Why PC?

Why PC?

What is PC Master Race? One thing we specialize in as a group is education and facts, and this page is the physical embodiment of just that. So... Why PC? What's the big deal with PC gaming? What's wrong with, say, console gaming? Is PC gaming actually superior? Are consoles really hurting the game industry? Everything will be answered in greater detail, but yes: PC gaming is wholly and objectively superior to console gaming. It can fill absolutely any and every need that consoles can. Any and all limitations or restrictions holding the PC back are entirely artificial and fabricated by console manufacturers, console developers, and console journalists (essentially, the "console industry") to prolong their relevance and profit. Long has the PC dealt with slander, misrepresentation, console marketing lies, FUD, and hostageware from the console industry. That's partially what triggered the creation of our community and subreddit, and the formation of our way of thinking in the first place!

Before "the rise of the PC Master Race", there wasn't any unified group present to fight console industry slander, FUD, hostageware, and marketing lies. This has changed. PC gaming is no longer a force to be messed with, and there's an army of many millions of people people who have united for the very purpose of making sure PC gaming is properly represented and no longer mistreated. A place where anyone is welcome to share their love for and learn more about being part of PC, about being part of PCMR.

As users of a free, open, and decentralized platform, it's our responsibility as PC enthusiasts to take the place of the support, management, port testing, and other essential duties that a console manufacturer would otherwise handle for its users and its developers. This page is the product of more than a decade of hard work from individuals who believe in the PC, who have done all of this for no other reason than to ensure the console industry's damage is limited, and that the truth still has the ability to directly reach you regardless of how much they attempt to bury the truth in marketing lies and negative associations. Because of the vast amount of people who have contributed to it, as well as the time during which such contributions occurred, some information may be slightly outdated on what concerns specific details, but never in spirit. This is an ongoing project, and just by being a member of the community, you too can be part of it!

Forget everything you thought you knew about PC gaming. This article has two goals: to teach readers how to get into PC gaming and take advantage of all its current offerings, and to dispel the myths about PC gaming that the console industry has been spinning up in an attempt to remain on top despite declining relevance. PC gaming has never been this inexpensive, easy to get into, free of restriction, or more widespread than it is today. Largely to thank for this massive PC growth, consoles have never been as ethically and technologically comparatively worse than they are today - and more and more people are either switching to PC or looking to it in a way that they never had before. As more than a machine that you can use to do your homework or watch a movie, but as a machine that can do that + everything a console can + a lot more

PC is the superior choice (cheaper, faster, better, more versatile, and more compatible) compared to underpowered and industry-harming "limited PC" consoles.

The past two decades of surging growth, competition, and innovation in the industry have improved the PC in almost every regard. PC gaming is now cheaper than ever, and console gaming continues to get more and more expensive as the PlayStation & XBox divisions continue to push prices (and their own business operation costs) higher every year. Reading this guide will cost you exactly $0, whereas, in comparison, buying a console and paying for all the extended costs of everything it requires could easily exceed $2,000 in just a few years (not to mention, consoles offer a considerably worse gaming experience)!

In summary, why should I choose a PC over a console? What can it possibly offer?

PCs are awesome machines for gaming, work, and entertainment alike for many reasons. This includes, but is not limited to, the following reasons listed below.

PC gaming as a whole is much cheaper than console gaming. Especially in the long run, it can be less than half of what a console will cost you. And that's just if you use it to game, let alone if you use it to do all the 5000 other things that a PC can do but a console either cannot or can do so much worse. Hidden fees, price hikes, and royalties are abundant for gamers AND developers in the console industry. So are recurring fees to play online.
PC hardware offers better bang-for-buck & value than console hardware (same performance for less money, more performance for the same money, much more performance for a bit more money or the possibility to build the most amazing and powerful machine you can, if you have the budget for it).
PCs have the freedom to upgrade whenever YOU decide to, not when Sony or Microsoft decide you have to. If you just got a big paycheck and wanted to sell your older GPU to a friend for $300 and buy a newer, better one for $500 you could do it today.
PCs give you full internal and external control over the graphical fidelity triangle. Consoles have started to try to emulate this capability, but the instances when they do so are rare, and extremely limited, often giving only one of two options to the user.
PCs easily work with TVs and monitors, and even multiple of each.
PCs can play nearly every old PC and console game ever made, thanks to its tremendous legacy support, emulator availability, DosBox and GOG.
PCs can use nearly every console controller ever made, modern ones (PS4/PS5/XBO/etc) work without even needing a USB adapter. ^[1]
PC games offer a clearer image thanks to native resolution and its ability to adjust to any display its plugged into. Console games often don't allow resolution adjustments, and will lock to whatever the developer arbitrarily chose. This means that lower resolution displays offer no performance benefit like they do on PCs, because the resolution is never lowered to spare some workload on the GPU (which, on a PC, would mean it could render frames faster).
Gaming services and "social services" on the PC are completely free, even with online play (Steam, Uplay, BattleNet, Galaxy, Discord, etc)
Gaming services on the PC offer more functionality for free than what you pay for on a console.
PCs have better better multiplayer support (LAN, local multiplayer on the same machine, etc).
Using a modern budget GPU can yield triple digit frames per second during gameplay with recent game releases. Consoles sometimes will struggle to go above the 30 to 60 FPS range in many games.
Not only can PC's be used for work, education, entertainment, gaming, and content creation... they're THE BEST at all of these things.
PCs have more exclusives than all the current-gen consoles combined.
PCs have more highly-rated exclusives.
PC games have free modifications and enhancements available. Old games and new games alike have player-made content, graphical enhancements, and additions available for free.
More games, much larger library
More exclusive games
Healthy independent developer scene that has a lot more freedom to develop what they want.
Lots of free games
PCs can emulate almost any handheld and stationary console games using freely available emulators. Sometimes even at much higher framerates, detail levels, and with better input than the original console permitted! ^[1] ^[[1]]
Increasingly cheaper hardware for the price as new GPUs are released.
Big Picture mode and many other options for couch gaming.
Easier to repair and upgrade, and highly modular.
Backward and forward hardware compatibility for an enormous duration of time.
No punishments for repairing.
Can be upgraded if desired
Easier to upgrade
Better price-performance than consoles
Higher framerates, resulting in smoother motion, physics, particles, and gameplay
Higher resolutions than consoles if your display supports it and you have GPU power you're willing to spare.
Higher graphical details (lighting, textures, foliage, particles, shading, weather)
You're probably going to own some sort of PC anyways, why not pay a bit more on top to make it a gaming machine? That alone makes it cheaper than a console.

The Personal Computer is a constantly evolving platform. It grows in power, capability, and value every single year. It's also free of the control of any single entity, which are why many of these advantages now exist. Rather than being regulated by a single entity, control and improvement influence over the PC belongs to everyone equally. Even you, the consumers, have the full freedom to create or sell software, games, and hardware for it. It's being constantly improved by competing companies and individuals all over the spectrum, and all of them are trying to offer you (and potential developers) the best experience possible.

"Why do you care what others buy and play games on?"

That's a great question. We (the PC gamers) love gaming and the game industry with a burning passion. Many members of the PCMR own consoles, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. Out problem is when people are left out in the dark about the potential of the PC, and just how good it can be to do everything a console game, and more often than not, much more and much better.

Consoles are no longer a 'cool and innovative' thing that developers intentionally choose based on compatibility with their artistic vision (as was the case in the 1980s-1990s before the 'new age' of PC graphics). They're something developers have to work with and water their games down to be compatible with, something that many gamers have to buy (because of marketing lies and forced/bribed exclusivity), and that PC gamers have to deal with (because so many people got tricked into buying them and developers prioritize that large and weak-hardwared demographic over the PC). Sony and Microsoft entered the turf of the PC gamer when they attacked our games, our developers, and our industry. This has changed in recent years, notably with Microsofts attempts at creating a somewhat more compatible ecosystem with PC, and with Sony's more and more frequent ports of their games, and indirect access to their libraries.

Here's an amazing quote from /u/MangoTangoFox that helps explain this section:

Literally all of the platforms except PC are owned by single companies who created said platform(s) primarily to act as middlemen. Every choice made is done to make the most money, and that includes buying up whole game studios and timed/permanent exclusivity of games and services in order to make their's more appealing than the others. PC isn't even vaguely similar because of the fragmentation of manufacturers, service providers, and creators, allows considerable freedom of choice for the consumer, and doesn't really allow or call for paid exclusivity of certain titles.

If you think of the characters as the companies who own them, all the consoles despise each-other and would do anything to win any competition between them. If you think of them as the consumers that play them, everyone making a different choice forces exclusivity and anyone not wealthy enough to own all platforms and all the games they want, is getting screwed by that system. You can appreciate people who have similar interests, but it's hard to just say "let's all just have fun" when 1. you literally cannot with huge numbers of people because of lack of cross platform multiplayer, and 2. people supporting other platforms allows their greedy existence in the first place, which lessens your own experience as a result because of wasted dev time and paid exclusivity. And even if you own all of them, you still get screwed because the most competent, versatile, and potentially powerful platform you own isn't getting dozens of games you want, and many of the ones it does get aren't anywhere near as amazing as they could have been if the other lesser platforms didn't have so much market/mind-share. So with all the platforms, most of the games that aren't PC exclusive out of necessity in the first place, are likely lesser than they could have been.

Here's another, from /u/snaynay

Consoles are bleeding this dry, especially in the big-budget gaming department. Ultimately what happens is hoards of kids put up a brick wall of ignorance and stupidity over a lack of a long-term gaming background, defend consoles, accept bullshit and let console manufactures and their associated developers castrate this industry.

It's not wrong to own or prefer consoles. I thoroughly understand demographics. Hell, the notion of choice is what PC gamers live by. What I care about is this social engineering and phenomena to systematically reject the that PC platform that is the beating heart of the gaming industry. Its not competing with their precious little gaming boxes, its their support. Kids today are actively segregating their big-money AAA gaming as a separate entity to the open gaming scene found on PC.

"Isn't PC gaming more expensive than console gaming?"

Whoever told you that is either misinformed or intentionally lying. So no, absolutely not. Especially if you only plan to target console performance! There are (and have been in the past) graphics cards available on the market surpass consoles in terms of framerate, resolution, detail, value, and power draw, that cost much less than what many think. A lot of people incorrectly believe that you have to spend upwards of $1000, sometimes $2000 to get a PC fully capable of handling games. This simply isn't true! These inaccuracies can be attributed partially to the highly vocal and misinformed masses, and to the availability (and mainstream hype) of the expensive PC hardware we see advertised a lot. You see it more because it's advertised more and because it is more desirable. Why is it advertised more? Because the companies make more money from selling it as opposed to their mainstream and value offerings. And you see it before because as with every industry, the top-of-the-line product is the one that is most wanted.

The mainstream/budget parts are the ones you should (probably) be looking at if you want to build a fine gaming and work machine; not necessarily the $2000+ enthusiast gear. We're not living the 90's any more. PC hardware is cheaper today than it has ever been! In fact, you can build a PC right now that will outperform "next-gen" consoles, as well as do ten times more, for a fraction of the cost that you think you'll spend. The PC wins pretty easily since our current consoles are really just watered-down PCs with restricted, featureless, bloated, and ad-ridden operating systems, under the defense of "simplicity". If you only want to match console performance, you can buy even cheaper parts than the ones suggested in the link above or check PCPartPicker to get discount hardware for your PC.

Console gamers are not ann enemy. Console desinformation and or bad practices are.

We feel it's important to include this information in the article as soon as possible, since a lot of people get the wrong impression going in and don't take information to heart until they realize they're being informed rather than scolded.

You would not believe how many people misunderstand the definition of "peasant". It's possible that, at some point in the past, the popular definition of the new term was "anyone who owns a console", and it's very likely that some people who are not part of our community use it with that meaning, but that's just either not true anymore or makes no sense outside of friendly banter.

The PC Master Race uses the term "peasant" as a personification of willful ignorance regarding the objective superiority of PCs over consoles. The term is especially applicable when facts are ignored or dismissed in lieu of regurgitated console marketing disinformation in an effort to defend some abhorrent practices by console manufacturers.

That's pretty much it. We don't use the term to put ourselves above other gamers. We use the term to put our PCs above consoles. It's not the people, it's the platforms.

Not being able to afford a PC with incredible specs does not make you automatically a "peasant". There are members of the PC Master Race who are only saving up for a PC as they have none or play on desktops or laptops of average or even low specs.
Playing on both PC and Console does not automatically make you a "peasant". Nor does it playing only on Console as you can simply be saving up to buy a PC, for instance, or just have no way of acquiring one in the immediate future.
Using a controller on PC does not automatically make you a "peasant". PC is about choice and different games benefit from different peripherals.

We should also point out that it's well-known that past consoles outperformed PCs, but that was the past. More than 15 years ago. This is now. Things are different. The openness of the PC was bound to be taken advantage of eventually, and what triggered it is the stagnation of the console market. And, now that the console market has stagnated and the PC is a viable alternative, it's very possible that traditional consoles with total control under a single corporation is entirely going to vanish.

Sony and Microsoft give you an inferior system, charge you a lot of extra money for it, and make you hold on to them for 6 to 8 years before they give you the option of (measly) upgrades. By selling you these systems, they lock you into their overpriced ecosystem, helping them further the cycle with their ill-acquired money. They don't let you play with friends unless you pay. They don't let you play with friends that bought the other systems at all. They don't let developers directly sell you the game - they charge for dev kits and include royalties, which massively decreases their profits over that of the PC version, they charge devs to update their games, effectively making it so that the superior version of their game is, coeteris paribus, on PC. So, do yourself and the industry a favor and go with a PC. The PC is open, cheap, customizable, and powerful. Your best interests are always at hand, no matter how arrogant some PC gamers may seem when they speak negatively of the "anti-gamer" consoles. For anyone that's offended, we am truly sorry... but if you're going to get offended over this guide then you probably had no intention of giving PC a chance in the first place. Just remember: PC gaming is superior to console gaming, but the gamers themselves are neither superior or inferior to one another: they're just people with varying degrees of understanding. Fight the misinformation, fight the false advertising, and fight the anti-gaming movements. Long live freedom, long live affordable and beautiful gaming, and long live the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race!

Here's a simplified example of a modern mid-range computer with new, powerful parts that will play pretty much every modern game release with fine settings.

Type	Item	Price
CPU	*AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor	$136.89 @ Newegg
Motherboard	*Asus PRIME B550M-A WIFI II Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$99.99 @ Newegg
Memory	*Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$30.97 @ Amazon
Storage	*Klevv CRAS C710 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$59.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	*ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card	$189.99 @ Newegg
Case	*Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case	$57.00 @ Amazon
Power Supply	*MSI MAG A550BN 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$49.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$624.82
	*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria

It also has immediate benefits: No online fees, tons of free-to-play games, free emulators, free abandonware games, much cheaper games, the option to re-use old or used hardware (controller, mouse, keyboard), etc. This build, is suitable for running most modern games at 1080p/60fps/high settings. It provides for PC versatility, as well. Do you want to play at 144 fps on a 144 Hz monitor for your First-person shooters? Perfect. Lower your settings and your framerate shoots up. Do you care less about the frame rate than the extreme-quality visuals? Wonderful. Crank those dials up and witness the glory.

Optimization: As time goes on, consoles don't get stronger and PCs don't get weaker

Some people claim that consoles get better over time due to "optimization" and that PCs (on the opposite end) get slower and need to be upgraded to keep up with these "optimizations". This is a lie. Yes, there is a gradual increase in developer hardware and SDK familiarity after new consoles (or hardware in general) launches. This was especially true with older consoles due to their hardware being exotic and hard to master. These "optimizations" are not exclusive to the consoles, either! The same optimizations are also taken advantage of on the PC when they receive large hardware and software revisions as well.

In addition to increased value, the PC also has a higher performance & quality ceiling

If you're the kind of person that wants to go all-out and buy a multi-thousand dollar setup with multiple monitors and graphics cards, you have the freedom to do so. Game developers know that a small fraction of the PC gaming market does this, so they add more demanding graphics options for you to make sure that extra hardware doesn't go to waste. A lot of people think that simply because these settings exist, they absolutely need to buy the latest and greatest 'RTX Frontier Edition 512 super boombastic' graphics card to meet these settings with an acceptable framerate. The highest/ultra settings generally aren't created with the majority in mind. Even at low and medium settings, you'll be getting higher resolutions, smoother framerates, better lighting, higher resolution textures, and more detailed scenes than a comparably priced console. The fact of the matter is, both the hardware and software companies know what graphics hardware the average consumer is going to buy and use, and they tend to build their games and hardware accordingly. Game developers want sales, and if their game only run on the aforementioned minority enthusiast sector of PCs, they're going to get minority sales to go along with it.

You get more online functionality for free than a paid console user

Steam is a very heavily integrated gaming suite. For example: you can trade coupons, games, items, and cards with another Steam user right from within Steam (no need to be in-game and meet them). You can see what games and servers your friends are currently playing and join the server with the click of a button (and vice versa, you can invite them to yours). You can trade on the without ever having to hunt someone down that has or wants certain goods. Steam also has an integrated software store, developer store, Workshop (for easier modding), Greenlight, and Big Picture mode for couch gamers. Steam will also automatically sync your saved games and settings to the Steam Cloud. Your in-game Steam panel is pretty awesome, too. It lets you chat, trade, browse the web for walkthroughs and whatnot, track achievements, and much more. Steam will also easily refund your games if you have played fewer than 2 hours. Often they will still refund you if you've played more. Epic store often gives away amazing games. GOG has incredible gems that are DRM-free and don't force you to suffer to enjoy playing the games you paid for. The options are many.

PC games are so much cheaper that they alone can allow even a high-end PC to undercut a console within a single year

All year round, PC games are being sold at extreme discounts. We're not talking about shady grey market vendors here. We are talking about legitimate game stores and often even the developer's own stores. Even brand new titles that have yet to be released can occasionally get a pre-order discount or otherwise drop below the traditional console release price of $59.99. There's also the occasional franchise or "studio" bundles that can save you around 25-50%. Summer and winter Steam sales offer the largest discounts, with single titles going as much as 75% off with entire franchises and bundle discounts stacking onto the discount Valve already added to it. Yes, it's true that you may sometimes get games that you don't want from a bundle, but you have to be trying pretty hard when you try to label that as a disadvantage. The games are yours forever, and there's a pretty good chance that someone may want to "borrow" it from you and try it out even if you don't. Over the course of 2-3 years, enthusiast gamers can save thousands of dollars if they game on PC.

The PC is better equipped for online play than a console

Since PCs have more processing power and faster, modular networking. This means (you have the option of) more enemies, more players, more action, much quicker and clearer voice communication, lower game latency, and much more. Developers and hobbyist server hosts have made great leaps with the PC in recent years; some PC servers can support up to 10,000 players in a single FPS match!

PC games can be modded. Console games usually cannot

Have you ever beat a game and felt that rush of depression when the last cut-scene finishes and you are sent back to the main menu and the music starts? Probably. Fortunately for PC gamers, there are a plethora of mods available for many of our games. Mods can change gameplay logic, add maps or characters, greatly improve graphical quality, introduce new game modes, and even create entirely new games altogether. Consoles simply cannot do this. The easiest way you could play a modded console game would be to buy or burn a modded disc image of the game and modify your firmware to accept it, rendering it incapable of online play and possibly even facing legal trouble for tinkering with it. Not to mention, mod support is tremendously helpful to gamers, games, and developers. Plus, thanks to modding communities, PC games essentially age in reverse. Meaning, they get even better looking as time goes on.

You don't have to build a PC to fully experience PC gaming

Buying a prebuilt computer is often not the best choice. First of all, you can put your newly-purchased hardware in any full-size desktop. As long as your PC is relatively decent and you add a ~$120 graphics card to it, you will be able to run modern titles very well. Although, building is still the best choice because it will last much longer and offer better customizability and value.

If you don't want to build one (it isn't hard, we swear! almost everyone can do it), you can pay a small fee for a shop to assemble it for you, or you can buy a pre-built or even simply upgrade your existing non-gaming PC so that it too can play games competently!

Building a PC doesn't require extensive training or a degree

It's like putting together a Lego house. Just watch some tutorials and consult our subreddits /r/pcmasterrace and /r/pcmasterracebuilds and our discord server. Picking your own parts and assembling your build is actually pretty fun. There are plenty of YouTube videos out there that will help. Finally, take a visit to our builds page and start reading! Really, the only thing you need to do is a static discharge and you're ready. While you should handle parts delicately, they are much stronger than most people think!

Mac OSX and Linux can be installed and configured to run perfectly on a laptop or desktop PC

A PC specifically configured to run Mac OSX is often called a "Hackintosh". Since Apple switched to Intel processors around 2005, users have been able to install and set up OSX to run on most PCs since (assuming you use OSX-compatible hardware). Although it does require about an hour or two of effort, the amount you save and gain by going with a PC over a Mac far outnumbers those two hours of work if aligned to an hourly salary of ~$15-40. Our friends over at /r/Hackintosh offer a lot of help and information on the topic, check them out!

Of course, if Mac OSX isn't your thing, there's always Linux. Glorious, beautiful, stable, free, and customizable. Among the popular "flavors" are Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, and many others.

The Virtual Reality revolution is being led by the PC

If you want to enjoy virtual reality gaming (and other forms of entertainment, the PC is an open development platform so the sky's the limit) in its most immersive form, you'll need a PC. High resolution and framerates are absolutely essential for Virtual Reality headsets to properly immerse you and fool your brain. Some people don't want to use VR to control their gameworld, and some don't want to use it to even view the gameworld, which is fine. Virtual reality headwear isn't meant to be a replacement for desktop or livingroom gaming, it's just meant to be an immersive and creative alternative for the games and genres that best support it. Just because you don't want VR doesn't mean you shouldn't get a PC; it just means that your PC budget will probably be a lot lower!

The ESports revolution is being led by the PC

This has caused somewhat of an unexpected explosion in PC popularity in recent years.

"I was told that PCs have compatibility problems"

Game developers adhere to popular standards when they make their games. Hardware developers adhere to popular standards when they make hardware. Not doing so would gain them a terrible reputation and most likely bankruptcy. Because of this, games on PC don't have the compatibility issues they used to in the DOS days. In the DOS days, there were no standards to adhere to, and there were thousands of different possible hardware configurations. Almost no games worked with every piece of sound, video, and input hardware. The next time you hear someone complain about PC gaming being a pain because they hate 'checking to see if they have enough video RAM' or 'making sure they have a fast enough processor' or 'whether or not their sound drivers are up-to-date', just punch them and link them here. PC game developers make their game compatible with an enormous possible performance spectrum! Of all people that understand this, you'd expect it to partially be console gamers seeing as consoles are among the weak end of the spectrum. Apparently not, though, because many spew misinformation like this to scare people away from upgrading.

A PC is much better at making your gaming experience sharable

Streaming, screen recording, video editing, in-game chats, voice chat, video chat, game invites, and everything else... it's all built in. No need for expensive custom hardware or a separate device for editing the video; just install the software, run it, and hit record. It does it all, and with much higher quality footage than that of a console. In fact, most demos and commercials use PCs for 'actual gameplay footage' to sell their consoles and games due to quality/ease.

A PC is more family friendly than a console

Contrary to what the commercials show you, a PC is a much better choice for those who want a device capable of entertaining all age groups. It can be hooked up to multiple displays, terminalized, access any streaming service, used for schoolwork, used for web games, used from the couch, used at a desk, used remotely, used for communication, and even emulate console titles using any controller you prefer. You name it, someone out there has written an application to make your PC do it. In addition to that, the the PC has very in-depth parental/owner controls. You can add parental controls to user accounts, web browsers, and specific applications. Consoles, on the other hand, offer almost nothing in comparison.

A PC is better than a console for media consumption

The only reason Microsoft and Sony are advertising media consumption more than games this time around is because of how far behind PCs they were, and because consoles actually make better playback devices than they do gaming machines.

The PC is more socially capable than a console

More players per server, more "LAN party-optimized" games like GMod, more game modes, and perfect compatibility between different "generations" and forms of PC. PCs also have the ability to use voice and video communication services for FREE. Everything you can use as a communication tool for a PAID console subscription can be done better on a PC... for free.

PCs support couch and local multiplayer gaming

Although consoles have traditionally been the platform to offer the best local multiplayer support with support for up to four simultaneous players, that's changing. With the surge in PC power in recent years, there have been games released that fully support both split-screen and "hotseat" multiplayer (nearly all of which also support controller input. Some even support up to 6 simultaneous players. Of course, even games without local multiplayer support can still be played on the same PC... up to 16, in fact. As well as SoftXpand, there's the popular splitscreen tool, which even allows screens to be "split" to a second display if one isn't enough! Borderlands 2 is one such game that supports local multiplayer, with controllers, on multiple monitors... even from the same Steam account.

PCs come in many shapes and sizes

PCs can be built to be small or large. They can be square, round, flat, tall, you name it. You decide what shape best fits your spacial requirements, whether you're buying or building. Both market strategies have in incalculable amount of options. You can get a PC that uses less power than a console. You can get a PC that's quieter than a console. It's great that consoles sit well in those departments, but the PC takes the crown in every one of those categories.

A Personal Computer can be used as a tax write-off, whereas a gaming console cannot

If you can prove it's being used for your work, you can, in theory, write it off (always consult with a tax advisor to figure out your specific case). Even if it's going to have top-of-the-line specs. As we've seen in past years, owning a GPU no longer means that you have to play games. Productivity software and everything involving AI is fully supportive of GPU compute features.

The human eye can see far beyond a measly 30 or 60FPS

Contrary to the hordes of uneducated people trying to defend underpowered consoles, you can see a difference between 30FPS and 60FPS. Or between 60FPS and 144FPS. You can see an improvement in fluidity when the Hz (hertz/refresh rate/FPS) of your system and display are increased. Here's an in-browser 30-vs-60 test if you still don't believe it.

Also, the argument about ~24FPS providing a "better cinematic experience" is incorrect. The film industry adopted 24FPS as a standard because back in the 1930s, higher framerate films took up too much physical film and lower framerate films were difficult to synchronize with the audio. Games don't need framerate caps because frames are generated in realtime as many times per second as your graphics card can handle, displayed to the screen, and then removed from memory to make room for the next frame.

Academic studies have proven that higher framerates increase player performance

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have determined through observation that not only is the difference noticeable, but player performance increases logarithmically up to 60FPS (logarithmically means the largest increases happen early on and begin to taper off, see rough example here). Unfortunately, they didn't test with framerates over 60, so we can intelligently theorize (but not scientifically prove) that this also applies to framerates beyond 60. They also concluded (since the curve is logarithmic) that framerates lower than 30 get almost exponentially worse, which is unfortunate because almost every "next-gen" demo so far has shown to dip as low as 10-20FPS while rendering heavier scenes.

After your PC loses its luster 3-4 years down the road, overclocking can bring it back

Let's face the facts. PCs aren't consoles; they improve every year and game developers adjust their games accordingly. If you get sick of running your games on medium and low instead of your traditional high or ultra, overclocking may be the answer. Overclocking is free and it's not as dangerous as it sounds. Performance gains vary, but once your parts are out of their warranty period you no longer have to worry about voiding it. Normally, even a small increase would void it. Of course, you could always just buy faster hardware, but thanks to overclocking you may not need to... at least for another year or so.

You can share your Steam games with others

Contrary to popular belief, your Steam games are not stuck with your account. Steam Family Sharing allows you to instantly lend your digitally-distributed games to another Steam user's library. Even if they're across the country... or world. It's instantly in their library. Unlike physical media, they cannot steal, lose, or damage your game in any way. The only downside is, you need to login to your account on their computer first (and then log back out).

The games you buy on PC are yours forever (kinda).

Did you sell your PC or migrate to a different one? No problem. Just log into Steam, Uplay or GOG, and re-download them to your new machine. No need to insert a disc or re-buy an online key like you would with a console. There's also no limit on your number of downloads. The speeds at which you download your games are as fast as your download bandwidth, so you can sometimes re-obtain your games in a matter of minutes. We are, however, concerned about the fact that often what you are purchasing is but a license for the game. But this is not different on consoles.

PCs are better for couch, TV, and livingroom gaming than consoles

Just plug your PC into your TV using the HDMI port. Controllers] compliment this very well, especially since a PC can use any controller (even a combination of different ones at the same time)! However, mouse and keyboard combinations are just as easy to do if you have a proper piece of furniture to support everything, and several brands have launched accessories that let you use mouse and keyboard easily from the confort of your couch. Another big factor is the resolution output of your PC. TVs of today are 1080p and higher; sometimes even 4K (4x as dense as 1080p)! Mainstream consoles can hardly handle 900p, let alone 1080p... Using a PC with these TVs rather than an underpowered console will ensure you hit the level of clarity the TV was designed for, not what the console drags it down to. Any resolution other than a display's native resolution will look blurry in comparison to what it was designed for, and you'll notice this pretty quick when you hook your PC up to your TV.


PC gaming from the couch using a keyboard and mouse.


Any PC with Steam (laptop, desktop, etc) can run Big Picture.

PCs are capable of much more than gaming, such as content creation

Think of it in terms of 'how much am I saving?'. Not 'how much am I spending?'. A PC can do so many things in this day and age it's ridiculous. All things considered, you can still get a PC for the same price of a console if you really care about price equality that much. If you're already a content creator with a powerful machine, congratulations!

You can put your console budget toward your existing or upcoming desktop PC.

Why not put the console budget toward your PC? It's already built! Just add a graphics card!

PCs can be legally opened for cleaning, upgrades, and repairs

Let's face it. If your device relies on fan cooling or has vents, it's going to get dusty and eventually very hot. If it contains circuit boards, it's going to be susceptible to power surges and other electrical problems. It doesn't matter who builds the products or where it comes from. No electronic device is invulnerable. Luckily for you, you get to handle things yourself if/when your PC has a problem with an individual part. Consoles aren't so forgiving. If you clean it yourself, the warranty is most likely void. If a part fails, you have to send the entire thing in and wait for it to be sent back. Sometimes you can even continue using the PC while waiting for the individual part to be replaced! Things like RAM cards, hard drives, graphics cards are good examples. Get a PC and you won't have to be afraid of voiding a warranty ever again as long as you're not physically violating the warranty agreement for the part. Repairing is frowned upon with the XBox most of all.

PC parts have longer warranties and the warranties are on a per-part basis; not per-device!

Each individual part that you view online has a warranty policy directly from the manufacturer that you can see a summary of. Many parts (like Patriot RAM) even have lifetime warranties. Once you receive the PC components, you'll see that a copy of the warranty (with instructions) is included. If the part goes bad within the warranty period, (1-3 years, sometimes lifetime) the company will mail you back a functional replacement. In comparison, a console requires the entire device to be sent in... sometimes after you've already paid more money for the warranty! Disassembling it to send them the defective part would not only be difficult because the warranty would instantly be invalidated on the console, but also because the part is useless to you outside of the device (from a warranty standpoint, they won't honor it or even acknowledge the part belongs to their console).

All platforms have their own exclusives but PC has thousands more than any other

Many people argue in favor of consoles by pulling the "exclusives" card. What they don't realize is, making that argument speaks entirely against consoles. In order to get the "exclusives" they always argue about(they often list things like Last of Us, Legend of Zelda or God of War, they would have to buy each and every console that those games belong to, bringing their budget well beyond $1,000. Even putting $500 into a PC will get you a system more powerful than each, with the full library of even the most demanding PC titles. PC has the most exclusives for a reason, though. Due to the healthy, open, and competitive PC market, independent developers tend to gravitate toward the PC. Console companies are generally hostile toward independent developers and not nearly as many can easily make their game available to console markets. With things like GOG and Steam, developers have millions of PC gamers they can reach without spending a single dime. To play every console exclusive, you would have to buy ALL consoles anyways (yes, the largest argument is 'console' exclusives not 'PlayStation' or 'XBox', just 'console)... which puts your price point over that of a PC. Not to mention, consoles are what trudged in and created the exclusivity issue in the first place, hoping that you'd reward them for it and buy into their ecosystem. In a situation where you have a choice of many, pick the best of the group: PC.

You can use any controller with your PC, not just one single model like with consoles

First off, mouse and keyboard is the best possible input in terms of accuracy. PCs have so many possible input methods, we can't even count them all. You've got Leap Motion, controllers for PS4, XBox One, SNES, NES, N64, wheels, joysticks, you name it. Console controllers are a close #2 in gamer preference on the PC. Many games (like platformers) can actually be easier with a controller. You can plug a console controller right into your PC and be on your way. Very little configuration is usually needed, it just kind of works on its own after it's plugged in. This is a lot of fun when you use emulators for console titles. Isn't freedom of choice a beautiful thing?


Popular PC input devices for games and emulators.

PC is the king of legacy game and software support

Thanks to emulators and the raw power of modern PCs, you can run any game or application. Your PC can run games from DOS, Mac OS, Commodore, Genesis, NES, SNES, N64, PS1, PS2, Wii, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, you name it. Emulators are also known to offer better control configuration (including support for any controller) and graphical options that make it look better than its original platform. Games and applications from old-ish (1990+) PC operating systems will require a virtual machine or DOSBox. Old console games will require an emulator, which for the most part are free and open source.

With a capture card, you can pull video output from another PC or console into a display or window on your main PC

PCs are capable of a lot, and they can save you a lot of money. One such popular method among PC gamers to access their console without buying a dedicated display is to just send their video into the PC and display it on one of their monitors. It saves power, money, and space.

A PC can be used to donate spare computational power toward the betterment of mankind... or your wallet

Seti@Home, Folding@Home, World Community Grid, and many others, are all a few of the many options you have available as a PC owner. All you do is install their clients, hit "Start" and relax. Whenever your PC isn't in use, it uses your otherwise idle CPU to perform small workloads and submit back to their larger projects. You can help cure cancer, find extraterrestrial life, assist in drug research, and many other things. Check out our folding team wiki page!

PC gaming is strong and growing, and it's not going anywhere for the foreseeable future

For those of you that worry about the possibility of jumping onto a dying horse, worry no more. The PC is profitable, stable and even growing (in some sectors) in market share [every year]. So, if you want to go with what's the healthiest for you and the industry... go PC. The misinformation about PC "dying" is typically spewed by angry people that want to recruit others into the ecosystem that they decided was best (probably just because they were already trapped in it). Developers (the people who make the games that drove you to choose a platform in the first place) also prefer PC, because they don't lose half of their profits to manufacturing and exorbitant fees. Lastly and most importantly, gamers are switching back. Ultimately because the PC is cheaper, more open, customizable, easier to fix, and capable of so much more.

Most of the screenshots and gameplay you see on "next-gen" advertisements are actually from a PC

Seeing as all console games are developed on PCs and then skimmed down for consoles, it's only natural that they use footage from the best-looking system to try and sell their product. Sony and Microsoft both know that the truth is far from pretty, so they source their media from a high-end PC rather than a console. They think you'll forget by the time you buy their system anyhow. They don't care about it actually looking good, they just expect you to forget by the time you pay them upwards of $500 for everything. The question is, will you let them?