Just a PSA: You don't need a "gaming" PC to game on PC

Bomblord · May 26, 2020

HueyFreeman said:
There's just a history of these types of posts de-railing any mention of emulation. If you didn't know, fair enough. So then you should read up on this excellent thread on how all this is done, created courtesy of Bomblord himself, the OP of this thread.

2020 Emulator Screenshot Thread: Best Viewed on a CRT

Hello all you wonderful beautiful people who have visited this thread! I know emulation has been a divisive topic especially as of late on here but we really cannot deny the benefits that emulation provides to all of us. From the ability to preserve long out of print games to re-experiencing our...

www.resetera.com

Raccoon said:
Bomblord is such a hardware chad guys, listen to this man

dude could run Crysis on 8 Raspberry Pi 4s daisy chained together

I don't know about that but these 2 posts seriously made my day ^_^. Thank you for the kind words.

Arklite · May 26, 2020

zoltek said:
The rhetorical question is this. Let's say a buddy has a PS4 that he bought for $300. He wants to play Call of Duty Warzone with me on my PC. Can I buy a budget PC for anywhere near $300 that can play Warzone (or any other AAA game) with a similar graphical fidelity as my PS4?

No, not for $300. If anyone's looking at a budget CoD build, you're looking at over $500 at least. Therein lies why a budget PC builds are rather bad value for mainstream AAA titles compared to consoles.

Budget PCs are better value for those also interested in indies or emulation. I won't even say for mods, you'll be wishing for higher specs with stuff like Skyrim modding.

HououinKyouma00 · May 26, 2020

Mindfreak191 said:
Yup, I never had trouble locking a game to 30fps if it meant that I don't have to upgrade but still run it at the highest settings and more stable than on console, mostly because I grew up always being behind on the hardware aspect so I was playing games at lowest resolutions/lowest settings and still was happy to be able to play them. I actually played through Odyssey locked at 30fps on a 1060 Max Q and played through the DLC on a newly built PC at 60+ fps, felt better but I didn't mind the previous experience. Glad I didn't let it become an obsession like some people I know that just keep chasing that "perfect frames/highest settings" dragon, just enjoy the games lol

Same here. I have no issues locking certain games to 30fps. Hell I even lock Forza Horizon to 30 since I played so long on Xbox that 60 felt weird. If it isn't something like DMC/COD then most likely I'm okay with 30 as long as it's still stable.

I still remember playing combat flight sims like the Janes games on childhood computer that probably ran them at like 15 fps, and I'm pretty sure I completed FEAR on a shitty HP laptop at like 20 fps. I 100% remember playing that game by sitting on bed with a cardboard fucking box in front of me as a desk.

I have lower standards then some people.

iboshow said:
I agree about high end builds but the OP was talking about using integrated graphic cards. As someone who had an i7 3770k with integrated graphic cards, all I gamed on that PC was Football Manager and nothing else.

True true, outside of Ryzen APUs integrated graphics aren't super useable for anything remotely modern.

RedSwirl · May 26, 2020

I keep saying this in every PC vs Console thread. The talk about power and price ends up obscuring the whole conversation. I have a fairly powerful gaming PC but I spend a good chunk of my time on it playing games that are pretty low-end. Not just old games either, but recent games from indies and smaller developers that are just as fun as AAA games but don't require a $300 GPU, much less a $2000 rig.

Power has been used as an easy way to sell PC gaming, particularly to people who mostly play console games focused on big spectacle and huge advertising campaigns. Running those games at higher resolutions and framerates shouldn't be the only reason to game on PC though. That marketing may have made sense back in the day when you had a lot of bleeding edge PC games that weren't on consoles at all. The publishers of those games have mostly moved to consoles, but the perspective of console gamers often overlooks the lower-end games that are often the real mainstream hits of PC gaming: games like Myst, StarCraft, The Sims, Civilization, Cities Skylines, Rimworld, Football Manager, and so-on. Maybe it's because strategy games, simulation games, and adventure games have never been quite as popular in the western console market.

If all your gaming is devoted to stuff like Warzone, FIFA, Madden, Grand Theft Auto, 2K, Final Fantasy, and Assassin's Creed, then a $300 console is probably the better deal. However if you have a similarly priced clunker desktop or laptop, you could maybe install CSGO, Civ, Crusader Kings, Umurangi Generation, Overwatch, Ace Attorney, 428 Shibuya Scramble, Steins;Gate, Disco Elysium, Dota 2, Football Manager, or Torchlight on there, and have lots of fun.

ThatCrazyGuy · May 26, 2020

What are the good low end gaming laptops? I basically want to run emulators and indie games (fighting games in both cases).

c0Zm1c · May 26, 2020

mute said:
In this example is the PS1 game in an iso or similar format you can just throw at an emulator? I can think of several DC/GameCube ports but those surely aren't just discs in an emulator. I also wonder in these situations if there is some verbage in a EULA that details acceptable use.

Good point. I don't know, just going on what I remember people saying on Steam and what it says on PC Gaming Wiki about it being the PS1 version emulated but that doesn't necessarily mean it uses the original disc image.

Bman94 · May 26, 2020

HououinKyouma00 said:
Not necessarily. There are a lot of reasons to get a PC over a console (or in addition to a console), and that's coming from sometimes who mainly plays on consoles (PS/Nin). Games like League (though I guess a console port is coming), DOTA, Counter Strike, and even a lot of visual novels are PC only. A PC does much more then play games, and if you take XBO/PS4 base level performance then a PC can be pretty cheap, and you do get 80% of the games available.

Now obviously there is a lot more that goes into that decision like game taste, ease of use, etc. But a PC is much more flexible then a console.

The games you listed though are somewhat niche games. Obviously League of Legends, and Counter Strike has millions of players, but in the scheme of just casual gaming, you'd be pressed to find some buying a PC for those games specifically. Those games are very much nurtured in their own bubble (I know Counter-strike is pretty well optimized even for low end builds) but the mass consumer who just want to play games, will get a console over a PC. And it's common for people to having PCs of course, but not PCs that can do anything modern out right, so they'd opt for a console before even thinking of upgrading their PC to be gaming capable.

nsilvias · May 26, 2020

ThatCrazyGuy said:
What are the good low end gaming laptops? I basically want to run emulators and indie games (fighting games in both cases).

Gaming Laptop Discussion Thread OT

In conjunction with the PC Gaming Threads archive and that there's no Laptop gaming discussion thread on this forum yet, I would like to start it. Let's use this thread to share news, comments about our gaming laptops, upcoming advances in laptop gaming technology and other helpful information...

www.resetera.com

Bomblord · May 26, 2020

nsilvias said:
Gaming Laptop Discussion Thread OT

In conjunction with the PC Gaming Threads archive and that there's no Laptop gaming discussion thread on this forum yet, I would like to start it. Let's use this thread to share news, comments about our gaming laptops, upcoming advances in laptop gaming technology and other helpful information...

www.resetera.com

I'm going to add this to the OP

Mindfreak191 · May 26, 2020

HououinKyouma00 said:
Same here. I have no issues locking certain games to 30fps. Hell I even lock Forza Horizon to 30 since I played so long on Xbox that 60 felt weird. If it isn't something like DMC/COD then most likely I'm okay with 30 as long as it's still stable.

I still remember playing combat flight sims like the Janes games on childhood computer that probably ran them at like 15 fps, and I'm pretty sure I completed FEAR on a shitty HP laptop at like 20 fps. I 100% remember playing that game by sitting on bed with a cardboard fucking box in front of me as a desk.

I have lower standards then some people.

True true, outside of Ryzen APUs integrated graphics aren't super useable for anything remotely modern.

True that, I just now realize that I must've played a ton of games as a teen at sub 20fps and didn't bother, since in my theory if the game was able to launch on my PC it meant that there's not much more to gain performance wise :D

Scruffy8642 · May 26, 2020

Idk is it really that accesible though. I currently have a 16gb ram 8th gen i7 SSD ultrabook and it's just useless for gaming. Literally the most powerful computer I've ever owned BY FAR, perfect for every other use and extremely fast, but can barely run anything from the last 5 years at an acceptable FPS on the lowest settings. Someone's gonna say "no shit it sucks, it's an ultrabook, it's not made for it" or whatever, but that's precisely the problem. You need to go out of your way to be able to run PC games.

In reality, gaming needs to be one of, if not the highest priority when getting a computer or theres no point. And as a student, that's often not feasible. It's so incredibly frustrating that I've had access to literally dozens of computers my entire life due to family circumstances, and not once have I had acceptable performance in current gen games on ANY OF THEM.

No, I cannot factor in gaming when buying a computer, I have other more important needs. No I'm not only going to play games from 10 years ago. No I'm not going to play anything at <20FPS. No I'm not going to play anything with the worst graphics possible. Reality is, most people can't actually play what they want to play on PC, and they pretty much have to stick with consoles for anything modern.

Mindfreak191 · May 26, 2020

Scruffy8642 said:
Idk is it really that accesible though. I currently have a 16gb ram 8th gen i7 SSD ultrabook and it's just useless for gaming. Literally the most powerful computer I've ever owned BY FAR, perfect for every other use and extremely fast, but can barely run anything from the last 5 years at an acceptable FPS on the lowest settings. Someone's gonna say "no shit it sucks, it's an ultrabook, it's not made for it" or whatever, but that's precisely the problem. You need to go out of your way to be able to run PC games.

In reality, gaming needs to be one of, if not the highest priority when getting a computer or theres no point. And as a student, that's often not feasible. It's so incredibly frustrating that I've had access to literally dozens of computers my entire life due to family circumstances, and not once have I had acceptable performance in current gen games on ANY OF THEM.

No, I cannot factor in gaming when buying a computer, I have other more important needs. No I'm not only going to play games from 10 years ago. No I'm not going to play anything at <20FPS. No I'm not going to play anything with the worst graphics possible. Reality is, most people can't actually play what they want to play on PC, and they pretty much have to stick with consoles for anything modern.

Do you mind if I ask how much did you pay for it? I owned a $700 laptop until recently and it ran and still runs all recently released games at at least console settings and even above, didn't have to go out of the way to find it....

Bomblord · May 26, 2020

Scruffy8642 said:
Idk is it really that accesible though. I currently have a 16gb ram 8th gen i7 SSD ultrabook and it's just useless for gaming. Literally the most powerful computer I've ever owned BY FAR, perfect for every other use and extremely fast, but can barely run anything from the last 5 years at an acceptable FPS on the lowest settings. Someone's gonna say "no shit it sucks, it's an ultrabook, it's not made for it" or whatever, but that's precisely the problem. You need to go out of your way to be able to run PC games.

In reality, gaming needs to be one of, if not the highest priority when getting a computer or theres no point. And as a student, that's often not feasible. It's so incredibly frustrating that I've had access to literally dozens of computers my entire life due to family circumstances, and not once have I had acceptable performance in current gen games on ANY OF THEM.

No, I cannot factor in gaming when buying a computer, I have other more important needs. No I'm not only going to play games from 10 years ago. No I'm not going to play anything at <20FPS. No I'm not going to play anything with the worst graphics possible. Reality is, most people can't actually play what they want to play on PC.

Hello, you seem frustrated which is fair I'm talking about how easy it is to do this and you've had a negative experience.

I was attempting to breakdown some negative proconceptions about PC gaming and also bring light to the fact that there is a vast library that will run on even the most underpowered hardware if you're willing to play older games or games that weren't meant to push current gen graphics. I find the number of games available on even a low end computer to be staggering but if all you want to play is the latest and greatest at 60fps then I agree it needs to be a consideration on some level when purchasing hardware.

If you only want to play the latest bigger games without turning down the graphics at 60fps then it's true a thermally/battery constrained ultra book is going to struggle. I will tell you I'm confident in it's ability to emulate games though if that's an avenue you're willing to explore.

Hope that helps you understand my mindset when making this thread.

karnage10 · May 26, 2020

Bman94 said:
Well the reason why people push the expensive builds is because if you're looking into getting into PC gaming, chances are you're doing it because you've already have/had the console experience already and want high end. In most cases if you don't want high end, then why bother getting a PC if you can just get a console and get more gaming use out of it?

I don't have a gaming PC, but the only reason why I'd want one is to experience 4K (currently don't have a 4K TV) and play games at ridiculously high framerates. It used to be sales too but a lot of console games are pretty cheap with the sales, so that's pretty much a moot point though.

But I do very much agree with the old school angle. My laptop isn't a gaming laptop, but I do have a ton of games on laptop that are old that are fun experiences. Doom, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Half-life, Sim-City, Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior etc.

I highly disagree with your quote. I play mostly on the PC, specially mid-low budget.

My problems with consoles:

very expensive VS PC (hardware + subscription service)
lose acess to my previous library every time a new generation is released
restricted to whatever the manufactured wants. I prefer the xbox one controller. why can't i use it on my switch?
Curation that is very unfair. I still remember cosmic star heroine having a hard time entering switch,
Can't customize settings. The game is barely 30fps with framerate going to single digits with explosions? too bad for you!
Accessories are killed with each generation. I can still use my xbox 360 controller in new games in PC why can't taht be used on an xbox one?

Alongside none of the above PC gets:

Bundles
lots of unique games like total war
Mods
dozens of different stores competing for your hard earned money

Deleted member 4212 · May 26, 2020

Can someone give me the straight dope on Windows these days? Builds never include the cost of Windows. I understand that there are ways to get it for very cheap but I don't get it. What's the catch? It costs like $100 regularly.

Bomblord · May 26, 2020

Aquavelvaman said:
Can someone give me the straight dope on Windows these days? Builds never include the cost of Windows. I understand that there are ways to get it for very cheap but I don't get it. What's the catch? It costs like $100 regularly.

Run the installer from Microsofts website

Download Windows 10

After that you can run 10 indefinitely as long as you don't care about a watermark saying "unactivated" and the loss of being able to easily change your desktop background. Microsoft allows this intentionally for various reasons.

Additionally Linux gaming with Steam Proton has come a long long long way. Basically just install Steam on Linux and run any of the tested games or click a checkbox to use the translation layer on non-tested gaming. If you're running an untested game it has the potential to be a little janky (hilariously I ran Halo Reach on Linux using this when it was not supported and hitting the crouch button crashed the game not only for me but for everyone in my lobby I was able to repeat this) but other than that it just works. The games don't even need to be ported to Linux.

NippleViking · May 26, 2020

Sailent said:
I'm gonna throw the BOMB, but, building a PC is cheap, yeah...if you live in the US.

Either you are lucky and find good deals, or you are going to spend more than 500 euros to play with medium settings and scratching 60fps on 1080.

At least here in Europe. The VAT in here is ridiculously high.

Yep. In Australia you'd be paying about 60-70% more than a One X for equivalent specs.

Jaded Alyx · May 26, 2020

Bman94 said:
I don't have a gaming PC, but the only reason why I'd want one is to experience 4K (currently don't have a 4K TV) and play games at ridiculously high framerates.

The vast majority of high end PC gamers are not playing at 4K.

Theswweet · May 26, 2020

The "sweet spot" right now is 1440p/144hz. Older games can hit those specs on even a relatively modest machine these days, eSports games have no trouble hitting those specs on a relatively modest machine, and with FreeSync/G-Sync anytime you're over like 90~ FPS you get the benefit of a smoother experience without having to worry about screen-tearing.

turbobrick · May 26, 2020

Bluelote said:
so, I've been using basically the same motherboard, cpu and ram since 2012 and it was kind of low end back then (MB around $40, CPU around $180), only upgraded the graphics card (and added SSD) at some point, and it still runs most games fine, it struggles with some stuff, but not to unplayable levels.

specially people in the first world can get so many cheap used PC stuff, random i5 from 7 years ago is still fairly capable for most games, add to it some GTX 1650S and you have a nice 1080P gaming PC for now.

perhaps this is not the best time because of the next gen being so close, but still...

the idea that you need a 2080 ti or even a $1000 PC for gaming is so clearly absurd.

random example from today:

These old PC's that every business uses are a great deal for a cheap gaming PC. I bought one with a 3rd gen i5 and 8gb of ram for only $120. I put a $90 GT 1030 graphics card in it, along with a 256gb ssd. I had no problems playing older games. I could get a constant 60fps in CSGO

The only problem with them is what the video mentioned, that the power supplies are weak, and they use proprietary connectors. Which is the reason I went with such a weak graphics card in mine.

ElephantShell · May 26, 2020

Yeah I didn't spend too much on my PC when I built it a year and a half ago with a budget in mind but it's done everything I've wanted it to do and I've had a great time with some games on PC. Still play most AAA stuff on my PS4 but having the option and getting into some different kind of titles in a PC setting is great.

Plus now I have some basic know-how and a base to add higher end parts to if I ever feel like it (or win the lottery).

Barahir_mjh · May 26, 2020

To elaborate a little more on a couple non-AAA areas.

Back Catalog:
The great majority of PC games ever released can run on Windows 10 easily - the only major exceptions are some early Windows games that can't run in DOSBox easily and break natively in Win10, and even then workarounds have been developed for high-profile stuff. A huge number of them are also easily available from GOG and Steam (though again there are exceptions, mainly those in licensing limbo). You have a big library of classics going back to the 90s. And really earlier, though 80s PC games can be tough to get into.

This huge back catalog covers a massive variety of games in different genres, and a lot of them still hold up. Especially given the mods. Texture packs, resolution upgrades, new fan content, UI improvements - so much there for many games decades old, effectively an unofficial remaster in some cases.

Just to name a few of my favorite PC classics...

Star Control 2, the epic space adventure (100% legally free BTW).

Myst III: Exile's alien worlds (I know, Riven is the best one, but Exile is a classic too and great for screenshots):

a9a71c83dd8221c934dcf4ab569575943edfa51c84c8feb1e5bb2e5437b34702.jpg

Thief 1 and 2, arguably still the definitive stealth games (HD texture packs available if they look too primitive for your tastes. Thief 2 has an entire fan expansion BTW). 3 isn't bad either.

ss_e89a6f219265cff4dda4d8865701d9487f2d3ad4.1920x1080.jpg

Strategy and turn-based RPGs:
Also the PC dominates in strategy and is solid at turn-based RPGs, neither of which need much graphical power. Turn-based strategy can adapt to lower specs and afford to sacrifice a little more fidelity than action genres, for obvious reasons.

And for that matter, I said "turn-based" but many real-time strategy games are either graphically minimalist like Paradox or older games like Age of Empires 2 (which got an excellent remaster recently, see below). So really most of the entire strategy genre has a pretty low buy-in, though I will note the hybrid real time-turn based Total War as more demanding than most.

A potato with integrated graphics will run decades of great past games and some indies. Going up a step to even a lower-end (but real, not integrated) video card will play most other indies and a lot of great AA-type games.

HououinKyouma00 · May 26, 2020

Mindfreak191 said:
True that, I just now realize that I must've played a ton of games as a teen at sub 20fps and didn't bother, since in my theory if the game was able to launch on my PC it meant that there's not much more to gain performance wise :D

Yeah, as a kid I just played games. I didn't care and honestly probably didn't even know if they ran badly. I was just playing games. Honestly up until this generation I didn't care. Last gen I was PS3 until 2010 when I got a 360. I didn't care that the 360 ran games better.

Honestly that's my biggest problem with all of this stuff. People seem to care more about their settings and frame rate then actually enjoying a game. I miss not knowing about any of this stuff. I enjoyed games way more.

Aquavelvaman said:
Can someone give me the straight dope on Windows these days? Builds never include the cost of Windows. I understand that there are ways to get it for very cheap but I don't get it. What's the catch? It costs like $100 regularly.

I've always bought my windows keys from eBay or Play Asia. I've never paid over $15 for a key.

You don't technically need a key if you don't care about customizing stuff like wallpaper.

RedSwirl · May 26, 2020

Bman94 said:
The games you listed though are somewhat niche games. Obviously League of Legends, and Counter Strike has millions of players, but in the scheme of just casual gaming, you'd be pressed to find some buying a PC for those games specifically. Those games are very much nurtured in their own bubble (I know Counter-strike is pretty well optimized even for low end builds) but the mass consumer who just want to play games, will get a console over a PC. And it's common for people to having PCs of course, but not PCs that can do anything modern out right, so they'd opt for a console before even thinking of upgrading their PC to be gaming capable.

That depends on what you consider "mass consumer" though. Maybe console "mass consumers" are a different market from PC "mass consumers".

I haven't really compared the popularity of games like Hearthstone, Cities Skylines on PC, the PC version of The Sims 4, Civilization, Football Manager, Dota 2, etc., with the popularity of the console versions of COD or Madden.

I would say most of the most played games on Steam are games that don't require gaming rigs.

theSoularian · May 26, 2020

Don't forget the deals. If you get into PC gaming, I recommend you bookmark these sites

https://gg.deals and https://isthereanydeal.com/

These sites aggregate all the legit third party sellers and tracks the various sales they are having.
I got Dark Souls 3 + DLCs for $36 (CAD) on humble bundle when it was still $95 on Steam, for example

MrH · May 26, 2020

1080p/60fps is extremely easy to get these days, at a very affordable price.

HououinKyouma00 · May 26, 2020

Bman94 said:
The games you listed though are somewhat niche games. Obviously League of Legends, and Counter Strike has millions of players, but in the scheme of just casual gaming, you'd be pressed to find some buying a PC for those games specifically. Those games are very much nurtured in their own bubble (I know Counter-strike is pretty well optimized even for low end builds) but the mass consumer who just want to play games, will get a console over a PC. And it's common for people to having PCs of course, but not PCs that can do anything modern out right, so they'd opt for a console before even thinking of upgrading their PC to be gaming capable.

I know 4 people who only bought gaming PCs because of League, and now play almost entirely on PC.

With how popular Twitch is I don't think they are as niche as they once were. I'm not saying consoles aren't more popular, and casual players (I hate that word because it implies that hardcore gamers are superior) do usually gravitate toward console but my whole point was there are plenty of reasons for someone to get in PC gaming outside of graphics.

Rare Opiums · May 26, 2020

Really need recommendation of a laptop to emulate PS2 games decently for less than $500. Is there any?

Ctalkeb · May 26, 2020

filkry said:
There are two major motivations for PC gaming.

The more well-known one is the idea of using cutting edge hardware to eke out the best visual fidelity and performance. This is where the mythology of needing to spend tons of money comes from.

The far more interesting motivation in my mind is PC exclusives. These games are invisible in traditional marketing and many console-first players will not be aware of the game, through no fault of their own. Where the PC shines is in the thousands of indie-AA quality titles in an embarrassingly rich cornucopia of genres. Most of these games will run fine on older or underpowered hardware.

For most people who haven't played PC games and are interested in raw performance, I would honestly recommend a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X over a high end PC. The real star reason to enter the PC spaces is to play the games that only exist there.

Pretty much this, my work laptop does 90% of the work I need to do, my four-five year old personal laptop does the remaining 10%, plus grand strategy, VNs and Zachtronics games. PS4pro and an XB1 I got for free does everything else to a satisfactory degree.

Can't really justify a Switch, since I just won't have the time for it.

slothrop · May 26, 2020

Mid/low-range can be also quieter and less hot and less power consuming and easier to fit in a small package. These can easily be more important metrics for some people than raw fps.

asmith906 · May 26, 2020

Dimajjio said:
Why in god's name do people just assume the worst? I've never used an emulator in my life. How am I supposed to know PS1/2/3 discs are readable in a PC? Or cartridges can be dumped via some little extra device?

People assume this because every thread about emulation gets this question which basically derails the entire thread.

HououinKyouma00 · May 26, 2020

Rare Opiums said:
Really need recommendation of a laptop to emulate PS2 games decently for less than $500. Is there any?

I did a quick search and it looks like the Dell Inspiron 5585 has a 4500u and is right around $500

Jimrpg · May 26, 2020

Bomblord said:
I see a lot of people around this forum and various other PC enthusiast sites/subsites who are excited to play games on PC but think they need to drop $2000+ to get into it. It can be intimidating to see a big youtuber call $750 a "budget" build because that carries the assumption it is the bare minimum to play games. I'm here to tell you it's not remotely true and I want to address some myths that you might see about PC's and PC gaming in general that can be viewed as barriers of entry or scare people who are new to the hobby (or even experienced in it!) off.

Building it Yourself
So to start out I see a lot of users turned off and scared off by the idea of building it yourself. I was there once and while my immediate reaction is to encourage you in the idea that it can be incredibly easy (assuming everything goes right >_>) and (barring fire sales) cheaper buying a prebuilt PC is completely valid. Whether you don't have the time to build it, are scared of messing up, or you just plain don't want to mess with it buying a prebuilt is a perfectly valid method of pc gaming and no one should look down on you for it.

The "Ultra" misconception
Now, let's look at the "ultra" misconception. Or people with $2500 PC's cranking up the settings to a level that is frequently either meant for benchmarking or not meant for current hardware and saying a game is "unplayable". There's a lot of writeups on this idea but the general consensus is.... don't look at benchmarks on ultra as a standard of playability. Ultra is not what a game is optimized for and other than a few developers locking what used to be "utra" behind ini file edits so that users no longer immediately click it and complain it's un-optimized it should never be your benchmark. "High" is usually where the fancy bells and whistles are and the "Medium" equivalent is frequently mainstream hardware. As you get lower and lower you can even run games on super cheap hardware.

Playing older games/Lower Requirements games
Here's another thing about PC gaming not every game is AAA and old games still run. Let's say you pick up a low end PC at Bestbuy. You found some $250 clearance model with a 7th gen i5 and intel integrated graphics. You'll be surprised to know you have an entire world of absolutely amazing games to play on that budget special. Many older games run flawlessly on budget/low end hardware classics like Half Life 2, System Shock, Elder Scrolls IV/III, and all kinds of older games are available and run on a potato. Modern esports titles like Rocket League, LOL, and Overwatch are optimized for low end hardware and many games just don't have high system requirements. Sometimes even newly released game can be dropped to low and enjoyed. Heck, a Raspberry pi with DOSBOX can even run some Steam games like Don't Starve.

Extreme budgets/Budget Gaming
Alright, next on the list is the idea that you need to drop absurd amounts of money on a high end PC with all the fancy peripherals, monitors, multi-hundred dollar mechanical keyboards, etc. You. DON'T. My current gaming PC is a dell business desktop I picked up in bulk for $5 and then put about $250 worth of upgrades into it. It's connected to a 40" Vizio TV on my wall and it plays everything I throw at it around medium settings 1080p and even sometimes 4K. I'm not going to argue that the fancy peripherals and upgraded hardware is not better but the degree to which their better can be vastly oversold because games are not only playable but downright enjoyable without them. A low end PC is still a PC an You can hook most low end PC's up to any old HDMI TV you have lying around (as long as your PC can output to HDMI) and play on it. Also of note you can (allowed by Microsoft) run unactivated windows for free indefinitely just with some minor functionality loss (like changing backgrounds) or use Linux which is also free.

Emulation!
Emulation is where it gets really fun. Everything up to the Gamecube era runs on even the lowest of low end (modern) hardware. A $100 (off ebay) Lenovo with a 4th gen i5 will emulate GC/Wii/Dreamcast/PSP flawlessly and you might even be able to upscale some of them. If you want to have a usable PC that can run emulators a $35 Raspberry Pi 4 2GB can run everything up to Dreamcast (excluding some n64 games) flawlessly as well.

RGB lighting makes it faster
This is 100% true. Red in particular makes it supah fast. The thing is don't overspend on RGB components where manufacturers add $50+ to add lights to a single component you can buy an LED strip on amazon with a remote controls for $20. Even cheaper if you get a short single color strip.

Sources/Resources
ETA Prime on Youtube
Low Spec Gamer on Youtube
PC Gaming Thread
Gaming Laptop Discussion Thread
Emulator Screenshot Thread
Raspberry Pi Gaming Thread

So what's the conclusion here? Regardless of your budget if you have the right expectations you have libraries of literally thousands of amazing games at any price range. Don't let the difficulty or any percieved barriers to entry stop you from enjoying your hobby on another piece of hardware.

1. Building it Yourself
Most people recommend building PCs yourself, because the difficulty level in building your own is really low, for a basic PC, you just need a screwdriver. Sure you could just get a prebuilt, but are there any youtube channels that recommend pre-builts? It doesn't make any sense. Technically you might even save money because you didn't have to do any research and saving time = saving money, but many pre-builts skimp on areas that people with no knowledge don't pay attention to like the case or the keyboard/mouse or the power supply, or the motherboard. That's why people recommend building PCs. Yes there's a hurdle to begin with, but people need to just jump in - the water's fine.

2. Ultra misconception
I agree that people should know that Ultra - is just for benchmarking tests and people don't have to play at these settings. But also recommending someone buy a mid/low tier PC - there should be some caveat that the PC just isn't going to last as long, before it feels old and archaic in games. Let's say you buy the 4c/8t 3300x - its just going to have more issues 2 or 3 years down the line, when it's not going to be a good performer any longer. You've really 'wasted' $500 that could have been put on a 3700x build for $1000. I agree with the idea that people don't have to buy the most expensive machine, but there's a lot of good options in between that and low spec machines. With low spec machines, people need to know what they're getting into.

Deleted member 6949 · May 26, 2020

I've been building my own PCs for over 20 years and I never buy top of the line parts. I also buy consoles, and I feel like over time they have been a much greater money suck, and at any given moment the games looked better on whatever Frankenstein PC I was using.

RedSwirl · May 26, 2020

filkry said:
The far more interesting motivation in my mind is PC exclusives. These games are invisible in traditional marketing and many console-first players will not be aware of the game, through no fault of their own. Where the PC shines is in the thousands of indie-AA quality titles in an embarrassingly rich cornucopia of genres. Most of these games will run fine on older or underpowered hardware.

PC exclusives just aren't as flashy as console exclusives. They don't have huge marketing campaigns behind them unless you're talking about the occasional Blizzard game or The Sims (which are on consoles too now). There isn't a single company with a PR arm devoted to cultivating PC fans.

Even PC exclusives that might have AAA budgets behind them though, are often optimized for mainstream computers. They may have low-end graphics but they'll have really slick presentation in other areas like UI, FMV intros, lots of professional voice acting, or just really polished gameplay.

Arthands · May 26, 2020

Bman94 said:
Well the reason why people push the expensive builds is because if you're looking into getting into PC gaming, chances are you're doing it because you've already have/had the console experience already and want high end. In most cases if you don't want high end, then why bother getting a PC if you can just get a console and get more gaming use out of it?

I don't have a gaming PC, but the only reason why I'd want one is to experience 4K (currently don't have a 4K TV) and play games at ridiculously high framerates. It used to be sales too but a lot of console games are pretty cheap with the sales, so that's pretty much a moot point though.

But I do very much agree with the old school angle. My laptop isn't a gaming laptop, but I do have a ton of games on laptop that are old that are fun experiences. Doom, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Half-life, Sim-City, Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior etc.

Free online, More games (including indies, RTS, and retro titles), no censorship, enhanced features (eg remote play together), cheaper price, more compatibility with more controllers, mods, emulation etc

Arthands · May 26, 2020

Dimajjio said:
Why in god's name do people just assume the worst? I've never used an emulator in my life. How am I supposed to know PS1/2/3 discs are readable in a PC? Or cartridges can be dumped via some little extra device?

I mean, wouldn't you be asking 'how do you read PS1/2/3 discs in a PC' if you have never used an emulator in your life?

TheGift · May 27, 2020

I spent about $900 on my PC with an i5-9400 and a GTX 1660 ti. 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD. The only games I haven't been able to run at ultra are Metro: Exodus and Gears 5. The Ryzen APU's are also pretty amazing. You get great CPU and GPU performance for a couple hundred dollars. And there's an upgrade path. As long as you are ok with having no ray tracing, there's a lot of great options for relatively. cheap.

LebGuns · May 27, 2020

I got a gaming laptop a while back but never got around to play games on it. Sure enough, the moment I decide to use it to play XCOM EW the game crashes. Now I have to figure out why that is, and this is exactly why I hate PC gaming. 🤷🏻‍♂️

ray_caster · May 27, 2020

Bomblord said:
Heck, a Raspberry pi with DOSBOX can even run some Steam games like Don't Starve.

I think you mean Box86, not Dosbox.

Cyberclops · May 27, 2020

I bought my current gaming laptop (6GB 1060 + 7th gen i7) about 3 years ago and it's still running a bunch of stuff at acceptable settings for me. I think I'll go for a Series X for this year and hold out on the PC side for as long as I can. Hopefully 1440p at 144 fps will be attainable on the mid-range in the next few years.

Bman94 · May 27, 2020

karnage10 said:
I highly disagree with your quote. I play mostly on the PC, specially mid-low budget.

My problems with consoles:

very expensive VS PC (hardware + subscription service)

lose acess to my previous library every time a new generation is released

restricted to whatever the manufactured wants. I prefer the xbox one controller. why can't i use it on my switch?

Curation that is very unfair. I still remember cosmic star heroine having a hard time entering switch,

Can't customize settings. The game is barely 30fps with framerate going to single digits with explosions? too bad for you!

Accessories are killed with each generation. I can still use my xbox 360 controller in new games in PC why can't taht be used on an xbox one?

Alongside none of the above PC gets:

Bundles

lots of unique games like total war

Mods

dozens of different stores competing for your hard earned money

How is console gaming more expensive than PC? A subscription service costs $60 for a year of online pay with games included. And if it's Gamepass it's even more affordable in terms of value. And the next console generation is fixing the problems when it comes to library (which Xbox One has already solved that issue of backwards compatibility somewhat) and when it comes to using the same equipment. And come on, do you really have to ask why Nintendo would allow a Xbox controller to work on their platform?

Jaded Alyx said:
The vast majority of high end PC gamers are not playing at 4K.

Maybe I'm lost here, so why is everyone being so emphatic about 4K resolution if the demographic that benefits the most from it is not utilizing it?

RedSwirl said:
That depends on what you consider "mass consumer" though. Maybe console "mass consumers" are a different market from PC "mass consumers".

I haven't really compared the popularity of games like Hearthstone, Cities Skylines on PC, the PC version of The Sims 4, Civilization, Football Manager, Dota 2, etc., with the popularity of the console versions of COD or Madden.

I would say most of the most played games on Steam are games that don't require gaming rigs.

You're right. But I definitely felt the burn when I bought Cities Skylines on PC and it couldn't run at all. I really like simulators, but I have to stick to really old ones or console ports of them. I enjoyed Cities Skylines on PS4 and Switch though.

Tailzo · May 27, 2020

Flandy said:
Some classic games that are resold on PC also sometimes just straight up include the ROM file lol

Like Sega Genesis collection on Steam. You can use the rommfilr to for example play the excellent Sonic 3 A.I.R.

PaulloDEC · May 27, 2020

My desktop PC took a dive a few weeks back, so I've dragged out my "spare" PC in the meantime. The bulk of the build is from around 2012, while the GPU is a little newer, around 2014. It's a Core i7 machine with 8gb of RAM and a GTX 970.

I've been replaying Sunset Overdrive over the last week, and it runs at a reasonably stable 60fps at 1080p with everything turned up. You absolutely don't need a brand new, cutting edge machine to game on PC, even for games that released on the current gen of consoles.

Firmament1 · May 27, 2020

Dimajjio said:
I'm sure this is lovely but where do you legally get the games from to run on these emulators?

Lemme put it to you another way: Where are the publishers selling the game firsthand so I can support the developers? As far as I'm concerned, once the console has stopped being manufactured, it's fair game.

Jaded Alyx · May 27, 2020

Bman94 said:
Maybe I'm lost here, so why is everyone being so emphatic about 4K resolution if the demographic that benefits the most from it is not utilizing it?

Console gamers are the people who keep going on about 4K, because console hardware is aiming to keep up with 4K TVs. High end PC people care much more about high framerates at Ultra settings. The number of people who are pushing AAA games at 120+fps on Ultra at 4K must be negligible.

Rimkrak · May 27, 2020

Lol my pc is so shitty it doesnt even match OP's 250$ budget pc. Tried to buy skater xl and had to refund it because I could only run it at 360p very low ^^
Agreed that it's nice for older games though, my steam library is full of them

Uzzy · May 27, 2020

Uhtred said:
I think most of the world out there already knows this... The paltform is larger than the two main enthusiast consoles put together, and that;s without biillions spent on advertising.

it's just Reset Era where PC gaming gets all angular and rigs cost $3,000 and keyboards left out in the open can cause disasters.

And yes OP is correct, PC gaming is not about the specs.

HellofaMouse · May 27, 2020

ive been building my own pcs for a over a decade now and i know its not that big of a deal, but saying building your own pc is easy until it isnt, isnt a good arguement for people who are turned off by that.

DvdGzz · May 27, 2020

Also, decent internet plus GE Force Now and/or Shadow are viable options as well. I'm at work, playing PC games on Steam without a gaming PC at all.

Just a PSA: You don't need a "gaming" PC to game on PC

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