Rory's Christmas Shopping: Poor man's Xbox 360

AnonymousSun 4 December, 2005 11:49pm

few comments , why is it a poor mans xbox 360 when it cost as much as the console, the technology in the xbox 360 is not available on pc platforms as the moment so you're paying for a pc that will be out of date within a year maybe six months, whereas the 360 will be running its six threads and pushing its graphics to their best. doesnt quite cut it really.

Jim BeanMon 5 December, 2005 9:56am

OMG! Has there even been a decent game released on the PC this year!? Battlefield 2 maybe, but that's available on consoles too. Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero and Condemned look and play miles better than any PC game ever, even Quake 4 and Call of Duty 2 are miles better on Xbox 360! Microsoft rules!

AnonymousMon 5 December, 2005 10:09am

It's a poor man's Xbox 360 because buying the PC package (not the 360 package) means you'll have 360-esque performance (and beyond) and money left over for beer. And that PC package will only be as out of date as the 360 will be when the PS3 and Revolution come out. You could say the games and performance of the 360 will improve as developers understand the technology more, but that's the case with any hardware, including PCs. Good PC games this year: F.E.A.R, Far Cry, The Movies, World of Warcraft, GTA San Andreas, any train simulator.

AnonymousThu 8 December, 2005 1:13pm

are you MENTAL??!?!?!?!? 1. you allready have a tv so you don't need to buy a new one and 2. you bought a 20" screen for the pc and a 32" one for the xbox. a poor mans xbox 360 would be an original xbox. muppet.

Bob ShirunkelMon 5 December, 2005 10:01am

@anonymous - that's fair, I think the 360 will get a lot better next near, with Oblivion and Halo 3 likely stunners.

But I like the point about the pad being less suitable for controlling FPSs than the mouse - I played Halo 2 over the weekend for the first time in ages, having been playing Battlefield 2 on PC, and it felt very clumsy and imprecise using the Xbox pad.

ChrisMon 5 December, 2005 11:03am

Consoles and PCs give different experiences, though. Have you ever tried getting a few of your mates round to play a multiplayer game on your PC? Doesn't really work. Neither does writing an email on your Xbox.

Comparing the two is FUN, in a geeky playground argument sort of way, but you don't buy them because the graphics on one are better than the other, rather you buy them because of the different experiences they offer.

Of course, if, like me, you're seriously commited to never attracting a member of the opposite sex again, you already have a PC and a few consoles and are eyeing up the 360 with covetous eyes.

blokeyMon 5 December, 2005 11:28am

proof, if ever you needed it - that xbox 360 is for homosexuals. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

AnonymousMon 2 January, 2006 12:56pm

Heh, he never actually listed the OS used... if he put MS Windows on, that costs a lot more than the £5.47 difference...

If he opted for Linux, £38 from Amazon or a free download (but would then have to pay an isp to get online).

Last time i checked you needed an OS to install games on to.

AnonymousThu 19 January, 2006 10:26pm

Ok, the 360 is 400 dollars and offers all high def games.
Your PC was probably well over 2000 dollars and offers very few fun games(which aren't in high def)
On a 360 you can play on a huge HDTV on a couch. On a PC you are stuck to a little screen(20 inches at most) and have to type alot more.
I have a 360 and the wireless gamepad works like the wire is still there and dosen't have to have a clear line of sight to the 360 to work.
Last, PC games are for nerds

AnonymousThu 19 January, 2006 10:30pm

Ok, the 360 is 400 dollars and offers all high def games.
Your PC was probably well over 2000 dollars and offers very few fun games(which aren't in high def)
On a 360 you can play on a huge HDTV on a couch. On a PC you are stuck to a little screen(20 inches at most) and have to type alot more.
I have a 360 and the wireless gamepad works like the wire is still there and dosen't have to have a clear line of sight to the 360 to work.
Last, PC games are for nerds

AnonymousThu 16 February, 2006 5:54pm

Right then...you buy a 360 , you stick it in a telly , you play , and play , and play whilst your mates ARE THERE , TOGETHER , or if you have none or cant be arsed with them , you can play online via xbox live. You dont even have to worry what the next big game will look like on your 360 either , you buy it , stick it in the 360 (which is stuck in the telly) and you play . no patches , no messing about with resolutions , detail settings or anything , you just play. You buy a P.C. , stripping your pockets bare , buying the finest components your tech hungry eyes can find (and afford) costing you far more than a 360 . In 2 months your elitist pride in having the cutting edge components is shot to bits by the advertisement of a SE or GTX or GTXISEVSSMEU v.3456 vesion of your Graphics card/memory/processor/monitor . your arse gets piles from the office chair you had to make do with coz you spunked all your cash on a new gaming rig . your ACTUA mates (not a group of mis matched people thousands of miles away) stop asking you to go out coz you always stay in , making the most of that machine which is worth more than your mum ! ! you buy a 360 and you know you own the finest console on the planet and any game you buy for that 360 WILL work , first time until you can play no more. if you want to play games and STILL have a life , buy an Xbox.

Matt PThu 11 May, 2006 11:39am

Oh dear Oh dear Oh dear, now even though i agree with most of what the writer of this story has to say... Its the kind of thing i wish to leave in the back of my head and not sound off like a complete dork. Having said that why does there always have to be a war? Evere since the Amiga and Atari st war of the late 80s its always something. People i ask of you, just enjoy all technology after all , its all pretty good eh?,,

AnonymousSun 16 July, 2006 12:00pm

In summary the person who posted this article shouldn't have been allowed to. Can't believe how ignorant and arrogant you're being.

1. The xbox 360 doesn't cost £1150. It costs £200

2. The components you mentioned are actually inferior, not better.

* Geforce 7800 GT\GTX - is older tech and slower than the graphics card in the 360. The 360s graphics is based on the latest Radeon X1900 with further enhancements not available in the one being sold for the pc (Which in turn is in the same generation as the 7800, but a notch above. The X1800 is comparable to the 7800...MATE!)

*Graphics memory on the 360s graphics card is shared with the main memory of the console..."oh dear" I hear you say? Well no actually its not a problem. The memory consists of 512MB GDDR3, and the BUS connecting the graphics card and memory is not a bottelneck, unlike in the pc so thats not a problem, in case you were wondering.

*The 7800 GT\GTX has 256MB of memory - NOT 512MB. So your article is wrong...again. There was a 512MB version but it cost £500 so you can't really compare that. You could buy 2 360s for that price. I realise now there are better cards with this much memory, but I'm mainly posting to highlight what a cretin you are based on information at the time.

*You can't compare the resolution of a 32 inc LCD designed for watching TV on with an LCD designed for a computer. - This point alone totally discredits your article, the words "gibbering buffoon" come to mind, in the most polite way possible of course. there are computer LCDs available for £150 that have a higher resolution than the one you quoted for the TV. To be honest its not even relevent, a good quality panasonic plasma with a resolution the same as the one you mentioned goes for £3500....

ahhh, actually I'm starting to ramble, there are so many gibbering nonsences in the article I can't be bothered to finish going on...Got another 10 points or so for you I think but my writings getting broken up, by my disbelief of your stupidity.

I do own a 360, althogh only recently, I do also own a decent pc. quite abit faster than the one you've described.

Just for the record, a 3800+ isn't going to cut it in any games these days, or even 6 months before you posted the article.

F.E.A.R on that, your having a laugh. Unless you turn the detail right down and everything else. Including the resolution, there's no way the components you've listed could drive a recent game at a resolution higher than 1024x768 -... Which is lower than the xbox 360s :)

duuuuhhh, you are one very stupid person. Shame on CNET.co.uk for posting your misleading article.

freddyforeskinSun 16 July, 2006 9:35pm

The 360 is s***, ive got one, ive got every game...my 2 year old pc runs games better. SLOWDOWN AND TEARING is what the 360 is.

Worst console ive ever had in 25 years of gaming.

freddyforeskinSun 16 July, 2006 9:37pm

As for the idiot that said 360 games dont need patching....nearly everyone relased does you idiot.

Know what your talking about before pressing buttons on your keyboard.

AnonymousMon 17 July, 2006 1:31pm

No they don't.

Patches are released, but they are by no means "needed". They are also applied automatically. They aren't there to fix serious issues like with pc games.

If your connected to xbox live then it just says a patch is available, do you want to install it, press yes, wait 10 seconds and thats it.

If your getting tearing thats because of your display. There are very few games that tear, thats the games fault. Besides, pc games always have problems with tearing, unless you have v-sync on, and that can lead to stuttering and so on.

Of course game will have slowdown at certain points, its the first generation of games still. ALL consoles that render 3d and even some 2d have slowdown in games. The pc is the worst for this. Even with a top end pc you get slowdown in ALL games.

Don't be such a narrow minded p****

Oh and its got nothing to do with the article. So shut your trap and comment on that ya n**.

AnonymousSun 15 July, 2007 7:03pm

I would rather a 360 over that. The exclusive games.

AnonymousWed 19 December, 2007 5:24pm

cool, great post, so true

AnonymousSat 12 April, 2008 11:27am

hi, nice specs, i was wondering though, is it possible to connect a ps2, or original xbox's graphics card into a pc?
plz reply my email is manjam136 *at* hotmail.co.uk