Let's squash this myth that PC gaming isnt much more expensive than consoles.

12 years of gaming on a console costs $600-900. For 2000-2012.

$900 being if you bought a launch PS2 and launch PS3. $600 being if you bought a PS2 and launch 360 arcade.

How much have you spent in order to play new release PC games for 12 years? probably multiple thousands. Myself, probably $3500-4500.. and i always buy parts with the best cost/performance ratio. And there were even time gaps where i couldnt run new releases.

Ok, glad we can finally end this argument. Comparing PC hardware costs from a single day in time is not indicative of the actual cost of being a PC gamer. Over a significant span of time we can see its much more costly to game on PC.

lets do system wars a favor and stop pretending like it isnt far more expensive to be a PC gamer in the long run. Thx.

200 post thread over and under, PC gaming is more expensive than console gaming...

Expensive/cheap/cost is opinionated to the user for this generation. We just had a thread demonstrating members here price range of their consoles Here.. In essence, 400-700 dollars seems to be the norm for a console gamer on hardware outside of other aspects. Nothing wrong with that at all as it depends when a console game bought their console and other factors.

Same goes for a PC gamer. Pc has the ability to be cheap or expensive depending on what the user wants. I demonstrated this in May edition of System Wars Monthly (page 9) with my computer only costing me 560 dollars since 2007. You also have people who have attempted to demonstrate the price of getting a Pc gaming rig on a budget ( $270 US $370 with OS)Here.

This argument comes up weekly here but members do not want to except that its all subjective on price. Way to many variables to make a objective claim.

I don't really care about price comparos. But, I'm happy with the ~$800 PC on my sig considering I'm currently gaming on a 32" 720p TV plus I do everything I need to do on it. Crysis, FSX, X-Plane 9, The Witcher, etc still look quite good at 1280x768.

it depends how serious you are about games i suppose but tbh this gen alone ive spent a fortune on consoles (400 - release 360, 350 - ps3, 1000 - hdtv, well over 700 - games, had to buy a second 360 :roll: another 300.....its not exactly that cheap when you add things up you just get the illusion of it being cheap as the console itself is relatively cheap vs a gaming pc) im buying a top of the line gaming pc with an i7 CPU and a gtx 470 and a 24 inch monitor etc. for about 1500 euro in about a week but the thing about pc gaming is that there is a whole catalog of free games as well as a ton of mods (ones that can completely change a game as well) so one game will last you a lot longer than a console game as well as that the games are cheaper to buy also with steam having so many brilliant sales it really cuts down the cost of gaming.

You have also got to remember that a pc is something that everyone has anyway for general use and say a general pc costs about €800 (monitor incl) you could add the price of a console $300 to give you a gaming pc.

Gaming isnt cheap these days wether its on a pc or a console

I think the more prevalent problem is treating the PC platform as if there is only binary solutions. With a console, you pay that price or you don't. With a PC, you do what you want. Make an older rig for $200, make a cutting edge rig for $1500, the choice is yours. Anyone that suggests you NEED to do something (which is a really ambivalent statement) for pc gaming doesn't know what PC gaming actually is. What YOU want it to be.-Feath-

im talking about the cost of being able to play new releases on the pc, for a 12 year span of time.

[QUOTE="-Feath-"]I think the more prevalent problem is treating the PC platform as if there is only binary solutions. With a console, you pay that price or you don't. With a PC, you do what you want. Make an older rig for $200, make a cutting edge rig for $1500, the choice is yours. Anyone that suggests you NEED to do something (which is a really ambivalent statement) for pc gaming doesn't know what PC gaming actually is. What YOU want it to be.markinthedark

im talking about the cost of being able to play new releases on the pc, for a 12 year span of time.

you really think the consoles will last for 12 years?

it depends how serious you are about games i suppose but tbh this gen alone ive spent a fortune on consoles (400 - release 360, 350 - ps3, 1000 - hdtv, well over 700 - games, had to buy a second 360 :roll: another 300.....its not exactly that cheap when you add things up you just get the illusion of it being cheap as the console itself is relatively cheap vs a gaming pc) im buying a top of the line gaming pc with an i7 CPU and a gtx 470 and a 24 inch monitor etc. for about 1500 euro in about a week but the thing about pc gaming is that there is a whole catalog of free games as well as a ton of mods (ones that can completely change a game as well) so one game will last you a lot longer than a console game as well as that the games are cheaper to buy also with steam having so many brilliant sales it really cuts down the cost of gaming.

You have also got to remember that a pc is something that everyone has anyway for general use and say a general pc costs about €800 (monitor incl) you could add the price of a console $300 to give you a gaming pc.

Gaming isnt cheap these days wether its on a pc or a console

icyseanfitz

Yup, it's definately more expensive. Especially if you're an enthusiast gamer looking for the highest settings on the newest releases. Mid-range and low-end gamers spend considerably less than your enthusiast.

Still, the PC is a different beast. The hardware is forever changing, and in fact right now, software has taken a back seat to hardware advancement. People are actually runnng longer on older hardware.

Now, with the extra cost there come a number of objective advantages, such as added performance, moddability on a large portion of games, graphical capabilities. However, that is all offset by the subjectivity of choosing which system suits the individual.

it depends how serious you are about games i suppose but tbh this gen alone ive spent a fortune on consoles (400 - release 360, 350 - ps3, 1000 - hdtv, well over 700 - games, had to buy a second 360 :roll: another 300.....its not exactly that cheap when you add things up you just get the illusion of it being cheap as the console itself is relatively cheap vs a gaming pc) im buying a top of the line gaming pc with an i7 CPU and a gtx 470 and a 24 inch monitor etc. for about 1500 euro in about a week but the thing about pc gaming is that there is a whole catalog of free games as well as a ton of mods (ones that can completely change a game as well) so one game will last you a lot longer than a console game as well as that the games are cheaper to buy also with steam having so many brilliant sales it really cuts down the cost of gaming.

You have also got to remember that a pc is something that everyone has anyway for general use and say a general pc costs about €800 (monitor incl) you could add the price of a console $300 to give you a gaming pc.

Gaming isnt cheap these days wether its on a pc or a console

icyseanfitz

comparing multiple console costs would be like comparing costs to a guy who builds 3 gaming rigs every year... there is no point. Im talking about the cost to play new release titles on a single platform.

the lowest cost you can achieve on a PC for the past 10-12 years of gaming is probably something $2500.

considering how often chipsets, video card slots, and memory types change over the years.

Console gaming has been cheaper for a while. But you get what you pay for

I also have to add:

Prior to to assembling my current ~$800 gaming PC (late October 2009), we added a Wii $(249.99) at Christmas of 2008 and we got the kid a PS3 ($400) during summer last year.

Yup, it's definately more expensive. Especially if you're an enthusiast gamer looking for the highest settings on the newest releases. Mid-range and low-end gamers spend considerably less than your enthusiast.

Still, the PC is a different beast. The hardware is forever changing, and in fact right now, software has taken a back seat to hardware advancement. People are actually runnng longer on older hardware.

Now, with the extra cost there come a number of objective advantages, such as added performance, moddability on a large portion of games, graphical capabilities. However, that is all offset by the subjectivity of choosing which system suits the individual.

lundy86_4

i 100% agree with everything you said.

but hermits cant have their cake and eat it too. If you wanna argue superior graphics, and all the other great aspects that comes with being a PC gamer... then you need to yield the point to console gamers thats its much cheaper to game on consoles.

Stop trying to tell me it isnt expensive to be a PC gamer because you can build a rig today that can outperform consoles for $500... thats not the true cost of being a PC gamer. To PC game over the past decade, it has cost a fortune simply to be able to play new releases... im not even talking maxing games out. Just to be able to run new releases.

[QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

it depends how serious you are about games i suppose but tbh this gen alone ive spent a fortune on consoles (400 - release 360, 350 - ps3, 1000 - hdtv, well over 700 - games, had to buy a second 360 :roll: another 300.....its not exactly that cheap when you add things up you just get the illusion of it being cheap as the console itself is relatively cheap vs a gaming pc) im buying a top of the line gaming pc with an i7 CPU and a gtx 470 and a 24 inch monitor etc. for about 1500 euro in about a week but the thing about pc gaming is that there is a whole catalog of free games as well as a ton of mods (ones that can completely change a game as well) so one game will last you a lot longer than a console game as well as that the games are cheaper to buy also with steam having so many brilliant sales it really cuts down the cost of gaming.

You have also got to remember that a pc is something that everyone has anyway for general use and say a general pc costs about €800 (monitor incl) you could add the price of a console $300 to give you a gaming pc.

Gaming isnt cheap these days wether its on a pc or a console

locopatho

why not a pc does many things besides play games just like a tv does, and yes i did buy the tv for gaming as sd this gen looks like crap, a console will not last 12 years there will be new consoles around 2012 which will cost you about 500 if you want it, im not saying pc gaming is cheap but neither is console gaming :roll:

i 100% agree with everything you said.

but hermits cant have their cake and eat it too. If you wanna argue superior graphics, and all the other great aspects that comes with being a PC gamer... then you need to yield the point to console gamers thats its much cheaper to game on consoles.

Stop trying to tell me it isnt expensive to be a PC gamer because you can build a rig today that can outperform consoles for $500... thats not the true cost of being a PC gamer. To PC game over the past decade, it has cost a fortune simply to be able to play new releases... im not even talking maxing games out. Just to be able to run new releases.

markinthedark

To game over the past decade, it probably has cost a good bit but in this last generation, price point has been very low for the Pc consumer especially in the mid range side of things. When members talk about price, it is within this generation. I think you and a very few have tried to argue a decades worth of PC price. (10 year debate on pc price is something I almost never see in this forum) When we talk within this generation of gaming, I can make the claim in price because I know exactly what I paid for my hardware and how it stacks to the price of consoles at its time. Its no myth, its my own experience which I demonstrated above in this thread. That's my perspective on it.

Price for PC gaming in this last generation is very subjective because the end user could have a prethora of priced out systems.

[QUOTE="locopatho"][QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

it depends how serious you are about games i suppose but tbh this gen alone ive spent a fortune on consoles (400 - release 360, 350 - ps3, 1000 - hdtv, well over 700 - games, had to buy a second 360 :roll: another 300.....its not exactly that cheap when you add things up you just get the illusion of it being cheap as the console itself is relatively cheap vs a gaming pc) im buying a top of the line gaming pc with an i7 CPU and a gtx 470 and a 24 inch monitor etc. for about 1500 euro in about a week but the thing about pc gaming is that there is a whole catalog of free games as well as a ton of mods (ones that can completely change a game as well) so one game will last you a lot longer than a console game as well as that the games are cheaper to buy also with steam having so many brilliant sales it really cuts down the cost of gaming.

You have also got to remember that a pc is something that everyone has anyway for general use and say a general pc costs about €800 (monitor incl) you could add the price of a console $300 to give you a gaming pc.

Gaming isnt cheap these days wether its on a pc or a console

icyseanfitz

why not a pc does many things besides play games just like a tv does, and yes i did buy the tv for gaming as sd this gen looks like crap, a console will not last 12 years there will be new consoles around 2012 which will cost you about 500 if you want it, im not saying pc gaming is cheap but neither is console gaming :roll:

[QUOTE="locopatho"][QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

it depends how serious you are about games i suppose but tbh this gen alone ive spent a fortune on consoles (400 - release 360, 350 - ps3, 1000 - hdtv, well over 700 - games, had to buy a second 360 :roll: another 300.....its not exactly that cheap when you add things up you just get the illusion of it being cheap as the console itself is relatively cheap vs a gaming pc) im buying a top of the line gaming pc with an i7 CPU and a gtx 470 and a 24 inch monitor etc. for about 1500 euro in about a week but the thing about pc gaming is that there is a whole catalog of free games as well as a ton of mods (ones that can completely change a game as well) so one game will last you a lot longer than a console game as well as that the games are cheaper to buy also with steam having so many brilliant sales it really cuts down the cost of gaming.

You have also got to remember that a pc is something that everyone has anyway for general use and say a general pc costs about €800 (monitor incl) you could add the price of a console $300 to give you a gaming pc.

Gaming isnt cheap these days wether its on a pc or a console

icyseanfitz

why not a pc does many things besides play games just like a tv does, and yes i did buy the tv for gaming as sd this gen looks like crap, a console will not last 12 years there will be new consoles around 2012 which will cost you about 500 if you want it, im not saying pc gaming is cheap but neither is console gaming :roll:

12 years = 2 gens of consoles. which costs between $600-900, did you not read my original post?

ive personally gone through about 4 or 5 different computer monitors over the past 12 years... monitor resolution is constantly increasing... as well as aspect ratio.... latency etc.

so lets leave the HDTVs and monitors out of it... its an unecessary complication.

[QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

it depends how serious you are about games i suppose but tbh this gen alone ive spent a fortune on consoles (400 - release 360, 350 - ps3, 1000 - hdtv, well over 700 - games, had to buy a second 360 :roll: another 300.....its not exactly that cheap when you add things up you just get the illusion of it being cheap as the console itself is relatively cheap vs a gaming pc) im buying a top of the line gaming pc with an i7 CPU and a gtx 470 and a 24 inch monitor etc. for about 1500 euro in about a week but the thing about pc gaming is that there is a whole catalog of free games as well as a ton of mods (ones that can completely change a game as well) so one game will last you a lot longer than a console game as well as that the games are cheaper to buy also with steam having so many brilliant sales it really cuts down the cost of gaming.

You have also got to remember that a pc is something that everyone has anyway for general use and say a general pc costs about €800 (monitor incl) you could add the price of a console $300 to give you a gaming pc.

Gaming isnt cheap these days wether its on a pc or a console

markinthedark

comparing multiple console costs would be like comparing costs to a guy who builds 3 gaming rigs every year... there is no point. Im talking about the cost to play new release titles on a single platform.

the lowest cost you can achieve on a PC for the past 10-12 years of gaming is probably something $2500.

considering how often chipsets, video card slots, and memory types change over the years.

and to game on consoles in the last 12 years has cost me a fortune say sony alone then, 350 - ps3, 400 - ps2, 250 - psp add in two tv's i bought for the ps2 and ps3 - 1300, games - i have no idea as i own a horde of ps2 games as well as about 20 ps3 games....damn i forgot ps1 cant even remember what that cost me back in 98 have a ton of games for that too, stop saying gaming for 12 years is cheap it isnt i could also do the same with xbox or nintendo as ive owned them all, if your taking total price over a 12 year period console gaming has been more costly to me than pc gaming

i 100% agree with everything you said.

but hermits cant have their cake and eat it too. If you wanna argue superior graphics, and all the other great aspects that comes with being a PC gamer... then you need to yield the point to console gamers thats its much cheaper to game on consoles.

Stop trying to tell me it isnt expensive to be a PC gamer because you can build a rig today that can outperform consoles for $500... thats not the true cost of being a PC gamer. To PC game over the past decade, it has cost a fortune simply to be able to play new releases... im not even talking maxing games out. Just to be able to run new releases.

markinthedark

The only problem is, the majority of Hermits on this site don't argue that it's cheaper than console gaming (though some no doubt do), just that it's not as expensive as people believe. Budget rigs (whilst not great) are beneficial to light-PC gamers, or people getting into PC gaming, and these can be made for $5-600 now. Granted, we're at a point where price/performance has really hit the nail on the head.

With the multiplat-centric generation we've had, PC games for the most part, have been much less-demanding. People still game happily, and pretty damn well, on a 8800GT. A few years before, that wouldn't have been possible.

Now, is it possible for PC gamers to offset the price through cheaper games, and exceptionally good sales? Absolutely (should they buy enough). However, that rests solely on the end-user, and the experiences will differ from person to person.

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

i 100% agree with everything you said.

but hermits cant have their cake and eat it too. If you wanna argue superior graphics, and all the other great aspects that comes with being a PC gamer... then you need to yield the point to console gamers thats its much cheaper to game on consoles.

Stop trying to tell me it isnt expensive to be a PC gamer because you can build a rig today that can outperform consoles for $500... thats not the true cost of being a PC gamer. To PC game over the past decade, it has cost a fortune simply to be able to play new releases... im not even talking maxing games out. Just to be able to run new releases.

jedikevin2

To game over the past decade, it probably has cost a good bit but in this last generation, price point has been very low for the Pc consumer especially in the mid range side of things. When members talk about price, it is within this generation. I think you and a very few have tried to argue a decades worth of PC price. When we talk within this generation of gaming, I can make the claim in price because I know exactly what I paid for my hardware and how it stacks to the price of consoles at its time.

fine if you wanna talk this gen... show me the cheapest PC build from 2005 that can match a $400 360's graphics on today's games...

anyway you slice it, its far more expensive to be a PC gamer.

fine if you wanna talk this gen... show me the cheapest PC build from 2005 that can match a $400 360's graphics on today's games...

anyway you slice it, its far more expensive to be a PC gamer.

markinthedark

I can only speak on my experience markinthedark which I laid out in the Mays edition of System Wars Monthly. (Be sure to read my post earlier in this thread) Sorry to say it but my computer has not been far more expensive as you keep proclaiming it is.

[QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

[QUOTE="locopatho"] Whenever adds in the cost of a HDTV to console I know they aren't being serious.locopatho

why not a pc does many things besides play games just like a tv does, and yes i did buy the tv for gaming as sd this gen looks like crap, a console will not last 12 years there will be new consoles around 2012 which will cost you about 500 if you want it, im not saying pc gaming is cheap but neither is console gaming :roll:

i bought my tv to play games and watch some tv i bought my pc to play games and do some work i dont want my to play console games on a 24 inch monitor 6 feet away from me (i like to sit on my bed or couch while i game on my 360 or ps3) you do need a proper tv to enjoy the hd consoles

[QUOTE="locopatho"][QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

why not a pc does many things besides play games just like a tv does, and yes i did buy the tv for gaming as sd this gen looks like crap, a console will not last 12 years there will be new consoles around 2012 which will cost you about 500 if you want it, im not saying pc gaming is cheap but neither is console gaming :roll:

icyseanfitz

i bought my tv to play games and watch some tv i bought my pc to play games and do some work i dont want my to play console games on a 24 inch monitor 6 feet away from me (i like to sit on my bed or couch while i game on my 360 or ps3) you do need a proper tv to enjoy the hd consoles

PC gaming is more expensive, and it used to be worth it but right now I'd say it could use an influx of games I can't also play on my Xbox or PS3, and those games need to be significantly improved.

PC gaming is more expensive, and it used to be worth it but right now I'd say it could use an influx of games I can't also play on my Xbox or PS3, and those games need to be significantly improved.

SPYDER0416

It has an abundance of games that can't be played on the consoles. Whether they appeal to you though, is an entirely different story.

PC gaming is more expensive, and it used to be worth it but right now I'd say it could use an influx of games I can't also play on my Xbox or PS3, and those games need to be significantly improved.

SPYDER0416

It might be more expensive at first, but a couple of upgrades every couple of years shouldn't set anyone back to far.

[QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

[QUOTE="locopatho"] Roll your eyes all day long. A console can be played on a HDTV or a monitor. A PC can be played on a HDTV or a monitor. Go AWAY with yourself if you think you can pretend a console display solution is different in ANY WAY from a PC. They are the SAME.locopatho

i bought my tv to play games and watch some tv i bought my pc to play games and do some work i dont want my to play console games on a 24 inch monitor 6 feet away from me (i like to sit on my bed or couch while i game on my 360 or ps3) you do need a proper tv to enjoy the hd consoles

try what? im just saying console gaming has cost me a fair bit of money, my preference for console gaming is on my 40 inch and for my pc its my 24 inch at a desk im not saying anything is better or worse i just cant stand it when people blow the price of pc gaming way out of proportion, hell a couple of components from one pc will last you a good 5-6 years if you take care of them (monitor, psu, case)

i bought my tv to play games and watch some tv i bought my pc to play games and do some work i dont want my to play console games on a 24 inch monitor 6 feet away from me (i like to sit on my bed or couch while i game on my 360 or ps3) you do need a proper tv to enjoy the hd consoles

icyseanfitz

I too like to game with the PC on the TV. Even at 720p with a res of 1280x768, most PC games still look good plus maxing out games at that res isn't a problem. Then later, I can surf the internet and watch TV via P in P.

[QUOTE="jedikevin2"]

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

i 100% agree with everything you said.

but hermits cant have their cake and eat it too. If you wanna argue superior graphics, and all the other great aspects that comes with being a PC gamer... then you need to yield the point to console gamers thats its much cheaper to game on consoles.

Stop trying to tell me it isnt expensive to be a PC gamer because you can build a rig today that can outperform consoles for $500... thats not the true cost of being a PC gamer. To PC game over the past decade, it has cost a fortune simply to be able to play new releases... im not even talking maxing games out. Just to be able to run new releases.

markinthedark

To game over the past decade, it probably has cost a good bit but in this last generation, price point has been very low for the Pc consumer especially in the mid range side of things. When members talk about price, it is within this generation. I think you and a very few have tried to argue a decades worth of PC price. When we talk within this generation of gaming, I can make the claim in price because I know exactly what I paid for my hardware and how it stacks to the price of consoles at its time.

fine if you wanna talk this gen... show me the cheapest PC build from 2005 that can match a $400 360's graphics on today's games...

anyway you slice it, its far more expensive to be a PC gamer.

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

i 100% agree with everything you said.

but hermits cant have their cake and eat it too. If you wanna argue superior graphics, and all the other great aspects that comes with being a PC gamer... then you need to yield the point to console gamers thats its much cheaper to game on consoles.

Stop trying to tell me it isnt expensive to be a PC gamer because you can build a rig today that can outperform consoles for $500... thats not the true cost of being a PC gamer. To PC game over the past decade, it has cost a fortune simply to be able to play new releases... im not even talking maxing games out. Just to be able to run new releases.

lundy86_4

The only problem is, the majority of Hermits on this site don't argue that it's cheaper than console gaming (though some no doubt do), just that it's not as expensive as people believe. Budget rigs (whilst not great) are beneficial to light-PC gamers, or people getting into PC gaming, and these can be made for $5-600 now. Granted, we're at a point where price/performance has really hit the nail on the head.

With the multiplat-centric generation we've had, PC games for the most part, have been much less-demanding. People still game happily, and pretty damn well, on a 8800GT. A few years before, that wouldn't have been possible.

Now, is it possible for PC gamers to offset the price through cheaper games, and exceptionally good sales? Absolutely (should they buy enough). However, that rests solely on the end-user, and the experiences will differ from person to person.

8800gt also came out in the tail end of 2007.... 2 years after the 360.

alot of this is all speculation on how future proof these PCs are... its just random guessing. The only thing we actually KNOW is the cost of being a PC gamer in the past. I expect another boom in PC tech requirements when the next gen of consoles hits the market (forcing upgrades for all these budget builds)... since PC game devs seem to be mimicking the standards of consoles rather than constantly pushing the envelope like they used to.

and alot of people actually bought red redemption with the $20 pre order gift card... sold their preorder item code on ebay for 10 bucks, then played and beat the game within a month and sold it used for $35 on amazon.

Ultimately making money by buying and beating a brand new game... so the cost of games is on a very case by case basis. If a console gamer chooses to sell their used games its very easy to match or beat PC game sale prices.

PC gaming may not be as expensive as many consolites think, but its not nearly as cheap as hermits make it out to be.

........... If a console gamer chooses to sell their used games its very easy to match or beat PC game sale prices.

PC gaming may not be as expensive as many consolites think, but its not nearly as cheap as hermits make it out to be.

markinthedark

If you followed SW, most PC gamers (stereotyping people as hermit, cows, sheep, is still against the ToU so I will not do it) rebuttle that fallacies that many members here keep making on PC price. I don't know if you follow SW, but I would say over 90% of members will tell you that PC gaming can be expensive but to whatever the end user wants.

All you see on this board is, "PC is XXXXXXX in price", must "update hardware every 6 months", and other nonsense. Thats all I see on this forum and rebuttals to those settings. This leads to people making threads like this where members throw out its "PC gamers" saying pc gaming is cheap. Farther from the truth. If I wasn't a frugal shopper and didn't have the patience to build my computer and find deals, it would be drastically different in price. The fact is that I like to find deals on hardware and am not in a rush of things. I've upgraded over the years and sold off hardware as well. Price is just 100% subjective to claim on the PC market in this last generation.

8800gt also came out in the tail end of 2007.... 2 years after the 360.

alot of this is all speculation on how future proof these PCs are... its just random guessing. The only thing we actually KNOW is the cost of being a PC gamer in the past. I expect another boom in PC tech when the next gen of consoles hits the market... since PC game devs seem to be mimicking the standards of consoles rather than constantly pushing the envelope like they used to.

and alot of people actually bought red redemption with the $20 pre order gift card... sold their preorder item code on ebay for 10 bucks, then played and beat the game within a month and sold it used for $35 on amazon.

Ultimately making money by buying and beating a brand new game... so the cost of games is on a very case by case basis. If a console gamer chooses to sell their used games its very easy to match or beat PC game sale prices.

PC gaming may not be as expensive as many consolites think, but its not nearly as cheap as hermits make it out to be.

markinthedark

I wasn't saying the 8800GT had been around as long as the 360, just that the card has lasted considerably longer than PC tech has done in the past. The major reason for this is the huge, huge increase in bidgeting costs on modern games (I remember reading an article which stated they capped at around $60 million this gen -- for the most part -- and we're just now starting to see a decrease in those costs).

I agree that console gamers can sometimes surpass the PC user in terms of money spent *AFTER* initial costs were covered. Like I said, it's why it's all dependant upon the end-user, which may or may not be translateable to a large portion of the gamers out there. I think it being downright impossible to pinpoint actual costs after the fact makes it a moot point in including it personally. We should go fof initial costs, which, at the start of the gen is high for comparable PC's, but like console prices they dropped (often moreso) in price. They'll likely never dip below console prices until we see increases in technology such as GPGPU's.

It might be more expensive at first, but a couple of upgrades every couple of years shouldn't set anyone back to far.

Silverbond

Depends... if you are gaming on a 2005 rig right now you probably have an AGP slot.... which means you are looking at an entire system upgrade.

Its not as easy as just upgrading a single part every now and then when you are having trouble running games.

I buy dozens of games and ultimately, for me, the PC works out cheaper. Here in the UK I can get nearly all brand new PC games at between £19.99 and £24.99 by shopping online. Console games cost me a minimum of £34.99 to £39.99 new. Peripherals are a joke also and can cost an arm and a leg, just look at the Wii for example.

It all depends on perspective. Sure an Arcade 360 is cheaper than a gaming PC but a 360 Slim, plus extra controller, Battery packs or Play and charge kits, online fees and much more expensive games soon adds up to a heap of money.

Ultimately though the price is irrelevant. You can either afford it or you can't and for many even the new gen of consoles are too expensive.

LINK

What I find funny is this....

When comparing price = Its one console vs the PC.

When comparing libraries = Its all consoles vs PC.

A useless gesture. But I yes the price of PC gaming is over exaggerated by those of the limited knowledge on the subject.

Just look here

Now sure that measly DX9 Rig is in my opinion meager and not the the full potential of what PC gaming is about But then again do you even need the full potential of the Hardware from Heaven to mop the floor with those lesser platforms? Nope.

[QUOTE="Silverbond"]

It might be more expensive at first, but a couple of upgrades every couple of years shouldn't set anyone back to far.

markinthedark

Depends... if you are gaming on a 2005 rig right now you probably have an AGP slot.... which means you are looking at an entire system upgrade.

Its not as easy as just upgrading a single part every now and then when you are having trouble running games.

You could upgrade MB, CPU, Memory and Graphics card for under £300 and have a rig as good as any console. People forget that an upgrade doesn't cost you the price of a case, DVD drives, HDD's, PSU's etc as long as you make good choices in the first place. I upgrade about once every three years for about this much and it is getting cheaper to do so all the time.

PC gaming is a little more expensive than console gaming because it is on a different level

To play Mass Effect 2 on 360 costs 200 + copy of the game for 20 or so. To play it on PC... costs more. I think everyone knows this, it's only the silly fanboy folk who try say it's "cheaper". The reasonable people focusmore on "better value"....locopatho

Silly fanboy folk?

After mentioning the price of one game and one console alone?

Lol. Silly fanboy folk indeed.

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

[QUOTE="Silverbond"]

It might be more expensive at first, but a couple of upgrades every couple of years shouldn't set anyone back to far.

1080pOnly

Depends... if you are gaming on a 2005 rig right now you probably have an AGP slot.... which means you are looking at an entire system upgrade.

Its not as easy as just upgrading a single part every now and then when you are having trouble running games.

You could upgrade MB, CPU, Memory and Graphics card for under £300 and have a rig as good as any console. People forget that an upgrade doesn't cost you the price of a case, DVD drives, HDD's, PSU's etc as long as you make good choices in the first place. I upgrade about once every three years for about this much and it is getting cheaper to do so all the time.

"The thing is someone who uses a computer primarily to access the internet wouldn't have to upgrade their rig regularly like a PC gamer would...

Let's say the year is 2005, and you want to build a $650 gaming rig. This would probably have something like a Socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+, Geforce 6600 GT, 512MB of RAM, an 80 GB HDD and a 330W power supply. This is the budget rig recommended by tomshardware in 2005 [link], but they left out the cost of an OS ($99) and case ($49). So now you have a budget gaming rig, but it lacks longevity.

Now the year is 2008. Crysis came out last year and you can't run it -- not even on medium settings. You're missing out on one of PC gaming's finest titles, so it's time to upgrade. By now games are demanding better processors, better graphics cards, more and faster RAM, more hard drive space and better power supplies. Yikes.

Basically your whole rig needs upgrading. You could transfer over your OS, but even your OS is outdated because XP doesn't support DirectX 10. Nonetheless you hold off on getting Vista because it's receiving bad reviews. You try to keep your HDD even though space is filling up fast. But everything else changes. So now you buy the following parts after checking newegg for deals (2008 prices):

CPU: e8400- 170$
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB- 75$ after MIR
GPU: radeon 4850- 150$ after MIR
MOBO: Gigabyte ep35-ds3l- 85$
PSU: Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W- 70$ after MIR [2008 link]

Now the year is 2010. Unfortunately, games are demanding more and more space and an 80GB hard drive simply cannot do it anymore. So you upgrade to a 1TB hard drive -- cost, about $90. And it's finally time to upgrade the OS because games like Just Cause 2 expect DX10 and you want to get the most out of your rig. So you get a new OS -- cost, about $100.

So assuming you did not sell any parts, how much was spent on this rig over a 5 year period? That's $1,390 dollars for what today is starting to look like an outdated setup."

[QUOTE="icyseanfitz"]

[QUOTE="locopatho"] Whenever adds in the cost of a HDTV to console I know they aren't being serious.locopatho

why not a pc does many things besides play games just like a tv does, and yes i did buy the tv for gaming as sd this gen looks like crap, a console will not last 12 years there will be new consoles around 2012 which will cost you about 500 if you want it, im not saying pc gaming is cheap but neither is console gaming :roll:

Exactly. I play ps3 on a 25" 1080p 250€ monitor, there is no reason to add a 1000€ monitor to the cost of the console when you can play it to the fullest on the same monitor you use for PC. And if I were to buy said 1000€ monitor, I would use it for my PC as well, so the cost of a TV goes to both console and pc gaming and should be disregarded.

And by the time you need to pay 500 for that imaginary new console, you will have to pay 1000 for a new pc as well.

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

8800gt also came out in the tail end of 2007.... 2 years after the 360.

alot of this is all speculation on how future proof these PCs are... its just random guessing. The only thing we actually KNOW is the cost of being a PC gamer in the past. I expect another boom in PC tech when the next gen of consoles hits the market... since PC game devs seem to be mimicking the standards of consoles rather than constantly pushing the envelope like they used to.

and alot of people actually bought red redemption with the $20 pre order gift card... sold their preorder item code on ebay for 10 bucks, then played and beat the game within a month and sold it used for $35 on amazon.

Ultimately making money by buying and beating a brand new game... so the cost of games is on a very case by case basis. If a console gamer chooses to sell their used games its very easy to match or beat PC game sale prices.

PC gaming may not be as expensive as many consolites think, but its not nearly as cheap as hermits make it out to be.

lundy86_4

I wasn't saying the 8800GT had been around as long as the 360, just that the card has lasted considerably longer than PC tech has done in the past. The major reason for this is the huge, huge increase in bidgeting costs on modern games (I remember reading an article which stated they capped at around $60 million this gen -- for the most part -- and we're just now starting to see a decrease in those costs).

I agree that console gamers can sometimes surpass the PC user in terms of money spent *AFTER* initial costs were covered. Like I said, it's why it's all dependant upon the end-user, which may or may not be translateable to a large portion of the gamers out there. I think it being downright impossible to pinpoint actual costs after the fact makes it a moot point in including it personally. We should go fof initial costs, which, at the start of the gen is high for comparable PC's, but like console prices they dropped (often moreso) in price. They'll likely never dip below console prices until we see increases in technology such as GPGPU's.

your talking about a card being outdated after 3 years as being a shining example of PC hardware longevity. Realistically you are looking at needing 2 sets of hardware over the lifetime of a single console... at least in the past. You are also gonna need a PCI 2.0 mobo if you plan on upgrading your card from that 8800gt or you might end up gimping your new gpu performance. And maybe you cant find a PCI 2.0 mobo that is compatible with your old memory and chipset... and then you are looking at an entire system upgrade. There are alot of hidden costs that go along with upgrading a single component. Its all these costs that never show up in PC gamer arguments... but anyone who has been PC gaming for a significant period knows they exist and pretend they dont.

these are the costs that really drive up the overal cost of PC gaming.