Saving for a PC or wait for a Steam Machine? - Console peasant looking to join PC Master Race

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TheArtilleryman said:
Definitely go for PC, you have full freedom over all software onboard including OS without any fuckery. You can just turn it in to a different system one day if you're fed up. More work no doubt, but also more reward in the long run. This is despite any comparison in price, you're just getting a more comprehensive and personalisation friendly system with a PC.
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The whole marketing of the steam machine is that it's a PC as well and you can just toss on another OS if you want. It's just an amd cpu + gpu in basically a custom sfx case.
 
Jarch6 said:
I don’t think it’ll happen overnight but I’m :optimistic: it will happen. Without gaming/ease-of-use the only thing Windows will have in its favor vs. a Linux distro is the office suite (excel primarily) which only really matters for business/accounting. (Also for laptops I know many windows-die hards have already switched to a Mac for that ARM-based Apple-Silicon that doesn’t chew through battery like x86).
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Have to agree with you. It will be bespoke software and corporate crap that sustains Microsoft if they continue to piss off the home and gaming market.
Good developers are now porting to the Apple M series units and have to assume they are also working towards Linux.
 
The Last Stand said:
So, like a console. That sounds fine to me since I'm used to how consoles work themselves.
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the problem is emulation as it was stated and well, a 7400F is like 140$ dollarinnos... but the DDR5 ram will be the breakpoint of your budget.
Mister Fister said:
core i7 14700f
1400 bux and should meet your needs.
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AVX2 only
eeeeeehh...
although anything that is beyond ryzen 7000 series has the damn instruction that allegedly makes PS3 emulation less shit, like this one but you kind of lose 16GB of ram... or this one.
 
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HairyBadger said:
Have to agree with you. It will be bespoke software and corporate crap that sustains Microsoft if they continue to piss off the home and gaming market.
Good developers are now porting to the Apple M series units and have to assume they are also working towards Linux.
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I think Apple releasing the M series SoC units spooked the market and demonstrated what could be done with decent design and software integration.
Linux is now at a state where it is a genuine alternate to both Mac and Windows but with lower hardware overhead is creating headaches for Microsoft.
 
HairyBadger said:
I think Apple releasing the M series SoC units spooked the market and demonstrated what could be done with decent design and software integration.
Linux is now at a state where it is a genuine alternate to both Mac and Windows but with lower hardware overhead is creating headaches for Microsoft.
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Steam creating a normie friendly bazzite fills a need in this market.
 
The Last Stand said:
What are your specs if you don't mind me asking?
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Might want to look into used parts or even used PC market.
It's quite easy to tell who's trying to turn a profit and who's actually getting rid of their 6 year old mid-range machine. You want the latter.
$1000 for ps3 emulation and browsing is honestly a lot of money, I'd aim for half of that. Then again - I haven't shopped for "new" tech in a while. I hate computers.
 
The Last Stand said:
Proper emulation for PS3 games
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Unfortunately this is going to be a bit troublesome for you. I'm sure others have already said this.

Everything up to the GameCube/PS2/Xbox era is mostly able to be emulated easily, with several exceptions. Beyond that generation however things become a lot more difficult and you are going to have significant compatibility issues and configuration problems. Don't get me wrong, some games will work great. But emulation for systems after that era is not nearly as robust. You can find some exceptions with Nintendo but even a lot of that is overblown.

Yes, you can emulate PS3. But if that is the "goal" of this computer (it was your first bullet point, after all) you would be better served buying a nice PS3 unit or figuring out backwards compatibility. My experience is one in which you can emulate most any modern game system, but I wouldn't say it was better or more convenient than the original hardware once you take into account random crashes, reconfigurations and outright problems with the emulation.

But after the N64 I'm going to put my neck out there and say that emulation never reached that peak ever again with subsequent systems except for the handheld systems.
 
IrishGuy088 said:
Yes, you can emulate PS3. But if that is the "goal" of this computer (it was your first bullet point, after all) you would be better served buying a nice PS3 unit or figuring out backwards compatibility.
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I had explored that option with obtaining a backwards compatible PS3. Not only are they difficult to find but expensive to own and maintain. There's no knowing if I'd buy one as-is if the chip would die out and spit out the YLoD.
 
The Last Stand said:
I had explored that option with obtaining a backwards compatible PS3. Not only are they difficult to find but expensive to own and maintain. There's no knowing if I'd buy one as-is if the chip would die out and spit out the YLoD.
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Yeah, the "George Foreman" model of the PS3 with the hardware backwards compatibility is sort of a holy grail of consoles. If you can get one at a decent price that still functions, it's a real steal.

I would hate to see you fork over a bunch of money to build a really nice PC to use as an emulator and find that your results were mixed at best. If you are confident that you'd use this PC for plenty of other things besides trying out PS3 emulation, then by all means go for it. But if your goal is PS3 emulation you're probably going to run into a few stumbling blocks.
 
StacticShock said:
a PS3 itself can't run well on it's own, why would you expect a emulator to do a better job than that trashfire?
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I've been playing Never dead on an emulator, and the only difference I've had on my PC is some graphical glitches
that didn't impact the performance. within a few months the emulator went from can't even run, to now I have a stable 30fps.
that's on par with my time on my ps3 with the same game.
I opened up the emulator just now, and there's already an update,

if I were OP take your fucking time building something solid,

wait for more updates to drop and go crazy when you feel ps3 emulation is good enough that most games you're interested in
are at least playable with minor glitches. OR you could just mod a ps3 and pirate everything that way.
there's ways to get a ps4 controller to replace dualshock 3.

fucking trust me, it's a fucking pain to repair a DS3, and really fucking hard to find a real one.
 
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The Last Stand said:
Here are a couple I've found. Again, the concern is them inevitably dying.
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And they will die. Usually it is a drive failure which isn't super difficult to repair, but there is some technical know how required. I've known one guy that runs one of the early PS3 systems and he is an electrical engineer (not that you need to be THAT skilled) and he has done multiple repairs but his system still works.

That first one with the noisy fan is probably going to throw a bearing sooner rather than later. So you'd be on the hook for a fan repair which is not too hard, but consoles are not exactly designed to be cracked open once you buy them. As for that second one:
PLEASE PAY AS SOON AS AUCTION ENDS SO WE CAN PROCESS YOUR SHIPPING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! ALSO, PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU CAN NOT PAY! THANKS!
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That makes me run away from a seller pretty quick. No shit you pay when you buy. Someone really wants that money now and they had to put a redundant message in giant red letters to let us know.

That first one probably isn't a terrible deal if you've got 200 bucks to spare. As long as you aren't pushing off rent or cutting into your groceries, go for it.

But you're still here for the PC, too. I think you should absolutely get the new PC if you can. If you can compartmentalize the PS3 emulation issue, I think you're in a good position to get a new system that will see you through the next couple years. Our technology nowadays is so good that you can buy two generations old and still run everything. I like your budget and I agree with other users that you should look into prebuilt mid-range systems. The custom built PC market had its moments where you could get a real deal, but at least for the last several years I would struggle to build you a system and come up with a price tag that would be competitive with a pre-built. Anymore building a custom PC yourself is strictly for enthusiasts or very specific use cases and the math doesn't work out like it did 10 or 15 years ago.

Feel free to ask any questions if you still have them. I have all weekend.
 
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