marc said:
You asked for it... I think you should change your id to "open mouth insert foot" hehe just kidding ;-p Check pricewatch.com. You can easily put something together that can play most anything at medium-high setting depending on framerate (equivalent to PS3 and 360 today), for about $300. Better yet, reuse the computer parts you already have at home. You can re-use your chasis, cpu, memory, & drives. You might even be able to use your old mobo if it has a pci-e slot & your psu if the card you select doesnt need extra juice. All you need is a $60-$100 GPU and youre set. Unfortunatly, the problem with PC's has never been price. Even when the consoles came out you could have had a more powerful PC for less. The problem has always been lack of standardization (to make it like a console and eliminate technical problems), and lack of support from companies that make a lot more money from royalties on propietary consoles. Its just a matter of time however. |
Um. I gotta agree with Xoj here. I'll use pricewatch el-cheapo prices.
To put together a PC capable of running games of that quality, you'd need:
* a motherboard with a PCIe socket and modern multi-core CPU socket, as well as decent bus speed (you could probably get a reliable one for ~$70)
* A quality case, that cools okay. (~$20-40, depending on how many fans and what GPU you get)
* Sufficient cooling fans (~$10-$30)
* A power supply -- probably 500W-ish for the components needed (~$40)
* a multi-core CPU -- the Cell is faster than all but server-grade i7s, but you can probably get by with emulating a 360 Xenon with your PC instead (~$100)
* Memory -- probably 2GB, since the OS is such a hog on PCs. (~$120)
* a HDD -- a good 120GB is fine. (~$40 secondhand -- you can't really find 120GB drives anymore)
* A DVD or BD drive (~$40 for DVD)
* A Graphics card at least as good as the higher-end ATI HD 3000 series or NVidia 7800 GTX (~$80-$100 new). In the PS3's case, you'd need more horsepower than a 7800 GTX, because the Cell can assist the GPU on a separate bus. On a 360 you'd need more than a 7800 GTX because the 360s GPU is faster than a 7800 GTX, plain and simple.
* Possibly an audio card, if your MB doesn't support decent sound (we'll pretend your MB is good enough)
* A network adapter, if your MB doesn't have (we'll say you are an awesome MB shopper, and it also has this)
* A wireless game controller, which ships in the console boxes, and is included in the console price as well. We'll use a wired mouse + KB, since they are cheaper than controllers, usually, and PC gamers love to sit 2 feet or less from their tiny monitors, which we aren't including in this price comparison. (~$15 + $15 = $30)
Total (minimums, form above): 70 + 20 + 10 + 40 + 100 + 120 + 40 + 80 + 30 = $510
Kinda... not very close to $300. Even if my minimums are off by a little, or you are an amazing eBay shopper, you're not going to be able to put together a PC even close to what a PS3 or 360 can do, games-wise, for the same price -- even today.
