this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2024
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First point is more true today than it was in the past. It is impossible to build a gaming pc for $400-500 that is capable of playing most modern games at high settings (without RT) and play at 60 fps. The gpu capable of doing that is around $300 by itself.
I think the longevity of consoles also plays a large part in their appeal. Knowing you can use the system to play at consistent performance levels for 7-8 years is a comforting thought.
For the PC side, I'm not sure about your point about drivers. Nvidia/AMD/Intel regularly release day 1 drivers to improve compatibility with new games.
A Radeon RX 6650 XT is like $230 and performs on par or better than the PS5's GPU. Pair that with a Zen-3-or-newer CPU like the Ryzen 5600 for < $130 that already outperforms the aging Zen 2 CPU in the PS5 and then you'll have to add 16 GB of RAM which can be had for < $40, a cheap mainboard (you probably don't care much about the feature set coming from a console anyway), PSU, SSD and case and you're probably at around $550 to $600.
Save $10 on pretty much every full price AAA title, benefit from more frequent and more aggressive sales, enjoy not having to pay $60 per year and you'll quickly arrive at a point where you actually paid less for PC gaming while having an experience that's at least on par if not superior in terms of graphical fidelity and performance.
It's a myth that PC hardware doesn't last as long as console hardware, especially nowadays. I know people who are playing current games with a GPU years older than a PS5 just fine. And when you start with hardware equal to or newer/superior to a console, you'll be able to run all games for that generation just fine.
Oh and don't start with the magic word "optimization". Optimization mostly involves improving code paths and removing complexity from scenes where it won't be noticed. These optimizations seamlessly transfer over to all ports including PC.
$666 without kb/mouse/monitor/os. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vjVNbL
You're right in that over the long term, a PC gamer will probably end up spending less on their hobby. But for someone starting from scratch and trying to decide on a path, the console remains the cheaper and easier platform to jump into.
I don't see where I mentioned optimization but I am curious and maybe you can elaborate further on what I'm guessing are probably the differences between game patch optimizations vs driver level optimizations?
You can still cut costs in your build by using an A520 mainboard and a cheaper case (this CPU + GPU combo doesn't care much about good airflow), so you can get below $600 for sure. As you say though, you still need a mouse and keyboard. If we count a display it's only fair that we'd count a TV in addition to the console as well. Then you need an OS as you say, but here in Europe you can legally acquire a used Windows OEM license for dirt cheap (like 5 bucks), or you could always run a Linux distro for free.
And of course when you buy PC parts you either have to build the PC yourself (which is quite easy these days though) or pay someone to build it for you (or you know a good friend who does it for free).
You didn't mention optimization but it's what many people bring up as a pro for consoles, where they think spec for spec console hardware performs better because of it. This isn't the case though, especially with the last two console generations.
I'm sure we could both list hundreds of pros and cons for each platform, but what it comes down to for me is value. Sure, a PC might cost more upfront (even though as I said it can turn around after a few years). But with a PC you get a system that's not locked down. You have access to a huge library of games, the backwards compatibility is insanely good and you can potentially get more value out of every game purchase because of support for mods for example. And of course you can do a lot more things than just gaming.
I don't think console gaming is dead in any way, but I don't think the reason keeping consoles alive is value.