$130 will match or beat any console in terms of graphical fidelity.

[Squilliam]

disolitude said:

Sqrl said:

It would cost about $650 to build a rig with an E8200, 9600GT 512MB, 2GB DDR2, CD/DVD Burner, 320GB Hard Drive, Case and 400W-500W PSU.

 

So you get; Excellent CPU, Excellent GPU, Excellent Ram, Mid-Range mobo, Excellent Hard Drive, Typical Burner, and Typical Case & PSU.

 

Quite frankly I think anyone who buys a console and doesn't have a PC already has spent their money poorly. And anyone who is into gaming and doesn't buy a gaming capable PC has also spent poorly. Owning a PC is becoming a mandatory part of life, and buying a console over a PC is about as silly as it gets when you consider just how many things a PC makes easier. Now, if you're buying a PC as a gamer and not making it a gaming capable PC you've missed the fact that the difference between a PC you will would buy anyways and a gaming PC is almost certainly less than the cost of ANY current generation console.

Honestly the only two reasons, that I can think of anyways, not to spend the extra money to make your PC "gaming capable" is either ignorance of the actual cost difference or a dislike of PC games. Outside of that I would chalk it up to fanboyism or just plain stubborness.

Jimmy wants to buy a PC to play games and is looking at the following...

e8200 - 200 bucks the cheapest

9600 GT - 150 the cheapest

mid range mobo that supports dual core - 100 bucksif you're lucky

320 gb - 70 bucks the cheapest

2 gb of ram - 50 bucks

CD/DVD burner and case - 70 bucks

Total = 640 bucks

 

Ahh but wait...what does jimmy know about putting PC's togehter...usually nothing.

So add 50 bucks for Bimmy to come and put it together for him.

 

But wait...Jimmy is not a thief and he will not steal operating system software...

Windows Vista - 100 bucks.

So total for jimmy is about 800 bucks.

 

Xbox 360 premium is 349...PS3 is 399 and it has Bluray...

Wow...now Jimmy feels like an idiot for buying the PC when all he wanted is to play the latest games.

Jimmy already has XP. Or he'll need it anyway. Computers all need cases, so he has one anyway whatever he does. Jimmy likes to burn CD's and dvds so he has one too. Jimmy likes putting his music etc on the HDD, so he needs one of those too. So Ram+Mobo+CPU+GPU Ram= 50+70+100+130 = $350 Jimmys friend Aztec asks if he can come over to his house to do his homework because all he has is a silly console that can't do any real work anyway.