Sign on Options
Theme:
To Dark

By: Sarju Shah - Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008

Back in 2006 (when the current generation of consoles was still called the next generation) we did our first Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3 graphics comparison. Since then we've released rounds 2, 3, and 4, but we hadn't touched the third rail--the PC--until now. The graphics comparison features started out as a way to examine which console had better graphics, but readers began asking us to include PC image comparisons for games available on all three platforms. We focused on more recent games for our current comparison, because those are the games people are still buying and playing. You'll likely recognize many of the shots from our previous graphics comparisons. The results aren't terribly surprising, but the differences are still interesting to see. A well-equipped PC beats both consoles easily--of course, that same PC also costs three to four times more than either of the consoles.

On the PC, we used FRAPs to capture images at 1920x1080 resolution. We equipped our test PC with high-end components, a GeForce 280 GTX, and a quad-core Intel Core 2 CPU. The PC allowed us to enable high-quality settings in most games and have plenty of power left over to kick antialiasing up to 4x and anisotropic filtering up to 8x. For the consoles, we captured all of our images over HDMI with games running at 720p resolution, and we enabled full HDMI range on the PS3.  

Each game has four sets of rollover images. The first image is a full screenshot set resized to fit the width of the page, followed by a zoomed-in image set that we created by cropping the original screen grabs to show you how the games look at a 1:1 pixel ratio. To easily compare the PC to the consoles, we scaled down the original 1920x1080 PC images to 1280x720 and cropped from there. The third and fourth image sets follow the same pattern. Mouse over the captions to swap the images back and forth. Keep in mind that these are large screenshots, so viewers with slow Internet connections should expect to wait a while for images to load.

Fallout 3

A Washington, DC, teeming with automotive executives seeking government aid isn't nearly as dismal as the postapocalyptic DC setting in Fallout 3. Shadows and lighting change according to the game's day-and-night cycle, and we made sure to match timestamps for our comparison shots. In what will come as no surprise, the PC shames both consoles in the image-quality comparison. Everything from the textures to the antialiasing to the reflections looks better on the PC. Foliage, piping, and far-off buildings look far superior on the PC due to transparency antialiasing effects. Even draw distance is better on the PC, as the rocks and a fence near the burned-out bus aren't even visible on the consoles.

PC       Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

PC       Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

PC       Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

PC       Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

4075 Comments

  • Flavorysoup

    Posted Dec 10, 2011 1:49 pm GMT

    The difference between PC and console games, is that console games use extreme amounts of contrast to cover up the sloppy graphics. If the game is bright it's easier to pick out details, and in console games, the details to be found are not very good.

  • zeno99

    Posted Nov 24, 2011 8:38 pm GMT

    the ps3 and xbox 360 are under powered. the slim versions should have been designed with higher speced hardware.
    how ever can a high end pc fix gta 4 slow game play and other problems like how slow niko moves,the brick on ice traction,slow vehicle acceleration,and crap weather changes. custom controller maping and saving the game away from a safe house should be possible on a pc.
    my hope is that gta 5 is next gen and that much more than the graphics are improved.

  • olleost

    Posted Nov 21, 2011 1:36 am GMT

    The consoles looks like PC looked for a couple of years ago...

  • billyfozz

    Posted Oct 16, 2011 6:40 am GMT

    @ SuperJim20

    Well said.
    The bush in the last picture looks like wire wool on PS3, lol

  • billyfozz

    Posted Oct 16, 2011 6:37 am GMT

    @ Ur_Daddy_711
    That's a silly thing to say. You can get cracked 360 and Ps3 games too.
    Also to everyone else going on about pc being more expensive because you need a good graphics card. Check out the prices. £10 cheaper PC games usually are, buy ten games and you've already saved £100 that will buy you a pretty good gpu now.

  • Ur_Daddy_711

    Posted Sep 9, 2011 2:11 am GMT

    I've only played this game on the PS3, but I can tell the 360 version is better. The colors are more vivd and the res looks sharper. I've never played the PC version of this game, but I've played the classic GTA's and the verdict is definitely out that Rockstar isn't very hard for the PC market. I don't blame them. Why put forth time and effort into a game that's just going to be cracked and made available on iPirate.com.

  • tonybendoni

    Posted Jul 14, 2011 2:05 pm GMT

    PC>Xbox360>PS3 for all the games featured in this comparision, GTA IV for PS3 is dark. GTA IV is best on Xbox 360 because you need at least a quad core processor and a 2 GB graphics card for PC, but then if you have a quad core you will get random crashes in Fallout 3 because it is not optimized for anything over 2 cores.

    Also PS3 started to look as good or better than Xbox 360 for 2007 games. But now Xbox 360 dominates the PS3. The main reason is because both consoles are graphics limited. And both have almost the same graphics power. The main reason why Xbox 360 is better is because more games are optimized for xbox 360 and then ported to PS3. If developers took time to optimize games for the PS3 it would look better than Xbox 360 an example is Oblivion IV which was relased first on xbox 360 then on PS3, where the PS3 version is a lot better.

    For PC you need at least a ~ \\\$400 PC to play Fallout 3 on high and ~ \\\$900 PC to play GTA IV. The equivalent graphics card for the PS3 and Xbox 360 is about a 7900 GTX

  • daniel_meigh

    Posted Jun 26, 2011 10:20 am GMT

    i had gta on xbox and the quality was amazing, i then bought a ps3 and got gta on that and the picture quality is terrible! I play 720p on a 19" LG monitor and the picture is amazing for all my other games like cod and killzone, but its all blurry and dark for gta!

  • ps3frevr

    Posted Jun 24, 2011 8:13 am GMT

    i have played gta 4 on my ps3 and it never looked that dark

  • elapo

    Posted Jun 8, 2011 7:27 am GMT

    @Mrgoldfish 1
    aside from looks and some minor hardware changes (USB ports) the difference is non-existent ESPECIALLY NOT in GPU/CPU. Your statement is FALSE

  • sulaymanqazi

    Posted May 22, 2011 12:51 pm GMT

    why is everyone getting disliked

  • MrGoldfish1

    Posted May 8, 2011 8:39 pm GMT

    I own a Playstation 3 Slim. I think PC has the best graphics but is that the original PS3 or the Slim. Because I think the Slim would have the best graphics.

  • risseer23 posted Nov 14, 2010 11:29 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    risseer23

    Posted Nov 14, 2010 11:29 pm GMT (hide)

    Torrasque,Your a troll to even bring up Cell.First off if it's program right it makes the best looking console games around.Both the Ps3 and xbox are really old in pc terms they are like Dinosaurs.The thing is you can't buy a pc for 200-300 dollars that runs these games.Sony shoulda put 1gig of xdr ram in it and 512 vram this woulda made a world of good but since blu-ray was included that took up the budget.Cell acts as a second Gpu to a point.You can off load things the gpu does, on it.This is the reason Ps3 has the better looking games.It actualy makes the gpu better since it's frees it up for other tasks.Both consoles are very old i have no idea why you are killing em.For the money the Ps3 has more bang for the buck,the 360 has things people like as well.Thats how it works out.The cpu in the 360 is pure trash as well,fk if it wasn't for ati's gpu the 360 woulda been xbox 1.3.Cell is a better Cpu hands down.

  • Grovilis posted Oct 23, 2010 10:01 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Grovilis

    Posted Oct 23, 2010 10:01 pm GMT (hide)

    They all look pretty similar. -_-

  • Vikasgames94 posted Oct 22, 2010 1:26 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Vikasgames94

    Posted Oct 22, 2010 1:26 am GMT (hide)

    PC is better but the problem is i play mostly sports games which are better on consoles

  • aidinmolouki444 posted Oct 13, 2010 11:52 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    aidinmolouki444

    Posted Oct 13, 2010 11:52 am GMT (hide)

    I always play on PC, but PS3 and Xbox360 have a higher rendering speed. Who cares if the game looks better on PC if it is really slow to play.

  • takeragent posted Sep 27, 2010 4:44 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    takeragent

    Posted Sep 27, 2010 4:44 pm GMT (hide)

    when i switch from ps3 to pc, its like putting on my glasses.....
    i have a 14/20 vision.

  • TheVGamer posted Sep 18, 2010 5:06 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    TheVGamer

    Posted Sep 18, 2010 5:06 pm GMT (hide)

    The hell is going on with the comments?

  • aleks_989 posted Aug 27, 2010 7:22 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    aleks_989

    Posted Aug 27, 2010 7:22 am GMT (hide)

    The PC wins everywhere...END OF THE STORY

  • snoopgang posted Aug 16, 2010 4:56 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    snoopgang

    Posted Aug 16, 2010 4:56 pm GMT (hide)

    i Just see that diferences: Water reflexes, and more darker on the consoles!

  • zeroflame33

    Posted Jul 18, 2010 2:38 am GMT

    why couldnt they just set the same brightness?Anyway,although i own a ps3 and an old pc i would say pc is way better than both ps3 and xbox.

  • gabrielkipp posted Jul 17, 2010 7:55 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    gabrielkipp

    Posted Jul 17, 2010 7:55 pm GMT (hide)

    depends on your pc specs,

  • The_Gaming_Baby posted Jul 3, 2010 4:44 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    The_Gaming_Baby

    Posted Jul 3, 2010 4:44 pm GMT (hide)

    GTAIV on the PC looks so much better.

  • mrwmom posted Jun 25, 2010 5:45 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    mrwmom

    Posted Jun 25, 2010 5:45 pm GMT (hide)

    in terms of this comparison the order of better graphics is PC>Xbox360>PS3... Normally it would just be PC>Xbox360=PS3 because both consoles are truly the same graphics power, I know everyone likes to throw hardware power into the equation, but it doesn't matter because unless a game is an exclusive it is made on PC then ported down to consoles so they almost always have worse graphics than PC and have equal graphics compared to each other. I'm sorry I had to break that to ya'll the hard way.

  • mrwmom posted Jun 25, 2010 5:39 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    mrwmom

    Posted Jun 25, 2010 5:39 pm GMT (hide)

    @ifoundyou37 are you an idiot or something? All 3 have HD!

  • ifoundyou37 posted Jun 9, 2010 4:39 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    ifoundyou37

    Posted Jun 9, 2010 4:39 pm GMT (hide)

    ps3 has HD so it wins

  • kool_zed_speaks posted May 28, 2010 8:29 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    kool_zed_speaks

    Posted May 28, 2010 8:29 pm GMT (hide)

    Lol exactly! What IS THIS ??? This is a brightness level bias, the PC is deliberately kept at the highest brightness and therefore called 'clear', the Xbox360 darker than that and the PS3 the darkest so that people wouldn't be able to see the power of the consoles. And what is this special bias against the PS3?

  • CSP2009 posted May 27, 2010 10:24 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    CSP2009

    Posted May 27, 2010 10:24 am GMT (hide)

    Someone should change the damn brightness on the PC. Someone likes it a lil too bright haha..
    Completely Bias like all the other comparisons which Gamespot do

  • ali_o63 posted Mar 26, 2010 3:32 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    ali_o63

    Posted Mar 26, 2010 3:32 pm GMT (hide)

    why does the games on the xbox look much better and the edges are really smooth and nice ?!!

  • dakan45 posted Mar 22, 2010 6:27 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    dakan45

    Posted Mar 22, 2010 6:27 pm GMT (hide)

    I just dont see any apparent diffirence in fallout 3, sorry, i just dont see it.

  • SuperJim20

    Posted Mar 19, 2010 6:10 pm GMT

    PC easy wins. Just look at the trees... PC is much better.

  • Greelax posted Mar 15, 2010 5:10 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Greelax

    Posted Mar 15, 2010 5:10 pm GMT (hide)

    You can't really compare the graphics fairly, because where both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 both shine are their exclusives, which you can't compare side-by-side. I mean, Uncharted 2 and Killzone 2 right there are graphically amazing games.

  • Serentor posted Feb 27, 2010 6:48 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Serentor

    Posted Feb 27, 2010 6:48 am GMT (hide)

    pc contrast is too high, or the light setting is too high, turn it down and the game automatically looks better.

  • andre_macd posted Jan 25, 2010 7:52 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    andre_macd

    Posted Jan 25, 2010 7:52 pm GMT (hide)

    In general i have to agree the pc looks best but the article says "the reflections looks better on the PC" , judging by the picture given the reflections look both more detailed and more realistic in the xbox 360 version, the pc versions are jagged and lack any depth in comparison. ( i have neither so i'm totally impartial , go ps2 gameplay trumps all )

  • draydox posted Jan 11, 2010 8:53 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    draydox

    Posted Jan 11, 2010 8:53 pm GMT (hide)

    *consoles tries to hide there shame*

  • TonyKoeffler posted Dec 12, 2009 4:47 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    TonyKoeffler

    Posted Dec 12, 2009 4:47 pm GMT (hide)

    People, people stop it. PS3 and 360 are both great. We need to see the real problem here...those Nintendo fools over in Japan. PC, PS3, 360 need to team up and kick some Nintendo ass.

  • johnnyd735 posted Dec 6, 2009 4:03 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    johnnyd735

    Posted Dec 6, 2009 4:03 pm GMT (hide)

    wolfenstein plays better "looks better "on 360 then on my rig . its how the game is ported . newer games might cater to consols. "good info on the net but a lot of info is outdated."

  • Rey619fan posted Nov 25, 2009 7:57 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Rey619fan

    Posted Nov 25, 2009 7:57 pm GMT (hide)

    The Pc looks brighter than the other consoles so it is mostly about the brightness

  • The_Sackman posted Nov 24, 2009 7:16 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    The_Sackman

    Posted Nov 24, 2009 7:16 am GMT (hide)

    PS3=Fail...

  • murekkep posted Nov 23, 2009 1:06 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    murekkep

    Posted Nov 23, 2009 1:06 am GMT (hide)

    Wow bluriness on consoles makes me blind.

  • Daputti posted Nov 15, 2009 7:46 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Daputti

    Posted Nov 15, 2009 7:46 am GMT (hide)

    WarLokk, you're correct, but the PC is a much, much more expensive platform. And you can never guarantee a stable FPS.

    +The PS3 fails at lighting even after all these years. Die away.

  • Vikasgames94 posted Nov 14, 2009 3:24 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Vikasgames94

    Posted Nov 14, 2009 3:24 am GMT (hide)

    PS3 is very dark and texture is also very bad. PS3 only has some games which have extremely great graphics and those games only release on PS3. X Box has better graphics from ps3. But one thing is fine that PS3 is very expensive but has great hardware.
    The biggest thing in graphics of pc is that it is very clear.

  • Vikasgames94 posted Nov 14, 2009 3:15 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Vikasgames94

    Posted Nov 14, 2009 3:15 am GMT (hide)

    For Dead Space ps3 is very dark and pc again the best.

  • Vikasgames94 posted Nov 14, 2009 3:13 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Vikasgames94

    Posted Nov 14, 2009 3:13 am GMT (hide)

    PC is always best. PS3 has better view distance and X Box has good texture.

  • Moloch121 posted Nov 11, 2009 5:41 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Moloch121

    Posted Nov 11, 2009 5:41 pm GMT (hide)

    That sucks gizzy!\
    I definetly can't play it on a console because I love modding my games too much

  • gizzy82 posted Nov 5, 2009 3:58 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    gizzy82

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:58 pm GMT (hide)

    I gotta say FO3 is outstanding on pc, when it worked.... Unfortunately it gave up working on me and now ctd without even loading up! I have a more than powerful enough system and prior to the crashes was running it at 60 fps at 1680 resi.
    I gotta play it now on my 360, that's not a bad thing except after seeing FO3 with such beautiful graphics on pc it's kinda downgrading... boo hoo

  • Dne123456 posted Oct 26, 2009 6:04 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Dne123456

    Posted Oct 26, 2009 6:04 am GMT (hide)

    pc roxxxxxxxxxxx

  • shadowblade34 posted Oct 24, 2009 11:41 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    shadowblade34

    Posted Oct 24, 2009 11:41 am GMT (hide)

    erm my pc cost abut 500$ (custom built), and it can run crysisi on the best graphical settings to date

Table of Contents

Subscribe to GameSpot's YouTube Channel