Will the gap widen?

[pcm81]

This is in connection with WII-2 thread, but a more general discussion.

I remember back in windows 3.1 and windows 95 days the Nintendo64 was way "better looking" than the PC games on basic pcs. Today we have PC hardware which totally blows console hardware out of the water.

My question is this:
Will the PC/console gap keep widening in the future?

Currently WII-2 is planned to use one half of a video card which I just upgraded from (4870x2)and am planing to give to my parents who dont do more than office/email/very basic gaming...

Could a more expansive card in consoles be payed for by game manufacturers who would not have to design 2 versions of the game (PC vs Console) so drastically different as they will have with slower gpu in consoles?

 

[Blitzvogel]

This is in connection with WII-2 thread, but a more general discussion.

I remember back in windows 3.1 and windows 95 days the Nintendo64 was way "better looking" than the PC games on basic pcs. Today we have PC hardware which totally blows console hardware out of the water.

My question is this:
Will the PC/console gap keep widening in the future?

Currently WII-2 is planned to use one half of a video card which I just upgraded from (4870x2)and am planing to give to my parents who dont do more than office/email/very basic gaming...

Could a more expansive card in consoles be payed for by game manufacturers who would not have to design 2 versions of the game (PC vs Console) so drastically different as they will have with slower gpu in consoles?

So many multiplatform games are already pretty close in parity. Enabling higher resolution, AF, AA isn't that difficult for a PC version of a game. It's especially easy when going from 360 to PC and vice versa. It's pretty much all DX based.

 

[SickBeast]

The gap is going to continue to widen until 2015 or whenever the PS4 is coming out. Nintendo is clearly not going to push the envelope. They appear to be scavenging for the cheapest parts they can possibly find.

The real problem is that no developers are creating PC exclusive games any more. Consoles are much more lucrative for them.

Moore's Law is going to continue to widen this "gap", with its only hindrance being nVidia and AMD's greed.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Until Sony & MS release DX11 consoles the answer is yes. As long as the next consoles are at least hexa-core we should also get a bump in games taking more advantage of CPU cores as well.

 

[nitromullet]

Yeah, the gap will continue to widen. Why do you think AMD/NV are pushing Eyefinity/Surround and 3D? They need to give us some reason to keep upgrading because games at 1080p even with 8xAA/16xAF simply doesn't require a high end card anymore. I was intending to go dual gpu this generation, but I really have not needed to even with a 2560x1440 LCD. Yes, there are games that do make a GTX 580 dip into the lower fps range, but nothing that has come out recently that I haven't already played.

As a aside, you really should sell your 4870X2 and give your folks something that consumes less power and puts off less heat if they don't need it. You could get them something more suitable for their needs and probably pocket a few $$.