Upgrade PC or Buy Xbox 360?

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Mišt
Meh...I suppose a few people here will probably be wondering the same thing...so Ill make it a poll and people can throw in their 2 cents...

So the question:

Should I upgrade my PC or buy a 360?

It will cost me approximately the same either way. All I need for my PC is a new graphics card, which is going to set me back about $550. The rest of my hardware is perfectly fine for running all games on high res with full graphical options. I dont really need a new graphics card, but I plan on buying Oblivion, and I want it to run flawlessly. At the moment, Im most likely going to have a low framerate and have to turn down a few options.

Or I could buy a 360, which will cost me about $650 for the full system and run games flawlessly anyway.

Add about $100 for Oblivion for both options.

Im more of a PC gamer, I prefer mouse and keyboard gaming, and I dont have a good enough net connection yet for Xbox Live, so thats not really a swaying factor. Add to that, I already have half the 360 games on my PC like CoD2 and Quake 4 etc...so really, come launch day in a week, there'd be only a couple of games I'd get. On the flipside, theres not really a lot of PC games coming out Im interested in getting after Oblivion.

So my dilemma...

Can anyone who owns a 360 give me reasons to buy one? Or can anyone with a high end PC give me reasons to upgrade? And anyone else...just chuck in an opinion.

H. S. 6
I would say the 360, but that may not amount to much coming from a console gamer.

While the sum of money required for the 360 may be a bit higher now when compared to the upgrades for the PC, soon you'll need to upgrade again, and then again, and again.... and again.

And if somewhere along the line you don't want to update/don't have the money, hell, you'll have an outdated computer and no 360. erm


My 2 cents. happy

JKozzy
I'd say upgrade the PC. Instead of getting any next-gen systems in the next year or two, I decided to do that. My PC is my next-gen system, and I'm proud to say that it has better graphics and capabilities than a 360. That and the fact that you'll only get a 360 by paying an arm, leg, and your firstborn to an ebay auctioner, the PC stuff is more readily available, and much more... established. I have seen zero games for the 360 that would sway me to shell out money for it, PC on the other hand, I feel has some exciting stuff going on.

Zen2nd
Depends. Is there games on the Xbox 360 that you really want to play but aren't on the PC?

The only advantage of the 360 is the headset. As it's easy to use and everyone has one and makes for more interesting games.

If I hadn't my friends on Xbox Live I would have probably just upgraded my PC.

H. S. 6
Yeah, depends what you're into, mainly.

Like the Live aspect of things? Go for the 360.

If you're a PC gamer, though, obviously, go for the upgrades for your PC.

Stalker 360
upgrade ur pc mate iv got a 360 and games out at the moment aint anything special quake 4 call of duty 2 and elder scrolls are for the pc aswell so id go with that seems thee the best so far

forumcrew
your prices are a little to high man. you shouldnt need to spend 650 for the 360

and for no more than $350 you can get the 7800 GT pci-express card

what sort of $550 graphics card are you looking at? And can your MOBO support pci-xpress because if not, you may not want to get a top of the line card yet, be a bit wastefull.

WrathfulDwarf
It really is up to you. I quite frankly don't want to keep spending hundreds of dollars to keep upgrading my pc. My PC is running fine without some many damn upgrades. I also don't play many games for the PC unless something really great is coming. I'm also one of the many that are swept by the wave of the new generation consoles. So I would suggest you get a 360 or PS3.

KENobi™
Originally posted by forumcrew
your prices are a little to high man. you shouldnt need to spend 650 for the 360

and for no more than $350 you can get the 7800 GT pci-express card

what sort of $550 graphics card are you looking at? And can your MOBO support pci-xpress because if not, you may not want to get a top of the line card yet, be a bit wastefull.

You have to realize the $ amount he posted is in Australian currency. $650 AUD for the 360 is about the same we had to pay in USD.

At the moment Mist, I say upgrade your PC. Most of the games for 360 are coming out on PC as well, and you yourself said you prefer keyboard and mouse. Until more original games come out, wait for the price to drop.

Smasandian
Originally posted by H. S. 6
Yeah, depends what you're into, mainly.

Like the Live aspect of things? Go for the 360.

If you're a PC gamer, though, obviously, go for the upgrades for your PC.

The PC also has "live" type of community. It started the whole internet gaming cycle.

People forget what so great about PC gaming is that you can literally buy one game, and play that one game for the next 5 years from modicications made from that game.

Most big name games that come out on the PC always have some sort of mod community afterwords. If you buy HL2 as of right now, the mod community is just starting to get full swing into new games that independent people make. Heck, CS, TFC, DoD and countless other mods are a blast to play, and you dont have to pay a single cent.
Also, unlike console games, PC gamers are generally cheaper to buy. If you look around enough you can find some really great deals on games that are amazing and they cost 15 CAN.

But its more of personal choice between both, if you love console gaming, get an 360, if you love PC gaming, upgrade your computer, and you dont need to upgrade every year.

ESB - 1138

BackFire
Upgrade the PC. Some huge PC exclusive titles coming out this year. Plus the only big 360 game that's coming out any time soon (oblivion) is also coming out for the PC.

Mist, what graphics card do you currently have, and what card are you thinking of buying?

Mišt
@ HS6 - If I upgrade now, I wont have to worry about anymore PC hardware until at least the next console wave. At the rate that PC stuff is coming out (pretty damn slow....the fastest CPU you could get is like 3.8 now, there hasnt been much improvement over the last 2 years) so I wont have to fork out over and over, like I said the PC right now is pretty much as high as I can get it. Either way, I'd have to upgrade my PC or buy a next gen console in the next 5 or so years.

@ JK - I've got enough money for either purchase, so it doesnt bother me, but if I get a 360, I can run all the games perfectly until the next wave of consoles comes out.

@Z - Theres a few titles I'd love to have, like Perfect Dark, that I cant get on PC. But of course, theres going to be PC games I'd love to have that I cant get on 360..

@ Stalker - True, but then you can get cool sports games and so on on consoles that are more fun to play when you're mucking around at home with friends and so on. My brother's computer is obselete now, so he cant play any of the games Ive got across a network, so we could really only play together over a console.

@forumcrew - Yeah as Ken said, different currency. And my mobo has PCI express, so Im good for anything really. The 7800GT is what Im looking at getting as well.

@ WD - I dont upgrade that often, I dont even think I've upgraded anything since I bought it last year. But my graphics card is the only thing holding me back from playing games at their full potential. Other than that, I'd probably only need a new harddrive over the next few years. I could spend hundreds of $ upgrading, but I'd also be spending the same amount buying games and periphals for a console, so its really a heads or tails choice of what to do.

@Ken - Does the 360 have a keyboard and mouse? Or can you get a usb converter or something to plug in a PC K&M? Yeah I've got a few of the 360/PC ported games, but the exclusive titles dont look like I could pass them up.

@Smas - True...I played through Jedi Outcast, then kept playing it for years through all the mods and so on I downloaded.

@ESB - Im more of a PC gamer, but I still have an XBox, and thrashed the crap out of my N64 while I had it. It's not as simple as that for me, theres games on both 360 and PC that look fun to play. I have GTA: SA on both PC and Xbox, but I play it on Xbox because it feels better as a console game. But I have Morrowind on both, and prefer it on PC because it feels awkward on Xbox.

@BF - I havent been looking too far into PC games after Oblivion, so Im not sure what kind of games I'd be making use of the new graphics card with. Given how huge and everything Oblivion is, I see that as a perfect excuse to spend so much money on a graphics card, because I'd get so much use out of it. If it weren't for that game, I probably wouldnt worry about upgrading for another year or so.

At the moment Ive got the 128mb GF 6600, I'd be upgrading to the 256mb GF 7800GT. You said you got about 15000 3d mark score on it? Thats about 3x the performance improvement I'd see upgrading from my old card. So it'd be a massive difference for me, well worth it.



Ouch, mega post messed

SaTsuJiN
Originally posted by JKozzy
I'd say upgrade the PC. Instead of getting any next-gen systems in the next year or two, I decided to do that. My PC is my next-gen system, and I'm proud to say that it has better graphics and capabilities than a 360. That and the fact that you'll only get a 360 by paying an arm, leg, and your firstborn to an ebay auctioner, the PC stuff is more readily available, and much more... established. I have seen zero games for the 360 that would sway me to shell out money for it, PC on the other hand, I feel has some exciting stuff going on.

I second that big grin

unless you see a game that you really cant live without.. dont worry about 360.. just upgrade...

I'm personally waiting for revolution.. I wanna try out the motion tracking controller badly eek!

stunna1773
pc

BackFire
You have a PCI Express slot? If so the 7800 you'd get would be better than the one I have. I have the AGP one, the PCI-E one is noticeably faster.

JKozzy
I went from my old computer with an AGP slot to my current build which has a PCI-E-x16 slot on it, and I've been very happy with my card (MSI Radeon x800 256mb). PCI-E really is much faster.

forumcrew
be warned on the 360 the mouse/keyboard isnt supposed to be for gaming but for forms and such.. atleast what ive heard so far, as they release MMO's this could change.

PVS
get the 360....right...........NOW!!!!! GOGOGOGOGOGOGO!!!!!!!!!

Stalker 360
and why would he make that silly misttake PVS ???

El_NINO
I would wait until the PS3 and Rev have come out.. you never know, It may be worthwhile to get one of those than to upgrade a pc

Mišt
Neither of those have Oblivion though. That's pretty much the sole purpose of me spending so much money, I want to have that game running perfectly.

But anyway, I've been thinking about it, and I'll probably upgrade the PC. I'll see if my brother wants to trade in the old Xbox and games, and we could get a 360 cheaper then, but Ill wait a few months until more games come out.

Mišt
I just bought a 512mb 7800GT PCI-e card for $100 less than what a 360 would cost me, so Im pretty happy about that. And I've paid off my Oblivion pre order, so Im set for hardcore gamingraver

DarkC
PC.

El_NINO

Darth Jello
the 360 is glitchy, self destructive, and still uses CD/DVD technology. Upgrade your computer and start saving up for a Blu-Ray drive, a PS3, and a Nintendo Revolution. DVDs/CDs will be gone in just a few years.

crazy_shadow

Mišt
Different currency dude wink

I've already got my graphics card so I wont be looking at a 360 until the price drops probably when the PS3 comes out later this year..


And yeah, you cant expect a 360 not to overheat with 3 3ghz chips, plus the video card chip messed

JKozzy
Originally posted by crazy_shadow
wrong, their on dual layer dvd's which can carry up to 9GB - 12GB. dvd's carry up to 4.5GB.
Right.. DVD9 is NOT made to hold HD gaming content, which the 360 is boasting as its main selling point. Discs much larger, i.e. blu-ray (50 gigs) are going to be much more suitable for HD content. Higher definition content requires much more space. Current PS2 games have either spanned two DVD's or an entire DVD9.

crazy_shadow
Originally posted by JKozzy
Right.. DVD9 is NOT made to hold HD gaming content, which the 360 is boasting as its main selling point. Discs much larger, i.e. blu-ray (50 gigs) are going to be much more suitable for HD content. Higher definition content requires much more space. Current PS2 games have either spanned two DVD's or an entire DVD9. yes i know they carry a shiz load more. but the thing that gets me, do you have any idea how long it will take to make a video game THAT big? Tons of time. My guess on the games for max size will be around 10-12 GB for a while. maybe a couple years after they'll have 20GB or so. but I don't think they'll be having 50 for a while.

Besides the PS3 will be running on only 1 core running at 3.2Ghz. the 360 runs on 3 at once. it's like saying the 360 has 3 brains and it can process things a lot better and read them easier. having just one core is putting all the things into one and it has to run on all at once instead of sharing with the others. so there will be a high chance for the ps3 to overheat just as well

JKozzy
Originally posted by crazy_shadow
yes i know they carry a shiz load more. but the thing that gets me, do you have any idea how long it will take to make a video game THAT big? Tons of time. My guess on the games for max size will be around 10-12 GB for a while. maybe a couple years after they'll have 20GB or so. but I don't think they'll be having 50 for a while.
Most, if not all 360 games are currently on dual layer DVD. The resolution of HD content is so much larger that, yes, PS3 games would need more media than a DVD9, and I would venture that launch games will be greater than a DVD9.

BackFire

Mišt
Yeah I just found out yesterday about the 7900GT, but no sweat, the 7800GT should get about 17000 3D mark 03 score I read, so Im happy either way. I think the card was about $500 or so, about the same price as the 7900GT but I've already ordered it so meh...it'll still shit on my current 6600 whichever card I'd end up with.

crazy_shadow

Blackdirt

Morridini
Considering the fact that it's 2 years since the last post, I don't think he care anymore.

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