Can desktops compete against consoles in early 2023?
In quarter 4 of 2022, the prices of PC components have mostly stabilized. It doesn't mean that they are now constant, but we don't see for example day to day variations of over 50% that sometimes happened back in early 2022.
The availability of consoles (especially Xboxes) has also greatly improved.
So it looks like it's time to resume the ever-lasting console vs PC wars.
Naturally, PCs have the advantage of cheaper games (and in many cases even free) games:
- Free to Play titles unavailable on Xboxes (such as Genshin Impact, League of Legends, Valorant, CS GO, Final Fantasy XIV, Minecraft Classic, Enderal, and many more),
- Weekly free games added to your library on Epic Games Store,
- $1 Humble Bundles,
- Twitch Prime games included for free in Amazon Prime subscription (yes also when you are using the free trial)
- Free 14-day trial of PlayStation Premium Plus (with over 450 games playable on PC)*
- 3-month trial of Xbox Game Pass for $1 (with over 1000 games playable on PC)*
- Cheaper games on sales (as developers don't have to pay commissions or flat fees to Sony or Microsoft)
- Emulated games from older consoles
- And you can also use the PC to actually make money (stream games, edit photos, and videos, etc.)
*yes I know you can get Xbox Game Pass on Xbox and PlayStation Premium on PlayStation. But you can only get one - on PC you can get both.
So there is money to be saved, but what about the upfront cost?
The situation looks dire for PCs at first glance. You cannot get a desktop with the components mentioned in my old blog post "With PS5 pre-orders live, is there any hope for PC enthusiasts?" (or at least not for the same prices).
https://steemit.com/hardware/@hwtrendsetter/with-ps5-pre-orders-live-is-there-any-hope-for-pc-enthusiasts
RTX 2060 graphics cards are more expensive than back in mid-2020. Ryzen 5 1600 AF processors are all but sold out, cheap AM4 motherboards are also increasingly more difficult to find, RAM is more expensive, and even cases and power supplies are more expensive.
Fortunately, there are 2 saving graces for PCs:
- we no longer have to hit the 399€ / 1899 PLN price point. We are looking at 499-539€ / 2400-2600 PLN prices for Playstation 5 Digital and Xbox Series X consoles.
- Ryzen 5 1600 AF processors were already quite expensive in mid-2020 - well over 50% more than their recommended retail prices. And modern Ryzen 5-4500 processors are more powerful and cheaper at the same time.
Therefore it is still possible to build a PC (with parts list from Polish stores below, but prices are similar throughout Europe) that will cost about as much as modern consoles, and perform very similarly (as shown in this benchmark video):
Parts list:
RX 6600 - 1199 zł
https://www.pepper.pl/promocje/karta-graficzna-powercolor-radeon-6600-fighter-8gb-625386
Ryzen 5-4500 - 369 zł
https://allegro.pl/oferta/procesor-amd-ryzen-5-4500-box-12795702887?utm_medium=afiliacja&utm_source=ctr&utm_campaign=30de1755-c3b7-4f8c-b471-1a6a4598ab08#
Aerocool PGS CS-107-A-BK-v2 FRGB - 172 zł
https://shopee.pl/Jako%C5%9B%C4%87-Komputer-Obudowa-Aerocool-Cs-105-Mini-Wie%C5%BCa-i.901845216.23813520316?sp_atk=4e2aa7ea-e451-4100-8ba1-1cc9d95e8d07&xptdk=4e2aa7ea-e451-4100-8ba1-1cc9d95e8d07
Gigabyte B450M-K (+ aktualizacja BIOSu) - 355 zł
https://www.morele.net/plyta-glowna-gigabyte-b450m-k-12456720/
16 GB (2*8GB) Patriot Signature Premium 3200 MHz - 182 zł
https://www.zadowolenie.pl/patriot-pamiec-ddr4-signature-premium-8gb-3200-1-8gb-cl22
500W Cooler Master PS-4501-2 80+ Bronze - 149 zł
https://shopee.pl/Zasilacz-ATX-500W-Cooler-Master-PS-4501-2-BRONZE-i.837888665.21544901256?sp_atk=c076a1f5-d8d1-4299-8ea0-0828e9c15acd&xptdk=c076a1f5-d8d1-4299-8ea0-0828e9c15acd
SSD Patriot P210 512 GB - 119 zł
https://allegro.pl/oferta/dysk-ssd-patriot-burst-elite-480-gb-2-5-11106028523?utm_medium=afiliacja&utm_source=ctr&utm_campaign=7f9f8f03-1c4a-43ff-99bd-7635ee4acd66#