Gaming on the pc: Desk vs couch?

[AshleyAshes]

1 hour ago, Yoinkerman said:

Couch pc really only works with controller games.  Keep that in mind

A wide range of games are playable and even best played with a gamepad.  Mostly MOBA, RTS and FPS games are the exception. (And lots of console players do happily play with gamepads)

 

...And you can totally get a keyboard for the couch too.

 

http://www.roccat.org/en-CA/Products/Gaming-Keyboards/Sova/

[Yoinkerman]

1 hour ago, Gdourado said:

Right, but today most AAA titles on the pc are multi platform titles that just run at higher framerates and with added detail on the pc. 

So I think controller support is pretty spot on these days.

If those are the games you play, yeah it works pretty good.  I play enough kb/mouse games so that I need a desk and not a couch desk.

 

I have a desk pc and a couch pc(and a bed pc lol)

[B16CXHatch]

I do both. Originally, my main PC and TV were in the same room so I just ran a long HDMI cable and switched whenever I wanted to play a more gamepad-centric title. If it was a more keyboard and mouse title, I would stay at my desk and play there. I still do the same basic thing but I have a dedicated HTPC for it now. It's my old gaming PC that I rebuilt into a SilverStone Grandia GD-09 case. I don't have a 4K TV so an i7 4790K and a GTX 1060 6GB are more than enough to run pretty much anything at 1080p, while I let my 7700K + GTX 1080 rig handle the keyboard and mouse games on my 1440p monitor.

 

I have, in the past, gone a while using a PC hooked to a TV exclusively for whatever reason and it's gets old after a while for a lot of stuff. It's great for video and gamepad-centric games but gets old quick for everything else. I will always have a desk for my main PC.

[Snowglobes_The_Destroyer]

TL;DR: PC gaming on desk is best in my opinion

 

Soo, I've had consoles most my life, and got my first PC 3+ years ago. I personally think it's great fun to do couch gaming, especially with friends. That being said I think PC should be separate and on a desk, only certain games which are controller compatible are any good on couch (in my opinion). I just hooked up my PC to an old TV at some point (as an experiment) to see if it's worth it, and i can say that for many games, I don't think so.

In addition, many games just don't scale well to a big TV or even to that resolution.

[Mooshi]

It honestly depends on the types of games you play and your adaptability with a controller.  

 

Like I can't imagine playing Overwatch or Minecraft on anything other than keyboard and mouse, but people do it.

[mrchow19910319]

I think I can't be the only person that never got used to using controller for gaming. 

[Nuluvius]

11 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

I think I can't be the only person that never got used to using controller for gaming. 

That's because the controller is for plebs and filthy console peasants.

[Gdourado]

Not quite. 

I guess it depends on the games. 

For example, I play assassin's creed games, shadow of mordor, mad max, enslaved, the batman games much better with the 360 controller rather than my mechanical keyboard and proteus core mouse. 

 

Cheers 

[Nuluvius]

1 hour ago, Gdourado said:

Not quite. 

I guess it depends on the games. 

For example, I play assassin's creed games, shadow of mordor, mad max, enslaved, the batman games much better with the 360 controller rather than my mechanical keyboard and proteus core mouse. 

 

Cheers 

Because those are awful games 

[AshleyAshes]

40 minutes ago, Nuluvius said:

Because those are awful games 

Ah, this is one of those childish 'I don't like the games that you like, so they don't even count as games' kinda things, huh?

[Nuluvius]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Ah, this is one of those childish 'I don't like the games that you like, so they don't even count as games' kinda things, huh?

Is it?

 

I don't like them because they are boring and the point about the controller simply compounds the matter. In more recent decades games have lost a significant amount and don't even get me started on MMOs of this era.

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, Nuluvius said:

Is it?

 

I don't like them because they are boring and the point about the controller simply compounds the matter. In more recent decades games have lost a significant amount and don't even get me started on MMOs of this era.

Wow, you've rather firmly diverged from 'controller is for plebs and filthy console peasants' to 'all games basically such these days anyway, so who cares?' just to escape criticism of you're original point.

[Nuluvius]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Wow, you've rather firmly diverged from 'controller is for plebs and filthy console peasants' to 'all games basically such these days anyway, so who cares?' just to escape criticism of you're original point.

I think that you should take lessons in sarcasm so that you may recognise it when you see it. Let me help ya with that by offering ya a diagram:

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, Nuluvius said:

I think that you should take lessons in sarcasm so that you may recognise it when you see it. Let me help ya with that by offering ya a diagram:

Speaking of taking it too hard. ;)

[CalvinHunt99]

On 8/25/2017 at 6:03 AM, Gdourado said:

Hello, how are you? 

 

So, I have always been a pc gamer and I always gamed at a desk. 

I currently have a 27 inch g-sync 144hz display, a nice mechanical keyboard, a proteus core mouse, Xbox 360 wired controller and my nice speakers and external dac setup. 

 

But recently I got a ps3 to finally do a playtrough of The Last of Us. 

I hooked the ps3 on the living room on my old 42 inch 1080p TV and went through the game. 

 

I have to say I enjoyed the experience of gaming on the couch, with my feet up and on a relaxed posture. 

 

So, this got me thinking about downsizing my build to an itx build on a node 202, sell my monitor, speakers and dac to finance a new 55 inch 4k tv and go all out pc gaming on the living room. 

 

What are your thoughts on this idea? 

Has any of you made a similar switch? 

Are you happy with the results? 

 

Or should I just trash my ikea desk chair and get a new dx racer chair? Would that make a big difference to the comfort of desk gaming? 

 

Cheers and thanks. 

I personally have a friend who games on his couch with a pretty beefy PC. He let me try it out, and as far as Input Lag / Response Times go it wasn't terrible at all. I wouldn't recommend doing any serious competitive play this way, however it's all personal preference. I can say myself that sitting in a chair at a desk all the time can get quite boring or uncomfortable if you don't have a nice chair. Make sure to do your research on all the compatible equipment before you make the switch, maybe a surround sound setup or even a pair of studio monitors might be nice to get for audio. BUT! If you're going to do a living room setup, please make sure your PC isn't just sat on the ground without any good protection. Dust build up and whatever else will happen and degrade your internals pretty fast, so at least try to keep your PC safe if you decide to go that route. 

[AshleyAshes]

24 minutes ago, CalvinHunt99 said:

I personally have a friend who games on his couch with a pretty beefy PC. He let me try it out, and as far as Input Lag / Response Times go it wasn't terrible at all. I wouldn't recommend doing any serious competitive play this way, however it's all personal preference.

Well, input lag is also going to vary a great deal by television and how it's configured.  My 65" Samsung 4K TV, when game mode is enabled, has an input lag of 20ms on RGB input and 37ms on YCbPr. (More like 120ms without game mode enabled).  20ms isn't 'ultra low gaming latency' but it's pretty negligible and it's inline with a lot of non-'gaming' monitors.  My 2012 PB278Q for example has an input lag of 16.6ms for example.  (FYI, that 'Response Time' metric that most monitors list is NOT a measurement of Input Lag')

 

That said, for sure, if someone forgets to switch to game mode, you'll have significant input lag and it'll be even worse if they leave that interpolation garbage enabled.

[Monkey Dust]

A small ITX build, like the 202, could be moved between desk and couch really easily as long as you keep your cables neat.

[bowrilla]

I moved entirely to couch gaming. It's more comfortable to just put my feet up and play on a 46" TV. I'm not a heavy (semi) pro gamer so I don't care for best gaming ergonomics fot gaming for hours and hours and hours day in and day out. Don't have an issue with FPS or RTS games as well – my keyboard can comfortable sit on my lap and with a proper support my mouse is sitting perfectly well next to me. Linus tested some dedicated solutions for couch gaming as well.

Oh and not to forget – everything is plugged into my stereo system which is better than anything I've ever had on any desk – so sound is better as well.

[CalvinHunt99]

10 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

Well, input lag is also going to vary a great deal by television and how it's configured.  My 65" Samsung 4K TV, when game mode is enabled, has an input lag of 20ms on RGB input and 37ms on YCbPr. (More like 120ms without game mode enabled).  20ms isn't 'ultra low gaming latency' but it's pretty negligible and it's inline with a lot of non-'gaming' monitors.  My 2012 PB278Q for example has an input lag of 16.6ms for example.  (FYI, that 'Response Time' metric that most monitors list is NOT a measurement of Input Lag')

 

That said, for sure, if someone forgets to switch to game mode, you'll have significant input lag and it'll be even worse if they leave that interpolation garbage enabled.

I'm not disagreeing with that whatsoever, I'm just saying that from the way my buddy had his living room rig setup it was actually quite surprising how comfortable it was to play on. 

[Gdourado]

Just an update. 

The decision is made. 

I will stay at the desk. 

But it wasn't my decision. 

It was decided by my wife.

As soon as I tried to pitch the idea to her, she said and I quote :

Don't even think about it. 

You already have a full room for you and your stuff. 

Don't even think about bringing your games to the living room. 

So that's that. 

 

Cheers 

[bowrilla]

Lol. And I thought a small ITX system in the living room had a bigger WAF (or SAF to include everyone?) than a full room of tech …

[Nuluvius]

23 minutes ago, Gdourado said:

As soon as I tried to pitch the idea to her, she said and I quote :

Don't even think about it. 

You already have a full room for you and your stuff. 

Don't even think about bringing your games to the living room.

Wow it's as if you were a giant child. I can't quite reconcile which is worse the fact that you felt like you had to 'pitch the idea to her' or the response that you received 

[THFourteen]

Wow that's harsh. 

 

My living room has an HTPC connected to the TV so I can play FIFA or PES if nobody's watching the tv. I also have a Switch and a PS3 (altho that's mainly a blu ray player)

 

my my wife would never dream of telling me I can't have those in the living room, it said part of who i am and who she chose to marry!

 

i don't tell her she can't watch all her rubbish tv shows like Ex on the Beach!!