PC or Console?

[24]

With the exception of my various stints in World Of Warcraft, i have always been a console gamer. Since the Early days of my gaming life everything has been on some form of a console whether it be SNES, Sega Genesis even up to now on my 360 and PS3. However I have recently thought about making the switch to PC gaming. The games i play today consist primarily of Sports and Shooters both of which are very good on a PC but more importantly than that the PC seems to have so many advantages. The Graphics can always be better than a console, Some of the games are cheaper on the PC, i can customize the games more via mods and more importantly I never have to shell out money for a new console as i can simply just upgrade a part here or there on a PC. It's a decision i just can't seem to make and i am caught in the crossroads. Input from you guys would be greatly appreciated as i really need some help on the matter.

[willIam9387]

Re: PC or Console?

With the exception of my various stints in World Of Warcraft, i have always been a console gamer. Since the Early days of my gaming life everything has been on some form of a console whether it be SNES, Sega Genesis even up to now on my 360 and PS3. However I have recently thought about making the switch to PC gaming. The games i play today consist primarily of Sports and Shooters both of which are very good on a PC but more importantly than that the PC seems to have so many advantages. The Graphics can always be better than a console, Some of the games are cheaper on the PC, i can customize the games more via mods and more importantly I never have to shell out money for a new console as i can simply just upgrade a part here or there on a PC. It's a decision i just can't seem to make and i am caught in the crossroads. Input from you guys would be greatly appreciated as i really need some help on the matter.

I'm basically trying to decide whether or not to switch from console to pc for the majority of my gaming, especially with skyrim just around the corner. Currently, I have a PS3 where all of my gaming is done, and I have a base model acer which could hardly play the sims in low settings. The customization aspect of pc games is an intriguing aspect. But to really enjoy another benefit of pc gaming, better graphics, I'd probably have to shell out three times or four times the amount for a gaming laptop than I would have to for a console. Also video cards become rather outdated quickly so that is another issue.

A couple questions i have is one would I be better served to buy a destop pc and build in from the ground up, so I could update my video card as newer cards come out, or should I buy a gaming laptop? Also for a basis of comparison, console graphics would be comparable to what pc graphic setting: low, medium, high, or ultra?

[choadler]

Re: PC or Console?

With the exception of my various stints in World Of Warcraft, i have always been a console gamer. Since the Early days of my gaming life everything has been on some form of a console whether it be SNES, Sega Genesis even up to now on my 360 and PS3. However I have recently thought about making the switch to PC gaming. The games i play today consist primarily of Sports and Shooters both of which are very good on a PC but more importantly than that the PC seems to have so many advantages. The Graphics can always be better than a console, Some of the games are cheaper on the PC, i can customize the games more via mods and more importantly I never have to shell out money for a new console as i can simply just upgrade a part here or there on a PC. It's a decision i just can't seem to make and i am caught in the crossroads. Input from you guys would be greatly appreciated as i really need some help on the matter.

PC gaming to me is still superior to console gaming in every respect. There are few things that you should be aware of:

1. The initial outlay to build a good gaming PC will be more than the consoles right now, but should last a good 4 to 5 years assuming you build it correctly now.

2. Make sure you build your PC, you should be able to save loads of money on buying the parts and building it yourself. Assuming you want to do that. Get your parts from newegg.com, amazon, or tiger direct. Saves lots of money.

3. You can save loads of money on games by going the digital distribution route (steam, green man gaming, direct 2 drive), by waiting for sales and loading up on games. You can get many AAA titles for $5 to $10 dollars when these sales happen. Steam has anual sales during the summer and holiday. I picked up the following for under $50. Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Vietnam, Borderlands GOTY, Fallout 3 GOTY, Half life 2, Far Cry and Far Cry 2, Company of Heroes and opposing forces, Bioshock 2, and Just Cause 2.

4. Graphics are far superior on PC. Just Cause 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2, the Witcher 2 look absolutely amazing. The control schemes for FPS's are much better (mouse and keyboard), however, I recommend an xbox 360 controller for certain games (Just cause 2 and Batman Arkham Asylum) played much better for me on the 360 controller.

5. If you are a 360 gamer, no need to spend $50 bucks a year on online play.

6. Sports gaming is weak on the PC. If you can afford it, keep a console for your sports games.

[choadler]

Re: PC or Console?

I'm basically trying to decide whether or not to switch from console to pc for the majority of my gaming, especially with skyrim just around the corner. Currently, I have a PS3 where all of my gaming is done, and I have a base model acer which could hardly play the sims in low settings. The customization aspect of pc games is an intriguing aspect. But to really enjoy another benefit of pc gaming, better graphics, I'd probably have to shell out three times or four times the amount for a gaming laptop than I would have to for a console. Also video cards become rather outdated quickly so that is another issue.

A couple questions i have is one would I be better served to buy a destop pc and build in from the ground up, so I could update my video card as newer cards come out, or should I buy a gaming laptop? Also for a basis of comparison, console graphics would be comparable to what pc graphic setting: low, medium, high, or ultra?

You will spend a lot more on a gaming laptop than a comparable desktop. I would recommend a desktop unless you absolutely need to have the mobility of the laptop.

Build from the ground up. Your Acer that you are talking about, probably the only thing you could salvage out of it would be the case and maybe the optical drive (if you are struggling to run the sims).

Video cards should last about 4 to 5 years assuming you buy get a good one on your first purchase. GTX 560ti or GTX 570 matched with a Core i7 will have you gaming for quite some time without upgrading.

I would say that console is about low to medium quality (depends on the game) compared to a decent gaming PC. Just Cause 2 absolutely destroys the console counterpart as far as graphics are concerned.

[24]

Re: PC or Console?

PC gaming to me is still superior to console gaming in every respect. There are few things that you should be aware of:

1. The initial outlay to build a good gaming PC will be more than the consoles right now, but should last a good 4 to 5 years assuming you build it correctly now.

2. Make sure you build your PC, you should be able to save loads of money on buying the parts and building it yourself. Assuming you want to do that. Get your parts from newegg.com, amazon, or tiger direct. Saves lots of money.

3. You can save loads of money on games by going the digital distribution route (steam, green man gaming, direct 2 drive), by waiting for sales and loading up on games. You can get many AAA titles for $5 to $10 dollars when these sales happen. Steam has anual sales during the summer and holiday. I picked up the following for under $50. Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Vietnam, Borderlands GOTY, Fallout 3 GOTY, Half life 2, Far Cry and Far Cry 2, Company of Heroes and opposing forces, Bioshock 2, and Just Cause 2.

4. Graphics are far superior on PC. Just Cause 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2, the Witcher 2 look absolutely amazing. The control schemes for FPS's are much better (mouse and keyboard), however, I recommend an xbox 360 controller for certain games (Just cause 2 and Batman Arkham Asylum) played much better for me on the 360 controller.

5. If you are a 360 gamer, no need to spend $50 bucks a year on online play.

6. Sports gaming is weak on the PC. If you can afford it, keep a console for your sports games.

I really appreciate this thank you. I was considering buying my own parts and building a PC but i have absolutely no clue on where to put the parts and how to make everything working. any suggestions/ tips for beginners like myself?

[choadler]

Re: PC or Console?

I really appreciate this thank you. I was considering buying my own parts and building a PC but i have absolutely no clue on where to put the parts and how to make everything working. any suggestions/ tips for beginners like myself?

Anandtech and Tom's Hardware have guides to help you. It isn't really too difficult.

[Pete1210]

Re: PC or Console?

I was debating building a gaming PC for BF3, but for a few reasons I decided against it.

- Money is a little tight right now. (The 4-5 games I will be getting this fall are paid off in trade ins.)

- I find that using the mouse at work after 30 minutes or so I get some pain in my hand. (I got a shot for tennis-elbow about a month ago.)

- The graphics on console are good enough for me. I can wait a few years for a new console to upgrade graphics.

- I'm spoiled by the ease of console gaming. I used to enjoy building PC's and even troubleshooting to solve PC issues. Now I want to just play my games without the hassle.

- After working in front of a PC all day, I don't want spend a lot of time in front of the PC at home.

[choadler]

Re: PC or Console?

Also if you get to the point where you have a list of components you are ready to buy, post it on here, there are alot of people that can help you with your build.

Remember one thing. Cooling and power are important, do not skimp on these two things.

1. A good case with good airflow and a good CPU cooler are a must.

2. Ensure you have ample power, meaning don't skimp on the power supply unit.

[choadler]

Re: PC or Console?

I was debating building a gaming PC for BF3, but for a few reasons I decided against it.

- Money is a little tight right now. (The 4-5 games I will be getting this fall are paid off in trade ins.)

- I find that using the mouse at work after 30 minutes or so I get some pain in my hand. (I got a shot for tennis-elbow about a month ago.)

- The graphics on console are good enough for me. I can wait a few years for a new console to upgrade graphics.

- I'm spoiled by the ease of console gaming. I used to enjoy building PC's and even troubleshooting to solve PC issues. Now I want to just play my games without the hassle.

- After working in front of a PC all day, I don't want spend a lot of time in front of the PC at home.

the great thing about PC's now, is there is relatively few issues. Windows 7 appears to be a great OS with very few issues.

[willIam9387]

Re: PC or Console?

^thanks Choadler, your insight is greatly appreciated. I took a quick look at Tom's hardware and it's a really interesting sight. I especially like the fact they provide detailed build setups with an estimated price. I think I'll use the $500 and $1000 builds to get a foundation and then work to the middle of that price range.

Does anyone use two graphic cards or just one? If two, I see on Tom's hardware(http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...a-pc,2969.html) that they double up on the same model of graphics card. Can you use two different model graphic cards? Also upon receiving all the parts, is it rather easy to assemble for a computer newbie such as myself or are there like step by step guides available for putting the computer together?

[choadler]

Re: PC or Console?

^thanks Choadler, your insight is greatly appreciated. I took a quick look at Tom's hardware and it's a really interesting sight. I especially like the fact they provide detailed build setups with an estimated price. I think I'll use the $500 and $1000 builds to get a foundation and then work to the middle of that price range.

Does anyone use two graphic cards or just one? If two, I see on Tom's hardware(http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...a-pc,2969.html) that they double up on the same model of graphics card. Can you use two different model graphic cards? Also upon receiving all the parts, is it rather easy to assemble for a computer newbie such as myself or are there like step by step guides available for putting the computer together?

This is called crossfire for AMD cards and SLI for Nvidia cards. You need to have the same graphics card for this. You will need to ensure that the motherboard supports this as not all motherboards do. You will need to ensure that your power supply is SLI ready and that you have sufficient amps to cover the graphics card.

Personally, I run a Nvidia GTX 560ti, and did not do a SLI setup. I can run the Witcher 2 at 44 fps without ubersampling and few other minor tweaks, but playing pretty much at max detail settings. Battlefied bad company 2 get 55 to 60 fps with nearly everything maxed. Anti Aliasing is set down to 8x instead of the max of 16 or 32 (can't remember which). Fallout 3 runs at 60 fps everytning max.

It isn't really difficult at all. I think there should be guides on Tom's and Anandtech that will walk you through it. Typically the motherboard should come with a manual to tell you what is what on the motherboard as well.

I basically looked at guides when I built my first PC so if I could do it, I think the majority of people should be able to as well with a little bit of research and patience.

[WTF]

Re: PC or Console?

Something that I did, and it may be too time consuming for you, but you can save some good money doing it.

Find a "good" build on Craigslist, that someone has to sell. A lot of time, just search for gaming PC, or even for a part that you want. I bought a system that had a good motherboard. If it has a good motherboard, probably RAM, and an optical drive/decent hard drive, then you've got a pretty good start.

The PC that I bought had a nice motherboard, and an AMD x4 processor. I bought it, turned around and sold the processor on eBay, bought an x6 3.2 GHz processor for only $20 more...

Kept doing this with all of the parts that I wanted to upgrade. I ended up building the system in my sig for a little less than $600, and it's pretty beastly.

So if you have time, and are patient enough, then you can have a pretty nice machine for a deep discount.

[choadler]

Re: PC or Console?

^thanks Choadler, your insight is greatly appreciated. I took a quick look at Tom's hardware and it's a really interesting sight. I especially like the fact they provide detailed build setups with an estimated price. I think I'll use the $500 and $1000 builds to get a foundation and then work to the middle of that price range.



Does anyone use two graphic cards or just one? If two, I see on Tom's hardware(http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...a-pc,2969.html) that they double up on the same model of graphics card. Can you use two different model graphic cards? Also upon receiving all the parts, is it rather easy to assemble for a computer newbie such as myself or are there like step by step guides available for putting the computer together?

Personally, I would go 8 gb of ram and go with windows 7 xp 64 bit (32 bit operating systems will not use more than 4 mb ram). Since ram is so cheap it shouldn't really cost you too much. You can get the same brand. Also you may want to think about going with a hard drive that is 6 gb/s over a 3 gb/s. Again not sure this is going to cost you that much more if anything.

[RedPhazon8]

Re: PC or Console?

PC over the long term is a better buy, the only problem is game companies focus their market on consoles. Why? Because it gives them better control over their games, there's no telling what the fanbase will do to the PC version. Just look at the Madden Franchise when it was on the PC, there's a huge amount of mods for it. Or the excuse is pirating, but that's the bs excuse.

[LambertandHam]

Re: PC or Console?

PC over the long term is a better buy, the only problem is game companies focus their market on consoles. Why? Because it gives them better control over their games, there's no telling what the fanbase will do to the PC version. Just look at the Madden Franchise when it was on the PC, there's a huge amount of mods for it. Or the excuse is pirating, but that's the bs excuse.

That's the line you'll get from many developers. Services like Steam make a killing, and the games are pretty cheap if you follow their sales. Right now the money is on consoles.

I mainly console game anymore, but I can remember the days of Dark Forces II, Jedi Academy, where new levels, skins, guns, etc. were put up for easy download. Now everything gets bundled as DLC. The real strength of PC gaming is the modding community.