With the new Xbox specs announced, any point in buying a gaming pc?

[Jubei]

Usually when it comes to technology, buy when you need it otherwise you will be waiting forever for the next big thing. But in this case we have new generation of GPUs and CPUs around the corner, you can even buy this gen cheaper once they drop prices due to the new generation. But IMO i think Zen 3 and Ampere will be fairly massive upgrades compared to last gen and worth waiting for

The only x-factor are SSDs. If Microsofts direct storage works on this gen SSDs without hardware upgrades then we are golden. Otherwise i expect PCs to lag behind consoles in this area for a while

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Windowed as in with black bars on your desktop in the background? I prefer full screen.

Do you think the softer look from rendering in 2560x1080 and upscaling to 3800x1440 will be better or worse than the IQ you get from a 2560x1080p screen?

Windowed as in like any other program running in a window (browser, word processor, explorer, etc.).

So, I generally run my games in one of the following resolutions.

• 2400x1500
• 2560x1440
• 2560x1600
• 3200x1800

I prefer this as I like being able to easily access other things I have running while being able to keep an eye on what is going on in the game, and vice versa.

GPU upscaling will generally have a slightly softer look than in game resolution scaling. The higher PPI of your screen the less noticeable the blurring will be. For example, a 1920x1080 game running full screen on a 30" 4K display will look less blurred than the same game running on a 55" 4K display.

I generally don't mind in game resolution scaling, but GPU scaling can look a little too soft for me. Then again I'm gaming on a 55" 4K TV on my desktop. But I know others that don't really notice.

All of that said, it'll never be as good as rendering at non-upscaled resolutions (Native resolution or in a window). What it comes down to is whether you notice it or not. And there's always the option of adjusting graphics options in order to run at native resolution and high frame rate. For example, my 1070 will do 4k/60 just fine as long as I lower some graphical options. I just don't like running games full screen if I can help it.

Regards,
SB

 

[Deleted member 7537]

Regarding your initial question.

It really depends on what you want to play. PS consoles are worth for its first party exclusives, XB consoles have been, since the XBX, the most powerful machines and deliver the best performance in most MP games (run better than a lot of PCs). But they have two downsides, they are not as flexible as your PC, you have to pay to play online

Also, on PC there are a lot of deals from different key sellers and you can build a game catalog for considerably less price.

I will probably upgrade my PC later this year (complete revamp: selling everything and moving from my 6600k to a Zen 3 hopefully with a 3070 if possible) and, if PS5 launches at a reasonable price, might get it to play Death Stranding and TLOU2.

Now that you are considering upgrading, some comments:

• That I7 is still very good and has 8 threads, my 6600k with only 4 threads is already stressed in some games, keep in mind that you may have to limit your FPS in the future to avoid stuttering in some games.
• That GPU is very good. Will play most game at high settings with no issues in 1080 and 1440p @ 60 and 4K @30.
• In regards to the monitor. I've been looking for an UW myself but I've finally decided to get a 16:9 4K/maybe 1440p later this year. Several reasons:
  • First, not all videogames support UW resolutions, some will stretch picture or have huge black bars on the sides.
  • Media consumption, all movies and series have a 16:9 format meaning again huge black bars on the sides.
  • For productivity I think dual monitors are the way to go, specially if you can rotate one 90º.
  • A 29" 21:9 monitor has (marginally) less height than a 24" 16:9 monitor however, for me, the aspects ratio makes me feel they are even shorter. Go to a store to see one before you buy one.
  • Consoles do not support the UW res, the PS4 I believe streches the image and the result is terrible.
  • For games that do support it, you need additional GPU resources for a wider view but the vertical resolution is the same.

Don't get me wrong, UW are pretty good but I feel they are not versatile enough for the extra cost.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Thanks.

From what I'm reading most games support 21:9. I only play the big AAA games anyway so I'm not too worried. By the time I upgrade I hopefully also have a 4k TV in the living room I can play on using Nvidia gamestream or steam in home streaming and my 42" 1080p tv will move to the same room as the pc so plenty of screens to play on.

You are right, I should go to a store and check them out.

PS. Most series are indeed 16:9 but most movies I believe are closer to 21:9. With the right media player I think it can remove the black bars you usually get on the top and bottom on a lot of movies when viewing on a 16:9 monitor. Personally I most use my pc for gaming and some light office/work stuff so not that relevant to me.

 

[eastmen]

i have a 3 year old or is it 4 year old vega right now. The rest of my rig is about 2 years old a ryzen 1700x with 32 gigs of ram an nvme 1tb drive and a m.2 sata 1tb drive and a few older ssd's i use for an os drive and older games.

I figure at the end of the year i toss $500-600 on the new radeon which should boost be past whatever the current systems can do and in another year or two jump on a new cpu/mobo/ram.

All the vr stuff right now is on pc and while i am sure sony will put out something nice in a psvr 2 , i think it will be the same issue we have with the psvr. It will be on the lower side of competitive with the same generation of pc headsets but pc headsets don't stop. Yea the psvr could somewhat hang with the cv1 and vive but we've had the o+ then the rift s and then the index. PSVR looks grossly outdated there. The psvr 2 also has no release date so pc vr will continue to move on. I expect big vr news from oculus next year, looks like valve/ms/hp and possibly Samsung are working together on new headsets also.​

 

[orangpelupa]

Would be pretty awesome if Psvr 2 actually fully compatible with PC instead of partially like psvr1 haha.

Btw 500-600 dollars radeon undoubtedly will pass way ahead of PS5

 

[eastmen]

Would be pretty awesome if Psvr 2 actually fully compatible with PC instead of partially like psvr1 haha.

Btw 500-600 dollars radeon undoubtedly will pass way ahead of PS5

Yea that's what i figure. I have been looking at my ssd set up. My set up

WD Black NVME 1TB (main game drive xbox /gog)
WD Blue m.2 sata 1TB(star citizen / oculus
Sandisk ultra II 480gb - (steam)
Crucial CT750m 750gig -( movies/ pictures / documents)
Samsung 830 256fgig ( OS / programs)

I think black Friday i may drop $100 or so if there is a good deal on a 2 TB sata ssd. Dump the os drive and sandisk and move up to just a larger drive. Get rid of excess. The old drives can go into other projects.

 

[Davros]

You should have you o/s on the nvme drive

 

[homerdog]

A R7 3700X is better than either new console. Also the socket should be around for a while if you do end up needing to upgrade it.

Might be worth it to wait for new GPUs though. The from the looks of things even the RTX3070 should be comfortably beyond even the XboxSX.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Do we have any idea when AMD and Nvidia are releasing their new cards? From what I'm reading it could easily be August before anything is announced. Add some time for products to actually come to market and for the initial price gouging to finish and we're 6 months from now.

 

[Malo]

By the time I upgrade I hopefully also have a 4k TV in the living room I can play on using Nvidia gamestream or steam in home streaming and my 42" 1080p tv will move to the same room as the pc so plenty of screens to play on.

In home streaming is fantastic but unfortunately with GamePass PC becoming popular, you lose any ability to stream anything from that service.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Maybe I'm mixing up service names, but I was talking about Nvidia's local network streaming which is basically the same thing as steam in home streaming. Are they also blocking games on that?

 

[orangpelupa]

Maybe I'm mixing up service names, but I was talking about Nvidia's local network streaming which is basically the same thing as steam in home streaming. Are they also blocking games on that?

Didn't saw any complaining on the internet, probably it works as usual. This makes me remember I forgot to install shield patch for my switch

 

[Malo]

Maybe I'm mixing up service names, but I was talking about Nvidia's local network streaming which is basically the same thing as steam in home streaming. Are they also blocking games on that?

That's correct, you can't stream GamePass games using Nvidia's LAN streaming. In order to stream, the Nvidia streaming client must have access to the game's executable, which is impossible with GamePass. Even if you hack away at the permissions of the WindowsApps directory to gain access to the files, you can never get even read access to the game executable.

I'd love to be proven wrong so I can play GamePass games on my Shield, but I couldn't figure it out at all and I've found nothing online on how it's possible.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

You can't add the games through Nvidia experience? Can't add them on steam either?

In that case what you could do is use steam in home streaming or start steam though game stream and then close big picture mode. Then you are left just streaming your desktop and you should be able to start whatever you want. Not exactly convenient but it should work.

I don't know if controllers will work though. If not just install virtual usb. An additional advantage of virtual usb is that you can actually get rumble support on your shield. I'm using it with an older Xbox one controller that still uses the adapter (no Bluetooth) and it works great.

 

[Malo]

You can't add the games through Nvidia experience? Can't add them on steam either?

Correct. Unable to add to any service.

In that case what you could do is use steam in home streaming or start steam though game stream and then close big picture mode. Then you are left just streaming your desktop and you should be able to start whatever you want. Not exactly convenient but it should work.

I don't know if controllers will work though. If not just install virtual usb. An additional advantage of virtual usb is that you can actually get rumble support on your shield. I'm using it with an older Xbox one controller that still uses the adapter (no Bluetooth) and it works great.

Maybe, sounds like a huge pain. Not sure what virtual usb is or how it works sending the controller info.

Wouldn't Steam require a SteamLink?

 

[eastmen]

Do we have any idea when AMD and Nvidia are releasing their new cards? From what I'm reading it could easily be August before anything is announced. Add some time for products to actually come to market and for the initial price gouging to finish and we're 6 months from now.

Nvidia should be announcing I think the 15th of this month or the 15th of next month. AMD is late in the year.

Considering Nvidia puts out $1k plus cards for gaming I am going to assume that the Nvidia cards will be much much faster than the xbox or ps5. Those will most likely be $500 consoles. I also think whatever AMD puts out which will share the tech of the ps5 and xbox will be much faster.

That's why I will be investing in my pc. Its a ryzen 1700x with 32 gigs of ram , a fast nvme drive also. Video card this year and then when ddr 5 hits with the new socket I will purchase a new cpu/mobo/ram. I think that's 2022

 

[iroboto]

If ampere is rocking a lot more DXR performance as being the second time around with the knowledge they gained from Geforce RTX. Yea I'm ready to skip consoles and just go for Ampere. The price difference will hurt, but I think it'll be worth it over the course of 7 years.

 

[PSman1700]

Some rumors pointed the 3060 being equal to 2080ti. I don’t thinkso butthat would be nice.

 

[Malo]

Some rumors pointed the 3060 being equal to 2080ti. I don’t thinkso butthat would be nice.

These things are usually way over generalized if there is some iota of truth from the original source. For instance, it might be that the 3060 has similar raw "gigarays" performance to a 2080ti but that of course doesn't translate to the GPU being as fast in games.