Jump to content
IGNORED

PC Gaming vs Console


Recommended Posts

I'm stealing this meme from VGS user Gary Hobbesworth 🙂 

116839718_1167123506991717_140449835411058181_n.jpg.243c3419da4da352b5ae0e0bc0d9ad56.jpg

SO, the age old question, PC gaming vs console?

Myself, I'm WAY into console gaming. Not a fan of PC gaming, although I know people that are much more into PC and also those that enjoy both. My friend has a Switch, plans to get a PS5, but also plans to get a $2000 gaming machine. To each their own, but it always seems to me that console games are easier to use, are more collectible, and that there's no real advantage to having a PC. Not to mention the fact that a PC will set you back at least a couple of grand (if not more) while a console is say 1/5 the cost. However, I am open to discussion and being persuaded 🙂 

Edited by avatar!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like my fancy gaming PC.  The games look better and tend to run at higher frame rates.  I get to mod a number of my favorite titles and get more life out of them.  The games I buy follow me along each upgrade instead of being stuck on an old console.  The games I buy during sales almost always come out cheaper than their console counterparts.  Cheap enough that I don't mind that I cannot resell them.  A physical copy of Hotline Miami for $35-40 shipped doesn't make sense to me when I can buy both on sale for $6 total.  I just plug the PC into my TV and use an Xbox One controller.  Works about as smoothly as a console does.  The real downside is cost, but you could build nice PCs for far less than $2000. 

I like that my consoles just work.  If I want pickup and play I go for my Switch.  If I want to play the next AAA game and have it look great I go to my PC.  My PS4 Pro and Xbox One X are the forgotten consoles.  They don't do either end as well as the Switch or PC. 

Edited by zeppelin03
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Events Team · Posted

Ah, the real debate. Console vs console? PFFT, PC vs Console is where it's at 😛

PC gaming for me, although I have both and I enjoy both. The only reason I get certain consoles is due to exclusives. If every game was available on every platform, I wouldn't bother with consoles at all (with the possible exception of portable consoles.)

Also, I figure I should be the guy to point out that you can absolutely build PCs that perform better than current-gen consoles for the same price as said consoles, if not cheaper in some cases. You can build super, super expensive PCs that'll last you a solid 7 or 8 years, if not more, but you absolutely do not have to to get a solid, well-performing gaming PC, that's a complete misconception.

The gap between the performance of, say, a $400 console and a $400 PC was wider in previous generations, but it looks like this generation is going to shrink that gap a bit, which is a good thing. Some people just prefer the convenience of a console, which is fine. Being able to just buy a box and have it up and running right away is a very appealing idea for a lot of people. On the flip-side, some people (Like myself) very much enjoy the experience of building a PC. It's fun, and it's a very satisfying feeling when you press the power button, and all of the components spring to life. Plus, if you really want to simulate that console experience, you can always just hook it up to your TV, buy a controller and call it a day. All of the advantages of console gaming and PC gaming in one 😛

As far as advantages of PC gaming goes, I'm not really one to debate over stuff like this, and I'm sure many people in this thread will do a much better job of summarizing the advantages, but I'll do my best. I will say that considering the community we're in, consoles are probably better if only for the collectability aspect of it, like you said. Plus, even though I personally view digital games as far and away superior to physical as far as actually playing them goes, many people prefer physical. Personally, I only prefer physical from a collecting standpoint.

For one, PC games are a lot more customizable as far as visuals go. With console games, you get the game and that's pretty much that, there usually aren't many (if any) options as far as adjusting the visual quality of the game. But with PC games, you can adjust the quality of the textures and effects, sacrifice some resolution for more FPS, sacrifice some FPS for a higher resolution, etc. So you can fine-tune the visuals more to your liking, and depending on the game. So if you have one very quick FPS game, you might want to bump down the visual quality of the game to get as much FPS as possible. Whereas for a more cinematic, story-driven game, you may not need the FPS, so you can bump up the effects and resolution. For some people this may actually be more of a con, since again console gaming is all about convenience, just being able to pop the game in and have that be that, but it's nice being able to tinker with the visuals depending on your preference. It's just nice to have the option.

Another good thing about PC gaming is having everything you'd need on a single system. What I mean by this is, rather than having one system that just plays games and a different one for web-browsing and such, it is nice being able to access everything from a single machine. Games, files, web browsing, etc. This is even more convenient if you, say, got a double or triple monitor setup. You can play games and what have you on the main monitor, and have whatever else you'd like open on the second or third monitor. Videos, Discord, music, maybe a wiki for the game you're playing, etc. Or, failing that, you can just have these things open in the background, and quickly minimize the game to access them, rather than having to switch to your PC, or have them open on your phone.

Also, it's much easier to find indie games and cheaper games on PC compared to consoles. Indie games are far more common on PC, and stuff like Steam sales also happen, which allow you to get what are normally full-priced (Or higher) games for incredibly cheap. Also, with PCs you can incrementally upgrade your system over time (And only upgrade certain components when you need to) rather than having to buy a whole new system by the time the next generation of consoles rolls around. PCs and the upcoming consoles may be fairly evenly matched as far as performance goes right now, but that's gonna change within the next 2 to 3 years, especially when new components come out, and the old ones get cheaper and cheaper. Consoles are bound to the components they have at launch, whereas PCs can be upgraded indefinitely and incrementally.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure there'd be plenty more good things about PC gaming I could think of if I sat and thought about it for a little while. Normally I'd just state my preference and leave it at that, but you said you're open to discussion, so here I am discussing it 😛

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Editorials Team · Posted
4 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

Mine is hooked up to the TV as a steam box.

It is something I can re-explore now that I have my own dedicated gaming room/home theater, away from grubby, cookie-covered fingers.  

But it's also incredibly low on the priority chart.  Need to finish the SNES library project, start digging into my other retro consoles that I can finally hook up, think about getting a PS4 for the Bloodbornes and Persona 5s, and play my Switch (the most practical console I own).

 

Then, after all of that, I can think about a better PC setup.  So that I can strictly  play Heroes III and other shit from the '90s.  On a $400 PC cause I ain't dropping thousands on ANYTHING 😅

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, ZeldaFreak said:

Some people just prefer the convenience of a console, which is fine. Being able to just buy a box and have it up and running right away is a very appealing idea for a lot of people.

That's the extent of it for me.  I would like to have a nice PC that I could hook up to the TV and play AAA games on steam, but I just don't feel like learning how to build a proper PC. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, zeppelin03 said:

Does your system boot into Big Picture Mode?  I've considered trying it so I can set my PC to 4k 100% scale and still be able to read stuff on the couch.

I don't bother booting into Big Picture, since I have the desktop set up in Windows 10 Tablet mode and navigate it all with an air mouse that looks like a TV remote.

Whenever I upgrade the TV (since they have pretty good media app interfaces nowadays), I'll probably ditch the media viewing on the PC and just use it for games, where I might have it boot directly to Big Picture at that point.

I intentionally only have a 1080p TV, so I can easily get by with a less powerful PC driving the display. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Then, after all of that, I can think about a better PC setup.  So that I can strictly  play Heroes III and other shit from the '90s.  On a $400 PC cause I ain't dropping thousands on ANYTHING 😅

You can get through the GOG catalog on a WAY cheaper PC than that 😛

And if you have the space, you can make it "feel" authentic by hooking up a little 15" CRT as the monitor.

 

Or you can go ultra compact and get one of those little NUC-type systems, since you won't need a discrete video card for any games of that era.

 

My steam box is getting a bit long in the tooth, but it is an old Dell business refurbed optiplex I bought for $300 that I stuck a $100 video card into (was what 750ti's went for at the time, since I needed a half-height card -- but does everything I need it to do)

Edited by arch_8ngel
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Editorials Team · Posted
6 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

You can get through the GOG catalog on a WAY cheaper PC than that 😛

And if you have the space, you can make it "feel" authentic by hooking up a little 15" CRT as the monitor.

 

Or you can go ultra compact and get one of those little NUC-type systems, since you won't need a discrete video card for any games of that era.

Well yeah, I don't need to be playing PUBG and Crysis 6 or whatever.  Don't care about performance or anything.  The appeal of PC for me is the deep library of exclusives that are dirt cheap digitally.  I'm content with doing AAA modern stuff on consoles.  Not that I do much of that.

But it's still a low priority.  I'd need some sort of mouse and keyboard on a tray that I could roll in front of me while I lounge.  Maybe in 5 years when I've exhausted a lot of the stuff I need to play.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Events Team · Posted
3 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

You can get through the GOG catalog on a WAY cheaper PC than that 😛

I was about to say, if you're not even playing stuff from the current millennium, you can spend much less than $400 on a PC capable of doing that. $400 is about what you'd want to spend on a mid-range PC capable of playing current games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, B.A. said:

, but I just don't feel like learning how to build a proper PC. 

Off-the-shelf systems, when you get them on-sale toward the end of a generational cycle, are a WAY better deal than they were "back in the day", IMO.

On the very high end, there is a huge markup for prebuilt versus DIY (i.e. a top-end system with $2800 in hardware might retail for $5k from the specialty builders), but mid-range systems are sufficiently common that there are a lot of good deals out there.

As long as you aren't trying to put a $1500 video card into the system, you aren't dealing with a system that really demands a full DIY build anyway 😛

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, ZeldaFreak said:

I was about to say, if you're not even playing stuff from the current millennium, you can spend much less than $400 on a PC capable of doing that. $400 is about what you'd want to spend on a mid-range PC capable of playing current games.

Nearly all of the classic DOS catalog you get on GOG you can play on an Android tablet or a Raspberry Pi if you wanted to go through the effort of copying the files around and setting up DOSBox yourself on the non-PC devices. 😛

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Events Team · Posted
8 minutes ago, B.A. said:

That's the extent of it for me.  I would like to have a nice PC that I could hook up to the TV and play AAA games on steam, but I just don't feel like learning how to build a proper PC. 

I saw this comic a little while back that does a good job of summarizing how complicated building a PC is

7nhzh1l2jzz21.jpg

It honestly isn't complicated at all. Obviously there'd be a few roadbumps on your first build, but anyone can do it, it's very simple. Plus nowadays, pre-built gaming PCs are a much better value than they used to be, so that'd be a perfectly viable route too as long as you bought it from a reputable company.

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Editorials Team · Posted
5 minutes ago, ZeldaFreak said:

I was about to say, if you're not even playing stuff from the current millennium, you can spend much less than $400 on a PC capable of doing that. $400 is about what you'd want to spend on a mid-range PC capable of playing current games.

You misunderstand.  I'm not spending thousands on a PC because the only stuff I care about playing on a PC IS the old stuff that I can play on my laptop.

But I don't play it because I it would need a more ergonomic setup, and it's a low priority because I already played it all to death back in the day.

And because I have a Switch backlog.  And a SNES backlog.  And a NES backlog.  And so forth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Events Team · Posted
4 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

Off-the-shelf systems, when you get them on-sale toward the end of a generational cycle, are a WAY better deal than they were "back in the day", IMO.

Yeah, mid-range to slightly higher-end pre-builts are a much better value than they used to be, to the point where I'd feel comfortable recommending them if someone wants to get in to PC gaming, but is just dead set on not trying to build one themselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, ZeldaFreak said:

I saw this comic a little while back that does a good job of summarizing how complicated building a PC is

7nhzh1l2jzz21.jpg

It honestly isn't complicated at all. Obviously there'd be a few roadbumps on your first build, but anyone can do it, it's very simple. Plus nowadays, pre-built gaming PCs are a much better value than they used to be, so that'd be a perfectly viable route too as long as you bought it from a reputable company.

Obviously I could physically assemble one easily enough.  It's that I don't want to do the research on all the non-intuitive spec readouts that would be necessary to select the optimal components. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Events Team · Posted
Just now, B.A. said:

Obviously I could physically assemble one easily enough.  It's that I don't want to do the research on all the non-initiative spec readouts that would be necessary to select the optimal components. 

Fair enough I suppose, that part can definitely take awhile if you don't already have multiple builds under your belt. Well let me know if you ever change your mind, I'd be willing to put together a good list of components for you depending on your budget so I can take care of that part for you 😆

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Editorials Team · Posted
10 minutes ago, ZeldaFreak said:

I saw this comic a little while back that does a good job of summarizing how complicated building a PC is

7nhzh1l2jzz21.jpg

It honestly isn't complicated at all. Obviously there'd be a few roadbumps on your first build, but anyone can do it, it's very simple. Plus nowadays, pre-built gaming PCs are a much better value than they used to be, so that'd be a perfectly viable route too as long as you bought it from a reputable company.

Devil's advocate...

I need to finish my game room.  Right now that's new light fixtures.  And then more shelving.

We need to hang the new fan in my son's room.  Our house has 7 of them.  5 still to go.

I need to build a new step for my garage inner door.

We're putting new counters in as we speak.

We need to paint soon.

I need to stain about 70+ yards worth of fence.

I need to figure what's wrong with my fridge's water and ice.

I need to... well, you get the point.

Building a PC is another job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...