{Ye Oulde} Console alternatives :D my edition [updated {more like outdated} - 19/03/2018]

[stconquest]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I'd like to suggest a way to fit an RX 470 into a Console Killer budget at a similar price to PS4 Pro.

Pentium G4560?

[Sauron]

Update - 19/03/2018

 

updated all builds with current prices and available parts

made changes to account for gpu price inflation and ram shortages

[AskTJ]

@Sauron If users are willing to go used, a used 750ti can be had for around $50 - $60, which still performs great today.

[Sauron]

4 hours ago, AskTJ said:

@Sauron If users are willing to go used, a used 750ti can be had for around $50 - $60, which still performs great today.

Yes, I mention that in the 2018 update. Of course, if you're willing to go used on a graphics card you're probably willing to go used on a console too, which lowers the price bar.

[AskTJ]

On 21/05/2018 at 9:03 PM, Sauron said:

Yes, I mention that in the 2018 update. Of course, if you're willing to go used on a graphics card you're probably willing to go used on a console too, which lowers the price bar.

Very good point. Interesting to see what would have the best FPS - Dollar ratio.

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, AskTJ said:

Very good point. Interesting to see what would have the best FPS - Dollar ratio.

Used prices are too varied to make a reliable comparison.

[Ithanul]

Yep, as someone who goes used/refurbish route on both PC and consoles, prices can be all over the place at times.

[Mira Yurizaki]

23 hours ago, AskTJ said:

Very good point. Interesting to see what would have the best FPS - Dollar ratio.

Remember, if you can get used PC parts, you can get used consoles too. Like for instance I found an Xbox One X for $300 (https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/vgm/d/xbox-one/6591389706.html)

 

The thing that I don't like about a lot of PC vs. console comparisons is that people think that PCs have some exclusive "perks" like used hardware and cheap game sales.

[AlTech]

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Remember, if you can get used PC parts, you can get used consoles too. Like for instance I found an Xbox One X for $300 (https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/vgm/d/xbox-one/6591389706.html)

 

The thing that I don't like about a lot of PC vs. console comparisons is that people think that PCs have some exclusive "perks" like used hardware and cheap game sales.

Cheap Digital Game sales do tend to happen more often on PC though....

 

The only way to get cheap console games is buying used boxed retail copies.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Cheap Digital Game sales do tend to happen more often on PC though....

 

The only way to get cheap console games is buying used boxed retail copies.

I think it's a matter of perception. Everyone basically uses Steam and Steam just likes to put a random publisher on sale every other week, in addition to whatever seems to be worth celebrating.

 

But console games have their sales too, they're just scattered about. Humble Bundle does console games. Amazon, Best Buy, and other stores will have the occasional discounted sales. The PSN store rotates deals regularly, even for non PS+ users. And I'm sure if you're a hound on one of those discount hunting websites, you'll find more deals. You just have to know where to look is the problem. PC gamers have it easy.

[GoldenLag]

1 hour ago, M.Yurizaki said:

PC gamers have it easy

if only there was a website that tracked the cost of stuff online accross loads of retailers that could send you a mail when certain things went on sales

 

*cough Prisjakt.no

and prisguiden.no

its quite relaxing to be a console gamer in Norway

[rx590overclocker]

On 1/25/2015 at 10:22 AM, Sauron said:

-edit-

It is worth noting that windows 10 is free to all windows insiders. Technically you don't need to buy windows - although of course you'll be missing out a little on stability and support.

-/edit-

 

Hey guys

 

I've seen a lot of "smash your console" builds on the forum, and I figured I'd do my very own version! However, I decided to call it "console alternatives". This is because in previous build guides people have pointed out that the builds didn't include the OS or any peripherals. I often called bs on that argument, because of two reasons: the vast majority of people already own a windows pc in their house from which they could clone the installation (if they don't own a separate copy) and they can also benefit from the insider program - furthermore peripherals that will do the job just fine are incredibly cheap. With that said, I thought I'd do something even for those who really only have enough money to buy a console and a couple of games and for whatever reason don't already own a pc, so people won't complain anymore I also thought I'd make both intel and amd builds so everyone can choose what suits them best.

 

DISCLAIMER: the current iteration is targeted at the PS4 PRO and its current price point.

 

-BUILD 1: AMD w/ os & peripherals

  Reveal hidden contents

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($75.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI - A68HM-E33 V2 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($42.89 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Mushkin - Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($56.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - Radeon RX 550 - 512 2GB Video Card  ($96.61 @ Amazon) 
Case: Rosewill - FBM-05 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($20.00 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BT 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($37.88 @ OutletPC) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($92.99 @ Adorama) 
Keyboard: Rosewill - RK-700M Wired Standard Keyboard  ($10.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Mouse: Rosewill - RM-C2P Wired Optical Mouse  ($7.04 @ Amazon) 
Total: $491.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-19 18:13 EDT-0400

 

 

As pointed out above, this isn't quite exactly a "console KILLER" because it's just slightly better spec wise and comes at a slightly higher price. However, it comes with windows (the main reason why it wouldn't fit under the 400$ mark) and acceptable peripherals. Since this build is aimed at those who don't even own a family desktop, I would also point out that a pc offers a lot more functionality beyond just gaming, and if you don't have one you really should buy one asap. The excess money can also be very well regained by purchasing games during steam sales (depending on the game you might actually spare 40+$ on the first purchase) and by not having to pay the internet fee.

I tried not to cheap out too hardcore: the power supply is still pretty good. I also included a 1tb HDD because going for 500GB is just not worth it anymore. I also believe you shouldn't go with anything less than 8gb of ram.

 

 

-BUILD 2: Intel w/ os & peripherals

 

  Reveal hidden contents

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($58.79 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($81.39 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Hitachi - 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($35.75 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - Radeon RX 550 - 512 2GB Video Card  ($119.00 @ Amazon) 
Case: Rosewill - FBM-05 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($20.00 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BT 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($37.88 @ OutletPC) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($92.99 @ Adorama) 
Keyboard: Logitech - K120 Wired Standard Keyboard  ($8.99 @ Target) 
Mouse: Kensington - Pro Fit Wired Laser Mouse  ($3.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $498.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-19 18:01 EDT-0400

 

This is on the expensive side (again, inflated gpu prices).

 

 

-BUILD 3: AMD without os & peripherals

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($93.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - A320M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($48.26 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($81.39 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Hitachi - 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($35.75 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - Radeon RX 550 - 512 2GB Video Card  ($96.61 @ Amazon) 
Case: Rosewill - FBM-05 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($20.00 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BT 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($37.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $413.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-19 17:47 EDT-0400

 

 

With this build you get a modern platform and pretty good game performance.

 

-BUILD 4: intel without os and peripherals

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($58.79 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($39.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($81.39 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Hitachi - 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($35.75 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor - Radeon RX 560 - 896 4GB Video Card  ($144.00 @ Newegg) 
Case: Rosewill - FBM-05 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($20.00 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BT 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($37.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $417.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-19 17:56 EDT-0400

 

 

Covfefe lake motherboards are still too expensive and there aren't any new pentiums, so for this one I had to stick with the older g4560. It should still do fine and the graphics card is faster than the one in the AMD build.

 

CONCLUSION:

 

As a supporter of the glorious pc gaming master race ( ) I always advise to buy a budget gaming pc rather than a console as they offer more power, the ability to do more than just gaming, more and cheaper games and the possibility to upgrade. However, what I really feel puts the nail in the coffin of something like a ps4 (which otherwise I would consider to be pretty good value) is the sub fee to play online. It simply removes the "low cost, full features" part out of the equation. Therefore, in most cases I would recommend getting one of the above builds with your money instead. Even the ones that include OS and peripherals in the end turn out to be cheaper, and are 100% ready to go once you put them together, you could very well not spend a cent on them anymore and still get the full experience out of all your games.

What I can concede to consoles is split screen multiplayer; although for a decent amount of games it can be done on a pc as well, consoles definitely support it better across the board (honestly that's a fault of the developers though).

 

Let me know what you think of these which one would you get if any? would you still buy a console? Why?

 

-2018 ADDITION-

As we all know, gpu prices are currently inflated due to crypto mining and shortages. On top of that, DDR4 ram is more expensive than DDR3 was. Because of this, I strongly advise anyone looking for a cheap gaming build to look for deals on used cards, instead of going for a new mid/low range one as the ones featured in these builds. Regardless of your choice of graphics card, the builds featured here should function as a cheap but balanced base.

 

Changelog [UPDATED 19/03/2018]

  Reveal hidden contents

21/01/2017

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Added spoilers for readability.

Added changelog at the bottom of the page.

Colour coded build titles to make them easier to spot straight away.

Updated all builds with new parts and pricings.

Removed builds that were no longer relevant.

Target price is now PS4 PRO market price (on amazon.com).

All descriptions updated where relevant.

 

 

 

19/03/2018

 

  Reveal hidden contents

updated all builds with currently available parts and prices

removed the core i3 build because it doesn't make sense anymore, buy the ryzen one instead or, if you're willing to spend 120$ on a motherboard, go for an i5.

 

You could find cheaper memory!  I am able to find 16gb for the price of you 8gb in each of those builds.  You could lower the price further.

[Sauron]

2 hours ago, rx590overclocker said:

You could find cheaper memory!  I am able to find 16gb for the price of you 8gb in each of those builds.  You could lower the price further.

Well the last update to this was 2 years ago so prices went down since then maybe I'll update this again soon - I was waiting for decent low end CPUs to become affordable again. The pentium and athlon lines have been left pretty much untouched in the last few years so they're just not worth buying anymore... ryzen 3 chips have gotten a bit cheaper though so I could use those.

[rx590overclocker]

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

Well the last update to this was 2 years ago so prices went down since then maybe I'll update this again soon - I was waiting for decent low end CPUs to become affordable again. The pentium and athlon lines have been left pretty much untouched in the last few years so they're just not worth buying anymore... ryzen 3 chips have gotten a bit cheaper though so I could use those.

Here is my roughly 400$ console build with all new parts.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Pentium Gold G5400 3.7 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$61.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	MSI H310M PRO-VDH PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$55.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	$33.79 @ Amazon
Storage	PNY CS900 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$21.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Toshiba 500 GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$24.44 @ Amazon
Video Card	Asus GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB DUAL OC Video Card	$149.99 @ B&H
Case	Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$29.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Raidmax XT 300 W ATX Power Supply	$22.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$401.17
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-18 09:47 EST-0500

 

[Sauron]

4 minutes ago, rx590overclocker said:

Here is my roughly 400$ console build with all new parts.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Pentium Gold G5400 3.7 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$61.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	MSI H310M PRO-VDH PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$55.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	$33.79 @ Amazon
Storage	PNY CS900 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$21.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Toshiba 500 GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$24.44 @ Amazon
Video Card	Asus GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB DUAL OC Video Card	$149.99 @ B&H
Case	Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$29.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Raidmax XT 300 W ATX Power Supply	$22.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$401.17
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-18 09:47 EST-0500

 

I really don't feel like recommending a dual core at this point.

[rx590overclocker]

6 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I really don't feel like recommending a dual core at this point.

yeah, probably true

 

[rx590overclocker]

36 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I really don't feel like recommending a dual core at this point.

here is my 500$ console

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i3-9100F 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$79.84 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B365M PRO-VDH Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$69.98 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	$49.90 @ Amazon
Storage	PNY CS900 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$21.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$44.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB TUF Gaming OC Video Card	$169.99 @ Amazon
Case	Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$29.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA 400 W ATX Power Supply	$29.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$511.66
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$496.66
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-18 10:29 EST-0500