PC Gaming Rigs

Hey,

I believe that the biggest factor holding back PC gaming is the cost. Even a mediocre PC costs around $800. You can build a decent rig or get a pretty good deal on a custom made PC for around $1,500. Then there are the high end rigs that can cost upwards of $5,000. A PS3, the most expensive of the consoles from this generation, costs only $400 making it much more attractive to most consumers.

The thing about a console is that it really only lasts for the current generation. After the next generation comes out your console is no longer supported by the majority of developers. The good games are still good but you will never get anything new and the console has no other purpose than to play games. A PC does thousands of different things.

My gaming rig is around 5-6 years old. I have had one hard drive failure and I upgraded the ram and graphics card 2 summers ago for $200. When I bought the computer it cost $1,500 with a monitor. I already had speakers and I have purchased a new monitor for $500 3 years ago. So in total I have spent around $2,200 on a piece of equipment that I mainly use to play video games. This seems a little ridiculous considering I could spend significantly less and get basically the same experience.

Yet for some reason there are thousands of people out there that continue to play video games on their computers. Some exclusively play video games on their computers and some play on both consoles and computers. I am strong proponent of PC gaming but also have a strong respect for consoles. The PC gaming market lately has been struggling on though despite all the odds.

I think that the gaming rig has a certain allure to it, especially if you build it yourself. You start to feel attached to it and you can really customize it. Every PC you turn on is just slightly different while every console is almost completely identical. Having a fast PC is also a hobby similar to cars. Some people constantly mod and upgrade different parts to see how far they can push their machine.

I'm not really sure where I wanted this post to go when I started writing it. It kind of ended up being a short summary of PC gaming rigs without any real insights into anything. I guess my point was that PC gaming does exist regardless of any real rational reasoning. It will probably go on forever as a hobby but it could shrink to insignificance. MMOs right now are almost solely played on PCs but eventually they will be adapted for console play. RTS's and FPS have already made the transition.

That was more of a ramble than anything very insightful but my rambling thoughts count as thoughts too.

Cyaz