this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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Is building a PC to stream to a handheld a bad idea? (self.PCGaming)
submitted 1 year ago by Elkenders to c/PCGaming@kbin.social
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I've always wanted to build a little PC, but I don't have space or time to play games other than on a handheld on the sofa. I've been playing Xbox Game Pass on my Retroid Pocket 3 Plus and it's been really good, but I'm wondering if a gaming pc streamed locally would be cheaper in the long run. It'd live under the TV and very rarely get used with a controller on the telly, almost always streamed to a little handheld.

Alternative is Steam Deck, which looks good, but tbh, it seems quite unweildly. Though I know it's possibly the right route.

Any thoughts?

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[–] geosoco@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which option is better depends on what games you want to play and your local network.

I think it's a fine idea, but as others have stated it depends on your network. If you have a PC already with steam, it might be worth trying the steam link app and see how it works.

The steamdeck is going to give you more flexibility, and work around any network issues you might have. Again, depends on the games, but in general it's a great device and you can take it with you. That said, it's struggling to play some of the newest AAA games on launch, though patches do eventually seem to come to help it out.

[–] Elkenders 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah the Steam Deck is such good value it's tough to turn down. It's just a little too big for my taste and I'd rather have bought it at launch to get the longer value out of the hardware.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

fwiw, valve seems to believe it's got another few years in it. They've said they might do a battery/screen refresh, but the processor and such sound like they're hear for another year at a minimum.

[–] lol3droflxp@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Well, I guess they put their money on upscaling, FSR in particular. And yes, it has worked so far but is not really on par with DLSS in my experience but maybe it will improve.

[–] Midnitte@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

I would definitely recommend hardwiring the stream PC to the network, but it's a shame the Steam Deck doesn't have WiFi 6/6E.

[–] BreadGar@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

get both and stream to the steamdeck, getting like 12h of battery instead

[–] Elkenders 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Haha, I do have the Retroid Pocket which I enjoy a lot already. I guess I could get a steam deck and stream from that to the Retroid? Seems a bit counter intuitive though.

[–] telemachuszero@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Steam Deck doesn't currently support being the streaming host (at least, SteamOS currently doesn't - but I wouldn't recommend wiping that as it's one of the best parts of the deck).

[–] webuge@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the major problem is the wi-fi when I tried streaming from my PC with wired connection to my fire stick over wifi the lag was bad. Imho the steam deck is more straightforward, but if you like to tinker and has a good wi-fi it could work.

[–] Elkenders 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder if that was your fire stick or WiFi? I assume as I get decent performance on game pass that it would be ok for me.

[–] webuge@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, I think my wi-fi is not ideal since my ISP forces me to use their router, but I didn't have time to try and get around it.

[–] flooppoolf@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Moonlight is a great app for this. I get very decent FPS and you should too as long as your WiFi supports it. Since you’re already streaming games I think that bandwidth is not particularly something to worry about.

My current setup is a 3080 with a 5950x and 32gb of ram and 2tb of SSD storage. Streaming games is honestly very good quality but I keep it at 1080p to reduce the lag and keep the fps up. Keep in mind that it still has some faults and drops every now and then and requires some tinkering to have the games set up juuuuuust right.

all in all, depends on the services you use, but you may go from a native handheld experience to ******needing to use the keyboard and mice on your couch quite often as you settle in. Invest in a wireless mouse and keyboard too lol.

[–] telemachuszero@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't find the Steam Deck unwieldy. It is big, but the design and weight distribution makes it comfortable to hold - I don't even think about it when I get into a game on it. For comparison, I find the Switch Pro controllers very slightly smaller than I would prefer, but comfortable too, and the DualSense to be about right.

[–] xNIBx@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You might want to take a look at geforcenow, nvidia's cloud gaming platform. It's only disadvantage is that not all games are available there. But depending on your location, it can be better and cheaper. For 20€ a month, you get a pc with a 4080 gpu that would cost you like 2k to make. And that pc will get upgraded every few years for free.

[–] Elkenders 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This does look great considering I have a bit of a library across a few stores. What's the benefit of this over Xbox game pass? That you can play your own games?

[–] xNIBx@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You can only play games that you already own on geforcenow, you dont get access to any "free" games. You can play steam games, origin, even some gamepass games(as long as you have a pc gamepass subscription). But again, the game selection is limited. It used to be unlimited but then the game publishers complained so now only approved games are available(1600 or so games).

The xbox cloud gaming is shit in comparison. First of all, it runs on xbox consoles, so you need to use a controller, cant use mouse and keyboard. Secondly, the latency and overall tech is at least a generation behind geforcenow. Then again, you get what you pay for. Xbox cloud is an extra 5€, geforcenow can be 20€ a month. Geforcenow has convinced me that cloud gaming is the future, it's that good. Xbox cloud is "eh, ok, kinda cool that it kinda works". I am somewhat playing starfield on the xbox cloud and it aint terrible.

I think i will buy cyberpunk and its expansion to play them on geforcenow. Honestly, if i could play all games on geforcenow, i dont think i would buy a new gpu. With cloud gaming, you not only not have to pay for the hardware, you also dont have to pay for the electricity, since you are only running a videostream on your end, which uses very little power and can be run on almost anything. Though when i tried gaming on my lg oled's browser, it wasnt great, lots of issues, though it technically worked. Maybe it was some bluetooth fuckiness.

[–] Elkenders 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The power note is actually a great point I hadn't thought about. Prices are really high here and I was slightly concerned about that.

[–] xNIBx@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

It isnt just the electricity price, it's also the noise and temperature. Especially if you dont have an aircondition, which most houses in northern Europe dont, gaming can be hellish in the summer. Playing AAA in complete silence and without sweating enhances the experience.