F Styles
It has arguably never been a better time to purchase or build a gaming PC than 2015. Here are my reasons why!
One of the main excuses I hear when suggesting a gaming pc is that they are way too expensive. Now this may have been true a few years back when APU’s were mainly used for laptops and low-end workstations. But today’s APU are much more gaming capable, able to run most current games on medium-high depending on your configuration. Primarily AMD’s Richland series of APU’s,. (Don't go expecting 60 frames per second on ultra though)
The golden age of PC gaming has dawned, and Valve is it’s Pericles. During Steam sales, which are held every week on average, it is not uncommon to find critically acclaimed titles on sale for less than $10. And with a flood of digital titles to choose from (nearing 4,000) you will need to set aside a few hours in your day to make a decision on which ones to buy. I was caught between a rock and a hard place deciding whether to get Civilization 5 and all it’s expansions for $12.99 or the latest entry in the Total War Series for around the same price. The tension had me sweating at the palms.
If newer games aren’t your thing then you can never go wrong with proven classics of the past. Although bordering on the illegal, you would be hard pressed to pass up a library of 10,000 + titles. Think of it as an interactive encyclopedia! But don’t try to use that as a defense in court!
While consoles are catching up in this department, they will never reach the level of a PC as a word processing, youtubing, twit-booking, gaming powerhouse. On top of all that, they give great belly rubs.
Can you install Linux on your console? In the past maybe, but with everything going proprietary you probably have a better chance beating Faster Than Light with an Xbox Controller. Speaking of controllers, you have a plethora of gaming input devices to choose from with a PC. They are usually much cheaper too!
I have to admit, the main reason I built a PC was to play games that were impossible to play comfortably on my consoles. Gone were the real time strategy games that I grew up playing; along with strategy simulators like Sim City and Roller Coaster Tycoon. Sure there were console equivalents such as Civilization Revolution and Age of Empires: Age of Kings but I often felt cheated out of the full experience, as many of the features were replaced and/or taken out entirely. Not so with the PC counterparts as I felt like I was reunited with a long lost love of lost genres as I fired up my custom built PC. Looking back was depressing to say the least.
With the right motherboard, your gaming PC can stay relevant for 10+ years. Consoles like the Playstation 2 have proven that they too can maintain that same level of support from developers. But soon after it’s successor is released; it never fails that they slowly lose the steam it once had. Gaming PC’s are infinitely modifiable, meaning that $200 at the hardware store can keep your machine running current games until the power supply kicks the bucket, whichever comes first.
Do I even need to expound on this? I didn’t think so…
Some PC games can maintain the same audiences for years if not decades (see Warcraft and Half Life). One of the reasons is that the supportive community will tweak the product to make it a new game and in most cases, they do become products in their own right. Dota 2, Counter Strike, Day Z, and GMod are prime examples of games that were modified into entirely new games. The best part? Most of these started out absolutely free and a few still are!
Websites with helpful communities like Tom’s Hardware are eager to help those that are new to the world of PC building. With very little comprehensive knowledge, one can build a very gaming capable PC for under $500 (even cheaper if you shop on Ebay)!
There you have it – 10 reasons why you should start building/buying a gaming capable PC 5 minutes ago. Good luck at quenching your gamer thirst and I hope this list helped!
