Maybe I'm too Canadian to understand but where on earth are you able to build a decent gaming PC able to play the latest AAA games on high graphics for $700?
No really, please tell me. I want to upgrade my PC.
Edit: For everyone trying to explain it to me.
There's more to a PC than a CPU and GPU. Those of you giving me only those 2 that make up more than half of the $700 are kind of reinforcing my point.
The key thing here is running AAA games on high settings using this budget. You can't really do that.
You won't be able to do ultra, but you can do high at 1080p30fps in most every modern game pretty easily for that price. 1080p 60fps for a solid chunk of them too.
Your point still stands though; you're still better off spending 1000$ so that you don't end up shooting yourself in the foot with regards to upgradeability, which is one of the big reasons people want a PC in the first place.
That's still better than consoles can run most native games too lul. People always use the argument that consoles 'just work' at max graphics as a selling point when it's rarely the case. Almost every new game has issues on release that need to be fixed and even after some never run at max.
I think this article is sensationalizing the situation a bit. It could be $700 (if you already have a case, hdds, psu, and cooling on hand.)
But really comes down to your desired resolution and frame rate. I know plenty of people who are fine with 1080p and 60fps.
1440, 2160 120 is another story. The higher end gpu would likely require a slightly higher tier PSU and more efficient cooling which could add a few bucks to the GPU and CPU investment.
I recommend checking out PC part picker to see what your ideal components would shake out to.
I mean you can build a 2k gaming PC for under $700. I think the only games on PS5 that'll be running at 120fps will be the anything shooters that'll run at 250fps on a toaster.
PS5 Pro is going for 800 EUR so I've picked these parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BnpTsh, and it's almost spot on how much it costs after converting it into USD. (800 EUR = 881.83 USD)
Its an an old link that poped up. As long as it has access to all channels boards aren't a big deal in the equation. Storage is cheap and any usuable 1tb will do.
We’ll have it see it in action to really compare. This computer will demolish existing consoles, playing most games at 1440p above 90FPS. Games that on the PS4 or Xbox are limited to 60 or even 30. The question really is, how many games will even let you run them higher than 60FPS on the pro? On the PS5 it was supposed to be “many”
(if you already have a case, hdds, psu, and cooling on hand.)
You can also get all of those except the hdds for quite literally 0 dollars, although depending on electricity prices and what upgrading you want to do it might be better long term to spend on the psu.
the PS5 pro uses 60 CU rdna 4, so if you want to match that, buy the supposedly rumored 8800XT that amd is trying to pump more of as they forgoe top end end generation supposedly (basically similar to the RX 480 and RX 5700xt generations)
keep in mind, console and pc sales and cost differ because of where they focus on making money. Sony for example makes money off accessory sales (the ps5 pro is disk driveless and no vertical stand) ontop of never adressing the rampant stick drift problem the dualsense has, ontop of paid online, none of which is any signicant factor on PC, which generally speaking is more front loaded cost heavy but overtime has lower cost in games, services and such.
With exchange it's closer to $950 cad, best bang for your buck is probably used. Quick glance at kijiji and I saw some 3070tis for sub $400, heck if you're fine with slightly older hardware just saw a ryzen 3700x + 2070 super, ram, full system honestly for $650 cad. You'll probably get quite a bit of mileage out of that CPU, I ran with a 3rd gen i5 for nearly a decade
You could probably build something decent for CAD$1000. Canada computers often have massive discounts on a lot of items. US$700 to CAD$1000 is not that far apart. The console would probably still be more performant but the point is, the prices are not that far apart anymore.
Assume someone is already going to buy a Chromebook for $200-300. Why not spend $900-1000 on a nicer laptop or desktop and need a console at all?
And if you're a certain age, why invest in an ecosystem that will die with the next hardware iteration, when you've seen it happen over and over? I bought a cartridge of Super Mario Bros 3 in 1993 with my birthday money. Why should I have to buy it again, ever, if I still own the cart? Why not invest in an ecosystem that's by and large always backwards compatible?