Change of heart - Should I get a console instead of a new PC?
- Thread starter tongue_of_colicab
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What games do you want to play on this console? I think this should be the most important. Buy the console that has (with BC) or will have the exclusives you want the most. They'll both have the same multiplatform games.
Not that I would necessarily do so but you could remote play the PS5 from your PC [emoji16]. It is starting to get quite good. But you sound like PC is the thing for you.
Anyway, I think this generation the consoles will hold up a little longer than in previous generations as last time the PS4 was really little more than a small PC, coming from PS3 Cell exotica was a big change. This time the consoles are taking on some serious bottlenecks. While the PC will definitely overcome, it will be a bit harder and/or more expensive to do so compared to last gen.
I have always had the PC + PS combo. No point in going for the XSX if you want a PC too, they share the same games basically. The PC enjoys all MS games, all steam/indie games, and even Sony games are appearing there more and more.
You also get the best version of just about any game thats multiplat, with the option to play it however you want (tweaking settings, modding, controller or kb/m, etc).
Its also easy to just upgrade or OC down the road, instead of having to replace the whole machine like with the console when the premiums arrive.
BC is a nobrainer, on pc you can play everything, and everything is already 'remastered' by default. No pay for online play and MP games stay active much and much longer.
The PC is a good middle-land i think. Its a ever-growing platform.
Ofcourse, you can do much more then just gaming on the PC. Most have a life besides gaming
Also, the consoles are already half the power of what AMD has already out now for their GPUs, Zen2 is already a generation old in AMD cpu world, and 16GB total while thats dedicated to just VRAM on the PC. a 6800XT is very intresting, with the infinity cache and 3080+ performance, full RDNA2 arch etc.
The consoles are mostly mid end comparable pcs already now.
So go for the PS5 and PC upgrade/build abit later on i would say. The PS5 for its exclusives, the PC for everything else. Killer combo.
As a note, most people are hare die hard console gamers, so, most will advice you to stay away from the PC, and eventually even claim its dying
Im a pc gamer.
You also get the best version of just about any game thats multiplat, with the option to play it however you want (tweaking settings, modding, controller or kb/m, etc).
Its also easy to just upgrade or OC down the road, instead of having to replace the whole machine like with the console when the premiums arrive.
BC is a nobrainer, on pc you can play everything, and everything is already 'remastered' by default. No pay for online play and MP games stay active much and much longer.
The PC is a good middle-land i think. Its a ever-growing platform.
Ofcourse, you can do much more then just gaming on the PC. Most have a life besides gaming
Also, the consoles are already half the power of what AMD has already out now for their GPUs, Zen2 is already a generation old in AMD cpu world, and 16GB total while thats dedicated to just VRAM on the PC. a 6800XT is very intresting, with the infinity cache and 3080+ performance, full RDNA2 arch etc.
The consoles are mostly mid end comparable pcs already now.
So go for the PS5 and PC upgrade/build abit later on i would say. The PS5 for its exclusives, the PC for everything else. Killer combo.
As a note, most people are hare die hard console gamers, so, most will advice you to stay away from the PC, and eventually even claim its dying
Im a pc gamer.
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I think ray tracing will make them age really quickly. 5nm graphics chips end of next year or early 2022 will blow the doors of ray tracing performance while increasing performance in every other metric . Direct storage will be out and supported by then also
except in ray tracing games it seems like the ps5/xsx are on par with a 2060. So is it really a reasonable amount of money ? I built my cousins kid a $1100 system with a 2070 in june. with the 3070 and soon 3060 the prices will be even less. If he wants better performance next year he can buy a higher end 30x0 card or in 2022 a 40x0 card or the amd versions. What does he do if he wants better performance on the ps5 or xsx ?
Only price is different for the most. Its all about if you want/can spend more for that extra performance. For most, i think its best to wait half a year/one year, and upgrade/build new etc.
That consoles have going for them for the most, during their lifetime, is exclusive content (PS in special), and ease of use etc.
That consoles have going for them for the most, during their lifetime, is exclusive content (PS in special), and ease of use etc.
Equivalent PC prices won't remotely approach $500 until we're about at mid gen refreshes. 1100 is more than twice the cost of those systems.
And the cards that bring the ray tracing perf will be over 500 by themselves until 2024 at least.
The PC just doesn't have anything resembling competitive price/perf right now, and depending on how mid gen refreshes are handled might not this entire generation. What you give up is just not that meaningful for most people. And you save a *lot* of money.
A 3060Ti/3070/6700XT and up will most likely be enough to match them in normal rendering (surpassing actually, if we take 3070 into account), while surpassing greatly in ray tracing. Those GPUs are right now around the price of a PS5 or XSX, cheaper here in EU, where the PS5 retails for between abit over 500 dollars for the DE and 600 for the disc version.
So, a GPU that today at the consoles launch, for about the same price, outperforms them, in special in ray tracing. By next year, late 2021, we will most likely see price reductions and possibly refreshes of todays gpus. 2022 and we are looking at RTX4060 and up.
No idea where you get the idea from that 3060 and up prices will remain static with no new GPUs coming in.
Well, you wont be able to match the consoles price at 500 dollars, but theres clearly difference in machines. The pc is going to cost more then XSX and PS5 combined, but you also get more.
Theres clearly a market for it, seeing its only growing.
One doesnt have to support that though. Instead one could just buy one from whichever company treats their customers better by allowing them to access old games they already own and letting them play with a wider variety of players in multiplayer etc... Or whatever policies an individual thinks are beneficial to them. I have thought about getting a console myself, but I don't really even know how to use a controller effectively.
Does it need to be $500 if it performs better ? Heck little jimmy can also do his school work on it during the Dark Winter
2x cost increase for marginal visual quality gains? It's just not cost competitive at all. You can get a console and a Surface Go 2 for less than a gaming PC in the schoolwork scenario.
But there are other things that can sway that, sure. Mods, other uses like work, being really into PC centric games like Total War or MMOs, VR, etc. If you only care about the games that typically end up on consoles though, it's so not worth it.
You'd need to spend something like 2k to get a better experience with something like Watch Dogs Legion as only the 3090 can get you to 60 fps with ray tracing (and that's using DLSS). And I don't think 60fps vs 30, plus some minor image quality improvements, is worth spending 4 times as much money to most people. If you've got the money where it doesn't matter, sure, whatever, it's better and it's not like PC doesn't have advantages.
But this gen the consoles are really cost/perf dominant in a way I don't think they've been in the past. Depending on how mid gen refreshes are handled, like if MS does what you've been speculating in just replacing both consoles with higher performing ones, that may continue through the whole gen.
The economics of pc components plus the diminishing returns on power and the inherent efficiency advantages on console are going to pretty much guarantee an edge going forward.
I have to disagree with you.
If you can get your hands a on 3070 then you can easily build a machine that offers the same or better performance than both next gen consoles. You can put the rest of the system together for around $600 or so and have a great experiance
I think with the 3060 you will see an even lower price point for pcs.
Also like you said pcs can do so much more
The PC has never been a good performance/value delta as compared to consoles. This was much worse during the 90's and early 2000's. If pc's where as cheap, many more would go that route instead. You get the best versions of games, most freedom (settings, control type), mods, online, and steam is just awesome.
Also as i see it, this time around the consoles lack greatly in RT and DLSS, while last time they where on par with mid range products in normal rendering atleast.
Now, they are basically mid range machines, atleast in GPU terms (the most important part still). The CPU is a generation old in amd terms, and quite much lower clocked. Total ram size is much more meager then last time too. 16GB is what AMD's gpus have now. SSD speed is already surpassed, technically.
At the high end, we are sitting already at 2 to 2.5 times the power with AMDs own dGPUs. NV's go much higher, even.
Theres a reason pc gaming is a ever growing market, and again as i see it, they stand better now then last time (2013).
Just look at the numbers you're throwing out though.
A 3070 is already msrp the cost of the consoles, and is more expensive than scalped consoles at the prices you can currently get it at, and then you're adding another 600? To match or minorly beat what they put out. More than 2x cost for marginal quality improvement.
Even with a 3060, since mainboard, cpu, ram and ssd are around 600, you're already over the cost of the console before the GPU even enters into it. That's maybe going to be a 300 dollar card? So instead of being a little more than twice as expensive it's a little less than twice as expensive. Shrug. It's a completely different price bracket even in the best case.
So the question is how much that "so much more" matters to you. There's a lot reasons to go PC, won't dispute it. But value, when it comes to playing games that are also on console, just isn't one of them right now. You're paying a fairly large premium for the unique functionality of the PC. That can be a reasonable choice.
But the PC perf advantage no longer makes sense to pay that kind of premium for, by itself. It was, for most of last gen, between the anemic cpus, loading times, gap in graphics output vs ultra settings, etc, something you could argue for. I don't think you can right now.
Diminishing returns, and finite dev budgets, makes those perf differences far less important than in the past.
Well, all this doom and gloom pc gaming has been hearing since about aslong as it has existed from console gamers. I think if anything, pc gaming will outlast console gaming before streaming will finally take over everything.
As for now, theres a market for both. PC gaming is ever growing, even in the mid to higher end segment of the market.
As for now, theres a market for both. PC gaming is ever growing, even in the mid to higher end segment of the market.
But what do you do when a ps5/xsx doesn't run the game how you want it ? If i get a game in 2 years a 3060 or 3070 can't run I don't have to throw out the whole system and buy again. I could simply get a new card in its price point.
Truth! There's plenty of room for both console and PC gamers. PC sales numbers are going through the roof right now and I don't think console are exactly selling badly either.
Different strokes for different folks. I have friends I recommend consoles to over gaming PCs just because I know they won't want to go through the hassles of any hassles. In my opinion gaming PCs you really have to know a little bit at least about computers to have a great experience where as consoles I've been informed it's not so much the case. Personally I'll always be PC over consoles, but that's because of me and how I like to game..it doesn't mean that consoles suck and are bad.
Get what works for you and be happy.
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