Upgrading curent PC, or getting a new console

I bought my PC about 3 years ago, and now I can't run most of the new games that came out in 2015/2016. This means I have pretty old rig and it needs an upgrade, here is my curent rig:

Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Processor: AMD FX-4100 overclocked to 4.2 Ghz

And I have 8 Gb of ram

For graphics card I wanted R9 290x / or Nvidia GTX 960/970 which alone costs a lot of money. And since my motherboard supports only FX series I was thinking about FX-8350/9xxx. I am not a rich, so I want to make most od my money, I dont want to upgrade my PC just enough to play games on Lowest quality, if I cant get at least to run them at medium/high it aint good.

And here is the question should I upgrade my PC or buy new PS4/X1 for about 350€ which is a lot, a lot less money than it requires to upgrade my PC. And if I decide to buy a console should I get PS4 or XBox One ? And the difference in price games between consoles is PC>PS4>X1 so PC games are most expensive in my country and X1 games are cheapest, like deadly cheap.

Thanks in advance, sorry if its a pain to read all of this, since I kinda wrote a novel...

If you are really not rich then stick with PC but upgrade modestly.

But even if you dont upgrade your PC you would still have access to 99% of the PC exclusives. I would get a PS4 for the multiplats that dont run well on your PC, console exclusives and straight up exclusives. 2016 and the future looks to be very bright for PS4.

How are the PC games most expensive? That makes no sense.

And ye this is the wrong place to ask this question.

PC wins multiplats, costs more gets some games from both ps4 and xbone + own eclusives

Consoles cost less, have their exclusives

So just buy what ever you feel is the best for your money

Upgrade the computer not even a question and I own an Xbox One. Geez NEXT QUESTION!?!?!

how can pc games be more expensive than ps4 and xbox games in your country that doesnt make any sense

Well first off you're gonna need around 750W power supply with 8-pin(6+2) and 6-pin pci-e connectors to run a 290x. Then you'll need to make sure your motherboard can support a 125W CPU like the 8350. I run almost that exact setup...8350@4.5GHz/PCS+ 390 8GB/16GB DDR3-2400/OCZ Fatal1ty 750W, and I wouldn't advise skimping on the PSU or CPU heatsink/fan.

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PS4/XO are consistently matched or out-classed by i3/750ti, especially XO, so a gtx 950 or r9 270 is almost always better than a console. So you can go 3 ways:

1. Cheap. Just add a r9 270/gtx 950 for around $130

2. Mid-range. Upgrade CPU/GPU/PSU to FX-6300/R9 380 or GTX 960/600W PSU for around $300

3. Full upgrade. Upgrade CPU/GPU/PSU/MOBO/RAM to 8350/290x/750W PSU/125W CPU MOBO for around $550

Listed below is cumulative index for budget cards. PS4 performs worse than 750ti/260x in The Witcher 3 and Battlefield 4 as well. PCS R9-270 is $109 after rebate on Newegg. If your PSU is decent 500W and has even a single 6-pin pci-e connector you would have a console-beating system for only $110.

Thanks for replies. I will probably go for PC upgrade after a little research and your replies.

I don't see why this forum would not be a place to ask this question.

My country does not make sence in a lot of ways...

There are various factors at play:

1 - Countries local economy. Or maybe Xbox games just don't sell well there, they'd rather make a dollar than nothing at all and give it up to pirates

2 - Countries government, taxes, laws, regulations, import laws, etc. It applies to digital content too.

3 - Regions cost of living. Median rates to Piracy rates ratio and also internet bandwidth plays a factor as well. If you have dial up or data caps, Steam isn't doing you any favors, taxes could be imposed locally to curb bandwidth use

Fx 8320 and a gtx 960 will cost about 320-350 euros that is about the same price as a console. That is provided you have a decent 450-500W power supply. If not add another 60-70 euros

Or if you want to go even cheaper then go fx 6300 and gtx960 ( and most likely your current power supply will be enough ) or if you have a decent power supply the slightly faster but more power hungry r9 380

Wait for Pascal.

Why ? The GTX970 is an insanely good price/performance card.

Can tackle any game at 60FPS at 1080p (only a very small number of people games above 1080p)

Better tech is always around the corner... So why wait ?

@R4gn4r0k: the prices will drop on old cards and Pascal is looking to be a big step up anyways.

Your machine is better than mine but I can still play most 2015 games. Consoles are a no no for us PC gamers! Upgrade.

What mobo do you have? Your specs don't look that far behind tbh.

It's not that cut & dried... I know when I used to game on PC, in general, it worked out to be more expensive buying PC games than console games. The reasons being that if you have slow internet like me, you still like to buy physical copies of PC games, and they are generally more expensive than console games at release here. Plus, when you're finished with a console game, you can trade it in & get some of the money back. So unless I waited for Steam sales, it worked out to be more expensive on PC.

I know people are going to say that I was doing it all wrong etc & I'm sure I'll be flamed to hell, but this was my scenario anyway.

I do agree about the physical stuff. However; you dont have to wait for steam sales to get a cheap digital copy of a certain game, there are bunch of other reliable retailers who often offer a much cheaper price than steam and origin for a newly released game.

I presume you are from australia and games over there can be quite expensive

Waiting for the next best thing is a terrible idea. I've also got bad news for you if you think the prices of Maxwell will drop once Pascal rolls out.

@Juub1990: people will upgrade from Maxwell to Pascal and will sell their old cards for cheaper, don't act otherwise.

If he's gonna end up buying used he may as well buy an R9 290/X now instead of waiting 3-6 months.

If I may ask because I'm curious, what country are you from where PC retail games are more expensive than console games? In my country the Philippines, boxed PC games are still cheaper than console games and PC is seen as the every man's gaming machine because of the existence of internet cafes. Console gaming is considered a luxury. Totally opposite of the West.

I say upgrade your PC. Don't upgrade everything right away. Just slowly. Your video card is kind of old. Start with that. A 960 can already run The Witcher 3 on ultra settings on average of 30 fps. Steam has regional pricing if you haven't noticed. I don't know if it's cheaper or more expensive in your country but it should be different from the US. Usually Australia has it bad with video game prices.

@Juub1990: if he has the patience, waiting for the Pascal refresh still sounds like a good idea. He may like what they have, or can pick up a decent used card for even cheaper.

True, but as I said, I have pretty slow internet and it used to take ages to download a game... and this was a few years ago now. Now games are 40-50GB+ !

This is fine place to ask because you framed it as a competition between PC and consoles. Have fun on SW.

There are always some new tech around the corner...Pascal, Octane...etcetc If you keep doing that then you end up waiting for years.

You want to play games now so just get what you can according to what you need. You don't exactly need the most bleeding edge tech to play games.