sc94597 said: bobobologna said: It depends. The benefit of PC gaming is that it is the most flexible. I can play games on my 65" TV, 37" TV or 17" monitor. I can play games with just about every imaginable controller (SIXAXIS with motion controls, Wiimote, XBox360, X52 joystick/throttle, G25 racing wheel). I can play games at native resolutions, and old games will run blazing fast. Whereas Gears of War on the XBox360 is locked in at 30fps, a good PC can give you 60fps+. Whereas Doom 3/HL2 on the original XBox look like crap and will never improve in quality, they still look great on a good PC. The downsides of PC gaming is that it is more expensive. Upgrades come more frequently than new consoles, generally every 2-3 years. It's also more hands on. For example, I have to use GlovePIE to write my own scripts to use a gamepad to play PC games that don't provide native support for gamepads (there are other programs you can use where you don't have to write a script). Also, you have to keep up with things like drivers, and game patches. Whereas you can just start up a PS3/XBox360 game and it'll automatically download the latest update, for most PC games you have to get the patches yourself.  Hey , but the actual games are cheaper.

If you actually use the power of your pc, gaming is free. Its just an extra bonus. One of my friends does a lot of work with 3ds studio max, so he needs quad core 4 gig ram and a fast graphics card. Im not sure if it's a quadro or a geforce tho. Steam will be greater than all by the time 2009 rolls round.

TheRealMafoo said: Squilliam said: TheRealMafoo said: Squilliam said: What do you call ultimate? theres the cost effective $120 9600gt*2 Sli combo that absolutely eats any console today.  So a PC with that setup plays Uncharted, Halo 3, R&C, SMG, DMC4, LBP, SSBB, HS, MGS4, and GT5P better then a console? I would say it's worth it if you want to pay PC games that are not on consoles, or if you just want the experience of doing it. But gaming is about games, and today there are so much more on consoles to play. For the cost of a high end rig, you can get a PS3, 360, and Wii (I would guess you also own at least one of these). If funds are limited, that would be my choice. all three consoles imo is better then the best PC.    One word, YES. Much better. Those games barely run at any resolution at all. 1280/1080 for GT5p is a LOW resolution for a PC. For the cost of a PS360 - you could get a $749 computer that can do more than just play games and you'd have much more power to boot. Besides you can always rent a console from a mate to play a couple of must have console games. :) You missed my point. No PC can play those games better then a console, because those games are not on the PC. If you want those games, you need a PS3, 360, or Wii. Gaming is about the games, not the equipment you play them on.

Then the point is moot, because consoles can't play starcraft, civ 4, company of heroes, spore, WOW. Also you can't rent a pc to play pc games but you can easily rent a console and play what the 3 PS3 games you actually want to play at the moment? My biggest miskake was owning a PS3 this gen. Console exclusives multiplats are better on the xbox anyway.

Squilliam said:   Then the point is moot, because consoles can't play starcraft, civ 4, company of heroes, spore, WOW. Also you can't rent a pc to play pc games but you can easily rent a console and play what the 3 PS3 games you actually want to play at the moment? My biggest miskake was owning a PS3 this gen. Console exclusives multiplats are better on the xbox anyway.

Ok, most people on this site I don't bring this point up, because they are console gamers, but you are a PC gamer.

I am a PC gamer as well, and I can't see how any PC gamer can call any console a "mistake". My video card cost as much as a PS3 alone. Not to mention the $1,500 30" dell display I have. My video card now is considered old and almost worthless by todays standards, yet my PS3 is still as valuable as the day I bought it (ok, maybe $100 less), and will be for another 3-4 years. The games I can play on it will continue to get better. 

If your a console gamer, you can debate the value of one console over another, but if you are a PC gamer, any console is an incredible deal. Many a PC gamer spent over a grand to play one game, and by the time the next game worth spending a grand on came out, there rigs were out dated.

Please don't talk to me about the economics of gaming, and say using a PC to do it is somehow a better deal.

TheRealMafoo said: Squilliam said:   Then the point is moot, because consoles can't play starcraft, civ 4, company of heroes, spore, WOW. Also you can't rent a pc to play pc games but you can easily rent a console and play what the 3 PS3 games you actually want to play at the moment? My biggest miskake was owning a PS3 this gen. Console exclusives multiplats are better on the xbox anyway. Ok, most people on this site I don't bring this point up, because they are console gamers, but you are a PC gamer. I am a PC gamer as well, and I can't see how any PC gamer can call any console a "mistake". My video card cost as much as a PS3 alone. Not to mention the $1,500 30" dell display I have. My video card now is considered old and almost worthless by todays standards, yet my PS3 is still as valuable as the day I bought it (ok, maybe $100 less), and will be for another 3-4 years. The games I can play on it will continue to get better.  If your a console gamer, you can debate the value of one console over another, but if you are a PC gamer, any console is an incredible deal. Many a PC gamer spent over a grand to play one game, and by the time the next game worth spending a grand on came out, there rigs were out dated. Please don't talk to me about the economics of gaming, and say using a PC to do it is somehow a better deal.

For a start how I value my PC. I have to have one - $150 per year average cost to keep a basic one. I have a sony 53" bravia that I use for all games and PC work - paid for elsewhere. I buy 10 games per year on it, I don't sell games. $100 per year. Internet access is a given. I make back 1/3rd of my part costs when I sell. So that $250 per year I either have to spend or I save is worth $330 per year. I do a major upgrade every 3 years for about $1000 and I probably would spend $400 on minor updates. So every 3 years - 1400/3 = $466 per year. 466-330 = $136 So I pay out of pocket the price of a PS3 every 3 years to have an up to date PC. I never think, oh I don't have any games to play because i've played all the games im interested in and all I have to do with it is wait for X game to come out. Have you played MS flight sim? Have you tried gears of war at 1920/1080@60fps on a 53" screen? Consoles don't impress me graphically. If you're going to rent or flick console games, whats the point even owning the console? Why tie yourself down with a sunk cost of $400-1000 depending if you get 1-3 consoles when you can just rent. If you're buying to keep the PC makes the most sense IMO. That up to date PC will absolutely crap all over the PS3 by the time i get around to upgrading it. It's worth it too. I value being able to play strategy games more than getting the priveledge to play just another cookie cutter console FPS. Then I get mods etc to play on top of that for FREE. You can get much more life from a PC game than a Console game on average by far. Now, do I miss out on console games? No. My friend taught me to do this, he rented a PS3 and played Uncharted/R+C over the weekend. He paid $30 for it. If people come over I would rather play a Wii than a PS3 any day. The games are fun for everyone. PC/Wii is the best combo of this gen. Just rent the rest :) Edit: You can play COD4 at 1280/1024 (GT5P resolution with 8xAA and 16xAF at 50+~ FPS on a $110-150 9600gt

ToastyJaguar said: I've been thinking the past few days about building an ultimate gaming rig, i've looked at all the dfferent components and checked the prices and it seems to be quite reasonable. Also the prospect of having 2 hardrives and 2 graphics cards seems to be just awesome! I'm looking to make a machine that handles Crysis with ease. Has anyone else had such a venture? Is it cost effective and can an absolute rookie even attempt to build a computer on his own without damaging all the expensive stuff that goes in the box? It's been a long time since i properly played games on the PC and with the new games pushing hardware to its limits i don't think i can resist. So let me know what experiences you have had and if anyone has an ultimate gaming rig which they built themselves and how it compares to just going to a shop and buying an all in 1. I also asked my computer programmer uncle about my venture and he said building a computer isn't cost effective anymore but i'm going to ignore him.

 Well ignoring the secondary discussion that broke out in this thread I can tell you from a great wealth of PC building experience that you can in fact build a PC from parts for much cheaper than you can buy from a pre-built company. And on that note your Uncle probably doesn't know where to get good prices.

Check out www.newegg.com and www.tigerdirect.com.  For the major components of a PC those two sites will have the cheapest prices most of the time.  I used to build 6-7 PCs a month on average as a side cash thing but lately I've been doing it a lot less, but out of habit I've stayed up to date on prices and current tech.

Get yourself a budget worked and decide if you're aiming at "very high end" system that is focused on performance only or if you're trying to balance performance with price for a "high end" system.  Once you have that info we can move ahead with a parts list, without that info its really hard to gauge which parts to pick out.

Also which country are you in? 

 

 

God, playing Crysis should not be your goal. Thats a pretty dumb game.

You need 2-3 really good video cards (so like ~1200 dollars just for video cards) to play Crysis with all the crap turned on.

I still have a 7800 GT that I bought for like $200. Still plays my TF2 wonderfully.

I think the question is not if it is cist effective to play on your PC instead of a console, but if it is cost effective to build your own pc rather than buying a pre-fitted package.

" OFF TOPIC "Hmm well I can price out a system that would easily run Crysis all maxed out, but what Resolution do you want to play it at? I mean there is a massive difference in Hardware price for a 1280-1024 resolution then a 1900-1600 resolution.

Going SLI is a good bang for your buck ideal, at the same time there isnt a game out there or in the works to take really good advantage of such a thing like 2 8800gt's or even 2 8600's. If you want higher resolutions to be fesible with your gaming rig make sure you buy a 512MB card at the very least, the memory of your card only seems to effect resolution in the end. Other smaller cards can brute force through most settings alone, resolution is a differnt kind of beast all on its own.

Pysics cards at this point dont seem to be worth it from reviews and what I have read.

Net boosting cards I hear are a scam, yet some people will not play without them. Thats a personal opinion I guess.

Difference between 4GB's and 2 GB's of Ram seems to be your tollerence for seeing blue screens vs a small performance hit in load and in game loading " chop ". I prefer the 2GB's of RAM, where many Vista users will sport 4GB's without question. Although I have heard that Vista is more adapted to higher amounts of RAM where XP is not. Thus I would research that if you go one way or another.

Processors, this at them moment is a no brainer. Intel has a lock on the gaming and processing side, even taking into account price. ( Last time I looked this was the case, now it may be differnt) The 4mb L2 chache ( 2x 2MB) on the Core dou's is amazing going from a 4400+ 1MB chache (2x 512KB) to one of these CD's is a big change. I dont think AMD can compete on this feild in raw power yet.

On the mother board side, make sure you get Gb ethernet in your onboard stuff, I also suggest atleast 7.1 surrond also onboard. Sound cards these days our nice if your an audiofile, but you wont hear the difference other wise. I suggest even if you dont go SLI, to buy an SLI board. The option for upgrading is always nice, plus maybe 6 months after buying a top end card it will drop close to 150$ or more.

Ram wise I usally go with Kingston as my buget ram, and Corsair for my gaming RAM. Is there a difference between the 2? In your case probably not, if your not going to chanage RAM timings and try and OC everything, I suggest going with w/e is on sale.

Hard drive wise. What ever is biggest isnt always best. Many drives that hit the 500GB mark have reduced read times, stick with cheeper 250GB drives and make sure of one thing when ever you buy a new Hard drive. MAKE SURE IT IS A STAT drive, ATA drives will have limitied bandwidth and also many new boards like the one I have, will only have 1 ATA port. Many use this for old DVD drives and such.

For a monitor, there really is only the sky as your limit. Most considerd there wallet the limit, but your case may be different. DVI is the best choice outside of HDMI as far as I know, but it would be hard for a person to tell the difference between the 2.

Buy your parts from Newegg.com if you live in the states and MemoryExpress or OEM if your in Canada. Outside of NA i have no clue where to shop.

Hope this helps, but as many have pointed out building a beast of a system usally backfires on you. Architecture of the chips is more important then brute force power, and the only way to upgrade that is to wait and by the next gen or RAM or GFX card.

"On TOPIC " Buy a prebuilt gaming rig is NEVER! cost effective, find someone anyone to show you how to build your own computer. Many stores will slap your Processor to your mother board for free if you buy them togather. Puting in Ram and  a GFX card is like putting the Square in the Square shaped hole and the Rectangle in the Rectangle shaped hole.

The only complex part is attaching your case features to your mother board. I have had help with this everytime. Last time I used the manuel that came with my Mother board, it told me to read my mother board which they now seem to have everything labled. Which makes me feel pretty dumb :(

Squilliam said: You can play COD4 at 1280/1024 (GT5P resolution with 8xAA and 16xAF at 50+~ FPS on a $110-150 9600gt

We will have to agree to disagree here. As someone who has been buying gaming PC's for over 20 years, I understand the cost involved.

I have also noticed all the gamers who have high end rigs have chosen to ignore this discussion. Probably because  Sqrl and the others can't figure out how keeping a high end gaming PC only cost 600 every 3 years ;)

The reason I quoted your text above, is because I wonder, are you recommending that the OP goes out and buys that card? My guess is not. For value, he needs to buy a more expensive card.

Yes, I can look back and find hardware that's a little older and put together an "ok" PC that will play 6 month old games, but if I want to play all the latest high end PC games on high settings, I can't use a 9600gt.

Also, I bought my PS3 in 2006. In 2011, I will be able to play all the latest games on it, at the highest settings available ;)

Try that with your 5 year old PC. Lastly, I can buy used PS2 and gamecube games for 10 bucks. With all the new releases coming out on the PS3/360/Wii, and the backwards compatibility, I am not going to run out of games.

Not bad for a total investment of $1,350, that will not need an upgrade for 5 years. (and thought that time I can play all the games that come out for the system).

Don't get me wrong, I love PC gaming, and will always have a gaming rig. Gaming is my #1 hobby, but money is not really an issue with respect to this hobby (all things considered, it's a cheap thing to do). I just spent $700 on a driving wheel and chassis to play GTP5 (and any future racing game for the PS3 or PC), so I am not saying don't spend the money if you want a gaming PC.

The OP asked it if was worth it, meaning he has a budget. If he wants the best gaming setup for his money, all three consoles is the way to go. 

Edit: What I meant by cheap, is I used to play Paintball competitively. That ran me close to $6,000 a year to do. I have friends who race on the weekends, and often spend $20,000 a year on there hobby. Gaming, when compared to those things, is a bargain.

Oh, and another thing I wanted to throw in. We will just use the 360 for this example. When I got mine in 2005, it was as good as any PC on the market at that time, and cost $500, a bargain for it's day. Today, I can play games on the exact same piece of hardware that looks a lot better then what I played on that hardware when it came out. This is a phenomenon that just does not happen in the PC world. Yes, better looking games come out, but to take advantage of them you need to upgrade. 

 

 

Gab said: I think the question is not if it is cist effective to play on your PC instead of a console, but if it is cost effective to build your own pc rather than buying a pre-fitted package.

 If that is what he meant, then my answer is this.

Find out exactly what you want in a gaming rig, and see if someone like Dell or HP, or any of the big shops has that exact same thing (they most likely don't). If they do however, it will be cheaper then if you built it yourself. Even if it is the same cost, as someone new at this, you don't need to worry about it working. 

When going with prebuilt PCs, there are a few things to consider.  One is the case is usually non-standard. When it's time to upgrade you will need to buy more components (and cant sell the old ones if that's your thing).

Also, make sure there are no "unknowns", like for example (and this one won't happen due to your expected video card choice), make sure the video card is a PCIe, and upgradeable. Some of the systems have then on the mobo with no PCIe slot.

Now, your question was "Is building a gaming rig worth it", and that's hard to answer. Do you enjoy learning? Do you enjoy building things? Do you get pride out of picking everything you put in it yourself, and making it work? If yes, then there is no other way to go. If all you want out of it is box that sits in your house and allows you to play games, then it's a harder question to answer.

Everyone here who is going to answer you knows how to build one. So for them, the obvious answer is yes. If you do end up building one (and you probably will), I recommend listing all the components you do find here before you buy them, and asking a lot of questions. There are a lot of PC gamers here who will give you excellent advice (including Squilliam, even though we disagree on economics :p) 

Oh, and a shameless plug for my favorite store. Go to Newegg. There is no better place to shop :)