"599" PC vs "HD" consoles

[gongo]

Thanks to this site, i been researching my next PC. I know the GTX200 and HD4000 are coming in a month, and you know how surprised i am to find PC hardware prices are now very affordable.

My old PC
a64 3500
1GB DDR2 533
6800GT 256MB
Costs me about 800 IIRC back in 2006, definitely weaker than 360 or PS3.

A new PC from newegg
C2D E7200
2GB DDR2 800
Intel P35 chipset
9600GT 512MB
400GB SATA2 HDD
400W OEM Seasonic PSU
Costs about 599 with mail in rates and reusing XP SP3.

If i were to run games at 720p through to my HDTV, i can get 2XFSAA and 8XAF while maintaining, at least 30fps for all "HD" quality console games with cleaner texture effects. Why "HD" with the commas, easy, it is frustrating to know as next gen development moves into 2nd and 3rd gears, more developers are dropping back the HD resolution and HDR to get more performance.

The new PC is a little costlier than PS3 and 360, and it does not allow you to watch HDM and 7.1 uncompressed audio are unlikely to be supported by PC games for the next 1-2 years.

The new PC has the advantage of lower power consumption on idle, better power saving features and efficiency. PS3 XMB navigation IIRC uses 120W~.

The new PC games will cost on average 5-10 dollars less, and for the case of 360, no extra subscription fees to play P2P games....

The new PC of course has completely, fully customisable multimedia DLNA/HTPC and work, educational features.

Adding it all up, PC have completely blown away the consoles in just about every aspects including price/affordability ratios and great playing games.

I think MS is smiling that their Plan Xbox have brought developers together with simplicity and stability of console games with the flexibility and power of PC hardware.

 

[I.S.T.]

Thanks to this site, i been researching my next PC. I know the GTX200 and HD4000 are coming in a month, and you know how surprised i am to find PC hardware prices are now very affordable.

My old PC
a64 3500
1GB DDR2 533
6800GT 256MB
Costs me about 800 IIRC back in 2006, definitely weaker than 360 or PS3.

A new PC from newegg
C2D E7200
2GB DDR2 800
Intel P35 chipset
9600GT 512MB
400GB SATA2 HDD
400W OEM Seasonic PSU
Costs about 599 with mail in rates and reusing XP SP3.

If i were to run games at 720p through to my HDTV, i can get 2XFSAA and 8XAF while maintaining, at least 30fps for all "HD" quality console games with cleaner texture effects. Why "HD" with the commas, easy, it is frustrating to know as next gen development moves into 2nd and 3rd gears, more developers are dropping back the HD resolution and HDR to get more performance.

The new PC is a little costlier than PS3 and 360, and it does not allow you to watch HDM and 7.1 uncompressed audio are unlikely to be supported by PC games for the next 1-2 years.

The new PC has the advantage of lower power consumption on idle, better power saving features and efficiency. PS3 XMB navigation IIRC uses 120W~.

The new PC games will cost on average 5-10 dollars less, and for the case of 360, no extra subscription fees to play P2P games....

The new PC of course has completely, fully customisable multimedia DLNA/HTPC and work, educational features.

Adding it all up, PC have completely blown away the consoles in just about every aspects including price/affordability ratios and great playing games.

I think MS is smiling that their Plan Xbox have brought developers together with simplicity and stability of console games with the flexibility and power of PC hardware.

The main problem with your post is that not all HD games are coming to the PC...

Get the equipment that gives you the games you want, IMO.

 

[Neb]

If you can get the PC and PS3. Perhaps the xbox360 instead but most of its games are released for the PC. For top sound quality and image in movies buy a GPU with latest PureVideo or Ati GPu with latest 'video enhancer' (forgot the name). X-fi/Audigy2zs for top sound.

So PC as media-center and to play all non exclusive console games, and one console or even both for their exclusives. :smile:

 

[gongo]

The good ones will come eventually, even the MGs and FFs.

More points to ponder, with the speed of PC hardware going up and up while the prices going down and mainstream, can next gen consoles even compete at launch? Will makers want to compete on the technology side, to spend millions to develop custom chips ever again?

I think Nintendo is the big winner and it shows. Why be poor underpeforming and money losing cousins to multimedia PC when you can be different and ringing your cash register?

 

[Gubbi]

The problem for PC game developers is the two decimal orders of magnitude of 3D performance difference between a "gamer"-PC and a mainstream PC.

That, - and piracy.

That means that you will only see a fraction of AAA titles on PC compared to consoles.

Cheers

 

[I.S.T.]

If you can get the PC and PS3. Perhaps the xbox360 instead but most of its games are released for the PC. For top sound quality and image in movies buy a GPU with latest PureVideo or Ati GPu with latest 'video enhancer' (forgot the name). X-fi/Audigy2zs for top sound.

So PC as media-center and to play all non exclusive console games, and one console or even both for their exclusives. :smile:

WHY DOES EVERYONE SAY THAT!

 

[Neb]

The problem for PC game developers is the two decimal orders of magnitude of 3D performance difference between a "gamer"-PC and a mainstream PC.

What has that to do with how games will be experienced on the PC, especially multi-platform titles?

High-end will perform magnificent and maisntream will scale back in the menu settings. AA and AF aswell as full HD resolutions for the high/med-ends.

That, - and piracy.

Yet devs are still releasing multi-player games and exclusives for PC, getting the best of all worlds so to say...

 

[Neb]

WHY DOES EVERYONE SAY THAT!

Well sry didn't want to uppset you, but I se more 'large' titels from the xbox360 ported to PC than PS3 titles.

 

[I.S.T.]

What has that to do with how games will be experienced on the PC, especially multi-platform titles?

High-end will perform magnificent and maisntream will scale back in the menu settings. AA and AF aswell as full HD resolutions for the high/med-ends.



Yet devs are still releasing multi-player games and exclusives for PC, getting the best of all worlds so to say...

By mainstream, he means what most people have, not mainstream gamers.

In other words, this:http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5254

 

[infinity4]

Doesn't matter where AAA games go to, as far as you find a platform that has the games that suit YOU are what matters. Costwise it's more or less the same if you frequently play games, as advantage gained in pc game prices are more or less lost by having to buy a hardware every year just to keep up.

 

[Neb]

By mainstream, he means what most people have, not mainstream gamers.

In other words, this:http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5254

That doesnt change anything, the ones with better HW will get more eye-candy and more advanced gameplay elements. You dont need top-end to run multi-platform games at full, heck you dont even need med-end. All PC games comes with settings menu too you know...

And considering the prices now you get high-end for the price that would get you budget some years ago.

 

[LordNerevar]

I think the best combinanation is waiting for GTX200 and then building a decent Quad Core/GTX200 system.
That, and a PS3 will give you the best of both worlds.
Xbox doesn't have a bunch of exclusives worth of mentioning IMHO, because almost all AAA get ported to PC.
PS3, on the other hand, has and will have even more top AAA titles that will never get ported to any other platform.

 

[I.S.T.]

That doesnt change anything, the ones with better HW will get more eye-candy and more advanced gameplay elements. You dont need top-end to run multi-platform games at full, heck you dont even need med-end. All PC games comes with settings menu too you know...

And considering the prices now you get high-end for the price that would get you budget some years ago.

That thing could not run Bioshock, for example, at acceptable speeds even at lowest settings. Hell, it couldn't run a lot of games at lowest settings(Not counting Crysis, of course).

 

[Neb]

That thing could not run Bioshock, for example, at acceptable speeds even at lowest settings. Hell, it couldn't run a lot of games at lowest settings(Not counting Crysis, of course).

So one providers setup for sale overrides all other companies offer?

have you noticed the graphic card is the only thing limiting it? Add 160$ and it is high-end.

have you noticed others can offer or you can build a PC a high-end PC for ~600$ or less? A machine that also is so much more than only gaming. A PC that comes with a large HDD drive, something that is a steal to buy for the xbox360 and something that adds to the cost for PS3. A DVD-burner?

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

The huge hardware gap between the low end and the high end definitely has a lot to do with consoles taking over the gaming market. It's just yet another layer of complexity the devs have to deal with when developing for PCs vs Consoles. Almost no new games will run on integrated graphics at acceptable framerates.

 

[I.S.T.]

So one providers setup for sale overrides all other companies offer?

have you noticed the graphic card is the only thing limiting it? Add 160$ and it is high-end.

have you noticed others can offer or you can build a PC a high-end PC for ~600$ or less? A machine that also is so much more than only gaming.

You seem to be missing the fact that most PCs are just like the one I linked. Hell, PCs with 50 dollar graphics card are rare in comparison to what I linked.

I could get more links, if you wish.

 

[Neb]

The huge hardware gap between the low end and the high end definitely has a lot to do with consoles taking over the gaming market. It's just yet another layer of complexity the devs have to deal with when developing for PCs vs Consoles. Almost no new games will run on integrated graphics at acceptable framerates.

True and I would think nobody with a cheap bought PC with integrated graphics chip would think they can unless they buy a GPU for 60-80$ or more.

 

[Neb]

You seem to be missing the fact that most PCs are just like the one I linked. Hell, PCs with 50 dollar graphics card are rare in comparison to what I linked.

I could get more links, if you wish.

Really a look at the comercials dimping in my mailbox shows budget and up having decent to good GPU over here. From prebuilt PC's in supermarkets to shop built PC's.

Though doesnt change anything about how the OP will enjoy his games with the 599$ PC. Low-end will slow down development progress for PC games (though it is changing) yet it still is so far ahead there is no worries about it this gen. I only see the consoles limiting in multi-platform games.

 

[catisfit]

The good ones will come eventually, even the MGs and FFs.

When my MGS4 preorder arrives next month, I'll think of you all still waiting for MGS3

 

[gongo]

Hey guys how about we make this topic a more prospective look at next gen, the end of mega power consoles?

One reason why PC gaming has become more viable, apart from the prices, are developers now building their games on PC platform first. In the past, you make a game for consoles and to port it to a PC, you require a rewriting of codes and a large amount of hardware power to make sure it runs.

These days, development starts on far more powerful PC hardware and port down to, guess what, virtually identical but older PC hardware. Xbox started this and this gen is taking bigger steps from there.

With easier multi development, PC are getting the type of fast action console games and they run better on mainstream gaming hardware. Some poster said only a small fraction of AAA console titles will end up on the PC, i disagree, if you forgo some EA sports games and Sony first party games, the rest of AAA console titles will end up on PC, not for a better resaon, higher development costs.