The cost of gaming...

[pam123]

"I dunno about you, but it seems to me that the price of PC hardware is coming down, for most users. But if you happen to be a gamer, the number of people who seem to be shilling extraordinarily high priced gear that will help you achieve that fabulous "gaming experience" seems to be increasing exponentially. Even as mainstream hardware becomes increasingly commoditized, companies ever hungry to increase shareholder value and grow revenues and margins are turning towards gamers to buy gear whose prices seem to be on an everlasting upward spiral."

The whole article is here : http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1850407,00.asp

[Yuanji]

yeah i read that but the article assumes that you pay for stuff that you don't need. Most of the people who buy those things are going to buy any product that costs the most. 2 7800GTX in SLi is EXTREMELY CPU bottlenecked. The performance increase is very low to none on lower resolutions 1280x1024 and below. You need to be running a game on at least 1600x1200 to 1920x1440 to tax the SLi system. Also, an X-Fi sound card is definately unnecessary. X360 is 400? Wow... you get the same performance as a very nice computer for the relative price of a video card. I don't think i'd care that much. You also have to count in inflation. I think when N64 came out, it was around 300 dollars. 300 dollars around 10 years ago should come out about the same as 400 today if not more.

[DonVito]

Yes it is very expensive. But gaming is one of the main things that is pushing home pc technology further. Gaming is the only reason i can think of for say, intel to develop and mass produce a 3.8ghz cpu for the home market. Or better yet, a 7800gtx. There is no other HOME computer use that requires that much video power. I agree that it is a little over priced, but thats buisiness, and it wont change. There is no way it costs them $400 more, to manufacture a $600 7800gtx, than a $200 X800. But they have to make there money. Then after about 3 years, all of this stuff is considered standard Alot of people are into having the BEST hardware, i would be if i could afford it . But much of this gaming hardware is overkill, 3.8ghz cpu, 4gigs ram, dual 7800gtx in SLI, ect. But then again, if i could afford a ferrarhi id get one, even though a Nissan Maxima would get me around just fine.

[Force Flow]

If you choose your parts right, you can get a pretty good gaming rig in the price range of $800 to $1200. No need to spend a small fortune on expensive hardware that you'll never use.

[spartan015]

yea thats true... and about the X360... i heard that the full version by itself is 400 but when u get the controllers... the remote... the games... its gonna add up... what are u gonna do w/ just the console? and the ps3... that has some serious power there too... but i bet itll be like the PSX and cost alot...

[colecifer]

Originally Posted by spartan015 yea thats true... and about the X360... i heard that the full version by itself is 400 but when u get the controllers... the remote... the games... its gonna add up... what are u gonna do w/ just the console? and the ps3... that has some serious power there too... but i bet itll be like the PSX and cost alot...

Well no console comes iwht games and remote, that is always an extra fee. I don't know about the plans for controllers i imagine one would be included becuase it'd be crazy not to. The price of games and acessories should never be factored into system price because its a constant.

[DonVito]

Yes but you have to remember that companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo typically lose alot of money selling the actual consoles. Then they make all of there money off of the games.

[bigandy]

Originally Posted by Force Flow If you choose your parts right, you can get a pretty good gaming rig in the price range of $800 to $1200. No need to spend a small fortune on expensive hardware that you'll never use.

Exactly. You don't need to buy the biggest and newest of everything to have a good gaming PC. If you wait a bit for the cards and CPUs to come down in price and/or buy the parts a bit under the very top end, you can save a lot of money and still have a powerful machine that will play most everything.

[Jaggannath]

Agreed that gaming is definitely a driving force in the development of computers, but you're ignoring the fact that a large number of companies need high-spec computers to carry out their business... things such as video-editing and audio companies, as well as better servers always being in demand

[Nuclear Krusader]

Such as game development companies.

[Siberian Bear]

The cost can also depend where you are. I was looking at graphics cards and so was my German friend - I nearly paid as much in pounds as he did in euros for the same item!

The price of hardware is always coming down. You would pay less for 512MB of RAM today than you would a year ago. However games always get more demanding so you need more RAM. That also needs to be taken into consideration.

[rspassey]

I like to think of it as, okay I spent $3000 on my rig, I dont need a newone for 3 years or more, and it should be a top of the line system for at least half that time.
Plus game companies don't try to make games that nobody will be able to play because the average computer cannot handle it, they make games that don't need top of the line systems to play so they sell more and make more money.

[Jaggannath]

Spot on Ryan, that's how I think
My computer was only really superceded when Doom 3 came out, and that was after 3 years