Console gaming vs high end computer - Page 13

Waphlez · 10-31-2005, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BColes
Haha, roger that. I plan on getting the 360 and the ps3 to go along with my PC. I'm just going to wait a while after they are release and I can ACTUALLY see what these systems can do. Should be good stuff. If i had to chose i would go with the 360 just because it's coming out sooner.

Same here, after I get my PC I plan on getting at least one of the two when they are actually out and know which is better.

killians45 · 10-31-2005, 05:57 PM

Heh, sorry flanker. Just go back into work and am catching up. Here's some indepth info on the 360 (its the arstechnica article):

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paed.../xbox360-1.ars

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paed.../xbox360-2.ars

Just a warning to some, this is a fairly indepth and complex article. Most should understand, but if you're unfamiliar with the detail workings of electronics and engineering, you may be a little lost... the two articles are also fairly long. The big complaint on both PS3 and XBox360 is how hard they are to program. Another complaint on the 360 is that AI may suffer, although I've also heard that as a rumor and until the games developers are in full swing, they dont know the full draw backs AND potential of both systems. So really, our arguing between consoles is a moot point, because both systems will not have full use of its possibilites for awhile.

killians45 · 10-31-2005, 06:15 PM

oh, here's is one more article on the GPU:

http://techreport.com/etc/2005q2/xbo...u/index.x?pg=1

Flanker · 10-31-2005, 06:22 PM

Niiiiiiiice. Thanks for the info dude.

killians45 · 10-31-2005, 06:57 PM

no problem!

Flanker · 10-31-2005, 07:18 PM

While I'm thankful for all your help; We can't just ignore 218 gigaflops of power right? I mean, when a top-of-the-line processor is doing 6 gigaflops, a 218 gigaflop has to be something special.

I mean, I understand that its more like a media processor and the architecture is totally different, but isn't that what makes it so pwoerful?

notquitedead · 10-31-2005, 07:25 PM

I plan on sticking with a pc, but I'll withhold my judgement until I actually try out the xbox360 (the ps3 is a way off, but I'm getting either a better pc or xbox within the next couple months). Here are some thoughts I had while reading through this thread:

I play first person shooters more than anything, but I hate using controllers. If I can't use a mouse and keyboard with the xbox360 (it should be possible because the 360 uses USB ports) then I probably won't get one.

I also like the fact that computer games can have mods. I quickly got bored with Halo (the original, the second one sucked IMO), I still continue to play mods for HL2 long after getting bored with the campaign and multiplayer.

I remember that one of the big selling points for the original xbox, at least for me, was that it had a hard drive and you could get expansion packs for games. Where are they? I don't even know if expansion packs would be possible since the games aren't installed on the hdd.

In case anyone was wondering, I heard you can use the xbox360 cable controller with a computer because it uses a USB port.

A friend of mine had one of the xbox360 guides that talked about the hardware, the games, etc. IIRC, modified powermacs were sent to game developers because they were closest to the estimated power of the xbox360. Make of that what you will, I don't know what that implies about pc's catching up.

Flanker · 10-31-2005, 08:15 PM

Powermac != PC.

killians45 · 10-31-2005, 08:28 PM

Yes, the used modified G5's that were around %20 of the power if even that (I THINK, been awhile since I read the alpha specs)- Anyhow, thing about FP is that it can be substantially different depending on what they are calculating. Thats why you can NOT judge a console via its floating point. The only true way is via benchmarking and by advanced simulation (thats how they were able to benchmark the PS3 and XBox360, via advanced simulation software). By the way, this software if VERY accurate however, it is accurate in the normal PC type architecture. Since the architecture is so different on both the PS3 AND the XBox 360 it's all in the air as of now. Now, PC compared to them? No contest, the next generation consoles will dominate for awhile. Okay, before all the PC lovers get onto me about this (I to do a majority of my gaming via PC), note I said for AWHILE. Eventually, as always happens, the PC market will cath up and surpass the console market. However, with this current console generation I wouldn't look at it happening as quickly as it usually does and eventually the console life span will eventually equal that of the PC where its hardware will infact be good for 5 years.

It's weird how the new XBox is based off of Mac architecture. Although they are very different entities (VERY different on the end product) it is still born with the idea of the PowerPC roots.

Flanker · 10-31-2005, 08:32 PM

So its ok to compare PCs with FPs but not ok to compare consoles with FPs because they're doing totally diiferent things? Kinda like you can't compare a CPU and a GPU, even though the GPU is many times stronger it can't do CPU tasks?

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