Comparison of New Video card with Consoles

[socialdarwinist]

As a console-to-PC gamer convert, I can say that I didn't understand all the hype (from a technical standpoint as opposed to an "as experienced" standpoint) for a while after the switch. About a month after some consistent PC gaming, I went back to console and my first thought wasn't about the graphics - it was that my TV somehow felt smaller. It's all about field of view. Because of the limitations of the human eye, we need > 21.1 deg. field of view to perceive resolutions better than 720p. Using Sohaltang's situation with a 63" TV running 720p, you're not going to be able to truly appreciate higher resolutions unless you sit closer than about 12.3 feet. Obviously, these calculations change based on the size of the tv and the maximum resolution it's capable of. This is really just putting math to what both PC gamers and console gamers have been saying for years, except rather than one side being right, both are actually right. "I can tell the difference with higher resolutions on my PC." Yes, you probably can because your monitors consume a greater proportion of your field of view. "My console looks just as good as your PC." Based on the average distance people seem to sit from a tv, this would be correct from their standpoint as well. I have personally enjoyed finding a very nice middle: finding out my field of view when using my monitor was roughly 40 deg., then converting that over to my 47" 1080P tv and realizing I needed to sit just a bit more than 4.5 feet from the tv and hooking up the new gaming rig to it. Immersive bliss with the gaming rig connected. Of course, if your field of view is larger than 31.2 deg., you can begin to appreciate higher resolutions than 1080P. Got the 27" 1440P on order and am looking forward to appreciating all of its glory at a ~ 41 deg. field of view.

 

[Sable]

Im not trolling

I thought I'd just start this thread and then walk away hoping for rabid arguments...

 

[tential]

I guess it partially depends on what you notice. People here have been stating repeatedly the difference between 720p and 1080p at various distances but for me the major thing is settings like draw distance. I really dislike the low draw distance on consoles, it's one setting that adds a huge amount to the overall feel of games (obviously this mainly applies to open world games). There's other settings too of course consoles will have much crappier water details, shadows etc some people may not notice or care at all and that's fine but if you do they can make quite a difference.

Another thing worth noting is major graphics overhauls, granted they only happen for the occasional game and can be a bit of a nightmare to get working (depends how lucky you are really) but damn do they make a difference, just look at GTA IV

GTA IV on PC with mods http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fVREgIaa_M
GTA IV on PS3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STEZpIURCpM

If your happy with consoles that's fine, they're great cost effective gaming devices but there's definitely a difference. I do understand the arguement that for a lot of people that difference is not worth the money/time involved so in the end it comes down to personal choice.

Oh and if buggy ports are a major concern for you, as people have mentioned both major next gen consoles will be x86 rather than all 3 (ps3/360/pc) being different architecture. Crappy ports should be *far* less of a problem next gen than they are now (it'll still happen always has but they'll be fewer and less severe).

*edit*
In terms of comparing current PC performance to what the PS4/next Xbox is capable of that's going to sit in the realm of speculation until the end of this year, but the PS4 trailers that have come out (so far) aren't doing anything good PC's can't currently do however they will be doing it cheaper than PC's when they hit the market (as that's generally how it works). I'd be amazed if your rig couldn't run Watch Dogs at high/top settings when it comes out and that's something that has next gen trailers out for it. Personally short of a major exclusive I don't want to miss I doubt I'll be grabbing a next gen console for a while (after a few price drops I'll likely grab one), but again speculation I'm perfectly happy to be proven wrong impressed and go grab some new shiny tech ^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v13VzWTSyjU

That's been me about the resolution and only because since 4k came out the home theater world over at AVSforum has been going crazy over whether 4k will really make a difference when it comes to TV. The only differecences reviewers noticed was when they sat much closer to a TV than they normally would.

I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU though. The reason I'm moving to PC gaming has to do with draw distance, and other settings. I don't want my gaming to be held back by only being able to see two feet in front of me. It's why I stopped playing Skyrim for now. If I can't even see the dragon til it's close it's annoying.

I'm not going to say I'm unhappy with consoles I love them. Most single player games look beautiful on xbox 360.

socialdarwinist has some of the things I was saying in this thread with actual numbers though. The opinion on those numbers vary of course.

For me though, since I am building a home theater setup, I saw no reason to not add console type gaming to the mix. Yes, I could use a console, but I want the best so that's going to be a PC. Besides a PC can do so much more. When running XBMC, I have access to Live TV, PVR, Emulators, Steam, and my 3 TB movie/tv library which I hope to extend to 16 TB eventually.

On a side note, I think AMD, Nvidia, and Intel are capable of delivering a conroe type upgrade, but that the market simply isn't there. Any type of upgrade like that would almost destroy high end sales. Hell, no one recommends anything over 220 dollars really for intel CPUs back when a long time ago we regularly saw people recommend much faster processors(not saying people don't use em but 220 dollars is the sweet spot price to performance before it drops off completely). Hell, graphic cards run multi GPUs. I came back to the GPU world from years of frat life to find that GTX 680 would run 2-3 monitors by itself given the right settings when I read the review of that card. In fact, I didn't even understand the resolution settings at first!

But ya, I think you're truly worried, go to a review and grab screenshots of different settings (they gotta be out there), and see if you can tell the difference from your gaming seat on your TV. Obviously gameplay/smoothness play a role and draw distances/how many things can be on the screen at the same time but at least it'll give you a start.