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After many years of consoles, starting to consider PC gaming

I've always been both since the NES days up until now. Now PC ports are jank and not much difference between consoles and using a RX6600 XT/3060. Also not a fan of multiplayer survival games which are most games on PC now so i end up spending more time on the PS5/Series X now than my PC.
 
Is there someone here that has done exactly this? If so, would you say it's been a great decision? I do not look forward to having lots of issues and hassle getting games running, I really appreciate the ease of use. But console gaming is starting to become a bit annoying now, with these reports about a mid gen refresh for at least Sony. And while that might be great at first, eventually we'll come to the point again where sacrifices are gonna be made. I doubt a PS5 Pro can all of a sudden do every game 60fps,look great AND have RT.
I went from 10+ years exclusively console back to PC this year. It was a great decision for me personally, but my situation seems irrelevant to what you're hoping to achieve.

I play on the couch hooked up to a 60" TV. I have a wireless keyboard/mouse and an Xbox wireless controller. I don't use Steam Big Picture Mode, and I keep the display settings at 1080p. I can see and navigate everything perfectly fine sitting over 8 feet away. I'm using a $900 laptop that I simply plugged into the TV, and everything just worked fine immediately.

I'm perfectly happy being a casual, 1080p 60fps PC gamer for the foreseeable future - hell, phones cost more than my laptop so if I need to buy another one in two years, it's fine. The additional benefits a PC provides trounces what the consoles provide, in my opinion. The fact is, higher resolutions and RT don't make these games play any better. Until we start seeing revolutions in gameplay or AI that require high end hardware, I don't give a shit.
 

TrebleShot

Member
I have done the exact thing that you are considering and I would recommend avoiding it.

We are fast approaching the third year of the consoles lifecycle, its not early in the gen and you should expect a pro console very soon.

PC hooked up to your TV looks fantastic and you can use steam big picture mode or Playnite, the latter has lots of plug ins and it can look pretty cool but I have to tell you it takes a while to set up and is pretty fussy with emulators etc.

You will absolutely spend more time tinkering and setting it up than playing which can be fun in its own right but Always remember this a PC can play games , it wasn’t explicitly designed to.

A console is a headache free smooth experience.

If you want to go down the obscure random indie game route save a shedload of cash and get a steam deck or ROG ally.

Gaming PC are honestly overhyped. I havent finished a single game on my 4090 set up on my tv but i have “tried“ hundreds.

The console is just easier more comfortable and easy, wait for the pro dude.
 

SoraNoKuni

Member
Valid points, but it's a weird timing, PC gaming nowadays is a bad place to be.
Though I still play my indies and fps/rts there.
 
Summary from ChatGPT

I've been gaming on consoles for a long time but considering a switch to PC gaming due to limitations like lower frame rates and sacrificing visuals. I want the ease of use of consoles but wonder if there's a way to navigate PC games with a controller. I'm interested in the cost of a powerful gaming PC that can outperform current consoles and run demanding games at high frame rates with great visuals. I plan to gradually move away from console gaming, potentially skipping the PS5 if Sony brings their exclusives to PC. I'm looking for input from others who have made this transition and whether it has been a positive experience. Console gaming is becoming frustrating with mid-gen refreshes and sacrifices in performance, and I doubt a PS5 Pro can deliver the desired performance.
 

TheTony316

Member
This is neogaf with majority here playing on PS5 only so they definitely inflate pc prices.

Get 3060 for 250 soon
Get 12100f for 70
Get a mobo for 70
Get ram 16 gb for 40
Seasonic power supply 500 w 70
2 TB SSD 70 usd


That's 570 dollar better console with better IQ due to DLSS and better RT performance.
Just change the config with 4060ti 16 gb

And for 820 usd you get nearly double the power of consoles. Just pay the assembling fee to the seller and you will walk away with 900 usd monster. Then download gog galaxy client login and link all your gaming accounts. Buy games 8 months after launch. Visit pcgamingwiki for some simple fixes. Play the best version of game. Cheers.

PS. Set oled to display at 3440 x 1440 ultrawide resolution with bfi on and ascend to next dimesion of gaming. Only if you wanna play inferior version of game day one you need 12900k and 4090 and it will still suck.

OP asked for a PC that is "significantly" better than a PS5/SX.

That PC ain't it, especially not the quad core CPU. Where i live, an equivalent PC to Series X (5700, RX6700 (non XT), 16GB Ram + everything else) will cost you around 900-1000€
 
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DonJimbo

Member
I will never consider switching to PC too much inconvinience for me like upgrade Hardware cheaper games my ass
I can get them cheap on console aswell
 

TrueLegend

Member
OP asked for a PC that is "significantly" better than a PS5/SX.

That PC ain't it, especially not the quad core CPU. Where i live, an equivalent PC (5700G, RX6700, 16GB Ram + everything else) will cost you around 900-1000€
That quad core dominates unless you wanna play at 240fps with better lows, at high resolutions games are gpu bound And not cpu bound. And read the full post first. A 4060ti is significantly better than PS5/SX it's more than twice powerful than PS5 but due to low level apis and better optimization in consoles it doesn't translate as such but still translates to significantly better than PS5.

Jedi Survivor runs at 4k 50-60 fps on that machine with RT with nearly all setting maxed out and much better settings than consoles meanwhile console go under 720p. Not to mention there is DLSS mod for game which just makes the difference in IQ and performance stratospheric superior than consoles and it's not just this game elden ring, resident evil 2,3,4 all have DLSS mods. .

I have a 3070 paired to an i312100f so I know what I am talking about. I also got a 4080 with 12700k as my main rig. Overspending on parts that don't matter for gaming is the problem with bloated builds. I listed all that money quotes by visiting pcpartpicker and for reliable parts with great customer goodwill like corsair vengeance ram, asus mobo, and the best in business powersupply company.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Dead space example. You will be able to run in 4k, ultra, rt, dlss at 60+fps no problem. But you might have worse time in general because the game stutters and caches shaders in big, best moments, totally taking you out of it. I’ve only played the demo on pc and it ran great but stuttered terribly, had bugs and slowdowns for weird reason. Nothing unplayable but you should know that
 

Hohenheim

Member
I got a new gaming desktop PC last year, my first pure gaming PC since 2004. It's been the best gaming decision I've done in ages.
I have it set up in a different room from my TV and consoles, and find myself in the "PC room" in front of my desk about 90% of my gaming time.
Well, until Zelda was released at least.
Now I enjoy that a lot, while trying to get used to the low frame rates again.
My PS5 is mostly used as a "netflix player" ever since I got the new PC, but because of exclusives I need it. Couldn't imagine going "only" console or PC again.
 

hyperbertha

Member
I don't recommend pc gaming in the living room. Cumbersome, and gets harder to trouble shoot when issues do arise. One of the big appeals of pc gaming is playing with mouse and keyboard up close. It's a different experience that can be much more immersive. But these days pc ports are mostly laughable. You need to go atleast a 4080 to have an acceptable experience.
 

Chastten

Banned
Not a fan of hooking up your PC to a TV exclusively. A TV is fine as a second monitor for some gaming on the side, but that's it. Steam Big Picture mode works mostly fine, but honestly, I still need my keyboard quite often when playing on PC, even though I have an Xbox Series controller connected to it. PC gaming IMO simply isnt made for controller use only, even if the game itself is fine with just a controller. If you gonna do this, prepare to do some PC stuff. No way around that. Doesn't matter how easy PC gaming is these days compared to back in the 90's, it's still multitudes 'harder' than gaming on a console.

If you can brute force performance you can easily get better results than a console, but anything under €1000 will dissapoint you more often than not, I feel. Lots of PC games are terribly optimized. I recently played Sword Art Online: AL from 2020 or something. Had to adjust my setting down to 1080P Medium, 30FPS to get anywhere close to decent performance (although still dips), and my PC is in specs mostly comparable to a current gen console. Flower was another one where I had to manually tinker with the settings to get it playable and that's a PS3 game.

If you have the €2000 laying around to build a Ryzen 7/RTX4080 or up machine, it might be worth giving it a shot, otherwise, I wouldn't consider it for your purposes.
 

Lasha

Member
I use steam big picture for the bulk of my library. The rest I use a profile for my controller that emulates a mouse. Port performance is wacky atm but you're still going to be pushing better performance than a console on average. A 4070TI was still pushing 40-50FPS at 4k Ultra before FSR/DLSS on the notoriously jank TLOU Part I port at launch. Games like FH5 running 90+ FPS maxed out at 4k are impressive as fuck. You'll also have freedom to tailor specific effects you don't care for which can change performance.

The decision really comes down to two things; Can you afford to eat the up front cost of a PC and are you able to wait to play PS first party games and paid PS exclusives? Basically everything comes to PC now so you're not missing out on very many games.
 

Senua

Member
If you're a proper gaming enthusiast nerd like, nothing comes close to scratching that itch like PC gaming. PC has mods, absolutely massive library of games, infinite backwards compat, emulation, proper racing sims, peripheral support i could go on and on but i have work to do. toodles!
 
PC was really great during the ps3/ps4 era.

I'd avoid it now unless you have money to burn and want some extra settings like RTX and can put up with waiting for big fixes for games.

You could just take advantage of PC where you can and keep your console, there's lots of big titles you can enjoy that came out in the past few years at max settings, lots of mods and smaller games on steam. Have your PC there if a new release comes out that is best played on PC.

PC is still good but it's less of a slam dunk over a console, part costs have risen hugely and some devs are finding it difficult to offer decent versions.

There was a lot of talk about PC needing to change it's memory during the original Watch Dogs (stutters) but PC went on to succeed regardless of it's hardware IO for years after. It's the same again with new consoles, rough PC ports, questions about memory/stutters. Perhaps devs will figure it out again and hardware will carry on the same or will we need a fundamental change?
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Summary from ChatGPT

I've been gaming on consoles for a long time but considering a switch to PC gaming due to limitations like lower frame rates and sacrificing visuals. I want the ease of use of consoles but wonder if there's a way to navigate PC games with a controller. I'm interested in the cost of a powerful gaming PC that can outperform current consoles and run demanding games at high frame rates with great visuals. I plan to gradually move away from console gaming, potentially skipping the PS5 if Sony brings their exclusives to PC. I'm looking for input from others who have made this transition and whether it has been a positive experience. Console gaming is becoming frustrating with mid-gen refreshes and sacrifices in performance, and I doubt a PS5 Pro can deliver the desired performance.
ChatGPT is already smarter than some people.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
PC is all you need, and you’ll get out of it what you put into it. Upfront cost is as high as you want it to be, but you’ll save money on games and online fees.

It requires a little effort though, as does anything else that’s the top of its class.

Here’s the thing; if you just want to play AAA games then stick to consoles. PC offers so much more, but it’s not worth it if you just want it to be a glorified console.
 

HTK

Banned
I have done the exact thing that you are considering and I would recommend avoiding it.

We are fast approaching the third year of the consoles lifecycle, its not early in the gen and you should expect a pro console very soon.

PC hooked up to your TV looks fantastic and you can use steam big picture mode or Playnite, the latter has lots of plug ins and it can look pretty cool but I have to tell you it takes a while to set up and is pretty fussy with emulators etc.

You will absolutely spend more time tinkering and setting it up than playing which can be fun in its own right but Always remember this a PC can play games , it wasn’t explicitly designed to.

A console is a headache free smooth experience.

If you want to go down the obscure random indie game route save a shedload of cash and get a steam deck or ROG ally.

Gaming PC are honestly overhyped. I havent finished a single game on my 4090 set up on my tv but i have “tried“ hundreds.

The console is just easier more comfortable and easy, wait for the pro dude.
I have a 3080 Ti, still haven't completed a single (single player game) and it's been over a year now. I only play MP games because frames all SP stuff is reserved for the comfort of the console.
 

TrebleShot

Member
hahahahaha

HAHAHAHAHAHA
PC is that dude that drinks artisan coffee from his favourite local independent coffee shop and will happily pay for the pleasure. Usually seen carrying around a portable wind up vinyl player and scoffs at Spotify and Bluetooth headphones.

Console is Starbucks coffee and Spotify with Apple AirPods - so much easier and guess what the music sounds the same and the Caffiene still gives you kick.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
Yes yesss yeessss! I made the transition earlier this year, never looking back, once you go 4k ultra settings 120 fps its hard to back
 

xiskza

Member
Youtube No GIF by Rosanna Pansino
 

LakeOf9

Member
PC gaming is the best for anyone who wants more direct control over their games IMO. if you are not yet sure you are ready for that kind of thing, I recommend starting out with a Steam Deck and going from there
 
Just make the jump, I got a monster PC last month and I am blow away by the benefits of PC gaming.

The last time I played games on PC was at least a decade ago.

Keep your PS5 or switch if you have those get rid of the Xbox if you end up getting a good PC, their first party games will run better on your PC.
 

Ozrimandias

Member
I really wanted to go from console to PC, graphically some games look beautiful, but others are a mess. I have played all my life on a console and replicating the same immediacy, comfort and speed of a console on a PC connected to a 4K TV is impossible, it is extremely frustrating and I end up giving up. You always have to be configuring something, you always have to research, download, patch, change files etc. A disaster. Infinity of Launchers, each one works as it wants. For example Steam always forgets my settings for Splinter Cell conviction, also Ubi connect always wants to connect. Not to mention, Chaos Theory doesn't work well with a controller. Lately PC ports are disgusting and other games decide not to launch if you don't investigate how the hell to do it or improve its performance.
 
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If you don't like the idea of toying with some settings to get the game running the way you want it too then PC gaming probably isn't for you unless you buy top end CPU/GPU, which will set you back well into the 2.5K-3K mark. If you're looking to hook it up to a TV, great but you're going to have a honking great tower sitting in your front room and as long as you don't mind that then awesome.

I played on consoles for a long long time, have a PC with a 3080 now and I'm never going back to having a console as my primary gaming device. It's just a more versatile platform for me and I can experience the game as I want from a graphical perspective and enjoy games like RTS without having to fumble around with a controller. I'm not knocking console players, enjoy your games however you want but for me personally, it's the best way to play.
 

spawn

Member
I'm a PlayStation gamer who recently purchased a PC. I wouldn't throw out your console. I would keep it still. I really am enjoying my PC so far. I can game in 4k and 60 FPS, but I have a couple of hang-ups. One of them is sound. My living room is hooked up with a really good sound system and when I'm on console in the living room it sounds sweet. My PC audio has not been up to the same standard.

My next issue with PC has been crashes and blue screens. The first game I played was Gears of War definitive edition and my PC crashed about 15 times while playing. My 2nd game was Sunset Overdrive and even when I'm meeting the games system requirements I still get some audio and visual bugs here and there. I'm really enjoying some games that I've missed on PC. I just wouldn't throw out my PS5 completely.
 
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I’m mostly a ps5 guy. I do however have a solid gaming laptop for Steam games that aren’t on console. All I really do is plug my hdmi into my laptop and use a Turtle Beach controller and game on my TV when there is something I want to play on Steam that isn’t on console (and for you PC truthers I get 120 on my TV and my laptop). Aside from that, I will never fully understand the point of spending 2k+ on PC gaming. Again, just my opinion.
 
This is probably gonna be somewhat of a long post, hope you stick with it. It's a what if scenario thing, I'm speaking hypothetically here. But it's something that has been on my mind for at least a year now.

Ever since SNES really I've been gaming on consoles. For a few years I did combine console gaming with PC gaming, but I had too many issues with PC and once the first Xbox came out I've never bothered with PC gaming anymore.

But I am starting to wonder if going back to PC might be for me. We're not even three years into this console generation and already are seeing games that release at 30fps or 40fps. Many games come with performance modes such as Jedi Survivor. 60fps, but at the cost of visuals. Starfield is undoubtedly going to be another example, I wouldn't be shocked if that releases with only 30fps.

That being said, I do still really appreciate the ease of use of consoles. Power it on, start a game and done. Not having to worry if a certain component isn't good enough anymore, or getting weird error messages when starting a game, it just works, I guess? But what do I know? It was the release of Rainbow Six Rogue Spear when it was the last time I truly bothered with PC gaming. I'm sure a lot has changed.

I have a few questions.


I game solely in the living room on a 65 inch OLED. I'm not looking forward to using mouse and keyboard to navigate the desktop and choose which game to play. Is there a way nowadays to have PC feel like a console when it comes to how you browse your games library, basically with a controller? I had a Surface Pro a few years ago and that had a normal desktop mode but also tablet mode, I guess tablet mode would be ideal for controller use?

I'm probably not gonna build it myself, so how much would a really good complete gaming PC cost me? I'm talking one that is significantly better than the current consoles, one that could run Starfield at 60fps with visuals at least as good or better than XSX. It's probably impossible to say yet because we don't know the recommended specs for that game. But say RDR2, to have that running in 60fps or more with all the bells and whistles? And all the other games out now and upcoming.

The plan would be to slowly move away from console gaming, or at least Xbox and if Sony starts bringing their exclusives day one to PC too, I might just not get a PS5 at all. I still have a backlog of bought games I'd like to finish on Xbox and plenty on Game Pass too, and not everything that's on console Game Pass is also for PC, right? But their upcoming first party games all should be. I could stick with Xbox for the games coming to GP that don't come to PC. But for the real heavy new games I'd go PC.

Is there someone here that has done exactly this? If so, would you say it's been a great decision? I do not look forward to having lots of issues and hassle getting games running, I really appreciate the ease of use. But console gaming is starting to become a bit annoying now, with these reports about a mid gen refresh for at least Sony. And while that might be great at first, eventually we'll come to the point again where sacrifices are gonna be made. I doubt a PS5 Pro can all of a sudden do every game 60fps,look great AND have RT.
I've gone back and forth a couple times. Currently I'm back on the more console side of things.

I do think I prefer the console side of things more than PC overall just due to simplicity. I just like playing games.I currently have a PC w/ a 3060ti, PS5, and a Switch on a combination of a Cooler Master Mini LED monitor and a LG C2. I move my PC back and forth between my desk and the tv stand across the room (my desk is in the living room) but luckily I have an ITX build (Lian Li Dan A4 H20) so it's very small and easy to move plus it looks nice next to the tv stand.

For tv gaming sake I have my pc boot directly into steam big picture without any password. You can use netplwiz or whatever it's called to not require a password to log your account in and then set Steam to open immediately into BPM upon startup. This usually means by the time I grab the tv remote and switch input it's almost fully controllable with my Xbox controller. There are definitely times where I have to grab my keyboard and mouse but luckily they are wireless so I can bring them over to the couch for prompts and stuff.

PC wise you would probably want a 3080 or 4070 at minimum going forward since you have a LG OLED. 1440p looks great on my C2 but 4K would be more ideal. I would say you will want $1500 minimum if you build it yourself for a good CPU/GPU that will last you awhile so roughly 3-4x a console price wise. It's gonna be even more if you go ITX because cases, motherboards, and power supplies are all more expensive on top of when it comes to the RTX4000 series limiting you to a 4070ti. But if you want a big ugly monstrosity of a case it doesn't matter really.

PC gaming on a tv/couch has gotten way better and way easier in general even ignoring the couch part. It is definitely more complicated then a console though as 99% of the time a console is just click controller button select game and go.

Two big problems for me recently on PC are the fucking EA app and the Xbox app. The Xbox app you use for game pass is complete shit but if you want to access the games you already bought you have to deal with it. There is a relatively common issue where the app basically wastes storage space unless you format your computer and I've ran into a couple times which actually prompted me to just buy the games I played through gamepads on Steam instead (FH4/5 and Halo Infinite). The EA app just won't launch my games half the time telling me I need to close and reopen which does nothing. My go to online game right now is BF2042 which requires said shit app even on steam. All these game launchers on PC annoy me to no end.

HDR on windows is also complete ass. It's better on Windows 11 but then you have windows 11...

I'm primarily a Mac user when it comes to computers so my gaming PC is just for games unless I'm already sitting there. I've subbed to GFN Ultimate on occasion and it was actually amazing for me especially with the new "4080" servers. I've been tempted to move completely to GFN multiple times but until Microsoft puts all their games on there so I can still play Halo/Forza it's not an option.
 
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BlackTron

Member
PC gaming is all about options, and just ONE of those options is to dial up your hardware and run games at crazy settings.

That level of options means a lot of small things can go wrong and you need the right mindset for it. Not fearmongering, but even the most basic setting might have to be changed on PC whereas console is plug-and-play. From the tone of your post, you'd be better off just playing the same games on a console without the hassle. You don't seem to be after any PC genres like RTS that would mandate this added complexity if it turned you off before.
 

Ridaxan

Member
The last year of PC releases has been pretty rough and I really hope they fix it sooner rather than later. I've resorted to rather sticking to my PS5 in the recent months as my 3070 is not really cutting it anymore and upgrading to a 4070Ti or 4080 doesn't seem like it'll future proof for more than 2 years anyway, so I'm kinda forced to go for a 4090 which is pretty unaffordable in my country. Or I could go Team Red I guess...

PC gaming is awesome (and almost incomparable) when it works, but the most recent AAA releases has all had problems which really sucks.
 

Denton

Member
I game solely in the living room on a 65 inch OLED. I'm not looking forward to using mouse and keyboard to navigate the desktop and choose which game to play.
I have been PC TV gaming since 2013. I am writing this post on TV from couch. I just use Logitech K400 for all my windows navigating needs, it is super simple, convenient, easy to use. For games I use Xbone controller.

For me it is best of both worlds. Simplicity and TV experience of consoles, but high quality (60fps everywhere, mods, customizability) of PC.
 

Senua

Member
The last year of PC releases has been pretty rough and I really hope they fix it sooner rather than later. I've resorted to rather sticking to my PS5 in the recent months as my 3070 is not really cutting it anymore and upgrading to a 4070Ti or 4080 doesn't seem like it'll future proof for more than 2 years anyway, so I'm kinda forced to go for a 4090 which is pretty unaffordable in my country. Or I could go Team Red I guess...

PC gaming is awesome (and almost incomparable) when it works, but the most recent AAA releases has all had problems which really sucks.
Seriously? It's quite a bit more powerful than the PS5 GPU. Do you just whack everything to ultra settings or something?
 
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