Well, yeah. A console is basically a discrete gpu with a few cpu cores bolted on to the gpu core, and a ssd added.
Discrete gpu involves paying for all the memory costs, all of the cooling costs, all of the video outputs and BOM costs, all of the testing and validation costs, and then just doesn’t do the last little bit that makes it a fully functional PC. Instead you are expected to buy a second set of memory, cooling, fans, etc and ship them all individually with total packaged shipping size of a small pallet, compared to a console shipped in something the size of a breadbox. It’s literally the most expensive way to build a computer with the most redundancy in system design and the most waste in shipment and validation.
So it’s not surprising that console costs and midrange dGPU costs are convergent. They are 90% of the way to a console, just missing the last few bits!
(But thats what PC gamers get from clinging to an outdated 1980 standard for computer design, and the form factors it provides for expansion cards. Just ask people to buy a new backwards compatible power cable string for their gpu, and provide them with a free adapter, and then watch the tantrums flow. The religious reverence for the ATX and pcie add-in-card form-factors is absurd and people get what they deserve when the pc designs that shake out of it 40 years later are incredibly poorly-fit to the real-world needs. Everything has changed, gpus dominate the system now, we deliver up to 400W through an intricate network of 75w/150w “aux” connector, and we still design cards and cases and motherboards like it’s 1980 and a gpu and cpu can both be passively cooled…)
You can build a Steam Console much cheaper, but it will also involve some sacrifices the PC community hates, like soldered (GDDR6/7) memory and no CPU/GPU upgradeability. But it’ll be 1/4 of the price, so it’ll be worth it even if you have to replace the whole unit to upgrade. That's why consoles are built that way, and not as an ATX PC.
Discrete gpu involves paying for all the memory costs, all of the cooling costs, all of the video outputs and BOM costs, all of the testing and validation costs, and then just doesn’t do the last little bit that makes it a fully functional PC. Instead you are expected to buy a second set of memory, cooling, fans, etc and ship them all individually with total packaged shipping size of a small pallet, compared to a console shipped in something the size of a breadbox. It’s literally the most expensive way to build a computer with the most redundancy in system design and the most waste in shipment and validation.
So it’s not surprising that console costs and midrange dGPU costs are convergent. They are 90% of the way to a console, just missing the last few bits!
(But thats what PC gamers get from clinging to an outdated 1980 standard for computer design, and the form factors it provides for expansion cards. Just ask people to buy a new backwards compatible power cable string for their gpu, and provide them with a free adapter, and then watch the tantrums flow. The religious reverence for the ATX and pcie add-in-card form-factors is absurd and people get what they deserve when the pc designs that shake out of it 40 years later are incredibly poorly-fit to the real-world needs. Everything has changed, gpus dominate the system now, we deliver up to 400W through an intricate network of 75w/150w “aux” connector, and we still design cards and cases and motherboards like it’s 1980 and a gpu and cpu can both be passively cooled…)
You can build a Steam Console much cheaper, but it will also involve some sacrifices the PC community hates, like soldered (GDDR6/7) memory and no CPU/GPU upgradeability. But it’ll be 1/4 of the price, so it’ll be worth it even if you have to replace the whole unit to upgrade. That's why consoles are built that way, and not as an ATX PC.