XBOX ONE + PS4 VS Gaming PC

[CallmeGoose]

As mentioned in a previous thread, I have a budget of about £1500-1600 for a gaming rig. Ive held off buying one pre-made with the announcement of the xbox one and ps4.

For that budget, I could get both consoles, 7-8 really good games, and still have a few hundred quid left over.

Really torn about getting a gaming PC, or both consoles (because im greedy ;-) )

The PC rig, offers the opportunity to upgrade in the future, wheras the consoles offer better value for money, ie 2 consoles and several games for a hell of a lot cheaper.

Any thoughts?

[lloydi]

I would say it depends on your lifestyle mate. Being a family man I have chosen the console route. Mainly because of the whole family game experience. My kids have just started to play games with me and its great fun teaching them. I don't think you get that with a PC.

[CallmeGoose]

hmmm true. i must say i am tempted to go for the xbox and ps4 now, some of the games look fantastic.

[barrysmith]

I've ordered both just to be safe

[Shotgunjim]

I suppose it depends on what type of games you like, for FPS then you will never beat PC for graphics and control. For sport, its consoles all the way unless you get a controller for the PC which in effect turns it into an console. Note that most games that come out on all formats are generally cheaper on PC and if not, they normally drop in price first on PC. Also dont have to pay for online gaming (in most instances).

Even with the above points, I still own both consoles and a WII just to be safe that I dont miss out.

[Mr.James]

It's all about lifestyle I'd say too. Me, I like to crash on my sofa with a few beers and feet up. PC gaming sat at a computer desk doesn't do it for me.

Plus, again previously mentioned, my eldest is just getting to the gaming age and he finds control pads far easier to control than a keyboard/mouse.


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[prezzy]

For that money I woul get a decent pc + one of the consoles (PS4 ;o) )

[tagy]

For that money I woul get a decent pc + one of the consoles (PS4 ;o) )

same here

[CallmeGoose]

If I go for a PC ill spend the full whack on a PC and get the best :-)

im leaning towards the consoles right now...

The only game thats tempting me for the PC is Rome Total War 2, but with Xbox One bringing out Ryse, this is a close call....

[{{909}}]

1600 seems alot for a gaming rig these days, I'd cut the budget to that and get a console and a PC as others have said.

PC gaming can be very different to console gaming, depending on the types of games you play, it you are a need for speed / fifa /gta type, I cant imagine playing those on a PC, but they are usually available. The WoW/SimCity market is where the PC has the lead. With the new consoles there seems to be a massive push to make gaming a community experience, with social networking style features which can be very good, but to some it may just be an annoyance.

[EvilBoB]

£1600 could get you a very good gaming rig but give it a year or two and you will have to spend another couple of hundred on a new gfx card to play the latest games to don't forget about the upgrading aspect. This is why I mostly moved away from PC gaming. I used to spend a fortune upgrading this and that and generally messing with stuff. I now run a 7900GS gfx card - yes it's DX9 lol. Slow as shite but it plays WoW and Everquest etc. and that's fine for now.

Want a top notch card that will last three or four years and you are looking at well over £200. So eight years from now you will have upgraded the gfx card twice at a cost of over £400 - the cost of a full new console. This is on top of your £1600 investment to start with. Now think about memory and CPU. every few years you will also probably want to upgrade your CPU to play the latest games - again more money, and if they change the socket set that means a new mobo and possibly memory.

It just got on my tits after a while. I'm not particularly happy with my PC at the moment but I have enough games on my PS3 and 360 to keep me happy and it will still happily play the PC games I want to play (mostly). Although I wouldn't mind trying some of the new games but I really don't want to spend several hundred pounds to update it right now. I would definately be looking at around £800+ to get anything decent and if I was gonna upgrade it would be SLI gfx cards, at least 16gb of RAM, RAID controller and a combination of SSD/hard drives or the new hybrid units so already I'm looking at a lot and a new mobo and CPU would have to happen which also means new memory would be needed etc. and then... four years down the line I would be so invested in it I would probably have to upgrade gfx, cpu, mobo and memory again!

In summary, if I were you you can definately get a decent enough gaming PC for around the £600 mark without buying a monitor. It wouldn't be the bleeding edge 800fps "My PC runs Crysis 3 at 4K HD at max settings" thing but it would be good enough to play all the games that are out there now well enough. Then buy both the XBox One and PS4 as well and spend the change on some games It's a win/win/win scenario and I'm sure you can get some of the parts cheap from BST

[CallmeGoose]

I think ill start off buying the consoles. I have always wanted a gaming rig, and to build it myself - a lot more research is needed as I haven't a clue where to start.

The missus has said I can have "1" of the consoles... LOL yeah that will be right, ill buy the other one and says its a "blu ray" player, she wont know the difference, clueless when it comes to technology...

[MsDG]

What ever you do I personally wouldn't buy both console. Purely because the majority of title will be identical on both devices (lazy coding). The yeah, their will be exclusives on one device but the other is bound to have an equivalent game.

PC is the only device you truly get unique games that are not available on other devices.

Take a look at Mesh Computers... they have been around for donkeys years and they let you configure really good gaming PCs yourself with 3 years warranty.

[{{909}}]

PC is the only device you truly get unique games that are not available on other devices.

Unique? Such as what? The PC does have some exclusive titles but I wouldn't call them unique. If anything the PS format has more potential for unique games with Japanese software houses on board givng us Killer 7, shadow of the colossus or Katamari. If you want a true balance of gaming experiences then get a 3DS, a 'next gen' console , a wiiU and a PC, but in reality, just how many games do you have time to play? One will be more than enough for anyone living in the real world.

[tagy]

Some PC games which are not really on consoles:

- Starcraft 2 and similar RTS games.
- Flight sims.
- Driving sims. pCars, rfactor etc.
- Any game mods, GTA mods, DayZ etc.
- Rigs of Rod (a sort of construction transport sandbox fyi)

I would build a decent PC now and get one of the consoles when they are out.

[WRATH OF BOD]

like Msdg & Tagy Say PC For Me All the way, i have all the current consoles For the Kids & Had Every Brand (nintendo,ps1, ps2,xbox) ect over the years but i always go back to pc, using rfactor 1 & 2, LFS, DayZ, Mods for gta MS flight sim & others, dont get me wrong the next gen console are great & will more than likely get them both when the hype settles down just for the kids.
but upgrading my pc again over the next few months,
current spec is
quad core amd AM3+(had six core but it failled)
16gb ram
gt 5460 1024 gfx card

looking @ 8 core amd with 32 gb ram & gt680 next i think.
i know people go on about i7 intel but i have always as far back as i can remember used Amd.
so im happy with that.

[MsDG]

... not forgettng ship simulator 2 which is right up cmg's alley!

seriously though.... if you want arcadey gaming then its consoles all the way. If you want simulator or strategy games norhing beats a PC. There is nothing on any console that even comes close to the serious driving games on a PC

[CallmeGoose]

im more of a strategy game person, Civ 5, Total War Series, Sins of a Solar Empire (with the Star Trek and Star gate mods installed)

and i love a good mod when it comes out...

I think thats what swaying me to go for a PC.... too many f**king choices! lol!

Every time I have played Ship Simulator, Ive always whacked the ship into the dock for kicks. Im an engineer so I never get a chance to take the helm.. (no one uses that term (helm) on board ships, been watching too much Star Trek)...

[EvilBoB]

I agree - it is all down to what you WANT to play. I only play a handful of games on the PC (Starcraft, WoW and Eve being the main ones) and there is no chance on this planet that either of those could translate to a console well.

Basically games consoles are the "new" amusement arcade. Fun games to play with your mates and have a pizza and beer.

My PC is much more a lonely experience in that respect. I play online with friends but it's not a "pop over and chill out on a Friday evening" thing. Me and my kids enjoy nothing more than a bit of BF3 on the XBox or more recently working our way through Last of Us on the PS3 but they are not interested in my PC games. Consoles are more of a social thing in my house.

And it gets my goat when companies release games on the PC that are blatently console ports and seem to want you to use an XBox controller to play them.

[Mystical_2K]

consoles for me, havent been into PC gaming for a good few years, too expensive to keep upgrading the PC and im fucking lazy as shit which never helps

i just want to come in after a days work, drop on the sofa with a few beers, turn the 360 on and play a game, PC's i never found to be that straight forward to game on, windows updates, incompatibilities between software etc, and the constant need to upgrade to play the latest games, you get minimal fuss with consoles but you pay the price by not having the fanciest of fancy graphics which suits me

personally i think you should buy yourself a PS4 and XBone and give them to me, then buy yourself a small PC rig to keep yourself happy, you dont have to thank me, its fine