The Real Cost of Being a Video Gamer

HardOCP News · Jan 31, 2012

Dear Bloomberg, stick to stuff you know and leave the "real cost of being a gamer" articles to the people that actually play PC games. In return, we promise not to write any articles about Wall Street or personal finance.

Warren says hard-core gamers often soup up systems by adding motherboards, boosting RAM and optimizing graphics.

$3,333: Digital Storm Dreadnought PC with Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader

$800: Samsung SyncMaster 27-Inch 950 Series HDTV 3D Monitor Combo with Apps

$170: Logitech G19 Keyboard for Gaming

$100: Logitech Wireless Gaming Mouse G700

$80: Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard with Joystick

Running Tally: $4,607

rflcptr · Jan 31, 2012

gotta have those geebees

Kendrak · Jan 31, 2012

Buy a pre-made system?

No thanks, I like my franken-boxen, for 1/4 the cost.

sortableturnip · Jan 31, 2012

PC slow? ADD MORE MOTHERBOARDS!

jthomas · Jan 31, 2012

I quit reading when I saw Monster cables, t-shirts, mugs, and toys on the list.

Pitabred · Jan 31, 2012

I don't think I paid $800 for all 3 of my monitors, and most gamers I know have one. And I know my whole rig (2x6950's, 430GT for PhysX, 4.8GHz 2500K and 16GB DDR3-1600, including a BD-ROM and DVD writer. SSD boot + 4 more drives.) was less than ~$1800 total. He just picked something stupidly expensive and went with it.

Proteos · Jan 31, 2012

170 bucks for a G19? No thanks, pay 130ish and get a mechanical keyboard

Loudspeaker · Jan 31, 2012

Something tells me these guys are also confounded as to why gaming is pretty much non-existent for their Apple computers as well... Let us leave them to being "bold" on their BlackBerry phones shall we?

dC0m · Jan 31, 2012

jthomas said:
I quit reading when I saw Monster cables, t-shirts, mugs, and toys on the list.

This + comcast. Yuck.

Evil Scooter · Jan 31, 2012

This reply had me rolling:

Not that she wrote it, but the article on "The Real Cost for Preparing for a Blizzard" is just as hilarious and it took two writers to complete "The Real Cost of Keeping New Year's Resolutions".

Where is "The Real Cost of Surviving an Alien Invasion"?
-Computer Science Degree $40,000
-Secret Alien Research Facility $200,000,000
-Nuclear Warhead $10,000,000
-Jeff Goldblum $10,000,000
-Will Smith $30,000,000
-Cigar $5.00
-Randy Quaid taking one for the team: Priceless (that jet costs about $20,000,000 though)

Supertag · Jan 31, 2012

DeathPrincess · Jan 31, 2012

"gaming" and "wireless"

Dekar12 · Jan 31, 2012

soup up systems by adding motherboards, boosting RAM and optimizing graphics

rofl

Nobody better boost my RAM, it stays in my machine!

I love when non-tech people write tech related articles.

dnottis · Jan 31, 2012

woah..

$3,333: Digital Storm Dreadnought PC with Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader

Clueless.

Elios · Jan 31, 2012

wow yea 3k for a PC over-payed for that i think i have 1500 in my PC and it will run rings around that thing

Melon · Jan 31, 2012

While everyone is saying 'RABBLE, RABBLE, RABBLE', Bloomberg has succeeded in their original goal:

Generate page hits.

Elios · Jan 31, 2012

ok just read the thing WOW WHO BUYS all that crap he lists
most of it is junk thats over priced even for the console stuff

Majinhoju · Jan 31, 2012

i'm pretty sure my phenom 2 940 rig with 2x6870s costs nothing close to 3k.

DeathPrincess · Jan 31, 2012

Supertag said:
Four 6GB Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133347
$15,992

You forgot 4x physx

$675,440.00

(needs an infiniband card too)

$2,114.26

dj_2004 · Jan 31, 2012

DeathPrincess said:
"gaming" and "wireless"

The G700 is a hybrid mouse.

JosiahBradley · Jan 31, 2012

Melon said:
While everyone is saying 'RABBLE, RABBLE, RABBLE', Bloomberg has succeeded in their original goal:

Generate page hits.

They would of generated a few more and I would have had some laughs if their site didn't require JavaScript to few the damn pages. No ad revenue for them from me :b

But I can't talk here time is money that I could be using to boost my gold plated motherboard jet pack gaming thingy...

DeathPrincess · Jan 31, 2012

Melon said:
While everyone is saying 'RABBLE, RABBLE, RABBLE', Bloomberg has succeeded in their original goal:

Generate page hits.

First rule of posting in the news section: never read the article.

bbf · Jan 31, 2012

Well, further on, they list the "ipod touch" as the ultimate portable game accessory... really? No 3DS? No Vita? I don't know anybody who bought an ipod touch for gaming (other than for their kids that is.)

MavericK · Jan 31, 2012

dj_2004 said:
The G700 is a hybrid mouse.

And an AWESOME one at that. Only problem with it is battery life (with the stock battery). Barely lasts a day if I do a lot of gaming. But you can replace it with a higher-capacity NiMH AA, which I might do.

stevedave · Jan 31, 2012

ouch this really hurt my face.

If the point was to show it was expensive, which it was, he should of just did the time old classic time = money and just calculated the amount of time spent on gaming. I just broke 100 hours in BF3 at my current 30 bucks an hour that's 3000 bucks..... O yeah plus the cost of the game 3045.

MavericK · Jan 31, 2012

Plus, those prices are super inflated. $3300 for a PC? $800 for a monitor??

I think I paid like $50 for the G700. $100 I'm guessing is retail? I don't think anyone would pay that, though.

dj_2004 · Jan 31, 2012

MavericK96 said:
And an AWESOME one at that. Only problem with it is battery life (with the stock battery). Barely lasts a day if I do a lot of gaming. But you can replace it with a higher-capacity NiMH AA, which I might do.

Yeah, I've been wanting to switch from my G9x to the G700. I am still mad that I passed on the G700 when it was ~$50.

MaZa · Jan 31, 2012

Supertag said:
Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163178
$660

The article fails to note that those who are hardcore PC gamers also tend to know their stuff around computers and build it themselves. They also do price comparison between brands and see what has best price/performance value etc.

Which brings me into above quote, who the hell pays 660$ for a tower case!?

What could that possibly offer over competition (even within Silverstone brand) that give cooling performance, silence and big size for half of that price?

tubular · Jan 31, 2012

As somebody commented on the article.....

dang, i need to add some motherboards to my pc so i can do more graphics.

^had me rolling with laughter

MaZa · Jan 31, 2012

dang, i need to add some motherboards to my pc so i can do more graphics. /QUOTE]

For some reason that quote gave me some CSI /NCIS /ABCDEFG police TV serie flashback... Is it just me?

Retsam · Jan 31, 2012

Yeah pretty funny article. Clearly written by someone who does not have a clue what they are talking about. Those are some pretty crazy inflated prices, I wonder where he got them from.

sfsuphysics · Jan 31, 2012

So ummm they seemed all jazzed about putting really expensive components together than toss in this

$33: Monster Cable THX 1000 HDX-8 Ultimate High Speed HDMI cable -- Amazon.com

Really? You buy a Monster brand cable and you only chip in for a cheapy/discontinued one?

wintermute · Jan 31, 2012

Kendrak said:
Buy a pre-made system?

No thanks, I like my franken-boxen, for 1/4 the cost.

QFT

Ur_Mom · Jan 31, 2012

I can rack up that price. Just need to download more RAM and buy a $10K desk.

Deleted member 134608 · Jan 31, 2012

I absolutely hate it when the most fundamental concepts are effed up in the media by complete idiots.

I still get customers coming in my store arguing with me that they need to add more RAM to their Intel GMA based laptop/desktop or they need more video RAM so they get faster gaming graphics because "their friend that knows computers" told them that.

If they get really stubborn my usual reply is "Well I guess I don't need to sell these expensive video cards, CPUs and fancy G-Series ASUS gaming laptops anymore. I wonder why they even exist if all anyone needs to play games is a Walmart laptop and lots of RAM."

Modboxx · Jan 31, 2012

Fail... no hardcore gamer would every buy an assembled rig.

BravO))) · Jan 31, 2012

FighterAce124 · Jan 31, 2012

Damn, I can just add motherboards to make my megahurts faster?!

Lockheed · Jan 31, 2012

Supertag said:
Power Strip
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-MP-PR...?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1327965477&sr=1-26
$190

Headphones
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826159163
$400
$143,863

Dude, you're clearly skimping too much here. What kind of crappy headphones are you getting for $400? And $190 for a crappy power strip? Let's not get crazy here.

Headphones
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-expensive-headphones--orpheus-by-sennheiser-2011-9
$40,845

Power Conditioner
http://www.amazon.com/Furman--Refer...8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1328055873&sr=1-8
$3,699.80

Speaker cables
http://www.aaudio.com/store/ProductDetail.asp?catID=41&subCatID=309&productID=135
$7,800 6ft pair
Add $300 per ft

Maybe add a home theatre setup? $2 million dollar speakers?
http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/buyers-guide/the-worlds-most-exclusive-av/2/
$2,000,000

*Note: This post dripping with sarcasm.

Plague_Injected · Jan 31, 2012

Need to add a couple of motherboards to my PC, it's getting a bit slow.

The Real Cost of Being a Video Gamer

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