^ And that's why he doesn't have to add the monitor price to his comp. Majority of PC gamers already have a monitor. Also can you point out any of the ollowing words in my post: video, movie, program, or TV show?

I also find that a lot of people don't have a TV. They have their computers and a projector for movies(well ok, that's at least the crowd i hang out with so it's probably not universal). Who actually watches TV these days with all the BS they have on it?

??? Where did I say he should? I don't know how we got to the old PC vs. consoles argument. Which is a bit ridiculous because I love PC gaming. If you buy a PC anyway for doing emails/internet/office upgrading it to a gaming PC may be a non-brainer anyway.

But for people who would rather have a Laptop (me), an Apple (me) or would simply like to use their old PC for a long time a console makes a whole lot of sense. Its definitely cheaper than buying a PC from scratch which was implied in this article. You pay for that in game prices but in exchange you get a device that is made for playing from the couch which is a far more relaxed approach. So which approach is for you depends on your environment.

^ Oh no, Soleron was going on about how he didn't include a monitor and a mouse&kbd and some other stuff in his price which he may or may not already have. It wasn't you that said it.

Seems like a pretty decent time to be building a PC.

gengka said: how abt gears of war? does it run smoother and nicer than 360?

 

 Indeed.  Sharper and smoother than the 360 version, it's noticeable.  Mouse + Keyboard is a little wonky, but that's ok, because PC accepts my 360 controllers :)

 

 

 

That figure doesn't include:

- Operating System

- Monitor

- Mouse

- Keyboard

- Speakers

- Wireless Chip

Hahaha, ok let's take these one by one.

- OS 

OS cost was $0, as I already own a copy.  Microsoft allows several XP/Vista activations from one key if you use phone activation.  Unless you're all posting from Ubuntu, I'm guessing you have an OS already as well :)

 

- Monitor

hahaha, if I include monitor, then you should include a 32" plasma with the 360.  Hey, why not include a sofa while you're at it, and the cheetohs?

 

- Mouse

Logitech RX250, $8.  Sure a better mouse costs more, but so does a dualshock.

 

- Keyboard

Microsoft Digital Media Pro Keyboard, $10.

- Speakers

Does PS3 come with 5.1 surround sound system?  Didn't think so.

- Wireless chip

Here in the PC world we call them "wireless cards" and they're integrated on most motherboards these days.

 

 

 And a Ps3 has some cool features like a BluRay drive that costs 200$ alone

 

Blu-Ray drive for PC is actually $120.  To get that without changing the price too much, we can swap out the current 640G hard drive, and switch to a more PS3-like 40G hard drive, and ditch the current optical storage for the BRD.

 

Yeah 40Gb are pretty fun with Windows installed. But just for fun lets do the math:

40Gb HD instead of 640Gb : (To be honest I didn't find a 40Gb HD but lets say it cost 15$) -70$

Internal BluRay drive: +140$ (newegg)

Optical drive: -30$

Result: 560$ + Software BluRay player 40$ (I am not aware of a free software due to licence fees)

---

600$

Now this costs 200$ more than a PS3 and is still pretty useless if you should happen to have a TV (which should be the main usecase for a BluRay player) because in this case you need a remote, MythTV or Windows MCE, a video cable switch, a decent audio card, ...

Let's just come to the conclusion that Gaming PCs and consoles have different usecases. I tried to use my PC as a media center but it failed miserably. The PS3 is just so much easier to setup and much better at it. But the biggest enemy of the gaming PC is the Notebook IMO. You can play a bit on your Notebook but decent performance is very expensive. So a Notebook for Surfing, work and a PS3 for gaming, media playback is a pretty unbeatable combination.

Soleron said: That figure doesn't include: - Operating System - Monitor - Mouse - Keyboard - Speakers - Wireless Chip

Just "acquire" Windows and get the rest from other PCs for free!  Nice build, OP.

 

Kyros said: $520.89 So you obviously do not compare the price with the 360. (Hint 199$ hint) And a Ps3 has some cool features like a BluRay drive that costs 200$ alone if you buy it for your PC. (And Dolby Digital and HDMI ... ) But yes you get pretty cool pcs meanwhile.

 

Just the money saved in our games being cheaper will more than make up.

 

And @ people who think you need to update every year or whatever are completely crazy.  You don't need to ruyn every game on maxed out settings.  Crysis on low looks better than any console game out there and I only upgrade when it's absolutely needed.  If your computer is better than a console the games will still continue to look better than console games even not on the highest settings.

Geldorn said: I see you decided to skip on Windows altogether, as well as a mouse and keyboard. And you're still above the $399 that the PS3 costs. Tsk. Now, build me a complete PC for $399 that includes the same hardware or better than the $399 PS3 and I'll be impressed. More so when you beat the $199 Xbox 360. Remember that Windows will need to be included in that price and that no, not everyone is a student. And no, HD movie downloads is not the same as having a Blu-ray drive.

No...but a lot of people here are students.

It costs me $10 to buy Windows Vista legally...so no, I would NOT have to include a $200 OS on my system, because then I'd just freaking get Wine or Ubuntu or something.  Or wave that pirate flag.

Kyros said: Blu-Ray drive for PC is actually $120. To get that without changing the price too much, we can swap out the current 640G hard drive, and switch to a more PS3-like 40G hard drive, and ditch the current optical storage for the BRD. Yeah 40Gb are pretty fun with Windows installed. But just for fun lets do the math: 40Gb HD instead of 640Gb : (To be honest I didn't find a 40Gb HD but lets say it cost 15$) -70$ Internal BluRay drive: +140$ (newegg) Optical drive: -30$ Result: 560$ + Software BluRay player 40$ (I am not aware of a free software due to licence fees) --- 600$ Now this costs 200$ more than a PS3 and is still pretty useless if you should happen to have a TV (which should be the main usecase for a BluRay player) because in this case you need a remote, MythTV or Windows MCE, a video cable switch, a decent audio card, ... Let's just come to the conclusion that Gaming PCs and consoles have different usecases. I tried to use my PC as a media center but it failed miserably. The PS3 is just so much easier to setup and much better at it. But the biggest enemy of the gaming PC is the Notebook IMO. You can play a bit on your Notebook but decent performance is very expensive. So a Notebook for Surfing, work and a PS3 for gaming, media playback is a pretty unbeatable combination.

 

Actually the unbeatable combination is a PC built for gaming, and another one built solely for audio and video playback (with a projector it's a definite win). Those two will come under the combined price of your PS3 + notebook deal. And ecery time a PC gamer buys a game he saves 10 dollars over the PS3 gamers so within 20 games the PC gamer can upgrade his RAM or whatever yet again, maybe even get that BluRay player you are talking so much about in the media PC.