The gaming PC days are NUMBERED! (Sponsored)

[gregp203]

has anyone got an activated "shadow". I signed up for a subscription yesterday. It was not immediately activated. My expectation which should not be different than others is the service would be active immediately since all the VPS services I have subscribed to have be activated immediately. This is because there is a whole dev-ops industry that provides automated processes for deployment  (puppet, chef, ansible...) and to not have that in a XaaS solution is not a good idea. Their customer service had responded to me about 8 hours later with an ETA of 10 days to get an activation and to contact them after 15 days if it is still not active. I have paid for a 30 day subscription. When I talked to them on the phone their excuse was the volume of new subscriptions. So if they don't have the resources to support an influx of new subscriptions, and they don't have industry standard automation to support this scaling, then why did they invite Linus to their office for him to do a piece on it? Combine this with the deception of not immediate activation, and it seems like a scam to get people moneys and use the subscriptions metric to get VC buy in to build up. This has the same pattern as a failed kickstarter. My kids are into console gaming and want to get into PC gaming.  I don't have the time and space to setup gaming rigs and this hosted VDI with a GPU solution is perfect , and just in time to use with their surfaces they are getting for xmas. But for now they will just have to hold on to my $15 while I spend my money elsewhere.  

[gregp203]

It has been 6 days since I have signed up for shadow and it is still not activated. When I called support I was told it could take up to 5 days. Then I got an email stating it could take up to 10 days and to contact them after 15days if not setup. In the mean time I setup an AWS g3s.xlarge (thier least expensive) and installed parsec. I was able to get GTA V working. I didn't get around to testing with metics but it seemed playable . 

[AdmiralKird]

There are a lot of hardcore gamers in here ripping on this tech. Most of this stuff is fine for the people who just want to play singleplayer games or some fun online multiplayer. $420 annually isn't that bad for non-technical gamers. It is pretty rough though if you know how to build and maintain a PC, as you could build the equivalent of one of these machines for around $450 Used if you know how to squeeze a dollar. Renting is never going to be as cheap as owning but their software of hopping between devices was pretty cool, and the headache of doing this yourself might be worth the cost if you find yourself jumping around.

[MangetsuNeko]

I'm someone who typically only plays single player games, and Shadow works great for me. Also, the $35 a month pricing is actually pretty nice if compared to other VPS services.... They are giving you a 1000x100 network connection with UNLIMITED bandwidth. The specs for your own dedicated resources that shadow gives you would cost infinitely more with another VPS provider. It would be nice if they gave you some kind of option to add additional drive space on your server at an extra cost. (Maybe they could offer a more pricier additional storage tier with SSD and a more affordable tier that is HDD?)

 

It did take 10 days before I could access my Shadow (Note: Your subscription period does NOT start until your Shadow VM is ready to use) but I think we can all blame Linus for this. I'm not sure that Shadow employees are the ones that actually setup your VM for you... Below is a quote from a support email that I have with them.

 

Hey (Name Removed),

Thanks for contacting Shadow customer support!

I want to start by apologizing for the large delay in activation time. Due to the surplus of subscriptions from our Holiday deals, and the manual process behind setting up Shadows, there has been a bit of a bottleneck with activations. That being said because activation is carried out in our data center, we don't have an exact date available for your activation

Your subscription time won't start while you're waiting for activation. The billing date for the second month will move a few days ahead to coincide with your activation date.

I truly appreciate your continued patience!

Best,

(Name Removed)  

 

[F900EX]

I'm in CO and I get this, I wonder how many other states they are unavailable in?

 

Oh snap! Currently Shadow is unavailable at your location. We’re working hard to provide you the best experience. Be the first to know when Shadow will be available in your area :

[Elochai]

On 12/11/2018 at 4:12 PM, corrado33 said:

 

Sure, do the math in the way that absolutely favors you. Let me pick a few holes in it.

 

Your $3400 gaming system was likely built on an LGA 775 platform right? In that time we've seen huge gains in CPU and GPU performance. We pretty much experienced the "golden age" of moore's law. Building a computer today will last much longer BECAUSE tech has become so stagnant. And as for not gaming on the 775 platform anymore... tell that to my 775 gaming rig with a QX9650 and 1060. Handles modern games just fine at 1080p. My current other gaming rig I built 5 years ago and it still plays modern games on ultra at high FPS, and will likely continue to do so for another 5 years, given I eventually upgrade the GPU. I built that PC for $1000.

 

Let's not forget that in order to even have spent $3400 on a computer, you must have bought absolutely cutting edge, top of the line parts, which you paid a premium for. You also probably had multiple GPUs. Unfortunately for you, SLI and crossfire kinda went away so that can't be counted if you're comparing it to a modern PC. 

 

A modern, capable of playing everything on ultra at 1440p, gaming machine could cost you <2000 today. You could lessen that even further if you didn't have a super expensive case or more than 16 gigs of ram (because no more than that is needed for gaming.) You could lessen it even FURTHER if you reused your old case and power supply. This gaming machine would last at LEAST 5 years playing the most modern games. More likely it'll last 7-8 years. Even more likely it'd last 10 if you turned some settings down in the last couple of years. But, for the sake of argument let's say 5 years. 2000/5 = $400. Ok, now let's assume that after 5 years you're not satisfied with the GPU anymore, so you buy another for $800. This will likely last you another 3-5 years. So that's $2800/8 = $350-$280 a month. 

 

Your argument doesn't make sense because

A. You paid a premium for parts when computer gaming was really just taking off. Components have gotten cheaper since then. (The top of the line extreme processor for intel that anyone reasonable would recommend for gaming is the i7-9800x. With 8 cores and hyperthreading, you're futureproofed for many.... many... many years.) Not to mention that games don't even properly use multiple cores right now. So in order for this processor to be outdated, the gaming industry would have to START a revolution in the way that they're programming and develop engines that properly use multithreading, then optimize that revolution to REQUIRE more than 16 threads. I don't see this happening in 10 years. I think that in 10 years we MAY have a well developed game engine that can use multithreading effectively. And this processor? It's $500-$600. Sure, you could be stupid and buy the top of the line intel extreme processor for $2000, but in all honesty, that's stupid. No game will utilize it, and in a few years we will have processors on the same level for 1/4 the price. 

B. The intel core 2 platform was the start of a revolution for intel. It started a session of extremely rapid development. You bought into an extremely infantile technology, which has now matured and stabilized. Because of this, you overpaid for your old $3400 PC. 

C. You assume that the experience on the server will be the absolute best for gaming. And sure, you think that "oh 30-50ms latency isn't bad" but what you fail to realize is that this isn't like an online game where your character is handled client side and everything that could affect other characters is handled by the server. In this use case, a player with high latency would often shoot behind people because in the server the opponent has already moved out of the way. But in THIS use case, playing on a server somewhere else, you have A. your ping to this server, likely... let's say 50 ms to be nice. Then B. you have the latency of the server to the GAMING server, so let's be nice here and say that they partner with game developers and have some sort of low latency connection with their servers, so 20ms. Not only are you seeing the opponent 70ms in the past, but your actions are THEN delayed 50 ms. In total, in order for you to react to something on screen you NOT ONLY need to account for the latency of the gaming server to this service's servers, but ALSO you need to account for the latency of your rig to the gaming servers rig because all of your actions are delayed by that amount. The difference here is that on a local machine your actions are NOT delayed. They are instant to you. You still have to deal with the latency of your rig to the server, but that's simply shooting further ahead of people. Now, this is a best case scenario. MOST people have pings in the 50-80ms range unless you happen to live right next to the server. With a ping in that range, you could be up near a quarter of a second latency. Not only latency for other players, but INPUT lag. That's worse than the worst TV out there. That's worse than bluetooth headphones. I personally wouldn't call this the "best gaming experience." We all know that "snappy" "responsive" games feel the best and games with laggy controls feel like shit. Well enjoy your laggy controls on EVERY game. And sure, what if you don't want to play high FPS games? Well then why on earth would you use this service?

D. If you're going to make price comparisons, at LEAST compare the service to what an EQUIVALENT pc would look like, not your extremely overpriced show piece. An equivalent PC to the specs they're giving you would NOT cost $3400. It'd be a 1080 (non TI) with 12 Gigs of 2400 MHz ram (haha... slow) with a 256 GB ssd. In my mind, that's about what... less than $1000? Maybe a bit more if you include a power supply and mobo?  Oh and let's not forget the 15 MB/s (yes, that's mega BYTE per second) network connection they recommend. That's 120 mbps. Unnecessary for anyone but a very large family all watching Netflix at the same time. So make sure to add that extra cost in as well. Oh and let's not forget that you do still, in fact, need a PC to run this, so make sure you tack on an extra $700 to build an ultra cheap PC to replace your 775 rig to play this. (Since it doesn't work on anything older than 2011 hardware (it's on their website).) 

 

Your argument ONLY makes sense if you must buy the best extreme processor with DUAL best of the best GPUs and excess ram and an overpowered PSU. And frankly, doing so is extremely unnecessary, and in my opinion, dumb. Buying those items is more of a "look what I have" more than a "look what it can do" sort of thing. Gaming has changed. There are no games out there that cannot be run at high FPS even on mid tier hardware. There is no modern "Crysis" like game that can only be run by the best of the best hardware in SLI. 

 

Your argument simply does not make sense in the modern world. 

 

My argument doesn’t make sense to you, your not looking at it the way I am.

 

Your 100% correct that if I were to buy the same parts as their servers, case and all it be cheaper then a $3000 system. But as I already explained. If I’m gonna build another PC, I’m going to build with high end and newest generation parts. As I said, I’m the type of person that when it comes to building a gaming pc, it’s “go big or go home”. It has nothing to do with the “look what I got”, could care less what someone thinks of my PC build; heck none of the people I hang out with even game on PC other then my buddy in NY. Most of my friends are into off-roading, camping, cabins, building, some play console, and side by sides. I’m really the one that a bit out of place in the group as I do enjoy a lot of the same activities but I also like computers, programming, networks, and soldering. The reason for going all out on a new rig, is my pride in what I make and how I feel about it (you’ll never change that). So yes I have to compare it to a $3000 build as I would never build anything less. But renting something that I didn’t build, that I take no pride in or have any form of feelings towards as “my work” doesn’t effect me.

 

^ now I don’t expect you to get that or understand it. Not everyone takes pride or has passion for things they do. But that’s why I compare to a $3000 system if your gonna put it back as you should just build.

 

The other aspect is that if there is a working solution like this (by the way it not a working solution as I contacted them, I’ll explain below) then I rather pay a low fee every month then to pay a big lump sum. Yes in the long run it will add up to about the same or a bit more and never own the hardware (which doesn’t matter to me as long as upgrades keep happening every couple of years and price is reasonable) I rather the service over the hardware. Paying out the lump sum to build means that money is gone if something were to happen. A gaming PC is a luxury you can do without. My luck I’d go and build my new rig, and the next day my misses would call and say “babe, the car won’t go in reverse and it goes really slow in drive and is jumping, the shifter isn’t working right either” (yeah anyone who knows them signs knows what the issue is and knows the price point is somewhere between “crazy” and “how much did you say the car is worth”. I think people can relate to the point here.

 

Now once again back to building. 12 GB is low for gaming, 16 GB is the sweet spot (but starting to lose out a bit in bigger newer titles). But 16 GB won’t do me in a build as I would need the system to replace my HP Z420 workstation, the gaming rig would have to also be my work rig. I have 32 GB for a reason. It is overkill tho as the system under load never uses more then 18 GB - 19 GB but 16 just won’t do. And no I can’t keep the HP Z420 and a new build gaming PC. The room already has 2 PC’s, a couple of 1U servers, and a 4U server. Room is limited, I’d be giving the HP Z420 to my misses for her office area. And again no I wouldn’t be sharing it with her, it be hers. Sharing it would mean bumping heads at points, I rather not “happy wife, happy life”

 

as for network, I think I said before that it isn’t an issue, I don’t got slow internet. I get 600 Mbps easy and it doesn’t cost much. Used to be on a Gigibit line but was getting the same speeds as I am now so it wasn’t worth the extra money.

 

As for toning down settings, that’s where I’m to now and it isn’t something I like. I like high detail. I don’t want to be toning down settings. I also like realistic looking graphics for simulation games.

 

anyway point is (assuming the service works), the idea of the service fits my needs for gaming without having to build a system with high up front cost to my wallet. It doesn’t fit your needs as you’d rather have the system therefore not worth the cost. I couldn’t care about having the system if it meets my needs; but if I do have to build then my passion and pride is going to show in my work and it gonna be top of the line and go beyond just my gaming needs.

 

so just because the idea doesn’t suit your view or fit your needs; doesn’t mean it doesn’t fit someone else’s. And you may think it’s dumb or stupid because you can’t see it from the other angle, and that’s fine. I’m accepting of all views and it doesn’t bother me. 

 

As as for the service, I contacted them and they don’t have servers within Canada and they don’t recommend it to Canadians till they do have servers in Canada as it would be to far away for connections.

[cloneman]

So here's my issue with this. The add spot says save 10$/month with offer code LTT. So i Paid 14.95 on my first month.

However, on my 2nd and 3rd month, I'm paying 34.95 instead of 24.95, so the math isn't adding up. it appears that the promo code was infact 20$ off. - there may have been an unintentional bait & switch here.

 

is anyone in the same situation?