Flashback to 2003: I was enjoying TechTV one afternoon; Call for Help with Leo Laporte to be exact. A caller asks Leo, “I want to purchase a PC for gaming but I am on a tight budget, what can you suggest?” Leo slowly walked towards the camera, covered the side of his mouth, as if he did not want the other geeks in the room to hear what he had to say, and whispered: “psssst…. Just buy the Xbox”.
He went on to talk about how much he loved the new Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and how gamers just couldn’t argue with the value Xbox provided dollar for dollar, and how buying a gaming PC at the time provided an awful value proposition compared to the reasonably powerful Xbox.
At that point in 2003, Leo Laporte could not have been more right. If budget was a limiting factor shopping for gaming entertainment, the Xbox provided a far greater value than a game PC at that point because gamer grade PC components were still very expensive relative to the Xbox hardware which only set you back $179 at that point in time. In 2003 the graphics card alone, probably being a 9800 pro or 5800 ultra would cost nearly $400 alone, more than double the cost of the entire console. An Athlon XP 2700+ chip, which would have been a decent choice for a gaming rig at the time, that would have run $300+ alone. In total, in 2003 if someone wanted to build a respectable gaming PC, it was going to total at least $1,500 just for the rig, mouse and keyboard.
Flash forward to 2009: the price of high quality PC components have taken a steep drop. We are seeing PC games that scale much better with existing hardware while still providing a visual experience that is superior to what the current HD consoles can offer, and so now upgrades, while perhaps occasionally desirable, are not required as frequently as they were to keep up with the changes in hardware and software technology. It is a great time to be a PC gamer.
I sell PCs on the side. One of the sales tactics I employ is to show people that building a relatively powerful gaming system as a console replacement is actually much more affordable than they thought it was. I am always surprised at how many people still think a serviceable gaming system starts with that $1,800 Alienware.
I was interviewed by Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal in Feb. I enjoyed the piece, but felt that the message was still skewed to the old paradigm that gamer PCs need to cost a small fortune. My conversation with Mr. Clark was an attempt to emphasize that PC component prices have fallen so sharply that PC’s are now the best value in gaming, offering more than any console could currently deliver.
Let’s have a discussion about where we are at today in terms of value per platform when you compare a nicely appointed gaming PC against an Xbox 360.
First a few ground rules.
- This is simply an attempt to display the added value of the PC as a gaming platform. It is not intended to be the end all argument for which platform you ultimately prefer. They all have merits, they all have certain exclusive content. The only mission here is to dispel the common misinformation that gaming on PC costs far more than gaming on console.
- This comparison is not intended to compare the merits of the Nintendo Wii, DS or Sony PSP as wonderful as they are, they do not belong in this discussion. Those are differentiated platforms that offer something different than the hardcore HD gaming experience. We choose to compare the Xbox360 vs. Games for Windows because those platforms best mirror each other.
- To be fair to the console, let’s not factor in things like displays and surround speakers for each platform. Yes, the PC has less expensive display and speaker tech for a close proximity experience, but it does not necessarily preclude anyone from purchasing a home theater, so those peripherals are not a valid part of the value comparison. Point being, you will likely have a TV set, a computer monitor, and speakers for each regardless.
- Each platform should be viable for at least two years. We don’t own a crystal ball, but it seems likely that if you buy a 360 today, it will at least be a good two year investment, and the PC’s spec should be a viable gaming platform that offers a visual experience superior to the console for games released over the next two years.
- Assumptions are that on either platform is being purchased for a single hardcore gamer that will do the vast majority of their multi-player gaming online.
- Prices reflect sales at the time I purchased the components, but do not take into account any mail-in rebates.
So, here, we, go…
I built this particular system for a customer. Let’s just start by talking about the hardware and included OS.
- Cooler Master Case $50
- 80 Plus Power Supply $60
- AM3 based ATX motherboard $80
- Athlon II CPU $80
- 4GB DDR3 RAM $60
- ATI Radeon 4870 Graphics $127
- Hard Drive $55
- Optical Drive $28
- Windows OS $110
- OCZ Gaming Mouse $30
- OCZ Keyboard $25
- PC 360 Gamepad $35 (To be fair to the console, if you play racing, platform or arcade games, you need a pad)
- Gaming Headset $10
Total: $750 for all the PC hardware and peripherals you need for a great HD gaming experience.
Now the console side. First, let’s be real about what the Xbox 360 is; it’s a great unit for playing games, and for home entertainment, but it cannot fully replace a person’s need for a personal computer. Everyone needs a computer, and by reasonable estimation the most basic computers for internet browsing, email, chat, and office tasks still cost around $400. You could spend a little less, but if you want hardware that does not make you want to chuck it out the window each time you boot it up, $400 is a reasonable base price for a budget home PC.
- Basic PC approximately $400
- Xbox 360 Pro – Includes console, controller, headset, hard drive. – $300
- Xbox Live 2 Years – $100
Total: $800 just to have all the hardware you need to equal the required functionality of the gaming PC.
On to software:
According to this 2007 study, an avid console gamer buys 1.9 new titles every quarter, which is about 15 games over two years. The cost of new console releases have been inflated to $60 to help subsidize the low hardware cost. $60 x 15 = $900 for two years’ worth of games on the 360. Alternately you can buy titles on PC for less. PC new releases are commonly between $40 and $50. A $45 average per new PC title is a valid assumption. $45 x 15 = $675 for PC gamers, a net difference of $225 over two years.
Let’s also assume that PC gamers have the luxury of shopping over a download service like Steam. Benefits include games always being “in stock”, not to mention saving time, shipping, and transportation costs; they are also tax free.
Sales Tax and transportation costs per game; assuming a 6% national average = $3.60 per new console title, plus $3 shipping or gas to obtain each, comes to a rounded two year total of $99 over two years that PC gamers can bypass.
Microtransactions that are typically free on PC (map packs): CoD4, CoD WaW, GoW are all 800 points (about $10) each. If you do that on two titles a year, over two years, thats another $40. An upcoming example is going to be the release of new Left 4 Dead content. Console gamers are paying for additional content that PC gamers get for free.
Finally, I’m going to tally the total cost of ownership over a two year period.
Xbox 360 gamers pay $1839 over two years.
PC gamers pay $1425 over two years.
Over two years, you actually save 23% on your gaming budget by building a reasonably decent gaming PC and skipping the console altogether, all while getting a superior visual experience.
So the final question is this. How well does the listed budget gaming PC play games?
Games were benchmarked using FRAPS. In each case I took a ten minute sample from game play, each game listed was set at full HD resolution (1920X1080), at least comparable and often better than most console games. Every slider was put to its highest setting, then anti-aliasing at 2X and anisotropic filtering at 8X, which delivers a smooth, jaggy-free image at that resolution without over softening. In short, 100% visual bliss.
Left 4 Dead: Blood Harvest yielded an average frame rate of 77 fps. Very impressive.
Call of Duty World at War: Burn em Out yielded 51 fps average, minimum frame rate never dipped below 35, impressive for such a demanding level at its highest possible detail.
Race Driver GRID: 80 fps, everything maxed. Fast, and looks fantastic.
To conclude, as a long time PC gamer, I often felt like a bit of a snob. The cost to justify the best possible visual experience was sometimes difficult to justify to my console gaming friends, so much so that I left the hobby for a little while to game with them on Xbox live. Times have changed, the paradigm has shifted, and it is now more economical than ever to game on PC.