What's your "hidden cost" item in PC gaming?

Lauren Morton

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Dec 9, 2019
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Hey PC gamers, welcome back to the chat log. This week Mollie and I dragged Jacob Ridley back onto the podcast to talk about the real cost of PC gaming. After that PS5 price gave everyone sticker shock there was lots of discussion around whether you should just get a gaming PC instead. Obviously we generally think you should, but we also know that there's a much bigger startup cost to PC gaming than just the components in your tower. So we spent some time tallying up and chatting through what it actually costs to get started.

What's your "hidden cost" item in PC gaming?​

And no, I'm not being existential here. I'm talking about how Mollie recently bought a new arm for her microphone or the fact that you have three different game subscriptions you kind of forgot about. Maybe it's buying a gamepad or the screen protectors for your Steam Deck. We can all ballpark what it takes to buy a prebuilt PC tower. Maybe $800 for something around black Friday, maybe more like $1200 if you're specific about your parts and the GPU. But there are so many other things that go into PC gaming that you wind up spending money on.
 
For me the hidden cost comes from looking at each individual part of my setup and wondering if I couldn't get something better or nicer with a bit of designated fun money. Theres the PC components and peripherals obviously, but also stuff like the desk itself. Ive bought a monitor stand, a controller tree, new speaker stands, considering buying some walnut keycaps for my keyboard just because. Almost everything has been replaced at least once and most things multiple times.

I'm not much of a collector of anything other than a fair amount of books and digital games themselves, so my PC corner is my one major concession to consumerism. Forgive me :p
 
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Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator
The extras for me are for input devices, ie KB & mouse, and headsets. I'm set now, but I spent many hundreds on mice and more many hundreds on headsets over the years before finding the ones which work for me. KB I was luckier, hit the jackpot with my first foray beyond MS's $10 stalwarts.

However I save on my environment and of course on the cost of games, being a Patient Gamer—which also means hardware costs remain quite sane since I don't need recent tech.
 

Zloth

Community Contributor
Yeah, there can be a lot of side costs, but you don't need a lot of those things right away and, once you get them, they can last a looooong time. One of the more expensive things I have is a stereo receiver and surround-sound setup around the little room my PC is in. However, I bought it three decades ago! (Minus a couple of years - it's not working so well anymore. Past time to replace it. Dreading dealing with the nest of wires behind that thing.)

... being a Patient Gamer—which also means hardware costs remain quite sane since I don't need recent tech.
Unfortunately, hardware costs hardly go down even two years later. They're still insane - but at least you don't have to pay a scalper.

P.S. I was completely shocked that @PCGMollie bought a microphone weighing 120lbs and thought one weighing just 20lbs was nothing. I bet those microphone arms are expensive! Does the store offer free installation? Oh wait... £ ;)

P.P.S. Ooo, possible controversy at 35 minutes regarding subscription services.
 
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Colif

On a Journey
Moderator
My hidden cost are the parts that break over the 5 years I own PC. On my last PC that was mainly fans and the occasional peripheral. Really in the last 10 years that is mostly it.

The extras for me are for input devices, ie KB & mouse, and headsets.
while you don't need a headset to use a PC, I would hardly call the keyboard and mouse a hidden cost as mainly its really hard to use a PC without them.

Unless comparison is between OEM pc and Console, then you may get cheap kb/mouse and then yes, I understand the upgrade.

Peripherals such as controllers tend to be replaced on both... i know i had a few on my last Playstation. So far only needed to buy one for PC. Hardly use it.

Hidden costs to PC gaming can be mostly explained by the fact a PC can last longer than a console and its likely parts will need to be replaced in that time.

Hidden costs can be:
new mice/keyboard
New GPU as so far I have replaced the GPU at least once in every PC I have had.

Current PC is different to all my others, I have swapped out almost all of it in the last 2 years so its sort of new again. Previous PC the only change I made was the GPU. So I won't count this as a normal hidden cost. I don't intend to do this next PC.

Sound output is a hidden cost on both consoles and PC. On Consoles, its left to TV so really there is no difference. You can buy some pretty cheap headsets (never) or a soundbar (never) to attach to either. Or attach a dac/amp to either and play sound through better gear. Your choice.
 
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Colif

On a Journey
Moderator
i have had 5.1 speakers attached to PC for 25 years and I don't live alone or in a soundproofed room. Obviously you can't have volume up high but I rarely get complaints about my volume. Might help there are only two of us in the house and basically have a half to ourselves. We not that far apart though.

There used to be three in house, and dad was more likely to complain... probably reason I listen at max of half volume... no idea how loud I could go. Brother moved out years ago, he used to be louder than me.

That and recently i listen to headphones more.

I don't count my speakers as part of a system upgrade since I have had 6 computers and only 2 sets of speakers in that time. Peripherals aren't necessarily replaced when you upgrade. If you have good ones, you don't need to replace them for next PC. Same applies for monitors. Both speakers and monitors can last over 10 years... some of mine have.
 
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One of the reasons it can be challenging convincing someone to switch from console to PC, because that first PC is always gonna have those costs that people typically don't account for; a monitor (more than one, perhaps), a set of speakers and/or headphones, keyboard & mouse... all that can easily add on an extra couple hundred that wasn't factored into the budget.

All that being said, my personal hidden cost that I can't do without now is: my wireless headset. I had a wireless SteelSeries Arctis 7, which I found really comfortable and got so used to being wireless. I tried my wife's Razer Nari Ultimate and they were all kinds of ungodly huge on my small head, so I stuck with my SteelSeries.
After several good years of use, the earcups recently fell to bits so I opted to upgrade to Steelseries Nova Pro Wireless. It's a bit of a lateral move, there are pros and cons to the new ones, but so long as you don't mind using the software to set your EQs and configure your channels etc, they've been a dream for me.

Also, another small silly hidden cost is a good network adapter. I bought one to match my recent router switch (now using these Eero mesh network routers with WiFi 6), and since buying a dedicated network card (with stupid sticky out antennas to plug in), my connection has been consistently silky smooth with no drops. So that's a new thing I can't go without 😅
 

Colif

On a Journey
Moderator
One of the reasons it can be challenging convincing someone to switch from console to PC, because that first PC is always gonna have those costs that people typically don't account for; a monitor (more than one, perhaps), a set of speakers and/or headphones, keyboard & mouse... all that can easily add on an extra couple hundred that wasn't factored into the budget.
depends where you start.

My 1st pc was an OEM model that came with speakers, monitor, keyboard and mouse. The 1st unexpected expenses I had was getting the internet... it was 1999, I didn't think of it.

If you buy OEM a lot of them will include basic versions of all the extras you mentioned. It really depends how cheaply you want to enter market. Less you pay, less extras you get.
 
I dont think it was mentioned in the podcast, but it is possible to create a sofa setup with a PC either by just plugging a tower straight into the TV or by streaming it somehow. That would cut down a lot on the extras needed to get started and appeal more to someone who is used to console.

Its true that PC is way more expensive for similar level of gaming fidelity to something like a PS5 Pro though, agree 100%
 
I think one of the other issues is what you upgrade during the normal lifetime of the PC.

However this does mean that you can spread the cost. Just a few years ago most gamers played at 1080p and hardly any at 4k. Now you get people playing at 1440p at higher refresh rates. So those people would have had to buy a new monitor and new GPU. This applies to me as I went from a 1060 6GB to a 6700XT and a 32 inch, curved 1440p 165hz MSI monitor.

Before that I upgraded from a gaming membrane keyboard to a basic mechanical Logitech one. I also bought a G502 Hero mouse when on sale*

My main issue now is that I'm going to have to buy a new PC next year as I'm still on a Ryzen 1600X with 16GB of 2400mhz ram. I can't upgrade to Windows 11 with this and I'd have to replace everything but the PSU anyway. I do want a Navi 4 GPU and the 6700XT will be handed down to someone else or sold.

(* this was due to the extra buttons and profile support as I couldn't use a keyboard for 2 months when I fractured my elbow. I had a Rival 300 before but actually prefer the Logitech one now)

I'm normally a patient gamer and use isthereanydeal to track game prices. I do use the steam wish list but just to track what has or hasn't been released. The last proper AAA game I bought was diablo 4 and I'm not going to play it as the cost of the expansion is way to high imho.
 
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what motherboard? Depends what it can run now, you could possibly upgrade CPU and get possibly different ram - if its not compatible with new CPU.
I have a Asus Prime B350 Plus. I could upgrade the CPU and memory but it is a PCIe3.0 motherboard. I've kept it going for years and saved up so I can buy a new one. Surprisingly it's held up really well and that stopped me from upgrading the system.

I'd probably go for the new midrange RDNA4 card, 32gb of DDR5 ram, 9800X3D CPU and at least 2GB of Nvme 4.0 SSD. So really a tier above what I've had before.
 
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Colif

On a Journey
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You could put my cpu on that board with a new bios update.

But if you want to just get an entire new PC, its your choice.
I'd probably go for the new midrange RDNA4 card, 32gb of DDR5 ram, 9800X3D CPU and at least 2GB of Nvme 4.0 SSD. So really a tier above what I've had before.
thats what I intend to do in a few years. I see whats coming then, I may just get same CPU as you... that was intention but I see what happens in 2026.

I may get 64gb of ram since I already have 32... last few PC have doubled my memory each time. I was tempted to get 96, see what prices are

Hope to use same GPU but I been here before, I was going to use my GTX 980 in this PC but it died a few weeks before I updated. So we shall see.

Storage - use current drives + a new one. PCIe 5 isn't worth the heat. Really not a lot of difference between 3 & 5. Only notice in benchmarks or if you move really big files around.
 
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