Lounge Room Gaming Options

johnwinds on 30/12/2019 - 19:07

I've been wanting to buy a NUC type device for some light gaming in the lounge with the family (all those free Xmas Epic Games games come to mind). I'm trying to cut costs, so I've been looking at the Intel Skull Canyon (instead of the more expensive Hades Canyon); and also looking in Ebay/Facebook marketplace for any second-hand bargains. So far I haven't had much luck hitting the price point I'm wanting on Ebay, with my bids being beaten just before the auction ends. My requirements are decent CPU and graphics performance (not top end obviously), very low fan noise and small form factor (ideally, I don't want a whole PC box sitting in the lounge). I know I can build my own, but probably not at a small form factor.

So I started looking at buying a new unit and found this Scorptec offer, which is $749 for a Skull Canyon unit. Their Hades Canyon is $1349.

Any thoughts on whether this is a decent deal? Or any thoughts otherwise about the best solution for this?

Computing

Comments

  • spackbace on 30/12/2019 - 19:15
    +1

    light gaming in the lounge with the family

    which is $749 for a Skull Canyon unit. Their Hades Canyon is $1349.

    Jees buy a console…

    • johnwinds on 30/12/2019 - 19:22

      True, that is an option. I always liked the flexibility I got with PCs though (i.e. being able to set up different software engines, i.e. MAME etc; I guess you can probably do that on consoles too these days?). I guess I never liked being locked in to the restrictive ecosystem of the console world. I also know you can jail break some consoles and then tinker around (I did some Wii home brew stuff way back), but it seems more trouble than it's worth, and you're still kind of locked in to the "jail broken OS". Also, are all PC games available for consoles? Even the small indie ones? But you do make a compelling argument regarding ease of use, turn key solution and low costs.

      • spackbace on 30/12/2019 - 20:01

        For that price, you could get an Xbox One S, PS4 and a RP3 loaded with roms

        Just as a comparison ;)

        • p1 ama on 30/12/2019 - 20:11

          I generally find consoles annoying. That's coming from someone who has a PS4 Pro, Xbox One S, two Nintendo Switches and also a gaming PC in the lounge room. They're still using disc technology stuck in the last decade whilst PCs have had digital distribution worked out for years. If it weren't for 1) exclusives, and 2) online games which only really have a player base on consoles, I would not buy consoles.

          On consoles, the selection of games even available digitally is small, and even then, the digital games are more expensive than their disc versions, which are also usually more expensive than the PC version (if it exists). If I want to play a game, I have to go to the store, or order online and wait for days for it to show up. Every time I want to switch games, I have to go look for the game I want to play from my shelf and put it in…etc. This was fine 20 years ago, but technology has moved on.

          It's great that other options like Xbox Game Pass are now offered (which I think is a huge step in the right direction).

          • spackbace on 30/12/2019 - 20:15
            +1

            @p1 ama:

            It's great that other options like Xbox Game Pass

            I was going to say, you make it seem all doom and gloom otherwise! Game Pass Ultimate for under $100/yr (easily cheaper with deals/hacks on here), and a whole library of games just makes sense.

            On consoles, the selection of games even available digitally is small

            Except that every game is available in digital form, so why say that?

            the digital games are more expensive than their disc versions

            RRP yes, however don't jump at initial launch and you'll quite often find digital versions on special

            • p1 ama on 30/12/2019 - 20:27

              @spackbace:

              Except that every game is available in digital form, so why say that?

              My bad, I was confusing being available for purchase digitally vs. being a part of a subscription service. My bad.

              RRP yes, however don't jump at initial launch and you'll quite often find digital versions on special

              Yes, I agree, but they're still more expensive than the physical releases in general. Basically, if I just want to play a particular random game right now, chances are it's cheaper physically than digitally. It's just unfortunate.

              I think Steam was really ahead of its time for digital distribution on PC and it's fundamentally changed how people play games on PC ever since.

              • spackbace on 30/12/2019 - 20:34

                @p1 ama: But then the initial startup costs (console, extra controllers, game pass ultimate) outweigh the additional cost of purchasing games for a few years.

                Hell, could go an Xbox One X for cheaper and have 4K gaming available straight out of the box

      • Jolakot on 30/12/2019 - 20:33

        Easy middle ground, buy yourself an xbox for modern games/media and a raspberry pi with RetroPie for emulation of pretty much anything before 2000.

        If you have a windows PC, you can run games on it from steam/epic and stream them to the xbox, as long as they're both on wifi.

  • p1 ama on 30/12/2019 - 19:50
    +2

    Nope, too expensive. You'll still need RAM and storage, putting you at around $1000, for which you could just build a real PC with a real GPU.

    Something like this:

    PCPartPicker Part List: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/7x4Qyk

    CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($189.00 @ Shopping Express)
    Motherboard: Asus ASUS Prime A320I-K AM4 AMD A320 SATA 6Gb/s Mini ITX AMD Motherboard Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard ($129.00 @ Centre Com)
    Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($85.76 @ Amazon Australia)
    Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($149.00 @ Shopping Express)
    Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB Phoenix OC Video Card ($354.00 @ Skycomp Technology)
    Case: Silverstone SG13 Mini ITX Tower Case ($55.00 @ Mwave Australia)
    Power Supply: Corsair CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($78.00 @ Shopping Express)
    Total: $1039.76
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-30 19:49 AEDT+1100

    The Ryzen 5 2600 can be substituted with the i5 9400F if you just want to game - the i5 9400F is a bit better in games, but the Ryzen will be better at general all-purpose tasks. If you go with the Ryzen, I'd also personally bump up to a B450 board over the A320 board, but if you're not overclocking, this system is fine as it is.

    If you don't care about size, you could go with mATX instead, which will be a bit cheaper than mITX.

    • johnwinds on 30/12/2019 - 19:56

      Thanks for going through the effort for this! This is turning into a real Scrapyard Wars episode :)

      That's definitely a valid option. I wonder how that Silverstone case would look in my lounge though (the slim Skull Canyon form factor could fit into one of those little console shelves I have in the cabinet under the TV), and whether noise could be a problem?

      • p1 ama on 30/12/2019 - 20:00
        +1

        Not sure why you're worried about noise, the Skull Canyon NUC will be far louder because you can't really fit any proper cooling in there.

        The Silverstone case looks decent enough to be in the living room and will fit on one of those shelves. Consider something like a Fractal Design Node 202 if you want something that's a bit more low profile. Or one of the Silverstone Raven series.

        (Yes, I'm strongly not recommending the NUC - it's not a bad product, but it's old and computer tech has improved so rapidly in the past year or so that the mobile-grade 6770HQ is not really going to cut it anymore. The performance will be worse than a $100 i3 9100F, for comparison. The 1660 Super is also a genuinely good GPU, not only will it trounce the iGPU in the NUC, but it'll also be good for any game right now at 1080p 60fps, or higher if you're willing to drop the quality.)

        • johnwinds on 30/12/2019 - 20:04

          Really appreciate your insight. The Skull Canyon height is 28mm and the Silverstone case is 181mm; whether that height difference justifies the cost difference and lesser graphics card is another question.

          6770HQ is not really going to cut it anymore. The performance will be worse than a $100 i3 9100F, for comparison.

          Wow, really? That really surprises me. I guess that's why this forum is so useful.

          • p1 ama on 30/12/2019 - 20:12
            +2

            @johnwinds: If you really care about the height, I'd go with the Fractal Design Node 202.

            Wow, really? That really surprises me. I guess that's why this forum is so useful.

            The 6770HQ was released 4 years ago, and it's also a mobile CPU.

    • johnwinds on 02/01/2020 - 13:48

      What about a used one with 16gb RAM and 480gb SSD for $450? Does that tip the scales?

  • Zazer on 30/12/2019 - 20:04

    Look mate honestly if it's just a casual thing for the family I would recommend an Xbox or Playstation, they're designed to fit that use case perfectly. Yes you won't get the flexibility of a full PC but when are you going to play those small indie games with your family? I'd assume that would be more of a solo thing that you do. However personally I would get a PC, if noise and size was not a factor. Getting a NUC is wasting money spent on the small form factor that could be used to get better specs. Unless you only have a tiny space for the light gaming machine, a NUC will be a waste of that money, since you can have a silent or very quiet PC with the right design.

  • Davo1111 on 30/12/2019 - 23:16

    i wouldnt buy a nuc for gaming. Just spend the money on a better quality computer that's bigger, more powerful and can be upgraded. Put in a huge heatsink and it will be silent like mine.

  • Diminuendo on 02/01/2020 - 18:58

    Do you own your house? For much less than the cost of the hades canyon you can install ethernet in you walls and have a close to lag free experience using a steam link over a wired connection using your existing PC.

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