Can't Get Into PC Gaming

[Skyboxer]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

I am 98% PC gamer. Different strokes for different folks. If you are big into online gaming, then stick to consoles. I am more into strategy games, city builders, empire builders and war themed games, which there are a TON of on PC. I really only got a PS4 for MLB The Show and sports games. Bought an Xbox One for Xbox exclusives, but haven't even turned it on since probably December or January.

I always hear people talk about graphics card and new CPUs come out every other month. True it does, but it don't mean you have to buy it. I see people buy $2,000 4K TVs every year......If you one of those people that have to have the latest and greatest, then it don't matter if you are a PC gamer or console gamer, you going to spend a ton of money simply because you have to have the latest and greatest.

That isn't my personality. Still rocking the OG PS4 and the 2nd 500GB model Xbox One. I have no desire for the S or the Pro. No desire for the 1TB version of each console either. Just like I have no desire for the latest and greatest headset.

Same about PC gaming. Big strategy and Simulation guy. If I had to get rid of a gaming mode it would be consoles without hesitation.
Sports (baseball/football) mainly for consoles but even that has dwindled as Madden is no longer an exciting release for me.
Just built my rig this year and it's been by far the best investment I've made gaming wise.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

As I get older i'm having less interest in consoles. Currently have a PS4 and Xbox One. I may have two physical games between them. Anything digital is old and was free or I got it on sale. I built a rig last year and my interest in gaming involves my PC now. I'll keep my consoles around. I do want a Switch for Mario Odyssey and Zelda. I've found i'm not finishing a lot of console games the last few years. When i'm home, I'm always in the room where my PC Setup is. I'm now buying shooters on PC for KB/M which i've been decent on pc more than I ever was on console lol. My interests have changed and love the idea of building my next rig which will probably be next year. I wanted a new PC and decided to build one that could handle anything I threw at it. Gaming is a benefit. It's pretty too. I like to look at it lol. Next up, a gaming monitor.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

I just built a gaming PC because I'm truly a graphics whore. That and I love gaming at 60+ fps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep and my 1440p on my monitors look great.

[PAPERNUT]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

I was PC gamer back in the 90s, but got out for consoles thru college. I decided to come back around 3 years ago to see what all the fuss was about. I grabbed an Alienware Alpha for just around $600 and created a Steam account. A year later I built a high end rig and have not looked back. Steam and the sales are amazing. I have rarely paid full price for any of the games I have purchased. Steam is wonderful and free to boot. Moving from a big screen to a quality dual monitor setup has also been a huge upgrade for the quality of the games I play.

There is no doubt an entry fee into PC, but by the time you add savings from games and no service fees, it is not as bad as people make it out to be. It is certainly not for everyone, but if you have the least bit of interest, I would try it out. Explore Steam and the other PC services out now and check out the pricing and games you may be interested in. If you find enough to your liking, find a low end PC or something that will play the games you are interested in to get a taste of it all. You can always upgrade later if needed.

[Peji911]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

You should stick with your PS4 and low spec PC then. Only get a top end gaming PC if you care about having 60fps @ highest resolutions for 3rd party games.

You should also consider selling all your unused consoles on Ebay. I had an barely used 3DS and Nvidia shield, put them up on Ebay and I nearly got back what I paid for them.

Not a bad idea. I have never sold anything on eBay. Did a quick search but a few questions remain:

1. How do I calculate shipping costs? And how do I add that to a potential sale without knowing the destination?
2. Do I get something to claim on taxes?
3. Do I pay eBay up front or only a percentage after it's sold?

[SoMiss2000]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

I was PC gamer back in the 90s, but got out for consoles thru college. I decided to come back around 3 years ago to see what all the fuss was about. I grabbed an Alienware Alpha for just around $600 and created a Steam account. A year later I built a high end rig and have not looked back. Steam and the sales are amazing. I have rarely paid full price for any of the games I have purchased. Steam is wonderful and free to boot. Moving from a big screen to a quality dual monitor setup has also been a huge upgrade for the quality of the games I play.

There is no doubt an entry fee into PC, but by the time you add savings from games and no service fees, it is not as bad as people make it out to be. It is certainly not for everyone, but if you have the least bit of interest, I would try it out. Explore Steam and the other PC services out now and check out the pricing and games you may be interested in. If you find enough to your liking, find a low end PC or something that will play the games you are interested in to get a taste of it all. You can always upgrade later if needed.

As someone mentioned, new hardware always coming out, you don't have to buy it. My 1070 handles everything i've tried and should last a few years if I choose to keep it.

[Phobia]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

The whole PC requires upgrading all the time is nonsense if you are responsible and don't just throw money at every flashing ad.

It doesn't take some insane computer to run every game currently out. I could build a PC comparable to the price of a new console which will run all the same games plus higher frames per sec. It won't be the biggest baddest in the land but it will game just fine.

For instance, I have a triple monitor setup, I game, stream on twitch, and have many windows open (discord, twitch dashboard, anhkbot, OBS, steam, etc), all on a older mid level PC. It handles everything just fine.

i5 4690k
16 gb ram
AMD 290x video card

Funny thing, some of the parts are from a 2006 build, the power supply, disk drives, and 2 hard drives all came out of my last build. I pushed that build 8 years until 2014.

I could of upgraded to a 1070 but knew that this build had a little legs left in it. So I was going to ride with it until later this year when I planned on a Rysen build.

I am not advocating you to game on a PC, its your time and money being spent so that is your decision. I'm just defending the "you need to throw constant money at PC gaming", that just isn't true. In 11 years, 2 builds, both around $600 a piece aka $1200 total, I've averaged roughly $100 a year spent on PC gaming. Add in steam, the game savings and I'd say its just about the same cost as console gaming & possibly cheaper. It's just like any other hobby, you can't run around like a mad man with your debt card or you will be broke .

[Brandwin]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

I would love to have a gaming PC, but I get overwhelmed any time I look into it and I don't want to spend so much. Maybe one day...

I just moved my PS4 Pro to a gaming monitor and I don't think I will go back to gaming on a TV. So maybe a PC will be next...

[ThrowBack]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

Not a bad idea. I have never sold anything on eBay. Did a quick search but a few questions remain:

1. How do I calculate shipping costs? And how do I add that to a potential sale without knowing the destination?
2. Do I get something to claim on taxes?
3. Do I pay eBay up front or only a percentage after it's sold?

1. When setting up a listing, you have the option to have shipping cost calculated for you. Just have the weight and dimensions of your package ready. You can also print the shipping label through Ebay for a discount.

2. I'm not sure about taxes and Ebay earnings. You might have to claim your earnings but I find it ridiculous that I pay sales tax on a console then pay more taxes for selling it. I just don't claim it on my taxes. I've been using Ebay for over 10 years and never had the IRS come at me.

3. You pay upfront and a percentage. Upfront cost can be really cheap (.99 cents) if you're listing is pretty basic. Then they charge 8% of the final price of your item. If you use PayPal, they also take a small cut.

I would recommend selling a few cheaper items before listing your expensive consoles so you can get some rep.

[Peji911]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

Those of you that enjoy sports games but game on PC, how do you get by?

Madden, PES (Console Version as PC Version sucks), NHL and The Show would be extremely difficult to give up.

However, getting Ryzen and learning how to Photoshop and Create some family videos would be great.... if I can find some unsightly, but short videos, and I don't have as much time as I used to.

What games do you guys play with friends online? For example, on Xbox and PS, you go to a friend's list and invite because every game is basically set up for it. However, on PC, many games aren't quite set up that way.

Does that mean you're playing specific games or something?

[Phobia]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

Ok I'm going to answer this in sections, but some of it I don't quite understand.

Those of you that enjoy sports games but game on console, how do you get by?

I'm guessing here your meaning, how do PC guys get by without sports games. I own a OG PS4 for only Madden and UFC. Everything else is played on my PC. 99% of my time is spent gaming on my PC and 99.99% of that time is spent gaming with friends.

What games do you guys play with friends online?

Damn near everything. Squad, PUBG, H1Z1 KotK, Rocket League, Rising Storm Vietnam, Insurgency, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Ghost Recon, Counter Strike, and the list literally goes on and on for much longer. There is no shortage of games with online play on PC.

For example, on Xbox and PS, you go to a friend's list and invite because every game is basically set up for it. However, on PC, many games aren't quite set up that way.

This is the one I don't understand lol. I'm confused at what you mean when you say "many games aren't setup that way". Gaming with friends on the PC works exactly how it does on consoles. You send your friend an invite, they accept and off you go into coop gaming bliss. In fact PC offers more ways to accept playing with a friend than on consoles. You can invite people to play with 3rd party apps like Steam and you can also invite people from within the game you are playing.

Does that mean you're playing specific games or something?

It's exactly the same on consoles. If its a singleplayer story game then you naturally can't play with a friend. Outside of those games, just about every PC game releasing is multiplayer/coop capable. All in all it just seems you are in the dark with PC gaming and that appears to be painting a picture for you which isn't accurate. I'd say watch some twitch streams of common PC games like League, PUBG, Counter Strike, Overwatch, Destiny, etc to get a better feel of how PC gaming has evolved. It has been dumb-down by a large degree compared to how it was in the 90s. They have been very successful in adapting the landscape where even a complete noob can build a PC and easily get started into PC gaming.

If you have any questions on how certain things work which are confusing you, ask away, I'd be more than happy to help out.

[mgoblue]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

I think his friends issue is less PC gaming being less accessible and more that his friends don't have PCs so it'd be very hard for him to find friends to game with. Sure, he could find PC gaming friends, but it's an issue. I think Sony will never allow cross play, whereas MS has always been open, so that could be interesting for people if it keeps developing.

[Phobia]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

I think his friends issue is less PC gaming being less accessible and more that his friends don't have PCs so it'd be very hard for him to find friends to game with. Sure, he could find PC gaming friends, but it's an issue. I think Sony will never allow cross play, whereas MS has always been open, so that could be interesting for people if it keeps developing.

Yea, but he has one awesome outlet in Operation Sports! I have closing in on 150 friends on steam and roughly 100 of those people are here from OS. Lots and lots of OS people game on PC, maybe more than he realizes since the forum isn't to heavy on the PC side of things.

[Brandwin]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

Someone build me a rig and if I enjoy PC gaming, I will send you the money. Thanks!

[Peji911]

Re: Can't Get Into PC Gaming

Ok I'm going to answer this in sections, but some of it I don't quite understand.


I'm guessing here your meaning, how do PC guys get by without sports games. I own a OG PS4 for only Madden and UFC. Everything else is played on my PC. 99% of my time is spent gaming on my PC and 99.99% of that time is spent gaming with friends.


Damn near everything. Squad, PUBG, H1Z1 KotK, Rocket League, Rising Storm Vietnam, Insurgency, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Ghost Recon, Counter Strike, and the list literally goes on and on for much longer. There is no shortage of games with online play on PC.


This is the one I don't understand lol. I'm confused at what you mean when you say "many games aren't setup that way". Gaming with friends on the PC works exactly how it does on consoles. You send your friend an invite, they accept and off you go into coop gaming bliss. In fact PC offers more ways to accept playing with a friend than on consoles. You can invite people to play with 3rd party apps like Steam and you can also invite people from within the game you are playing.


It's exactly the same on consoles. If its a singleplayer story game then you naturally can't play with a friend. Outside of those games, just about every PC game releasing is multiplayer/coop capable. All in all it just seems you are in the dark with PC gaming and that appears to be painting a picture for you which isn't accurate. I'd say watch some twitch streams of common PC games like League, PUBG, Counter Strike, Overwatch, Destiny, etc to get a better feel of how PC gaming has evolved. It has been dumb-down by a large degree compared to how it was in the 90s. They have been very successful in adapting the landscape where even a complete noob can build a PC and easily get started into PC gaming.

If you have any questions on how certain things work which are confusing you, ask away, I'd be more than happy to help out.

You have a great way of explaining things that just click for me lol.

I am thinking Ryzen 1700 or 1700x, but was told that maybe Intel i7700 might be the way to go. I want to game but also use photoshop and learn those sorts of things.

You're making PC gaming sound great. If I can sell my Xbox, it becomes even better lol