Best value to remotely play games

Brambo · April 20, 2020

Hello, I'm looking to find the most optimal way to remotely play my video games on my TV in another room.. I have wired connection ready to use, but I wanted something low powered, quiet, but powerful enough to play on the big screen with the least amount of input lag possible.

I was going to use my wife's surface book she doesn't use anymore, but I figured that was overpowered for what I want to use it for. Also I want to be able to just turn on my controller and connect directly to the remote PC. For that i have Controller Companion for steam (seems to work well with my laptop). Well forget this now, beause now she's using it so I'm looking for a machine.

I've had a very buggy experience with Steam Link and I was hoping that a PC to PC remote stream would have better results.

Does anyone have any good success stories or recommendations on what I could use? I'm just not sure what the best thing to do is

Slottr · April 20, 2020

Literally any used pc that runs modern Windows or Linux

Though- if you already have a system that no one uses, why don't you just use it? Doesn't matter if it's 'overpowered' for the use case. It's just a paperweight otherwise

Giganthrax · April 20, 2020

If your wife doesn't use the surface book, I don't see why it matters if it's overpowered or not? Just install Parsec on it and enjoy.

I haven't tested Parsec with a controller but since Parsec is optimized for gaming it should work.

Brambo · April 20, 2020

38 minutes ago, Giganthrax said:

If your wife doesn't use the surface book, I don't see why it matters if it's overpowered or not? Just install Parsec on it and enjoy.

I haven't tested Parsec with a controller but since Parsec is optimized for gaming it should work.

I didn't know about Parsec, I guess i'm looking at the least amount of power consumption and noise I guess are my two bigger concerns for long term use.

Brambo · April 20, 2020

2 hours ago, Slottr said:

Literally any used pc that runs modern Windows or Linux

Though- if you already have a system that no one uses, why don't you just use it? Doesn't matter if it's 'overpowered' for the use case. It's just a paperweight otherwise

Wife now decides she wants to use it after I was looking into parsec. So that's not an option anymore. After that I guess i'll be looking at a new machine. I was looking at something fanless like: https://www.amazon.com/MINIX-NEO-N42C-4-Upgradeable-Technology/dp/B0788DJQR9/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2SMOLUD7QDWCH

1 hour ago, Brambo said:

I didn't know about Parsec, I guess i'm looking at the least amount of power consumption and noise I guess are my two bigger concerns for long term use.

Parsec doesn't seem to work well for remotely playing on one pc to another if your playing yourself. From my light research it seems that parsec is designed for playing with friends locally? Am I just reading that wrong?

Giganthrax · April 23, 2020

On 4/20/2020 at 7:49 PM, Brambo said:

I didn't know about Parsec, I guess i'm looking at the least amount of power consumption and noise I guess are my two bigger concerns for long term use.

This shouldn't be a problem as Parsec is just streaming the game to the laptop (it's kinda like watching youtube). The laptop itself won't be doing much work so it won't be loud or have huge power consumption. Not that computers have giant power consumption anyway.

Giganthrax · April 23, 2020

On 4/20/2020 at 9:02 PM, Brambo said:

Parsec doesn't seem to work well for remotely playing on one pc to another if your playing yourself. From my light research it seems that parsec is designed for playing with friends locally? Am I just reading that wrong?

Nah, it works just fine if you're playing on your own. I played a bunch of games with it that way.

Parsec is also free, so you can just download it and see for yourself.