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Torn between building a new gaming PC or a PS4.
- Thread starter SolVanderlyn
- Start date
I'm in the same situation, I have a PS4 preordered but the more I'm thinking about it the more I just want to upgrade my PC. I've been mostly a PC gamer these last few years so it make sense I guess. another factor is how cheap you can buy PC games, even day 1, compared to console games. I'll try the BF4 beta, if my rig can handle it well I'll buy a PS4, otherwise it'll be new GPU/fans time!
Edit: Almost forgot, fuck paying to play multiplayer games.
Edit: Almost forgot, fuck paying to play multiplayer games.
How much does this PC cost to you?
Evolution_1ne
Banned
you've made a wise decision
the difference in games in the beginning of the gen are like comparing 4 blades of grass to 3.5 blades of grass, the true difference when PC will start to flex and truly show the advantage it has over the new console will happen like it has happened about 2-3 years into the next generation. By that time the real deal GPU and CPUs will be hitting the market and the massive leaps in every other area for example RAM, will make a PC a must have. but right now, not so much unless your will to shell out massive amounts of cash which like I said would or should make thePS4 being an also buy and easy decision.
Patients, everything will come together in due time.
D3RANG3D
Member
Except out of the gate a decent PC is already more powerful than either console, and the gap will widen.
Evolution_1ne
Banned
At least 1000 dollars, more like between 12 and 15 hundred to be exact, 1k should do if you leave little to no room for upgrades and skimp out on components like storage and case, etc.
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
PS4 is the best option in my view, especially if you really enjoy the exclusives.
$399 gets you access to a next-gen system with all the third parties you could want, and great exclusives from Sony's lineup.
There will always be some better rig than what you have currently. Trying to keep up all the time is pretty futile. I "upgrade" my rig, but I do it every console cycle, because consoles offer the best power for your buck, and all software development is tailored to consoles.
Not only do you need magnitudes better hardware for there to be meaningful difference, but software needs to be tailored to that power as well.
$399 gets you access to a next-gen system with all the third parties you could want, and great exclusives from Sony's lineup.
There will always be some better rig than what you have currently. Trying to keep up all the time is pretty futile. I "upgrade" my rig, but I do it every console cycle, because consoles offer the best power for your buck, and all software development is tailored to consoles.
Not only do you need magnitudes better hardware for there to be meaningful difference, but software needs to be tailored to that power as well.
I've already built a pretty awesome PC for a little over $800 here on GAF before. Even some of the parts I chose were overkill and could be cheapened on. It didn't skimp out on anything really.
Evolution_1ne
Banned
curiosity, mind posting the specs
especially the bold, another important caveat that a lot of PC gamers will neglect to mention, you can probably count on your fingers the amount of games that target the specs they are sure to post for their why buy a console argument, everything else will ether be in the same ball park or significantly worse
Felix Lighter
Member
What would you be saving money on that would leave you little room to upgrade? If you build a HD 7970, i5 based system now, your paying $900-1000.
cheezcake
Member
The point is the gap will widen, right now it's just not super efficient to be paying more for a PC which while being more powerful is not going to significantly change your gaming experience at all for the next couple of years.
@ OP PS4 now PC in 2-3 years
Edit: Scratch that 20nm GPU's coming out sooner than I thought, IMO you can't really go wrong with either the PS4 or waiting for the AMD 9000's or Maxwells. But if you have the moola get a PC
I'll try to find them and I'll edit this post if I do.
Edit: Found it, don't know how relevant these links are anymore. It was from a post a couple of months ago.
CPU: Intel Core i5 4670K - http://www.microcenter.com/product/413251/Core_i5_4670K_34GHz_Socket_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 - http://www.microcenter.com/product/414559/Z87_Extreme4_Socket_LGA_1150_Z87_ATX_Intel_Motherboard
Bundled together = $310
GPU: eVGA GeForce GTX 760 4GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130937 - $280
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB DDR3 1600 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314 - $70
SSD: SAMSUNG 840 Series 120GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147188 - $110
PSU: CORSAIR CX600M 600W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139048 - $80
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233 - $60
Total: $910 (Excluding the rebates in them links.)
Few of the parts can be replaced with cheaper parts. You don't NEED an SSD, you absolutely don't need the new Haswell CPU, and the case could be cheaper but that's not very expensive.
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
1K for a halfway decent machine barely less powerful than a PS4? PC stay losing.
I've been bouncing around with this decision all summer also. I have a 3.5 yr old pc that obviously blows away current gen but I'm starting to see it chug a bit on newer releases. Even a modest upgrade will take me to PS4 price range. I've always been a big Playstation gamer since I got my PS1 on launch week, but I've been loving Steam lately.
Ultimately, I decided I already sit in front of a monitor all day and I'm not hauling my giant tower back and forth into the living room. PS4 it is.
Ultimately, I decided I already sit in front of a monitor all day and I'm not hauling my giant tower back and forth into the living room. PS4 it is.
Felix Lighter
Member
I'm not sure what your trying to say here. Are you suggesting that only a few games look noticeably better on PC but most either look roughly the same or significantly worse?
Evolution_1ne
Banned
less powerful....if your stupid and blow your budget on a power supply.
Here's how it works
PC gamer: psst. dat console be weaksuce yo, only bout as power as a mid range pc maine.
what they won't tell you "mid range PC maine" cost 1000 fucking dollars
I'm the guy that adds the tax, mid range PC should put at or a little above the performance of a PS4, but it going to cost 1000 dollars.......maine
maine = man if you don't get it
KungFucius
King Snowflake
If you can afford it, build a nice PC and hook it up to your TV like a console. You don't need to spend 1200 to get good framerates @ 1080p and don't need to buy a monitor. Though I would not discourage you from spending that much. You probably could do both PC and PS4 for 1200 if you built your rig frugally plus you can always upgrade later.
cheezcake
Member
That is a nice PC with good room for upgrades, but it's also more than double a PS4's cost and a 760 is not going to provide a discernibly better gaming experience.
This is what I did. Cheap case, good power supply, good mobo, cpu, 16GB Ram, and a GTX 660TI PE, for less than $800. As opposed to upgrading gpu soon, I'll just add another 660 in SLI, and of course by then, it will be cheaper.
Evolution_1ne
Banned
yes..... in a sense. But you know y-you can run BF3 of 7770 on ultra.......you can, you know, go into the settings and put the graphics on ultra. That's like.....an option. So there's that
going to be hard to play any games without windows, mouse, keyboard and a controller.
:/
ALBOFIGHTER
Member
You shouldn't give it a second though. Pc= ps4 multiplatform games
Ps4= a game console that has more exclusives and is now as open as steam so pc no longer has an edge. If you can't have both, always go with a games console.
Ps4= a game console that has more exclusives and is now as open as steam so pc no longer has an edge. If you can't have both, always go with a games console.
The 760 isn't the greatest choice. It was more of a joke, if you want to call it that, for it's 4GB VRAM and GAF loving GDDR5. I would go with a 7950 or 7970 personally.
Lasthope106
Member
I've had my current rig since 2007. I upgraded the graphics card once to play games like the Witcher 2, Metro, Crysis 2 and may others at high settings on my 1440x900 monitor. No one has ever said my machine is obsolete. This is not the 90's where your pc became obsolete a month after you bought it. A good machine will last you for years.
Also, I don't subscribe to the advice of waiting. You can always wait for a better thing. You can wait two years for a better pc, and if you make a thread on GAF people will tell you to wait another year for the better components that will be coming the year after. For me, it's time for an upgrade. I need something better than a 2 core processor and 4GB of DDR2 ram. The cheapest i7 CPU smokes the CPUs in both the Xbone and PS4 and will for their entire lifetimes. If at any point you want better performance, all you have to do is get a better GPU.
lol, what are people smoking. Your statement fails in so may ways. One Steam is not open. The openness of pc comes because I'm not restricted to Steam on pc to get games. I can go to GOG, Amazon, GMG, Humble bundle, etc to get the cheapest price. Can you mod games on the PS4?
Garrett 2U
Member
Buy a PS4 later when there are more exclusives, definitely PC first.
I remember when the Archons decreed that games could never be PC exclusive and took away all the other advantages of the platform like modding and great deals from various DD storefronts. That was a dark day.
This is a perfectly good plan and I recommend it to the OP and and anyone else who can afford it and has some interest in PS4 exclusives.
And that's alright if you're big into physical media, I guess.
gettempapa
Member
I keep hearing the claim that games are cheaper on PC than on consoles. In my experience, this is not necessarily true. It is true that you can PC games for very cheap during Steam sales etc. But unless a game just recently came out, I can find a used copy (in essentially perfect condition) online often for under ten dollars.
What PC gamers save in digital sales, console gamers save with pre-owned games.
What PC gamers save in digital sales, console gamers save with pre-owned games.
SneakyStephan
Banned
You can't future proof a pc as something better is always around the corner, but it does make sense to wait weeks/a few months for large technology changes.
People who bought a 300watt hd 6970 for 350 euros 6 weeks before the 7xxx series released ended up with a less powerful gpu that produces twice as much heat and way more noise than those who waited a few weeks.
Now the 20nm gpus are about 6 months away, right now you can still buy a 28nm one (2 year old fabrication process by now), but doing it a month before much more power efficient and faster 20nm gpus are out would be silly.
It's always best to buy when there's a new architecture with big performance increases or another process node shrink, if you can.
Buying a 28 nm gpu 2 years into its lifespan is a much worse deal than buying one when the tech is new (even if the price sucks)
D3RANG3D
Member
Greenmangaming usually sells new games cheaper like ten fifteen, bucks cheaper, amazon if you buy a new game, I know this works towards console games too, you usually get ten, twenty bucks toward a future game purchase. And Indie/Publisher bundles on PC are insane!
But can you buy Just Cause 2 for like a dollar on consoles?
Mobius and pet octopus
Member
This is what I would honestly do. Wait til the next gen GPUs release and then decide. By that time there will be 6+ month of games to pick from. We'll also have a pretty good picture of the next gen consoles. And you can buy what you want now for much less.
Felix Lighter
Member
redbox is where i save my money. Cost me $2 to beat bioshock infinite and $2 to play Last of us. Never finished last of us.
Lasthope106
Member
Even with the sales on pc, the money still goes to the developers, which will help them make more games.
I got just cause 2 for 'free' on psplus. The other day, I bought mortal kombat for 5.
SneakyStephan
Banned
This shit always pops up in these thread, it's so wrong it's sad.
pc gaming has WAY more exclusives, way way more, not even in the same league.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
I think it's better just to follow the games. Let's say, for instance, you are an AAA FPS person. Buy a PS4 first for Killzone, then get a PC when Destiny comes out.
BoosterDuck
Banned
screw both, get a 3DS
Why bother ? Destiny will be on ps4.
Chuck Norris
Banned
Every generation I invest in consoles early and PC 3-4 years later. Fact is, PC's might have more raw power under the hood but there is no developers taking advantage of it. Even less so now with prior PC heavyweights like Carmack and Valve becoming console first developers. A PC upgrade in 3-4 years will show a tangible advantage. Right now? Not at all
D3RANG3D
Member
It ain't free when you have to pay fifty bucks for them sales/freebies:3
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
Yeah, mostly low budget indie stuff that's now going to come to the PS4 thanks to self publishing and ease of development.
You'll never find Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, Sucker Punch, Media Molecule, Guerrilla Games, or Quantic Dream on PC.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Because it is a FPS, and there is a PC version. This is about a hypothetical FPS person.
This is a big assumption. It may get easier to publish games on consoles than it has been in the past, but PC will always be the easiest. There is no guarantee of every indie game making its way to PS4, to say nothing of the massive back catalog of PC exclusives.
And there are still publishers who only release games on PC. It all depends on what kind of games you're into.
Evrybody here knows what it means when a game is free on ps+. Don't know who you are directing that comment to tbh.
just wanted to highlight where we're at right now.
ALBOFIGHTER
Member
I don't care where you get those multiplatform games from. We are not talking about price here, just games. Having more options on a multiplatform game is not more important then having a different unique exclusive game. Also, even multiplatform games are coming with console exclusive content anyways. Even if price is an issue, never mind the console being cheaper but ps+ gives you free games, I don't see any pc doing that.
You can like pc all you want, doesn't matter, but recommending someone a computer made for multitasking etc. over a "GAME" console where the user is mostly interested in games is quite questionable. It makes no sense. Even if you recommend an xbox one it's a more objective answer cause xbox will still have more games then pc, at least high budgets one. Maybe if OP asked he wants something to play games on but also do work, etc then of course I would recommend a pc in a heartbeat. I wish people would make more objective decisions rather then pick sides. I have a high end pc and pre-ordered the ps4. If games were secondary, I would have never bought a game console since pc has more then enough plus productivity.