this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
839 points (95.6% liked)

Gaming

2585 readers
9 users here now

The Lemmy.zip Gaming Community

For news, discussions and memes!


Community Rules

This community follows the Lemmy.zip Instance rules, with the inclusion of the following rule:

You can see Lemmy.zip's rules by going to our Code of Conduct.

What to Expect in Our Code of Conduct:


If you enjoy reading legal stuff, you can check it all out at legal.lemmy.zip.


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] glimse 9 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I'm finding it hard to believe that you can get PS5-tier graphics and performance from a $450 PC...do you have a build you can recommend?

[–] Sylvartas 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You get cheaper games, no subscription for online play, mods, replaceable parts, and an actual computer that can do literally anything you program it to though. Also a PS5 is at the very least $550 where I live

[–] glimse 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A PC being able to do literally anything doesn't factor in at all imo. Most people buying consoles don't want it to do anything but play games

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People with consoles don't also have computers?

[–] Gutek8134 2 points 1 year ago

You don't need a beast to run Word/Excel/YouTube

[–] Psychodelic 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Psst... The ps5 has a monthly/annual cost you're conveniently forgetting about, while unfortunately proving right the OC you replied to

[–] wazzupdog 29 points 1 year ago (3 children)

to add on to what you said: At least 80$ per year currently for PS+ essentials(online only basically). if you calculate that out 5 years (i'm gonna give the ps5 the benefit of the doubt here and assume you want to upgrade after that time) thats another 400$ on top of the 450$ you paid for the console. i could build a very well kitted out PC that blows the PS5 out of the water for 850$ and it would last longer and have an upgrade path that could extend its life an additional couple years. this doesn't even factor in the overall cost savings of games being generally less expensive on PC.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

My PC was about $800 altogether when I built it back a month before the COVID lockdowns. It uses a 1660 Super which doesn't support DLSS or ray tracing; every game that's on both PC and PS5 looks exactly the same. Even with ray tracing on the PS5 and I am literally comparing them side by side on identical displays.

[–] ThunderWhiskers -1 points 1 year ago

Yep, and you totally wouldn't put any upgrades in your $850 PC over the course of that 5 years.

[–] glimse 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm guessing a PS5-tier PC is about 800-900 and the PlayStation subscription is $80/year so you'd break even at 5 years or so.

I have a more powerful PC and I haven't owned any consoles since the Wii. I just wanted to see if you could build a comparable one for $450 nowadays

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I picked up a 2080 super, ryzen 3600, motherboard, and 32 gigabytes of RAM 1.5 years ago for under $400 used. I already case, PSU, and SSDs so close to your premise.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You're overestimating the power of a PS5. Its GPU is roughly around an RX 6600XT which can be found for ~$200. You could build a full system with it for around $600 and you'd break even in just over 2 years.

[–] Psychodelic 1 points 1 year ago

All good. I was just making fun since it's a typical gotcha question that gets asked. I'd say it's totally fair to get a console if that's what you want.

That said, the math's possibly worse when you realize some people bought the pro version of the PS4 just 3-4 yrs after buying the original.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You have to factor in the cost of the online subscription over the life of the console when pricing out a comparable PC. That is what he meant by “better at math”.

[–] glimse 1 points 1 year ago

$80/year for 5 years is $400 but how much more is the comparable PC than a PS5?

[–] ThunderWhiskers 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You can't, but getting in an argument with the master race nuts is a fool's errand.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

You can use a PC for other things, I'd need a full desktop PC anyways. Also games are generally cheaper and you don't have to pay for online play. Once you bought a game, you can very likely still play it in 10 years on a totally different machine.

That being said, there are plenty of situations where a console is the better choice: they're cheap to buy, easy to use, generally have less software problems, they have cool suspension features etc.

[–] glimse 5 points 1 year ago

I'm a PC-only player but for reasons 95% of console players don't care about. Playing on console just makes a lot more sense for some people

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

This is another case of YMMV because you have to be thrifty. You can walk away from a microcenter with everything but the GPU for that price. (The 5600x3D bundle is a really good option but I understand most people can't get to a microcenter in person).

If you're thrifty, you can get your hands on something like a Radeon 5700xt for between 80-120$ (check Ali Express).

On the AliExpress note, even though I recommend a GPU, I can tell you that I do not recommend any of these Chinese motherboards from AliExpress unless you're prepared to burn money. You can get them to work for very cheap but they are made out of ewaste and there is always something wrong with them (I've bought a few).

This will get you into the sub 800$ tier Gaming PC. At that point I would recommend installing a Linux OS like ChimeraOS. This will give you the total functionality of a steam Deck and that console-like experience.

If you're looking for some more pre-assembled, morefine and minisforum make small PCs that come with a discrete radeon 6600m. This will get you into a PC that will be the size of a console but will definitely put you above 800$.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

yes, truly that is all that matters. God forbid you have to turn off godrays

[–] glimse -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok then why bother with a PC? Just play SNES

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

last i checked a SNES can't play youtube videos? The whole point of PC is that you can run anything, you're not limited to only one platform's media.

[–] glimse -1 points 1 year ago

That's the goalposts moving. We're discussing gaming devices and I asked for a PC that performs as well as a PS5 for the price and you implied graphics don't matter...so....why are you talking about YouTube