Can We Build a Gaming PC on a Console Budget?

Oh look. Mines better and i spent less.

<< LINK REMOVED >>

People interested in PC gaming should seriously splurge a bit more. Budget builds lead to all kinds of regrets. Sure, it might perform similarly to the PS4/Xbox One, but that's not saying a lot.

How would I build a gaming PC for $550? A quad core processor, at minimum. Not sure about GPU brand, I'd do my research. Reuse my current liquid cooling system and external sound card. Mobo would have to be compatible with components.

But after spendjngnall summer upgrading my.PC from what it was before, I'll stick with my PS4 for now, with the exception of PC exclusives and mod-able old games. After all, it's the games that matter most.

Theres nothing here about the cost of the mouse and keyboard, or the super high quality monitor. You would probably want to spend a lot on a desk chair too, because the $100-$200 ones usually fall apart in 6 months to a year.

The cost of building the system should be seen in comparison with the cost of buying games. If PC games are $10 cheaper, then it stands to reason that you could spend slightly more on the box itself, does it not?

Can We Build a Gaming PC on a Console Budget? Of course you can. You probably have to. The real question is about the size of the budget.

I don't like the title of this article.

I put together a budget gaming rig this past summer with this AMD motherboard and have been very happy with it for the most part. I paired it with the better FX-8350 CPU and a much nicer MSI R9-280X Twin Frozr Edition (essentially a super-cooled rebranded 3GB 7970). Add a New 700 Watt PSU and a Fractal Design case for under $40. I had roughly 4 TB of hard drives from a previous system. The whole thing is highly upgrade-able and came in under $600. It far outperforms either new console and will be future proof for the next couple years at least.

The beauty of PC gaming beyond cost/performance ratio is the satisfaction of building your own system and knowing what it contains, what makes it tick, and why it's better than Joe's down the street, or the crappy Dell the guy at Best Buy is trying to sell to your buddy on Black Friday.

Darthlod missed the entire point - this is about BUDGET GAMING RIGS:

And no, you don't need 850 Watts of power unless you're planning to run SLI or crossfire. Multiple Hard-drives don't draw that kind of power. A nice 600 watt PSU and you're good if all you're talking is one GPU and HDD. Windows 8 is great for gaming. And yes, buy a decent CPU cooler (the Corsair H55 is an entry level water-cooled CPU cooler available for $59.99 at most retailers - easy to install and well worth the money) and get at least one extra fan for decent ventilation!

Now, if you have unlimited resources - then yes, absolutely - for AMD, get a Sabertooth 990FX Motherboard - they are beastly and my motherboard choice for best in class!!

Not bad, but these budget builds have crappy wattage for Power Supply. 850w and above is the only way to go if you want to add more hard-drives, etc. 500 and 300w PS are just WAY too low. Furthermore, Windows 8? NO, not for gaming. You want Win 7. Honestly, Save up $200-300 more and get a better PS and MB as well as a Tower that has more ventilation fans.

Why bother with an open box 7850 when a 7870 ghz is 99 dollars if you buy from the manufacturer

I'm sure you can create a PC that out performs an Xbox One or PS4 but when has masses ever cared about overall specs? The iPhone is the most popular phone and it's just getting features that many Android phones had for years now, this didn't make (most) Apple customers go to other devices because their phones didn't have certain features. Just like with Apple, Samsung, Nike or whoever, their customers stay because they like the overall experience they have with that product. As a console gamer myself I have no urge to PC game, the closest I may get to that is possibly trying out a Steam machine. Mind you this is not to knock PC gamers, because I am sure their are PC gamers who wouldn't want to game on a console because they are so satisfied with what they experience on a PC.

"Plus, your PC is upgradable" - this is not, in fact, a plus. It is a minus. Consoles don't need to be upgraded at any time in their lifecycle (apart from, if you wish to do so, a bigger hdd). See, consoles start with a comparably high price for same or lower performance as a PC. Over the course of 5 - 7 years, like the last generation, you will see how much the quality of visuals of the games on these consoles improve. And you will not need to buy any upgrade at any time. If you want to play games on your PC on the best settings over the same period of time, I'm _very_ sure you will have to buy upgrades for it - and not only once.

It still is a very good choice for many reasons to own and use a PC. Every person may make that choice based on her own preferences. But the argument of upgradability probably isn't the plus for the PC, at least not from a money spent for performance perspective.

I'd like to see how well this budget PC handles modern games 9 years from now. The big plus with consoles is that a game made for it will play on it just fine. You don't have to go online to see if your old hardware can run it smoothly, or if your video card is not compatible, or if any of your motherboard or other components will work with the upgrade you need to run it.

The point that this article is trying to make fails miserably. It's trying to say "look we built a PC that can compete or beat current gen consoles" so that way the price isn't a con for PC gaming. Yet the author stupidly set a budget of $550. Why? Did he try building one at $400 and was unable to do so, then increase by $50 each try till he found one that technically could? The point falls flat when it ends up reading "look we built a PC that can compete or beat current gen consoles, and all we did was spend 40% more than you would for a console! See? Look how cheap that is!" And that's just initial cost, no including upgrades later down the road.

Then the gaming library point was tossed in like it was supposed to be icing on the cake. When your cake is crappy nobody cares about the icing. Should have ended with "yes, gaming on a PC is more expensive, but look at the library of games this budget PC can play flawlessly." If your goal is to argue that one form of a thing is NOT more expensive, you probably shouldn't show an article that says exactly the opposite. Of course I'm getting a console when the argument is "would you spend $550 to do the same thing on a PC that a ps4 can do for $400?"

Now that this article is back up again let me tell you that now in that same budget, you can build a PC that might as well be double the horsepower of that of the PS4..... all hail the price drops!!

didn't you guys already do this article already?

If I only have $550 budget for a PC, I'd probably save another $300-$500 and actually build a decent PC or, ya know, just buy the console. But that's just me.

Shut up GameSpot. Stop trying be PC salesman. PC is filled with many problems such as hackers, lack of quality control, fractured support from multiple companies, online DRM, and Microsoft's greedy monopolistic control over the OS. PC gaming needs to die or change a lot. It doesn't matter if you can upgrade it. There is no telling how PC will change for better or worse given the reliance on too many companies. More devs need to use Open GL and you shouldn't waste money on expensive graphics cards. There is no telling if games will even support it later. PC is nothing like a console. Without consoles, AMD, Nvidia, and Microsoft would r@pe your wallets. Never get caught up with PC's fractured nature. It scares me that sites like GameSpot don't understand how the consumer tech and computer industry works.

I'm sorry but $550 is not a "console budget". Maybe when Sony and MS are riding high after success and they arrogantly launch around $550, but everyone knows those are rare exceptions that don't last long or lead to failure in sales. $400 would be fair ($350 more average), what kind of PC can you build with that?

I've never been a massive fan of PC gaming. I couldn't get on with keyboard/mouse as it gives me RSI and controller support is patchy and varies by game. Mods aren't much of an interest to me either. I also dislike Steam and digital gaming in general, although the sales are nice I'd MUCH prefer a physical copy that I can buy pre-owned and sell when I'm finished. The only games I play on my PC are older games I can't play on my PS3 and a few exclusive indie titles.

On the "PC VS Consoles" topic I'd say that it's a better of personal preference. After trying both I'd say that for me console gaming is superior. I prefer console gaming because it's easier to buy a physical copy of a game, controller support is guaranteed. The hardware is also much cheaper, PS4s are now selling at £300, try building a PC capable of running current gen games for that price. My final reason is that better graphics in games simply doesn't interest me, I play games for gameplay and sometimes story. If I want to be wowed by pretty computer effects and "realistic graphics" I'd watch a film.

Shocking.

Elite Dangerous reminded me just how much I enjoy P.C. gaming; and this is from someone who prefers sticking with consoles for over a decade and remain.

But, I have missed games designed for keyboard and mouse. This is great as I've been thinking of making a proper gaming P.C. for Mech-Warrior 2015 & D00M IV.

I think people still have an outdated view on PC Gaming, Yes it was true that a couple of years ago a gaming pc wouldn't last you much before needing to upgrade it but from what i have seen in recent years that is no longer true. I no longer see games on PC with crazy system requirements like i did in the Doom 3 and Crysis days, I don't know if it's because developers are coding better or because hardware has advanced faster than games.

I still have a GTX 580 that i purchased 4 years ago and it is still playing most games on Ultra settings, The only thing i have needed to upgrade in the last 4 years was the processor and that is partly my fault because i cheapened out when i bought the original, Overall i don't see myself ever having to spend money on a full build again because some of the parts that you buy do not get outdated as fast (such as the powersupply, case, keyboard....).

Also the deals that you get on PC Games from Steam and even gulp....Origin,, more than make up for whatever extra you might have spent building your pc.

Great article! Good see something useful come from this sites constant 'console wars' coverage that usually just provokes petty internet arguments. A little effort and some reading will help you maximize the payoff of a well built PC that does not have its (outdated) hardware locked away.

One thing people in the comments are forgetting though. When MS or Sony purchases parts for their consoles they are buying up cheap parts in bulk. The price they pay for their parts is far lower than any consumer pays because they buy hundreds of thousands or millions of a piece of hardware. The biggest reason I was so frustrated with the new generation of console. Both companies parading around on stage acting like dated hardware was the best thing since sliced bread, all while being unable to perform half the functions of the previous generation.

Apparently you can't. And you need to boost your budgets another $50 for a game pad.