Xbox - Series S/X: Thread 01

[dataDave]

I presume your gaming laptop that you bought in 2011 was the same price as a console? Or was it over £1000?

The PC that you built last year? How much was that?

About £900 for the laptop, £1,300 for the PC (almost half of that was the GPU).

We can't go adding the £500+ monitor either unless we also factor in the £1,400 TV which I play my £300 Switch on.

[Digfox]

Re pricing. I think they'll still aim for £400 launch price tags but the systems won't be cutting edge. They'll be like Xbox One X Pro's with the main benefit being software not be constrained by having to be developed with 8 year old tech in mind. Someone may try higher but they'll be dead on arrival for it.

Apologies slight wrong thread, but there is actually a really good new thread over at ResetEra showing the convergence of PS5/XB2 AMD tech: Next gen PS5 and next Xbox launch speculation - Secret sauces spicing 2019.

You are realistically looking at more than XBX. That said you are probably looking at a higher price than the £349/429 PS4/XBO launch prices in 2013.

[QualityChimp]

Obviously, you don't watch anything else on that TV?

I do get it, honestly! Upgrading the components and pushing the PC (without frying it!) to the best it can is part of the fun.

PC gamers need to stop claiming it's that and the cheapest way to play.

[Digfox]

I totally get that PC is the way to go if you want the best graphics, fps and resolution.
What I'm saying is that PC gamers are delusional about how much it costs to enter the race and keep up with it.

Personally I avoid these arguments because they are stupid. PCs can vary massively in cost and performance. And some PC gamers might just want to play a game that isn't on a console. You don't have to spend thousands on a PC. People may already have a PC for general internet, media production and productivity and therefore it may only be the increase in the cost of the GPU that's a consideration.

Obviously there will be PC enthusiasts that spend thousands on water cooled parts, high end GPUs etc. But it's a generalisation to stick everyone in this category.

[Neon Ignition]

There are definitely those who obsess about their PC specs and upgrade a lot but things like processors and RAM haven't progressed very far in a long time. You could spend a fortune upgrading your top of the line CPU and putting 64GB of top speed DDR4 ram in there but you'll get nothing back for it. If you're using it for general use and for gaming in a similar way to gaming on a console then the need to upgrade is very minimal unless you buy a PC late in a gen before a sizeable step forward is taken and find yourself facing incompatible parts etc from new gen hardware.

[Digfox]

Also the current consoles are very underpowered. As said you could easily build PS4/XBO-beating machines because of the low powered old Jaguar AMD APU's in both. It WAS doable and I personally hate the assumption everyone conforms to a stereotype.

However as I ceded two things are or will be changing this:
1. The soaring cost of PCs Parts
2. The new machines incoming

There will be people spending more on their consoles and setup. And there will be people spending more on their PCs and setup. The latter is probably much more common but it doesn't invalidate people that have an example of where owning their gaming PC was cheaper.

[QualityChimp]

Likewise, you can get a second-hand console, telly and games and be even cheaper.

Yes, there are some frugal ways to game on a PC, what I'm saying, to make it clear, I find it funny when PC gamers say that they have an amazing rig, it's cheaper than consoles and have never upgraded any components, then go on to list all the things they've changed on their already expensive outlay.

[Digfox]

Likewise, you can get a second-hand console, telly and games and be even cheaper.

I never said second-hand because I was thinking about buying new in both cases.

But obviously buying secondhand brings down the prices even more, although arguably PC part prices do tend to crash more often and quickly whereas console prices can hold or go up quickly for rare games or parts. But of course for both routes it's an option.

[Neon Ignition]

That's going to be a consideration with next-gen. If they need to surpass XBX levels to a reasonable level and be as high end as they can go (along with the price tag to match) you're going to see a considerable cross-gen period and a slower adoption rate (especially given how much Pro and XBX mitigate the graphics jump) so the move to 10 year generations then looks much more likely.

[Digfox]

[MENTION=345]Superman Falls[/MENTION] I don't know if you looked at that link but essentially I don't think people are suggesting it's going to be powerhouses or much more expensive consoles.

AMD Zen and GDDR6 will be mature platforms by the time of the new machines. Navi GPUs may not be but I think the consensus is that we'll see significant performance increases on the CPU side, less GPU increases and faster RAM. Ignoring surprises. Evolutionary improvements on what we have now with newer components.

Obviously Microsoft will be playing around with new streaming tech but that shouldn't impact the specs.

[wakka]

There are a lot of arguments in here for PCs being good value. However, realistically you can pick up a used console for a ton and be done. It’s cheaper. It’s not better. But it is cheaper.

[Digfox]

Tbh I think this is one of those debates that just goes around and around on this forum. There are obviously those who believe consoles are 'always' cheaper.

[wakka]

They are!!!!!

PCs are cool. Would like to build one at some point.

[dataDave]

This is the benefit of requiring a PC for my home office. I have the option of turning it into an unnecessarily powerful gaming platform for little over the cost of an X, all while enjoying cheaper games thanks to codes (Resi2 at launch for €35) and even cheaper games through frequent sales.

Obviously if you set out to build an optimum rig it's going to tank your wallet, but it's entirely situational. I'd never spend £2,500 on building a gaming PC under any circumstances.

[Neon Ignition]

I wouldn't either... well, not for another 2-3 years