for a long time. RTS's are the same, shooters are the same, and although Bioware has changed their RPGs, the rest are either mediocre or the same. (BTW, I get PC Gamer so I do get a look at what games are coming out) This is true of consoles as well, but I feel like console games have a greater variety of gameplay types, and the games are almost always more polished than PC games (although this might have to do with the variety of hardware specs PC developers have to deal with).

Anyway, this is sort of off-topic, but I wanted to point out that price isn't the only factor determining whether someone is a PC gamer or a console gamer.

 

[Mash]

I'm a PC gamer first and foremost but it can be really frustrating sometimes. It's all well and good me being able to solve my own issues and find patches etc. but to play with buddies it's too much of a hassle. With a console me and a friend can be up and playing Gears of War co-op within a minute, for example. On the PC there's so many little things that can go wrong for someone not that experienced it's just not that nice a way to play games. I can't see myself playing consoles more than PC simply because for me it's more convenient, but I would be naive to think that applies across the board. PC gaming is simply a messy experience.

 

[TheFightingFish]

Another point when talking about the expense (or lack thereof) of PC gaming is how much excellent gaming you can do on a low end PC. I've got a laptop with a trashy graphics card but I can still do plenty of interesting gaming on my PC. Use it for older strategy games that I love (Alpha Centauri, Europa Universailas, Age of Wonders) quick arcade fixes (with GameTaps free offerings) and interesting indy / low system req. offerings (Trackmainia mostly). I'd still call myself primarily a console gamer but ignoring all the cool stuff that you can play on even a low end PC is doing yourself a disservice as a gamer.

 

[Kunan]

This gimping scenario is why I mentioned Crysis, as I don't see many games other than those released by Blizzard not seeking to be at or around Crysis level in a year or so.

Also, my current PC, an HP, cost 800 last week and had the best graphics card out of all the mid-range PCs available, an 800 gt, and I still can't even play the original half-life 2 on anywhere near max (1280x1024) at 30 fps.

This fact makes me feel like shit, as I'm sure it does to many others, especially those with even more expensive PCs that have integrated graphics.

My laptop's QFX570m absolutely eats every source game for breakfast at 1680x1050. You gotta have some horrible bottleneck in your computer

 

[Stoney Mason]

I'm a PC gamer first and foremost but it can be really frustrating sometimes. It's all well and good me being able to solve my own issues and find patches etc. but to play with buddies it's too much of a hassle. With a console me and a friend can be up and playing Gears of War co-op within a minute, for example. On the PC there's so many little things that can go wrong for someone not that experienced it's just not that nice a way to play games. I can't see myself playing consoles more than PC simply because for me it's more convenient, but I would be naive to think that applies across the board. PC gaming is simply a messy experience.

Yep. Frets on Fire simply won't run on my PC. There are other commercial games that occasionally have this issue where you have to go and figure out the reason why a certain game just won't run on your system because you need to change something or got get a file, or something random. This gives PC's a ton of flexibility with mods and customizations on the other side and such but lots of people don't want to end up troubleshooting their systems and games when all they want to do is play the game. That's part of the express reason why consoles exist along with about a dozen other reasons including the fact that for the average user the initial outlay of cash on a console is cheaper than the initial outlay of cash for a console generally. That doesn't mean individuals won't make the decision that the PC is the better investment of money and time for their uses.

 

[careful]

I'd say I play more console than PC nowadays, simply because it's a bit more convenient for me, but I will always come back to the PC for RTS games.

The 'PC gaming is expensive' argument is ridiculous (although I'm not disputing the complexity argument for the average joe). That was true back in the day when a gaming PC would cost you over $1000, but nowadays, you can get amazing components for really cheap (E8400 for $170, 4850 for $150, 4gb ram for $50, P43 mobo for $100).

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Because most people don't build their own PCs and never will.

 

[Vandiger]

Because most people don't build their own PCs and never will.

Too bad for them. Building a good looking computer is fun and rewarding.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Too bad for them. Building a good looking computer is fun and rewarding.

And no one disputes that. Learning how to build an engine or play guitar is probably the same thing but the average person isn't going to do that either.

 

[zoku88]

And no one disputes that. Learning how to build an engine or play guitar is probably the same thing but the average person isn't going to do that either.

Those things don't sound very easy :-/

And don't sound like a cheaper alternative

 

[aznpxdd]

The biggest problem with PC gaming is not the price, how you're forced to update your graphics card every two years, driver hell or convenience, it's simply the game selection.

I've got a high end PC (self built, cost me $2000) with high quality lo-noise parts that I can also game on. The problem is I have no interest in typical PC games. The only exception in the past two years have been Titan Quest and the Sam & Max-adventures.

I don't like RTS games, I moderately like FPS games and I like playing them on a couch+console just as much. The games selection is far more diverse on consoles and PC exclusives are simply not that great. How about racing games? Where's the PC equivalent of Burnout Paradise, Gran Turismo or Forza? Grid? I can play that on my PS3 as well. How about platformers like Mario or Ratchet & Clank? How about JRPGs? There aren't any on the PC. Japanese games in general are very rare on the PC. Capcom ported Lost Planet and Devil May Cry 4 to the PC, but sales have been so poor that its doubtful they'll continue.

O RLY? No shit the game selection on consoles is better to you.

I love it when people consider their personal taste in games as universal opinion. Complaining about PC's game selection when you don't even like the two genres it dominates in doesn't make sense.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Those things don't sound very easy :-/

And don't sound like a cheaper alternative

Very Easy is relative for everybody. And I can guarantee you knowing car maintenance yourself is cheaper than heading down to the mechanic but what do people do

 

[Gully State]

This gimping scenario is why I mentioned Crysis, as I don't see many games other than those released by Blizzard not seeking to be at or around Crysis level in a year or so.

Also, my current PC, an HP, cost 800 last week and had the best graphics card out of all the mid-range PCs available, an 800 gt, and I still can't even play the original half-life 2 on anywhere near max (1280x1024) at 30 fps.

This fact makes me feel like shit, as I'm sure it does to many others, especially those with even more expensive PCs that have integrated graphics.

I'm calling BS here. My current computer runs the original Half Life 2 at full settings at over 60 FPS (1600x1200, all high detail settings, 2x AA, Vert sync on)

My specs (4 year old computer ...I'm due for an upgrade)
Intel P4 prescott @ 3.2 gigs
ddr2 ram clocked at 667 megahertz : 2 gigs
Nvidia 6800 GT

none of the components are overclocked either.



But back to the discussion at hand, in the age where console owners are counting resolution and fps, one way to dispel the myth that PC gaming requires massive overhauls every so often would be for an institution or even a zealous gamer to start web database that shows what settings console games are playing at (AA, frame per second, native resolution, texture quality). This would allow for not only better comparison but also would alleviate the fears that the PC gamers' system is becoming obsolete. I still think Kosma did a great job with his $399 PC build ( BTW, how is that computer running?)

And as for hassle to work with. This is something that any PC gamer should concede to console gamers. The strongest advantage console gaming will always have is that it's simple to use (although I must admit, setting up my PS3 wasn't as simple as just plugging it in and turning the power on. It's not a trend I like seeing).

 

[TheExodu5]

I easily get over a hundred hours of gaming per month on my PC for only $15 a month.

Also, cryptic, what the hell is an 800gt? Your card certainly isn't an 8600gt, which is the lowest end gaming card out there that costs roughly $60. It's probably an 8400gt, which is not meant for gaming.

 

[Deku]

consoles were not always this expensive either.

 

[zoku88]

Very Easy is relative for everybody. And I can guarantee you knowing car maintenance yourself is cheaper than heading down to the mechanic but what do people do

Well, you said build an engine, not car maintenance ;P

But like, is building the engine that's in my car really that easy?

 

[Stoney Mason]

consoles were not always this expensive either.

And the most popular console in this country is the one that is the cheapest and has the least processing power and 3d performance...

 

[Stoney Mason]

Well, you said build an engine, not car maintenance ;P

But like, is building the engine that's in my car really that easy?

I was mainly going for the car maintenance angle


I'm just saying for the person who is willing to put the time in, for whatever discipline, its always going to seem the no brainer route but most of us only pick a few things to really delve into and computer maintenance isn't one of those things for a lot of people. I know tons of friends who can use the necessary software they want on a computer but once something goes wrong, they are helpless.

 

[zoku88]

I was mainly going for the car maintenance angle


I'm just saying for the person who is willing to put the time in, for whatever discipline, its always going to seem the no brainer route but most of us only pick a few things to really delve into and computer maintenance isn't one of those things for a lot of people. I know tons of friends who can use the necessary software they want on a computer but once something goes wrong, they are helpless.

Oh, icic. I really seriously you thought that you could build your own engine :lol :lol

I was like, 'holy crap, is that true?'

 

[Petrie]

What most people overlook in the analysis is that anyone who owns a console ALSO owns a PC. So to actually compare the costs, you must discount the cost of the PC over the difference in years between a consoles lifespan vs. how often they upgrade it. If they buy a new PC once in a consoles lifespan (which is not unreasonable), then you need to compare the cost of a gaming rig vs. the cost of a non-gaming PC + the console.

That's quite the assumption. I own only a 5 year old laptop, and outside of gaming it handles all my needs. For MANY of us you do need to consider the full cost, and not just the costs "difference" you seem to want to use.

 

[tino]

Even for the games that work on both platforms, take Need For Speed: Whatever Edition for example. The pain on installing it on a new XP and hacking it to make wide screen support work instead of "just works" on a console already make PC gaming a joke to me. And this kind of baby sitting is the norm not the exception for most PC games.

And reading through message board to get a gist at what's the currently highest "performance to price ratio" video card/mobo combo is mother fucking boring, and annoying. PC people never seem to realize this fact.

"You think that's cheap look my config is even cheapa and betta look at this newegg link while you are at it take a look at this hardware test pie chart blad blad blad" yeah whatever dude.

 

[aznpxdd]

Even for the games that work on both platforms, take Need For Speed: Whatever Edition for example. The pain on installing it on a new XP and hacking it to make wide screen support work instead of "just works" on a console already make PC gaming a joke to me. And this kind of baby sitting is the norm not the exception for most PC games.

And reading through message board to get a gist at what's the currently highest "performance to price ratio" video card/mobo combo is mother fucking boring, and annoying. PC people never seem to realize this fact.

"You think that's cheap look my config is even cheapa and betta look at this newegg link while you are at it take a look at this hardware test pie chart blad blad blad" yeah whatever dude.

You can say the same shit on just about every hobby out there...

Don't be a dick.

As for NFS not working in widescreen, that's due to EA being a horrible company.

 

[zoku88]

Even for the games that work on both platforms, take Need For Speed: Whatever Edition for example. The pain on installing it on a new XP and hacking it to make wide screen support work instead of "just works" on a console already make PC gaming a joke to me. And this kind of baby sitting is the norm not the exception for most PC games.

WTH, that kind of this is the exception. No two ways about it. I know since i've NEVER had to do that with ANY game. (Most I've ever had to do is edit a text file to enable windowed-mode support in some games, not something you can do on consoles, anyway.)

And not everything "just works." Remember the people having problems with GTA4?

 

[ElyrionX]

Yeah, now I remember why this was such a pain - he only had one monitor hooked up but the problem was with the stupid software hook invoked on the right-click that was looking for other sources anyway. The fix posted above should cull that functionality entirely so it does not happen anymore. You might update the drivers first, just in case they fixed this issue since I last looked at it.

Thank you! I'll give this a shot as soon as I can.

 

[Wallach]

I'm trying to figure out how $700-$900 is "really not [a lot of money] for most people". For many people -- heck, possibly for most people.

Median income in the USA is about $48,000 a year now. After taxes (assuming married, filing joint) that's about $41,500 (ignoring state tax and a host of other things.) Ignoring ALL deductions and such, that's a weekly salary of about $850.

I find it hard to believe that about 1/4 of a month's paycheck isn't "a lot of money" for most people, especially with rent/mortgage costs probably being near the same range.

That's because the word "cheap" is missing from my post. Apologies for the typo, though the sentence right after that should have made it clear what the point was.

 

[Azzurri]

Hell Best Buy carries the new Gateway® P-7811 FX Edition. 1400$; Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor4 P8400, 4GB (4096MB) DDR3 800MHz, 200GB 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive w/ 16MB Cache, NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GTS with 512MB of GDDR3, 17.0" WUXGA Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1920 x 1200 max. resolution). It's a pretty killer deal for the specs.

 

[tino]

People don't have to know or actually do any of this themselves. They're already buying perfectly good HPs from a computer store, all they have to do is find someone at the store who knows what they're talking about to get them a video card (and possibly power supply) upgrade and then pay to have it installed, which isn't much.

On top of the PC you already need for other things it's maybe $200-300 for really excellent performance in games.

Then you have to uninstall crapware come pre-installed in the turn key desktop. lulz. And then half the people will tell you to get rip of Vista and install XP.

 

[Gully State]

The topic of the thread is "The Myth of Expensive PC Gaming" not "The Myth of Inconvenient PC Gaming." Point is that PC gaming is not that expensive. Console gaming should always have the strength of being more user friendly/idiot proof. But at the same time the console platform isn't even close to being as customizable as PC is.

 

[dLMN8R]

The topic of the thread is "The Myth of Expensive PC Gaming" not "The Myth of Inconvenient PC Gaming." Point is that PC gaming is not that expensive. Console gaming should always have the strength of being more user friendly/idiot proof. But at the same time the console platform isn't even close to being as customizable as PC is.

Get used to it. Console fanboys are incapable of picking and argument and sticking with it, instead quickly jumping to the next one as soon as their first ignorantly-formed view was disproven.

 

[ianp622]

Get used to it. Console fanboys are incapable of picking and argument and sticking with it, instead quickly jumping to the next one as soon as their first ignorantly-formed view was disproven.

My point was that price was not the issue in the first place, and I don't think I'm alone in that regard. I've built a couple of my own computers, so I know how much it costs. I thought PC gamers might be interested in other reasons why console gamers don't get gaming PCs.

 

[MaritalWheat]

But considering that you can make a decent gaming rig from just a computer that you would use for work (which almost everyone has these days) and just insert a gfx card in it...

Truth...I turned my Walmart bought PC that I didn't plan to game on into a CoH and Crysis playing machine with a $70 8600 GT and $20 for 2 gigs of decent RAM. PC gaming doesn't mean OMG ULTRA HIGH. That setup that I used played those games fine at decent enough settings; if you want to spend more money for even nicer looking stuff, well the options are there if you want them. Its like when people bitched about BC: Rearmed not having online multiplayer when they clearly explained they couldn't do it in the budget, it was either offline or nothing--give people an inch and they'll want a mile. Give people the ability to run games at settings equivalent to consoles for about the same price, but the option to run them better for more money, and they'll immediately complain that its soooo expensive. THERE ARE MEDIUM SETTINGS PEOPLE.

 

[DjangoReinhardt]

How much time do people tend spend building, maintaining, tweaking, and upgrading their gaming PC rigs over a five-year span? Or just in a given year for maintaining and tweaking?

 

[Wallach]

How much time do people tend spend building, maintaining, tweaking, and upgrading their gaming PC rigs over a five-year span? Or just in a given year for maintaining and tweaking?

Hard to say because it would vary so much. So far this year I haven't done anything to my main gaming rig.

 

[zoku88]

How much time do people tend spend building, maintaining, tweaking, and upgrading their gaming PC rigs over a five-year span? Or just in a given year for maintaining and tweaking?

Building takes like.. an hour or two?

Maintenance probably just means upgrading drivers every month or so...

Tweaking is all done right after the initial build usually (I'm guessing you mean overclocking.)

Upgrading depends on the person, but it takes only like 10-20 minutes to upgrade a part. When you upgrade... depends on the person. Some people do it every year... I'm prolly more of a two/three-year person, since I don't play demanding games (I'm gaming on an 8600M GT for god's sake.)