Should I just bite it and get the PC version for better settlement builds?

Lol, truth be told, I'll probably have to build a new machine, windows 7 laptop I have would probably melt down.

Just for settlements? No way. But if you have never experienced the incredible world of mods that will soon wash over the community then you don't know what you're missing.

I'd have to agree with Varkrag. Unless money is no issue for you and you feel it's worth it, but I wouldn't for settlement building alone.

I always buy the PC versions of the Fallout/TES series for the mods, console access, etc. If these are things you desire, by all means, the PC version is the way to go.

It will be better for when you get mods for your settlements, and to be able to run better textures...but only if you get a PC that's actually better than a console. A laptop isn't really your best option for gaming, better to build a decent desktop.

To be fair, mod support is coming to both consoles at some point. It was promised for Xbox at E3.

I'd continue to enjoy what you have until and if you see some feature only on PC that you can't seem to live without. You're not really going to get better settlement builds right now and who knows if you would even still be interested in the game by the time the GECK comes out for PC. I'd wait to decide until you see if the PC has a bunch of exclusive features that you want. Otherwise, you're just wasting money to play something that works equally well on both.

Thanks guys, good advice.

I really do need a new machine, have just been putting it off.

I'll wait for a while and see how it goes.

I never got tired of FO3. Have that on the laptop but never used mods or console commands.

Oh man, you would be in for a real treat! (re: Mods)

The console is handy when say, a companion disappears, you can easily find them on PC. Hell, you can spawn them right beside you if you wish, or move yourself to them. The TCL command (Toggle clipping) has saved me in other Bethesda games. I seem to find those spots that you can get stuck in. (Between rock & tree clusters along a mountain side in Skyrim for example.) TCL>move to a safe location>TCL again, good to go.

Never will I buy a console version of Fallout or TES. (Not a judgement, just a personal preference.)

Also to be fair, console mods are very likely to be more limited than PC mods. There's going to be a far better selection of mods on PC than on Console.

Well, of course there will be. But on this title it's no longer the exclusive reserve of high end PC players. I hope it's successful. I want to see more of this on console formats, tbh.

Another advantage with console access, if this is of importance to someone, is named saves rather than generic named saves.

For example, GUI way:

Save167_6D65ED16_576F6C66_Goodneighbor_011107_20151130001541_19_2

vs

Goodneighbor/level X

or

"Character name" - Save 167

As examples, or whatever you want to name it.

Again, some don't care, but some do.

I personally do not play game on consoles. The last console game I played was Halo 2 when it was released for the Xbox... not a big fan of controllers...

Anywaste, if you are going to build / buy a new PC simply to play Fallout 4 then I would generally recommend against that unless you plan on playing other games on the PC. While the GECK will be available for platforms, mods for the consoles will be somewhat restrictive compared to the PC because they must go through an approval process and certain types of mods will definitely be prohibited. Basically, anything that is considered mature content (nvde mods, killable children) and any mods that infringes on trademarked / copyrighted material (the MBL is trying to sue Bethesda due to a user created mod that allows players to wear authentic looking Red Sox Jerseys).

Consoles will also not get any types of mods that requires "script extenders" which allows mod designers to develop mods that the official game engine does not allow. ENBs (to enhance graphics) will also likely not allowed for consoles since they require additional user created resources that are required to use ENBs in the first place... kinda like "script extenders", but for graphics.

Well it kinda comes down to can you afford a good gaming rig, and do you plan to use it for other games as well. If the answer is yes to both than i wud defenatly go for it(moding brings Bethesda games to the next lvl and while consoles will have limited mod support this time dont expect to much from it).

For example since you mentioned settlment building if you are into that there is already quiet a few good mods that expand the original vanilla capabilities by a lot, and that is without GECK, once that gets released it will be taken on a whole new lvl.

With every Bethesda game since Morrowind I've bought the console version first because my comp is always old at the games release. About a year after the game has come out and I can get a cheaper gaming rig and still play the game at ultra graphics I chip in and get the PC version for the mods.



I've never had a good gaming rig at the games release. Never could pull it off. Something about rent, car, groceries....

To the OP, I was in your shoes when Oblivion came out. I bought it originally for the PS3. I had a great time playing it but was envious of the mods I saw for it on PC. I finally broke down and built my first gaming PC for around $1200 back then. I have not looked back since and couldn't imagine gaming on anything other than a PC now from BF4 to Beth games. I still have that PS3 and it is nothing more than a glorified Blu-ray/Netflix player now.

Anyways this is just one man's opinion and experience from making the switch.

As someone who has the xbox version now, but has experienced the wonderful world of the fallout nexus and mods on PC

I would say for now, since there is no G.E.C.K, and it will take a while for good mods, enjoy your game, save up, just wait for DLC.

But after all the DLC's are out with new assets and features the modding community will go crazy, and many good mods will already be out and every day on the nexus is like christmas.

So if you don't have the money now, or cant on your computer now, like me, then wait on it. But if you can, yes absolutely

I would get the PC version and throw your console in the garbage.

So, now-a-days what should one expect to pay for a decent PC that will run FO4?

I would probably want to use an HDMI out to my big TV so I can still sit in the recliner...

PC cost varies a lot.

You could get a desktop with better specs than a console for less than a console would cost, maybe 250-300 range, but that wont play on top settings, and will probably be obsolete sooner. The 'good' pricepoints are probably more in the 5-700 range, where you can put together a very solid machine to play games on. You can spend twice that for a little more power, but mostly the top end machines arent worth the cost unless money isnt an object at all. If you build it yourself vs buying a prebuilt system, you can save a little, but you should avoid that unless you have a good idea what you are doing.

Laptops are similar, but about 50% more, and you want to be careful of the lower end ones, as graphics options are often sacrificed first on laptops.

Given the season, deals are all over. I often keep an eye on newegg myself for pc deals.

Well getting one that plays it is cheap, however if you are looking to buy a new PC i wud def go for something that is higher than recommended system requirments simply because you want to be able to play at max setttings with good fps with some powerleftover for the more complex mods that will come after GECK release(cuz some of those mods will be quiet demanding).

Now cash wise its rly hard to say since prices vary form country to country, also depends weather you want desktop or laptop(desktop will give you much greater performance for same amount of cash), but in general here decent gaming desktops start at around 750-1000 euros(by decent i mean strong enough to have everything on max at 60+fps with leftover power for the mods that will come in the future).

A lot of PC users here own high-end video cards that probably cost more than your Xbox or PS4 alone. So that should give pause to those thinking about moving to PC. A PC is a high-maintenance device that does a lot of things because it also NEEDS a lot of things (and money).

I suppose it depends on your definition of "decent" and what your expectations are.

Much like Skyrim, Fallout 4 performs better with Intel CPUs rather than AMD CPUs because Intel CPUs can process more instructions per cycle (IPC) than AMD CPUs. Meaning Intel CPU can execute more code instructions every 1Hz compared to AMD CPUs so a lower clocked Intel CPU can outperform a higher clocked AMD CPU. The general recommendation is to buy a Skylake generation (current) Core i5-6600k (~ $260) if you want to overclock the CPU (requires a little be of learning on your end), or the Core i5-6600 (~ $230) which does not allow you to overclock the CPU.

Going for the i5-6600k means you also need to buy a motherboard that will allow you to overclock the CPU. That means you need to look for a motherboard with the Intel Z170 chipset; these motherboards can run between $100 to $450 depending on the specific features and quality of the motherboard itself. Generally speaking, ~ $150 will get you a pretty good Z170 chipset motherboard with a decent set of features and generally good overall quality; however it depends on the specific model you are looking at.

You also need a graphics card and I generally recommend a nVidia GTX 960 for ~ $200. Overall it provides good performance for the price. Much more powerful than the GPUs used in consoles. It is what I would consider an "entry level performance" GPU. The next step up would be the nVidia GTX 970 for ~$320 which offers a pretty good performance boost from the GTX 960... as long as you are not put off price the price.

However, it is still possible to have an enjoyable experience using less expensive hardware. But that depends on what your budget is and what your expectations are. I would say ~$800 should get you a pretty decent PC build; about $100 - $125 of that will be going towards buying Windows 10.

While I am sure people in this forum can give you pretty good information and possible builds, I recommend you go to http://www.tomshardware.com for more opinion and possible builds. It is a hardware enthusiasts site and we generally help people there with hardware questions and potential builds. Just to be transparent, I am one of the moderators there (JaguarSKX).

This is unfortunately a very comon misconception. a new user getting into PC games can get many very affordable systems that are prebuilt and low maintenance. You can definately buy a pc for the same or less than the price of a current generation console that will perform similarly or better than said console, while enjoying many benefits of PCs over consoles. That said, a consoles main benefit is that it really is easy to set up, just plug it in and turn it on. A pc will require some other general knowledge, installing software and such requires slightly more capability, but really nothing that anyone should have difficulty with for normal usage, and if you cant, its probably something you should want to learn in general

My current PC (that I really do want to upgrade) cost me ~700 when I built it in 2009. Its well behind the curve. I play fallout 4 on it with higher graphics than an xbox. The trick is not to go for the high ticket items, but to aim for decent affordable lasting parts.

JagSKX:

Toms hardware is a great site for reviews and information, I dont even have an account there, but I almost always run through there when I am considering buying things. I cant think of a better site for good hardware reviews in general.

The rest of your advice is great for building a solid gaming machine, one that can play any modern game at high settings, and I agree with most of it, but I wanted to point out that you can dip quite a bit lower than these quotes and get a very servicable machine that will play modern games with solid settings and good framerates on a tight budget.

A decent core i3, 8-16g ram, and a ~100 video card will let you play fallout 4 on a HDMI screen just fine if money is an issue, and should be buildable for under 500, probably well under if you look through holiday sales.

Yeah, my suggestions regarding the i5-6600k and the GTX 960 / GTX 970 could be considered somewhat on the high end depending on a budget for a gaming PC. But it should they would easily work within a $1,000 budget including the cost of the operating system which most people exclude from the cost of a PC build.

As I stated in my first post, an ~$800 PC build (which includes the cost of Windows) should be capable of running FO4 just fine. That budget will definitely get you hardware that is better a PS4 and Xbox One. Going lower than $800 is possible as well. It all boils down what level of performance is acceptable and how high expectations are. The lower the budget, the lower expectations should be.

For example, I am currently playing FO4 on my Dell Inspiron 3540 laptop with a dual core i5-4200u and Radeon HD 8850m because the GPU in my desktop died and I am waiting to receive a new one that I just bought. The mobile i5-4200u is basically the equivalent to a desktop dual core i3 CPU and the Radeon HD 8850m is probably equal to a desktop nVidia GT 730. Those are not great specs by any means, but I find that it is decent enough to run FO4 at 1600x900 resolution and medium settings with AA disabled; I generally get 30+ FPS and I did not even bother tweaking the FalloutPref.ini file.

Once I get my GTX 970 it's back to playing FO4 on my desktop...

What kind of graphics card does your laptop have? My friend with a 765m runs fallout 4 fairly well on high settings. But if your laptop came with Windows 7 I guess it's pretty old.

It all comes down to what are you willing to spend? Don't just think of Fallout 4 that you want to play, think of other games aswell. And you can connect your Xbox One to Windows 10 also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctJH5jFirxsthere are many videos like this on youtube and other videos showing how you put together your own desktop computer. I don't recommend buying a brand name computer since it's more expensive than building your own.