PC Gaming on a TV - Yay or nay?

[KallDrexx]

This is going to be a terribly stupid question, but do CPUs come with a heatsink/fan or do you have to buy one separately? I ask because no bundles actually have one bundled, which seems odd.

*edit* and how easy is it to chip a CPU these days by putting on a heatsink/fan?  I remember doing that in high school and being pissed off.

[Kageru]

They generally ship with a heatsink. But it's not that well respected generally for quality, cooling or noise (tends to use small size fans which can whine). For a silent or performance PC a after market replacement which can have a large cooling area and larger / slower fan is a worthwhile investment. And a pain to retrofit in most cases.

Gaming pc needs better processor, more ram and the best gpu you can afford. Should also have decent input options, though a powered USB hub goes a long way for that. My old power pc & cooling 650W PSU is a total champ despite me having a case stuffed full of things running off it. (I also have 2 gpus and overclock so pfft).

Anyway, if you don't require a SFF, I'd stay away from it for a gaming rig. Too many heat issues and lots of component compromise due to size. Get a big roomy case and tons of big fans.

The SG03 I have has two 120mm fans going straight through the case. It's perfectly adequate for a grunt PC, and a small form factor fits neatly in a lot of environments. I'd only consider a big PC case if you are overclocking, running multiple top end video cards or a lot of disks.

With graphics cards don't be tempted by the top of the line. They're generally over-kill for a TV, which is relatively low res (and have nice soft pixels providing automatic anti-aliasing), and have a substantial premium. Even if you can afford it you'll generally get much better value with something a notch or two down the pecking order. They also tend to have the clocks wound down a bit and refined manufacturing which helps a lot with heat management. Also graphics cards are pretty easily upgradeable over the life of the machine.

This is making me so want to upgrade my own PC :/

[Sky]

1080p can still be a beast when running shadows and a lot of shaders with a large view distance. Although I'm still running dual 460 1GBs and mostly good.

I wouldn't be opposed to trying a SFF case at some point, though this is the second pc I've used my p80 for. But it absolutely has to fit the Accelero cooler, that puppy will be on every gpu I can fit it onto, it's an order of magnitude quieter than anything short of liquid.

[Azazel]

Slightly off-topic, but for watching "television", look into a WDTV and a 1TB or so portable hard drive.

[KallDrexx]

So, I've finally come up with the following build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Zmof.

I've pretty much completely blown my hopeful budget of $700 out of the water but oh well, it's still slightly less than I was expecting to pay for a gaming laptop.  I went for the water cooling (same kind my friend has so at least I know someone who uses it) because it was only $40 more than an aftermarket cooler, and since I will be using this to watch movies and such (since it's attached to my TV) I figured it would be best to have it as quiet as possible. 

[Lounge]

Did my under the tv pc buildout using this case.
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&prod=94

The pro's being:
- Small
- Was one of the few cases i could find without bullshit all over the front
- Full sized atx power supply
- Full sized video card (i have a 670 in mine)

The con's being
- Its cramped as fuck inside

That's nice. 10 x 8 x 15 is nice and tight.

Is it quiet?

I tossed in a closed loop watercooler for the CPU so its pretty quiet unless I'm gaming and the video card spins up.

[Bungee]

How about something like this?

[taolurker]

Since everyone else is commenting about the PC itself, and concentrating on the set up, I will attempt to answer a question that wasn't really addressed... The mouse and keyboard ones.

I turned my cable TV off over a year ago, and have a laptop to TV setup, and I use a Logitech K400 Wireless Keyboard with touch pad.



It works reasonably well for almost everything, it has an almost full size keyboard, and it's lightweight. I also only had a few differing games or applications I needed a separate wireless mouse for. When using a wireless mouse with this keyboard I usually will use a book or TV tray for the mouse surface, but with optical mice they work almost anyplace.

[KallDrexx]

That's a cool little keyboard.  seems like the perfect size too (especially if I need to play a game with another real mouse)

[KallDrexx]

Well ordered everything with this final configuration.  It actually came out to about $950 charged due to some Newegg deals going on (not counting the $40 in mail in rebates).  Seems like a pretty good deal.  I also did get that keyboard tao recommended.

Let's see how this goes, and hopefully I don't do what I did many eons ago and crack my CPU while installing the heatsink.

[Goreschach]

I'm guessing it was a pre-heat spreader cpu?

Socketted cpu's all come with an ihs now, so you'd have to tighten the heatsink bracket pretty tight to crack one now.

[KallDrexx]

I'm guessing it was a pre-heat spreader cpu?

Socketted cpu's all come with an ihs now, so you'd have to tighten the heatsink bracket pretty tight to crack one now.

Yeah, it was an old AMD chip back probably 10-12 years ago.  They didn't have the metal plate that today's CPUs have (or at least intels).  So if you didn't apply pressure equally when attaching the heatsink you could chip a corner.

[KallDrexx]

Since everyone else is commenting about the PC itself, and concentrating on the set up, I will attempt to answer a question that wasn't really addressed... The mouse and keyboard ones.

I turned my cable TV off over a year ago, and have a laptop to TV setup, and I use a Logitech K400 Wireless Keyboard with touch pad.



It works reasonably well for almost everything, it has an almost full size keyboard, and it's lightweight. I also only had a few differing games or applications I needed a separate wireless mouse for. When using a wireless mouse with this keyboard I usually will use a book or TV tray for the mouse surface, but with optical mice they work almost anyplace.

Holy crap man, that keyboard is extremely light.  I'm liking it, thanks for the tip!

[taolurker]

Glad you like it. It's something I couldn't do without, having a media PC to TV.

Not only is it lightweight, but I'm still using the first batteries it came with more than a year later. The size is almost perfect (when you get used to the right shift being skewed slightly for the arrow keys. The touch pad mouse and additional mouse button in the upper left corner made it really easy (especially if you already are good at using a laptop touchpad). It works great for general browsing, and I've even done some gaming with it. Only fps games required a separate mouse (at least for me).

[Lounge]

I'm assuming you're wanting to do more than just game on this tv.  One of the big problems I had was finding a remote setup for watching media.  I settled in on this device:
http://flirc.tv/

It's essentially a piece of hardware and software that let you point any remote at it and tell it what key / keys it needs to send when it sees that signal again.  Its basically the reverse of a universal remote for a computer.

[Venkman]

So, I've finally come up with the following build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Zmof.\

Wow I'm outta touch. I love that site!

[KallDrexx]

Not only is it lightweight, but I'm still using the first batteries it came with more than a year later. The size is almost perfect (when you get used to the right shift being skewed slightly for the arrow keys. The touch pad mouse and additional mouse button in the upper left corner made it really easy (especially if you already are good at using a laptop touchpad). It works great for general browsing, and I've even done some gaming with it. Only fps games required a separate mouse (at least for me).

Lol right after I posted that I started noticing the out of place right shift key.  That is awkward, but I'll get used to it.

I'm assuming you're wanting to do more than just game on this tv.  One of the big problems I had was finding a remote setup for watching media.  I settled in on this device:
http://flirc.tv/

It's essentially a piece of hardware and software that let you point any remote at it and tell it what key / keys it needs to send when it sees that signal again.  Its basically the reverse of a universal remote for a computer.

Neat thanks!.  Now that I got things setup (literally in the last few hours) I've been trying to figure out how to make it accessible for the wife.  I'll check this out.

So, I've finally come up with the following build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Zmof.\

Wow I'm outta touch. I love that site!

I was bumbling around like an idiot trying to pick out parts before a friend told me about that site.

[Quinton]

I think the biggest issue I'd run into is that my TV is only 46".  It's fine for watching some TV or a movie in my relatively small living room, but I sit about 13 feet away from it and I suspect I'd want a much larger TV to make text/icons/etc more comfortable.

[KallDrexx]

I think the biggest issue I'd run into is that my TV is only 46".  It's fine for watching some TV or a movie in my relatively small living room, but I sit about 13 feet away from it and I suspect I'd want a much larger TV to make text/icons/etc more comfortable.

Mine's only 49 or 50.  I have only played one game so far (Mark of the Ninja) but everything seems comfortable to read at 1366x768 (apparently thats one of the native resolutions of my tv)

[Sky]

I think the biggest issue I'd run into is that my TV is only 46".  It's fine for watching some TV or a movie in my relatively small living room, but I sit about 13 feet away from it and I suspect I'd want a much larger TV to make text/icons/etc more comfortable.

That's way too small if you're 13' away ;) I'd recommend at least a 60" for that distance. It seems too big for about 5 minutes, and then everything else seems too tiny.

My fiancee is pretty pissed DLP production is over. She's a convert and now keeping up with the sizes we're used to just got 5x more expensive for lesser tech (imo...I was just watching my DLP from like 75-80 degrees off center and it was fully watchable).

[Lounge]

I've found that unless I'm pretty close to my 60" I can't read the text on a 1080p.  Its not an issue when playing games or using big picture mode, but it makes using a web browser pretty bad.  Initially I tried adjusting the DPI setting in windows but I found that had problems with a few of the games I wanted to play so I turned it off.  I just use my iPad or laptop if I'm on the couch and want to do anything but play a game, watch some tv, or a movie.

[Sky]

crtl+

[taolurker]

Yeah Sky, I was reading that thinking why doesn't he just zoom.



Guess it's totally possible people don't know about it... For old guys or like me on a 50" tv with media pc, Yes Ctrl +, or ctrl scroll wheel, but mostly I use the pinch gestures on my trusty mini keyboard (hint Kaldrexx lol).

[KallDrexx]

Yeah, at first I was squinting at text while browsing sites to download everything and then I randomly tried ping-to-zoom.  It works pretty flawlessly on that keyboard, and makes it pretty easy to make web pages easily readable from the tv :D

[Kageru]

I'm really happy with having ditched the TV and just making the computer the center of the room. A big table, his and hers computers, 30" monitor, comfy chair a couple of meters back. If there was any content on TV I cared about I'd get a TV card but that's moving to streaming anyway.

Really space efficient too, which maybe will become a factor if more people are living in smaller spaces and the "big-ass TV room" becomes a luxury.

[Venkman]

Gods, statements like that make me wish my wife was a gamer.

But then, if I married a gamer with as little self moderation skills as I have, well, we'd probably both be on an episode of Hoarders or some shit.

[Sky]

Really space efficient too, which maybe will become a factor if more people are living in smaller spaces and the "big-ass TV room" becomes a luxury.

My house is 950sq ft 

[Quinton]

I'd need to check on width, but I fear a 60" TV would push my L/R speakers into the hallway and the path of the front door (my house is a little larger than Sky's at 1200ft^2, but the living room is not a very large room).

[Pennilenko]

You people know big tvs are meant to be hung on articulating mounts bolted to a wall, right?

[Sky]

I have 5 doors (one an oversized double french set) and a large set of windows in my living room. It's a challenge to re-arrange for the winter to accomodate the wood heat, but the summer setup is perfect. It's roughly 16x16.

[KallDrexx]

Finally got my gaming area setup.

[taolurker]

Are the floor pillows (right side of the TV, directly next to the end of the couch/PC) for a pet bed? If so, I would consider possibly moving the PC. Pet hair is not something that is especially good for a PC to inhale and could lead to heat issues.

The left side of the entertainment unit, where there's nothing and then a (closet?) door would be just as good a place IMO, if it must be on the floor. Another benefit is it prevents sunlight hitting the PC.

[KallDrexx]

Yeah, the pillows are for my dog.  I'm fully expecting to have to clean out the computer about once a month. 

I can't put it to the left side, mostly because my wife refuses to have the "copy machine" that out in the open (the wood on the left of the picture is the door to the hallway).

[Sky]

I have a 12' corded powered usb hub that I mounted under the coffee table that works great. My keyboard's rf receiver, wired mouse and card reader plugged in and still room for one more device. Good speeds, since the card reader is for pictures from my camera.