Financial analysis looks at PC vs. console costs

The 42 inch tv is for the 360 in this comparison. The PC only gets a 22" display

You sit a foot away from the PC monitor, you sit 6 feet from the television. At 6 feet, a 22" monitor is useless and would be no better looking than a 480i screen. At a foot, a 42" television would be ugly as sin. You have to compare visual fidelity. At a foot, a PC monitor is roughly the same apparent size as a 42" television from 6 feet away. PC monitors have smaller pixels for this reason.

There's a difference between pushing the envelope, being conservative, and just giving up. Taping two Gamecubes together is just giving up.

There's a difference between making a new architecture that's cool, quiet, and affordable, and just overclocking your old architecture without paying any regards to Moore's Law.

There's a difference between visual quality and visual quantity. If you can't do a lot, at least do what you can WELL. I don't care if there's 50 billion polygons on the screen, but nobody can tell me that SD without anti-aliasing is acceptable when others are doing full-blown HD for only a little more money.

There's a difference between pulling back to prove a point and maybe make a bit more money, and not giving a shit because the controller is the only selling point casual gamers care about. Nintendo just doesn't give a shit.

GeForce 8800GT, runs Crysis just fine, $250. IE, cheaper than a 360.

that maybe so LaughingTarget, but I'm comparing rig to rig here, not stand alone video card to whole console.

OK, $250 for the card, $50 for the processor upgrade and you got a gaming PC for $300 above and beyond the PC you already bought.

I agree, La li lu le lo, and the keyboard is already functional (for typing, anyway). LaughingTarget, he is comparing full, built systems; not just hardware. If I just tossed in a new processor and graphics card into my old 'pre-2002-ish price drop on good, affordable PCs' custom-built PC, I would still need to, at least, upgrade my RAM, HDD, sound card, and probably get a new mouse. No offense to PC gamers, but console gaming - is - more cost-effective. Buying high-end components 'right-off-the-ball' is more expensive than simply buying a gaming console.

Exactly my point Chase, my rig used to be a bleeding edge system until I threw in the towel and just got me a 360. Very high performance rigs run $2,000+ and you have to keep pumping $ into it in 6 to 12 months to get best performance with the latest graphics. LaughingTarget, $300 in temporary upgrades to an aging PC so you can play games at conservative settings is hardly worth it. If I just want to match the console graphics then why waste money buying wilting PC parts instead of being set for at least 5 years with the graphics in the current consoles @1080 i/p. I always said that graphics are meant to be appreciated at the highest possible settings, so why not at the most effective way?

Stop making up this 6-12 month hardware upgrade shit up, makes you look really stupid. I mean stupid as in how did you manage to turn the PC on to get here or even find your way out from under the covers (I hear that thing is a killer maze). I already posted a 2004 game running on 1998 hardware AND functioning at the same level of a console. Hardware upgrades improve visuals in both old and new games and drastically ramp up the performance of the old titles. Does your console do this? No. Did the Xbox manage to show the same fidelity improvement from 2001 to 2005 as a PC did? No. Stop adding arbitrary upgrades. Consoles don't improve over the live span, they are static pieces of hardware that are 90% to 95% taken advantage of from the start and only show minor improvements over the years. There isn't going to be a major jump above Lair's visuals by 2012.

Your 6-12 month made the fuck up upgrade plan basically buys you a new system. I'm sure the console would fall way behind in the price advantage if you had to buy the PS4 next year and the PS5 the year after. That just isn't the case. My PC today will still play games at the same visual level as today when the PS4 and Xbox 720 drops just like the Xbox 360 and PS3 will play the same. All you need are three or four components for a PC upgrade by then, and that will (surprise) cost just as much as a console. Factor in the fact we're getting screwed on console game costs, the PC wins.

Dude, seriously, put that sweaty mountain dew down for the next month. Hard core PC gamers shed video cards every 6 months, enthus replace every 12 months. The cheap replace every couple of years. I used to upgrade every 1 year or two gens. The 6 months upgrade cycle corresponds to video card product cycles so stop trying to shoot down stuff you don't know Nathan's about. One thousand dollars buys ME 3 PC parts today, here, now, tomorrow. NOT a new system. Take your Bestbuy 1998 PC and and just try running Farcry or the like on it and also, the way the developers meant for you to see the graphics. Enjoy!. Yes, console gives you consistent graphics throughout its lifespan and beyond just like any PC would but you need decent PC hardware to be up to par with todays console graphics, which are made on powerful PC's anyway since they are able to produce better graphics than consoles can, so those high res graphics cannot be experienced on the systems you buy for the price of a console. It's a very expensive parallel world above your PC buying level where high resolution graphics are made and the hard core get down at. I couldn't hack it anymore so I got a console, for now. I totally agree that we're getting screwed on console game costs, so we wait 6 months and get them on the cheap. If I want to get hard core, I just flash the cd drive on the 360 and pay NADA for games. $60 can buy a lot of beer still. But I get your point, if you're ok playing PC games on a $600 computer then the PC has the edge because of 'keyboard and mouse', but fuhgetabout gaming with more than 1 person.

Das a very good point you put down about backwards compatibility on the PC platform that goes back a very long time kid. Totally agree with you. You see, I'm old school, I'm a PC head, but you gotta learn to roll with the punches, hence, my game console. I just wouldn't call "incredibly overpriced systems" when they are the cream of the crop. Bust those quotes out for designer PC's ie. Sony PC, Apple PC. Ya dig!?