new small PC or PS4???

[sastusbulbas]

That doesn't detract from the point that console games are still optimised better than PC in most cases, with developers focusing on console usually. Look at the recent games some of which are failures on PC but work fine on console and others are downgraded such as The Witcher 3 so they can be played well on console. It's all about console I'm afraid and only a few developers are willing to put the time and effort in for PC, such as how Rockstar did with GTA V. I'd still go with a PS4 for £350 and I am not biased at all having both console and PC as gaming machines.

Very well, thats fair enough, I guess the gaming industry is going the way of the audio industry too, where people pay over the odds for low spec equipment and spend more money on an MP3 quality album than it costs for the album at full quality on a physical disc.

A few years time will still be the same, newest tech consoles playing the latest console games at 720p upscaled while downgraded giving 1080 with 30 fps gaming on 8k tellies aimed at the MP3 Boombar masses willing to spend way over the odds on a console thats RRP is solely based on a market where price is based on the guilability of the consumer.

Meanwhile there will still be uncool people building budget gaming PC's that can manage decent frame rates with better visuals that the Xbone deluxe 1.5 2017 model and PS6.7 Game consoles with integrated toaster and alarm clock. Well apart from Witcher 19 which will still be a poor quality game aimed at the console market with a no better PC version at half the retail of the xbone edition.

As for Digital Foundry, jeez, I wish I read that, time to sell up, I had no idea all the 750 ti with an i3 or G3258 was capable of is 30fps on a 780p resolution and maybe of upscaling some lowered quality games to 1080p, with only some titles managing 60fps on some scenes.

Time to sell the PC's then downgrade the telly to 720p and by a Soundbar!

 

[9dal39]

pc will be powerfuller than a ps4! go PC man!

 

[Columbo]

I'd go PC and 2nd hand parts, I've recently done something similar and put an AMD 8350 with and Nvidia 750Ti and 240gb SSD and honestly I've not struggled with anything yet and haven't dropped anyhting below 1080p.

Don't forget you also have to factor in the cost of games and with PC it's significantly cheaper. I bought the entire LEGO back catalog for me and daughter to play for around £25 where Batman 3 alone would have cost me that on console, a few Need for Speed and Batman games cost me a few beer tokens each from Kinguin and the ridiculous amount of superb indie stuff available for pennies makes the case for a PC a strong one and don't forget Steam streaming which opens up your Steam entire catalog and works superbly.

 

[Columbo]

That doesn't detract from the point that console games are still optimised better than PC in most cases, with developers focusing on console usually. Look at the recent games some of which are failures on PC but work fine on console and others are downgraded such as The Witcher 3 so they can be played well on console. It's all about console I'm afraid and only a few developers are willing to put the time and effort in for PC, such as how Rockstar did with GTA V. I'd still go with a PS4 for £350 and I am not biased at all having both console and PC as gaming machines.

What? Please only contribute to a discussion when you actually know what you are talking about.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Then PS4 would be your best bet

I disagree with this and everyone else saying this.

Should check out the potato masher vs ps4 on youtube . that's a $350 pc and works on par with the ps4 and most times bests it.

 

[mahius]

IMO, not worth going for a gaming PC unless you spend more than the cost of a console. A lot of people are saying PS4 and I now realise why. Because of multiplatform games, which the WiiU doesn't really have. As someone who owns all platforms (bar the PS4/XBONE), I'd always go with PC for multiplatform games (I only own consoles for the exclusives which is why I have only the WiiU this gen). But I'd never spend less than £600 on a gaming PC. I'd say £800 minimum. With an i5 and a decent £150-£200 graphics card.

If one really wants to do a console-ish level PC, then go with an i3 and a 750ti. At least then there'd be the opportunity of an upgrade in the future to something better. Something like Kurgen's build but with the following for processor and graphics.
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 750Ti OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (N750Ti-2GD5/OCV1) £109.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4160 3.60GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £99.95
Total : £219.54 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).



These 2 components alone, set back about £200 together. Also seems I read the OP wrong and the console/PC is not for the kids. Even so, I'd still recommend the WiiU over the PS4 right now. Otherwise, buy the PS4 and be done with it. It's easier than having to hassle around buying parts, possibly second-hand and then having to put it all together. Unless you're like me and you enjoy putting together computers.

 

[Matt82]

Yep, size matters.

For £350 it depends what games you'll be playing, if a modern FPS such as battlefield 4 then I would go with a PS4 as a £350 PC won't cut it. But for something like minecraft a cheap PC would be fine.

I spent just over £350 on my fx4130 setup with a 770gtx strapped to it and with the CPU over clocked to 4.5 I as able to run bf4 on high to ultra graphics. Unfortunately it was atx form factor tho.

 

[implosiveturnip]

I disagree with this and everyone else saying this.

Should check out the potato masher vs ps4 on youtube . that's a $350 pc and works on par with the ps4 and most times bests it.

Yes! The Potato Masher!

But OP, as I understand it you already have a main gaming rig right? So why not just use steam in home streaming? Assuming you use steam that is. You can grab some old machine off gumtree, sling it in a nice case, add a low end gpu (if the CPU is old or doesn't support hw x264 decoding) and just stream your games?

not going to cost you 350 quid by any stretch.