$ 2,000 computer graphic cards , tempered methamphetamine hydrochloride cases , and power supplies that routinely top 1,000 watts . It ’s easy to get captivate up in how expensive microcomputer gaming can be in 2025 , throw up your bridge player , and say to hell with all of it . You do n’t demand anRTX 5090to play game on PC in 2025 , though . Now , more than ever before , microcomputer play is useable for just about everyone .
Notliterallyeveryone , mind you , but there ’s been a significant decrease in the roadblock to entry for PC gambling over the preceding several eld . It ’s a history that ’s been lost amidrising graphics card pricesandPC embrasure that callfor high - end hardware . But do n’t be dismayed . Although it ’s not always the best experience , come into PC gaming today is much easier than it was in years past .
A little real talk
new microcomputer gamers — we require to have a little bit of real talk . Things today are importantly better than they used to be . Here’sa review from TechPowerUpof the then - novel GeForce GTX 760 and its performance in the , also then - new , Tomb Raiderreboot . Nvidia ’s midrange offering could n’t even negociate 50 frame per second ( fps ) at 900p . Go up to 1080p , you ’re look at 35 fps , and at 1,600p , the card could n’t even manage 20 Federal Protective Service .
Despite what would be considered a company - destroy operation today , the visiting card earned a Highly Recommended badge from TechPowerUp . AnandTech agreedat the time , squall the card a “ large great deal , ” despite the fact that it fell suddenly of 60 fps in multiple games , even at 900p . Compare this assessment to my ownRTX 4060 review . I call it “ not a bad graphics card , just not a especially good one , and for certain one that ’s difficult to urge , ” despite the GPU hit well above 60 Federal Protective Service in just about every secret plan I tested at 1080p — some games were even in the triple figure .
A lot has changed over the course of a 10 and change . The expectations for carrying out have changed . In 2013 , the actual turn mattered less than the price / performance ratio — a good ball of consumer computer hardware just could n’t keep a playable frame charge per unit in the latest , most demanding games . newsflash back a ten before that , and there were n’t even enough modern benchmarks to soundly examine the carrying into action of a GPU like we do today . Instead of an endless barrage of game , you ’d see more tests focused on specific things like anti - aliasing or anisotropic filtering .
In years past , the difference between two graphics cards was playable and unplayable performance . Today , the departure is ordinarily a good experience or a near one . And software package tools are making that break even smaller .
The paradigm shift
I ’m not just didder my cane , say “ the kids do n’t live how good they got it these days . ” It ’s salutary that PC computer hardware has gotten powerful enough that it ’s not even a dubiousness if you could play a game or not . And it ’s salutary that the expected value of buyers have set consequently , lest we be caught with artificially limited personal computer ironware just to squeeze more life out of each release . But the peeled king of hardware is n’t the Southern Cross of my argument here . It ’s the ways you’re able to habituate that hardware .
Today , you could buy just about any graphics card , laptop , or PC and play most game . posting I did n’t saygaminglaptop or screen background . You do n’t need specific gaming hardware to play games on your personal computer these day , and there have been a few major shifts in the personal computer industry that ’s led to this berth .
The ironware has have more herculean , and therefore tacky , but the major innovation has been on the software program side of affair . Today , you do n’t have to just settle for whatever your hardware is up to of . You have upscaling and frame propagation instrument to meliorate your performance , and they can transform the experience so much that you do n’t even need consecrated play computer hardware . That ’s exactly whyI blaspheme off gaming laptopslast class .
Today , I can play just about any secret plan on a thin laptop that does n’t even have a discrete GPU , and usually at decent timber circumstance
There are some vendor - specific tool like Intel ’s XeSS andNvidia ’s DLSSthat are locked to specific hardware , but there are great alternatives that lick regardless of what hardware you ’re carry . You have AMD ’s FSR available in century of games , machine driver - found upscaling from both Nvidia and AMD , andtools like Lossless Scalingthat give you upscaling and skeletal system generation irrespective of the hardware you have .
The experience is n’t perfect with these tools — intense upscaling degrades image lineament , frame generationcomes with reaction time concerns , and optic artifacts are banal . But you could at least play a game , and that ’s a heck of a lot more than the hardware of yesteryear can claim . Imagine go back to 2013 , looking at the performance of the GTX 760 , and knowing you could meliorate the performance with upscaling or frame multiplication . We ’re survive in an totally different mankind for PC gaming today .
Today , I can play just about any game on a thin laptop computer that does n’t even have a discrete GPU , and normally at decent timbre scene and frame rates at or exceeding 60 fps . A decade ago , that was more than you could ask out of a $ 250 ( midrange at the time ) desktop graphics carte .
Push for more
There ’s another element of the upscaling and frame coevals conversation — how both developers and hardware brandsare leaning on these toolsto find public presentation gains when the ironware itself does n’t measure up . That ’s crucial , and it ’s worth advocating for debauched ironware at miserable prices .
But it ’s also important to take gunstock of what these tools intend . They mean less knock-down hardware can create a playable gaming experience , and you do n’t postulate to shell out for the tippy - top hardware just to get 60 Federal Protective Service in the most demanding game available . There are plenty of justified criticism of PC gaming today — but despite them , the Falco subbuteo is easier to get into than it ever has been .
