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PC Gaming Is Still Way Too Hard (vice.com)
Motherboard has an article in which it argues that PC gaming is still way too hard. The author of the article claims that for one to build a gaming PC, they need an "unreasonable" amount of disposable income, and also have an unreasonable amount of time to "research, shop around, and assemble parts" for their computer. The author adds that a person looking into making one such gear also needs to always have to keep investing time and money in as long as they want to stay at the cutting edge or recommended specifications range for new PC games. The author has shared the experience he had building his own gaming PC. An excerpt from it: The process of physically building a PC is filled with little frustrations, and mistakes can be costly and time consuming. I have big, dumb, sausage fingers, so mounting the motherboard into the case, and screwing in nine (!) tiny screws to keep it in place in a cramped space, in weird angles, where dropping the screwdriver can easily break something expensive -- it's just not what I'd call "consumer-friendly." This is why people buy from Apple. It designs everything from the trackpad to the box the computer comes in, which unfolds neatly to reveal everything you need. Apple reduces friction to the point where even my mom could upgrade the RAM on her iMac, and it can do this because it controls everything that goes in that box.That's accurate. But it also means -- at least as of today -- that the current Apple computer -- MacBook Air, MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini you purchase packs in at least three-year-old components.
This "article" screams intern assignment. The premise is predetermined and everything that goes against it is ignored. There are so many part pickers and guides available through a single search it's frustrating and stupefying that someone would even try writing this.
Likewise, building a PC now is nothing close to what it used to take. How would have this person felt trying to configure their IRQ interrupts? Not well, I'm guessing.
All told, it is sad that /. even allowed this to be submitted. This is an article in search of something to be upset about.
1. PC gaming is the same price as console gaming for the hardware and cheaper for the games. A PC in your home is a zero sum game. You will own one. The cost of a PC gaming machine is the cost of a PC gaming system minus the cost of a conventional PC. A console will run you perhaps 300~400 USD. Add 300 to 400 to the cost of a PC and you have a reasonable gaming PC.
2. As to difficulty, the difficulty of PC gaming is only difficult if you don't know how to use a computer. The difficulty of PC gaming minus again the assumed competence with a PC which you should have anyway is about zero.
3. If you're talking about how hard the actual game is... adjust settings or get good, noob.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Oh wait you can
http://www.alienware.com/
Not for you ? Oh if only there were someplace that would let you pick your components and they would build the PC for you
https://www.google.com/search?...
Tooo hard to figure out what you need ? If only there were a guide of some kind
http://www.tomshardware.com/
http://www.hardocp.com/
I RTFA because I couldn't believe what the summary said. It's true, it's all true.
I don't know what parts of it angered me the most but the below comes close.
"Beginning to end, the whole process of building the computer took me almost five hours, and I had to make two emergency calls to PC Gamer's Fenlon during the process: once when I couldn't figure out why the case fans weren't spinning, and again when the computer didn't recognize an ethernet cable. I was literally bleeding from a cut on my hand by the end of it, which my YouTube guides said was common. I bled for this fucking thing. ...
But getting there was a nightmare. It is by far the most difficult product I've ever bought and put together. "
All I can say is that this "journalist" sounds like an entitled, whiny, moron who needs to STFU.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
I find it kinda funny when they talk about price, actually.
A decent/usable gaming box, monitor, and mouse can be had for less than $500-$750. Buy the bits, plug them in, load the OS, and you're off to the races.
Meanwhile, that $200 console is going to need a $500-$1000(or more) big-screen TV (which will sit in your man-cave or mommy's basement, whichever), and if you want some l33t controllers that give you an edge in the game, that's gonna set you back at least $100 more - per controller. Of course, bad-assed headphone/mic set is de rigueûr, and that's gonna set you back from $35 to $100 extra or more... (Oh, and if you want a pretty cover for that controller to make you look bad-assed? that's an extra $150.)
Yeah... whatevs.
(also funny... my 2013-purchased MacBook Pro CPU/GPU is still more than capable of taking a CG render pounding that would turn most 2016-era laptop chips into a curl of smoke, so no worries on the 'OMG-you're-so-obsolete front.)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Indulge yourself in an automotive hobby:
- Honda CRX, $1500
- Initial fixes, $1000-2000
- Improvements such as clutch, suspension, intake/fuel, $1200-2000
- Cosmetics, $200-$500
- Tires and wheels, $1000-3000
- Additional tools, $500-2000
Total, $5,400-$11,000.
Try this with a 2005 Impala SS, similar money. Jeep CJ, similar with a higher max. Classic US muscle car, double the top figure maybe. Mangle your existing daily driver, plan on being close to he bottom unless you've chosen something without many options, and you've just chosen the equivalent of a $500 gaming rig, never really that much fun. Cost of tires to learn to drive quick, priceless.
Or, maybe, woodworking:
Uplevel Table Saw, $250-750
Drill Press - $150-500
Planer - $250-1000
Band Saw - $125-500
Work Bench - $100-400
Oscillating Sander - $100-250
Router and table - $125-300
Dust Collection - $100-500
Total, $1,200-2,950. A lathe would be the next investment. Cost of lumber to learn proficiency, priceless.
Both requiring similar amounts of space dedicated to the hobby... More than gaming.
Maybe you'd prefer to take up elk or deer hunting?
- Big game rifle, $500-1800
- Scope, $150-700
- Ammo for practice, $250-450
- Ammo for hunting, $150-450
- Cold weather gear, $300-1000
- Travel expenses for a weekend hunt, $200-1500
- Assumes you already posses a vehicle. Cost of trips to learn proficiency, priceless. Actually killing an animal, superlative.
Total: $1350-4400
Bowhunting expenses would be similar.
Or maybe you would, as I do, prefer flyfishing?
- Trout rod, $75-$500
- Reel, $35-200
- Backing and floating line, $40-100
- Spare spool, Backing and sinking line, $65-150
- Basic fly collection, $45-200 (an ongoing expense)
- Waders, $45-250
- Vest or jacket, $25-200
- Tackle, boxes, accessories, $100-500
- Travel expenses for weekend trip, $200-1800
Total: $620-3700 (Can be cheap). Cost to learn proficiency, priceless. Actually catching a fish, immaterial A day fishing is a good day, catching a fish is a GREAT day.
Hunting and fishing also requires physical exertion and time from home.
You could get into metal working, but plan on adding a zero to the woodworking hobby to approach the same level. Welding requires not just space, but careful examination of your homeowner's insurance coverage...
I see decent gaming rigs built from $500-1500, and all-out rigs topping $2500. Seems like an affordable hobby, and the added benefit of having a functional PC for all those other uses. If there's a notebook game rig that doesn't burn the graphic chip and your thighs, you got yourself a hobby that can be indulged on a cross-country flight, maybe, if inflight WiFi latency doesn't make you dead. I'm jaded, of course, since everything is either a twitch game, tedious leveling and learning the story, or IGP.
Expensive? Feh.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
You know how you tell someone is a dick? They relate the attitude, experience and work ethic of a single individual to an entire group of people. Like saying one lazy dude is an example of an entire generation. They did it to my generation (GenX) and they did it to the Boomers too and every other generation before that. You are just in a long line of dip shits that think the world is going to hell, just like all the dipshits that thought it was when the boomers were teenagers.
Most people know someone that will help them build a new rig for a case of beer anyways. And this guy's article was obviously clickbait at its finest with the amount of hyperbole and sensationalism being thrown about. Not to mention spending way more money than needed for a decent gaming PC.
Who buys a 1TB SSD for a standard gaming system? Nobody. He also spent $180 on a case and $200 on a mobo when there are plenty of very nice cases in the $100 range and mobos in the $120-150 range. And with a case as large as the one he bought, I don't buy that he couldn't fit the motherboard in there easily and screw it down. Those tend to have plenty of access space, with the only somewhat troublesome screw being the one in the back corner by the PSU, but thats what a magnetized screwdriver is for then. Consumer watercooling solutions are also really simple to tie down. Far easier than a standard cooler, since it requires far less pressure.
Guy sounds like a wanker judging by his Twitter account anyways, so not surprised.