Putting the PC cost argument to rest

[OdinHades]

VanceIX said:

A ton of people seem to believe that PC gamers are uber rich, and that a gaming PC is impossible to maintain. This may have been true up to the beginning of last gen, but not anymore.

The base price for a good gaming PC will be anywhere from $900-1200, base cost. The initial investment seems very high, but you have to consider that it is not just a gaming machine. Most people buy desktops every few years for $350-500 anyway. The gaming part is just building on that. A lot of people buy $400 desktops and $400-500 consoles, and then complain that PCs are too expensive, when you can have a machine that does both (but better) for just a bit more.

But after that initial investment, you will find that gaming is much cheaper overall. You don't have to pay $50-60 per year just to play online. Humble Bundles and Steam sales allow you to get games for a mere fraction of the console cost, and many times you can even get brand new games for less than what the console version costs. Overall, a $200 saving per year isn't out of question.

You also have to upgrade your graphics card every 4 years or so, but with the money that you save from free online and sales that shouldn't be a big deal, seeing as that some of the best graphics cards start at $299.

And after that, you will never have to truly rebuy a new PC. Things like the HDD, case, fan, etc. can be reused for a relatively long time, or at least until they get too worn out. You won't ever have to spend $1000 again after the initial investment.

Now, I'm not trying to be a PC elitist here. Consoles offer exclusive games that PCs can't, and are very easy to maintain overall. I'm just pointing out that PC gaming isn't nearly as cost prohibitive as people tend to make it out to be.

1. No, most people don't buy desktops at all anymore. Notebooks have take most of the market share with Windows Tablets heavily on the rise. Many people don't care about gaming on a PC at all (like me) instead they want a sleek, tiny, portable PC with a long lasting battery. The market share of Desktops is no more than 17 %. So it is indeed pretty uncommon nowadays to see a consumer buy a desktop. That also kills the argument for new components, as you can't upgrade more than RAM and the HDD on notebooks or tablets. You'll need a new device for a serios power upgrade.

2. The price argument for games is purely speculation. It always depends on your buying habits. There are many people who don't care about online gaming at all but you also could live fine just with the "free" games from PS+. That way, you'll spend no more than 50 $ a year and still get about 24 games. If we're talking about new releases, PC games and console games aren't that far off anymore. At least in germany, you pay 55 € for a new PC game while a console game will cost you around 65 €. It's not that much, if you buy a game every month, that would be 120 € extra every year, so with a Plus subscription 170 € on top compared to PC. It would take years to make up for the cost of the hardware. And that's only true if you're going Next-Gen, if you stick to PS3, new games are now most times even cheaper than on PC at release. 

Anyway, it's just not helpful to compare prices of new releases on consoles with steam deals or anything on PC. Console games also get cheaper and we saw some pretty bad ass deals on both PSN and Xbox Live in the last few years. So the price sensitive user will always find something and I don't think that you will save a gigantiv amount of cash with a PC.

PC gaming is cool and all, with the best graphics, mods and whatnot. But it is still expensive as you'll need a dedicated desktop machine, something not every houshold has these days. It also is impossible to get a machine as fast, smalland efficient as a PS4 or X1, let alone with a controller, Blu-Ray and Bluetooth support. To really see a price advantage on PC, you would have to buy a shitload of games, like there's no tomorrow. But if you buy that many games, you probably don't care about money anyway.