Low budget. Xbox 360 or pc?

I have a big problem. I have a very low budget of $400 and I am confused rather to build a PC ( for gaming) or to get an xbox 360 in the same price?

I want to play high end games like battlefield hardline, call of duty : advanced warfare etc. Please help me in this matter...

You're gonna need more than $400 for a good gaming PC.

pc all the way especially if you have some parts that you can reuse.

Here is a build. It will get you at least medium/high settings on most games and most importantly its future proof so you can upgrade if you want later to Intels upcoming broadwell core i5 or i7 and a better Gpu.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pmwkzy

This a bit over $400 but you going lower even by $20 will sacrifice alot

This build assumes you already have windows. If not you can drop the Gpu to an r7 260x, drop to 4gb of ram ( if you do that though you are gonna want to upgrade as soon as possible ) and buy a bit cheaper case. Doing that will allow you to buy Windows

Get Xbox 360 and use the remainder of the money on games, Live etc... There are good F2P games such as World of Tanks which is a good game for me. Also BF4 on Xbox 360 has good gameplay and graphics still hold well enough against next gen...

For a bit more than $400 he gets something that matches X1 and Ps4 and is future proof so no reason to get x360 especially if you consider the amount of cheap and F2P games on pc

Depends on where he live. In my country a decent graphic cards cost at least $200. Add up all the Ram, PSU, hard drive, monitor etc... cost more than $700 at least. Not counting that if the need to buy the Windows OS. Also if he's looking to play games in high settings he need to upgrade a new graphic cards every 2 years...

He said $ so i guess he is in US. But even in Europe where thinks are more expensive you can still make a decent 400-450euro pc. Also consoles are more expensive as well compared to US and with game prices on average 10euros more it might end up more epxensive.

Besides he dont need to add a monitor. Might as well connect the pc where he is planning to connect the console. And no you dont need to upgrade every 2 years to play on high settings. I'm rocking a 7850 is nearly 3 years old and that it was a mid range GPU back in the day and i still play most games at high settings including Metro LL which is quite demanding . But even with upgrades the cheaper game prices worth it

either pc or buy the xbone, a 360 now won't be very useful if you want to play all the latest games, at least like a year down the road you'll find you bought a console no one's making games for.

$400 PC is a better bet than the 360, who recommended the 360 don't listen to them thats horrible advice, take @adamosmaki advice its the best value for your money.

360 is dead (abandoned by its platform holder) and has been for a few years. You'll get another year of multiplat releases and than that's it...

However, 400 is just too low to get a decent budget and a bunch of great games. Or you can stick to older games: older RTS, source games, etc...

I would go for the third option: save up some more and get a more powerful PC, and then wait for a summer or winter sale to get a bunch of great games for cheap.

Here's the best possible budget gaming build at the moment (and if you plan on overclocking the CPU)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QxNxWZ

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QxNxWZ

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QxNxWZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.98 @ OutletPC)

CPU Cooler: Gelid Solutions CC-Siberian-01 51.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($9.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.94 @ Amazon)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.84 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $386.70

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-09 13:57 EST-0500

"high end games" lol they're not even at that category.

As for your question I think FPS games should be played only with mouse and keyboard so no matter on what graphics you plan to play - the best controls are on PC.

what a load of horse shit... for 400 dollars he does NOT get a PC that can produce the graphical fidelity of a PS4 or XB1. stop lying ffs. consoles are a closed platform and optimized.... even if you put equivalent parts in a PC, the console would still outperform the PC. that is the very nature of a closed platform.

for that kind of money, just buy an xbox 360 or even an XB1 or PS4. you will be able to get some games and have some fun. a 400 dollar PC isnt even going to last you a year with the way games are going these days.... expect 8 core, 8gb vram, and 100gb installs soon thanks to shitty ports.

@priyakumar397: you can pick up an xbox 360 in the UK for under 100 pounds.. how much are they in the US?

I believe Xbone is currently $350 that's what you should get.

I'd get a PS4 or an XBone in your situation. I'd never buy a PC that was'nt at least mid-high end.

Edit: For those of us, who already have decent rigs, it's a lot easier. PC CPUs are a lot stronger than what consoles have, so Sandbridge/newer systems will probably be fine for a long time with nothing but GPU upgrades.

@MlauTheDaft: @insane_metalist: @killerk1ng: @cyloninside:

Well I don't know about you guys, but I did find the parts that is not only future-proof for later CPU upgrades (like upgrading to an i3 or even an i5 later down the line) but the GPU provided on this possible build can easily be maxed out on most of the modern games.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QxNxWZ

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QxNxWZ

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QxNxWZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.98 @ OutletPC)

CPU Cooler: Gelid Solutions CC-Siberian-01 51.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($9.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.48 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.84 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $387.24

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 09:15 EST-0500

@ZetaRidge7: Honestly, that GPU can't max most games. Even standard 1080P requires 3GB of VRAM now days.

You do know you don't need to upgrade your GPU every 2 years, don't you? Depending on what you get and what your expectations are, a good GPU setup could last you up to 5+ years. However, you generally do need to spend a bit of money on a high(er) end GPU and/or GPUs. Then again, it also comes down to personal perferences or for those that love to upgrade everytime a new high end GPU comes out....

Heck, I purchased my GTX 570s in June 2011 and they're still going strong. I play any game I own at high settings on 1080p and some games that are enjoyable across 3 monitors I run them at 5760x1080 on mix of medium/high settings.

I see no reason to upgrade from what I have other than to have new hardware. I shouldn't have any issues getting another 12-18 months out of these before I will probably upgrade just because I can. I've got the upgrade itch, but other things in life keep me from dropping an unnecessary $300+ on a new GPU. I'll probably end up getting something from the next line of Nvidia's cards that'll probably be out roughly 14-16 months from now.

@insane_metalist:

Meh. He could at least run Crysis 3 with that setup at medium-high settings at 1080p. Note that the Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor can be overclocked and once it's OC'd, it's a beast of a budget CPU that matches performance of an i3 or even an i5.

@neatfeatguy:

This

I have X2 R9 290's even I can't max Crysis 3. I don't think he'd be playing it medium-high. Maybe medium.

You will never hit 400 bucks with a PC... After you add a monitor and windows you are still going to be into the rig for 500 bones......

The load of horse shit is the closed box with low end hardware Sony and MS sell you for $400-500 . If he dont need an OS ( he might have one ) see the rig i listed. Not only the GPU is leagues better than X1 but is better than PS4 and most important that rig is based on H97 platform that is future proof

The load of bullshit here is the perception that consoles perform much better than pc's with identical hardware ( that might have been truth the days where consoles didnt use x86 architecture ) Also can you explain alien isolation performing better on a $120 7850 gpu as opposed to PS4 ? Shadow of mordor 7850 and 7870 perform more or less in line with PS4. Same with COD AW.

Save up some more and get yourself a decent PC.

Medium is fine. As for other games like Counter-Strike Global Offensive, the build list I've provided would easily max out most of the video settings. To be honest, you would need at least $500-$550 minimum for an entry level budget gaming PC build and for $400, he would at least be able to play some low end games at max settings or at the very least medium-high settings (with anti-aliasing off or low) on games like Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Need For Speed Rivals, etc.

for 400 bucks you may as well get a next gen system ontop of an xbox 360. You can't get a good enough PC for 400 dollars to make it worth it.

I wouldn't get an xbox 360 and expect it to have newer fps games for it for much longer.

But the xbox 360 is a good system to have cause it has a lot of games on it and most of those games you can get cheap off ebay or elsewhere.

Pretty much get both i'd say

For $400, you can actually get a rather beefy APU gaming PC well worth the price:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9PjvNG

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9PjvNG/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A10-7700K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($104.27 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS7000V(AL)-1-PWM CPU Cooler ($8.89 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Asus A78M-E Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($49.98 @ OutletPC)

Memory: AMD Radeon R9 Gamer Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.96 @ OutletPC)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.99 @ Amazon)

Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($26.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $397.06

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 18:55 EST-0500

However for those who aren't fans of APUs in terms of performance and prices, here's an alternative build for the money:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G4P7yc

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G4P7yc/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($78.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS7000V(AL)-1-PWM CPU Cooler ($8.89 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital RE3 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270 2GB DirectCU II Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($26.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $399.83

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-10 23:41 EST-0500

Agreed Still using my 5-6 year old i7 920 just bought a $30 cpu cooler and I overclocked it to 4Ghz and still going strong. So for cpu as long as you go a powerful intel quad or better it will last you along time its 2014 don't go with less then a quad core and don't go amd for the cpu they can no longer compete with intel.

That's a great build, tc should go with that.

Thanks. :)

its not even a mid range build and wont run any game released in the last 6 months on high 1080p, let alone in a year. i wouldnt call that great at all

in terms of money allocation, it is a "good build"... but for the money, you can also get a PS4 or XB1 which will give you better graphical fidelity than this build.

And play all those amazing games for ps4 and xbox one, oh wait.

It will run games well, especially if that cpu is overclocked.

exact same games that are out for PC.... as well as some additional exclusives that actually are pretty good.

so... yeah. not sure what point you are trying to make.

No. The vast majority of games before 2013 are not on those consoles. Consoles offer very poor value for your money longterm due to lack of backwards compatibility. Not to mention if he does eventually upgrade his pc(the cpu in particular) in the future, he will be able to play even more games and have better everything than current gen consoles.

Many of my friends are too poor too afford consoles because PC is flat out cheaper in the long run.

Now if he wanted to buy a Wii u for the exclusives, then by all means that makes sense. All the nintendo exclusives are not on PC or any other console. The vast majority of Xbox one/PS4 games are on PC, and you can play them years later with mods/enhanced graphics if your computer at the time couldn't run them at max.

People love to look at the system only without looking at the games that they want to play. It's like going to /r/pcgaming and then realizing all the posts are about gpus instead of games.

wait WHAT? WHAAAAAT?

poor value over the long term?

so paying 400 dollars, and not having to upgrade for essentially 8 YEARS is a poor value? WELL **** ME THEN, I GUESS PCs ARE UTTER HORSESHIT GARBAGE VALUE with the 2 year upgrade cycle that is almost forced on you in order to run games maxed out. not to mention that a good gaming PC is going to run you 1200 dollars or so. 3x the cost of a console. i love my PC, and im happy to pay 1200 dollars to play games all fancy with high res and nice graphics, but WOW man... WOW...

this is... quite possibly.... the dumbest comment i have EVER read on these forums. EVER. EEEEEEVER. "pcs are cheaper than consoles".... ffs.... what will i hear next.

"Many of my friends are too poor too afford consoles because PC is flat out cheaper in the long run." that quote is literally going in my signature because of how fucking moronic it is.

You seem pretty upset, you should calm down.

I don't think you realize how weak currentgen consoles are. That computer linked above will run games better than xbox one/ps4 if the pc port is not awful. That cpu also overclocks a significant amount, reaching 4.5+ ghz is very possible.

You are not factoring in the longterm costs associated with consoles. First off, pc games in general are significantly cheaper for the same game later on. There is also no online fee. The library of games is significantly larger as well.

If you have a system from 2008 or so, you can still play pc games at a reasonable level. All you have to do is upgrade your graphics card to say a gtx 760 and you have a gpu that is much faster than xbox one/ps4.

A gtx 760 retails for around $200, that is much cheaper than buying a new console. You also get to play the old games you already had.

Feel free to put anything you want in your signature, it would be a good change to have something directly under your post that doesn't reek of mental retardation.

my console from 2008 still plays games made in 2014 just fine. plus, my PS3 played PS1/PS2 games just fine. guess playing old games isnt such a problem on consoles.

your math for the GPU doesnt add up. he had to purchase the R9 270 first. then a gtx 760 later. an R9 270 is 150-180 right now. a gtx 760 is 200-220. that means he actually paid 350-400 for GPUs in that life cycle. over the span of 8 years, he may upgrade 3 times just to keep up with games. if you assume 200 bucks an upgrade, that is 600 dollars just in GPUs in the span of a console lifecycle. meanwhile a person that bought a console only spent 400. EVER. PERIOD. ONE TIME COST. that isnt even including the initial cost of building the PC, or buying more RAM. new CPU. a larger SSD... any number of other upgrades.

"but online gaming is free on PC".... what if i like MMOs? hmmm? 15 dollars a month. plus box cost. online gaming is not free necessarily. plus... PSN/XB1 is 50 dollars A YEAR. and that is if you are dumb and pay full price. you can regularly get it for 35 dollars or so on ebay or amazon. i spend more than that going to the movies.... we arent even going to talk about the free games that you get with PSN, that are actually GOOD, and only a few months old in some regards... making the service essentially free if you take advantage.

finally "pc games are cheaper later on." ok.....? so are console games? wait a few months. most console games are going to be 40 dollars. buy games on craigslist or whatever your countries equivalent is. you will get games that are 3 or 4 months old for 30 dollars. PC gaming does not have a monopoly on games that are cheaper if you wait a little bit. what a derpy argument.

your entire post is just ludicrous. i love PCs. i spend tons of money on my PCs. however, i buy games for both console and PC depending on the experience i want to have. flat out lying to someone that PCs are cheaper is just fucking dumb and fanboyish.

you can find gamer PC at a good price here

Asus G550JK-CN253H 15.6-inch Full HD LED Gaming Laptop

Um....he's from the United States...just saying. :\

Here's a much better alternative around under the price of $400

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/J6KTt6

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/J6KTt6/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($73.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS7000V(AL)-1-PWM CPU Cooler ($8.94 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A78M-HD+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($52.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital RE3 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R7 260X 1GB TurboDuo Video Card ($97.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $379.87

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-17 18:03 EST-0500

If you have $400 for a PC why don't you get a PS4 instead?

IMO if you're going PC you should go for $600 minimum for the experience to be decent.

If for whatever reason you'd have to choose between the 360 or a $400 PC then PC all the way. Seriously last gen consoles are completely outdated and playing games is just awful on that platform.

A nice budget build that destroys the 360 = Core i3 + GTX 750Ti/Radeon R7 260X + 4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM + 500GB HDD + CX430W PSU and a cheap case and known brand mobo.

just buy a PS4/XB1.... way less headache and you will get a much better experience than a 400 dollar PC.

If the TC already has a non-gaming PC/laptop, I'd go with a PS4. If not, then I'd go with a ultra-budget gaming PC so I can have my bases covered.

Yup.. get the Xbox if its just $400.. and you'd also have a stand-alone system for gaming :)

I would get a PS4 or a X1.

Anything less than $600 including OS price is pretty much console level.

• $400 = G258 + R7 250
• $500 = i3 4130 + GTX 750
• $600 = i3 4330 + R9 265
• $700 = i5 4440 + R9 270X

If you don't need a OS

• $400 = i3 4130 + GTX 750
• $500 = i3 4330 + R9 265
• $600 = i5 4440 + R9 270X
• $700 = i5 4690K + R9 280X

Console performance is around the R9 265 level which will cost you $600 with a OS or $500 without a OS... Consoles are $350-400 now.

So open up your budget to at least $600 or just get a console if your primary goal is to game.