I don't know anything about gaming. The last time I regularly played video games was on my Atari. Yes, a million years ago.

  1. Basic question: I'd like to get into gaming. What's better a console or a gaming PC? My PC is super old so I have to buy a new PC anyway.

  2. I'm considering buying a renewed PC from Amazon. From what little I know - it seems like a good deal. If I buy something like a renewed Dell XPS 8940 for - I dunno up to $1,500 is that good enough for gaming? I'd prefer a boring PC case.

  3. What's the minimum I'd need to spend to get a gaming PC that plays most games?

  4. What are common mistakes people make when buying a gaming PC?

  5. Can most games be torrented?

  6. What's easier to torrent? Games for consoles or PC games? Ideally torrents will be my gaming store.

I'm giving myself until the end of the month to buy a new PC. So it's time for me to decide.

Amazon example...

Dell XPS 8940 Tower Desktop PC)

There are two PC setups on the page. Both are $1,000. Here are the specs for one of them.

[Edit: It's missing a useful graphics cad. I know I'll need the best graphics card possible because without that I'm buying a brand new car with a puny, nearly useless engine.]

  • 10th Gen Octa-core Intel i7-10700 2.9GHz Processor

  • 32GB DDR4 Memory

  • 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD +1TB SATA 7200 RPM HDD

  • DVD-RW Drive

  • Windows 10 w/ Accessories (Renewed)

Edit

I'm not interested in building one. I'd screw something up. It's just the way I am.

  • MoreAmphibians [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    There are entire genres on PC that barely exist on console. It's mostly nerd shit like strategy, simulation, and tycoon games. The ones that do get ported to console tend to be crippled in one way or another. That's not even to mention the huge modding scene on PC.

      • Lovely_sombrero [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yes, but the prebuilt scene really isn't good. You can easily pay over $1k and get a pc that really sucks.

        • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah its definitely better to build your own. As an added bonus if a part dies you will know how to replace it.

          • Lovely_sombrero [he/him]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Well, my job is servicing PCs and I've seen a lot of people break stuff or buy incompatible stuff even after they've built their first PC. But building a PC isn't that hard, as long as you watch some videos beforehand.

            • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
              ·
              1 year ago

              The tech stuff is the best part of youtube. I was looking to buy something so I looked it up. First click was "hey guys! Like and subscribe" and 30 minutes long so I dipped. Next was some fat bearded redneck that was like "okay first things first let's take this fugger apart and see how it works." Shit was awesome. 8 minutes.