4 ms·

> Probably my age showing, but the value proposition of PC gaming seems to have fallen steeply in the past few years compared to consoles. Consoles have been t

> Probably my age showing, but the value proposition of PC gaming seems to have fallen steeply in the past few years compared to consoles. Consoles have been the better value for a long time. That said, it's a mistake to look at $1600 flagship cards and AAA titles and think that's the only way to game on a PC. Even entry-level cards in the $200-300 range can play modern games at 1080p or even 1440p as long as you're not trying to max out the settings (max PC settings aren't available on consoles anyway) The real upshot to PC gaming, IMO, is that there are hundreds of highly-rated PC titles over released over the past decade that you can access with a few clicks. > Nowadays, I don't want to fiddle with Windows (which insists on forcing updates when I do power my PC up to play with friends), Ironically, this was my experience with consoles. Since I play infrequently, I'd often be stuck on forced console software updates whenever I turned it on. AAA console games also need to be updated frequently, some times with 10s of gigabytes to download before I can play. Updates aren't exclusive to PCs any more.

soylentcola 4y ago
For me, the biggest reason to continue PC gaming (aside from the sheer breadth of titles and generally better visuals) is that, sure, the GPU alone cost me $700 and the whole thing cost as much as 3 consoles... ...but I already needed a computer. My desktop PC is my workhorse and still performs better than any laptop at a similar price point. I just look at that $700 GPU as a $500 upgrade to a more basic option - similar to a PC without a nice GPU plus a dedicated game box. Doesn't hurt that I can also make use of it in photo/video/animation/etc applications as well as in games. Still, I imagine that if you don't do anything that can't be done on an $800-900 laptop, it might just be simpler to buy that and an Xbox.
- lupire 4y ago
  A $200 GPU is a nice GPU! A $700 GPU needs expensive fussy cooling too, and it's hard to get peak performance from it, and it really doesn't add much value to the gameplay.
  - dannyw 4y ago
    What $200 GPU available today is nice?
    - PragmaticPulp 4y ago
      I searched Amazon right now and I see an RX 6600 for $230. That GPU is plenty fast for most gaming, unless you're trying to push 4K or very high framerates at 1440p. Nobody needs a $700 GPU to play video games. Look at the averaged charts: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html An RX 6600 still puts out over 100fps at 1080p medium settings on their 8-game average.
- wing-_-nuts 4y ago
  >Still, I imagine that if you don't do anything that can't be done on an $800-900 laptop, it might just be simpler to buy that and an Xbox. I always found it funny that PC gamers seem to think console gamers don't own a computer. We do, we've simply found that for the price of building a gaming PC, one can buy a decent laptop AND a console, and run them both without needing further upgrades for a decade. This has a huge bang for buck. I should know, I've done this twice with the x360 and PS4, paired with a mid range dell laptop. Both are flawless for their respective niche. I'm probably building a PC next year, but even I acknowledge that I'm going pretty far out into diminishing returns of enjoyment curve to do so.
skohan 4y ago
I think it depends when in the cycle you buy. Yes if you buy at the same time the new console generation comes out, the console is probably going to be cheaper (if it's even available) due to economies of scale, and the fact that they may loss-lead since they make margins on game licensing. But console generations are long, and after a couple years, even low end PC components will catch up and exceed console performance. The PC component industry honestly does a great job of selling people things they largely don't need. Games mostly have to work on console, so it doesn't generally make a huge difference to have a GPU for instance which is 5-10x as powerful as the consoles, since the games are optimized for the consoles anyway. Yes you can go for high resolution or high frame-rates, but how much would you really miss it if you didn't have it?

soylentcola 4y ago

For me, the biggest reason to continue PC gaming (aside from the sheer breadth of titles and generally better visuals) is that, sure, the GPU alone cost me $700 and the whole thing cost as much as 3 consoles... ...but I already needed a computer. My desktop PC is my workhorse and still performs better than any laptop at a similar price point. I just look at that $700 GPU as a $500 upgrade to a more basic option - similar to a PC without a nice GPU plus a dedicated game box. Doesn't hurt that I can also make use of it in photo/video/animation/etc applications as well as in games. Still, I imagine that if you don't do anything that can't be done on an $800-900 laptop, it might just be simpler to buy that and an Xbox.

lupire 4y ago
A $200 GPU is a nice GPU! A $700 GPU needs expensive fussy cooling too, and it's hard to get peak performance from it, and it really doesn't add much value to the gameplay.
- dannyw 4y ago
  What $200 GPU available today is nice?
  - PragmaticPulp 4y ago
    I searched Amazon right now and I see an RX 6600 for $230. That GPU is plenty fast for most gaming, unless you're trying to push 4K or very high framerates at 1440p. Nobody needs a $700 GPU to play video games. Look at the averaged charts: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html An RX 6600 still puts out over 100fps at 1080p medium settings on their 8-game average.
wing-_-nuts 4y ago
>Still, I imagine that if you don't do anything that can't be done on an $800-900 laptop, it might just be simpler to buy that and an Xbox. I always found it funny that PC gamers seem to think console gamers don't own a computer. We do, we've simply found that for the price of building a gaming PC, one can buy a decent laptop AND a console, and run them both without needing further upgrades for a decade. This has a huge bang for buck. I should know, I've done this twice with the x360 and PS4, paired with a mid range dell laptop. Both are flawless for their respective niche. I'm probably building a PC next year, but even I acknowledge that I'm going pretty far out into diminishing returns of enjoyment curve to do so.

skohan 4y ago

I think it depends when in the cycle you buy. Yes if you buy at the same time the new console generation comes out, the console is probably going to be cheaper (if it's even available) due to economies of scale, and the fact that they may loss-lead since they make margins on game licensing. But console generations are long, and after a couple years, even low end PC components will catch up and exceed console performance. The PC component industry honestly does a great job of selling people things they largely don't need. Games mostly have to work on console, so it doesn't generally make a huge difference to have a GPU for instance which is 5-10x as powerful as the consoles, since the games are optimized for the consoles anyway. Yes you can go for high resolution or high frame-rates, but how much would you really miss it if you didn't have it?