Is PC Gaming Worth It? (A Console Players Opinion)

I’ve been PC gaming for the better part of a decade now. While I grew up on consoles, it’s my gaming PC that eats up all of my time these days; let me tell you why it’s worth it

As a whole PC gaming is Worth it. A gaming PC gives you access to a wider library of games than on a console, with improved graphics and performance and the option to install mods on select games. Also, a gaming PC is versatile and can be customized and improved.

PC gaming is more than worth it. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though, so let’s dive a little deeper into just why it’s better than consoles

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Is PC Gaming that Much Better?

In total, PC gaming is better than console; you get the ability to play more games at an improved frame rate and graphics. While the initial investment can be expensive, a gaming PC will pay for itself in the long run through Steam sales, the ability to mod, and not paying for online memberships

Investing in a gaming PC can be intimidating. I get that, believe me. However, you’re going to be saving money in the long run. Steam regularly hosts sales, and you get access to discounted sites or CD keys where you can get game keys for super cheap.

Money isn’t the be-all and end-all of gaming, though. 

Why PC Gaming is Better than Console

I’ve broken down why PC gaming is better than console into a few select categories. Hopefully, this will give you a comprehensive understanding of what exactly makes PC gaming superior. 

That’s not to say that console gaming isn’t worth it. I personally have both and use my PlayStation regularly. However, in my experience, PC gaming is simply the better of the two. 

Better Graphics & Performance

This is what attracted me to PC gaming in the first place, but it isn’t a selling point for everyone. 

I get that you might not value good graphics as much as I do, and I respect that. However, once you experience gaming like playing Skyrim on ultra settings with the appropriate mods installed, you’ll never be able to play console gaming again.

The difference in graphics between PC and console cannot be overstated. Even with the PS5 and Xbox Series X, there’s no comparison. A moderate gaming PC will outperform those systems any day of the week and by a large margin. 

Frames is where PC gaming shines; if a game has 30 FPS, 30 frames are shown per second, so 60FPS is double the frames, which makes a HUGE difference in gaming, especially in action and first person shooters were every frame matters.

If you see the comparison with one of the most demanding games of the last generation, Red Dead Redemption 2 above, you notice the difference between PC and console. The frame rates of the newer consoles, the PS5 and Xbox Series X, are locked to 30 FPS with RDR2 2, while on PC, you can play the game in its true glory.

If you are curious about building a gaming PC see our guide on if it’s hard to build. Secret it’s not! It’s a bit more complicated than building lego.

More Games to Play

Sure, you might lose out on some of the console exclusives that either console gets, although they’re becoming increasingly less prevalent. However, you get access to a far wider library as a result. 

I’m not talking about indie games exclusively, either. Almost any game that is released for console is also released for PC. Most modern game developers purposefully design their games for PC and port them over to console thanks to the increased player base. 

This is particularly true of games in the RPG genre; these worlds are huge, so devs have taken advantage of the hardware that PC gaming has to offer over the limitations of consoles. This is why you sometimes get massive games that don’t run too well on consoles because they aren’t designed for that kind of technology. 

The Steam library is massive and includes AAA titles as well as indie games, and with the ever-increasing popularity of cross-play, the chances are that you can play your favorite games with your console friends regardless of you being on PC. 

I still recommend having a PlayStation 5 as some of the best exclusives in gaming are reserved for Sonys consoles, but there are tons of PC exclusive games and your gaming potential explode with PC gaming.

A great option is buying a prebuilt PC which saves you the stress of picking and choose components to build which can be intimidating for a new user. One of the most popular pre-built PC companies is PC master race, but are they legit? See our guide here.

Room for Customization

Having room for customizing your gaming PC comes in two different ways: hardware and software. 

Talking about hardware, I’m referring to the parts that go into your computer to make it tick. Your graphics card, hard drive or SSD, and CPU are all included in this. 

While you don’t need to have an understanding of these components to get yourself a gaming PC, having a bit of knowledge will help you get the most out of your machine, especially when you want to upgrade it. 

Not only can you customize the way your PC looks with an array of different cases, cooling systems, and RGB setups, but you can invest in different parts to help your computer perform better in certain areas. 

This isn’t an option at all with consoles, and one of the leading reasons contributing to the popularity of PC gaming, once you buy a console, you are stuck with it. A console GPU or CPU can not be upgraded; the PS4 and Xbox One were infamously underpowered compared to PCs in their console generation. 

On the software side of things, I’m exclusively talking about mods. 

This drives a lot of people into the arms of PC gaming, and it’s not too hard to see why. In particular, Bethesda games are notorious for having obnoxiously large modding communities. Fallout New Vegas is still receiving regular mod additions to this day, with the DLC-sized mod the Frontier releasing earlier this year. 

PC mods are reason enough to buy a PC you get so much user-generated content from your favorite games; remember Fallout New Vegas released in 2010! Also, certain gaming experiences like the Skyblivion are only available on PC; when your console only, you’re missing out.

Playing an RPG with custom mods installed completely transforms the game. You might be able to overlook graphics, but trust me when I say that you’ll never play Vanilla Skyrim again once you do a modded playthrough.

So you are considering a gaming PC but what about a gaming laptop? They are compact and powerful, see if they’re worth it in our article

A Better Investment

Overall, PC gaming is simply a better investment, both in terms of time and money. 

Even if you limit yourself to a console budget with your PC, you’re going to build a machine capable of putting out the same numbers as your PlayStation or Xbox with the added benefit of being upgradeable in the future. 

To put that in perspective, think about the last generation of systems. Do you remember your PS4 or XB1 coming to the end of its life cycle? Trying to play modern games with the machine sounding like a jet engine? That’s what happens when games outgrow the hardware of these consoles. They struggle to keep up. 

That’s never an issue with PC gaming. If you find that in a year or two your computer struggles, you slap a new graphics card into it and you’re good to go. You don’t have to wait until Sony or Microsoft decide to release another wave of consoles. 

Also, gaming PCs can be used for many things that aren’t gaming, including video editing and general student work. Having a dual or triple monitor setup is common for PC streamers, this added screen real estate allows you to not only game but also makes multiple tasking whilst doing work a lot easier. See our article on other reasons why gamers have dual-screen setups.

When you decide to switch to PC gaming, you’re giving yourself access to more games that you can play at higher settings. That’s the only reason you should need to buy a gaming PC, but as you should be able to tell, it’s far from being the only advantage that the system has.