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Would you consider this advice to be reasonable?

1K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  RootbeaR 
#1 ·
I keep hearing people who have fairly modern PC's (although perhaps lacking a good graphics card) talking about buying a PS3. I would like to tell them that they should really consider spending $200 to $250 for a new video card and using their PC to play games thereby saving themselves the much larger cost of a PS3.

Is this reasonable advice? If they were to upgrade an Intel P4 (3.2 MHz with adequate memory, hard drive, sound quality, etc.) by buying a fairly good quality video card, would that put the machine into a comparable quality such that it would run most games available for the PC such that it would compare fairly well to those same games running on the PS3?

It doesn't have to be extremely high quality. I'd just like to know if it would be reasonably accurate to say that upgrading a fairly modern PC (with a P4 CPU - not a Celeron) with a good quality video card would put it into roughly the same level of performance for playing games as the PS3.
 
#2 ·
Unfortunately, there's a lot more to it than that. There are many factors that would affect the performance of a PC gaming system. My personal opinion is that a fully-loaded PC with today's technology would blow any console system away, and allow you to do more than consoles will allow. The difference is price. A high-end PC will run 2-3K whereas a console is a few hundred (or $700 for the top-line PS3).

It's really more of a personal preference thing. I'd never buy a console for gaming, as I prefer the fun of building my own gaming machine and being able to custom choose every single piece. Consoles are stuck with what the factory gives you. Upgrades on consoles are almost non-existent, but you can upgrade PC's forever.

Buy a console and you're stuck with it until the next one comes out. Buy a PC and it's a whole different world.

I find consoles to be a mainstream solution that provides gaming to the masses in an 'easy' package. PC's are constantly evolving, and usually attract a different type of gamer.

If your talking strict economics, PC's are more expensive. If you're talking a completely immersive gaming experience, consoles cannot offer the variety and satisfaction of a custom-built gaming PC.

My two cents. :up: :up:
 
#3 ·
I heartily agree with what you say.

But I'm looking at a particular issue - namely whether it's reasonable to say that one can modify a fairly good PC and have it perform fairly well as a gaming machine - for most purposes - by adding a quality graphics card.

The question is whether that PC will perform - on average - at about the same level as a PS3.

For someone who likes to custom build their own PC for their own purposes, the issue reduces to the single question - regardless of what many other apps you may choose to run on your PC, will the single upgrade of a decent graphics card have it run most games at approximately the same level as a PS3?
 
#4 ·
It completely depends on what you prefer. Some people just prefer turning on their machine and playing games right away, without expecting problems, which is what consoles are made for. Keeping a computer updated to continue running games is much harder than keeping a console updated. If you're not the computer type, if you can't upgrade things yourself, or you don't know what to do if something isn't working right on your computer, then consoles make perfect sense. Their sole purpose is to play games, whereas computers have to do many other functions.

Also, there's the game selection - while graphics can be made to look better on the PC, and the controls can often make more sense, consoles always have the better games. It's simply a better market, so developers make more games for consoles. When's the last time you saw a Gran Turismo game for the PC? (And if you have, let me know). I, for one, prefer the PC to consoles for the mere fact that the keyboard has over 100 keys, and the graphics on my machine look better than most consoles. However, if you're not used to using a keyboard to move someone around, it can be very difficult to get used to. However, there are games that are just better played on consoles, on big TV's, something that PC's can't do as well.
 
#5 ·
If you look at most the news on the PS3 you'll find yourself double thinking about getting the console in the first place.

A few things that bothered me...

There are two versions of the ps3, the 20 gig and the 60 gig. Now, they both can be expanded in HD size, but the 20 gig by default has it's wireless functionality for the PSP turned off. And the only way to have it enabled is by contacting Sony directly for them to exchange it at a pro rate of 200$ (source: ZDnet)

Price > MarketValue; it's a console and with what McTimson said is right, it's going to have more games for it. But with one of its hit releases being a PC game that's been out for a year (F.E.A.R.) you can already see that not only does the PC have more capability to grow but it's had and is going to have better graphics over consoles forever. I myself perfer gameplay over a pretty virtual tree any day and with how console games are moving in the market, they are few and far between *noted with my experiece with my xbox 360. It just depends on what your really after in the gaming rig. If your looking for a hot selection of bad games, go with the PS3. If your looking for pretty graphics and something that has wireless and can check your emails (a ps3 function by the way) get a computer.
 
#6 ·
I agree with jonsie. It's much more than just changing the video card.

dlenoxx said:
If your looking for a hot selection of bad games, go with the PS3.

*noted with my experiece with my xbox 360.
hmmm.... ;)

PS3 hasn't even started here yet and you have already bashed it about the games for it...

tsk tsk :D
 
#7 ·
Good explanation, Jones...

In my case, I have an almost 5 year old PC. Upgraded some parts of it about 3 years ago. I feel of buying a PS3 instead of upgrading it because its cheaper however, nothing beats the experience of playing a PC game. There I am in front of my monitor instead of laying back on the sofa. It really gets me into the action. I think PC is for a DIY person like me. :cool:

As of now, instead of upgrading I'm playing and looking for some great games that is also as old as my PC. ;)
 
#8 ·
BluxMax said:
I keep hearing people who have fairly modern PC's (although perhaps lacking a good graphics card) talking about buying a PS3. I would like to tell them that they should really consider spending $200 to $250 for a new video card and using their PC to play games thereby saving themselves the much larger cost of a PS3.

Is this reasonable advice? If they were to upgrade an Intel P4 (3.2 MHz with adequate memory, hard drive, sound quality, etc.) by buying a fairly good quality video card, would that put the machine into a comparable quality such that it would run most games available for the PC such that it would compare fairly well to those same games running on the PS3?

It doesn't have to be extremely high quality. I'd just like to know if it would be reasonably accurate to say that upgrading a fairly modern PC (with a P4 CPU - not a Celeron) with a good quality video card would put it into roughly the same level of performance for playing games as the PS3.
I would say that would be a reasonable statement. One person mentioned 2-3k for a computer but they neglect to mention that a console requires extra parts as well, such as a tv. I have gone for years without a tv, if I wanted an XBOX, I would need a tv as well, because now that I have a tv, I am not the only person in the house who may be watching it.
 
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