[Ghost of V]

Do you own a PC?

I did own a decent gaming rig but it died about two years ago. Why?

[Rushy]

Build me a PC that plays GTA IV on max settings at 60fps for $400 or less and I will convert.

That's sort of silly considering even consoles can't play GTA IV at max settings, let alone at 60 FPS.

[Lord Dave]

Build me a PC that plays GTA IV on max settings at 60fps for $400 or less and I will convert.

That's sort of silly considering even consoles can't play GTA IV at max settings, let alone at 60 FPS.

This.
Remember the console versions will usually have different rendering technologies from PC versions.

Also console ports suck and often require faster hardware to compensate for poor coding in the port.

Oh and PS: the Xbox 360 had a whopping 512 MB of ram.  Just so you know.

[Ghost of V]

So it's not possible?

[Snupes]

So it's not possible?

Probably not, but I'm not sure of its relevance to anything. Seems like an arbitrary benchmark.

[Ghost of V]

So it's not possible?

Probably not, but I'm not sure of its relevance to anything. Seems like an arbitrary benchmark.

The relevance is that I want a good gaming PC but I'm not willing to spend more than $400.

[Rushy]

The relevance is that I want a good gaming PC but I'm not willing to spend more than $400.

Well, that really depends on your definition of good. Integrated graphics have gotten advanced enough to play most modern games at low or medium settings at 720p at 30 FPS (the equivalent of modern consoles). For comparison an Intel chipset 4600 is at about 432 Gflops whereas a PS3 runs at about 400. Your experience may vary depending on driver updates and how well optimized the game is.

For another $200 you could easily step your system above and beyond any console. Even mainstream PC graphics cards can run modern games 1080p at medium settings and 60 FPS, blowing both "next gen" consoles out of the water.

[Ghost of V]

Um, sir... What are Gflops?

What kind of PC would you recommend in my price range? I'm a beginner at building my own. I had a 2007 Dell XPS. It played most games at the time around low-medium settings. Although I could run Team Fortress at max. It was $800 at the time, I believe.

[Rushy]

Um, sir... What are Gflops?

Giga floating point operations per second.

It isn't a 1:1 comparison for graphics performance due to game variations, most games on the PS3 are built to be very efficient thus you'll probably see better performance on it than on an Intel APU, but the performance is close enough to be relevant.

What kind of PC would you recommend in my price range? I'm a beginner at building my own. I had a 2007 Dell XPS. It played most games at the time around low-medium settings. Although I could run Team Fortress at max. It was $800 at the time, I believe.

You didn't state a price range. We were talking about a $400 computer but now you're talking about a $800 one. I'm confused.

[Ghost of V]

The original XPS was a gift. I didn't buy it. If I were to buy it then I would only want to spend around $400.

From my understanding, the graphics card and chipset/motherboard are the most expensive parts. That still leaves a fan, a case, and any other electronic parts left over. I have no idea where to start. Would newegg.com be a decent starting point?

[Particle Person]

Do you own a PC?

I did own a decent gaming rig but it died about two years ago. Why?

I was thinking about the cost efficiency of consoles VS. PCs, and realized that most console owners are probably also going to own a PC anyway. The most cheepy cheep PCs for the average user will cost around $200. If you put that $200 towards a gaming PC instead of buying a $400 console, then you've spent the same amount of money, and $600 can buy a PC that performs excellently.

Newegg is good. Logical Increments is an excellent place to determine what you want based on price.

[Rushy]

The original XPS was a gift. I didn't buy it. If I were to buy it then I would only want to spend around $400.

From my understanding, the graphics card and chipset/motherboard are the most expensive parts. That still leaves a fan, a case, and any other electronic parts left over. I have no idea where to start. Would newegg.com be a decent starting point?

Yes. I always start with the motherboard and work my way from there, since it is the key part which all other parts must be compatible with.

Also keep in mind that although I have built $400 computers that do what I describe, they did not include peripherals (keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc) and had cases of rather objectionable quality. You'll have to push the envelope of budgeting your PC build and it's not exactly something I'd suggest you to do.

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc

These guys live on the internet to help you. The links on right of the page are pretty helpful too.

[Vindictus]

Just use PC part picker.

[xasop]

CDs have numerous advantages over vinyl. For one, you can pop a CD into your car. You can rip a CD onto your computer. Numerous systems can read CDs. Vinyl is cumbersome, and CDs are seen as superior because they are more functional.

You misunderstand me. I was not comparing CDs and vinyl to each other (although even then, vinyl does have some advantages), but to their respective contemporary competitors. Vinyl competed with technologically superior wax cylinders and won; just as, decades later, CDs competed with the superior DVD-Audio and digital download formats and won. Even as digital downloads are now gaining in popularity, the most common format is MP3, a specification that was outdated more than 10 years ago.

The point of all this is that consumers suck at making good decisions, so I don't take popularity as evidence of intrinsic worth. I'll respond to other posts later, when I'm not on my phone.

[Fortuna]

This console was hodgepodge'd together at the last minute. It feels pretty janky.

[Lord Dave]

So it's not possible?

$395
That's Case, Motherboard, memory, Video Card, Power supply, HDD, DVD Drive, keyboard, mouse.  Basically everything an XBox360 comes with.
Not only does this more or less exceed the XBox360 in specs but it should run GTA IV without a problem.

AMD Athlon X4 740 Trinity Quad-Core 3.2GHz
ESC A55F2P-M2 AMD A55 Micro ATX Motherboard.
2xTeam Elite 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
Micro-ATX Case
WD HDD 500 GB SATA2
Lite-ON 18x DVD-ROM drive.
FSP 450w MicroATX Power Supply
Diamond Radeon R5 230 Graphics Card.  1GB DDR3 PCI-Express 3.0x16
Keyboard
mouse

OS not included.

[Ghost of V]

So it's not possible?

$395
That's Case, Motherboard, memory, Video Card, Power supply, HDD, DVD Drive, keyboard, mouse.  Basically everything an XBox360 comes with.
Not only does this more or less exceed the XBox360 in specs but it should run GTA IV without a problem.

AMD Athlon X4 740 Trinity Quad-Core 3.2GHz
ESC A55F2P-M2 AMD A55 Micro ATX Motherboard.
2xTeam Elite 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
Micro-ATX Case
WD HDD 500 GB SATA2
Lite-ON 18x DVD-ROM drive.
FSP 450w MicroATX Power Supply
Diamond Radeon R5 230 Graphics Card.  1GB DDR3 PCI-Express 3.0x16
Keyboard
mouse

OS not included.

Thank you, Dave. This is super helpful. I'll bookmark this for a later date when I have the cash.

[juner]

inb4PCvsConsole

owait...

[Vindictus]

inb4PCvsConsole

owait...

[Fortuna]

So it's not possible?

$395
That's Case, Motherboard, memory, Video Card, Power supply, HDD, DVD Drive, keyboard, mouse.  Basically everything an XBox360 comes with.
Not only does this more or less exceed the XBox360 in specs but it should run GTA IV without a problem.

AMD Athlon X4 740 Trinity Quad-Core 3.2GHz
ESC A55F2P-M2 AMD A55 Micro ATX Motherboard.
2xTeam Elite 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
Micro-ATX Case
WD HDD 500 GB SATA2
Lite-ON 18x DVD-ROM drive.
FSP 450w MicroATX Power Supply
Diamond Radeon R5 230 Graphics Card.  1GB DDR3 PCI-Express 3.0x16
Keyboard
mouse

OS not included.

I hope you didn't buy this. That's the cringiest budget PC I've ever seen. Just wait for black friday and get an AMD APU build that's twice as good for the same price.