Head To Head: Console Vs. PC. Which Do You Prefer?

Submitted by Christopher Groux; December 28, 2012

Article Index
1. Head To Head: Console Vs. PC. Which Do You Prefer?
2. Better Networking. PC or Console?
3. Better Games. PC or Console?
4. Better Functionality. PC or Console?
5. PC or Console. The Winner.

Page 1 of 5

Category 1: Hardware

I've been reading any and all of the comments on my previous head to head articles, and a lot of you don't seem to like the fact that I base my ratings on systems at least partially on how powerful they are. Thankfully for you I suppose, with a battle like this there are no exact specs that I can measure up to here. The facts are that everybody's computer is probably quite different, so it would be slightly more unfair for me to get that specific. All of that said however, I can still talk about the general premise of what PC hardware entails. In general, you're going to be getting something that has a little more horsepower than your average console, but it's probably going to come at quite the cost. To get decent specs on a computer, I generally think somewhere around $700 is a pretty good sweet spot. The catch is though, you're going to have to keep updating it. Those who game on PC don't mind having to shell out a couple of hundred bucks each year for more RAM and a GPU, but that's certainly not for everyone.

headhardware

Which is why you have consoles. They are a standard piece of hardware that developers continue to support for about ten years. The downside to that is you're not going to get as much raw power so games might not look as slick, but the huge draw is you're saving money. When you pay your $400-600 for a console, you're pretty much set until the next machine comes out. You also don't have to worry about having to replace any hardware yourself either. There is an ease factor about consoles that people love. There's no tinkering with settings, just pop in the game and go? Does that cost effectiveness and simplicity make them a better piece of overall hardware? In my opinion yes, but I can certainly see the other side of the fence.

Winner: Consoles

Next up we'll be talking networks, so please stay connected.

Back - Read Page 2 of this Story >>

Tags: console functionality, console games, networking, pc functionality, pc games, pc hardware, PC vs console

Tell that to the countless people with RROD or YLOD who had to shell out to fix them, most more than once! I went through 3 YLOD Ps3s myself. Consoles can be just fairly costly to maintain. Not to mention PC allows easier game modding and much better graphics. Consoles are great and all (I have both 360 and PS3) but the demographic is 13 - 18 year olds because of simplicity. Real gaming occurs on PC.

# RE: Consoles are money Suckers too — Christopher Groux 2012-12-28 23:26

I think you're shooting a little low on the demographic there but you do make a good point with console malfunctions at ban all time high. I wouldn't even call $700 a high end price though. That's more smack in the middle. $1000 is high end.

# RE: Consoles are money Suckers too — Acid_Snake 2012-12-29 11:45

The main reason consoles break more is because 90% of the time they are being stressed to their max with games, while PCs are most of the time being used by small stuff, having the CPU at about 10 to 30%. But if you were to spend playing on a PC the same time most people spend on a console then that PC will end up just as reliable as the console, maybe even less reliable

# RE: Head To Head: Console Vs. PC. Which Do You Prefer? — dfgs 2012-12-28 20:48

Stop assuming that PC is unreliable and weak.

# RE: Head To Head: Console Vs. PC. Which Do You Prefer? — Akcient 2012-12-28 22:08

If you know what you're looking for, you can easily make the investment for a computer that would cost about the same, perhaps a bit more than a console at launch, and it will be a few years before you really have to make any real upgrade. Not just that, but the computer will serve other functions that you can't get with a console. If you ask me, a computer is more worth the investment, especially considering a lot of the more popular games these days are multi-platform. And you can get a lot more out of your game if you get it for the PC. $700 is really only gonna be the cost if you're looking to get higher-end components. The only time you really need a good CPU for a game is if you're playing an MMO, otherwise an i3 or a Phenom 4x will serve you just fine.

# RE: RE: Head To Head: Console Vs. PC. Which Do You Prefer? — Christopher Groux 2012-12-28 23:28

O agree with a lot of these points, and I make them in the latter half of the article if you've read it People think this article is a bash to PCs for some reason but they were actually tied in the end. You are right though it's all in what you want to buy and how much you're willing to spend. Some like to make the investment, and I certainly won't knock them for doing that.

# PC's are better and cheaper — nSomniac 2012-12-29 02:29

you want a good pc for cheap go to microcenter.com, buy a mid range for $400-$500 (mostly i5 some i7) grab a video card for $130 (gForce 650) and WHAMMO you now have a pc that can beat any game system, double the video card and you will be on par roughly with the specs of the next gen consoles (sadly) my pc puts my ps3 and xbox to shame daily, so much so i havn't turned my ps3 on in months...

# PC FTW! — blitzerking1 2012-12-29 13:57

Those that are technically challenged buy consoles. Those with some knowledge of computers should game on PC. If your poor I guess your only option is a shitty console. If you buy good parts you don't need to upgrade your PC every year like this idiot thinks. My bro still uses a GTX 570 and an old amd CPU and he can play any game on Ultra/high settings. Consoles don't have the cool mods PC has or all the options PC has. You cannot play on 3 tv's at the same time on console but my PC can. Battlefield 3 in Nvidia surround is epic!

# Your post makes me LOL. — your mother 2012-12-29 16:57

How do consoles have better games? Every game console has is on pc, even games only available on select consoles, through emulators. Also in performance pc obviously wins, you can build a $250 pc than throw more money at a GPU to dedicate it to gaming. As well as when you said pc gamers shell out more money every year you're completely wrong. You can play BF3 with a nvidia 8800GTS which is like 4+ years old LOL. Clear winner is pc, it can do anything a console can, even better, and more.

/end

# PC is King — gmo990 2012-12-31 14:57

I grew up on PC as a child, but i made the switch to PS2 and gamecube so on and so forth. Back then the two were similar but nowadays PC shits on Consoles its not even funny. the same game on PC on low settings looks better then the same game on console( which is on low settings). There is no comparison. All that console has going for it are the exclusives

# So misleading — JasonMann 2013-01-01 19:51

LOL a $700 PC would take much more time to get outdated compared to any console. You do realize that they have to reduce texture quality greatly on consoles just to get the game to run nowadays, and you can do the same with a PC if it is aging. I spent about $1600 on a PC and this thing will last me way longer than my PS3 did.

Finally it seems that you know little to nothing about this topic, and you should not be writing articles about it on the internet.

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