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Forums - Gaming Discussion - So I just built a PC and here's my take on the whole Consoles VS PC argument

One of the biggest strengths of PCs seems to be one of its biggest weaknesses as a gaming rig: You can do so many things with a PC. Youtube is so easy to access quickly and a lot of times beats a gaming urge, and then you don't want to game. Or a news site wins, email stuff, dating sites, work, finances and of course for some, porn. That's a lot of different addictions and needs competing with the gaming part of the PC.

You can do that stuff with consoles, but consoles aren't associated with surfing the web and getting lost for hours.. The console frame mind is 1 controller, 1 screen, 1 objective. It feels jarring to navigate the web on a console.

It's a human specific weakness, but that's the whole point anways so bleh.



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LMU Uncle Alfred said:
One of the biggest strengths of PCs seems to be one of its biggest weaknesses as a gaming rig: You can do so many things with a PC. Youtube is so easy to access quickly and a lot of times beats a gaming urge, and then you don't want to game. Or a news site wins, email stuff, dating sites, work, finances and of course for some, porn. That's a lot of different addictions and needs competing with the gaming part of the PC.

You can do that stuff with consoles, but consoles aren't associated with surfing the web and getting lost for hours.. The console frame mind is 1 controller, 1 screen, 1 objective. It feels jarring to navigate the web on a console.

It's a human specific weakness, but that's the whole point anways so bleh.

I suppose that's more of a personal discipline issue more than anything else. People who watch porn or play video games on their work computer in the office during business hours have issues.

I found it easier to build separate systems to divide their functions. At one point I had a dedicated HTPC, a dedicated gaming PC and a separate workstation. In the end, I reverted back to using a professional laptop for work and consoles for media and games. Much easier to separate work and play. 



AnthonyW86 said:

Let me give an example: I still have a AMD HD5850 1gb in my PC. That card launched 6 years ago in 2009, and cost about € 230. It was the most popular card back then.

Right now the most popular card in that price range is probably the Nvidia GTX 960 2GB. That card is just about twice as fast as the HD5850, and it has twice the memory etc. So about a doubling in price/performance in 6 years.

I agree that the progress has slowed down, but it's not THAT bad.

The GTX 970 (September 2014) is more than 3x as fast as the GTX 470 (April 2010) and has ~3x the RAM:

You had to pay €350 - €400 for a GTX 470 when it launched, but only €300 - €350 for a GTX 970 (I got mine for €290) when it launched. So about 3.5x the performance in 4.5 years.

The GTX 960 (January 2015) is ~2.7x as fast as the GTX 460 (July 2010) and has 2x the RAM (or 4x if you choose the 4GB-version):

You had to pay €200 - €250 for a GTX 460 when it launched (the cheaper ones were the models with 768 MB RAM), but only €180 - €200 for a GTX 960 (2 GB) when it launched. So about 3x the performance in 4.5 years.



Ka-pi96 said:
Lawlight said:
zero129 said:
Lawlight said:


Actually, with the PS4, it's all done in the background but you're still not going to run into issues running the game. There's a plethora of issues that you could run into with a PC.

What's not fun about gaming on a PC (other than the library missing games that I want):

- constant fiddling with drivers, settings, etc.

- frequent upgrades required.

- requires extra space to set up the desktop, monitor, input devices.

- having to play with kb/m in MP just because everyone else is.

Im not even going to waste my time giving you a reply to what you just wrote other then to say in every pc thread you always lie about stuff to make it look bad. Exactly why do you do that? what is it about pc gaming that makes you feel like you have to do such things?..

Which of those is a lie?

Most of them. I've never had to fiddle with drivers/settings etc. Get the odd time where a game won't start until I've downloaded a driver update but that's not exactly hard. Besides, speaking of updates 99% of the time they are automatic anyways. Windows does most of them automatically, usually including driver updates. While Steam auto downloads any necessary game updates. PS3 only does that if you pay for PS+, while I'm not aware of either the PS4 or Xbox One being able to do that yet. So that 'frequent updates required' thing isn't really a thing. Updates are done much more in the background and you rarely notice them, same can't really be said for consoles. As for extra space... well you know a laptop could be used for PC gaming too right? Besides I expect the vast majority of people already have a computer + desk for other purposes anyways so it's not as if it's any more space than was being taken up by your old PC anyway.


It's definitely not constant, but on consoles I've never had to go on message boards and get recommended to try a beta driver to try to fix problems. Never had problems with sound disappearing or lose all my controller bindings. Also far less random crashes or severe random slowdown during gameplay forcing me to go into settings and find a better performance profile.

You have a lot more freedom with PC but that sometimes comes at a price. My kids love Minecraft mods, I can't stand them. I'm the one they always come to when it crashes or they've loaded it up with a bunch of incompatible mods for different game / forge / java versions and it won't start.

It depends a bit on how you game. If you play hours a day on PC you won't notice all the updates, configuring settings and getting drivers once in a while are just a minor blip compared to a 60 hour game. If you game once or twice a week on PC (and not have it on all time) you're likely greeted with a bunch of programs that want to update, including windows, and configuring games becomes a much bigger chunk out of your limited play time.

Most of my PC gaming is on laptop now, which is always on and up to date. (Well until windows update broke, I haven't found a solution yet to fix it, always stuck on preparing to update) It's a bit limited with a Geforce GT 740M but runs most games well enough. It's far from ideal, a laptop is even more akward to stick next to the tv. It's good enough not to miss the PC exclusives that interest me. Meanwhile multiplats are fine on consoles, zero effort, zero association with work, turn on and play.
Btw PC is needed less and less for exclusive. The Point & click genre is getting better on consoles. I just bought the book of unwritten tales 2 for ps4, physical copy only 19.19 (38.69 on Steam), install time less than 5 seconds before being able to play. Not even a patch to download. I've had smooth PC experiences too, yet never that smooth. (I played the first one on PC with sound issues)



Ka-pi96 said:
Lawlight said:
zero129 said:
Lawlight said:


Actually, with the PS4, it's all done in the background but you're still not going to run into issues running the game. There's a plethora of issues that you could run into with a PC.

What's not fun about gaming on a PC (other than the library missing games that I want):

- constant fiddling with drivers, settings, etc.

- frequent upgrades required.

- requires extra space to set up the desktop, monitor, input devices.

- having to play with kb/m in MP just because everyone else is.

Im not even going to waste my time giving you a reply to what you just wrote other then to say in every pc thread you always lie about stuff to make it look bad. Exactly why do you do that? what is it about pc gaming that makes you feel like you have to do such things?..

Which of those is a lie?

Most of them. I've never had to fiddle with drivers/settings etc. Get the odd time where a game won't start until I've downloaded a driver update but that's not exactly hard. Besides, speaking of updates 99% of the time they are automatic anyways. Windows does most of them automatically, usually including driver updates. While Steam auto downloads any necessary game updates. PS3 only does that if you pay for PS+, while I'm not aware of either the PS4 or Xbox One being able to do that yet. So that 'frequent updates required' thing isn't really a thing. Updates are done much more in the background and you rarely notice them, same can't really be said for consoles. As for extra space... well you know a laptop could be used for PC gaming too right? Besides I expect the vast majority of people already have a computer + desk for other purposes anyways so it's not as if it's any more space than was being taken up by your old PC anyway.


Just a random example, Google The Witcher 3 PC issues drivers, you'll get plenty of hits.

I said frequent upgrades, not update. Updates are done in the background for the PS4 as well.

Gaming on a laptop is the most uncomfortable thing ever and you're still left with the final issue. So. I think all of them are true.

And gaming at a desk, cut out from your partner or family, who wants that? I know I did when I was a teenager.



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I have my PC with an I7 overclocked since 2009 still going strong, only xhanged GPU, but that computer was way better than PS4. I like PC, ipads and consoles all have their strengts and weakness. Since i dont game much i use PC at work, ipads infront on tv and once in a while a console for gaiming.



Ka-pi96 said:
Lawlight said:
Ka-pi96 said:

Most of them. I've never had to fiddle with drivers/settings etc. Get the odd time where a game won't start until I've downloaded a driver update but that's not exactly hard. Besides, speaking of updates 99% of the time they are automatic anyways. Windows does most of them automatically, usually including driver updates. While Steam auto downloads any necessary game updates. PS3 only does that if you pay for PS+, while I'm not aware of either the PS4 or Xbox One being able to do that yet. So that 'frequent updates required' thing isn't really a thing. Updates are done much more in the background and you rarely notice them, same can't really be said for consoles. As for extra space... well you know a laptop could be used for PC gaming too right? Besides I expect the vast majority of people already have a computer + desk for other purposes anyways so it's not as if it's any more space than was being taken up by your old PC anyway.


Just a random example, Google The Witcher 3 PC issues drivers, you'll get plenty of hits.

I said frequent upgrades, not update. Updates are done in the background for the PS4 as well.

Gaming on a laptop is the most uncomfortable thing ever and you're still left with the final issue. So. I think all of them are true.

And gaming at a desk, cut out from your partner or family, who wants that? I know I did when I was a teenager.

Oh well that's even easier to counter then. I've had my current PC since 2011, haven't done a single upgrade to it and I can still buy and play new games on it.

Conversely I bought a PS3 in 2011. That broke in 2012 so I had to upgrade to a super slim. Then in 2013 upgraded again to a PS4. ugh, so many upgrades needed to play PS games!


I'm sure many people have had hardware issues with PC as well. I've had my PS3 for 6 years and still running very well. Playing Grid 2 atm. In that time, I've had 2 laptops with the 2nd one not being able to run without being connected. My work laptop has had its screen replaced twice. My current work laptop had one BSOD.



Lawlight said:

Just a random example, Google The Witcher 3 PC issues drivers, you'll get plenty of hits.

  • "The Witcher 3 PC issues": 8.5 million results
  • "The Witcher 3 PS4 issues": 7.1 million results
  • "The Witcher 3 Xbox issues": 7.9 million results

Yeah, big difference. ;)



Conina said:
Lawlight said:

Just a random example, Google The Witcher 3 PC issues drivers, you'll get plenty of hits.

  • "The Witcher 3 PC issues": 8.5 million results
  • "The Witcher 3 PS4 issues": 7.1 million results
  • "The Witcher 3 Xbox issues": 7.9 million results

Yeah, big difference. ;)


That's not how it works. The PS4 issues could be software bugs. That's why I said drivers.



zero129 said:

Google The Witcher 3 Ps4 perfomance issues that took a number of patchs to fix. also well your add it google Assassins Creed Unity PS4 issues..

The Witcher 3 ran smooter on PC then it did on PS4.

Its also lies what your saying about frequent upgrades as you really dont need to upgrade that often unless you want to run everything at max settings (Something console gamers cant do anyways), Like i said i still have an old PC that can run everything thats out today with some settings turned down.

And who says you have to use a desk? if your using your PC for gaming why not just plug it into your tv and set steam big picture mode to boot at start up then its pretty much the same as a console once you plug a joypad in. If this is an issue why not get a steam link for when your gaming on your tv?

You have no excuse for the FUD campaign your running against PC on this site other then whatever kind of fear you have of pc gamers..


I'm sure more PCs had performance issues than PS4s. Just maybe not your PC.