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.

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

    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.

    A console is cheaper and is lower hassle, but you can do a lot more on PC and have access to things like mods for games as well as emulation and a much, much, much bigger library of games available to you. A lot of games that are on console are also available on PC, with a few rare exceptions. Nowadays almost every game gets ported to PC. The only exception is Nintendo whose games are still exclusive to the Switch.

    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.

    I do not recommend buying a prebuilt. Strongly consider building your own PC - it's not hard and there are plenty of resources on how to do it, on top of being cheaper and more bang for your buck.

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

    800 for a gaming PC able of playing the most recent games, but I would suggest about 1400-1500 for a very decent machine.

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

    Focusing on ultimately unimportant aspects of the PC like the looks, purchasing a very bad power supply if they are building it.

    Can most games be torrented?

    Yes, but AAA games nowadays have Denuvo on them which makes cracking them difficult and slow. Still, you'll have a wealth of games to play anyway if you simply torrent most of them.

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

    I have never torrented games for consoles, but I assume it's a more annoying process simply because you have to get that shit to work on the console. In my experience, torrenting is pretty simple and easy for most games on PC.