PC gaming in the livingroom

[Dare2Fail]

Guys, I've been away from PC gaming for a few years now and am really interested in getting back into it but (there's always a but) I want to be able to,game in my livingroom. So, with that caveat, what do I need to get back up and running? All of my AV is run through an Onkyo amp for sound and then on to a 46 inch Sony TV. I'm looking for a PC that can run games to a very high level as if I'm going to do it I may as well do it properly.

Much as I like the idea of building my own PC I really don't have the time so would prefer to buy something that I can just plug in.

[Mastodon2]

You've got time to play games on a PC, but not to build one?

[Dare2Fail]

Yes. Ok, so I should probably rephrase that, while I could find the time to investigate which components I should buy, how I go about building the machine, making sure I don't have any conflicts, I would much rather spend that time playing games.

[Mannginger]

First of the Steam machines are starting to come out:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/12/alienware-alpha-r...
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-mac-des...

Couple of pricing options there with associated performance differentials

[Dare2Fail]

What's the consensus on the Steam machines versus a more conventional PC?

[chris watton]

I built a small HTPC a couple of year's ago, with a decent graphics card, MATX mobo, Intel Core i5 2500K, and lots of hard drives in an 8 bay external enclosure with 3gb HDD's (not all at once, but bought over time since)
We have almost 200 Steam games on it, and our whole music, DVD and BR libraries, meaning all physical media can be stored out of the way. (around 26TB worth!)

The PC in parts cost around £800, (including three HDD's inside, but external bay and extra drives were bought afterwards) but you could do it cheaper, as I chose the best components for decent gaming performance.

It's great, plugged into our AV receiver for sound, so get the full surround sound.

ETA, this is the case - it has a smaller footprint than our Pioneer AV receiver.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod...

Edited by chris watton on Sunday 14th December 13:47

Edited by chris watton on Sunday 14th December 13:48

[franki68]

Dare2Fail said:

Guys, I've been away from PC gaming for a few years now and am really interested in getting back into it but (there's always a but) I want to be able to,game in my livingroom. So, with that caveat, what do I need to get back up and running? All of my AV is run through an Onkyo amp for sound and then on to a 46 inch Sony TV. I'm looking for a PC that can run games to a very high level as if I'm going to do it I may as well do it properly.

Much as I like the idea of building my own PC I really don't have the time so would prefer to buy something that I can just plug in.

Depends on your budget.

[Brigand]

I can't help you on the spec, but if you want to game from your sofa then I'd suggest having the PC hooked up to your TV / Speaker system, and either use a wireless gamepad to play games, or have a good quality wireless mouse and keyboard and put them on a small table that you rest on the sofa across your lap.

You'll be able to buy a PC in a nice case that won't look too out of place next to the TV, and it can double as a media centre as well, replacing a DVD or Bluray player and allowing you do have films, music etc on the machine.

[Dare2Fail]

franki68 said:

Dare2Fail said:

Guys, I've been away from PC gaming for a few years now and am really interested in getting back into it but (there's always a but) I want to be able to,game in my livingroom. So, with that caveat, what do I need to get back up and running? All of my AV is run through an Onkyo amp for sound and then on to a 46 inch Sony TV. I'm looking for a PC that can run games to a very high level as if I'm going to do it I may as well do it properly.

Much as I like the idea of building my own PC I really don't have the time so would prefer to buy something that I can just plug in.

Depends on your budget.

Max £2k.

[Clivey]

Dare2Fail said:

Max £2k.

Any good?

[lukefreeman]

Where you based? I'll buikd you a mean machine for £2k for a cuppa and some biscuits (it's that easy to do).

Reccomend you run it through to tv on hdmi with sound through gfx card. Or a spdif from a decent sound card to amp.

[MarkRSi]

Saw this a couple weeks ago for half your budget

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/pre-built-gaming-d...

[130R]

Clivey said:

Any good?

Pretty sweet but you are paying a fair wedge for the X99 chipset. 970 SLI with a quad core i7 will be more powerful for games (same budget), but then at 1080p a single 980 will be fine anyway ..

[Clivey]

130R said:

retty sweet but you are paying a fair wedge for the X99 chipset. 970 SLI with a quad core i7 will be more powerful for games (same budget), but then at 1080p a single 980 will be fine anyway ..

- That's an example. Part of my job is actually building custom PCs but I didn't think it appropriate to tout on here.

[Dare2Fail]

Cheers guys. Massively helpful as always.

[T1berious]

just saw this thread,

OP, you might want to look at the specs of TV, more importantly input LAG. Sony typically rule the roost when it comes to LAG but if you're a twitch gamer (Or any online FPS gaming) it might be an issue.

If its a higher end model over the last couple of years you should be sweet.

Just thought I'd throw it in there.

[franki68]

The scan xs machines are good,I bought one 18 months ago,very pleased with it.

[Clivey]

franki68 said:

The scan xs machines are good,I bought one 18 months ago,very pleased with it.

That's why I (as a system builder by trade) recommend them to anyone that I can't supply to myself. I've seen some pretty shoddy work by other well-known builders but have been pleasantly surprised by 3XS.

One thing I'd caution against is having an inexperienced "mate" throw an expensive machine together for you...some of the stuff I've seen when dealing with the aftermath beggars belief.

[chris watton]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's easier than basic Lego.

It usually hakes no more than an hour to assemble the parts (each part can only fit one way in certain places on the motherboard!), and then a couple of hours installing and updating the drivers, software and OS.

Most good PSU's even come with removable power feeds, so you only connect what you need.

I usually change the fans (and CPU cooler) for quitter versions, too (which is a plus for a HTPC)

[Clivey]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

There are a lot of "special" people around. - Some are knuckle-dragging idiots that presumably think that a hammer / brute force is an all-in-one tool. The amount of damaged CPU sockets, snapped MB connectors etc. I've seen is unreal. - I even saw one weapons-grade dumbk that used scissors to cut the connector of a PCI-E x16 card down so that he could ram it into a x2 slot...