Is there a larger gap among PC gamers than console gamers?

With all the talk about the technical superiority of PC gaming, is there really a larger technical gap among PC gamers than console gamers? I mean, not all PCs are equal and some PC gamers have powerful hardware than others, while consoles usually have the same hardware so console gamers more likely to be equal with each other in terms of hardware.

Staying right away from this one..... never going to end well.

Not the right forum section, I reckon (assuming this will turn into a war)?

But yeah, there are significant gaps in rig power and people buy or build different rigs. Wouldn't know the numbers on how many people own what kind of rig, though, so... all that can be said is: yes, there are probably larger technical gaps among pc gamers than console gamers.

Wrong forum for that debate mate.

Systemwars or pc gaming, console gaming is the place for that.

Totally agree with the above, this section of the forums is discussing games and not the devices themselves.

I'd rather stand clear from the hotair that is System-war users.

@loafofgame: We might see an indication of that gap when we see the sales figgures between the Oculus Rift + Re-vive and the Sony Morpheus. What i mean by this is, lets say if the sales figgures are 3× bigger for the morpheus within the 3 first month of sales compared to the Oculus Rift and Re-vive combined, what this would indicate is that there would be 3x lesser high end pc's out there compared to the number of morpheus vr headsets being sold (give or take) I doubt the gap is that large, there are probably millions of people running their pc's on outdated graphic cards right now.

Well yeah, some PC gamers have low end rigs, some PC gamers have mid range rigs and some have high end to enthusiast builds, the PC is an open platform so there will be significant gaps amongst PC gamers, you design your machine based on your wants and needs, some PC gamers care about graphics, some don't, some want additional features some don't care about them, etc.

And if you meant in relative to consoles then obviously yes the PC is vastly superior in every way thanks to progressive new hardware that it can be upgraded with.

Yes, there are big differences in the level of PC power out there in the market. It should be noted, however, that even a cheap, budget PC is still several orders of magnitude more powerful than a PS4 or Xbox One, so even a budget PC gamer will have a more powerful machine than the depressingly weak consoles.

@LuminousAether: Even a cheap, budget PC is still several orders of magnitude more powerful than a PS4 or Xbox One

In all honesty, is it really that big of a difference that you claim here even for a low budget PC? Take a look at this comparison video between Driveclub (PS4) vs Project Cars (PC) for instance, and that PC is probably not even a low budget PC.

Im sorry but i just can't see it. From my point of view just to use these two games as an example, Driveclub on the PS4 looks and performes better and to tell you the truth i have never seen such good graphics in any racing games before ever.

Are you sure "Several orders of magnitude" was not a little bit of exaggration? Just asking.

@ojmstr:super bad example video. The video is explaining the difference between the 2 games on the ps4 not ps4 vs pc graphics. he clearly says "all game play was captured on ps4"

And it should be noted that even a budget PC, despite it's hardware power over a console, may not look or perform noticeably better or may even be worse. PC's have a lot of variabilities that effect performance, a good rule of thumb is to overbuild the specs to make up the slack in poorly optimized PC versions. The developer has to put the effort to actually make a difference between the platforms. Most multiplatform game developments use a particular console as their lead target platform.

@gallienb: Im sorry,my bad, did't see they both where PS4 games, ill see if i can find a comparison video of ps4 and pc from both these games. Im pretty sure the pc version is not several orders of magnitude better in any way.

@ojmstr: The point I see you're making is that no developer is going to make their games cater to exclusively enthusiast-built PCs; they will net almost no sales.

The more low to mid-end PCs that can play the games, the more sales they recieve.

Many ppl like to boast about PC gaming as "OMG this next exclusive for PC will be at 10K reslolution with FXMSALOLAAx20 with super duper scatter effects"....they show a whole bunch of screens or a video.....but then they leave out the part where 5% of the ppl gaming on PC will be able to run it like that.

Not an exaggeration and comparing two different games is absolutely insane, I don't see what that's supposed to prove. Looks like that video is comparing two PS4 games anyway? If you want to see a difference between PC and PS4 you should compare a game on the same systems such as Assassin's Creed IV which had to have custom low settings which you cannot even achieve on PC without modfying files and it still had poor performance.

That would be caused by incompetence, not due to a problem with the PC. Building a PC is a fairly simple task and the amount of variables might be daunting to you, but it's a pretty simple process. You don't need to overbuild the specs, PC games have different options which allow you to tweak performance.

Almost all games are developed for PC and then ported to consoles. This is because they all share the same architecture.

You know what, I reckon there probably is.

@LuminousAether: Well then let me be the first to welcome you to gaming.

Seeing as it's your first day...Driveclub is a racer.....and Project Cars is also a racer. 2 Racing games that have received a decent amount of attention around the horn.

Again....have a great first day of gaming...and may the rest of your year be adventurous.

I game mostly on a laptop that's pretty low-end for 2015. Can't even run Dragon Age: Inquisition on low lol.

Yes, but it's very regional. Countries like Russia, Brazil, and China are 5-7 years behind the top while in the West you'll see a lot more PCs around 3-4 years old. (I am roughly estimating based on what I've personally seen) This is talking about desktops of course. The inclusion of laptops just throws the whole thing to hell. You can buy new laptops today that are only as powerful as PCs were 6 years ago. Most users have no need for more power than that right now.

The gap between PCs and consoles has never been bigger though. With Sony and Microsoft releasing consoles with dated hardware, there were already a lot of PCs that were outperforming them. Each month that gap grows. Devs can safely build their PC games for more powerful hardware specs than the consoles much earlier in this generation.

It also helps that PC gaming is finally getting over using 10+ year old APIs and is using modern software. DX11 and now DX12 really help get more performance out of hardware than was possible with DX9. It allows for more advanced rendering as well. During the PS3/360 year, DX9 really dominated. That's no longer the case and PC games are finally getting better CPU utilization and better utilizing their GPUs than before. This helps a lot.

So to sum it up, yes, the PC has a much larger range of hardware than the consoles. This is mostly due to laptops and the China, Brazil, Russian markets. If you slim down your market to desktop PCs in the West, the average specs are going to be much more modern. Some developers, like CIG or your typical multiplatform, AAA budget game, are going to target the more modern rigs. Games like LoL and other F2P games are going to be target a much more broad audience.

One good spot of news is that publishers and developers seemed to have moved away with trying to adapt their games to China. Instead they have specific Chinese versions of the games to cater to that market. This means Western devs don't need to worry about scaling their games back to Windows XP machines. Local Asian developers handle that through contacts.

all i know i see celebrities playing on PC the kid from walking dead was playing league of legends

console market is low as hell nobody is involved with them anymore pc is just bigger than anything combined right now thats where the true gamers are at right now

@FrozenLiquid: I use a laptop too.

PC games run at 60 frames with tweaks if necessary, if not out right run at 60 or better on good (not high end) hardware. Console games run 30 faps most of the time, barring exceptions like racing games, fighting games, and call of duty or remasters.

It is what it is.

@X_CAPCOM_X: Yeah well basicly, the fewer high end pc's out there for gaming the smaller that technical gap between pc's and consoles generally speaking.

@LuminousAether: "Not an exaggeration and comparing two different games is absolutely insane, I don't see what that's supposed to prove".

Not an exaggeration? In this video, do you see several orders of magnitude differences between these two popular racing games on both platforms? Be honest.

BTW why would it be insane to compare an exclusive PS4 racing game to one of the better racing games on the PC? they are both in the same genre. What im proving is that the technical gap is not that big as alot of you pc gamers want it to be. Here is proof in this video right here, if you have eyes you can see that right here in this video.

The highest selling games on PC are games that don't even require a high end rig. They can be played on your average computer. Also, multiplats still sell better on console. This whole PC masterrace thing is blown up by hermits in the forums, but doesn't really represent reality. It's a bit overkill if you ask me. Modern games don't require that level of power and are not designed to utilize that kind of hardware anyway.

@ProtossX: What qualifies as a true gamer? Are you a true gamer? Won any tournaments etc... ? Do you have any proof that you are a true gamer? Videos of your skills? etc....

@ojmstr: No I just mean PC is for true gamers, console games rarely ever crack top 10 games on twitch....YouTube is almost exclusively pc gamers and consoles are 5x as small as pc sections on reddit , it's really time to just embrace PC why the hell is console stuff so tiny online you think?

Yes. Not all PC gamers have the most up to date specs. I read an article on a gaming site once that actually said PC games are created as middle of the road to take advantage of the lower end demographic. I know SW doesn't mention that....but it is true that games for PC are not created solely for high end PCs. I'm not even sure why PC gamers argue with console gamers. They are very different platforms.

No youtube is NOT almost exclusively PC games. You can find games from every era and just about every console on youtube.

Of course there are big gaps between different PC's. Some people play on $2k builds while others use Intel HD graphics lol. However, when I think of PC gaming, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter Strike come to mind and those games can be played on potato's, which contributes to their popularity.

@jg4xchamp: You forgot to mention The Last Of Us Remastered and Shadow Of Mordor, both running at 1080p 60fps

Yeah and the reason for that is exactly because of those millions of low end pc's out there with outdated graphic cards, don't you see the logic in that? Thanks for your input btw, this only proves what my point is and what this whole discussion is about that the technical gap between PC's and Consoles are not that big generally speaking.

The best selling ps4 game is minecraft which runs on a VITA

Power varies across the board on PCs. I'd say, generally, there is a significant technical gap between consoles and gaming PCs. Gaming PCs tend to be more powerful. Both types have great games, though. Some games have fewer issues on consoles, and some are that way with PCs. For example, I have Assassin's Creed Revelations and it runs like absolute shit even though my rig far exceeds the requirements. Meanwhile, Mass Effect 1 runs great and looks wonderful.

Yes there are both PC's that are a little more powerful than a PS4, and PC's that are WAY more powerful than a PS4.

There's a HUGE gap. With consoles you get the same content as everybody else for the longevity of the product. Not everybody builds a game machine, not everybody buys the best laptops, and not everybody upgrades that often.

Personally I have been debating building up a machine again as my 2011/12 laptop is just not great for much anymore, but the mobility side of me leans me towards getting a Razer Blade laptop instead. Off the bat I would not be on the high end even off a new product. That is the biggest difference between the markets and why they are so different--pc market is not as focused.

Eh, Doesn't matter IMO. You still have more power over the games than you would with Consoles.

More Controller options, more Resolution options, more Mod options.

Most Consoles don't have many of the luxuries PC gamers have. But yeah there is a gap since not everyone uses a Nvidia Card or AMD Card or has 6gb of Ram or 16gb of Ram etc.

Do you know what an order of magnitude is?

The fact of the matter is, we have these 9 times more powerful PC's or whatever, but we aren't seeing what should be a generation better visuals in PC games. They look superficially identical to their console counterparts apart from better resolution, framerate and lens flares here and there.

Essentially if you say a multiplat on PC is graphics king, you are effectively saying the console version is also graphics king. Because unless you zoom the picture in 400%, you won't notice much difference.

@bobrossperm: Yes, why do you ask?

Because even the most hardcore gaming rigs are hardly even one order of magnitude more powerful than the PS4 or X1. Nevermind budget PC's.

@bobrosspermEnglish is not my native language and i understand that it is not literally speaking when he said magnitudes but i can see that he is trying to make PC's look way more powerful than they actually are. The comparison video i posted is proof right there that they are not.

Settings are there for the enthusiast gamers, but certainly there is a reason why games like Gears, Uncharted 2 etc. looked amazing when they first came out and it is because for the first time devs use the new hardware for more than higher res and assets that PC gamers usually get with console ports. The difference between a medium texture and a high texture won't be the same as a brand new way to render clothing.

If devs targeted a new high end i5 or i7 CPU, 16gb ram and a 980gtx it would lead to games that are way beyond what we currently see. Of course development cost would be more and would require more resources, so it will never happen.

Based on my own hardware? Yup. Probably a 4 year gap.

I play on both an FX8350/4Gb GTX 770 PC and a 14" laptop with i5 3230m/GTX 660m. The latter is roughly equivalent to my old Phenom II X3 720BE/HD 5770 PC.

It's true, though died in the wool Hermits will kick and scream denying it. One of their biggest whines is consoles holding them back from utilizing overpriced hardware. Truth is, the average PC gamer is what holds PC gaming back. While PC gaming is growing and growing, it's those laptop gamers that lead the charge.

Honestly, that isn't a bad thing. The real strengths of PC gaming are the large and diverse library, free online, mods, choice of control options, great sales from competing storefronts, AND array of hardware in differing form factors and capabilities to tailor to any need and budget. Don't tell that to the fanboys here though. Easiest way to start a fight here is to talk about gaming on a laptop. Heh, they lose their minds.

Yes. PC games can never be made solely for high end machines. They have to be able to be played on mid level and low level PCs as well. But to read hermits talk in SW they all have high tech machines. But that isn't how games are developed anyway. Really they just spent more to get an arguably slight advantage.

Yes, PC is actually not really a solid platform like that. It's fluid.

What PC gamers mean by saying "PC is superior" is "PC can be superior, and in the best cases, extremely better".

Agree completely. The sad part is, the graphics whores perpetuating this nonsense on SW actually drive more people away from PC gaming than towards it.

Of course... There are a multitude of PC setups, and people could older games because it's all they have access to. Who knows?