Console Vs PC: Neither is Better, Here Are The Facts
Sep. 12, 2016Console Vs PC: Neither is Better, Here Are The Facts
The following post is this author’s opinion and does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of Fextralife as a whole nor the individual content creators associated with the site. Any link that goes outside of Fextralife are owned by their respective authors.
We see this a lot, and it’s getting old: Elitist behavior from strictly PC gamers and Console gamers turning up their noses just as much, but from a different perspective. With the announcement of the new PS4 Pro, we’re seeing a resurgent wave of side taking over which is better, as if this was an election. The truth is however, that neither is better, and it all comes down to individual tastes and needs. Let’s clear some things up by looking at facts and how they relate to costs, ease of use, graphics and exclusive content.
The PS4 Pro is 400 USD out of the box. That’s a decent price. There is a big, obvious “hidden” cost in there though. If you want to play online, you have to pay for PS+. That’s 50 USD per year for 3-4 years over it’s lifespan, which I’m measuring as its existence as a current gen console. The real price so far? 550 USD. The total if you bought a $400 PS4 at launch when it reaches the end of it’s 6-8 year life span? 700 to 800 USD.
Now let’s take a look at one PC that can be built presently using a mix of easily available used and new parts (all prices listed are at time of writing):
A total of 450 USD for a PC that is over 40% more powerful. That isn’t even the cheapest it can go, as more deals can be had for those willing to scour for used deals.
If that’s too much work for you or you are opposed to buying used parts, you can go a slightly more expensive route and buy those parts new for around a total of 550 USD. This is 150 more than the PS4 Pro out of the box, but the same price as the launch PS4, which was also $400, if you factor in the yearly cost of PS+. This is almost certainly cheaper than the launch PS4 Pro for precisely the same reason, and significantly cheaper than the PS4 (even at the current $350 price point) at the end of it’s several year life span with PS+ costs included.
This machine is a total of 965 USD, assuming you bought everything brand new, on launch and bought nothing on sale. If you bought that machine at the same time as the PS4 came out not only would you have a system more powerful than the PS4 at a slightly higher cost over the lifetime of the PS4, but you’d have a system more powerful than the PS4 Pro is right now. If you waited to buy the PC until you would have bought the PS4 Pro, you’re looking at a roughly 450 USD PC because the parts are old and cheap, as I demonstrated.
For completion’s sake, if you’re not upgrading to the PS4 Pro and want a PC to PS4 price comparison someone hasbeat me to it. It’s a $375 computer that will match or beat the standard PS4’s performance for less than the launch price of the PS4 and for $300-400 dollars less over the PS4’s lifespan if you factor in PS+, which makes beating the performance and price of the PS4 significantly easier in the long term.
If you’re upgrading from a PS4 to a PS4 pro in November, you will have spent $750-$800 on consoles and $150 on PS+ (again, only to date,), which puts your total at $900-$950 dollars and the lifetime total at $1000-$1100, and you’re still on a less powerful machine than the far older computer.
In the cost example, including the cost of the monitor is not relevant unless you include the cost of the TV for a console, but you can just as easily hook a PC up to a TV and have no need for a dedicated monitor. TVs tend to cost more than monitors but since you can connect a PC or console to either, the point is a wash.
Overall, PC is cheaper, and you can do more things with it. If you factor out the price of PS+ the prices are about even if you put no effort into finding any of the PC parts on sale. The Xbox One is even more expensive (it launched at 500 USD and is less powerful) so the PS4 is the best cost case for consoles.
Consoles are idiot proof by design, and everything is done automatically although you have to spend just as much time as PC waiting around for things to update or install this gen it seems. Hooray for progress.
There is no question, that if you want to get those cheap prices I listed, you have to put together a PC yourself and acquire a copy of Windows or use Linux, so the initial effort required to make it work is higher unless you want to drive up prices. Once that’s done modern games are just as easy to play with Steam as they are on consoles, it’s only more work if you want to do more to it (like modding) except in the rare case of a missing file or corrupt install, which happens on consoles as well.
There are extra costs and considerations if you want to get a wireless keyboard/mouse/controller (or much cheaper UBS cord extensions) or an HDMI cable to play PC games from your couch.
PC is more work, although in relative terms, it’s not building a new shed. But it isn’t the plug it in and watch it do it’s thing experience you get with consoles.
This particular consideration isn’t much of a competition and that’s being as objective as possible. Any of the computers I listed the parts for are quite capable of running a stable 30fps on max settings for 1080p games and if you turn down settings that eat power but provide little benefit, such as turning anisotropic filtering down from x16 to x4 for example, it can manage significantly more. If you really want to kill the quality settings they will manage 4k 30 while looking more or less the same as the console versions. Some developers can quite frankly achieve startlingly high quality visuals and smooth performance out of consoles, but similarly priced, and more powerful PCs can run them just as well or better by virtue of a massive power advantage. If graphical fidelity is a huge need, PC is going to be the platform that delivers.
This particular debate is brought up a lot because there are literally thousands of PC exclusives. For starters, PC is backwards compatible all the way back to the 70s and 80s, although getting such games to run is not always easy, yet consoles aren’t even fully backwards compatible from last gen. As for strictly PC exclusivesthisis a list of PC exclusives for this year and the next 2 years. Some have since been announced for release on consoles since the list was written, but the majority have not.Thisis a list of mostly AA or AAA PC exclusives in general. There is no list of worthwhile indie titles because it would be one long list of titles. By comparison any given console gets very few exclusives, beyond any they develop 1st party likeBloodborneor the occasional indie title they publish exclusively.
Have I covered all the main arguments? Please don’t take this as me being down on consoles overall. I like consoles. I own 9 consoles and 5 handhelds. They’re easier to use, fewer things can go wrong if I do something stupid, local multiplayer is more common, I don’t have to do a bunch of research and/or legwork to get the parts I need at better prices, they’re easier to drag to a friends house to play with them, you get the idea. I get it. Just don’t pretend we’re paying for anything other than those listed conveniences. There is nothing wrong with paying for those things unless it’s blind devotion (which is odd considering these are all large multinational corporations) and whether either is “better” depends entirely on how much you value those things and how much of them you feel you’re provided, but that is all you’re paying for.
Thoughts on this? Feel free to point out any errors or oversights but let’s try and keep the conversation productive and flame free. If we can, perhaps there is hope for the gaming community after all.
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20 something years old, living in the western United States. I enjoy wrestling, jujitsu, snowboarding, manga, anime, movies, card games, board games, video games D&D, ect. Also food.
You can get discounted PS4s everywhere, with several games and PS+ also gives you games, so the prices should be no-discount retail for it to be comparable
One platform having less than the other in terms of exclusives doesn’t mean much for the quality of said exclusives. I cannot even think of any PC exclusive besides an MMO that I must have and I am reading gaming news and development and being sent codes constantly. Reality is that the big/successful titles make it to console eventually, and tbh I’ve enjoyed them more on console (see: diablo 3 and divinity original sin). I am a big fan of naughty dog, media molecule, sony santa monica and sony japan, and ofc From Software. I know all these games (except namco published ones) are going to be sony only. Yet other studios I follow such as Larian will make multiplatform, so exclusives do play a role. If naughty dog moved to PC, I’d probably reluctantly move to PC for their games
Researching and building computers = work time for me. Not leisure time. Thus, every minute/hour I spend looking up things I am 100% not interested in, such as videocard benchmarks = billable time for me.
So you aren’t presenting facts, you are presenting opinions because this in the end is all about personal preference, which was my point.
All in all: play on what you prefer, we are all sure you arrived at that conclusion based on your own personal bias which is indisputably correct for you. For me, console > PC all day any day, because it gives me the experience I want.
For me it’s never been about which is better. I prefer consoles because they’re convenient. You just buy them, stick a disc in and it magically works. No lengthy installing, no upgrading cards and changing bits. It’s just simple and easy.
Of course between the consoles I choose the brand I prefer the exclusives of, but I don’t really care about them being better. I just love gaming
I don’t have that problem at all. My computer sits on the floor in front of the table thing my TV sits on. Wired 360 controllers are not hard to install if you want to buy one and I play my games across the room. Yeah it means there are keyboard/mouse wires across the floor but a bit of tape (and maybe a box cutter if you’re really neurotic and want to keep the wires hidden under the carpet) and even kids/pets tripping on them is not really an issue. I also don’t have any problems reading anything even if I turn it all the way up to 4k, and intellegently designed games (or mods for said games) let you scale the HUD/Text so it’s not a problem.
Because it’s leisure time. There is no money analysis for how you spend your leisure time because you weren’t going to be paid anyways. It’s a “cost” but it’s not a monitary cost and it can’t be equated to one. I also did specifically mention it as a cost, a cost consoles don’t have. You can also just ask people for parts lists and not really have to do any research at all, especially if it’s on a site like PC part picker which will point out incompatibilities for you and show you the best prices it can find on new parts.
Because there are about 9 different versions of Linux that are quite good and also free, and everything you can’t run natively you can run with WINE.
Because for a strictly gaming (and/or other media) PC you don’t need a paid antivirus, the free ones will do fine. If you’re worried about your credit/debit card info being stolen, buy prepaid cards and pay with those, use 2 step authentication for everything, or do your shopping on your phone. It’s not a cost associated with gaming or even PCs in general, it only matters when personal information is at steak, which is entirely avoidable.
Ok. Add 12 dollars for thermal paste. That still makes 2 of the computers you can buy right now cheaper and more powerful than the PS4 pro over the systems lifetime (for that matter even adding the entirely unnecessary copy of windows and an antivirus still caps the brand new $550 computer at about $610, which is about the same as the PS4 Pro with PS+ and is assuming you aren’t upgrading from a PS4.)
Thing is, you only really have to do all that work once, if at all. The motherboards specs will outright tell you what kind of RAM they support, the CPU will outright tell you what motherboards it supports, the graphics card can be attatched to basically any motherboard and be perfectly fine, you really don’t need to because 8 gigs of ram is sufficent for literally every game that isn’t incredibly broken anyways.
Only by the “big name” RPG studios or individual games that get lucky and get the attention of someone like TotalBiscuit. The 3 Shadowrun RPGs haven’t. Legend of Grimrock (1 and 2) haven’t. Might and Magic X hasn’t. Age of Decadence hasn’t, the Avernum reboot and it’s sequel haven’t, What the Box hasn’t. You get the idea. (All great games BTW.) There aren’t many (modern) AA or AAA exclusives for PC, but there aren’t many for any other platform either (mostly limited to 1st party stuff or stuff published by sony/ms directly, something PC simply doesn’t have.)
That’s more or less what I said.
Most PCs have on-board sound. So, no sound card is required, unless you’re an audiophile. The days that a network card is required are over too. All motherboards include networking. Some even have Wifi or Bluetooth.
I have both speakers (with a sub-woofer) and a headset. I use the latter most often, as it doesn’t bother the people around me (especially at night) and I like its spatial awareness. However, most monitors have speakers, so you don’t need them, but the quality varies greatly. The same is true for a TV set, though.
Edit: The parts that get the least attention are the monitor, the keyboard and the mouse. That’s really strange, because these are the things you interact with most often. So I invest in these as well. I have a 2560*1440 monitor, mechanical keyboards, several mice and other input devices like a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle-And-Stick) and a speedpad. Although you can game with the cheapest stuff out there, have great devices helps me enjoy gaming.
Your basic computer needs a Motherboard which houes the compoenents + CPU, which is the processor.. that processor processes the informationMemory sticks, so you have enough memory to run programsVideo card – it allows you better graphics than the motherboard (most mobos these days do not have on board graphics anymore)Sound card- optional, I never get one (I am deaf in one ear so pfft for me lol)Power box, so things runKeyboardMouseMonitorSpeakers (I have had the same logitech speakers for 8 years >.>)A Computer Case so you have a place for everythingYou do not need a network card, you mobo will have an onboard cable for your internet
Compressed Air (clean your stuff!)
You open the case and pop in the motherboard, then put the CPU onto the motherboardThen you hook up your video cardPlug in the stuff like the manual saysHook up power boxPlug in Monitor, mouse and keyboardInstall operating system
BAM. Computer
I upgrade my components every two years (i have a computer savings account) so I do not lag behind too much on published games.
Whereas console: Buy it, hook it up to TV, play games lol
I enjoy my PC. I usually build them myself, although sometimes I let a company build one for me. Once in a while I upgrade the system with some new piece of hardware to improve some aspect of it. I love the superior gameplay, performance and graphics. PC gaming can be expensive (hardware-wise). I’m not rich, but investing in a hobby you love is a no-brainer to me.
If cost and the couch are important to you, then more power to you. For me it is like a comparison between cars. While all cars get you from point A to B, not all cars get you there fast, comfortably and/or in style. The same goes for PCs and consoles. I rather have a PC than an experience I don’t enjoy.
I’ve been thinking of building one myself eventually, but i see things like “Network Card” and “Sound Card” when doing those “build your own” things, and I dunno if things like that are necessary since they aren’t included in the parts you put together in the article.Are those things needed, or are they not really worth paying for, and it’s better to leave them out?(Honestly I thought that speakers and monitor/s would be things needed, but then again headphones would cover the sound aspect I guess!)
I actually don’t find the process of finding the right parts all that troublesome: I enjoy having the freedom to customize things and build things exactly the way I want and I am hardly a computer hardware expert!An expert will value this freedom way more than I do. I sometimes liken the console to the iPhone for its low versatility. All in all, the extra time and money building a beast are well spent in my opinion
I actually prefer the PC. I have a mediocre PC right now and an XBOX One, but I actually find the keyboard and mouse (they are not perfect but still managing depending on the games I play) easier to use than the controller so my XBOX journey never really took off (other complaints include requirement to sign into network to play, password input is a nightmare, takes a long time to update/install software/game files and the console cannot be used meanwhile) nowadays I use it solely for playing Blu-rays, so by the very definition of this article in the OP, I must be the biggest idiot in the world but who cares, my PC is doing alright
I have a monster PC. I game in my ps4 all the time in comparison. There’s simply no competition when it comes to the simplicity of controls / TV/couch. And no, don’t tell me I can easily hook the PC to the TV and play because the reality is that most PC games do not provide a good TV interface, and you end up playing in 720p graphics with an awkward controller that you fought to get installed, squinting to try to read the impossibly tiny letters of the quest text. That is without considering the location for your PC tower is incredibly unlikely to be near your TV, and will thus demand a longer HDMI cable that further messes up with the quality. I think a monitor is a necessity of a PC, and it is used for the PC only whereas your TV will share in your console, dvd player, and cable providers.
And before anyone argues as if I haven’t tried this enough, I PC gamed on my tv for 3 full years and I tried everything. The moment ESO headed for consoles I dropped PC’s graphic and performance supremacy for the comfort of my couch and I have not looked back once. The savings on wrist pain alone are worth it
On the cost side, I think this along with many other articles take my time for granted. Why are you assuming parts for PC are bought at a discount but not the PS4? Why didn’t you include the man hours of research into specs and compatibility as cost for PC building? Why haven’t you included the cost of the other necessities such as the OS, antivirus and things like thermal paste?
Reality is that many of us have hectic, busy lives and lots of projects. I don’t want to spend x hours figuring out a graphic card that will match a motherboard and ensure I’m not getting ripped off on a chip, or go find out how much RAM the new windows actually handles. If I go and do all that, I have used more of my time-money than the difference the console would make. The only real comparison here is if you can find a place that has the exact thing you’d want built for you, so you can pick it up without having to spend any time ordering parts, verifying vendors, and then constructing.
On the exclusives side, I strongly disagree. Some of the most fantastic games I have played have been console exclusives, including Lost Oddisy, Demon’s Souls / Bloodborne, God of War and Uncharted / Last of Us. I can think of few PC-exclusive games I wanted and they are mostly MMOs or very niche RPGs that are now coming to consoles anyway.
In short: A console is a low-end PC that gets the job done but without the perks that come from the increased time investment of a computer. The graphics and performance downgrade comes as a balance to a more comfortable setup on your tv. Exclusives are nice wherever your favorite developers live. Mine live at Sony, it seems, so PS Pro, here I come!
Thanks everyone.
Despite what the disclaimer says, very little of that is my opinion. It’s objective, mathmatical fact and my opinion doesn’t really enter into it. My opinion is that the extra options and backwards compatability are worth the extra work. The backwards compatibility is fantastic because it also includes most console games so I can still play them (or buy ones I never got to) without worrying about an old console dying on me. The extra options don’t come up with every game, but it makes such a big difference when they do.>I’d really like to play some of the PS4 exclusives, but there are only like 3 that I’m interested in and I can’t justify paying what amounts to $176 per game to get access to them. I’d need tons of disposable income to justify that. Thankfully Persona 5 is coming to the PS3. I’ll deal with the SD textures if it saves me 350 bucks.
I enjoyed this article. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve actually found myself gravitating more and more to what I perceive as the flexibility of PC gaming as well as its cost effectiveness for games. I have lost count of how many times I’ve purchased a game on steam for under 5 dollars, not to mention the option to play games that are also on Xbox and Playstation but not on both like Left 4 Dead or Salt & Sanctuary. To me Sony’s exclusives do merit owning a Playstation as well, as I can’t imagine not playing Bloodborne or Uncharted but it seems like Sony is moving more and more to enabling that with PS Now now available on PC.
Very well written, and you give a lot of good arguments. Glad you took the time to write this up.
If I had the money, I’d have a PC to game on as well. There’s PC games I love, and console games I love, and some games that have been released on consoles which are really not fit for console gaming (like Kerbal Space Program, 7 Days to Die). They crash often, erase your save data, and are generally a sub par experience compared to PC, where you can sometimes fix those problems with fan made patches / mods.
The biggest reason I have a PS4 is for the exclusives and console games that didn’t go to PC. My old gaming laptop died a few years ago, and I haven’t had the money to upgrade / make a new system from scratch.
