Steamos preparations.. need advice.

[ghostyroasty]

I have been using a Radeon 5870 with a Core 2 Duo for my gaming needs, but with the Steamos announcement, I am planning on taking the gpu out and put it in my i7 media server to stream my games to the Core 2 Duo and other hardware. Does anyone have any advice for a cheaper gpu for the Core 2 Duo to run various emulators, light non Steam gaming, and running a Plex Ht client on?

 

[Imouto]

I'd be really surprised if they don't make a Miracast-like app for SmartTV/Android/iOS devices.

 

[A5]

I'd be really surprised if they don't make a Miracast-like app for SmartTV/Android/iOS devices.

Or a cheap Chromecast-style dongle.

For cheap cards, something like a Radeon 6570 would probably work fine.

 

[KingFatty]

Are you sure you'll need a powerful GPU just to display compressed video streaming?

The whole point is to offload the GPU gruntwork to your gaming PC, and the living room PC is just a video streamer so it only needs to be able to simply decode a simple video feed.

So I say just keep your gaming PC with the fancy GPU, so long as your living room PC can display HD video you should be fine, without needing a fancy GPU in that living room computer.

 

[ghostyroasty]

i'm not sure how well the integrated gpu can handle emulation as well as a dedicated gpu which is probably what i need advice on more.

 

[Warsam71]

Do you have a budget in mind?
The 6000 and 7000 series GPU will do the trick...

Also, have you heard of PCPartPicker?
Here is a link to GPUs for you: http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/

 

[ghostyroasty]

Thanks for the response.. I usually go for advice before using partspicker... Maybe i should go for the opposite. I may go for the opposite of my initial post and add a newer gpu to the i7 machine and keep the older gpu in the core 2 duo.

I was thinking about getting the 7970... The cheaper the better of course, but I want this to last a few years as it will be replacing my usual console purchase.

 

[tential]

I'd say why not wait for more information on what you'll actually need? You're trying to prepare for it when we don't even know the details.
Edit: I'm excited though as now I'll be able to finish up TombRaider from the comfort of my bed and laptop lol.

 

[ghostyroasty]

You're right, I am! With the games I play, I figure I could het something to complement my i7 tower that is now just a media server with the hd4000 integrated graphics... With Steamos on the other machine, I can make my tower a gaming server as well ... But yeah, I'm excited as well.
Edit: just read the amd announcement... I might go for the mid tier card depending on the pricing of the high end one.

 

[tential]

You're right, I am! With the games I play, I figure I could het something to complement my i7 tower that is now just a media server with the hd4000 integrated graphics... With Steamos on the other machine, I can make my tower a gaming server as well ... But yeah, I'm excited as well.
Edit: just read the amd announcement... I might go for the mid tier card depending on the pricing of the high end one.

No reason to use SteamOS at the moment. Most ilkely your library of games has a TON of games that aren't linux compatible yet. I'd let other people test the bugs out. How I'm doing it is like this.

My Media Server also servers as my gaming rig and my HTPC. It's multipurpose hooked up to my HDTV with a Ceton Quad Tuner. (I'll list specs so you it's clear what it does)
4770k
HD7950
Ceton Quad Tuner
8GB DDR3 Ram.
Fractal Design Define R4 case

It's a PC!

Now I have a laptop currently, I plan on using that as the actual device I play Tombraider and other steam games on. It'll simply just allow me more choices of where I can use the power of that 4770k. It currently has NOT been used. I literally have clocked in 20 hours of gaming since I purchased it.

Where I think this tech will TRULY shine though is within the next 10 years. Not saying 10 years exactly but I'm saying during t his time period, we'll have Google Fiber, and competitors rolled out in a TON of areas. Latency will be decreased, we'll have internet access almost EVERYWHERE, etc. At this point, I think cloud gaming will truly work, and companies who have invested in the tech and bringing it to people will be rewarded. It'd be great if I could purchase an Nvidia Shield type device and play my games on it ANYWHERE using my home PCs power (Yes I could use "The cloud" but I'd probably then have to pay a premium to use their servers vs my own PC which I already own).

 

[cmdrdredd]

Doesn't streaming introduce latency and input lag too? I think it's too early to commit to SteamOS in any way.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Doesn't streaming introduce latency and input lag too? I think it's too early to commit to SteamOS in any way.

The stigma of unacceptable latency while streaming games stems from streaming it from a cloud rendering streaming service where the latency is due to internet latency. Local network latency shouldn't be a problem unless you're trying to play a competitive shooter or other such higher stakes game (which you'd just play on your gaming PC anyway with the keyboard and mouse). For any of the couch-oriented games a SteamOS system is going to be geared towards anyway, we'll be fine.

 

[SPBHM]

Doesn't streaming introduce latency and input lag too? I think it's too early to commit to SteamOS in any way.

yes but it can be acceptable like it is with Shield
http://*********/ixRrACEIDhk?t=2m32s


but we don't know enough about SteamOS for any kind of preparation.

edit: why I can't post a youtube link?

 

[ghostyroasty]

No reason to use SteamOS at the moment. Most ilkely your library of games has a TON of games that aren't linux compatible yet. I'd let other people test the bugs out. How I'm doing it is like this.

My i7 media server will be on Windows.. the client pc would dual boot Steamos and Windows. When they announced Steamos, they mentioned streaming from a Windows pc to Steamos, which makes my full library accessible.

 

[ghostyroasty]

Decided on getting a 7970.. the ghz edition has not come down in price at least from what I've seen... would I lose a lot of performance going for the regular 7970s?
$300 price point is solid now for me.