I bought my PC in 2011 and it's still going strong today. The only upgrades I've made is the graphics card last year (which in hindsight was not actually required until this year) and putting in an SSD. It's still kicking the crap out of most games on max settings, or at least high.
The main value of a PC isn't focused exclusively in it being the best gaming platform. If you were looking at gaming as the sole factor, then PCs and consoles both have pros and cons, and it's ultimately up to choice as to which to go for.
The thing that makes the PC better value in my opinion is that it does so much more than a console. I can work, manage my e-mails, surf the net, download and stream movies (Roku 3 + Plex Media Server ftw!), run the file structure how I please, pirate anything I want (even though, other than a few movies, everything I have is original now...hurray for steady income!) etc etc. The console is considerably more limited in it's capabilities, and where it has the same capabilities it is limited in how you can do it.
Therefore the reason I choose PC over console is that PC provides a much better overall value. The console is too restricted, and only actually competes with the PC small number of things.
