Console vs Computers in 2025: Which Wins? . And is PC gaming better than console gaming? It’s the age-old question that Fanboys love to scream: “Oh no, it’s console gaming! What are you talking about, you idiots?!”
This is the sort of argument you see on online forums for literally decades. But in 2023, things have actually changed quite drastically. And in this whole argument of PC vs console, there are now a lot of things to consider because everything seems to be closer together than ever.
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The Console Advantage: Optimized for Gaming
So rather than fanboying and whinging about things, how about we actually make something useful? And show you the differences between different platforms and help you to explore what is the right one for you? And I assure you: the answer will shock you.
Because in 2023, PC gaming is in a right weird place—and console gaming is arguably best than ever. So then, with near platform parity, what exactly is the best and what should you be buying? Find out absolutely everything you need to know about PC gaming and all of the platforms right after a short word from this video.
Core Differences: It’s All About the Ecosystem
What are the differences between PC gaming and consoles? Well, in 2023, not actually as much as you might think. Whilst all consoles do run on custom Hardware, they’re essentially all just gaming computers: with a processor, Graphics chip, RAM, and solid-state storage.
What makes consoles unique however—and gives them a bit of an advantage over PC—is the fact that they are actually built from the ground up for gaming.
PC’s Developer Nightmare: Too Many Configurations
And in particular, we’re talking about the operating system—because it is incredibly lightweight. And yes, I know this probably sounds really boring, but the ability to code games to use almost all of the hardware on offer allows developers to just better use what they have available and obtain greater frame rates as a result.
PCs, on the other hand, run on a copy of Windows—which, well, perfect for pretty much everything—has been designed for pretty much everything and is much heavier as a result. And you really don’t have to look far to see the consequences of this: we’ve had plenty of terrible PC ports this year. And one of the main reasons that these keep popping up is because creating smooth-running PC games requires a lot of time and experience with all of the inevitable overheads.
Hardware Chaos: The PC Ecosystem’s Double-Edged Sword
And there’s another reason that PCs are a bit of a nightmare for developers to actually work with. And the reason is that there are just so many different combinations of Hardware. That actually making sure every single PC Gamer that opens up a game is going to get a great experience is nigh impossible.
Case in point: here’s a graphics card, right? Let’s develop for this. But then you also have someone working with this one, with this one, with this one, with this one… Not to mention different SSD storage speeds, RAM quantities, RAM speeds, and then all of the different software that people got installed as well!
We can have incompatibilities. Some people will be running out of date… It is literally a Minefield. (And if my hair is like big and going crazy, that would be a small illustration of just how mad PC gaming can be for developers.) Oh no—I’ve got to clear all of this up now!
PC’s Ultimate Weapon: Unlimited Customization
So yeah: with consoles, it’s just a whole lot easier to not only extract the power out of them in the first place but then much easier to test and verify the games will actually work as they should. But—whoa, whoa, whoa—hang on a second! Hang on a second! You’re brushing over the best bit about PC gaming! For goodness sake, yes—we have a disadvantage.
But that only comes from the main advantage, which is the flexibility of the platform. You can do whatever you like! Sure, the Xbox Series X is more powerful than the S. But with PC gaming, you can go so far beyond this—it is ridiculous.
You can make your PC look exactly the way you want: from Tiny Powerhouse to Crazy Huge Behemoth. You can play with a controller, keyboard, flight stick… pretty much everything. And most importantly: you can choose the resolution is the content that I want.
Ultimate Control: Refresh Rates & Graphics
refresh rate and graphic settings for absolutely everything you play. What can I say? PC game is a stubborn folk—we don’t like being told what to do! Story of My Life, guys. (Keep the noise down there—I’m trying to watch EastEnders! Sorry, Mom.) And of course, the flexibility doesn’t just apply to Aesthetics—it’s all about the hardware and the way that the games actually feel.
Freedom of Choice: Defining the PC Experience
Ultimately, if I was going to describe PC gaming in a single word, that word would be: choice. Because I actually play most of my games now downstairs on a TV—as if it was a console! I’ve got a gaming PC hooked up to a 65-inch TV, runs in 4k 120 hertz—lovely. That might upset some people—might be a bit controversial—or play with a controller. But this is the point, right? It’s entirely up to you and the way you want to play. There is no other platform that gives you that level of choice.
Exclusives: The Vanishing Divide
Let’s press on to what always used to be the most heated discussion point of PC gaming versus console: exclusives. I remember it vividly—at first made this video 11 years ago—and the amount of comments are all about, “I don’t know, Halo or Uncharted or something,” was literally off of the charts. But in 2023, this is no longer the case.
I mean, sure—Nintendo isn’t going to put Pokémon on PlayStation anytime soon—but both Xbox and PlayStation exclusives just don’t really exist anymore. Halo, Gears of War, Uncharted, Last of Us, Horizon—all of these are available on PC. Oh, but there’s Sony ones of timed exclusives? All right, fair enough—you got me on that.
What do you want, a medal? And I’ll also add that this also works the other way around—because there are now loads of PC exclusives (or what used to be PC exclusives), things like Civilization and Diablo, that are now available on consoles. So yes, while things aren’t perfect—and there are still some timed exclusives or sort of Nintendo exclusives—generally speaking, gamers can play what they want, where they want. And I think that is really darn cool!
The Complexity Trade-Off
Whilst PC gaming is by far the most flexible platform, this does bring with it a little bit of a barrier to entry—with that one being: ease of use. And shout the screen all you want about how easy PC gaming is—I don’t think anyone can actually sit here with a straight face and say it is as simple as console gaming. It’s not necessarily difficult—but there are a lot more steps involved, and it is a lot harder—especially if you’re new to the platform.
The PlayStation 5 just sits there, frozen in state, ready to go for next time. A PC needs to be turned on, logged in, drive is up to date, game launcher open, updates checks and downloaded—and then you can play. Except that then settings need to be tweaked, frame rate counters might need to be installed, maybe you’ve got to get Discord to work or something—the list literally goes on and on and on. And like—okay, I know I’m exaggerating here—I don’t want to put people off on this point.
I just want to make people aware that if you do want the simplest “press the button and it works” solution, then obviously that is console. With PC, it is a lot more flexible—that’s fantastic—but you do have a few more steps to get this to work. Especially if you are going to use a TV—again, it’s not a problem—but like entering a password on a keyboard is a little bit annoying. (PC Centric is not mugging off the PC—you’re meant to be one of us! Okay, okay—I hear you, put the pitchforks down.)
Performance Unleashed: Frame Rates & Freedom
Let’s move on to the best thing—and ultimately, if you can get past the barrier of Entry (which I’m sure you certainly can), then you can reap the reward that arguably the number one reason to get on PC: higher frame rates. And yes, I know—both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox can do 4K 120, right? Except for the fact that they can—but they don’t normally do that.
And when they do, they’re not actually running at the full resolution. Sometimes they are, sometimes they’re not—you have to check on a per-game basis. And the point is: you never really know exactly what you’re going to get with this. Maybe it’s a title that doesn’t even run at 60 FPS—it’s up in the air. You don’t have the choice.
PC gaming puts up with none of this nonsense: 4K means 4K—and you can pick and choose whatever resolution you like, letting you hone in on the settings that you want—and ultimately, how you like to play. You can go for visuals, or you can achieve frame rates all the way up to 500 frames a second! I mean—actually, the other day I think we got over a thousand in Valorant with 4090—but that is beyond the scope of this video.
There’s not a monitor that can show them next? Sure, a thousand frames a second massively overkill—but realistically, 120 to 165 frames a second in every game that you play will make a gigantic difference—as it not only allows you to feel less lag but generally to actually enjoy your game more—and if you’re playing multiplayer, win more often.
Not only that—as we touched on a second ago—consoles are slowly working their way back down to 30 frames a second, with some brand new titles locked at 30 with no choice in the matter. In almost every single PC game ever made, the choice is down to you.
The Cost Conundrum
But I’ll know—started exactly—she knows, Siri knows about this: the worst thing about PC gaming right now—and jokes aside, it’s not a joke—it’s the price. And PC gaming has just been getting more and more expensive for years. It’s actually in a better place now than it has been since—like, I don’t know—2018, 2019.
But new graphics cards? Things like this, for example: NVIDIA RTX 4070—this is meant apparently to be for like high frame rate 1440p gaming—is retailing for about 600 pounds. 600 pounds—for literally just this! You can’t game on this—you need the whole system. And so, once you’ve actually got something built up and made to spec that can actually play the games you want to play—in a lot of cases, you’re looking at at least one thousand pounds.
Yes, you can do it for less—loads of PC-centric guides that walk you through this—but if you want the sort of equivalent of an Xbox Series X, I’d say around about a thousand pounds is probably what you’re looking at. It’s a lot of money.
Hidden Value: Long-Term Perks & Versatility
I’m pleased to say that there is at least some Saving Grace here though—and that’s actually the cost of the games themselves. PC games are typically cheaper—and often by some margin. Plus, you have the infamous Steam sales to pick up games for dirt cheap, as well as the weekly free game from Epic. And of course—don’t forget that if you do go for an Xbox or a PlayStation, then you do have to pay monthly rolling subscription fees to actually get your multiplayer to work.
On PC—it’s free! So over the long term, the cost does actually iron out a bit. Not to mention that the PC obviously brings some rather unique abilities with it too: the modding Community, for instance, is huge. I know people that have spent literally thousands of hours in modded Skyrim—and NVIDIA has just released their Ray tracing modding tools that can make old games look insane! It’s also a bonus that you can play Old titles without having to pay for a stupid remaster. For context: I’ve just finished the original Batman Trilogy—and when I originally played it was in 1080P.
Now I’m doing it at 4K 120 on that TV downstairs—it looks so much better. If I wanted to mod it and add some extra textures and things, I could—or without paying for anything. You get proper backwards compatibility on PC. And then last—but certainly not least—don’t forget: it’s a PC! It is for so much more than just gaming.
Is an incredibly powerful machine—you won’t have to spend any more on buying an additional family laptop (maybe a Dell machine) because you have a fully Decked Out gaming rig that can be used for work, play, and pretty much everything in between.
The Personal Verdict: Passion Over Practicality?
Look—serious talk for a second: I am incredibly biased towards PC gaming. I literally owe my entire career to it. I am PC Centric. But don’t forget that the whole reason I got into this in the first place is because I loved PC gaming.
It all started when I went to a friend’s house, saw his gaming rig—and I just thought it was fantastic, and I needed to get in on that. And I haven’t regretted it ever since. Yes—there are always going to be problems, and the cost of Entry is a big barrier—and there’s a big problem at the moment.
And unfortunately, not everyone is going to be able to join in because of this exact reason. Not to mention the fact that when you have such great value machines at the moment—like the Series S and the Series X, especially with Game Pass—then the smart money would say: stick with console gaming. I don’t want it to be intimidating.
The main takeaway is that the reason people have these machines is not only because they can play games better—but also because it’s very personal.
To actually have a machine and to tweak it and have something that reflects your personality—and I think that is absolutely fantastic. So if you’re watching this video and you want:
- The best value gaming platform? Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S + Game Pass.
- To play every exclusive the day it comes out? PlayStation (in my opinion, does have slightly better exclusives).
- To play a little bit of everything in style? Gaming PC has to be the way to go.
*(Best video game consoles? You’re down there—why not check out ASRock’s new gaming monitor? This curved OLED wide display supports over 100% of the sRGB color space, rocks 165Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium, and has a gorgeous 3440 by 1440 resolution. It even comes with a baked-in Wi-Fi antenna and a mini OLED display on the stand for custom graphics.
PC vs Console in 2025: Key FAQs
1. Is PC gaming still more flexible than consoles?
“You can do whatever you like! […] You can make your PC look exactly the way you want: from Tiny Powerhouse to Crazy Huge Behemoth. You can play with a controller, keyboard, flight stick… pretty much everything. And most importantly: you can choose the resolution [and] refresh rate and graphic settings for absolutely everything you play.”
2. Do exclusives still matter in 2025?
“In 2023 this is no longer the case […] both Xbox and PlayStation exclusives just don’t really exist anymore. Halo, Gears of War, Uncharted, Last of Us, Horizon—all of these are available on PC. […] Generally speaking, gamers can play what they want, where they want.”
3. Why are PC games harder to develop?
“PCs are a bit of a nightmare for developers […] there are just so many different combinations of Hardware […] It is literally a Minefield. […] Creating smooth-running PC games requires a lot of time and experience with all of the inevitable overheads.”
4. Is PC gaming more expensive than console?
“The worst thing about PC gaming right now […] is the price. […] New graphics cards […] retail for about 600 pounds […] once you’ve actually got something built up […] you’re looking at at least one thousand pounds.”
But: “PC games are typically cheaper […] Steam sales […] weekly free game from Epic […] multiplayer [is] free.”
5. Can PCs deliver better performance?
“The number one reason to get on PC: higher frame rates […] 4K means 4K […] achieve frame rates all the way up to 500 frames a second […] 120 to 165 frames a second […] makes a gigantic difference. […] Consoles are slowly working their way back down to 30 frames a second.”
6. Are consoles easier to use?
“If you want the simplest ‘press the button and it works’ solution then obviously that is console […] A PC needs to be turned on, logged in, drive is up to date, game launcher open, updates checks and downloaded—and then you can play. […] It is a lot harder especially if you’re new to the platform.”
7. What unique perks do PCs offer?
“Modding Community […] thousands of hours in modded Skyrim […] Ray tracing modding tools […] play Old titles without paying for a stupid remaster […] proper backwards compatibility […] It is for so much more than just gaming […] work, play, and pretty much everything in between.”
8. Which platform should I buy in 2025?
“If you want:
- The best value gaming platform? Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S + Game Pass.
- To play every exclusive the day it comes out? PlayStation (slightly better exclusives).
- To play a little bit of everything in style? Gaming PC has to be the way to go.”
