Buy a second hand PS4, some blackout blinds for the windows, and a midrange HD projector - approx all-in €600. Now you're gaming!
PC gaming ...WTF. Who wants to sit on a crappy office swivel chair with fingers spread like Beethoven over a keyboard, when you can be curled up on the sofa or sat on a vibrating beanbag?!

Ironclad wrote:Buy a second hand PS4, some blackout blinds for the windows, and a midrange HD projector - approx all-in €600. Now you're gaming!
PC gaming ...WTF. Who wants to sit on a crappy office swivel chair with fingers spread like Beethoven over a keyboard, when you can be curled up on the sofa or sat on a vibrating beanbag?!

You can do that with a PC too.

Consoles. I can't believe I actually used to own a console. Do consoles even have anti-aliasing yet?

I can't see it as anything other than a terrible waste of money to buy another PS4, and duplicate everything just so you can play the same games in a different mode. If you want a second console, surely an XB1 would be a better buy, as you'd at least get to play some other exclusives or, if local co-op is really what you want, a Wii U? Nintendo still throw it in with most of their games even if everyone else seems to have abandoned the idea.

So far as PCs go, I'd think you'd have much more fun with two £600 ones than a single £1200 PC. Sure, the latter will get you a bit more graphics whorage, but the former budget should still suffice for better-than-console levels. Also, given that on-line accounts are free and there are some excellent on-line multiplayer games that are either DRM free or just free to play anyway, you'd fairly quickly rack up savings on what you'd have to spend doing the same with a couple of PS4s.

To justify two machines, why not set one up as an HTPC in your lounge - plugged into the TV for sofa gaming - and the other as a desktop in an office? That's pretty much the setup I've had for the past few years, and it works well. That way you can get a bit more out of them other than just playing games. (Actually, we've got eight PCs in total but that's a different story.)

The two PS4 route is pretty much dead in the water. Wife thinks I'm bonkers. We have three consoles in the living room, two last gen. It's looking like I'm heading down the gaming laptop route.

electricwhiteboy wrote: It's looking like I'm heading down the gaming laptop route.

Not a great option for future proofing. Not unless you are prepared to spend significantly more than £1000.

Sendraks wrote:

electricwhiteboy wrote: It's looking like I'm heading down the gaming laptop route.

Not a great option for future proofing. Not unless you are prepared to spend significantly more than £1000.

Yeah I know...

I'll have a clear out of the stuff we've been hording and see if I can persuade the wife we have space for a desktop.

If the argument is financial, then a desktop makes more sense.

If the argument is about space, there are still plenty of ways to do a desktop system that doesn't take up a massive amount of space, something similar to the Thermaltake Core, would save space and not totally hamstring your ability to upgrade components in the future.

Set the budget for £1500, looking at rigs now. I know the specs I want it's now finding the company I can trust to put it together. I know I'll get overcharged, but I'm not that tech minded to put it together myself. My main worry is getting shafted with cheap components. CPUs and GPUs are usually named, but a lot of companies are very vague on the rest of it, and cut corners with the rest of the machine. I've got a reasonable monitor and I don't care about gaming keyboards, mice and the rest of it which is the other downside of getting a package.

I can strongly endorse the following companies. had machines from all of them. All of them worked and delivered on their promises.

http://www.cclonline.com/ - used them for machines and parts for donkeys.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/ - not used myself, but strongly recommended by my friends. I have a friend in the US who rates them sufficiently, he orders builds from them.

https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/ - my last three machines were from these guys. Only ever had a fault with one component which they replaced in 48hrs at no cost to me.

Schenker builds some lovely gaming rigs, laptop or desktop. I am currently sitting in front of an XMG A704 I got not a year ago and I'm still incredibly pleased with it. Runs everything I throw at it in max settings, has lovely battery life and if it could deliver blowjobs, I'd marry it. The sound is a bit meh, but I have extra speakers set up anyway.

Also, the world of PC gaming is surprisingly full of couch co-op games you could play with your SO. Just have a look around.

Mazille wrote: Also, the world of PC gaming is surprisingly full of couch co-op games you could play with your SO. Just have a look around.

I would second this. Is entirely feasible to having a living room friendly, home cinema & gaming PC set-up. With the right peripherals you can be a controller gamer and a keyboard & mouse gamer from the comfort of your couch.

Me I prefer my comfy office chair over the couch any day for gaming.

Planning on updating my PC, getting two TitanX + 4K monitor I hardly touch my xbox360/xbox one anymore

DoctorE wrote:Planning on updating my PC, getting two TitanX + 4K monitor I hardly touch my xbox360/xbox one anymore

One TitanX is out of my price range sadly. GTX 970, or 980 is what I'm aiming at.

electricwhiteboy wrote:

DoctorE wrote:Planning on updating my PC, getting two TitanX + 4K monitor I hardly touch my xbox360/xbox one anymore

One TitanX is out of my price range sadly. GTX 970, or 980 is what I'm aiming at.

You've probably already considered this, but if not, keep this in mind:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-review,review-32899.html

and also
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-intel-amd-motherboard,review-33054.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,review-32901.html

I use Tom's as my starting point when making a new PC. I do consider other sources and cross refer a lot of reviews on CPUs, GPUs, powersupplies and other bits and pieces. But I find these reviews really helpful in working out what I can get for my money.

My other advice is be disciplined with your funding for your build. Set a limit that you won't exceed and then focus on getting the most bang for your buck on every component. There's no point in paying £50 more for a competent which is only slightly better than its competitor.

And always, always, buy a quality power supply. Review the shit out of that particular component.

Sendraks wrote:

electricwhiteboy wrote:

DoctorE wrote:Planning on updating my PC, getting two TitanX + 4K monitor I hardly touch my xbox360/xbox one anymore

One TitanX is out of my price range sadly. GTX 970, or 980 is what I'm aiming at.

My other advice is be disciplined with your funding for your build. Set a limit that you won't exceed and then focus on getting the most bang for your buck on every component. There's no point in paying £50 more for a competent which is only slightly better than its competitor.

And always, always, buy a quality power supply. Review the shit out of that particular component.

Noted re the power supply.

I've got an absolutely set budget and it's going to be about building a ballanced rig within that.

I've lost two PCs because I didn't buy a quality power supply.

That's a component that now commands around £100 of my budget.
Some of the companies, like Cyberpower, offer a limited selection of power-supplies per build type. None of these will be "duff" supplies, but it is worth checking to see which of them reviews best in respect of reliability, efficiency for your given power needs.

Sendraks wrote:http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/ - not used myself, but strongly recommended by my friends. I have a friend in the US who rates them sufficiently, he orders builds from them.

I've had a PC from these guys, I was pretty content with everything. I got a duff CPU cooling unit, but they replaced it without hassle or delay and almost unbelievably their tech support line was polite and helpful.

electricwhiteboy wrote:Set the budget for £1500, looking at rigs now. I know the specs I want it's now finding the company I can trust to put it together. I know I'll get overcharged, but I'm not that tech minded to put it together myself. My main worry is getting shafted with cheap components. CPUs and GPUs are usually named, but a lot of companies are very vague on the rest of it, and cut corners with the rest of the machine. I've got a reasonable monitor and I don't care about gaming keyboards, mice and the rest of it which is the other downside of getting a package.

Before you write off gaming keyboards entirely, there is one feature that I consider to be essential for PC gaming:

http://lifehacker.com/n-key-rollover-anti-ghosting-and-other-keyboard-featu-1643804346

I can do without mechanical switches and silly neon lights, but without anti-ghosting or x-key-rollover, you may find that certain key combinations don't do what you expect them to do.

If you enjoy problem solving and like learning about how your computer works, then you should definitely go with PC gaming. Most every game you install will have some issues to resolve, depending of course on your sensitivity to such things as mouse acceleration, stuttering, framedrops, screen tearing, input lag, low fov.

Basically, if you like to tinker with things and really understand how things work, go with PC. I've certainly had a lot of fun, getting a game to run nice and smooth is satisfying when you need to put some effort into it.

I don't even mind if a company releases a broken game, as long as it's fixable by the community. My view is different from the mainstream though because I have plenty of time to spend on my PC hobby, and I also typically don't pay for my games. I imagine if you just payed 60$ for a fancy new game, you'd be pretty pissed off to have it be a broken mess.