Genuine question, could you make a PC that can perform as well as the PS5 Pro for $700?
I’ve built many computers for work over the years, but never my own gaming PC. I’m starting to plan one and I have no idea what I do and do not need, performance-wise. Like, I know I don’t need a 4090, but how cheap is too cheap to get good performance?
If you’re willing to buy at least some PC parts used (like the GPU and maybe CPU) you could probably build a very competitive machine for the same price. Maybe even something better. With new parts probably not yet, necessarily. But of course, that depends a little on your local market. Here in Germany for example, a new RX 6800 (the equivalent GPU, according to IGN) alone would be roughly ⅔ of a PS5 Pro, while a used one is a little less than half the price. You probably need to wait a generation or so for new PC parts to be price competitive (as you do with almost every new console release).
However, if you already have an existing PC that you could upgrade (For example you have an earlier generation Ryzen processor and could upgrade to Ryzen 5000 with just a BIOS update and you could sell your current CPU and GPU to get some of your money back when buying something more powerful), you could likely easily beat it. That’s the actual power of having a PC. You can stretch $700/800€ quite far, if you don’t have to buy a new case, RAM, PSU, storage and/or motherboard.
The proper metric to plan around is longevity, unless you absolutely need performance now.
Performance and cost should be divided by time. Do you think that bit of hardware will be able to support software for the next two years, or five? That is one way to “compute” value, anyway.
A 4090 will eventually be outdated and unable to run new software, but that may not happen for a good number of years. If you want to get super deep, start crunching the numbers on power costs too. It may simply become too inefficient to run, eventually. (Hell, it’s probably super inefficient now, actually.)
I almost always buy top-tier “last-gen” tech, right after “new-gen” is released when I am saving money. When I have the extra cash and it makes sense, top-tier may also be a good investment.
Be honest with yourself and determine what matters most to you and put your money there.
I built a PC with similar specs than a PS5 in the smallest case I could find. The size is similar to a modern console. I payed 1800€, had to make some custom parts and I still saved the money for an OS by installing Nobara Linux.
If you ask me: Nobody can build a PC, similar to a PS5 or XBOX Series, for a competitive price.
Consoles are actually not priced to make a profit, they sell at a loss. They do this because they have a premium on games, and games exclusive to them. On top of this they charge for a variety of services, things that are free for similar games on PC.
PCs’ cost is up front. The cost of a console continues fore the life time of that console. If you have a PS5 for the average cycle to produce a newer version, you will have paid 800 dollars just for the ability to play their games online. That makes it $1500 dollars at this point. This isn’t even including all the other little costs, and average of higher prices for games, the premium price on their devices/accessories, or the cost of the TV, etc.
On top of this you can’t also use your PS5 to work, like you can with a PC, or anything, really, other than gaming, and a select number of things, that you will be able to do with the things you need to have for the console, like a TV.
Thanks! I’m aware of all of that. I don’t need to be convinced that a PC is worth it, I’m just out of my comfort zone.
I was asking because the title was “I could make a great PC for that” and, like I said, I’m planning on building a PC. My usual instinct of “just get the more powerful one” will quickly lead me to financial ruin in the PC world. 😅
I mean, I have a PC that is roughly the same specs, while still being in the general price ballpark. I waited for specials, took advantage of vendor specific price reductions (such as company specific credit card discounts when I had the money to pay outright), bought a couple things second hand, bought two things that were ope box (returned but nothing wrong), and I already had a decent monitor. This, as you probably can tell, was a pain in the ass, but I have a PC that is a little more powerful, with a lot more storage, for just shy of 900 USD, after taxes. So not bad. However I don’t expect normal people to go through that, I kinda enjoy the process.
But the only way to really compare the two is in a holistic manner. Without including the costs of using the console, through its life, it just isn’t a fair comparison.
But the only way to really compare the two is in a holistic manner. Without including the costs of using the console, through its life, it just isn’t a fair comparison.
I totally agree. Part of the reason I’ve not made the leap yet is that gaming has become less and less important of a part of my life, and that initial cost has been enough to dissuade me generally speaking. Also if I’m being honest I really like the “plop down on the couch and use a controller” console experience. But I’m realizing more and more that I just need to bite the bullet and I’ll appreciate it in the long run.
I don’t know what your living space is like, but I have an HDMI cable running from my PC to my TV, and some wireless controllers, for when I feel like sinking into my recliner and just playing.
The real trick is to find a friend that’s a PC gamer and casually mention that you’re considering building a PC. It is out of your hands at that point. The call will go out and spread like the fires of Gondor to everyone they know on Discord. Slowly but surely, used parts will begin to trickle in from others who have recently upgraded their PCs and have pieces they no longer need. A case here. Some old RAM there. A 3-4 year old GPU. Peripherals.
Like hermit crabs changing shells, their old equipment will be passed down to you; the newest convert. Eventually you will have nearly all the pieces needed for a good mid-range gaming PC, to the point where you might as well just get the last few parts to finish it. And then your journey will be complete.
As the years go by and you slowly upgrade your PC like a modern day Ship of Thebes, make sure to save all your old equipment. For there will come a time when you will hear those fateful words, “Hey, my friend is thinking about building a computer…” And the cycle shall begin anew.
I’ve done laptops, they’re fine but you can’t really upgrade them. So they end up costing more in the long run. Also I don’t think I’ve ever spent less than $1000 on a laptop, if I’m being honest.
I like the Steam Deck, and may very well get one at some point, but it’s not what I’m after right now. A major reason I want the new PC is for Microsoft Flight Simulator. I currently play it on the Xbox Series X, and enjoy it very much, but the Xbox doesn’t have support for some of the mods I would like to use that require additional software. Also the XSX runs out of RAM for some of the avionics on newer large planes, which makes flying them nearly impossible. Some of this will be fixed with the optimization efforts in MSFS2024, but not the mod side.
I don’t really feel like trying to get MSFS and my flight stick and pedals running on the Steam Deck. I’m sure it’s doable, but the performance wouldn’t be what I want anyway.
Genuine question, could you make a PC that can perform as well as the PS5 Pro for $700?
I’ve built many computers for work over the years, but never my own gaming PC. I’m starting to plan one and I have no idea what I do and do not need, performance-wise. Like, I know I don’t need a 4090, but how cheap is too cheap to get good performance?
If you’re willing to buy at least some PC parts used (like the GPU and maybe CPU) you could probably build a very competitive machine for the same price. Maybe even something better. With new parts probably not yet, necessarily. But of course, that depends a little on your local market. Here in Germany for example, a new RX 6800 (the equivalent GPU, according to IGN) alone would be roughly ⅔ of a PS5 Pro, while a used one is a little less than half the price. You probably need to wait a generation or so for new PC parts to be price competitive (as you do with almost every new console release).
However, if you already have an existing PC that you could upgrade (For example you have an earlier generation Ryzen processor and could upgrade to Ryzen 5000 with just a BIOS update and you could sell your current CPU and GPU to get some of your money back when buying something more powerful), you could likely easily beat it. That’s the actual power of having a PC. You can stretch $700/800€ quite far, if you don’t have to buy a new case, RAM, PSU, storage and/or motherboard.
The proper metric to plan around is longevity, unless you absolutely need performance now.
Performance and cost should be divided by time. Do you think that bit of hardware will be able to support software for the next two years, or five? That is one way to “compute” value, anyway.
A 4090 will eventually be outdated and unable to run new software, but that may not happen for a good number of years. If you want to get super deep, start crunching the numbers on power costs too. It may simply become too inefficient to run, eventually. (Hell, it’s probably super inefficient now, actually.)
I almost always buy top-tier “last-gen” tech, right after “new-gen” is released when I am saving money. When I have the extra cash and it makes sense, top-tier may also be a good investment.
Be honest with yourself and determine what matters most to you and put your money there.
It also depends on what games you play, I never play any big AAA action games with amazing graphics so I don’t need a crazy gpu
I built a PC with similar specs than a PS5 in the smallest case I could find. The size is similar to a modern console. I payed 1800€, had to make some custom parts and I still saved the money for an OS by installing Nobara Linux.
If you ask me: Nobody can build a PC, similar to a PS5 or XBOX Series, for a competitive price.
Still, I won’t change my PC for any console.
Consoles are actually not priced to make a profit, they sell at a loss. They do this because they have a premium on games, and games exclusive to them. On top of this they charge for a variety of services, things that are free for similar games on PC.
PCs’ cost is up front. The cost of a console continues fore the life time of that console. If you have a PS5 for the average cycle to produce a newer version, you will have paid 800 dollars just for the ability to play their games online. That makes it $1500 dollars at this point. This isn’t even including all the other little costs, and average of higher prices for games, the premium price on their devices/accessories, or the cost of the TV, etc.
On top of this you can’t also use your PS5 to work, like you can with a PC, or anything, really, other than gaming, and a select number of things, that you will be able to do with the things you need to have for the console, like a TV.
Thanks! I’m aware of all of that. I don’t need to be convinced that a PC is worth it, I’m just out of my comfort zone.
I was asking because the title was “I could make a great PC for that” and, like I said, I’m planning on building a PC. My usual instinct of “just get the more powerful one” will quickly lead me to financial ruin in the PC world. 😅
I mean, I have a PC that is roughly the same specs, while still being in the general price ballpark. I waited for specials, took advantage of vendor specific price reductions (such as company specific credit card discounts when I had the money to pay outright), bought a couple things second hand, bought two things that were ope box (returned but nothing wrong), and I already had a decent monitor. This, as you probably can tell, was a pain in the ass, but I have a PC that is a little more powerful, with a lot more storage, for just shy of 900 USD, after taxes. So not bad. However I don’t expect normal people to go through that, I kinda enjoy the process.
But the only way to really compare the two is in a holistic manner. Without including the costs of using the console, through its life, it just isn’t a fair comparison.
I totally agree. Part of the reason I’ve not made the leap yet is that gaming has become less and less important of a part of my life, and that initial cost has been enough to dissuade me generally speaking. Also if I’m being honest I really like the “plop down on the couch and use a controller” console experience. But I’m realizing more and more that I just need to bite the bullet and I’ll appreciate it in the long run.
I don’t know what your living space is like, but I have an HDMI cable running from my PC to my TV, and some wireless controllers, for when I feel like sinking into my recliner and just playing.
The real trick is to find a friend that’s a PC gamer and casually mention that you’re considering building a PC. It is out of your hands at that point. The call will go out and spread like the fires of Gondor to everyone they know on Discord. Slowly but surely, used parts will begin to trickle in from others who have recently upgraded their PCs and have pieces they no longer need. A case here. Some old RAM there. A 3-4 year old GPU. Peripherals.
Like hermit crabs changing shells, their old equipment will be passed down to you; the newest convert. Eventually you will have nearly all the pieces needed for a good mid-range gaming PC, to the point where you might as well just get the last few parts to finish it. And then your journey will be complete.
As the years go by and you slowly upgrade your PC like a modern day Ship of Thebes, make sure to save all your old equipment. For there will come a time when you will hear those fateful words, “Hey, my friend is thinking about building a computer…” And the cycle shall begin anew.
Why build a PC when you can buy a laptop/steamdeck for way less than 700$ instead?
I’ve done laptops, they’re fine but you can’t really upgrade them. So they end up costing more in the long run. Also I don’t think I’ve ever spent less than $1000 on a laptop, if I’m being honest.
I like the Steam Deck, and may very well get one at some point, but it’s not what I’m after right now. A major reason I want the new PC is for Microsoft Flight Simulator. I currently play it on the Xbox Series X, and enjoy it very much, but the Xbox doesn’t have support for some of the mods I would like to use that require additional software. Also the XSX runs out of RAM for some of the avionics on newer large planes, which makes flying them nearly impossible. Some of this will be fixed with the optimization efforts in MSFS2024, but not the mod side.
I don’t really feel like trying to get MSFS and my flight stick and pedals running on the Steam Deck. I’m sure it’s doable, but the performance wouldn’t be what I want anyway.