Possible solutions for the traveling PC gamer

[Emanbaird]

Hey guys I might be moving into a van or camper semi full time. 

I was wondering if anyone here had experience with actual desktop setups in campers/vans.

Is a Desktop PC even feasible for something like this? Or should I just be looking at a laptop for the efficiency it brings.

I already have a desktop with a 3080, so if I could keep it that'd be great! 

Maybe something like a battery backup would be in order to smooth out the spikes.

(Also I would be plugged into an external outlet while gaming)

Any insight is appreciated ^^

 

[slowy]

I'm not sure ... I'd be scared of having my GPU inside a PCI-E slot in a moving camper... I mean I never moved a PC without removing the GPU first. Maybe I'm just a whimp

Something else that could be a problem is condensation water when the camper isn't constantly heated. Friend of mine had to do lots of maintenance on his machines because he heated his workshop and only when he used it - because he had only a wood stove. Not sure if that problem is applicable to PCs though.

[tkitch]

I'd go laptop.

Decent GPUs today are fuckin' HEAVY, and that can ruin your board and / or card on a bump.

 

Pack a laptop into a properly padded bag, and you're pretty safe.

 

[Arika]

If you sold just your 3080 you could get a hell of a gaming laptop (maybe one that has a 3080 in it given prices at the moment)

[sub68]

A laptop is better when mobile like that.

a full tower isn’t going to fit well

[adarw]

plus theres the fact the rv doesnt have a lot of power for a pc.

[The_Machine125]

realistically, going laptop is your best choice as its the best for mobile life styles.

 

On the other hand you could take you parts and but them into a small form factor case and make a fairly tiny pc if your willing to buy new parts,

this doesn't solve the power issue but if you like the upgradability and customisation of desktops its not a bad option, 

the NR200p is a really solid fairly cheap SFF case.

[IkeaGnome]

It's possible to do. There's many videos about how people are setting this up for van life homes. A laptop would be much easier, but desktop is more than possible. Nr200p would be a great case. I'd try to put your GPU on a riser(swap BIOS PCIE mode to 3.0 if you use the included riser) and the weight of the GPU won't be on your motherboard. Small enough case that you can stuff it in a hide away. Run a TB dock to where you plan to use the computer. Then you don't have to run mouse and keyboard and peripheral cables in a way that you'd have to clean up every time to make space for dinner. 

With some creativity people have some amazing set ups in vans. It's completely over the top, but here's one Linus did this year. There's a lot out there though.

https://youtu.be/Gd2BthretS0

[Roswell]

The first hurdle is powering it.

If you’re plugged into the power grid you’re good to go. However, if you’re going to rely on stored power then you’ll need to forget using a desktop. Many people use car batteries in parallel for stored power. Your average car battery would be lucky to supply 400Wh after overhead. Your current PC would drain one of those in like 35 minutes while gaming.

[IPD]

I agree with the above ^.  Unless you are on 120/240 power, running a desktop is going to be a nightmare.  Doable, but you're talking battery banks, capacitors, potentially an alternator upgrade, etc.  Or at minimum a generator of some type (with a LOT of power output).  Not to mention a voltage inverter of some type.

 

A laptop is a far better solution, but will still have potential issues with power consumption if you aren't on grid power.  The ideal thing (if you don't have a proper outlet/power system in your vehicle) is to run your inverter leads to the battery terminals directly.

 

Really depends on whether you can use grid power, whether or not an external power generator is possible (vs. having to run off your engine), etc.

[tkitch]

6 hours ago, Roswell said:

The first hurdle is powering it.

If you’re plugged into the power grid you’re good to go. However, if you’re going to rely on stored power then you’ll need to forget using a desktop. Many people use car batteries in parallel for stored power. Your average car battery would be lucky to supply 400Wh after overhead. Your current PC would drain one of those in like 35 minutes while gaming.

You can work around it with devices like a Jackery power bank, but even there it'll get drained quick.  Laptop would still be better.

 

[MageTank]

18 hours ago, Emanbaird said:

Hey guys I might be moving into a van or camper semi full time. 

I was wondering if anyone here had experience with actual desktop setups in campers/vans.

Is a Desktop PC even feasible for something like this? Or should I just be looking at a laptop for the efficiency it brings.

I already have a desktop with a 3080, so if I could keep it that'd be great! 

Maybe something like a battery backup would be in order to smooth out the spikes.

(Also I would be plugged into an external outlet while gaming)

Any insight is appreciated ^^

 

I definitely agree with the others here, laptop would be the way to go. Thunderbolt 3 eGPU's make it easier to add performance to mid-range laptops, or even gaming laptops with lesser dGPU's in the event that you want to upgrade. Personally, I'd buy a decent gaming laptop and just call it a day in general.

 

I picked up a refurbished HP Omen 15 from my local Micro Center for $1400 and it was worth every penny: https://www.microcenter.com/product/640898/hp-omen-15-ek1013dx-156-gaming-laptop-computer-refurbished-black

 

If you can find something like that online, you'll have a solid platform with a nice 300hz G-Sync display all integrated into one. If you want to run external monitors for movies, you can easily do so through thunderbolt or HDMI 2.1.

 

You could probably sell the 3080 and nab something like that laptop outright as @Arika Smentioned. If you found yourself needing more GPU horsepower in the future, buy something faster than the RTX 3070 Max-Q and run it through TB3, just be mindful that you'll likely incur a 20-30% performance penalty if you run an eGPU through TB3 without using an external monitor as well.

[Emanbaird]

15 hours ago, tkitch said:

I'd go laptop.

Decent GPUs today are fuckin' HEAVY, and that can ruin your board and / or card on a bump.

 

Pack a laptop into a properly padded bag, and you're pretty safe.

 

Thats true, I hadn't even considered the impact of being mobile on the components themselves

[Emanbaird]

It definitely seems like I'll be using a laptop eGPU in conjunction with my current monitor.

Should I just use my existing 3080?

 

[Roswell]

41 minutes ago, Emanbaird said:

It definitely seems like I'll be using a laptop eGPU in conjunction with my current monitor.

Should I just use my existing 3080?

 

At that point you're not really saving much power if that's your concern. IIRC a 3080 can pull north of 300W while gaming. Your laptop and monitor will be another 100W.

 

So instead of your gaming PC pulling 550W you're going down to 400W which will still absolutely tear through batteries. Meanwhile, an average gaming laptop would be pulling 100-150W.