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As a counterpoint I got an Xbox Series X because the cost of building a decent gaming computer has become ridiculous. Just the GPU would cost me as much as the

As a counterpoint I got an Xbox Series X because the cost of building a decent gaming computer has become ridiculous. Just the GPU would cost me as much as the whole console and as my desktop PC has an ancient motherboard, RAM, CPU etc. I'd have to replace everything. The Game Pass has been a pretty good deal so far, but I agree that having to pay just for online multiplayer is ridiculous and of course they could jack up the Game Pass price tomorrow and I'd have little recourse. Quick Resume and being able to play on the sofa is decent as well when I don't have much time. The main thing I miss is all the smaller games like Valheim etc. especially since AAA games have become less appealing as they just seem like time-sinks aimed to optimise "engagement".

vsareto 6y ago
There's some cards which lasted a while (1080 Ti, or the Titan cards, probably the high end 3x series and AMD's equivalent), but consoles are made obsolete pretty regularly. It's more worthwhile if you haven't already bought a work/life non-gaming PC though or need to upgrade that. If you don't have a good TV for the console, that might be an additional cost. Can't beat the ergonomics of chilling on your couch with a controller, but you could set that up with a PC if you really wanted to.
Grimm1 6y ago
To be fair we're in one of the worst chip shortages in a long time, GPUs are supposed to be like 3-600 for low to early high range. Still one of the most expensive parts for sure but right now is especially atypical.
- Hinrik 6y ago
  >To be fair we're in one of the worst chip shortages in a long time, GPUs are supposed to be like 3-600 for low to early high range. What's your point exactly? The recently released PS5 and Xbox Series X had launch prices of $400-$500 in the U.S. So, even without the chip shortage, GP's point about the GPU alone costing more than a console still stands.
  - kibwen 6y ago
    You don't need a beefy rig to play games. The majority of developers are already struggling to produce art assets that can put a strain on top-tier hardware. The PS5 launch was dominated by two games: Demon's Souls, a jaw-droppingly beautiful game that made great use of the hardware, and Bugsnax, whose graphics looked like it could have been a Gamecube game (don't take this as a denigration). The hyped PC game of the past two weeks has been Valheim (having the fifth most-simultaneous players of any Steam game ever), whose graphics compare favorably to Tribes 2, a game from 2001. A select number of AAA studios have the resources to invest in pushing the graphical envelope; everyone else can get by just fine on five year-old hardware.
    - Buttons840 6y ago
      And, of course, the Demon Souls game you touted as the graphically impressive one, originally played well on a PS3.
      - pja 6y ago
        The new version makes full use of the GPU on the PS5, visually it's far more impressive. Not having played either I have no idea whether the gameplay differs between the two!
    - hnick 6y ago
      Valheim is very poorly optimised right now, graphics aside. I am not sure how well it works on older hardware but on my RTX2060 and corresponding CPU I get frame drops all the time and global locks when it decides to save the world state in combat or I walk towards somewhere new. I'd imagine it's worse on an older computer, it'll run but it might not be as enjoyable at sub-30-FPS. Hardware creep inevitabily leads to optimisation decisions about how much effort to spend getting things to run well. I do agree that PC hardware tends to last around 5 years now though unless you run the latest AAA games, and there is a wealth of older games. Just the stuff I missed since 2000 would be enough to keep me busy for at least a decade.
      - 6y ago
nathanasmith 6y ago
>the cost of building a decent gaming computer has become ridiculous I don't know, I have a GTX 980ti and an overclocked Sandybridge Core i7 2600k in my gaming computer, both bought many years ago, and I haven't had any problem playing new games. I'm sure there may be some stuff it would struggle with but Doom Eternal, the latest Deus Ex, Far Cry 5, etc. play perfectly well as far as I can tell.
FooHentai 6y ago
For me the cost of gaming on PC is just whatever I need to add on top of a standard workstation, which is mostly just a bumped up graphics card. Only late last year did I finally upgrade the bones of a PC I've been running since 2009, which is a hell of a cycle. If you're chasing top performance and regular upgrade cycles I agree, it can be a pit of (up to) infinity monies. The current situation with GPU prices and coin mining etc does make things especially tricky right now if you're not already set up with a gaming rig from the past ~5 years.
- alexgmcm 6y ago
  Yeah, my PC is from 2015 (and it wasn't state of the art then..) so it's quite a pain to replace. Also I have an Ultrawide monitor which perhaps isn't the best for gaming, but is far superior for work.

vsareto 6y ago

There's some cards which lasted a while (1080 Ti, or the Titan cards, probably the high end 3x series and AMD's equivalent), but consoles are made obsolete pretty regularly. It's more worthwhile if you haven't already bought a work/life non-gaming PC though or need to upgrade that. If you don't have a good TV for the console, that might be an additional cost. Can't beat the ergonomics of chilling on your couch with a controller, but you could set that up with a PC if you really wanted to.

Grimm1 6y ago

To be fair we're in one of the worst chip shortages in a long time, GPUs are supposed to be like 3-600 for low to early high range. Still one of the most expensive parts for sure but right now is especially atypical.

Hinrik 6y ago
>To be fair we're in one of the worst chip shortages in a long time, GPUs are supposed to be like 3-600 for low to early high range. What's your point exactly? The recently released PS5 and Xbox Series X had launch prices of $400-$500 in the U.S. So, even without the chip shortage, GP's point about the GPU alone costing more than a console still stands.
- kibwen 6y ago
  You don't need a beefy rig to play games. The majority of developers are already struggling to produce art assets that can put a strain on top-tier hardware. The PS5 launch was dominated by two games: Demon's Souls, a jaw-droppingly beautiful game that made great use of the hardware, and Bugsnax, whose graphics looked like it could have been a Gamecube game (don't take this as a denigration). The hyped PC game of the past two weeks has been Valheim (having the fifth most-simultaneous players of any Steam game ever), whose graphics compare favorably to Tribes 2, a game from 2001. A select number of AAA studios have the resources to invest in pushing the graphical envelope; everyone else can get by just fine on five year-old hardware.
  - Buttons840 6y ago
    And, of course, the Demon Souls game you touted as the graphically impressive one, originally played well on a PS3.
    - pja 6y ago
      The new version makes full use of the GPU on the PS5, visually it's far more impressive. Not having played either I have no idea whether the gameplay differs between the two!
  - hnick 6y ago
    Valheim is very poorly optimised right now, graphics aside. I am not sure how well it works on older hardware but on my RTX2060 and corresponding CPU I get frame drops all the time and global locks when it decides to save the world state in combat or I walk towards somewhere new. I'd imagine it's worse on an older computer, it'll run but it might not be as enjoyable at sub-30-FPS. Hardware creep inevitabily leads to optimisation decisions about how much effort to spend getting things to run well. I do agree that PC hardware tends to last around 5 years now though unless you run the latest AAA games, and there is a wealth of older games. Just the stuff I missed since 2000 would be enough to keep me busy for at least a decade.
    - 6y ago

nathanasmith 6y ago

>the cost of building a decent gaming computer has become ridiculous I don't know, I have a GTX 980ti and an overclocked Sandybridge Core i7 2600k in my gaming computer, both bought many years ago, and I haven't had any problem playing new games. I'm sure there may be some stuff it would struggle with but Doom Eternal, the latest Deus Ex, Far Cry 5, etc. play perfectly well as far as I can tell.

FooHentai 6y ago

For me the cost of gaming on PC is just whatever I need to add on top of a standard workstation, which is mostly just a bumped up graphics card. Only late last year did I finally upgrade the bones of a PC I've been running since 2009, which is a hell of a cycle. If you're chasing top performance and regular upgrade cycles I agree, it can be a pit of (up to) infinity monies. The current situation with GPU prices and coin mining etc does make things especially tricky right now if you're not already set up with a gaming rig from the past ~5 years.

alexgmcm 6y ago
Yeah, my PC is from 2015 (and it wasn't state of the art then..) so it's quite a pain to replace. Also I have an Ultrawide monitor which perhaps isn't the best for gaming, but is far superior for work.