* I had to split post in two, looks like there's "images" limit in one post.
Waiting for analysis of a mid and high-end configuration of a PC available at the launch of the respective console systems, but now equipped with the latest drivers as a point of reference.
That doesn't necessarily makes it a fair comparison because of couple of things:
1. The price of both consoles and mid/high-end PCs has come down a lot since launch of both consoles. You can't buy X360 at launch price anymore (well, you probably could somewhere, but that would make you an idiot
). Same goes for PS3, in some European countries at 2007 march launch it was something like 600-700 euros.
2. For the same price of mid/high-end PC in 2005/2006, you can buy much more powerful tech
now OR the ~same perfomance for much less money -
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1370804&postcount=3061
3. And why would someone want to compare consoles and PCs at their prices from 3/4 years ago, when present day matters most, right? IMO, the "fairest" and only way to do it is to compare both the "old" high-end and new at the same price (but that would be difficult due to inflation and all other factors), as well as other configurations, but that would be a lot of work.
Even then, they are different aproaches to both the tech side and business models, which affects everything. Personally, I would be very surprised that the PC version with all it's gabbage and bloat on its back with APIs, OS load etc., could acomplish the same perfomance/detail level as the console versions with 2005/2006 PC CPUs and GPUs, especially considering the drivers going the legacy route with profiles and perfomance tweaks for new games are pretty much non-extinct; and when C2 comes out, they will be even more outdated. Consoles are fixed tech, with much higher bandwith utilization (e.g., there are almost zero to very little gains in PC space moving from 10GB/s DDR2 to 20GB/s DDR3 in games apps, IIRC) and in general, better efficiency. Three years ago, Carmack
said this:
power terms?
Very much so. While it’s true that right now you can buy a PC that’s probably twice as high-performance as a 360 or a PS3 - and the hype machine has blown that all out of proportion about how it’s some radically different thing – but basically, you’re getting a really high-end PC’s power in a several-hundred-dollar console box. But you can get effectively three times the performance if you’re targeting a fixed platform than if you’re targeting the PC space. And we saw that well with Doom III – the Xbox version looks pretty darn good, and it’s running off something that’s effectively a third of the power and memory of the typical PC that you would play Doom III on.
Are his perfomance numbers correct or he's blowing smoke?
I believe that it depends on game-by-game/engine basis, right?
PC gamers now cry foul because they say that consoles have ruined PC development.
It's just that the development is slowed down, because PC can't handle AAA development on its own, except in few rare cases (Blizzard and Relic games, 'cause they don't have fan base on consoles and due to lack of proper controller device for their gamess), but that's a whole another issue.
http://gamescom.gamespot.com/story/6215393/current-gen-to-last-until-2012-crytek
Games 'til 2012 will not look very different than [they do today], since engines are bound to console cycles."
But basically, that's because they can't make ROI on PC alone. The costs to make high-end PC game and profits are the biggest issues, not the consoles themelves. Is there something that could be done about it and how to actually change the current situation, has a big question mark all over it.
The mantra now is why do you need a high-end rig anymore when all gaming is tainted by consoles.
Well, it's true for all mplt. games. If you want a "like-for-like" experince/same res & IQ/~30fps, that system is fairly cheap these days. 50$ CPU and ~80$ GPU can run almost everything at 1080p with AA too, with framerate being the same and often higher WRT X360/PS3 versions.
They also like to say that any mid to high-end rig can play Crysis NOW.
Thats's true too. Just depends on what res/detail level/IQ/fps are you satisfied with.
There's also a unified shader architecture available here.
Well, available to only one console.