The Cost - PC vs Console Gaming?

um7y1h83ge06nx

I was turning this over in my mind today, trying to figure out if PC gaming is or isn't expensive relative to consoles.

As the next iteration of Xbox and Playstation looms I'm wondering whether to stick with the consoles or go PC.

So how expensive can PC gaming be and how does it compare to the cost of console gaming?

I'm not looking to troll here or start fanboy wars just a genuine debate.

Here what my ignorant starting views are:

* PCs need to be upgraded - my 360 bought in Dec 2005 doesn't. CPU socket changes can severely limit or prevent upgrades. A 2005 PC may (or may not?) struggle to play something like Far Cry 3 while the Xbox can. A high performing PC would probably blow the Xbox/PS3 out of the water though.

* PC games are far cheaper, even free if you're naughty

* PCs can obviously do more than games but then again I have a middle of the road laptop already

* High end PCs can blow the consoles away when it comes to performance.

* Consoles are a little more relaxed to play i.e. drop yourself on the couch with a wireless controller.

* It's a bit of craic putting together a PC (I've done one for myself and a few for friends)

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

any 2005 pc provided it wasn't a lemon to begin with would be able to play any game a console could at equivelant quality/resolution.

Retr0gamer

Putting together a PC with moderate specs doesn't cost that much and will totally outpace current consoles on power.

What you spend on the PC you'll make back on the price of games as well as all the free mods out there. Also, free online play.

Sarky

Spent €600 on a very nice PC recently. Most of the games I buy are less than €40, and far prettier than the same €60 game on any console.

If PC doesn't beat consoles in the long term, it certainly balances out.

Mr Blobby

Well a few weeks ago I did a little test to see which was more expensive and at least for me It was a lot more expensive to own a Xbox.

I basically added up the price of my Pc + Games against Xbox + Games + Live

I added the total over a 3 year period since that's when most people would consider a upgrade.

I think I saved around €250 over the 3 Years. The main difference was the price of the games.


But again this is all down to how many games you buy a year.

Jambo221

I'm very curious to see people's perceptions on this too. There are so many factors to consider, electricity usage, price of games, etc.

I've always thought PC gaming to be much cheaper considering the amount of free games there are out there.

Price isn't the only thing though, in house shares consoles are much safer to leave out in the open than PCs. After growing up having to share a PC with the rest of the family, I definitely wouldn't do it again :P In that sense, the cost of gaming can be shared among a few people, whereas with PC gaming, the cost is usually on an individual.

um7y1h83ge06nx

blobby360 wrote: »

Well a few weeks ago I did a little test to see which was more expensive and at least for me It was a lot more expensive to own a Xbox.

I basically added up the price of my Pc + Games against Xbox + Games + Live

I added the total over a 3 year period since that's when most people would consider a upgrade.

I think I saved around €250 over the 3 Years. The main difference was the price of the games.


But again this is all down to how many games you buy a year.

Yeah, I have been reading a few different articles on it and the number of games you buy a year appears to be one of the main considerations, so PCs seem to be better for heavy gamers.

Magill

Well, i guess, as the xbox fanboys like to say... you get what you pay for really. Overall, when you take into consideration the price of games (If you buy smart, use the sales) multi-functional use etc then i would say they are probably equal in terms of cost. Most console players i know have either a laptop or a standard PC.... which im SURE they also upgrade every few years anyway. Not to mention, very few console owners have had one console last an entire generation.

It also depends on what type of gamer you are, and what you enjoy playing... most people enjoy playing games with their mates, so if their mates have an xbox.. it makes sense that they get one too.

Overall tho... i would say that PC gaming is the "Best" option for the more dedicated gamer. You have a wider selection of games, better exclusives (By far...), far better controls, better graphics and performance and in general its a much better experience when playing online imo... which is free ofc.

CrazyRabbit

PC's:

Cheaper games (just look at the Steam sales at the moment!)
Can periodically upgrade Graphics Card at less cost than a new console.
Muti-use...Internet browsing.
Generally better controller options...can use keyboard + mouse, gamepad, joystick. Most console games work only with gamepad.
Much better graphics/sound.
Can use many powerful applications, not just games.
Bigger selection of games still (due to back catalogue)...can still play 15 year old games on them.
Tons of free games.


Consoles:
Convenient/smaller & more portable.
More user-friendly. Requires no technical knowledge/ability.
Cheaper than a PC normally.

marco_polo

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

any 2005 pc provided it wasn't a lemon to begin with would be able to play any game a console could at equivelant quality/resolution.

Not so sure about that, the Athlon X2 3800+ was a $350 CPU back in 2005, and barely able for Far Cry 2 four years later.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-4650-agp,2383-6.html

steve_r

I used to (casually) use my laptop as my only gaming machine, but nearly a year ago after getting sick of bugs/installation problems etc I moved to a PS3.

Cost wise I've spent a lot more and I'm not quite sure I got value for money.

For me, a laptop is pretty much a sunk cost, given that I want to be online, music, movies etc on the go. Wheras a console is just a machine for gaming. I know you can use it as a media player, but I can hook my laptop up to my TV for that so it's not much benifit for me.

I think the added use you would get from a gaming PC justifies the increased price. On the other hand I am willing to pay extra (but not much!) for console games, just becuase I know I won't have to worry about bugs/crashing etc. That might not be a financial cost, but the lost time and fustration is a big factor for me.

gizmo

marco_polo wrote: »

Not so sure about that, the Athlon X2 3800+ was a $350 CPU back in 2005, and barely able for Far Cry 2 four years later.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-4650-agp,2383-6.html

It's probably worth bearing in mind that "equivalent" preformance with a console is 30fps running at 720p. If someone had bought a Core2Duo E6600 back around 2006 which was the CPU to get, then with a Geforce 280 (admittedly a later card) they'd have hit ~40fps at 1680x1050 with medium detail. With an appropriate card from the time I think a console-like experience could have been maintained till now in the majority of cases.

That being said, that's all well and good now, however I don't expect a relatively cheap PC bought recently to last very long following the introduction of the next generation of consoles. A new machine built around the next-gen Haswell chips from Intel or even current gen chips from the i7 side of the family should make it awhile though.

K.O.Kiki

Sarky wrote: »

Spent €600 on a very nice PC recently. Most of the games I buy are less than €40, and far prettier than the same €60 game on any console.

If PC doesn't beat consoles in the long term, it certainly balances out.

I haven't bought a new console game for more than €40 in the past 4-5 years. :rolleyes:

Retr0gamer

Good point about the new consoles incoming. Probably best to hold off getting a PC since you will be upgrading to play new games when they are released.

Genghiz Cohen

A nice little Trinity build I had in my cart from God-knows-when

Item|Price
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€42.15
Toshiba DT01ACA Series 500GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€49.43
ASRock FM2A75 Pro4, FM2, ATX|€73.38
BitFenix Merc Alpha|€34.00
8GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800U CL9|€34.19
Logitech Wireless Desktop MK260|€22.38
Rechner - Zusammenbau|€20.00
AMD A10 5800K Black Edition mit AMD Radeon HD 7660D Grafikeinheit, Box, FM2|€113.71
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€408.23

Should play most of todays games on high settings at 1080p. Plus it'll arrive built.

Kiith

Considering how long it takes games to really utilise a new consoles power, i'd be fairly confident of even mid range pc's keeping up with the next gen consoles, at least for a while. I could be completely wrong though.

marco_polo

Just to give the OP a rough idea of PC gaming cost I'd say I spend about a €900 on my PC just over three years ago (PC,monitor,decent KB+Mouse, speakers etc), the only additions I have made since then is a 64GB SSD for about €80, and just this week ordered a HD7850 for €200 which should hopefully be at home waiting for me later. You could probably build the equivalent for about €600 right now.

I didn't strictly have to upgrade the GPU (AMD HD4870) as it was still playing most games at high settings (No problems recently playing games like Crysis 2, Deus Ex HR, MP3 Metro 2033 at fairly high detail levels) and would have done for another year or so if I really needed. I would expect to get at least another 2-3 years out of the new card.

Had I left it as is I would have gotten four years of gaming for €150 per year of hardware costs, which isn't bad for what is my preferred gaming experience.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Good point about the new consoles incoming. Probably best to hold off getting a PC since you will be upgrading to play new games when they are released.

The Xbox 360 was an immensely powerful machine at the time of its launch, but I'm not sure that the gap between the next generation and the average gaming PC will be as large on day one this time around? We shall see when they get announced I suppose.

ShadowHearth

i could write a lot about this issue, but i am just tired of explaining it. PC gaming can be bigger initial investment ( not even that big these days ), but once you dipped your toe its happy sailing.

just few points:

*When you buy a PC gaming, you buy a PC, Best media centre out there. for example: i am writing this post on boards, watching a movie, playing EVE online. If not misses i would not even have TV in my house.

*Entry/mid range PC Droped in price a lot. Once you got a base, then every single item in it can be separately changed. If you could not splash out as much as you wanted at start, you will always be able to add/change it any second you want. its not like you will have to completely swap a whole system.

*Game prices, oh boy, its a blessing and a curse... For example:
dark souls PC version -13eu ( released in august )
X-com enemy unknown - 22eu ( released october )
Sleeping dogs -16eu ( released august )
Dishonored -14eu ( released october )
thats all newish this season games, i am not even talking about older games! stuff like batman arkham city goty can be picked up for 7eu on sales. and trust me, there are more sales these days then you can ever afford.

*I know Pc gaming looks like expensive purchase, but how many people are still on same console that they got on release? ( 60gb ps3 and 20gb xbox 360 ). I wont even say about initial price of it back then. A good few of those consoles went in flames, true. though how many people had to change them ( or wanted ), because new ones were "slim", new looking, had bigger Hdds? though still with same processing power like before. Now i know some proper fanboy will jump in and go: " YOU SCUMBAG! THATS LIES! I am still on my 20GB XBOX and it still works and its awesome, you are wrong!!!". Yes, some people still have those, for example - ME. i still got 60gb ps3 ( hooked up and being used now and then ) and got xbox 360 20gb in a box, still working. And guess what? i got a 250gb slim one hooked up to TV too. I needed bigger hdd and hdmi port, so i could not upgrade old xbox. i needed new console. ( i am lucky to still got those 2 working because i rarely use them ), MAJORITY of people will have bought more then 1 xbox/ps3 in consoles lifespam if they started at beggining. Its not an attack at Console gamer, its just something majority of people just write off or dont notice when looking in to costs.
Yeah yeah, i know you bough xbox last year and it costed to you only once, but new one coming out next year or year after and you will buy that new one again, it will be an initial release console and chances are you will be buying the updated version later on. It does not mean that console is a bad thing or devils minion, it just costs should be looked at fairly.

*A lovely awesome myth - you got to update your PC ever 2 weeks, if you push it you can get away with 3 weeks, but got to be very carefull or BAM - Herpes. My old pc ( still own it ) was bought 6 years ago now from dell ( i was stupid allright! ), even so i played 5 years with it all i needed to do is pop new GPU and it is still play almost any game high/maxed out settings today. The only reason i got a totally new PC, because i could not upgrade prebuilt system and that i am PC nerd all right? i dont spend 4eu on a pint in pub, but i spend 500eu on new GPU! :pac:
okay, what am i trying to say: if you build normal decent pc ( not expensive i may add, but smart pc ), you wont need to upgrade for ages. you might upgrade it, when you get upgrade bug, which most pc gamers suffer from.

*steam. google it if you dont know.


*no monopoly on digital distribution. buy from anyone you want.

Antar Bolaeisk

My PC expenditure over the last six years.

2006: Built new PC, approximately €1000 which also included an OS, screen and 7.1 surround sound speakers.

2008: New graphics card, approximately €150

2011: New SSD, approximately €150 (Best upgrade, ever)

2012: New motherboard, ram, processor and heatsink, approximately €500 (Note: I also bought a new screen this year for €350 so it can be included here but it's really by merit of the fact that I use my PC for everything rather than just gaming that I bought it and it's just happy co-incidence that it now allows me to game on a much bigger screen ).

An extra €100/per year could also be added on for random peripherals.

In that time my Steam library increased to roughly 350 games. I rarely, if ever spend more than €20 on a game and for the most part it's generally sales that I pick stuff up. If we take an average of €15/game (though the reality is probably a little less) that gives me a cost of €875/year (actually, that's a scary figure when put like that, I hope I'm not spending that much per year ).

Actually, the whole lot is a lot of money to spend when laid out like that! I've just scared myself a little.

Note: I don't use my computer solely for gaming, I do a lot of work from it also.


Something to factor in to the console equation, anyone who owns a console will probably also need to get or own a computer/laptop/tablet which is another couple of hundred euro onto the cost.

ShadowHearth

i forgot to add:

your steam library and all games will fallow you all the time. no matter how many PCs you upgraded or replaced. they will all work no matter what generation it was. funny enough there is no such thing as generations on PC its like one long generation. I still got stuff like fallout 2 on my PC, which i played on my VERY first PC.

yimrsg

With the next generation of consoles around the corner it's very economical to be a console gamer. Even AAA releases which normally have RRP of €60 and above are often around €40 on release day. Console games are initially more expensive but after 2/3 months after release they're isn't so much of a difference between them also the pre-owned market is larger than pc games so there is that advantage financially. Very recently you could get a 250gb xbox 360 with 2 AAA games for under €200, which is fantastic value. I'm sure there are similar bargains to be had when buying a ps3. Even though I paid over €400 for my 360 on release I've gotten value for money with it, it's very easy to get value for money with a console. It's a fair bit harder to get the same value for money and convenience in pc gaming.

I've recently bought a laptop and there are so many little things that you need to add (mouse & mat, headphones, microphone) on to game whereas on a console it was just plug and play. Buying/upgrading a pc/laptop is a much larger outlay than a console and requires a bit of research and thought behind each purchase/upgrade. You do get plenty of advantages over consoles but you're paying for those. Whether those advantages are worth the extra outlay is down to each individual.

PogMoThoin

For console the price of the TV should be factored in.

Washington Irving

yimrsg wrote: »

With the next generation of consoles around the corner it's very economical to be a console gamer. Even AAA releases which normally have RRP of €60 and above are often around €40 on release day. Console games are initially more expensive but after 2/3 months after release they're isn't so much of a difference between them also the pre-owned market is larger than pc games so there is that advantage financially. Very recently you could get a 250gb xbox 360 with 2 AAA games for under €200, which is fantastic value. I'm sure there are similar bargains to be had when buying a ps3. Even though I paid over €400 for my 360 on release I've gotten value for money with it, it's very easy to get value for money with a console. It's a fair bit harder to get the same value for money and convenience in pc gaming.

Just on the price of games. You say AAA releases are about €40 on console (personally, I haven't seen any that cheap). On PC, they are also around €40 at release but many of the them cost less than half that a month or two after release. Take Dishonored for example, released last month and last week was available on PC for €14. ShadowHearth has given more examples above.

The emboldened part simply isn't true. It's very easy to make back the initially higher price of a PC as you have access to films, music, TV, internet, far greater value in cost of games and far greater range of games to choose from

gizmo

Kiith wrote: »

Considering how long it takes games to really utilise a new consoles power, i'd be fairly confident of even mid range pc's keeping up with the next gen consoles, at least for a while. I could be completely wrong though.

You'd be surprised at the recommended specs for the next gen engines.

ShadowHearth

gizmo wrote: »

You'd be surprised at the recommended specs for the next gen engines.

Eh? :P:confused::P:P

NTMK

yimrsg wrote: »

With the next generation of consoles around the corner it's very economical to be a console gamer. Even AAA releases which normally have RRP of €60 and above are often around €40 on release day.

I havent seen a single release this year on PS3/360 for €40 if anything they've edged closer to RRP if anything

Console games are initially more expensive but after 2/3 months after release they're isn't so much of a difference between them also the pre-owned market is larger than pc games so there is that advantage financially.

Steam sales mean you can 2/3 month old games for less than €20 also you have a multitude of sites selling pc games a lot less than retail

Very recently you could get a 250gb xbox 360 with 2 AAA games for under €200, which is fantastic value. I'm sure there are similar bargains to be had when buying a ps3. Even though I paid over €400 for my 360 on release I've gotten value for money with it, it's very easy to get value for money with a console. It's a fair bit harder to get the same value for money and convenience in pc gaming.

Good value @ 200 and you do get value for money from consoles but to say that its harder to get the same from a PC is laughable.
every pc is capable of being a far better Media center than the consoles, you also get free online play (€30-40 a year on 360), a decent internet browser, larger range of top quality indie games, Modding commuinities, F2P games and a whole host of things the consoles cant do.

Kiith

gizmo wrote: »

You'd be surprised at the recommended specs for the next gen engines.

Hopefully. The last thing we need is the next gen consoles being underpowered, and having the pc tech being massively ahead of the game again. I'd be delighted if the new consoles were massive improvements from a technical point of view.

Duggy747

PC all the way for me, best media center you can have tweaked to your own settings with XBMC managing my media and providing streams and another jukebox-like software for managing all my old games from Atari to PS2.

Built my machine for around €700 and have it hooked up to the TV, plays games on High settings comfortably, can change between gaming / watching media / browsing the web / running software / etc with no problem.

Plus you can pick up a massive back catalogue of games on the cheap through the likes of Gog, Steam, etc.

sarumite

Dash Teeny Mice wrote: »

* PC games are far cheaper, even free if you're naughty

*

Everything can be free if you're naughty.

degrassinoel

Steam sales!
PC master race is more expensive.

Washington Irving

degrassinoel wrote: »

Steam sales!
PC master race is more expensive.

/thread

yimrsg

SaulGoode9 wrote: »

Just on the price of games. You say AAA releases are about €40 on console (personally, I haven't seen any that cheap). On PC, they are also around €40 at release but many of the them cost less than half that a month or two after release. Take Dishonored for example, released last month and last week was available on PC for €14. ShadowHearth has given more examples above.

The emboldened part simply isn't true. It's very easy to make back the initially higher price of a PC as you have access to films, music, TV, internet, far greater value in cost of games and far greater range of games to choose from

NTMK wrote: »

I havent seen a single release this year on PS3/360 for €40 if anything they've edged closer to RRP if anything


Steam sales mean you can 2/3 month old games for less than €20 also you have a multitude of sites selling pc games a lot less than retail


Good value @ 200 and you do get value for money from consoles but to say that its harder to get the same from a PC is laughable.
every pc is capable of being a far better Media center than the consoles, you also get free online play (€30-40 a year on 360), a decent internet browser, larger range of top quality indie games, Modding commuinities, F2P games and a whole host of things the consoles cant do.

Halo 4 was €44 in argos. Black Ops 2 €40 in supervalu. Just because you haven't seen bargains doesn't mean they're not there. If you shop around on consoles and use price comparison websites there is no way you should be parting with €60 for new releases on any format. They're both bricks and mortar stores in Ireland too.

Right now there is only £4-5 difference in xcom/dishonoured/ac3 on the various systems. The gap is insignificant if you buy a preowned game on console. Game costs are largely the same.

ShadowHearth

yimrsg wrote: »

Halo 4 was €44 in argos. Black Ops 2 €40 in supervalu. Just because you haven't seen bargains doesn't mean they're not there. If you shop around on consoles and use price comparison websites there is no way you should be parting with €60 for new releases on any format. They're both bricks and mortar stores in Ireland too.

Right now there is only £4-5 difference in xcom/dishonoured/ac3 on the various systems. The gap is insignificant if you buy a preowned game on console. Game costs are largely the same.

wasnt the second hand game market was the one that is killing the gaming industry? :pac:
funny enough second hand games mostly mean feck all on savings these days thx to online pass system, a hole, that console gamers and gamestop dug themselfs.

NTMK

yimrsg wrote: »

Halo 4 was €44 in argos. Black Ops 2 €40 in supervalu. Just because you haven't seen bargains doesn't mean they're not there. If you shop around on consoles and use price comparison websites there is no way you should be parting with €60 for new releases on any format. They're both bricks and mortar stores in Ireland too.

Right now there is only £4-5 difference in xcom/dishonoured/ac3 on the various systems. The gap is insignificant if you buy a preowned game on console. Game costs are largely the same.

€10 difference with xcom on gamestop.ie and Zavvi
€15-20 with ac3 on the same websites
€10 with dishonored on gamestop (zavvi dont have pc version)

thats €35 saved on 3 games

the cases with supervalu and argos only do these deals on a big release like halo or cod

ShadowHearth

NTMK wrote: »

€10 difference with xcom on gamestop.ie and Zavvi
€15-20 with ac3 on the same websites
€10 with dishonored on gamestop (zavvi dont have pc version)

thats €35 saved on 3 games

the cases with supervalu and argos only do these deals on a big release like halo or cod

i would even put blops 2 as an exception. i am pretty sure they sold it at lower then recommended price. i would be surprised they even made any money on it.
i havent seen any console AAA game sell for less then 45eu in shops.

if someone from gamesnash would pop in, he could put some light on this.

marco_polo

gizmo wrote: »

You'd be surprised at the recommended specs for the next gen engines.

I'm guessing you're not permitted to share?

NTMK

marco_polo wrote: »

I'm guessing you're not permitted to share?

if hes talking Unreal engine 4, the tech demo that was shown used 3 GTX680's (€1200 of gpus) but its far from optimised yet

EDIT: its down to a single 680 apparently

and will probably be down to 7770/8770 level by the time the NGC's are released

gizmo

NTMK wrote: »

if hes talking Unreal engine 4, the tech demo that was shown used 3 GTX680's (€1200 of gpus) but its far from optimised yet

That was the Samaritan demo which was running on a modified Unreal Engine 3.

The Unreal 4 demo at E3 was running on a high end i7 with 16GB RAM and a Geforce 680. Bearing in mind, that was a three room demo with, relatively speaking, very little going on

ShadowHearth

gizmo wrote: »

That was the Samaritan demo which was running on a modified Unreal Engine 3.

The Unreal 4 demo at E3 was running on a high end i7 with 16GB RAM and a Geforce 680. Bearing in mind, that was a three room demo with, relatively speaking, very little going on.

i would not say something like gtx 680 is a thing to buy ( i own it thought )

there are some GPUS, like 7950 Club 3d royal king, which are 280eu and overclocks like some space ship and is faster then overclocked gtx 680.

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/3072+MB/66982/Club+3D+Radeon+HD+7950+royalKing%2C+3GB+GDDR5%2C+AMD+Radeon+HD+7950%2C+PCI-+Express.article

gizmo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

i would not say something like gtx 680 is a thing to buy ( i own it thought )

there are some GPUS, like 7950 Club 3d royal king, which are 280eu and overclocks like some space ship and is faster then overclocked gtx 680.

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/3072+MB/66982/Club+3D+Radeon+HD+7950+royalKing%2C+3GB+GDDR5%2C+AMD+Radeon+HD+7950%2C+PCI-+Express.article

Certainly agree, that's why I wouldn't buy a high end GPU now if I wanted it to last 2+ years.

*pats Gigabyte 670 Windforce*

On top of the Unreal 4 specs you also had the leaked Durango dev kit and the Stationary Computing Device spec sheet from the XBox Surface leak.

I've no idea what the final specs will be but between all of that info, I can't say I'm worried about the next gen of consoles being underpowered by any stretch of the imagination.

marco_polo

I certainly don't expect them to be underpowered but at the same time the base hardware is likely to be a fair bit less than an i7 + GTX680? And while you can of course squeeze an awful alot more out of the hardware on a console, its shouldn't be a quantum leap forward from what will be running on good PC built late next year, given it is expected that the next generation of upper mid range cards should have close to GTX680 levels of performance, and that even Epic expect to have to reign UE4 back a little bit for Orbis and Durango from the tech demo levels.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-curious-case-of-the-durango-devkit-leak

If this is a tech demo, just how much of it will we see in actual next-gen titles? The UE4 demo is running on PC, specifically an Intel Core i7 processor with an NVIDIA GTX680 and 16GB of RAM - what Epic terms a standard development box. This is almost certainly considerably beyond the base hardware of both Orbis and Durango, but factoring in the advantages of a fixed hardware platform with dedicated APIs, the gap narrows.

"Obviously we don't know what the final specs are for the next-generation consoles and I'm sure we'll have to make trade-offs to put a final quality game onto whatever comes out," says Alan Willard.

"We have a pretty good history of making our tech demos look like what our final games are. Gears started off as a tech demo years ago at E3 in 2004 or so. We certainly don't try to fake what we're capable of doing. Obviously the engine is very new, we're still exploring what we can do with it and as more details come out on what the next generation hardware is, we'll have better ideas on what our final trade-offs will be. We're still waiting to find out ourselves."

EDIT: One thing I am glad to see from the link Gizmo posted is that there is a "very strong suggestion that the era of custom console hardware is now very much a thing of the past.", which can only be a good thing as the amount of effort required to make cross platform games, is currently a major cost for developers, and is time and effort that could be much better spent focusing on making better games.

KilOit

Throw 800-1000€ into a pc build now and it'll be more powerful than next gen consoles, i guarantee it!

From the bits of info leaking about xbox 720 and ps4 by the time they're released they would be the equivalent to a mid range pc.
The likes of a GTX690 (godlike graphics card!) will have come down in price with even better cards out there by the time they're released.

gizmo

marco_polo wrote: »

I certainly don't expect them to be underpowered but at the same time the base hardware is likely to be a fair bit less than an i7 + GTX680? And while you can of course squeeze an awful alot more out of the hardware on a console, its shouldn't be a quantum leap forward from what will be running on good PC built late next year, given it is expected that the next generation of upper mid range cards should have close to GTX680 levels of performance, and that even Epic expect to have to reign UE4 back a little bit for Orbis and Durango from the tech demo levels.

I don't think it'll be any kind of leap forward from a good PC built late next year, no. As I said, I just don't think the midspec machines which are being built now as an alternative (albeit a wildly more powerful one at this stage ) to this generation of consoles will last long once the next gen come in.

I could of course be wrong (most of this is just an educated guess) but from what we've seen so far, I wouldn't bet against it.

KilOit wrote: »

Throw 800-1000€ into a pc build now and it'll be more powerful than next gen consoles, i guarantee it!

I'd wager that if you build it around a non-hyperthreaded quad core CPU then it won't. Look at the specs of the machines listed above, if you have engines which are capable of taking advantage of all of those cores then you're going to run into difficulties if your CPU isn't able to match them. We've been fine so far since even the latest and greatest haven't taxed us that much, probably why my lowly Q9550 has managed to keep up for so long.

No idea about the GPU however, while I can't see it beating the raw grunt of desktop orientated parts, it probably depend more on whether eDRAM is embraced again since, as we've seen with this generation, it can do wonders for cards based around lower end hardware. You can also be guaranteed that since they'll be built on DX11-based hardware you'll actually see renderers written to take advantage of the multi-threaded capabilities it introduced.

_Kaiser_

I've always been a PC gamer. I did have an XBox 360 a few years ago but I rarely used it so sold it about a year later. I also found the controller was a little too large/awkward from my tastes (but maybe I was just used to keyboards, mice and joysticks)

But even though I still have a PC and am looking at it right now, my usage has changed completely in the last few years.

- Laptop for 90% of my work/home use - Vostro 3350 with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and a seperate ATI graphics chipset

- WDTV Live Streaming connected to the 42" LG here for my media

- Precision 690 Workstation (formerly 2 different PowerEdge servers) that runs my home Domain, media share (gotta love Mezzmo and the Support is fantastic), and test box - all running in Hyper-V VM's under Server 2012/2008 R2 (Technet is great, but not as much value as it was admittedly!)

... previously all of that (except for the server stuff) would have been running on my PC.

My current PC then is a DELL XPS 630i that I got for about €250 on Adverts earlier this year. Threw in a 2GB HD7970 and 8GB RAM and overclocked the Q6600 to 3Ghz and it runs anything I've thrown at it perfectly at high settings.. BF3, Borderlands 2 etc (Side note: I do like the case/design so any thoughts on a compatible motherboard upgrade?)

I find I don't have the time to invest in gaming anymore , but it's nice that when I do come home after a long day, that I can fire it up and jump into the latest games with the lads if I want. I also like RTS's and Simulators so a console wouldn't be a great choice for these either anyway.

I have spent a fortune on PC gear though for the 2 machines, but eBay and Adverts are my friends there so it lessens the pain and I've swapped stuff between machines a lot. The Precision for example has the CPUs and the 24GB of RAM from the 2 servers as well as the 4.5 TB of storage I was using in them

Headshot

I love pc gaming but it slightly pisses me off I cant trade in or sell most games

tuxy

marco_polo wrote: »

I'm guessing you're not permitted to share?

I think he must have inside information so is probably bound by a NDA

Some people are basing it on the hardware that has been used to run a demo but of course that would be foolish.

Out of interest what hardware did the unreal 3 engine demo run on in 2004?

Grumpypants

It is hard to answer , consoles right now are far cheaper to get into initialy as you will not get a PC for 150 euro but you will get a console. To get a PC you really do needto spend about 800 but then the games are cheaper. So it depends on whether you will buy enough games to make up the difference. Short term hit for long term gain. Similar to putting solar panels on your house, its cheaper to use oil but in the long run the solar is cheaper it just takes years to balance out.

That is now, next year the new consoles will be closer to that big investment. They will be 600 and games will be more expensive too so it changes everything again.

Then you balance that a PC can be upgraded to stay in line / jump ahead of consoles.

And then the steam sales wrecks everything as you save a lot but you buy hundreds of games that you never wanted and will never play :-)

aN.Droid

Grumpypants wrote: »

It is hard to answer , consoles right now are far cheaper to get into initialy as you will not get a PC for 150 euro but you will get a console. To get a PC you really do needto spend about 800 but then the games are cheaper. So it depends on whether you will buy enough games to make up the difference. Short term hit for long term gain. Similar to putting solar panels on your house, its cheaper to use oil but in the long run the solar is cheaper it just takes years to balance out.

That is now, next year the new consoles will be closer to that big investment. They will be 600 and games will be more expensive too so it changes everything again.

Then you balance that a PC can be upgraded to stay in line / jump ahead of consoles.

And then the steam sales wrecks everything as you save a lot but you buy hundreds of games that you never wanted and will never play :-)

You can get a pc for ~400 that will play most games out right now at higher detail than consoles. Even cheaper if you want to play at console quality (720P, 30FPS) and will have access to cheaper games and everything else that comes with a pc.

cherryghost

Limericks wrote: »

You can get a pc for ~400 that will play most games out right now at higher detail than consoles. Even cheaper if you want to play at console quality (720P, 30FPS) and will have access to cheaper games and everything else that comes with a pc.

I managed that feat with a 250 euro PC tbh. Built one myself last month. Plays everything on medium at 720p, even looks better than the console counterpart some of the time

Antar Bolaeisk

Plus you're probably going to want a laptop or whatever alongside your console for doing normal computery things which is of course added cost.

Grumpypants

Fair play I only got a mouse, keyboard , windows 7 and a case, maybe a power source for 250.

Still had to add a motherboard , RAM, a processor, hard drive, graphics card and disk drive. So you did well to get all those parts for 250.

Had to spend closer to a grand to get something that can run at a noticeable level above consoles and at that you are limited to the handful of games built for PC like bf3.

Then you have to factor in the cost of broadband as shops don't really stock boxed pc games anymore so that adds 400-500ish a year and negates any savings on steam sales.