SO how much for that initial build and how long is "a few years?"
Not trolling, genuinely curious as you seem someone who is willing to give a straight answer and not downplay it because it is your perferred method of gaming.
Ok, so $400 will get you an entry level system, good for 1080p. About $600 for a decent system. Probably much above $800 would be hitting the point of diminishing return, but other factors have to be taken into account, like monitor resolution. There's a lot of great builds on the build a pc thread, logical increments, and r/buildapc.
Comparing apples to apples, the $600 system would last for probably the entirety of a console generation. You'll easily be hitting 1080p 60fps for that amount of time. Then, when it is time to upgrade, the only thing that would really need an upgrade would be the graphics card. Maybe the generation after (~10 years maybe) you'd want to build a new pc. Most build a new one sooner because it's addicting. ;-)
When I built my system, I went all in, so I spent quite a bit more, but it has a lot of features I wanted in a system (32gb ram, 512gb ssd boot drive, x2 4tb hdd for media/games, etc.). My graphics card is a 980 ti; at 1080p ultrawide (2560x1080), I likely won't need to upgrade my card for a good 3-4 years. Maybe even longer if I stay gaming at 1080p.
Long story short though, locking online play and cloud saves (for ps4 anyway) was one of the main reason I built my gaming pc. The other was Ori and the Blind Forest. ;-)
OK maybe I was over exaggerating but I wasn't trolling. My point was that people tend to moan about paying a small amount a month then will quite happily spend hundreds/ thousands on a PC. My job doesn't pay a massive amount but £5.99 a month to me is still less than nothing. In the grand scheme of life, who cares?
Console gaming = spend less upfront, more over time.
PC gaming = spend a bit more upfront, way less over time.
So, yeah, that 5.99 may not be that much per month, but it does add up over multiple months.
Most of the guys spending thousands on PCs do so out of hobby and not necessity.
Steam's hardware survey usually indicates very modest hardware as being the most popular/used.