What is the motivation for building a PC exclusively for gaming when one can have gaming consoles for less than half of the price?

[Arbaaz360]

I am not biased towards either. I love both. I understand that unlike a gaming console, a computer is much more. There is so much that you can do on a computer. But there are people who build PC exclusively for gaming. An high end GPU alone would cost 3 times the price of PS5.
And it's not just GPU, you also need to spend of adequate cooler, case, motherboard, etc etc. The cost is significantly more. Is it only because there are few games which are more situated to be played on a computer? (keyboard and mouse) What am I missing?

 

[FoxInFlames]

Also, the consoles are bound to get old someday, the infamous example being cyberpunk 2077 on a PS4 pro, it barely maintains 30 by going low on resolution to around 480p, on the other hand, the 3060 is enough to go 55fps at ultra

 

[Phaaze88]

As I mentioned in my post myself , I agree that PC is more than just gaming. But generally people have access to decent inexpensive PC that could take care of your productivity, entertainment etc. Now if they decide they want to play games, they have two choices.

1. Spend X amount on console.
2. Spend 3X amount on GPU and other supporting accessories.

It somehow doesn't make sense to me. The only valid reason for spending that much on your PC to make it a "Gaming PC" could be game selection. Or the fact that I would rather play COD on a PC with a mouse than using a Playstation controller. I don't see any other reason.

Yes, there isn't much logical sense in a 'gaming only PC'. There may be another purpose that is not mentioned in gaming PC threads; there's this really awful habit of people not providing as many details as possible.
You know the boy that cried wolf scenario? Every year, some people get roped in by the hype of owning a gaming PC - among those, some don't have enough cash aside to assemble a decent DIY or prebuilt and some spend way too much.

There may be an emotional thing behind it too, and emotions have this thing with defying logic. Being able to go back and play older titles for that nostalgic rush is nice - titles that may not be accessible on the console(the jerks).

 

[FoxInFlames]

Being able to go back and play older titles for that nostalgic rush is nice - titles that may not be accessible on the console(the jerks).

Really, tbh i just love taking a break from stuffs like ac Odyssey and heading back to GTA vice City, the definitive edition made things better, if not up to the mark atleast, so yeah, i like it

Another thing is piracy, people might not always be inclined to buy older titles or they might be included in a pack of unneeded games too, so it always helps save money

 

[Phaaze88]

Another thing is piracy, people might not always be inclined to buy older titles or they might be included in a pack of unneeded games too, so it always helps save money

Try not to say too much about about the 'Yo-ho-hos' here... but, what's a pack of unneeded games?
I've seen packs of unneeded DLC, but not games.

 

[USAFRet]

People...this is rapidly descending into out of bounds topics.

 

[FoxInFlames]

People...this is rapidly descending into out of bounds topics.

I'll stop then, sry :/

 

[Arbaaz360]

Well, let's see it this way

A PS5 in India:- 50k INR
A decent (not gaming) laptop with an i5:- 56k

A very good gaming laptop with a good GPU (namely Asus tuf f15, with an RTX 3060):- 89k

I don't need to say anything more, i guess

The laptops you have mentioned are

I am not sure how well laptops perform when it comes to gaming because I have never had one. But you do realize that there are people who spend over 100k INR just on GPU and tons of extra cash on motherboard and case and cooler and CPU to build a gaming desktop. The cost of cabinet and everything inside it alone would cost in the neighborhood of 200k INR if not more

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

There's really one answer, provided the store you bought your digital games for and windows compatibility doesn't die: long term game play-ability.

Otherwise, kinda pointless, especially if you buy games in discs and can get a hold of consoles.

 

[FoxInFlames]

But you do realize that there are people who spend over 100k INR just on GPU and tons of extra cash on motherboard and case and cooler and CPU to build a gaming desktop. The cost of cabinet and everything inside it alone would cost in the neighborhood of 200k INR if not more

Well, then you're talking about those high end things with a 3080ti or 6800XT and similar GPU's, they're futureproofed at most, for example, the 1080ti is a pretty old flagship, but still holds up to this day and deliver amazing performance at 1440p, let alone 1080p, and it came just half a year after the PS4 pro, something which in reality, is just as powerful as the budget GTX 1650

And to top it off, PS5's GPU equivalent is a RTX 2070, the 1080Ti is significantly (around 30%) faster than that, so yeah, you can always buy a high end GPU once and forget about upgrading for a significant amount of time (3-4 years in the least, atleast from how i see it)

 

[Steven chinlung]

For additional info, a PS5's GPU equivalent is an RTX 2070, the 3060 is more than capable of meeting that, you get the flexibility of a laptop and the playability of a console at less price than buying both, so it's pretty much everytime better to get a laptop

I pretty much agree with ur statement.. PLUS battery comes as a standard for ur laptop, it also has built in speaker, display, keyboard, and trackpad, so its even more comparable to console (especially gaming laptop these days..)

 

[Steven chinlung]

IMO I would only spend extra on GPU if I am keen on playing certain games that are either not available on console OR if they are more suited to be playing on PC using a mouse for example : COD.

Yes PC is highly upgradable but does that really show? I mean of all the games I have played on console, not a single one stuttered on the console it was meant to be played on. Frame rates are quite decent on consoles. Yes you can get extra frame rates on PC but do they really add any significant value? I have personally never played on a super high end PC so I wouldn't know. But if you have, I am eager toknow.

We’ll have to narrow the concept of ‘gaming pc’ first, is it built in PC from vendors? Because usually they’re kinda overpriced, sometimes they have the same price to a console but not that much better performance.Or is it built-by-hand? Meaning that we are the one who choose which part to buy and install. If the ‘gaming pc’ that u have mentioned above is not a built in pc from vendors then it means the budget is totally up to u, if u want to use it only for gaming u can also choose to build ur gaming pc with a decent CPU and an expensive graphics card from the beginning, meaning that u can cut the budget but still get both great performance and experience. I personally never experienced a really expensive gaming PC, i built my ‘gaming’ PC with around 300 USD and i chose good graphics card, but decent CPU. 300$ is pretty cheap in my opinion since my pc can still run PS5 / Xbox series X games (unless the exclusive ones) . The performance is obviously not the same, but still at least it can keep up. Upgradable PC means that it’s also up to u, u can upgrade it for better performance eventho you can still run games but unsatisfied with the performance, or u can upgrade it years after, when it’s already completely outdated and incompatible for newer games (lets say you’ve used ur pc for 5-7 years, you dont have to buy a brand new pc just like buying new console after 5-7 years, you can actually upgrade it) .BTW I’ve had a console too years ago (PS3) but i sold it because its incompatible to newer games, and still im not on either console or gaming PC side but its a fun topic to be discussed and debated.

 

[Arbaaz360]

Well, then you're talking about those high end things with a 3080ti or 6800XT and similar GPU's, they're futureproofed at most, for example, the 1080ti is a pretty old flagship, but still holds up to this day and deliver amazing performance at 1440p, let alone 1080p, and it came just half a year after the PS4 pro, something which in reality, is just as powerful as the budget GTX 1650

And to top it off, PS5's GPU equivalent is a RTX 2070, the 1080Ti is significantly (around 30%) faster than that, so yeah, you can always buy a high end GPU once and forget about upgrading for a significant amount of time (3-4 years in the least, atleast from how i see it)

There is hardly anything futureproof when it comes to computers. Spending 3x the money to be futureproof for what? 5 years? 8 years? PS4 (not PS4 pro) lasted good 9 years! Yes 1080Ti might be 30% faster than PS5 is already pretty good. I highly doubt if performance gains beyond that will actually be significantly visible. Even if let's say 1080Ti will last you 10 good years. So what? You could buy a more powerful PS6 when it comes out 7-8 years from now. You would still save a lot of money.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I really doubt that people who spend truck load of money on GUI and other supporting accessories, do it because they want to play old games. Generally, people have access to a computer on which they can run these old games without it being a "gaming PC". There is no need for spending that extra cash on high end GPU etc unless you want to play the latest games which can also be played on consoles. May be some games are PC exclusive but most of them can be played on console.

And people don't buy next-gen consoles just so they can play their old-gen games. But the fact remains: I can play a game I bought for the PC 20+ some years ago on a computer I built today if I felt like it. I can't pop in any of my PS1, PS2, or PS3 games in my PS4 or PS5 unless I repurchase them from the PSN store, if it's even available. If I really wanted to jab a knife into this, I could take those PS1 and PS2 games I bought, put them in my PC, and use an emulator to play them.

And you don't need a high-end GPU to play the lastest games, even at a quality setting better than consoles. If the goal is simply "I can play the game," regardless of quality settings or visuals, you can do a lot with lower end hardware than most people would give credit to it.

 

[Arbaaz360]

And people don't buy next-gen consoles just so they can play their old-gen games. But the fact remains: I can play a game I bought for the PC 20+ some years ago on a computer I built today if I felt like it. I can't pop in any of my PS1, PS2, or PS3 games in my PS4 or PS5 unless I repurchase them from the PSN store, if it's even available. If I really wanted to jab a knife into this, I could take those PS1 and PS2 games I bought, put them in my PC, and use an emulator to play them.

And you don't need a high-end GPU to play the lastest games, even at a quality setting better than consoles. If the goal is simply "I can play the game," regardless of quality settings or visuals, you can do a lot with lower end hardware than most people would give credit to it.

I think you are not getting my point or perhaps I am not able to convey. I understand that you can't play 20 year old game on PS5 while you can do that on a high end gaming computer. But the point is that most of the people , generally speaking, already have a computer which can play old games and new games on medium-low to low settings. At this point they have two choices.

1. Get a console.
2. Upgrade PC to make it a high end gaming PC.

If they go with #1 they will still be able to play old games on PC and will be able to play new games on console for much cheaper.
If they go with #2 they will be able to play old and new games alike but will probably have to pay significantly more.

So you see, in both the cases they will be able to play old and new games. I also understand that highend gaming PCs can easily outperform consoles. But is that even noticeable? It might be 8 years from now but 6-8 years is a long period and you will likely have to upgrade whatever option you pick for one reason or the other.

 

[USAFRet]

So you see, in both the cases they will be able to play old and new games. I also understand that highend gaming PCs can easily outperform consoles. But is that even noticeable? It might be 8 years from now but 6-8 years is a long period and you will likely have to upgrade whatever option you pick for one reason or the other.

And the flip side is that people rarely have a PC that is only for gaming.
They may play games on it primarily, but it is also used for other things. Things that can't be done on a console.

 

[Arbaaz360]

And the flip side is that people rarely have a PC that is only for gaming.
They may play games on it primarily, but it is also used for other things. Things that can't be done on a console.

Yes, Yes I get that. BUT you will still be able to do whatever it is that you were doing other than gaming on your decent computer that you had if you buy a console. It's not like you necessarily have to sell off your computer to buy a console. So you can still do both. Why spend thrice as much cash to upgrade PC? You already have PC, buy a console!

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, Yes I get that. BUT you will still be able to do whatever it is that you were doing other than gaming on your decent computer that you had if you buy a console. It's not like you necessarily have to sell off your computer to buy a console. So you can still do both. Why spend thrice as much cash to upgrade PC? You already have PC, buy a console!

Because I prefer the PC interface - mouse/keyboard.
Because the games I want are not on the console.
Because the other functions that I do on the system are sort of failing with an old PC. Video capture and rendering, for instance.
Because I can't get a console at a reasonable price (thanks, scalpers)

Because of any of a million different reasons.

 

[Arbaaz360]

Because I prefer the PC interface - mouse/keyboard.
Because the games I want are not on the console.
Because the other functions that I do on the system are sort of failing with an old PC. Video capture and rendering, for instance.
Because I can't get a console at a reasonable price (thanks, scalpers)

Because of any of a million different reasons.

Those reasons make sense to me the most. But believe me I have seen guys, specially young ones, who are doing absolutely nothing except playing games on their "gaming pc". It has become a fad, I believe. But if you are upgrading your pc not just because you want to play games but also because you do other things that could use those extra muscular GPU etc then by all means, DO IT!

 

[Eximo]

It was mentioned briefly, but there are many things only something like a high end gaming PC or workstation can do. 3D modeling (Architecture, Machining, Game development, CGI Animation, Electronics design, etc) Running virtual machines, databases, running servers and test environments. Deep Learning, AI. Now these days there are alternative online cloud solutions for a lot of this, however, for many people there is still value in doing it all in house.

#1 for me would be the games I want aren't available for consoles. I'm an old school PC gamer, a lot of the long lived titles are still on the PC only. Though with remakes here and there they are starting to fill in.

Not very many Real Time Strategy titles make it to console for example. High end Simulators. (Honestly not much reason either, the right peripherals and the consoles would be just fine for a lot of PC titles)

Can't really get a gaming GPU at reasonable prices either, unless you are lucky.