Gamers lets talk.

Elsewhere

I play too - mostly PC. I don't really like fps games - spend far too long playing rpg's though - I especially like TES and the Gothic series. Games like Oblivion are great because you never really have to complete them - add a few mods and away you go again... and some of the unofficial mods are amazing. That's why the 360 version doesn't appeal; much less flexible.

poppy10_2

Percy1983 wrote: »

Is the TV 1080p or HD Ready (usually 1366x768) and what is the graphics card?

Yep, it's HD, 1366x768. But the graphics card (nVidia 9800GT) can't output at that resolution, it can go a lot higher, but that resolution is not one of the options. I've tried using powerstrip to set a custom resolution to no avail. The image just looks crappy at 1680x1050 or 1440x900.

Patrick20

Elsewhere wrote: »

I play too - mostly PC. I don't really like fps games - spend far too long playing rpg's though - I especially like TES and the Gothic series. Games like Oblivion are great because you never really have to complete them - add a few mods and away you go again... and some of the unofficial mods are amazing. That's why the 360 version doesn't appeal; much less flexible.

I love game mods just shows how talnted the people who play the game are.

Percy1983

Patrick20 wrote: »

Can you find a pc (provide links) with 512mb ram, 3.2Ghz(per core) processor, GPU with equal performance, surround sound card, Blueray Player, etc

You are asking the impossible in that respect, a PC with 512MB ram is crippled.

I don't think there is an off the shelf PC which does that as they are never balanced correctly.

That money will get you 4GB ram a 3.7-4GHz dual core and a £80 graphics card will kick the PS3 into touch, or if like me a £180 graphics card will make it look silly.

As for sound an good quality motherboard has 7.1HD audio onboard which is very good, you can spend more on a separate sound card (I did) but it really isn't needed most of the time.

As another post said a £300 + £100 graphics card does the job and I can believe that quite easily.

If mixing a few new and used parts you should be able to get the OS in there too, you can get a legit vista license for around £40-£50.

Don't compare specs like for like with PC vs console anyway, they work very differently.

Patrick20

There is no way when every part of the ps3(or xbox) is taken into account that a pc can compete. I love my pc which cost me £700 but my console is built specifically for a purpose. Were not going to convince each other so lets leave it at that mate.

Psychofly

I think an important point people are missing when discussing the whole "build a PC to rival a console for £400" thing is this. When the PS4 or Xbox 9847321 comes out they will probably cost around £400-450 and console owners will need to pay that to get the latest technology. A PC owner can upgrade their PC with a new graphics card and maybe a new processor if necessary which will be cheaper.

The 360 and PS3 are old tech compared to where PCs are now but the PC can be upgraded, the console can't. Consoles are a nice easy straight forward way of playing games and in some cases (as it was with the 360) when they first come out they are state of the art and only a hugely expensive PC can beat them for quality. However prices come down and PCs can be upgraded meaning the PC quickly regains it's lead and holds it until the next gen of console comes out.

The most important thing to take note of is which are you more comfortable having. A console or a PC. Each has it's own pro's and con's and it's all a matter of balance.

Percy1983

I have said they there is draw backs to a PC, there is never going to be the same 'plug & play' ease of use, but these days PC aren't far off.

I really can't believe anybody can have such a closed mind to believe nothing is better than the PS3.

I will admit consoles are more efficient and built for games so they can do a lot more with a lessor spec. As you say both consoles are 512ram, for gaming on a PC 2Gb is the minimum you could get away with.

As for GPU's, I believe the PS3 uses what is basically a nvidia 7800 and the 360 uses what is basicaly an x1950, in both cases these PC cards are weak and wouldn't give 360/PS3 performance, but we are 3 generations of graphics cards later now on the PC front.

Bascially as somebody else mentioned PC prices come down and parts get faster.

Don't comapre specs like for like, don't even compare specs just compare output.

As much As I like to debate it the fact is PC's do offer the best graghics at an affordable price, this is a fact which can't be ignored. If people people prefer consoles due to ease of use etc then that is fair enough, But right now PC is the best for games.

Ivrytwr3

let's not get into a who's is the [STRIKE]biggest[/STRIKE] best.

I use my PS2 and Gamecube for gaming!! (Playing through all the Resident Evils at the minute!)

On my PC I used to play Battlefield 2 a lot but my Fisher Price PC could not handle it well But i still play a lot of Medal of Honor Spearhead/Breakthrough. I'm on x-fire (should we start a thread on x-fire names?!)

Psychofly

The reason the console can seemingly run with a lower spec is that they don't have to multitask like a PC does. A PC still has to run the operating system in the background too. Over and above this console games are specifically written knowing that everyone has the same spec so they are designed knowing that they only have 512MB to play with. They know the speed of the processor and the power they have available on the graphics card. When writing for a PC they don't have this luxury but that's why they add different graphical quality settings. A console game generally won't use the equivalent of the PC game's top quality settings.

Whereas in the past the graphics card used to be by far the most important component in a gaming system, that's not quite so true these days. Graphics cards are of course very very important but the CPU is becoming more important again as more games include more and more complex physics engines which rely on the CPU (or in some cases specific physics calculations on graphics cards) which the consoles can't currently handle because the CPU isn't powerful enough, the GPU doesn't have the physics stuff built in and the RAM isn't enough to handle it.

I actually don't think we're getting into a "who's is the biggest/best" arguement for a change. I'm not advocating either PC or console gaming in particular because both have their merits. I think for once it's actually a fairly sensible discussion about the merits of each. Makes a change becuase usually it descends to all out war ! lol

Ivrytwr3

yaaaaaaaawwwwwn!!