In recent years the cost of nearly all computer hardware has plummeted. When you can get a powerful quad core processor (Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600) for a mere 260 euros, then you know the time must be right to upgrade! And not just processors have become inexpensive, but the same goes for hard disks, RAM strips, DVD drives, etc. With computer hardware prices at an all-time low, I decided to assemble a new PC gaming system of my own: a state of the art computer with some of the best processing power hardware available today. And all it cost me was 800 euros!

In this entry I’ll highlight the hardware I have purchased and the precise reasons for the low cost of this system. Perhaps more importantly, I’ll explore how you can assemble a system for this kind of price yourself. I’ll also include a slight theoretical cost comparison of this kind of new PC gaming system versus a ‘next-gen’ console. Read on for the full load!

Let’s start with the system I purchased. It’s specs are as follows:

• ASUS P5KC motherboard - € 135,-
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 processor - € 178,-
• Sparkle Geforce 8800 GTX video card - € 499,-
• 2 GB Kingston PC6400 RAM - € 96,-
• Seagate Barracuda 320 GB HDD - € 66,-
• Antec TruePower Trio PSU - € 83,-
• Antec P182 computer case - € 124,-

That totals slightly under € 1200,- for the entire new system, excluding a DVD-player and one further hard disk, which I swapped in from my old PC. So how did I bring the cost down to below € 800,-? Selling my old PC of course, which netted me a nice € 400,-. If you have a PC that is roughly three years old then you’ll be good for a similar amount of money - although in most cases slightly lower - if you sell it. Now certainly € 800,- isn’t cheap, but when you consider that my previous PC, which was not state of the art at the time, unlike this one, cost € 1600,- then you get a slightly different picture. And don’t even begin about the PCs before that, they were a lot more expensive.

So how would you go about purchasing a new gaming rig for this kind of price? Optimally you’d try to find some sort of trustworthy online retailer. Not because it’s easier, but because they tend to be significantly less expensive than regular shops. Don’t worry about having to assemble the PC yourself either, because these shops tend to offer such services for a minimal fee. If you’re Dutch then I’d recommend you try Tweakers.net’s Pricewatch feature for finding good online retailers. Otherwise just Google for an alternative e-shop rating/collection site in your region. Whatever you do, do not purchase a ready made Dell or Alienware gaming system, because they’re totally overpriced and generally feature redundant hardware, like an expensive Geforce 8800 Ultra instead of a GTX.

Tips for Selecting Hardware

Most e-shops offer a service for assembling your own custom PC, which you can then let them assemble and sent to you as one package. This is recommended, but if you’re not very computer-savvy, or still have some questions regarding some of the latests technologies and their advantages, then you might want to take a look at the following tips:

1. Ensure that your motherboard supports your processor, video card and power supply. Things to look out for are the processor socket (which needs to match that of the processor), the video card socket (which needs to be PCI-e or AGP, depending on what type of video card you’re purchasing) and your power supply connector which needs to be the same amount of pins as your main power unit on the motherboard. You’ll also want to make sure that your motherboard is in ATX format, if so then it should fit in pretty much every computer case, although you could always google for the combination to make sure. You might also want to check whether your PSU will fit, some cases (e.g.: the Antec P182) are a very tight fit for some PSUs.
2. Do not purchase the most expensive hardware, assuming that must be better than the less expensive hardware. A Geforce 8800 GTX from Sparkle won’t differ - much - from one by ASUS, so go for whichever one is less expensive or has the best deal (e.g.: lifetime warranty, accessories, games, etc). Also ensure that your video card can fit inside your computer case, especially when purchasing a lengthy Geforce 8800 GTX/Ultra or Radeon HD2900 XT. I had to remove one hard disk bracket from my case to fit the video card.
3. Do not select hardware that has an unknown delivery time, always try to select hardware that is in stock or has low delivery times. I initially selected two pieces of hardware with 14 days delivery time and even now, one month later, the company still doesn’t have them. Meanwhile I’ve had to change my order to more immediately available choices.
4. Do not purchase more than 2 GB of RAM if you’re not going to be using Windows Vista. If you are going to use Windows Vista then 3 GB would be optimal. The 32-bit version of Windows Vista is what you’ll want in that case, and that only recognizes up to 3 GB of RAM.
5. A bigger hard disk is not necessarily better, because some hard disks are faster than others, which can significantly reduce your loading times in everything. Right now there is no reason to go for anything but a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, because it’s incredibly fast and inexpensive. Keep in mind that if you want the fastest possible Barracuda 7200.10 hard disk then you should not go for anything beyond the 320 GB version, because the 400 and 500 GB versions are slower.
6. Decide beforehand whether your PC will be a pure gaming PC or whether you’ll also need powerful hardware for other tasks, such as rendering 3D animations. If you’re just into it for gaming then you’re best off purchasing a dual core processor, like the C2D E6750, because for the moment games do not benefit from quad core processors. If you’re looking for a system that can do other CPU-intensive tasks too, then a quad core processor is recommended. As to what games will require in the future: eventually they’ll likely benefit greatly from quad core CPUs, but not for the next 1-3 years. Even Unreal Engine 3 games will not benefit greatly from a quad core processor versus dual core, according to Lead Programmer Tim Sweeney.
7. Do not purchase an AMD processor, the Intel Core 2 Duos are undeniably better. That might change with the next generation of processors, but for now all you need is Intel when it comes to assembling a high end gaming PC.
8. Don’t waste your money on a Geforce 8800 Ultra, they are not worth it. In essence they are a mildly retouched version of the 8800 GTX, with the main benefit being it’s memory overclock. Even so, performance differences are not very big, whereas the price difference is. A Radeon HD 2900 XT is also an option, but tends to suck a lot more power than an 8800 GTX and performs worse than an 8800 GTX on every front. Another option, if you’re not into high resolution (1600×1200+) gaming is the Geforce 8800 GTS 320 MB, which performs worse but costs significantly less as well.

High End PC Gaming… or a Next-Gen Console?

Aside from the obvious differences in terms of overall functionality and game selections, there is another, less well-documented difference between high end gaming PCs and consoles: cost. At first glance it might seem obvious that a console is less expensive, the initial purchase isn’t nearly as expensive after all. But does that still ring true after incorporating game costs, power consumption, accessories and hardware failures into the equation? Let’s see…

Purchasing my new PC cost me roughly 800 euros after deducting the sales revenues of my old PC. I’m going to split off into two equations here, because you can either opt to sell your old console - Xbox or PlayStation 2 - for maybe 100 euros, but then you lose much backward compatibility, contrary to PC gaming. So I’ll include both situations.

Now you want to get some games. If you’re a PC gamer then you can get the latest games for roughly 30-40 euro, e.g.: I recently purchased BioShock for € 36,-. Continuing with the BioShock example: the lowest price I’ve seen for the Xbox 360 version is 58 euro. That’s a 22 euro difference, which means ten such new games would be enough to cover the gap between my gaming PC and a PlayStation 3… and most new PC games can be found with even lower price tags. Of course the PC also knows many budget releases, a backlog of thousands of older and less expensive games, near-full backward compatibility and bargain bins. I’ve yet to see a bargain bin for console games at my local retailer. Clearly when it comes to the selection of games and their cost the PC is a lot less expensive.

In terms of power consumption and accessories there isn’t really any difference worth mentioning between consoles and PCs. Yes, a high end gaming PC will consume slightly more power when active, but in idle condition (and web browsing or writing in Word counts as idle) tends to consume less. In terms of accessories there isn’t much difference between purchasing a keyboard and mouse or several controllers and both systems need surround speaker sets and headsets, which generally aren’t very expensive. The only major difference could be in form of the Monitor/TV purchase, but let’s save that for some other time and assume we already have both, which most people do.

Lastly there’s hardware failure. Overall, PC hardware tends to be of quality make and last 6 years easily. The only time I’ve ever experienced a hardware failure was when I mistakenly changed a BIOS setting, in other words: user error. You’re unlikely to lose any PC hardware to events out of your control and under any normal circumstances your hardware won’t damage any of your attached equipment either. The PlayStation 3 is comparable to a PC in this regard, at least I’ve yet to hear of major problems with PS3 hardware. Not so for the Xbox 360, which is notorious for breaking down quickly, scratching discs and generally poor build quality. Some of that may have improved with the latest, more expensive, elite version, but that still doesn’t fix the problem in older versions of the console. A lot of Xbox 360 gamers I know have resorted to purchasing several copies of their games, due to their console scratching the discs to the point of becoming unplayable, and many of them have purchased more than one console, due to hardware failure.

So which is it? Console or PC?

PC vs PS3: the price difference is € 200,- to € 300,- (depending on whether you sold your old console). Both feature ‘free’ online play and good build quality. The PC has an immense collection of quality games, the PS3 has very few, but you can play most good PS2 games with it. After purchasing only ten to fifteen new games the PC ends up being less expensive, but if you purchase older or less highly priced PC games that difference melts away even sooner. Unquestionably the functionality of a PC far exceeds anything a PS3 can do and the lineup of games already released and set to be released in the near future is more impressive - and lengthy - on the PC. No one really knows how long the PS3 will last, but 5-6 years is a safe bet. A well-managed PC with a gamer of similar mindset (play things on pretty much same detail for 5-6 years) behind the controls should have the same lifespan, without any upgrades. That’s a pretty clear picture: with the larger game library, less expensive games, multi-purpose functionality & immense offering of free games… the PC is the - significantly - less expensive option in the long run.

PC vs Xbox 360: the price difference is € 350,- to € 450,-. That is assuming you’re purchasing the new and fixed Elite version. Game cost situation is the same as with the PS3, except it’ll take twice as many games to fill up the price gap. This means it’ll take longer for the PC to turn cheaper, but it certainly will for any hardcore player. There are also no guarantees as to whether the new Elite version has actually fixed all the issues that plagued previous Xbox 360 consoles, so you could be looking at expensive hardware failures, which could either cost you your console for a while or part of your game/DVD collection. Of course the points of the PC having a larger game library and whatnot else also apply. As for the casual gamer, I wonder whether they’d be better off with a Xbox 360 console or a budget PC/Nintendo Wii, but that’s something better left for another entry…

Go grab your PC!

If you hadn’t figured it out by now: upgrading your PC seems like the smart thing to do. Not only is it less expensive than ever before, but it can even be less expensive than ‘next-gen’ console gaming in the long run, depending on your preferences. In light of recent announcements and the insanely impressive lineup of upcoming games for the PC it is likely that you’ll wish you upgraded a few months from now.

With that out of the way… You, the enraged console fan, please read the following before you start a flamewar: all I’ve done here is a basic price comparison of PCs and consoles, which was even stacked in favor of consoles from the beginning, by excluding the monitor/TV business from the equation. Even though the results indicate that PC gaming is - eventually - less expensive for hardcore gamers, and even though I’m clearly biased - this being a PC gaming blog and all - the price alone is far from the only reason why some people prefer consoles. There’s a lot more to the PC versus consoles ‘debate’, such as the widely differing genres and control schemes and the vast age difference between the two communities, but that’s not what I intended to cover today, nor did I. It’s merely a financial comparison, so please don’t get too worked up over it. That said: if you have something to add, by all means leave a comment. I’ll do a follow-up eventually that will focus specifically on PC versus console costs, so check back later for more on this topic!

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