PS3: Convince me.

[Szymon]

Originally Posted by manasecret

I build PCs, and $450 will get just the videocard and the CPU.

That doesn't include the required case, RAM, motherboard, OS, power supply, or hard drive(s).

With all that, to get a decent machine to play games well now and play ok into the future 3 years, you're looking at least $1000, not including monitor.

If you're playing on a big 24" LCD monitor and you want the full 1920x1200 resolution, then you're looking at least $1400.

At least, that's what I priced myself last week off Newegg while dreaming of buying it

My PC cost $1400... last year! I play with two 1920x1200 monitors too.

Pricing for PCs has gone down big time. You could get a great PC for $450 nowadays, you just need to find a packaged deal. You don't need a quad core CPU, go with a $120 core 2 duo and save a bunch of cash. You don't need DDR3, grab a DDR2 Mobo with 4GB of RAM for about $200. 500GB hard drive is another $60, and that's plenty of space for installing games and downloading a few seasons. Case and PSU will run you another $100. A graphics card is all you need now, and they're going on sale all the time. You could get something really nice for $140, like 1920x1200 nice, if you find a great sale. Yes, this is about $150 over budget, but if you can find bundles for this stuff you can save a lot of money.

Edit: For example, a RAM + Mobo combo should cost you like $120. PSU+Case could be down to $70 if you wanna go mega cheapo. Saw a CPU+GPU combo for $200 too. With a $60 hard drive you could be look a total of: $450 (before tax and environmental raping fees)