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The PS5 is making me hate PC Gaming (techradar article)

cormack12

Gold Member
Source: https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/the-ps5-is-making-me-hate-pc-gaming

I've owned both a PS4 and a gaming PC for many years now, but my computers have always won the title of being my favorite gaming hardware, often leaving my PS4 gathering dust for months on end. Knowing I could only afford one, I had a decision to make: do I buy a PS5 now, or save up for a shiny GeForce RTX 3090 and CPU upgrade?

It seemed like an obvious choice at the time. I'm now kicking myself.

Since these GPUs have hit the market we've seen games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Watchdogs: Legion, and The Medium released, giving us the opportunity to test this groundbreaking computing hardware for ourselves. And each time, be it down to overly demanding software or lack of optimization for PC, I'm left disappointed.

Before the games were even released, we were seeing some fairly alarming system requirements to play the latest AAA titles. It was reported this week by DSOG that the Medium couldn't run at a consistent 60fps on a PC equipped with an Intel i9-9900K and an RTX 3080, even on standard 1080p quality and ray tracing switched off. And the optimization issues faced by The Medium are hardly unique.

PC gaming feels like a constant uphill battle to evolve and accommodate the very latest in computing technology, combining a love for tech tinkering with a gaming hobby for many. You need to put consistent effort, money, or both into being a PC gamer because a large reason people might choose a computer over a console is the ability to experience games in the highest achievable quality.

And yet, PS5 owners can now experience 4K quality, better game optimization (in some titles), and haptic feedback in the DualSense controller for significantly less than a comparable gaming computer would cost to buy or build. One of the biggest reasons I (and many others) will also be buying a PS5 is because of the Sony Exclusive titles.

When the PS5 showcase announced Horizon: Forbidden West, Demon's Souls and God of War: Ragnorak, I excitedly noted them as titles to look forward to playing when I could eventually buy the console myself. Now that the first few months of the Nvidia Ampere and AMD 'Big Navi' hardware have passed, I'm left feeling disappointed and envious of my console playing peers.

This is in no way saying that I'll be switching out my gaming PC in favor of a PS5, but I'm firmly stepping down from my high horse for the time being. Until games are better optimized for PC or developers manage their hardware expectations, every game I'm looking forward to in 2021 is currently a PS5-exclusive.
 

Arkam

Member
Said it before and will say it again. If you can avoid it, don’t build or upgrade a PC near a console launch. The console will be the better deal (by far) then the following year (or so) you do your pc so you can have an upgraded experience over the console without cashing in your 401k.
 
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Nezzeroth

Member
I prefer AAA gaming on consoles and indies on PC just so I can go years without upgrading my PC and not having to worry too much about options so I can make the games run better or anything.

But the premise of this thread is wrong. Games can be unoptimized on every platform, not just PC. Just look at Cyberpunk on old gen consoles.
 
It's definitely gotten to the point where you can't really go wrong just sticking with consoles. They offer a great baseline level of performance now, with 60 fps seemingly standard or at least an option. The SSDs are fast, the CPUs are great, the GPUs are competitive.

Obviously if you want the absolute best performance on select third party games, you must have a PC for that. For me, I'm OK not having the absolute best, but having the absolute widest option of games available. I couldn't do without my PS5, for instance, simply due to all the compelling exclusives Sony has in the works. It just so happens to play third party games extremely well too.

I'd much rather spend PC type money just buying all the consoles (Switch, Xbox, PS) and being able to play the exclusives each has to offer. Consoles also happen to be highly convenient with less set-up and tweaking.
 
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TriSuit666

Banned
What a crock of shite. The Medium is just wanky optimised, even a 3070 pleb like myself can get 60fps in 2160 on High with RT on.












ok... dlss is on. WHAT?
 
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DavidGzz

Member
I haven't touched my PS5 since last year and my XSX in a few weeks. My weak PC comparatively, gives me life cause mods. Now that I'm done with the launch games and upgraded games, Dark Souls 3 Cinders mod and Diablo 1 and 2 mods are keeping me going.

I want The Ascent to come out. I also may try The Division 2 with the 60 fps enhancement and the Resident Evil crossover stuff.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Keep cryin' buttercup 😂

UpDWBWS.jpg
 

Hostile_18

Banned
All sound logic but it's going to trigger people who will see it as an attack on them 😉

4k 60fps games, the ability to emulate (on series X), value for money (hardware wise).

Console gaming has become a lot stronger value proposition now for those who traditionally preferred PC for the above reasons.
 

Moogle11

Banned
I decided not to upgrade my PC and just stick with consoles this generation and beyond. I bought a gaming PC in 2016 as figured it made sense once PlayAnywhere started as I could get Xbox games there and the other benefits of PC gaming.

It just never really clicked for me. I didn’t end up liking any PC exclusive games, hated keyboard and mouse controls (struggled to adapt and just hate touching keyboards and mice after 8+ hours of working with them) so I was just playing on TV with an Xbox controller and having it basically be a console experience anyway, didn’t enjoy messing with mods, and realized I don’t real care much about maxing graphics and frames rates. Especially as the PC aged and more time fiddling with game settings was needed to keep frame rates up and graphics effects on.

Add in some minor additions hassles with getting PC games up and running on the TV (have to enable TV as a monitor as I have to keep it disabled to keep things from opening on it randomly when working, make sure the right audio device is selected, find the right game launcher etc.) and I just ended up barely using it after the initial few months.

Still looked into an upgrade, but saw I‘d need pretty much a new build as my motherboard wouldn’t work with the newer CPUs and it was an easy decision to just stick with consoles. I see the benefits and why people love PC gaming, it just all mostly ended up not being things that appealed to me and just isn’t worth it when for me it was just playing slightly better looking and running versions of the same games I could play on consoles.

So I’ll just stick with owning all consoles going forward unless there’s some major shift in the landscape that sees PC get a lot of exclusives that are must plays for me. Which seems unlikely as a lover of cinematic, narrative-driven games. A huge chunk of my favorite games are console exclusives anyway. They tend to get more time in the oven to be polished as the console makers need showpiece games to sell hardware vs. third party stuff that’s often rushed out to get investors a return on their investments.
 
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I always like consoles better because of the simple plug in and play concept. I like things being upgradable and customizable as well, but the constant need or desire to update PC’s imho can get annoying and expensive. Not to mention other issues that may materialize as well like drivers, compatibility, etc.

I see her point though. With the PS5 and XSX closing the graphical and performance gap, I feel PC’s are slowly losing their advantages. Also, there just isn’t really any PC exclusives I know of that I am really interested in.
 
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Jigsaah

Gold Member
For me the only real factor to deciding whether I'll play a game on PC or console (given it's available on both) is how I would like to control my character. Some games play better on Mouse and Keyboard. Others play better on controller. It just so happens if I am choosing to play a game on controller I might as well get the 4k 60fps benefits as well as my pc is only half upgraded (ryzen 5800x, but still on 1070ti, for reasons techradar already mentioned). So in those cases I would play on console. I play FPS pretty much exclusively on PC and 3rd person games like control are also super satisfying to play on M&KB.
 
What did this guy expect? Cyberpunk might be "unoptimized" on PC, but you can bet your ass a 3090 is still going to run it significantly better than a PS5. And the part about The Medium running like shit at low resolutions on PC... does this guy know it's running at 900p even on Xbox Series X?

Cyberpunk is the rare exception where it was optimized for high end PC first.

PS5 is just running the PS4 version in boost mode right now. Let's wait for the actual PS5 version to release. Sure, it won't be as performant as a 3090, but it'll look a lot closer than it does now
 
PS5 is just running the PS4 version in boost mode right now. Let's wait for the actual PS5 version to release. Sure, it won't be as performant as a 3090, but it'll look a lot closer than it does now
Yeah, but everyone knew that was going to happen. Even that guy, I'm sure. He bought a 3090, for god's sake. That card offers 10% more performance than a 3080 at around twice the price. He paid $1500 for a GPU and still has the nerve to whine about about how PC gaming is "financially depressing". What a tool.
 
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Moogle11

Banned
Console gaming is easier and more affordable, in other news 💧 is liquid. I also like to game in front of big ass TV, something PC gamers never do even though they always like to say they can. Plug and play.

I’ve gone console only as I said above, but all my PC gaming was on the same big TV as my consoles. I have a man cave that doubles as my office and gaming room so it wasn’t a big deal to run an HDMI cable from my PC at my desk to my TV a few feet away.

I think a lot of PC gamers gaming at desks just prefer that set up (i.e. play a lot of kB/m games and that’s more comfy at a desk than on a couch or recliner) or just don’t have space for a separate game room and cram a desk somewhere to game away from the wife/kids.

Otherwise it’s pretty easy to do PC gaming on a TV. A few extra steps to get it on and a game loaded vs. the simplicity of consoles, but gaming on a TV wasn’t a reason I drifted away from PC gaming as that was easy to do in my set up.
 
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After being PS4 only since 2013 I bought a new PC in November 2020 and testing the waters there.

The plug and play convenience of a console is a big reason to own one if you do a lot of gaming. Setting up on PC is kind of a pain for certain things that you just don't need to worry about on a PS4. I run both through my 65" TV and it's nice to have the best of both worlds.

Not sure that having one would ever make me dump the other, so strange take from that article. WhyNotBoth.gif
 
Happens at every console release. This thought does change as the years go by and the gap opens.

But I wont ever go back to pc gaming as I don't have the patience for it anymore.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Console gaming is easier and more affordable, in other news 💧 is liquid. I also like to game in front of big ass TV, something PC gamers never do even though they always like to say they can. Plug and play.
I play most of my PC games on a TV. You plug the hdmi cable, and you play, that's it.
 
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