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[VegiHam]

I just don't understand all these names for processors, graphics cards, CPUs, and what all these benchmarks and stuff means. And, to be honest, I can't really be bothered to find out.

That, and the fact that if I got a PC, I'd want it to be a decent one. So the initial cost of entry puts me off.

This cuts to the heart of it for me. Frankly, I don't know the difference between a GPU, PSU and CPU.

When I bought my PS4 I had four options. 500GB, 1TB, 500GB pro, 1TB pro. Buying a PC I have a million options, and I don't know what my of them mean, and I don't think the benefits of PC gaming are worth the weeks it'd take to find out.

But I do know that these results I get if I try and buy a 'gaming PC' ready made are probably sold at a huge markup and I'd be throwing money away. But I have no idea who's a trusted seller and manufacturer in this space. Again, that's more research I have to do. To be honest, I do research every day for my dissertation. For my hobbies I just wanna plug and play.

 

[EctoPrime]

The entire system requirements as it is right now with minimum and recommended specs is archaic. This has not changed for decades and no longer works as it should with dozens of cpu and gpu models that exist that can run new games. It was fine when cpu speed was all that mattered but that has been gone for a long time.
It can stop people from buying the game if they think that their machine will not run it when it actually could.

It should be replaced with minimums specs for each resolution.

720p, 1080p, 1440p and 4k in 30fps and 60.

 

[nkarafo]

Please tell me you're being sarcastic

It's a hyperbole but he is not entirely wrong. It depends on what you want.

I did hours long of troubleshooting sessions for a few games that i couldn't easily fix their frame pacing or random hitching issues. I'm very sensitive to these kinds of issues and i know that on a PC there is a potential to fix them. So i try everything i can until i see results, no matter how long it takes. On a console, i know there is no such potential, so i just accept whatever issues are present.

I don't see this as a bad thing for PCs mind you. They give you freedom so if you want you can use this freedom to optimize your gaming experience. This can take anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours, depending on your patience or experience. If you don't want to, you can still ignore everything though, use defaults and enjoy the game.

 

[chaosblade]

This thread is not about PC being or not being faster, but I'm curious, what kind of game looked on your card like TLOU is PS3.

The person I was replying to implied that PC performance regresses relative to console performance, which isn't really true.

I don't think you will find any PC games that look as good as TLOU running on a 8800GT, but a big part of that could be chalked up to budget differences and artistic talent. I'm sure there are some good 2011-era ports that look nice on the card at ~720p/30FPS though, would have to see what all released around that time though. As far as later DX10 releases go most of what's coming to mind are open world games, which suffered on both consoles and old GPUs at that point.

Edit: TLOU is newer than I thought, 2013.

 

[Renekton]

I refuse to subscribe to the argument that the owner of a gaming PC wouldn't know how or understand how to diagnose and fix a hardware issue.

Prove it. Go into that thread I linked and help some brothers out, or the various PC performance threads here.

 

[Fredrik]

Having to know what bunch of meaningless letters mean (7600k, cool or not? Is 1800x better? Which mainboard?) install/update drivers and so on, as opposed to just inserting a disc into a console.

Most naming schemes (GHZ + throughtput ratings on RAM for instance) , oh and there are different types of RAM sockets, oh, and CPU sockets too (why should I care about it?) and, oh, the "3Gb 1060 is also otherwise weaker than 6Gb"...

It feels as if industry is making it harder on purpose. (it might at times)


I don't see anything surprising here.





This thread is not about PC being or not being faster, but I'm curious, what kind of game looked on your card like TLOU is PS3.

You don't have to know those "meaningless" letters, unless you want to tell someone what hardware you have, which is when I just check the receipt from the PC shop

I've just memorized that I have an i7 something CPU, 16GB RAM and 980ti GPU (previously 780ti). I let the shop build my rig with no knowledge about new PC tech, I used to own a 486 PC and a Celerion too once but nothing from those days are relevant today.

I'm still doing okay as a PC gamer. 60+ fps is quite nice. And it auto updates, is always powered on, and I don't even have to install a disc to play since it's all Steam, which is always running too. Easy.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Yes, because that just isn't reality anymore. It just isn't. When something in your PC fails, there are only a handful of things it can actually be, because truth be told there aren't that many pieces to a PC build. The most common are power supply failure, memory failure, a heating/cooling issue, and GPU failure. Each of these issues manifests differently, and each is easily testable.

If it isn't those things, it's the hard drive, the motherboard, the CPU, or the OS itself. That's it - it literally can not be anything else. I fail to subscribe to the argument that the owner of a gaming PC wouldn't know how or understand how to diagnose and fix a hardware issue.

People still use AOL on their PCs. Whether or not you "subscribe to the argument" that a gaming PC owner wouldn't know how to troubleshoot hardware issues, it's true in many cases.

Especially true now that Big Box stores are selling Gaming PCs and there's dozens of sites that let you configure and they'll pre-build it and send it to you. There's probably a ton of people running builds that have overkill cooling, fans, and lights and shit that they don't even need because of this. 1000w PSU's for single mid-tier GPU setups using onboard sound and all that.

 

[packy34]

You are correct. And that is why people who do not understand how to diagnose and fix such hardware issues are not owners of gaming PCs. Which.... is that point I was trying to make?

You said that PCs come with inherently more hurdles than consoles, which, in my opinion, is inaccurate in the year of our lord 2017. That's the point I was trying to make.

I don't think "begrudgingly" replacing an entire console that's out of warranty - or even shipping the entire thing off to some unknown location for god knows how long when it IS under warranty - is a better solution than taking 30-60 minutes to understand what specific piece or hardware is having issues, why those issues are happening, and preventing them from happening again.

 

[EGM1966]

Market perception trailing actual reality.

These days a PC is as easy to to run as a console and there's far better BC support (in terms of how many generations of games will just play ok).

Unless you want to tinker (mods, graphic sweeteners, etc) or want to play unsupported old titles or use emulators there's no tinkering at all.

 

[Jimrpg]

It's probably the perception that

Console Games -> Developer works hard to max out my hardware

PC Games -> I have to tinker with it and it might not even work properly

Even though 99% of problems are solvable with either an automatic steam patch or with a bit of googling.

 

[RalchAC]

People shouldn't take something like looking up information in Google for granted. It's mindblowing how many of my colleagues at University (20-22 years old) can't find anything.

And translators are supposed to do a lot of research.

 

[Arminsc]

wrong thread oops

 

[packy34]

People still use AOL on their PCs. Whether or not you "subscribe to the argument" that a gaming PC owner wouldn't know how to troubleshoot hardware issues, it's true in many cases.

Some people still use AOL, so that means gaming PC owners - enthusiasts - are incapable of troubleshooting?

That's a HUGE leap in logic. Come on... I'm tired of hearing this same stuff over and over again.

My parents would have trouble navigating the Xbox One OS - does that mean it's badly designed?

 

[duckroll]

I don't think "begrudgingly" replacing an entire console that's out of warranty - or even shipping the entire thing off to some unknown location for god knows how long when it IS under warranty - is a better solution than taking 30-60 minutes to understand what specific piece or hardware is having issues, why those issues are happening, and preventing them from happening again.

Because you have a keen interest in understanding that as a hobby and are willing to take the time to learn about it and apply it. Different people have different focuses in their lives and not everyone is interested in understanding electronics and hardware. What is a better solution to you, could be a waste of time to them because they can spend it on other things, and sending something off to be replaced is not a big deal to them.

Here's another way to look at it: Some people like repairing things which break. Others will simply replace it because the cost and ease of replacement is more worthwhile to them than investing time into repairing something.

What is a better solution depends entirely on an individual.

 

[Zepp Twofist]

Why not. Post that console tech support megathread here.

There isn't a console support megathread because when something doesn't work you are shit out of luck.

 

[llien]

The person I was replying to implied that PC performance regresses relative to console performance, which isn't really true.

I don't think you will find any PC games that look as good as TLOU running on a 8800GT, but a big part of that could be chalked up to budget differences and artistic talent. I'm sure there are some good 2011-era ports that look nice on the card at ~720p/30FPS though, would have to see what all released around that time though. As far as later DX10 releases go most of what's coming to mind are open world games, which suffered on both consoles and old GPUs at that point.

But the guy had a point (if I got him right). As PC hardware improves (and it was doing it much faster in the past, one has to remember) PC games aim higher.

If it is a game by Blizzard, you could expect it run on older hardware just fine (as they never push it to the limits on modern hardware either), but for most other cases... I couldn't play Dreamfal Chapters on my PC, what the heck. It was also because of the cursed optimized game engine, but again, that doesn't happen on consoles.

You don't have to know those "meaningless" letters, unless you want to tell someone what hardware you have, which is when I just check the receipt from the PC shop

I've just memorized that I have an i7 something CPU, 16GB RAM and 980ti GPU (previously 780ti). I let the shop build my rig with no knowledge about new PC tech, I used to own a 486 PC and a Celerion too once but nothing from those days are relevant today.

I'm still doing okay as a PC gamer. 60+ fps is quite nice. And it auto updates, is always powered on, and I don't even have to install a disc to play since it's all Steam, which us always running too. Easy.

I'm actually much more into tinkering with hardware than you (my sat receiver runs custom plugins I wrote for my convenience), building my PCs since, like forever.

The items missing in your list are:
1) just "i7" doesn't give you good results, you could buy outdated crap
2) it's not just 16Gb of RAM, it's 16Gb of certain type RAM
3) you can't just go out and buy a mainboard "for i7"

Other than that, glad it worked good for you. I would have dived into benchmarks and what not (and, again, am rather into IT) but I see perfectly why people are afraid to go that route.

And let's not forget about the price aspect.

 

[Audette]

I'm more of a console guy. I like the collecting of Physical game releases that exists with consoles. Everything on PC is more... intangible and temporary.

Your parts get old, the standards of plugs and ports change, the operating systems change, the games are mostly digital, even when they aren't the physical copies are not respected the same was with issues with cd keys and downloaders.

It's a great experience in some ways, but i only really enjoyed it when I had a top of the line PC. Once that edge was gone, it got harder to trust the ports and the cost of catching up is the same as a new pc, in Canada right now the kind of pc I would want would be like $2000.

Game developers really seem to rely to much on game ready updates to solve the problems their pc ports have. Ubisoft even admitted to this saying they prefer to allow the more powerful GPU products make the game run smoothly rather than putting the time into fine tuning performance. And really how could they, there is such a wide market of parts and options.

There are great benefits, mods and full featured Indy games such as Terraria and minecraft put their console Brothers to shame. Steam is a great platform and the multitasking nature of the PC is super useful. There is not reason to not consider a pc as they are great for games, but for me it's really the collection aspect and the potential upgrade costs that hold it back for me. But I do both. I don't know why there is always a stigma to do one or the other.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Some people still use AOL, so that means gaming PC owners - enthusiasts - are incapable of troubleshooting?

That's a HUGE leap in logic. Come on... I'm tired of hearing this same stuff over and over again.

My parents would have trouble navigating the Xbox One OS - does that mean it's badly designed?

Didn't say anything about badly designed. My point in bringing up AOL is that even though someone may own a product, it doesn't mean they inherently understand how that product works or how to fix it.

The OP of this very thread stated multiple times that if there was a hardware issue, he'd just take it to a store to get it fixed. There are streamers who make a living playing PC Games on high end rigs who have no idea how to troubleshoot their own setups. Just as there are millions of people who own cars who don't know how to change a flat or replace the oil.

 

[mjp2417]

What are the advantages, then? Games aren't cheaper when you factor in trade-ins. Online is free but generally not as populated as on consoles, and the Plus/Gold subscription comes with free game rentals every month (I'm not sure if Steam has a similar thing).



The hardware inside your PC doesn't get weaker, but engines are upgraded such that you won't get the same visual fidelity/frame rate that you did a year or two prior unless you upgrade components. I did a quick Google search and the 970, a midrange card, is $300. That's for the card alone. That's the price of a PS4.

The advantage is that you have access to the most robust library of video games on any platform by an enormous margin. That seems like a pretty big advantage to me.

Also, no one is going to buy a 970 for $300 in 2017 when a faster and better equipped card exists for at least $50 less. Like, there are dudes on eBay right now trying to sell PS4 Pro's for almost $700. That doesn't mean it's the market price. And even then, a 970 at $300 is still going to show more tangible improvements to exponentially more games than a $400 Playstation Pro because a 970 is still faster than the Pro's GPU and doesn't require one multinational corporation to ink deals with another multinational corporation simply to enable it to run at full speed.

There are very real advantages to playing video games on PC; there are also very real disadvantages (e.g. ease of use still is not really comparable with consoles and never will be).

 

[SallyIsNow]

I was gonna build one, but that thermal paste shit spooked me.

 

[Renekton]

People: "PC issue fixing is trivial!"

Me: "Okay here is a tech support thread so you can solve a couple issues there to prove that statement"

People: (ignores thread) "PC issue fixing is trivial!"

 

[Piggus]

Not really. I encounter issues all the time that require more than a few minutes of research. And a handful in which I have to develop a solution myself. And for someone who doesn't know where to look that's going to be even more complicated. There are many sites or forums that exist which produce complete garbage when searching certain issues.

Can you give an example? I game on PC all the time and can't even remember the last time I had to develop my own solution to a problem. Not saying it doesn't happen, but just curious what kinds of issues you've had that would require it.

 

[Fredrik]

So you are saying people are talking crap, then you admit someone else does all the work for you?

I haven't had any issues yet, so I don't assume that PC gaming is difficult, that's what I'm saying. But yeah if I would run into a difficult problem I would totally go back to the PC shop and ask for help instead of trying to learn all about what may or may not cause the problem. I'm just showing that you could totally be a PC gamer even with no knowledge and interest in the tinkering.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

People complaining about having to upgrade PCs is hilarious now that Sony and MS expect you to dump hundreds of dollars "upgrading" your console every 2-3 years. Especially given how the upgrades are rather unsubstantial for the cost.

The actual cost of staying on top of console gaming these days is about $800 per gen. Add in the price of another console if you want basic functionality like online multiplayer, so more in the area of $1150-1200. Plus games.

Here's an abbreviated list of reasons why I choose to game on PC over my consoles -

because I prefer keyboard and mouse in most of my favorite genres
because I can use Logitech Gaming Software to enhance the functionality of my mouse and keyboard to my liking on a game-by-game basis
because I can use literally any controller I like on a case-by-case basis
legacy controllers, Xbox and Playstation controllers, HOTAS and wheels
even phones, tablets, and other gaming platforms
because I can use Steam to enhance the functionality of these controllers to my liking on a game-by-game basis
because I can modify games to my liking
modify the graphics, the controls, the audio
the fov, the resolution, the framerate
the gameplay and visuals via myriad mods available for many games
because I don't pay a monthly subscription to play my games online, which is my preference
because I can stream my video games to any device in my house, including my family's several PCs on our wired network, our several old laptops, our phones and tablets, our three Steam Links purchased at 20$ apiece - at a higher image quality and with better streaming performance than any console equivalent, by a large margin
because I can use Discord, which is a communication tool which far exceeds console equivalents in functionality and ease of use
because I can share my games with friends via Steam, and they can share games with me (900 games in my library 1 year in and I've spent as much on Steam as I have on my PS4 with 20-something games)
because I can play games like Tabletop Simulator, Civilization, Arma 3, Battlegrounds, you name it (but apparently exclusives or other unique grabs become a subjective matter when they're not those AAA games that 'everyone' loves? they even lose their diversity???)
because I love coming back to older games I already bought to play through again with improvements
because I love coming back to older console games I already bought to play through again with improvements
because I enjoy how much easier it's been to stream and take screenshots on PC
because I can multitask with ease (like I'm doing right now lol)
because I prefer using my cheap years-old monitor because it's got 1ms latency

I don't purport these things as objective advantages (by the way, clever use of words! transparent but clever). They're subjective. I purport these things as examples of reasons why I, and other people, choose to play games on PCs that aren't necessarily cutting edge. And the reasons don't stop there. Just as with consoles and their unique attributes lending them unique appeal, which is explained, justifiably and in painful detail, whenever somebody shitposts a "Why doesn't everybody game on PC" thread. (There's a recent one - I don't see you in there mentioning to people how none of a console's unique attributes could possibly constitute 'advantage', and are therefore null and void...)

My PC is midrange. I can do everything I listed, and I love it.

Quit your clowning. It's painfully obvious that you don't know shit about PC gaming 'in 2017' and you're picking from a well-honed list of console warrior talking points.

but wait - I just bought the new AAA Multiplat, and I don't have an HDR TV to play it on! I can't max out subsurface scattering and MSAA! Guess I'm missing the point of PC gaming ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

My man.

 

[llien]

The advantage is that you have access to the most robust library of video games on any platform by an enormous margin. That seems like a pretty big advantage to me.

Is anyone really claiming that PC platform has no advantages?
There sure are advantages, RTS is basically PC exclusive (and I don't take console FPSes seriously, pardon my chauvinism)

The thread title, however, is "Why is PC gaming still considered difficult with too much tinkering", and I'd say, chuckle, it's because PC gaming is difficult with too much tinkering. =)

If it didn't have any advantage, it would not have been as wildly popular as it is now, would it?

And even then, a 970 at $300 is still going to show more tangible improvements to exponentially more games than a $400 Playstation Pro because a 970 is still faster than the Pro's GPU and doesn't require one multinational corporation to ink deals with another multinational corporation simply to enable it to run at full speed.

Uh, it's not that important a point in this thread, but 970 is at best on par with PS4 Pro GPU and, unlike with PS4 Pro GPU, hardly any game studio will target 970 during development, which adds quite a performance bonus to it. (check Doom for instance)

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Uh, it's not that important a point in this thread, but 970 is at best on par with PS4 Pro GPU and, unlike with PS4 Pro GPU, hardly any game studio will target 970 during development, which adds quite a performance bonus to it. (check Doom for instance)

Literally everything you just wrote is incorrect.

The 970 is well above the PS4 Pro's GPU.

It produces results in multiplats that surpass PS4 Pro performance to this day, despite 'not being targeted'.

DOOM generally runs at over 100fps on my 970/4790k combo at settings that are almost completely maxed. DOOM is a technological miracle on every platform.

DOOM? Seriously? Could you produce a better example?

^that question was rhetorical lol

 

[nkarafo]

I did a quick Google search and the 970, a midrange card, is $300. That's for the card alone. That's the price of a PS4.

Sure but if you have a PC equipped with a 970, that gaming PC should be more than twice as powerful as the PS4. Heck, i had a GTX 960 (a 200$ card about a year ago) and i could still have better graphics and frame rates in most multi platform games than a PS4, except for a few games that used too much VRAM, like RE7 (because i had the 2GB version).

 

[HashtagLapsed]

I was gonna build one, but that thermal paste shit spooked me.

Most aftermarket coolers and provided heatsinks come with pre-applied thermal paste.

Spoiler

Friend.

 

[Kysen]

Because its true. My bro visited me last week and wanted to try out VR. I hadn't touched it in months so I just set up and started steam VR expecting it to work. Steam VR has crashed, no explanation. Restarted PC and the same crash again no explanation. I had to google the problem and limit the search to the previous month to find out what the route cause was. It turns out Geforce experience was causing the crash.

 

[texhnolyze]

I refuse to subscribe to the argument that the owner of a gaming PC wouldn't know how or understand how to diagnose and fix a hardware issue.

I have a friend who perfectly describes that argument, and a brother as well.

They have a PC, they play games on it and that's all they do, but when something's wrong with their PC, the first thing they do is to call me. They don't even know how to install (or reinstall) Windows. Most of the time, what i did is just formatting their PC, installing the necessary software, and the problem's gone. They just don't have the slightest idea how to maintain their PC.

 

[Mohasus]

Uh, it's not that important a point in this thread, but 970 is at best on par with PS4 Pro GPU and, unlike with PS4 Pro GPU, hardly any game studio will target 970 during development, which adds quite a performance bonus to it. (check Doom for instance)

Funny thing because I frequently see the 970 as the recommended GPU (and it is the most popular discrete GPU in the world right now).

On the other hand, everyday there are threads complaining that devs aren't using the full power of the PS4 Pro, especially when the user doesn't have a 4K TV.

 

[SallyIsNow]

Most aftermarket coolers and provided heatsinks come with pre-applied thermal paste.

Spoiler

Friend.

Spoiler

I'll look into it, pal.

 

[Widge]

I was gonna build one, but that thermal paste shit spooked me.

I'm fine with that but I had to do something with my dad's PC that I had never had to do before, namely screwing on a backplate to mount the fan to. That was a bit of an experience. My PC has the stock i5 fan on it, never really needed anything different.

I know if I want to put a different fan on my thing I will have to do that and I just cannot be bothered to take the thing to pieces right now. It's a small form factor effort so it requires a certain mental preparation to go through it all.

What got me, in the early days, was stuff like.... ok I had an AM2 board. I thought "let's up the processor!" so I bought a top tier AM2 processor, only to find the board did not support it. So that cost me more in a new mobo. All this fine detail you have to absolutely have down otherwise you get stung in the pocket.

Then again, I bought myself an EVGA 1070 because they were the premium Nvidia partner and now there is that entire thing about the thermal pads. Being completely honest, I just can't be bothered fixing it. I'm not going to fix it myself and I don't want to go through the entire return to sender thing. I'm just going to lump it and trade up at some point in the future. Not really noticing any issues anyway, I never overclock.

 

[Fredrik]

People: "PC issue fixing is trivial!"

Me: "Okay here is a tech support thread so you can solve a couple issues there to prove that statement"

People: (ignores thread) "PC issue fixing is trivial!"

People: PC gaming doesn't have to be difficult!
You: *ignored those posts* Look at the tech support thread!

No?

The generalization that PC gaming consists of a bunch of tinkering and problems needs to go away. Like I said in the OP. If you want to tinker you totally can, it's open to everything.

But you don't have to. That's the misconception. I've had my rig for 4 years now without issues. In fact, I've had more issues with my XB1 controllers desyncing and low quality DS4 controllers peeling the rubbers away than I've had with my whole PC during these years.

I'm not saying that it'll be like this forever, maybe it'll break down today, but so far it has been as hussle-free as my consoles at least, and I think that's something worth mentioning.

One important thing though. I don't know if it's important or not. My PC is basically only used for gaming. I don't use it to download stuff and for surfing. It's basically a Steam Box, a 980ti triple screen Steam Box.

 

[balohna]

In the past 2 years I've had:

A PC that overheats and crashes when playing games.

A different PC that had GPU crashes randomly with no clear cause.


So it still isn't fool-proof. Fixed the first with a new case, second by replacing the video card. Both of those things sucked to have to do.

 

[SUTOruin]

Pretty much every time there is a console vs PC gaming discussion going on there are a bunch if people saying that PC gaming require too much work compared to consoles.

This is a multi-faceted debate but just let me tell you, we have come a very long way from the DOS/Win9x era. My dad had a prebuilt (IBM Aptiva to be exact) and sometimes you'd download a game and the thing wouldn't even run, or you'd have no sound or something. A young kid probably had no idea what IRQs were, nor did he know whether the game he downloaded would run with the onboard stuff. DirectX for example had some goals. They wanted to make gaming easier for people and get DOS out of the picture so the GUI could hog more of the spotlight. They also wanted a way to support a vast amount of hardware and make crosstalk easier.

I could go on and into more detail but anyway, things are much easier now.

 

[mjp2417]

Uh, it's not that important a point in this thread, but 970 is at best on par with PS4 Pro GPU and, unlike with PS4 Pro GPU, hardly any game studio will target 970 during development, which adds quite a performance bonus to it. (check Doom for instance)

Doom runs as well at 1440p on a 970 as it does on a Pro at 1080p. You probably need to rethink this argument.

 

[jellies_two]

pc gaming is different than console gaming. If it wasn't, you could drop the word 'pc'.

vive la différence!

anyone arguing all differences should be perceived the same way by everyone, and everyone should draw the same conclusion, is being suspiciously evangelical.

This is a stock answer one could give to the many different topics along these lines that basically seem to boil down to: WHY isn't everyone doing it like I do it?

 

[Teeth]

PC fanthings saying they never have any problems running games and never have to do any tinkering are like console fanthings saying they can't see the difference between 30fps and 60fps.



But seriously, there will undoubtedly be things you have to tinker around with when PC is your primary gaming platform whether it be Windows Updates breaking controller drivers to games with arbitrary locked resolutions not playing nice with certain monitors, to games that launch to white screen or crash on startup and require some workarounds, to incidental annoyances like not having a unified friends list across Steam/Origin/Battlenet/Uplay/whatever.

It's almost 100% of the time worth it though for the flexibility and innumerable advantages the open system allows.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Doom runs as well at 1440p on a 970 as it does on a Pro at 1080p.

Doom runs as well at 1440p on Ultra on a 970 as it does on a Pro at 1080p.

 

[JustSomeone]

Bought Nier Automata after it was delayed in Asia on Steam for two months. Tested it out and found the resolution really odd. Shrugged it off and went to play Persona 5. Come back a whole month later, launch it again. Still fucked. Even got a white screen graphic bug that made me have to force kill the program losing all unsaved progress. Learned that Square Enix refuses to support the game, so I have to download and manually install a third party mod to fix the game. #PCGameWoes

Incompetent devs exist in every platform

 

[AppleSeason]

Can't blame them. Although I prefer pc, I'm still put off by that usual poor port now and then that requires tinkering, editing config files, downloading a few extra files... I think Nier Automata is a bit like that, right? I haven't done a lot of research yet, but it seem like the kind of game I'd skip and go with the console version. Having very limited time, you learn to value stuff that "it just works".

Otherwise PC gaming only keeps getting more accesible. If developers would just think a bit about Steam big Picture / Steam Link users... Not to mention when despite a console version exists, there's no gamepad support on PC, like in Mass Effect or Oxenfree.



Truth is, PC has come a long way in terms of accessibility, but it's still that hobbyist / enthusiast gamer segment that requires a bit of elbow grease. While console gaming is like buying assembled furniture, PC is like IKEA furniture. Sometimes you just attach 2-3 pieces, others you have to spend a whole day screaming with a wardroble while dreaming of nuking Sweden. In the end you feel satisfied with what you have achieved, or you go with a "fuck this".

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Bought Nier Automata after it was delayed in Asia on Steam for two months. Tested it out and found the resolution really odd. Shrugged it off and went to play Persona 5. Come back a whole month later, launch it again. Still fucked. Even got a white screen graphic bug that made me have to force kill the program losing all unsaved progress. Learned that Square Enix refuses to support the game, so I have to download and manually install a third party mod to fix the game. #PCGameWoes

"Bought Dishonored 2 on console. Tested it out and found the resolution realy odd. Shrugged it off and went to play Mankind Divided. Came back a whole month later, still fucked. Even got a loading screen freeze that made me have to reset my PS4 losing all unsaved progress. Learned that Arkane's Void engine is a mess, so I... stopped playing Dishonored 2"

Ain't gonna lie, though - that is the kind of thing that ought to be considered before you ask questions like that, OP. Nier just works on console. (everything just works on console - my point being that you settle with what you get on console in any event. And what you get on a system like PS4 Pro... that fucker has games that punch above it's weight sometimes, I'll give it that.

 

[pa22word]

Incompetent devs exist in every platform

Not only that, but it's a false equivalency.

A comparative example would be a console release having the an equivalent bug and the devs not giving a shit and you being just flat fucked instead of having to spend a minute downloading a fan made mod that fixes the issue.

 

[Renekton]

People: PC gaming doesn't have to be difficult!
You: *ignored those posts* Look at the tech support thread!

No?

The generalization that PC gaming consists of a bunch of tinkering and problems needs to go away. Like I said in the OP. If you want to tinker you totally can, it's open to everything.

But you don't have to. That's the misconception. I've had my rig for 4 years now without issues. In fact, I've had more issues with my XB1 controllers desyncing and low quality DS4 controllers peeling the rubbers away than I've had with my whole PC during these years.

I'm not saying that it'll be like this forever, maybe it'll break down today, but so far it has been as hussle-free as my consoles at least, and I think that's something worth mentioning.

The tech support thread is not about tinkering. Those are real world problems.

Show me the posts I ignored that solves the PC issues in that thread (or various PC performance threads), because that is a strong evidence that many are trying hard to ignore or divert from. Your single trouble-free PC experience won't cancel them out.

 

[Mechazawa]

I haven't done any of that though. Everything has just worked. I heard lots of noise about crashing in No Man's Sky though, guess I got lucky or something became I had played over 100 hours before I experienced my first crash.

Well congratulations on your magical PC.

The rest of us generally encounter issues every once in a while.

 

[duckroll]

"Bought Dishonored 2 on console. Tested it out and found the resolution realy odd. Shrugged it off and went to play Mankind Divided. Came back a whole month later, still fucked. Even got a loading screen freeze that made me have to reset my PS4 losing all unsaved progress. Learned that Arkane's Void engine is a mess, so I... stopped playing Dishonored 2"

Yes this actually does sound like my experience playing Dishonored 1 on PS3 LOL. It ran like shit, looked like shit, and I'm pretty sure it froze twice on me.

 

[llien]

Literally everything you just wrote is incorrect.

The 970 is well above the PS4 Pro's GPU.

It is well above original PS4 (which had something like 7870), but not above PS4 Pro (which has double GPU resources)

DOOM? Seriously?

OpenGL, seriously`?

^that question was rhetorical lol

So was this post.

Doom runs as well at 1440p on a 970 as it does on a Pro at 1080p. You probably need to rethink this argument.

Doom is optimized for consoles (AMD gpu), it doesn't need to run bad on PC to prove my point.

 

[Cthulhu_Steev]

Pretty much every time there is a console vs PC gaming discussion going on there are a bunch if people saying that PC gaming require too much work compared to consoles.

It's not exactly 'too much work' but for me there's a friction to PC gaming which inevitably ends up with me playing on consoles instead.

But what I'm saying is that it's not an image problem, it's an actual reason. Even ignoring all the elements of choice, simply playing a game on the PC is less convenient than a console for many reasons. And when you run into a problem that makes it even worse. This isn't an imaginary problem, it's something that people face all the time. I have zero problems dealing with it because I've been gaming on PC all my life, but it's weird to not recognize it or to write it of as an "image problem".

Yep, this is me as well. I've had +30 years using them, so I know my way around them, but I don't find them convenient at all. If I want to play on PC I always have to plan ahead for it, on console I just switch it on and choose a game knowing I have a controller that just works.

 

[Business]

I think it's obvious it is more difficult and requires more tinkering compared to consoles. Now is it complicated? Depends entirely of how much you enjoy understanding it and putting things together. There will always be people that just can't be bothered to devote their time to it, and that doesn't make them stupid or lazy for not putting their gaming PC together.