Looking for solution for gaming via remote desktop

Question

So I have a TV in my room I'd like to able to use to remotely connect to my gaming PC from, but I am trying to find a solution for this that wont cost much.

For context, I have the TV and PS4 in my room because they are both super quiet and dont interfere with my sleep. The gaming PC I keep in the office (just a room away) since the LED's and fan noise sometimes disturb my sleep, and I have a different setup for office use (coursework, game dev, etc).

Basically, instead of buying a whole new gaming PC for the bedroom, I want to have a means to connect to it, play games, and use peripherals such as my PS4 controller/a Vive HMD without having them directly connected. All while running as quietly as a PS4 while in use, and totally silent when not in use.

Now to the r/computerbuilding aspect.

Ive thought of a couple options for how to make this work, but I want to explore some of the options more and see what would really be best before dedicating to a build.

1) Smart TV My current TV doesnt have any wifi functionality so ive considered buying a smart 4k tv 55" (same dimensions as the current one). Costwise this is probably around the middle, id imagine a cost of 600 to 700 $, however id be upgrading to 4K as well. My concerns with this are that I dont think there is any way to actually control the PC (except maybe using CEC with the tv remote) unless I pair this with a thin client.

2) Thin Client This would probably be very low cost compared to other solutions (200 or under), but I have little experience with thin clients. It seems since they dont use RAM or an HDD they run their own unique OS. So it seems it could be a bit more complex than using RDP from a Windows thick client. Also concerned that there may not be enough ports for USB peripherals, or that it could handle processing 4k/VR.

3) Thick Client This would maybe run somewhere in the middle of the road but could potentially end up costing as much as #1. Maybe I am misunderstanding what a thick client is, but by my definition it is a low spec PC (has RAM and HDD vs the thin client) that can offer functionality itself (like running Windows and a browser/low usage apps on its own), but would primarily rely on the server (for my purposes likely via RDC) to offload the heavy processing. I like this option because I have more control and options for what hardware I use, specifically with more ports on the mobo), but I am used to doing ATX factor builds. Problem is, I am not sure I can make this small enough (would have to be smaller than MicroATX probably), cheap enough (ideally under 300$), and quiet enough (dont have experience with fanless/minimal fan builds) to be practical. I also expect a PS4 controller would probably work over RDC but I am less confident if a Vive would also work under this setup.

So right now I am leaning towards 2 or 3 (I dont have pressing need for a TV upgrade), but I am a bit on the fence since this is somewhat unfamiliar territory for me.

Here are some specs for my setups that might be relevant.

Bedroom: 55" SHARP 1080p TV (manufactured something like 2013) PS4 Slim 5 channel speakers w/ sub Input/output audio mixers that mix audio between up to 4 devices, and outputs to 4 devices (the speaker system uses 3 of these lines for fine tuned control of channels)

Office: 3x 21" Dell monitors, wall mounted Crosshair V Formula Z mobo housed in a Level 10 GT Thermaltake chassis AMD FX-8390 (a bit older but good performance for me), watercooled-single radiator ASUS ROG Strix 6GB GDDR5X GTX 1080 32GB (8x4)DDR3 Corsair Ballistix RAM 1000w XFX PSU - 80+ Titanium rated 2TB Samsung 850 Pro 2.5" SSD 3x 4TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDDs in Raid 5 for 8TB storage w/ parity (software raid via FlexRaid-T)

And for internet 250mbps + 5ghz WiFi, networked w/ a 5-port unmanaged switch in office. Direct ethernet to PS4 and PC. May get a switch for the bedroom as well if more ports would help.

Would be interested on hearing some thoughts and opinions on possible setups and which options may work better than others, or even alternatives im not aware of.

Answer 1

First, if you plan on using Windows Remote Desktop you will have the following issues:

• Input latency may be too high for some games
• Video streaming quality/compression & latency may be untolerable
• Game controllers are not passed through
• DirectX games must be run in windowed mode
• OpenGL doesn't work at all unless the application is already running before connecting

There are better remote desktop/streaming solutions available though:

• Steam In-Home Streaming
• Geforce GameStream
• NoMachine (Still has some issues)

Steam In-Home Streaming requires a device that can run Steam. Android supports it too. You can use Steam to stream any game installed on the server PC, not just games you own on Steam.

Your GTX 1080 also makes you a good candidate for using Geforce GameStream, which requires either an Nvidia Shield device or another PC/Android device (using a third-party client). If I recall correctly, Steam In-Home Streaming uses the same GPU features as Geforce GameStream to encode/compress the video, so the video should look nearly the same.

On to the hardware recommendation:

A low-end PC with HDMI (thick client) would be all you need to experiment with all 3 of those streaming solutions. With low-end hardware you could even go as far as using fanless coolers and simply avoid connecting any LEDs that may bother you.

If you want to keep cost down, an Android box should be able to use the new Steam In-Home client for Android. These things can cost as little as $60 and will work with the DualShock 4 controller over bluetooth. Of course an Android smart TV should be able to run this app too.

Lastly, I am not aware of any solution to stream VR from one PC to another.