Build plan [moving out]

[Peter_SNV]

Hey,

 

Just watched the latest "your old pc is your new server" and it got me thinking: I'm about to move out and have two computers right now.

One is my current gaming and work pc. The other one is just an old unused one.

 

I'd love to do the following: convert my old model into a media server and perhaps run games on it connected to my TV. But I'm afraid it won't be able to handle much (examples: sekiro, witcher, dark souls, ...).

If that old pc is unable to run any of those games on a TV, I could also hook up my current gaming/office pc. But that pc would probably be in a different room or at the very least quite a bit away from the TV.

 

Question:

How should I upgrade or mix my hardware to make this possible?

Is there a reliable way to connect my current pc to the TV if the current TV is in a different room or far away? To run games.

(I can't drill holes in the wall)

 

Budget (including currency): 1000 euro

Country: Belgium

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: plex media server, games

Old build

i5-4690

h97-hd3

gtx 960 2gb

16gb ram (ddr3 ram, not sure about specifics)

 

Current build

AMD Ryzen 7 3700x

B450 tomahawk

RX 5700 XT

32 gb ram

 

TV

LG C1

[BiotechBen]

The old PC should be able to do media server with little effort, you can run one on something as basic as a Ras Pi 4B, the 960 will be limiting for games on a C1, but given the current environment you shouldn't be shocked to get gouged for a better card. If you see a 1060 6gb available for a reasonable price I'd go to that, good all around card, and sell the 960 for like 100-120, make someone really happy. The far away gaming is going to be a latency problem for the most part, you could try repeaters/extenders, but it'll increase latency a bit so no competitive twitch reflex games going pro for that machine.

[Kronion]

21 minutes ago, Peter_SNV said:

Is there a reliable way to connect my current pc to the TV if the current TV is in a different room or far away? To run games.

Steam Link might work (if you use Steam). Some TVs do have the option to install the App directly (my Samsung TV has it). It does work quite well, but you either need a very stable WLAN connection or you'd have to wire everything. It's what I use when playing games on my TV. Works quite well, but isn't guaranteed.

 

Quote

Old build

i5-4690

h97-hd3

gtx 960 2gb

16gb ram (ddr3 ram, not sure about specifics)

That's actually not that bad of a system. It's old, yes, but still quite capable to run games that are a little older.

 

Not a whole lot of options for a CPU upgrade. You can install up to a i7-4790K, but that's basically it. Probably not worth it.

There's a whole lot more headroom GPU-wise, but the problem there is (as usual) availability. A GTX 1060 6GB, 1070 or a RTX 2060 (or maybe a 3050 Ti, if that ever surfaces) would fit that system quite nicely. Finding a card for a reasonable price that is actually faster than the 960 will be a challenge.