PC v XBox

[chrisjw]

Right, you will need to bear with me....My PC, which I had built 8 years ago whilst living abroad, gave up the ghost last year. Something went wrong with the heatsink thingy & to cut a long story short, I was going to get someone to rebuild it from scratch again....The reason being, that apart from all the usual stuff done on a pc, I bought a couple of games ( cricket, F1, simulation flying etc ) to play on it, for which I have top of the range steering wheel, joystick & such.......I've since discovered, that the graphics card is inadequate to play them... The pc needs a new motherboard, graphics card, sound card, in fact everything really except a dvd player. I have a notebook which I hook up to my 19" monitor & for what I use the pc for, it's perfectly adequate, which is why I haven't bothered venturing into getting the pc repaired......However, someone has suggested that instead of re-building it, why not get an XBox or ps3....I own a ps2 which is obviously outdated & locked away in a box somewhere, which, I realise isn't the answer.....I don't know anything about XBox's, so not sure which avenue to persue.....Getting one would certainly be easier & probably cheaper than a re-build........What I would like, is advice & also if the joystick etc would work on a XBox/ps3. I realise the pc games I have won't work, but I can always replace them............What say you?

[blakey]

Have you tried re-charging that first PC mate?

[jamila169]

an Xbox 360 almost certainly won't be cheaper than a rebuild, with onboard sound and graphics you should be able to rebrain your PC for less than £200 - but, if you have any pretensions to the likes of skyrim ,black ops, COD, Portal2 etc, the xbox might be cheaper, cos the graphics card you'd need to play such monsters would be at least £120 on top.
If you're willing to go secondhand, you can pick up a 360 slim for less than £150, then you'll need to add on a hard drive (£12 -£65 depending on size) and of course the games (£15 upwards used, £35 -£40 new) and an xbox live sub if you want to use any apps (£6 a month).
If you aren't playing graphics hungry games, the rebuild would definately be cheaper

yes, I do have boy children, why you ask?

[chrisjw]

Jul 25, 2012 14:00:54 GMT jamila169 said:

an Xbox 360 almost certainly won't be cheaper than a rebuild, with onboard sound and graphics you should be able to rebrain your PC for less than £200 - but, if you have any pretensions to the likes of skyrim ,black ops, COD, Portal2 etc, the xbox might be cheaper, cos the graphics card you'd need to play such monsters would be at least £120 on top.
If you're willing to go secondhand, you can pick up a 360 slim for less than £150, then you'll need to add on a hard drive (£12 -£65 depending on size) and of course the games (£15 upwards used, £35 -£40 new) and an xbox live sub if you want to use any apps (£6 a month).
If you aren't playing graphics hungry games, the rebuild would definately be cheaper

yes, I do have boy children, why you ask?

Most of that just went....'Whooooooosh', straight over my head.......... ....

So by the sounds of it, it's cheaper to totally re-build my PC, bearing in mind that I'll need to pay someone to do it, as I wouldn't know what to buy....I would only use the Xbox to play 2 or 3 games like Ashes Cricket 2009, F1 & Flight Simulator, all of which I used on the PC.....& I'm not bothered about all the other stuff that totally bewilder me..............

[chrisjw]

Jul 25, 2012 13:35:37 GMT blakey said:

Have you tried re-charging that first PC mate?

He.....heeeeeeeeeee.....................

[jamila169]

I reckon, given the outlay on games, you'll be better off with the rebuild, you should still be able to use your hard drive, case and dvd drive. You might be able to get away with onboard graphics given that the quality has improved a lot (mine's onboard and deals with net based and older pc games just fine). Just for gawd's sake keep away from PC world .
You need to find someone who will listen to what you need it for and exceed your expectations, rather than fob you off

[maccafan]

I have a decent PC for sale which has a half decent graphics card and some kick ass games if you want..

Cost of Xbox and PS3 is cheap..The games will bankrupt you..

[Gaz1888]

Yes games are the killer on consoles..You can dload games for free for the pc tho it is illegal

[chrisjw]

Jul 25, 2012 16:43:33 GMT maccafan said:

I have a decent PC for sale which has a half decent graphics card and some kick ass games if you want..

Cost of Xbox and PS3 is cheap..The games will bankrupt you..

Yeah macca.......There's nothing wrong with the hard drive. In fact, someone took it out and put it ( along with my dvd player) in another tower for me, that has a working motherboard, graphics card, sound card etc.......but he bought it at a car boot sale & didn't know if it worked or not....it does, but is old & nowhere near good enough to play what I have...but he did it, just so I had a pc to use, although I've stopped using it as it's soooooooooo slow & the sound card is shot.......I want to be able to plug my 5 in 1 speaker system into it, cos I miss my music.....I don't really play many games except for the ones I've mentioned, although the Ashes 2009 & F1 haven't even been out of the box, cos they won't operate on my graphics card.....Would your card handle them?

[Gordy]

xbox is the simple option but if you are already used to the PC then a rebuild wouldnt be too bad... its a shame you dont live closer or i would have done it for you ....we could talk you through it but after lavagate not sure if that would be wise

[timnowvapes]

It depends how into your games you are, because you could spend £300+ just on graphics - which you will need for playing games, at least with an X-box you can get it to work straight out the box, that's it, job done.

At a basic entry rebuild with this spec:
Xigmatek Asgard II Windowed Midi Tower Case - Black/Orange
OCZ ZS 650w PSU
AMD Bulldozer FX-4 4170 4.20GHz Quad Core CPU
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
Thermaltake Frio CPU Cooler
8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
500GB HDD
AMD Radeon HD 6950 2048MB Graphics Card
Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
LG DVD+/-RW SATA Drive

that'll set you back £700 - this is entry level gaming, + Operating System + Joystick + Games, although it will run your old PC games, it'll have blistering performance compared to what you are used to............but I've often said, better a games console for playing games and a computer to compute and work on with the odd game here or there.

Plus with the x-box you get the kinect, full bundles come in at less than £300 these days!

Don't half do the PC, you will regret it............

[maccafan]

Jul 25, 2012 17:56:45 GMT chrisjw said:

Yeah macca.......There's nothing wrong with the hard drive. In fact, someone took it out and put it ( along with my dvd player) in another tower for me, that has a working motherboard, graphics card, sound card etc.......but he bought it at a car boot sale & didn't know if it worked or not....it does, but is old & nowhere near good enough to play what I have...but he did it, just so I had a pc to use, although I've stopped using it as it's soooooooooo slow & the sound card is shot.......I want to be able to plug my 5 in 1 speaker system into it, cos I miss my music.....I don't really play many games except for the ones I've mentioned, although the Ashes 2009 & F1 haven't even been out of the box, cos they won't operate on my graphics card.....Would your card handle them?

Yep..I rebuilt mine completely 4 years ago and have hardly used it..

I have driving sims starting from GPL to several versions and mods of F1 sims..

I got some really good FPS too including Elder Scrolls 4-Oblivion. You can always try loading the games that you want to play and then decide..

[chrisjw]

Thanks for all the input guys...........I think I'm more inclined to go down the PC route, as it's more what I'm used to.....also, they don't appear to do the games that I'm more interested in on Xbox....I don't want to spend that sort of money Tim to be honest..........all I want, is something that will handle the games & similar I've mentioned & that is capable of being an everyday PC. As I said, I'm not a serious gamer & don't interact on-line with them. I just enjoy my sports ones ( oh....& I have a golf game), but I appreciate what you're saying......I'd say I am capable of re-building ( although I haven't attempted it), providing I have the right bits & guidance. In saying that, it would be a lot easier to have one already built for me. Whereabouts are you macca?

[maccafan]

Enfield, opposite Hilly Fields Park..

[chrisjw]

Jul 25, 2012 20:45:55 GMT maccafan said:

Enfield, opposite Hilly Fields Park..

Ah right..........close..............ok