Want An Xbox One X Now? Build A Gaming PC For the Same Price That Matches It
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Want An Xbox One X Now? Build A Gaming PC For the Same Price That Matches It

Do you want an Xbox One X, now that was officially revealed at E3 last week? Don’t want to wait for the November 7th release date? Let me replicate, and slightly improve on the system for about the same 550 USD of the Xbone X, counting the first year of Xbox Box Live (XBL). Ready? Let’s go. All prices are at time of writing, and in the US, though I know them to be similar in much of the EU.

GPU – MSI GTX 1060 3 GB: 204 USD

  • Not so quick side note, for those of you who are smart enough to do research on the parts but might end up misinformed. While TFLOPS has become a buzzword it’s not actually a great way to measure performance, as different architectures manage different performance with similar TFLOPS. For example, the GTX 1070 has ~6.4 TGLOPS to the RX 580s 6.2, a mere 3% difference, but the GTX 1070 manages an average FPS that’s about 20% higher. With that said however, we know that the Xbone X is using modern AMD architecture and we know what ~ 6 TFLOPS looks like on a modern AMD architecture because that’s about what the RX 480 and RX 580 have. Basically, the Xbone X has an RX580 in it and the 1060 has roughly the same performance as that (it varies by game) and is cheaper at the moment, which is why I picked it.

CPU – Pentium G4560 3.5GHZ: 77 USD

Motherboard – MSI B250 LGA1151: 74 USD

RAM – 2.4 GB Corsair Vengance GDDR4 2400ghz (8GB in total): 67 USD

HDD – Western Digital 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD 49 USD

Power Supply – SeaSonic 520 Watts at 80%+ Efficency: 35 USD

  • For the uninitiated that means it actually supplies somewhere between 360 and 400 watts, but this build only uses 290. I mention this because it’s relevant if you decide to upgrade later as you need to make sure your using fewer than ~360 watts or you’ll need a new power supply.

Case – Bog Standard Case 25 USD

WiFi – WiFi Antenna 10 USD

Controls – Logitech Mouse and Keyboard. 15 USD

  • Assuming you’re gaming from a couch and so the PC is hooked up to your TV you may also need USB extension cords that are 6 dollars each. Or you may opt for an Xbox/Xbox One controller for the same or a little more, depending on type and condition.

OS – Linux or Windows 10

  • Linux is free. Copies of Windows 10 (which is the version you, sadly, must have on the G4560) go for like 10 bucks on ebay, and it’s software so new/used makes no difference. (Windows is way better for gaming in most cases.)

This PC doesn’t have an optical drive. This means either you need to spend an extra 15 USD so you can install windows/linux from a disk, or you need an 8gb flash drive (~5 usd) and access to a friends PC so you can turn said flash drive into a bootable drive with windows on it, and install windows with that.

Total price: 556-595 USD

  • Minimum 556 usd: No usb extenders, no windows (or a friend has a copy you can use) no optical drive.
  • Maximum: 595. 2 usb extenders (one each for mouse and keyboard,) windows, optical drive.

At max I went a bit over budget, but keep in mind XBL is 50 usd per year, so 2 years of it will even the prices out if you had to go the most expensive route.

I’m not going to lie and tell you this is the best computer ever, it most certainly is not. It’s a combination of entry level and mid range parts. What it will do, is roughly match the performance of the Xbone X based on the specs we know, which can be found here. The more CPU-bound the game, the more of an advantage this PC will have over the Xbone X while in GPU-bound games it will be effectively the same, unless you decide to overclock your GPU, in which case the 1060 will usually pull ahead.

It can play most modern games at 4k and 30 FPS. It will only do it at max settings in very rare cases, so you will have to either lower your graphics preset until it works, or tweak individual settings that are known to hit performance hard (anti-aliasing should be first to go) but it’s worth noting that console versions of games tend to run at the equivalent of medium/high PC settings, with the most demanding settings turned down even farther. It’s worth noting that I don’t actually think this will be worth doing in most games (or on the Xbone X/PS4 Pro for that matter) as I feel the game will look and play better at 1080p or 1440p with the settings maxed out. If you don’t agree then 4k/30 will usually be an option. Digital Foundry is currently doing a series of Youtube videos called 4k on a budget if you need more detailed information on the types of settings to change to get the best possible experience at 4k on this type of setup.

On the other side of things, it will be a fantastic 1080p machine, with only the most demanding (or least optimized) games seeing significant drops below 60 FPS with high/ultra settings, while less demanding games like DOOM, and most AA stuff like Pillars of Eternity will manage a fairly consistent 1440p at 60 FPS.

If you decide to stick with PC gaming in the future, I’ve even done you a few favors. Everything is brand new, both in terms of release date and that none of the parts are used. This could cut costs even further if you’re comfortable with used parts; with a bit of luck you can get a 970, which is almost exactly the same in terms of performance as the 1060, for ~150 off ebay, bringing the price totals down to 506 and 545 respectively. The CPU and motherboard are current generation, which means if you decide to upgrade the CPU to something like an i5 7400  or an i5 7600k you don’t need a new motherboard unless you want to overclock which is entirely unnecessary. I’ve also given you a big enough power supply that even if you upgrade to something ridiculous like an i5 6700k and a GTX 1080, you won’t need a new one to compensate.

In the interest of complete transparency, I do not own this PC. I currently have or have previously used each of those parts or their performance rivals (the RX480, RX 580, GTX 970 and GTx 780 for the GPU and the I3 6100 and i5 2500k for the CPU) and benchmarks for all of the relevant parts are readily available, so I am very confident it will perform exactly as I describe, but I strongly encourage you to do your own research to confirm it for yourself. The point of this building exercise is to show how through a little bit of research and work, you can stay ahead of console hardware trends and have the tech in your hands before console manufacturers release it. With the architecture of consoles getting closer and closer to high end PCs, it’s increasingly more feasible and appealing to build your own to stay ahead of the curve, especially in the case of the Xbox One X as many of Microsoft’s games make their way to the PC platform. Rather than get caught in the hype, why not try your hand at making your own?


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23 responses to “Want An Xbox One X Now? Build A Gaming PC For the Same Price That Matches It”


  1. >
    The various drivers for parts are specifically designed to work on Windows (and there are slightly different versions for each version of windows to prevent compatability problems.) That’s not a windows issue, that’s a driver issue, and those can be addressed. They’re usually addressed very quickly.

    Like, I can’t prove to anybody that windows will never ever do anything stupid and harm performance. Can’t prove a negative. I can only prove that it will match or exceed what the console does in general, not that it will always do so. There is no garuntee ever, even if you have a *far* superior machine. There are horribly optimized garbage fires like Arkham knight that manage to run worse on a $1500 PC than on the PS4. There are games like The Witcher 3 which inexplicably runs better on the Xbox One than the PS4 despite the PS4s power advantage. (proof of that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkB8gpPzMkw” rel=”nofollow)

    That is the reason for the disclaimer.

    Too elaborate further: If the game is GPU bound, and the 1060 and Xbone X have similar levels of power, performance will be similar ragardless of the CPU. All things being equal, You won’t significantly outperform the console because the GPU power is about even. In CPU bound titles, that extra ~10% computing power is going to translate directly to an increased minimum/maximum framerate compared to the Xbone X version at the same settings.

    You’re seeing the tiny % of people who have problems. The people who don’t have problems don’t mention not having problems because that’s how it’s supposed to be.

    You’ve got the framing of this whole thing sideways. No amount of money spent on any hardware can guarantee better performance in any individual application. It’s not a thing. You can wreck your performance with bloatware, you could be the 1 in 1 million that just can’t run things for mystery reason x, the game could be especially well or especially poorly optimized on any of the platforms and so run better on weaker hardware (be that hardware console or PC.) If that’s what you’re asking for, no matter what electronic device you’re buying, you’re going to be dissapointed.

    Also, any significant upgrade beyond what I listed (at least with all new parts) is going to come at *signicant* cost, which is also why the Xbone X is priced like it is. The next step for GPUs is a GTX 1070 or a GTX 980, which are like $400. To get a real improvement on the CPU, you need to break into modern i5 or Ryzen territory, which bumps the price of your CPU from $75 to $175. The closest you get to an inbetween performance/price with is like an FX 8350 (for ~$120) but I honestly wouldn’t recommend that because your only upgrade option is another FX chip like the 9370, which will not only be just as expensive as something like an i5 or Ryzen, but perform way worse.

    If you can afford an i5 or Ryzen CPU, by all means, that is *easily* the best investment in terms of improving that particular builds performance, but you are adding $100 to the price. That’s also why I chose the motherboard I did (you don’t need a new one to get a far better CPU.)

    The point was, can you match the performance for the price. The answer, even if you’re buying all brand new parts, is yes. Just like sometimes the Xbox One inexplicably runs a game better than the more powerful PS4, sometimes the Xbox One X or even the PS4 Pro will inexplicably beat that PC.

  2. I’m well aware Windows has come quite far with gaming, but you’ll need a more convincing argument than that to get me to believe they’ve negated half the things I brought up. Mitigated sure, but not negated.

    I’m not claiming OS optimizes anything. More like firmware is less likely to restrict performance than Windows. Windows is designed to play well with any number of components. It’s the Jack of all trades, master of none situation. There’s just no way to make sure it will correctly juggle every and all permutation at optimum levels.

    I saw you had one component that exceeded but I also noted you had the disclaimer akin to ”Will outperform some times and similarly perform other times.” And again, that’s assuming Windows, all the drivers and a ton of other considerations don’t accidentally create a problem along the way.

    I don’t game on PC anything like I used to, but the few games I have recently have still had the normal forum/chat conversations of ”my system meets requirements but…”

    So my point is still, CAN your setup match? Probably. WILL it? There’s definitely no guarantee. And while I do think it can, at bare minimum you need to be real careful about what else you do with that machine and be prepared to tinker. That’s a lot of caveats when you’re trying to convince someone you match performance. And naturally I know you can wreck a super computer with bad installs. The point there is that the better you exceed raw stats, the better chance you have at meeting or exceeding.

  3. >[/spoil]

    Windows is and has been well optimized for gaming. There is only actually so much you can do to get performance gains on the OS level, especially when you’re looking at the Xbone and PS4 which have to be able to do the same kinds of things now anyways. It’s not “optimized for gaming.” it’s optimized for gaming and voice chat and it’s internet browser and everything else it does. The difference is that it’ll only do what MS/Sony says it can. They’re so similar at this point that people keep sneaking unmodified PC software (for example, the various nintendo and playstation one emulators and a torrent client) onto the Xbox one store and they work (though the CPU means they don’t tend to run great as emulators are extremely CPU hungry to begin with and rely heavily on single core or dual core performance, which the Jaguar is quite bad at.)

    Besides, that cannot be done. Nobody can promise you a PC build for any amount of money that will definitely outperform a console just by turning it on. You can bring a $9000 PC to it’s knees with bloatware if you were incompetent enough (or actively trying.)

    For a concrete example, here is a video of a $1700 laptop with an i7 6700 and a GTX 1060 (meaning that GPU wise it’s better that current consoles and CPU wise it will eat current consoles) being brought to it’s knees by bloatware, with performance that’s actually worse than consoles in GTA 5 because it’s so CPU intensive, and how much of a difference uninstalling it makes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goidUQf83XM” rel=”nofollow

    PC gives you the freedom and more power for similar prices, but that comes with taking responsibility for your systems performance, because if you don’t you will destroy your performance. If someone isn’t willing to do that, they shouldn’t game on a PC. It’s that simple.

    That said, the CPU I listed *does* exceed the console performance. The PS4/Xbox One CPU are low power mid range (ie not for gaming) laptop CPUs from like 2010. The IPC is *terrible,* meaning it’s slow, and the low clockspeed means it can’t brute force good performance for modern games in the same way something like an FX chip or an old i5 2500k do.

    If you want a rough comparison between the CPU I listed and the Xbone X CPU (same architecture, half the cores, ~ double the speed)
    http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-G4560-vs-AMD-FX-4350/3892vs2880” rel=”nofollow

    For reference, to make the FX 4350 equivilant to the Jaguar, it would have to be clocked to 4.6 GHZ. This means the G4560 is ~ 10% faster.

  4. I technically make no money. as far as housing is concerned. Random odd jobs are not consistent enough to count as income yet.
    I mainly live off my family at the moment. Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. I do want a pc for gaming. But I want an over the top rig for pc gaming. So it’s going to cost me a lot.
    This is just me. personally.

    My tv I believe had 60ms delay. and I don’t remember what the specs were for the thing I linked. But I believe his monitor was doing 20ms.
    I am seriously competitive. aha. Also I don’t know why you brought up fps. I know that’s also a huge factor. But when I played for honor on the monitor all I was doing was jacking my xbox one into the back of it. so it was still at 30fps. The only major difference I could tell visually was due to the refresh rate on the monitor. I have yet to try gaming on the monitor with any other game.
    Well my xbox is wired. His pc is wireless but he’s got priority internet wise in the settings. Not that it really mattered for what I was doing.

    I don’t need you to tell me my perspective is off base. I pretty much admitted to that already hah.
    well regardless. I get and understand the upsides of pc gaming. I fully intend to get my own gaming pc one day when I actually have the money to suit my insane ideas.
    I’m just never going to pick pc over console. Even if all microsoft exclusives became play anywhere titles. My friends are far more important. and none of them have a pc to game on. Nor interested in pc gaming. The only reason why i’m even interested in pc gaming to begin with is because I want a pretty looking game on a pretty looking tv that runs the best out there.
    (also as far as MMO’s are concerned ESO is on console, black desert is coming to console, and onigiri is there. The only MMO that i’m into that isn’t is PSO 2. but I already play that on my brothers laptop hooking it up to my tv.)

  5. >

    While all that’s true, consoles often have firmware specifically designed to optimize the resources. Consoles also benefit from a more “hard” suspension or shut down process when floating between applications whereas Windows has a tendency to say something is not running, but have it sneak back into running anyway. Another aspect of Windows is that while the system resources you quote are accurate no doubt, some of what’s running is queries into what is happening with all facets of the system and if it detects something that it thinks needs attention, it will divert resources into figuring out the thing it thought needed more attention.

    Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of things you can do to minimize these intrusions and the problem isn’t as bad as it used to be, but Windows still has more bloatware than console firmware. Which either creates bottlenecks or requires more thought and likely effort from the user to rectify. In addition, Windows has a higher tendency for applications to go rogue or wig out. This is attributable merely to the fact that it’s a computer OS and is designed to be far more malleable. While the flexibility is tremendous for those who know how to shape their machine, a flexible OS will always be more likely to have unintended diversions.

    And never forget, without software/firmware, a machine is nothing but a pile of parts. I know this sounds patently obvious, but in a console firmware is telling that pile of parts how to orchestrate commands and synchronize commands between the pile of parts. A computer OS is doing the same thing, but isn’t optimized for any given task. An OS will work with the pile of parts undoubtedly, but has not been optimized to synchronize between the parts you’ve put together. I’m not saying it CAN’T be optimized to function at the same level but it can’t be COUNTED ON to do so out of the box merely by matching specs. If the system behind the specs isn’t juggling resources in the same way then matching pile of parts A to pile of parts B will not result in the same performance. Simply put, Windows does not juggle resources the same way Xbox Firmware will and cannot be counted on to match performance for gaming. Again, you likely can MAKE it do it, but the safer route will always be to build a Windows machine that exceeds the specs of the console machine. Or count on tinkering which raises the effort investment.

    Unless everything in the machine building world has been completely ironed out in the not quite decade I used to do so on a decent basis, it’s also true that home building intrinsically add elements of chaos. It’s not just parts and overall OS, but drivers and other add ons that need to be considered when building a machine. CPU A might be a match for CPU B on benchmark tests, but one has been tested with the rest of the parts in a controlled and identical fashion. Whereas the other has been tested with SIMILAR setups, but cannot account for the near infinite number of possible configurations you can introduce it to via homebuild machines. PC is more susceptible to instability issues or require the user to install fixes after the fact or go through a settings optimization period to really get the most of a particular game.

    What I’m getting at is that it’s nearly impossible to make a pile of PC parts that matches the benchmarks of a console and guarantee it will meet or exceed console performance. There’s too many extra layers to a PC that make that problematic. You CAN match, but there’s decent odds it won’t completely match or will require a good chunk of back end work that might have to occur over and over again each time you install a game.

    That’s why I say, if you want to match console performance you’re always better off exceeding the console raw stats by a decent bit.

    And finally, I’ll reiterate I agree with the premise. For most people I think if you’re talking console or PC you’re talking a somewhat big purchase. With that in mind, if you can sell a feature set or other benefits you can market a little bit higher price. If you were selling me a PC and could come in about $100 more than the console but your machine was clearly superior not “close match” I think you’d make a good amount of sales. And I’m confident that with a little time you can give me a machine that’s clearly superior to the One X for about $100 more. And if you give me that clearly superior machine, then the zone where you can guarantee same or better performance increases. It goes from “could match performance…assuming you don’t have any bloatware, no superfluous start up applications, your drivers all play nicely together and the game you want to play doesn’t create any unanticipated bottlenecks or inefficiencies on its own” to “should match performance by hitting the ‘on’ button.”

  6. When I say a gaming mouse, I just mean a mouse with more than two buttons. Extra buttons would really make some games easier to play.

    I mostly wanted a buy parts and do it yourself comparison to what I was looking at. Yes I have been looking a while ago before, but then I got side tracked by other things such as a gaming depression that I still don’t know the cause of, so I sort of gave up for a while. Thank you.

  7. >
    There are 2 routes here. Everything current gen, or a mix of whatever will get the best price/performance ration.

    GTX 1070 for 449
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487259&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=” rel=”nofollow

    i5 6500 for 170
    https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Skylake-Desktop-Processor-BX80662I56500/dp/B010T6CWI2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498022568&sr=8-1&keywords=Intel+Core+i5-6500” rel=”nofollow

    MSI h100m LGA 1151 mother board for 45
    https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Skylake-Motherboard-Certified-Refurbsished/dp/B01N1P0QR7/ref=sr_1_18?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1498026660&sr=1-18&keywords=msi+lga+1151” rel=”nofollow

    16 GB of 3000mhz ram for 115
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313807&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=” rel=”nofollow

    random cheap case because expensive cases are a waste of money, 35
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J0NZ3Q4/?tag=pcpapi-20” rel=”nofollow

    Cooler Master 550w power supply for 45
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171098&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=” rel=”nofollow

    Asus AC55BT wireless adaptor for 32
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320293” rel=”nofollow

    Toshibat 1tb 7200 rpm hdd for 45
    http://www.outletpc.com/kf6944-dt01aca100-toshiba-1tb-hard-drive.html?utm_source=kf6944-dt01aca100-toshiba-1tb-hard-drive&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=pcpartpicker&utm_content=Toshiba%2B-%2BHard%20Drives%20%26%20SSD%20%3E%203%2E5%22%20SATA%20Hard%20Drives” rel=”nofollow

    Any random optical drive is more or less fine. They’re 15 to 20 bucks if all you care about is cd/dvds.

    Unless you’re into serious competitive gaming then gamimg mice are a waste of time and money, but if you must then here’s one for 33.
    https://www.amazon.com/Cougar-MO-C550IG-Wired-Optical-Iron-Grey/dp/B0188P987E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498021119&sr=8-1&keywords=cougar+300m” rel=”nofollow

    Gaming keyboards are an even bigger waste of money (seeing as unless you have a 100+ dollar mechanical keyboard they’re exactly the same but with some lights,) even if you are into serious competitive gaming so I’m just not including one. Here’s a regular keyboard. for $6
    https://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Slimline-Corded-Keyboard-99201/dp/B017M4IX8W/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1498021548&sr=8-16&keywords=keyboard” rel=”nofollow

    And here is what you should actually use to play games because it has a joystick under the thumb mapped to WASD, so your fingers can focuse entirely on non-movement commnds, for $20
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Razer-Tartarus-Gaming-Keypad-with-green-backlight-/201957815841?hash=item2f059fb621:g:8~cAAOSw-89ZRU4p” rel=”nofollow

    The total, assuming I did it right, is $1020 USD after mail in rebates. (if you have $1000 to spend I figured you could handle the extra 20. Skip lunch for a couple days if you must.)

    1440p/60 fps will generally be the best you’ll get at max settings, and you’ll manage 4k/30 with few compromises most of the time.

    Please tell me you actually intend to buy something like this instead of wasting like an hour of my life just to see if I’d do it. I know you were in the market for a computer but I also know that was a month or 2 ago.

  8. 1000$

    New preferably

    Must have a disc player/burner (though not blue-ray) and wireless capabilities.

    Also need a gaming mouse and keyboard

    Go

  9. Lol. If anyone lives in the US and actually wants a PC build, if they tell me their budget, wether or not they’re ok with used parts, and any other requirements I’d be more than happy to give them a list of parts and links to everything at the prices I mention. It only takes maybe an hour to hunt things down once you know what you’re looking for and where to look, barring some crazy sale on some obsucre site or something.

    Because this is the internet and everybody benchmarks everything, I’ll also be able to tell you more or less what to expect performance wise, possibly with video proof because lots of said benchmarks make their way to youtube.

    Not that I’m really expecting requests, but if anyone has them feel free.

  10. How Fex builds a strong PC:

    1. Go to shop
    2. Tell shop dude “build me the best gaming PC you can build for XX moneys”
    3. Wait at home to deliver

    How Fex buys gaming Consoles:

    1. Send message to shop dude “I want a PS4 Pro!”
    2. Wait at home to deliver

    Morale of the story:
    1. Find nerdy tech person
    2. Befriend nerdy tech person
    3. ???
    4. Profit!

  11. >
    That’s not really true? Maybe it was at one point, but it’s not now and hasn’t been for a while. Unless you know something I don’t (which is possible.)

    Windows 8 (and also windows 10) eats ~ 2 gb of ram in 64 bit (the one you should have if you’re gaming.) I’m usiing 3.2 GB right now, but 750 mb of that is Firefox, meaning if I close the browser I’m down to 2.5 Gb in use (with everything necessary to run games being open.) I’ll screenshot my task manager for you if you’d like.

    The Xbox One X only gives developers access to 9 of it’s 12gb of ram meaning the OS/background stuff is using 3 gb, which puts it about in line with what windows takes.
    (source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/06/08/xbox-scorpio-extra-gigabyte-of-ram-unlocked-for-developers” rel=”nofollow)

    As far as CPU usage, it’s negligable (my CPU is currently at 3% and firefox is 1.5 of that) and HDD usage is 0%, nothing is being written or read by the OS. Windows 10 is roughly the same, arguably less intensive.

    The current consoles are all X86 boxes, and while the OS is locked down it still has to be able to do the same kinds of things with the same kinds of parts in the same kinds of environments, so the overhead is pretty similar. Like, if this was PS2 days with no web browser, no music player, no text/voice chat, nothing to install or read from an internal HDD and all that jazz, you’d almost certainly be correct. Sadly, as far as I know, that’s not the case anymore.

    Now, if you don’t know what you’re doing and you have 50 different unnecessary programs that run on start up you can *absolutely* eat lots of resources and get worse performanve with the same hardware, which may well explain why you had the experience you had, but that’s both easy to avoid and a quick fix. (go to the startup menu in the task manager and start disabling things that don’t need to run on startup.)

  12. There’s a more fundamental issue for me. Building a PC with similar raw stats is unlikely to match a console. Software has to be a bigger consideration. Windows in particular will eat up resources more than console firmware will.

    Now I know there’s ways to get that back to some degree, but never fully in my experience.

    To be fair, I actually agree with the overall premise. You can build a powerful machine pretty cheap and get great results. If you’re into shopping and scouring, you can take your money and be ahead of consoles for about the same cash. I still think there’s enough going for consoles for me to stay entrenched on that side personally, but money isn’t a major barrier between the two

  13. You realize I make dirt for money right?
    I’ll rephrase. If you buy a PC this way (deliberately matching console specs) your PC will continue, unupgraded, to play everything the console will at similar levels of quality. Also XBL/PSN cost money, which means the PC is cheaper (at least in the US and much of the EU) if you go that route. Upgrading is not a factor unless you want it to be, and as I’ve already broken down in great detail if you bought a much more expensive computer when the Xbone launched you could have a PC more powerful than the Xbone X/PS4 Pro are now for less than the cost of upgrading to the new system+ the subscription fees (granted all that cost would have been front-loaded.)

    I don’t continually upgrade. No reason too. As I said, if you bought a really nice computer in 2013 it would still be better than the Ps4 Pro/ Xbone X, which means that computer would still be doing 1080p/60fps (or 4k/30 if that’s what you want) right now. Did you upgrade to the PS4 because it’s slightly faster than the Xbone? Did you buy a PS4 Pro because it’s significantly faster than the Xbone? Or were you more or less fine with the level of performance you had and so saw no reason to upgrade? Why would it be different just becasue it’s PC parts instead of consoles?

    Because you’re getting other exclusives? Because you already have an Xbone so you’ll still be able to play those games?

    Also

    Limiting it to gaming and directly related things:
    Mods (and mods that can do far more as is the case with what few console games have them)
    Custom Shaders
    Free online
    Games in genres that don’t really work on consoles (Pillars of Eternity, Age of Empires, most MMOs?)
    Backwards compatability dating back to the 1960s.
    The ability to choose if I want a game to run at 4k/ 1080p or anywhere in between at whatever framerate I can manage so I get what is the best experience for me (Pillars of Eternity and Xcom get 4k/30, Dark Souls 3 gets 1080p 60.)
    The ability to chose how I want my games laid out via frontends like Launchbox
    The ability to play most of my old console games without having to hook up another system
    Fan translations so I can play games from other countries that weren’t released in english
    A choice in things like video capture and voice chat software (which have different features.)

    The advantage depends *heavily* on the TV. If you were playing on a TV that had 80ms delay (yeah, they exsist, even modern TVs do that sometimes) and he’s playing on a moniter with a 15 ms dealy, that’s going to be a HUGE difference, wether you’re on a console or on a PC. The difference between 10 and 30 ms? Not so huge unless you’re seriously competitive. That was my point. Also if your brother was playing on a PC and you play on the Xbox, that’s a big factor. (30 FPS vs 60FPS.) There is also the speed of your internet connections and how strong the Wifi is for your Xbox, ping is a big deal in online games.

    Many of the most played games on PC aren’t competitive. The most popular (as in top 3) games are, but the most popular ones on console are too so that’s not really a factor. It’s not any more or less about competitive gaming than consoles are, your perspective is misguided.

    I wasn’t trying to convince you personally, but even so I feel there are strong arguments to be made.

  14. Perhaps. But to me the fact that it’s more likely to happen if i’m playing pc versus playing console is enough for me to not want to risk it.
    I’ve built pc’s myself so I know it’s not really difficult to do. But I feel my point on the conveinence factor still applies.
    I’d say that entirely depends on one’s income. Someone in my position wouldn’t be able to get both a game and an upgrade at the same time.

    Right but my point was that if someone would bother to do gaming on a pc to begin with you’d want to continually upgrade. So i’m looking at the long term here.
    Yeah pc has exclusives of it’s own. I don’t see why that’s mentioned. I brought up exclusives for consoles because (at least imo) this felt like you were trying to sell the idea of switching to pc gaming instead of buying the xbox one x. If they are already a xbox gamer like myself the fact that not all xbox one x games will be playable on pc is a negative regardless of how you spin it.

    Kind of why I was speaking from my perspective. I personally don’t see the point in going for pc gaming unless i’m going to get a super expensive super powerful setup. I don’t see the point in buying/making a rig that is just as good or marginally better than the current gen systems if i’m ditching both exclusives and friends.
    This is the monitor my brother has that I used for a few hours to play for honor :https://www.google.com/shopping/product/14444709826077708707/specs?q=acer+h236hl+specs&oq=acer+23+inch+monitor&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjB-KHnis3UAhUo8IMKHaJLApkQuC8IigE
    compared to my older dynex lcd tv that only goes to 720p and has a 60hz. I noticed a huge change in what I could see and react to.

    My last point wasn’t meant to be misleading. I understand there are casual pc gamers. Just. when I think of pc gaming (so I suppose what i’d be interested in) I see pc gaming and competitive gaming as one in the same. I guess I was arguing from my perspective if you were trying to sell me on the idea of hopping boats to the pc side. And I recognize that my perspective/needs for pc gaming is probably not anywhere close to most other people.

    In the end though I still stand by the fact that (even if I ditch my crazy wants for a pc) I wouldn’t want to switch. due to friends, exclusives, and the potential for more cheaters.

  15. >
    That problem is *greatly* exaggerated.

    Building a PC is like putting together lego. I used to be intimidated by it, but then I had to replace my graphics card and discovered that it’s literally 1 screw and a button. That’s not the exception to the rule either, it’s all designed to be simple.

    I didn’t say consoles weren’t simpler. Though, to be fair, you can just chuck your whole PC ever 6-10 years instead of worrying about what to upgrade when, it’s just a waste of money. (It’s also not so much a worry. 1 upgrade every 3 or 4 years isn’t exactly a pressing issue every time one buys a game.)

    That PC will (likely) outperform the Xbox One X, for one, because it has a better CPU. The CPU matters for maintaining high framerates in a lot of games, so it does have that benefit. You also don’t have to constantly keep up to get a better experience than the PS4 or Xbox One can offer, you only have to match or surpass their specs.

    PC has exclusives that aren’t on the Xbox or PS4. Also I’m not saying “nobody should game on anything but PC ever under any circumstances.” I’m saying I can match the performance of the most powerful console out there for a similar price and with the benefits of PC gaming.

    The point of a PC is customization. In terms of price/performance sure you *can* drop 3000 USD on a PC that is more powerful than your average drag racer, but you can also spend ~150 on a box that primarily plays Esports and new indie games. You can also take a middle ground and rival or surpass console performance/visual quality for similar prices (which is what the build does.) No matter what your machine, you also get to choose what level of performance/ visual quality is right for you. If you’d rather play games at 1080p or 1440p at 60 FPS or with higher settings instead of 4k/30, you get to make that choice instead of having it made for you.

    You don’t need a blueray player. Even if you buy blueray disks, they tend to come with a slip of paper on the inside cover. That’s a code to download and/or stream the movie. You can also buy them in a digital format (though typically that’s at 1080p, 4k typically is only really available via stream.)

    This whole last point is misleading (if perhaps not on purpose.)

    A good gaming PC =/= a PC for competitive gaming. Wildly different things.

    Most people aren’t into serious competitive gaming.
    Most serious competitive games run at much higher framerates on PC (144 FPS) so that’s usually where you should be unless it’s something that’s just always locked to 60 (fighting games, for example)
    If you’re into serious competitive gaming on a console, you should *still* be on a moniter or you’re at an objective disadvantage.

    A good TV will *absolutely* cut it for everyone else, including the casually competitive (IE those that aren’t going to tournaments.)

    Good moniters have 10 ms input lag.
    good TVs have 30 ms input lag. (like mine, a 43 inch 4k LG, which has 33. The product number, if you’re curious, is 43UH6300.)
    bad tvs have 60+ ms input lag.
    Basically all TVs have a 60hz refresh rate, and so do most moniters (most people, an most graphics cards, can’t play modern games at 144 FPS at any resolution)

    So the difference between a good TV and a moniter is actually lower than the difference between a good TV and a bad TV, and if you were planning on using it for gaming you should *already* have a good TV (or a moniter if you wanted to be competitive). If you have a bad TV you’re at such a big disadvantage (wether you’re on a console or a PC) that even being somewhat competitive is off the table to begin with.

    For those reasons, adding the price of a moniter to the PC “because competitive gaming” is unfair, misleading, and poorly represents the experience people are going to have.

    >
    Thank you.

    If consoles were actually plug and play anymore, I might agree. In the era of (extremely slow) mandatory data installs for just about every game and constant firmware updates on consoles though, I definitely don’t. Yeah I have to spend ~30 minutes building the PC and ~20 letting windows install, but after that the “plug and play” experience is comparable. Steam and GOG are faster than the PSN and XBL and also do everything automatically so one could argue it’s better (in terms of plug and play functionality) because it’s quicker to download and the better CPU makes it quicker to install.

  16. >

    well i’m personally for the xbox one x. Just because of my friends and exclusives.
    I tried to be factual about my post though.

  17. >

    Not predictable, but based on previous comments regarding the Xbox vs. PC debate, your pro Xbox opinion about this article was foreseeable, and the fact that this article was, like a bunch of others on the internet, basically about how you really might as well get a PC instead of a Xbox One X for about the same price, you likelihood of commenting should you see this topic was, to me, almost definite.

  18. I like your write ups for these builds. Really makes me want a PC again.

    I think the main thing is that people don’t want to build a PC, troubleshoot it, install everything, or pay someone else to do it when they can just drop the same (roughly) amount of money on a plug n play system.

    To each their own. I prefer the plug n play systems, because that’s what I have time for (and money for).

  19. Eh. I appreciate the research done for this. But as always I don’t think it’s as cut and dry when trying to decide between console and pc.
    PC in general has more issues with hackers/cheaters. which is a thing.
    Also even though you “can” go get the parts easily you still gotta build it yourself unless you wana pay someone to do it.
    Consoles are still an attractive option because people don’t have to do that. Nor do they have to worry about which part to upgrade when. They can just wait awhile and get the next system for console.
    Also (at least in my opinion) I don’t see the point of having a gaming pc unless you literally go all out. get the best you can afford. upgrade as often as possible. The whole reason to own a pc imo is for better performance. if you’re not constantly keeping up with that why bother. This ends up costing you more money in the long run.

    Then there are exclusive titles. If ever xbox one x title was slated to go to PC then the argument to push people to PC would be even stronger. But so far from what we’ve seen not everything coming to the xbox one x is a play anywhere title. And friends. I have a well established group of people i play with. I would miss out on them if I moved to PC gaming exclusively.

    Oh and lastly your setup doesn’t include the 4k blue ray player. and it assumes someone has a decent viewing screen already. So it’s already not meeting xbox one x as far as the player is concerned which does bump your price. Tv wise…well. Again. if you’re going to go try and have a good gaming pc a standard tv will not cut it. (unless you’re a pve only/solo kind of player I guess.) most tv’s these days (unless specifically stated otherwise) have poor refresh rates. Not noticable enough for standard player but a world of difference if you’re into competitive play. So they’d need to shell out at least around another 130$ USD (at least in my area) for a decent monitor.

  20. you are missing a 4k blue ray player so your pc build is to expensive. keep on moving on trying to say you can build one. NEXT

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