PC Gaming Too Expensive, Switching to Consoles, so long [H]

psy81

psy81

Gawd
Joined
Feb 18, 2011
Messages
572
I've been a PC gamer since early 2000s getting hooked on the original Far Cry when my friend gave me his GeForce ti 4400.

In 2008, I bought my first real gaming PC with Phenom 9500 paired with a GTX 275 for $500 CAD. This quickly turned into Phenom II 965 ($150) with GTX 470s in SLI ($600), a couple years later an FX-8350 ($250) w/ GTX 670s in SLI ($850) all the way to my current system build a few years back 6700K ($450) w/ GTX 1070s in SLI ($1,400).

With each build the cost of the PC seems to go up exponentially. My latest computer set me back around $3,000 CAD total not including my 4k monitor and case.

At the time I got into PC gaming, the cost wasn't too much of a barrier but now with the cost of RTX cards and less bang for the buck I'm thinking I may have to reluctantly go back to being a console gamer...

GTX X70s were always great value as they typically equaled the flagship performance of the previous generation or better but now its not even that and again the cost is making it less and less affordable.

Its a shame cause I really love PC gaming, running games in all their graphical glory, the precision of keyboard and mouse... Until prices come back down to reasonable levels (which may be never) I may have to say good bye to this hobby (unless I win the lotto) which gave me so much joy and dust off my consoles.

I will check back to this site here and there and try to stay up-to-date on the latest hardware and news but I won't be on this site as much... It was a great run and thank you to all who helped me along this journey.

PC Gaming will always have a special place in my heart...

So long AMD, Intel and Nvidia...

Hello, my old friend Playstation T_T
 
Ive run the same box forever. Sorta. I do upgrade from time to time. One or two things at a time. I upgrade a gfx carde here, a cpu there. Platform change to ddr4 was a hard pill to swallow but, I kept to a used i3 to get into the ecosystem and minimize initial costs. You can 1080p game on a gpu that doesn't even require external power now (cheap) if trying to start off with a new system.

Eventually the system I have now is completely different from 10 years ago, but I rarely spend more than $200 a year on hardware. If all you want to beat is console graphics and options, you're bar isn't very high. Don't set your eyes on a 2080ti. That used 1050ti is plenty.

If all I cared about was gaming, I would be in the same boat though, but I enjoy playing with the hardware, being able to get creative, flexibility, and steam sales on games I'll never finish more than actually playing the games usually.
 
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psy81 said:
I've been a PC gamer since early 2000s getting hooked on the original Far Cry when my friend gave me his GeForce ti 4400.

In 2008, I bought my first real gaming PC with Phenom 9500 paired with a GTX 275 for $500 CAD. This quickly turned into Phenom II 965 ($150) with GTX 470s in SLI ($600), a couple years later an FX-8350 ($250) w/ GTX 670s in SLI ($850) all the way to my current system build a few years back 6700K ($450) w/ GTX 1070s in SLI ($1,400).

With each build the cost of the PC seems to go up exponentially. My latest computer set me back around $3,000 CAD total not including my 4k monitor and case.

At the time I got into PC gaming, the cost wasn't too much of a barrier but now with the cost of RTX cards and less bang for the buck I'm thinking I may have to reluctantly go back to being a console gamer...

GTX X70s were always great value as they typically equaled the flagship performance of the previous generation or better but now its not even that and again the cost is making it less and less affordable.

Its a shame cause I really love PC gaming, running games in all their graphical glory, the precision of keyboard and mouse... Until prices come back down to reasonable levels (which may be never) I may have to say good bye to this hobby (unless I win the lotto) which gave me so much joy and dust off my consoles.

I will check back to this site here and there and try to stay up-to-date on the latest hardware and news but I won't be on this site as much... It was a great run and thank you to all who helped me along this journey.

PC Gaming will always have a special place in my heart...

So long AMD, Intel and Nvidia...
Wa
Hello, my old friend Playstation T_T
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The Skylake system you have is in no way out of date just yet.
 
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I've managed to keep my system on-par for 1080p 60fps on everything game-wise using the rig in my signature....

Over the past 6 months: paid $150 for CPU/Mobo, and $220 for the 980 Ti - which EVGA upgraded to a 1080 when I RMA'ed.

Point being, as long as you're smart with the money - PC Gaming is still quite affordable.
 
Bah to be honest, PC gaming is plagued with cheaters and higher cost of operation per say.
Console has worst device (no KBM), worst match making (compared to when I played CS), worst graphic (when you have unlimited funds) and worst support by far....

When I was playing seriously on ps3 with my friends, I plugged it to my computer display.... TV is way too far to focus the same way.
Game price are generally higher on consoles too (STEAM sales)
 
horrorshow said:
View attachment 157385

I've managed to keep my system on-par for 1080p 60fps on everything game-wise using the rig in my signature....

Over the past 6 months: paid $150 for CPU/Mobo, and $220 for the 980 Ti - which EVGA upgraded to a 1080 when I RMA'ed.

Point being, as long as you're smart with the money - PC Gaming is still quite affordable.
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Paid around 400 CAD$ over ~3~4 years on PS4 (I do PC gaming too, don't flame me lol). I mean affordable is very different for enthusiasm and your aunt who buys a game / console to nephew.
 
I think you're looking at the wrong place for justification.

Back in the day I upgraded my PC every 6 months at least, either the GPU or the CPU or both. But since 2010 I can get away with not touching anything for 2 years and still play the latest games. Yes HW prices did go up, but it is offset by the fact that you have to upgrade much less often.
 
Pc gaming is cheaper than ever for performance accessibility.
Go to burger land and stop paying the 'fuck you canadians' tax if you have to buy new.
 
Going for the 4K monitor was your biggest misstake if you wanted to keep things affordable, 1080p or even 1440p and you would be able to get by with more modest hardware and still get a great gaming experience.

I also play on consoles btw but the controller does make some games harder then they would be on PC with KB/M.
 
Have to agree with others. Sticking to modest builds at 1080p or 1440p (max) would have meant much easier management of hardware over time. SLI was a mistake IMO.

I do enjoy my consoles though (Switch, 3DS, PS4), but can definitely have a balance!
 
My biggest gripe right now is that a quantum dot HDR gaming monitor is $2k. Console gamers essentially get a larger display with better picture quality for free since everyone already has a good living room television.
 
Denpepe said:
Going for the 4K monitor was your biggest misstake if you wanted to keep things affordable, 1080p or even 1440p and you would be able to get by with more modest hardware and still get a great gaming experience.

I also play on consoles btw but the controller does make some games harder then they would be on PC with KB/M.
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A $350-$400 console can output at 4k. Why should a "superior" gaming PC have to play at a lower resolution for a higher price?
 
I don't get threads like this. Is everyone supposed to beg you to stay?

From the hardware in your sig you have plenty of power to play any game you want at 1080p, and higher resolutions for some games. Now, if you're just one of those people that has to play at 4k with all the bells and whistles then that's another issue. But if that's the case then console gaming is really going to leave you wanting.

If someone doesn't need the latest and greatest hardware they can piece together a solid rig from deals on this forum quite inexpensively.
 
Jumpem said:
A $350-$400 console can output at 4k. Why should a "superior" gaming PC have to play at a lower resolution for a higher price?
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In case you are serious, the PC outputs real 4K which most games on those "4K consoles" do not + the frame rate is usually around the 30 fps range. Which in the case of the OP seems not to be what he wants or he would not be switching from his 4k PC.
 
Denpepe said:
In case you are serious, the PC outputs real 4K which most games on those "4K consoles" do not + the frame rate is usually around the 30 fps range. Which in the case of the OP seems not to be what he wants or he would not be switching from his 4k PC.
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I agree that PCs have a higher frame rate. Consoles can certainly look better, even with the checkerboard 4k, since they have very high picture quality HDR televisions to connect to. PC gaming monitors are severely lacking.
 
psy81 said:
less bang for the buck
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One of the great axioms of PC gaming builds is to pair parts that are compatible and at similar price/performance ranks.

one jumps to a 4k gaming monitor and all of a sudden the rig becomes outdated.

Consoles are like sub $200 gaming builds running games at low resolutions and unbearable frame rates on a closed environment.
they surely can offer good bang for the buck if running up-scaled 720p content on a 4k screen at 30Hz is what one calls "acceptable gaming experience"
 
M76 said:
I think you're looking at the wrong place for justification.

Back in the day I upgraded my PC every 6 months at least, either the GPU or the CPU or both. But since 2010 I can get away with not touching anything for 2 years and still play the latest games. Yes HW prices did go up, but it is offset by the fact that you have to upgrade much less often.
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This! Upgrading every product release was a bit much. Sure keeping up with the Jones' is fun, it's just not needed anymore. System performance is pretty amazing unless you need 144hz and max settings, that puts the gamer in a different category I do not fit in. I play at all resolutions from 1080p on my kids compy, to 1440p when at the desk or 4k when playing sports games with my oldest using controller/tv/sofa with compy connected.

I just needed to slow down PC upgrades and it is working out just fine!
 
Get yourself a good 4K gaming tv

( TCL 6 series , incredible picture/performance for the money ^HDR / Dolby vision )


Then get yourself one of the many Xbox One X consoles, great bundle deals on those now too.


And your set. Amazing console for the money, especially since you can get them on sale now for like $380. No computer spec/performance wise will match that at that price. It’s amazing what they’ve done, especially now that they are on sale for that price every now and then
 
Jumpem said:
A $350-$400 console can output at 4k. Why should a "superior" gaming PC have to play at a lower resolution for a higher price?
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"Output" is a far cry from running a game at. The base models of the PS4 and XB1 run ZERO games at 4K. They can play media content at 4K (and the One can play 4K blu-ray) but absolutely no games run at 4K on them. The Pro and X can play some games at true 4K, but not many and the vast majority of those run at 30 fps (or less). Most "4K" games on both "high-end" consoles use checkerboard rendering to achieve the resolution. Its a pretty cool trick to get around the weak hardware, but it is definitely not real 4K. Even then, most multiplatform games use settings far below the max that the PC version of those games can achieve, sometimes having to sacrifice entire graphical features to make them run remotely stable. And that's not even getting into the framerate issues present in way too many console games and you're shit out of luck if you don't like a game slowing to crawl at times on a console.
 
Let me clarify my post... I'm not looking for sympathy or asking people to beg me stick with PC gaming.

I'm simply expressing my frustration with respect to the price graphics cards. I recognize SLI was a waste of money but it was well supported up until 3-4 years ago.

I'm also not willing to go down to lower level card and don't play games unless I can max it out... I have a second display 1080p, 144Hz monitor I use when I can't max out at 4k.

Although none of my systems were using flagship parts I always did my best to stay close without having to compromise too much.

Regardless, I can no longer justify purchasing a X70s card for close to a $1,000 CAD including taxes when it performs worse than the previous generation flagship and this appears to be the trend.

I'll use my current system for as long it takes me and see where things go... I just feel like the next cards RTX 70 series cards and above will be out of reach for me now and the foreseeable future
 
The problem is everyone thinks you have to have a 1080ti or 2080ti to have a good experience. I have a 1440p 144hz monitor and was trying to chase rock solid 144fps. I wasn't gaming as much so sold off the 1080ti and got a 1060. I have been having just as much fun with the 1060 playing BFV at 1440p. Honestly if I turn off the afterburner overlay and just play instead of staring a framerate its just as fun.

If you can enjoy a console experience than you should also be able to enjoy a much more modest PC.
 
Derangel said:
"Output" is a far cry from running a game at. The base models of the PS4 and XB1 run ZERO games at 4K. They can play media content at 4K (and the One can play 4K blu-ray) but absolutely no games run at 4K on them. The Pro and X can play some games at true 4K, but not many and the vast majority of those run at 30 fps (or less). Most "4K" games on both "high-end" consoles use checkerboard rendering to achieve the resolution. Its a pretty cool trick to get around the weak hardware, but it is definitely not real 4K. Even then, most multiplatform games use settings far below the max that the PC version of those games can achieve, sometimes having to sacrifice entire graphical features to make them run remotely stable. And that's not even getting into the framerate issues present in way too many console games and you're shit out of luck if you don't like a game slowing to crawl at times on a console.
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Tricks that allow them to generally run at a higher resolution than many more expensive gaming PCs. I agree that polygon count and other features are lower. Quantum dot and OLED displays still make them look very good. PCs still suffer from mediocre gaming displays.
 
Jumpem said:
Tricks that allow them to generally run at a higher resolution than many more expensive gaming PCs. I agree that polygon count and other features are lower. Quantum dot and OLED displays still make them look very good. PCs still suffer from mediocre gaming displays.
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Aside from the fact that you can connect your PC to a TV, displays are getting better over-all. Like anything, you just need to do your research before you buy.
 
Derangel said:
Aside from the fact that you can connect your PC to a TV, displays are getting better over-all. Like anything, you just need to do your research before you buy.
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The only gaming monitors comparable to a television are the 4k quantum dot HDR 27" ones that are $2k. Even then they still use IPS panels. It is easy to justify $2-4k on a television the entire family will use regularly. It is harder to justify for a single person's gaming monitor.
 
My htpc is a 2500k and a gtx 760. I game on it all the time and it looks fine. (55” of 720p plasma glory hahahaha). I know most people set the bar higher, but even my 6 year old can load up steam and a game from the couch. And I can choose between an xbox controller, ps3 or whatever my mood is that day. I have a desktop for keyboard games, but a console equivalent box isn’t really a difficult thing to pull off.

On that note, I can casually game on say tomb raider from my couch, and if I get to a part that needs a little more precision, I can load it up at the same point on my desktop and go back whenever.
 
I do agree that some prices are way too high. I'm hoping whatever AMD comes out with next will drive Nvidia to lower the price of their RTX cards.
Luckly for me I snagged a gtx 1080 at a nice price right before the crypto currency thing exploded and drove all the prices sky high for a while. This thing is still serving very well at 1080p@144hz.

The only upgrade I'm considering now is maybe finding a used 4970k to replace my 4670k. Other than that, I'm quite happy with this rig and it continues to serve me well.
 
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