I'll agree that PC gaming is getting more and more tempting now that most PCs can connect to TV and Hifi via HDMI/SPDIF, but there are some things about PC games that make them a little less convenient for the loungeroom.

For starters, many games generally require extensive use of the keyboard, and quite a few prefer to sit down on the lounge with a controller instead.

Also, there's no console exclusives, like Nintendo. I know you mentioned emulation, but number 1, it's highly controversial and number 2, it's emulation, it can never fully be 100%. The reason behind this is a change in programming techniques used in place of physical hardware interrupts. Emulation comes close, but it wont ever be 100%...

Skyrim is the bomb on PC. It'll look even better when I'm playing as Lightning and everyone is naked.

What a Graphics card says and what a graphics card uses are two seperate things, again the problem is peoples lack of knowledge or time that is the barrier to PC gaming.

My HTPC has a low profile Radeon 7750 and is used on a 300w PSU paired up with a 45w Athlon 2 x4 620e chip, the whole system draws around 100~ watts from the wall according to my meter on idle and 250w on load and it can run pretty much every newer game fine on medium settings, older games with everything on Max at only 1080P.
The other problem is... You didn't build your system and you are hating on the whole platform because of it.

You could always connect a PC to the TV, before HDMI you used S-Video on the old fat CRT Televisions.

Also, what makes them less convenient? You don't HAVE to play games with a keyboard and mouse on the PC.

There are exclusives on PC.

Diablo, StarCraft, WarCraft, Civilization, League of Legends, Eve, Heroes if Might and Magic, The Settlers, Anno, Arma, Company of Heroes, X-Com, Shogun, Red Orchestra, Age of Empires, Trackmania, The Sims, Sins of a Solar Empire etc'.

Then you have the recent kickstarter games like Planetary Annihilation, Star Citizen, Project Eternity,  Starlight Inception, Maia, Elite: Dangerous, Wasteland 2, FTL: Faster than Light and Strike Suit Zero to name a few.

Then if you want go back over the decades you have: Dune, Master of Orion, Dungeon Keeper, Black and White, Sacrifice, Alpha Centauri, Battlezone, Dark Reign, Boulders Gate, Icewind Dale, Homeworld, Arcanum, Fallout, Freelancer and Freespace...

And THAT is just what I can remember off the top of my head.

Games like Skyrim, Dragon Age, Half Life, Neverwinter Nights, Minecraft really shine with mods that will never arrive on console.

From a games perspective you can't beat the PC.

you do know you can use a wireless keyboard and mouse and as its pretty much as essential part of the PC to work with or without games, gamepads, wheels, flight yokes ect are also extensivly required but as many console only games do not realise and think all PC games and gamers mainly play using just the keyboard and mouse.

the comments about emulation was a bit weird, why would anyone want to emulate a game to 100% of the system it's emulating, ive ran GT3 A-Spec at 4x the res of the ps2 default using all the added extras my GPU provides it looks miles better than the ps2 could run it, most pc gsamers that have invested in their systems will no doubt be able to run emulation easily without any problems and easily hit that 100%, unlike what Sony did around late 98/99 and took the emulation creators Bleem to court they should employ these people to work on emulation for the ps4 to emulate ps3 and ps2.

as hardware gets faster, more powerful and generally better emulation will become easier.

the other thing i really enjoy about PC gaming is the MODS, game mods are free they allow changes to be made to the game you want the file for, ie GTA4 there are mods to change the skins of the cars, textures environments pretty much every thing, this is just one game out of thousands that the developers have created tools for everyone to tinkers tweek and build and then add to the various moders websites, things like this are the drems for console owners as its been said before, modding console game can or will result in console bans or bans from online services, console manufactures like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendow do not like people modding games released on there consoles.

i admit this post is confusing.

my 5 reasons why i prefer PC gaming over console gaming (keeping it short very)

1, ability to chose my own system spec.

2, ability to upgrade when i want not waiting 7+ years for an upgrade.

3, cheaper games

4, overclocking, getting a performance upgrade for free.

5, when not gaming and when nephew's and nieces visit my pc can be used for educational programs rather than games.

I'm not hating on the platform, only disappointed in the incompatibility issues. I didn't build my system and before I got this one 3 years ago I could always upgrade the gpu no problem. The whole power hungry double slot card craze was just starting back then. And no I didn't do my research, the pc broke down, we just had a newborn, no time for research and build a replacement.

Now I'm simply looking for a affordable and compatible gpu upgrade, a 3 year newer card should be better right?
Maybe the problem is the reviews that only compare it to the big monster cards and maybe the GT640 is a pretty good upgrade for me.

Single slot Radeon 7750.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150612
Doesn't need extra power other than what is provided by the PCI-E slot.

You can also get a single slot Radeon 6850 if you look hard enough, but that would be outside of your power budget depending on the processor you have.

Failing that, I would go with a Radeon 6670 at a minimum.

The Geforce 640 and Radeon 6670 is more or less suited to gaming at 720P with the Radeon 6670 having the definitive performance edge, the Radeon 7750 and 7770 can handle 1080P just fine with some settings lowered.

Converesly, the Radeon 8000 series should be launching in a month or two with architectural tweaks (No fabrication process shrink unfortunatly.).
Just remember that the PSU requirements are grossly inflated on the side of a box, they consume far less than you think with them topping out at around 300w for a high-end Dual-GPU  card and the entry level cards consuming 10w.

why dont you look into getting a self build using an AMD APU, it will be cheap and affordable and no doubt run on all your existing hardware (except your motherboard which you will have to change) if you go for a mini-atx motherboard using an AMD A10 5800k APU you should not need to get the GT640 as the A10 has its own gpu based on the 6670 and by adding another discrete graphics card like the 6670 which costs under $50 it will run in hybrid crossfire giving you a significant performance boost especially with the latest AMD catalyst drivers, look for an FM2 socket motherboard, also you may not need to change your PSU.

Thanks, I'll look into those. The 7750 is getting some good reviews.

Also thanks for the effort Retrogamer1337 but I honestly don't know what half of those abbreviations mean in your post :)
One day I'll get into pc building again.

APU 'Accelerated Processing Unit', GPU 'Graphics Processing Unit', AMD 'Advanced Micro Devices' FM1/2 is the socket name given to the CPU and its compatible motherboard, PSU 'Power Source Unit', hpoe this eases a bit of confusion.