PC vs PlayStation 4 vs Xbox One cost comparison

Fear not, fair reader – this won’t be your average “which gaming platform is best” article.

I’ve heard that one of our writers has been pushing his libertarian socialist post-PC pro-PlayStation agenda on our pages.

Apparently Kevin has been ragging on R15,000+ graphics cards, and responded to criticism with a MyGaming PC spend survey.

To that, I say: good job, Kevin!

However, I can’t abide such a flagrant attack on the sacred institution of PC gaming. Prepare to be schooled, son.

Hardware comparison

Yes, there are indeed PC components that cost as much as a down-payment on a small car, but those would decimate a console.

To get a better idea of how much it costs to game on a PC versus a console, we need to compare the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to a PC that is similar in performance.

Evetech in Centurion sells a solid Radeon-based “Console Killer” PC for R6,799 (excluding Windows).

This is much more expensive than the price of a new console and doesn’t have support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Blu-Ray. Perhaps it would be possible to build something more suited to our comparison that comes in cheaper?

Eurogamer also reported that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare chokes when an Intel Core i3 is paired with a Radeon R9 280, so to be safe I kept the comparison between AMD components.

AMD also makes the processors for the Xbox One and Playstation 4, so having an all-AMD PC would match the consoles better.

The general approach used for the custom build was to find the cheapest components we could get away with and still hopefully be able to play games at similar levels of graphical detail as the consoles.

Graphics card

Deciding which graphics card to use for the comparison build was tricky, as early reports suggested that the PlayStation 4’s graphical performance is on par with the AMD Radeon 7850.

I considered the Radeon R7 260X, but in benchmarks it performs worse than the 7850, and a more recent comparison suggested that for newer games a Radeon R9 270 would provide more comparable performance.

In the end, the custom build wasn’t as cheap as Evetech’s console killer, but it was possible to switch to an AMD-only machine with a more powerful graphics card for only R390 extra.

Raru also might not be the cheapest place to get all the components. If you shop around, it is probably possible to shave a few hundred Rand off.

These savings can be put towards a basic keyboard and mouse, which were left off the component list for this very reason.

The games (you know, what this is all for)

Unsurprisingly, our PC is significantly more expensive than a console.

Don’t get happy too soon, Kevin, this is but the first phase of the comparison.

Folks sometimes forget that we sit with the unusual situation in South Africa where retailers sell PC games for far less than their console counterparts.

Which means we need another comparison!

Below you’ll see a table of games, most of which are on pre-order.

As shown in the table, after a certain number of game purchases the PC will start becoming more cost effective than a console.

The point at which this happens depends on how much you paid for the PC in the first place, but if the expense on your rig matches how hardcore a gamer you are, it should happen within the lifespan of your PC.

Further noteworthy notes worth noting

As with any complex comparison, there are a number of factors we just weren’t able to take into account.

For your reading pleasure (you’re already in the forum aren’t you?), I shall now enumerate them.

Playstation Network / Xbox Live: All console gamers now have the privilege of paying Sony and/or Microsoft a subscription fee to access the multiplayer features of games. However, this subscription does come with a selection of free games every month, so adding its value (or cost) to the comparison becomes difficult.

Upgradability: To keep the comparison as fair as possible, the cost of a whole machine is compared to the cost of a console. However, there are many reusable parts in a PC that can be carried over from one upgrade to the next such as the case, power supply, hard drives, DVD/Blu-Ray drive, and RAM. In some cases, you might even be able to just upgrade your graphics card to keep pace with a new generation of game consoles.

Backwards compatibility: BioShock Infinite, Dragon Age: Origins, Tomb Raider, and the Mass Effect trilogy run like a bauws with my new graphics card. How is it on the PS4 and Xbox One guys? (Also: ouch on Last of Us, Playstation peeps.)

Circumstances: Do you use your home PC for work as well as play? Does your work provide a laptop for you to use, so you don’t really need to buy a desktop for home? Situations like these are difficult to capture in a straight-up Rands and cents comparison like this one.

Unequal hardware comparison: For this comparison we went with what a PC gamer needs at a minimum, rather than trying to match the consoles completely. For example, both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 have Blu-Ray drives and support Wi-Fi. The PS4 also has Bluetooth support. Including these features in our comparison PC would easily add hundreds of Rands to the price.

Specials and bundles: PC gamers benefit from some great specials on both older and more recent games. Steam has made hoarders of us all. Bundles also offer great value, but you hardly need a console-slayer to play the titles usually on offer in such collections.

Build your own PC: Not really part of the comparison, but for those interested in building their own PC I highly recommend MyGaming alumnus Wesley Fick’s semi-quarterly System Builders round-up over on NAG.

Which platform do you primarily use for gaming, and why? PC? Playstation? Xbox? All of the above? What’s your PC operating system of choice? Weigh in on the discussions below and in the forum.

More on how gaming hits your wallet

This is why PlayStation Plus went up in South Africa

How much MyGaming readers spend on their PCs: survey results

PC components which cost more than a PS4, TV, and game collection

Your free PlayStation, Xbox games for February 2015