The Cost of Being a PC Gamer

One of the common opinions that are being voiced in the past few months is the costs associated with playing games on a computer. With the graphical bemoth of Crysis, the cost of playing games on a PC has reached a new high. People are constatly deducing that games are evolving so fast that the cost to keep up is prohibiting. For example, a new computer with top of the line parts such as a Nvidia 8800 GTX and a E6600 C2D cost approximatly $3000 - 4000 in total at your average high end computer selling retailer (Dell, Alienware, Voodoo, Falcon Northwest). With these high costs associated to the PC platform it seems as if the obvious choice would be to buy a console in which case for 1/10 the price you are able to play games of the same quality. The problem everyone has run into is that it does not cost 4000 dollars in total to play Crysis. There are 3 profound reasons why being a PC gamer is not as cost prohibative as it may seem.

1. You dont have to play at max settings!

There are multiple settings called low, medium, high, and ultra high that you can play games on. Crytek, the developers of Crysis have stated that a computer that was of top of the line status 3 years ago would be able to play Crysis. So with your pentium 4 3.0 ghz and 6600 gt you can most likely still play Crysis.

2. Build Your Own Computer!

For approximatly $700 you can build your own computer which will most likey run the game on medium and for $1000 dollars you can build a computer that will run the game at high - ultra high. Now for the budget cost of $1500-1600 dollars you can put together a computer with a e6600 C2D and a 8800 GTX. So for less then $2000 dollars after all your shipping and tax you have a computer that will play Crysis at ultra high.

3. The cost of owning a console!

Xbox 360 - $450

HD TV - + $1000

Total Cost - $1500 and up.

To recieve the full visual qualities of the now current gen consoles you have to buy an HDTV which is expensive also.

In conclusion, the catcalls from console fanboys are not true. You can be a PC gamer and not be broke. With the fall line up of games to come it has never been a better time to be a PC gamer.

Lastly Here is TechReports July 2007 System Building Guide showing evidence that being a PC gamer by making your own computer is not extremely expensive