How will game streaming affect PC rig-building?

There has been a lot of discussion about PS Now being available on PC but it has raised a query with me as to how this affect PC rig-building.

At the moment, to me, gaming on PC involves constant updates to drivers, updating and improving your hardware and dealing with the quirks of Windows 10. This is why I have preferred to play on the PS4 as it is easier and involves less maintenance.

If we truly are going to stream games off a server in the future wouldn't the most important criteria will be the internet connection as most video cards can run streaming. Even my Vita can quite happily stream games from my PS4.

Will rig-building become a victim of game streaming or will it continue in the future?

Streaming will never take off like people think. This would make multiplayer based games unplayable due to latency.

What is probable you will stream a game to play the single player campaign. I probably not going to buy a PS4 now, i have a PC so i am just going to stream the few games Sony has i want to play when i able to get the service.

But it doesn't actually involves that

Lost interest in your second statement, stop talking out of your ass.

I stop reading there!

Every person without a PC says the same thing. TC forgot to add "dealing with viruses", its another thing they all mention.

At the moment PC gaming is ok. I don't like how long it takes to download ram but if you find a good hacker in a multiplayer game they can usually help.

not much,or at least not until everyone has 100+mb/s internet

The same way how console affect PC gaming. Basically nothing.

"At the moment, to me, gaming on PC involves constant updates to drivers, bla bla bla"

That is the same old tired argument used in SW for years and elsewhere when people debate between console gaming and PC. It means jack shit in the grand scheme of things.

I don't think game streaming is going to become the primary method of playing games anytime soon. The technology isn't good enough yet and too many people like myself are going to be very turned off by the idea of streaming games and resist it.

... So basically what you are saying is you don't have a pc and have used the platform very little if ever..

We're a long, long way off game streaming replacing our hardware at home.

PC gaming is an enthusiast hobby, it's not all about sitting on the couch after a day at school or work and playing the next big thing. PC gaming is a hobby not a pastime, that more than anything else is what console only gamers just don't get.

Keeping your hand built rig lean and mean is not a hassle, it's fun and satisfying. Besides just about everything software side can be completely automated should you so wish.

No effect Gaikai and Online both bought by sony were streaming game services of PC games on PC and didn't have any impact on PC at all,no self respected PC gamer would dive into something like that.

Lol Constantly updating drivers... Yeah, updating once a month is so constant. In fact, it's so constant that it's about 50% less constant than updating that new game on your PS4--which takes twice as long.

Lol consoles have non stop updates and game installs these days too....

Tell me about it.

Also I keep having to spend $5000 PER WEEK to keep upgrading my hardware!!!

Gaming PCs has uncompressed pixels!!!!

PC hardware purchases has tax related advantages for certain industries.

It won't.

It will have little impact. PC gamers actually care about quality and streaming is shit. So, the two don't mix well together.

You don't need a super powerful PC to run the games in the first place. Being able to stream them just means that people with older PC's may be able to do it just as well. I don't think it would stop anyone from buying a new PC/upgrading their PC to run all the other games themselves. And I find it hard to believe that the streaming service works well... (downtimes, lag, artifacting)

That statement alone shows that you have no clue what you're talking about.

1. You'll only have to update your GPU driver and thanks to GeForece experience that's now an automatic process. The PS4 has more system updates a year than you'd need driver updates on PC.

2. You'll only have to upgrade when you want/need better graphics/performance. It's a choice. Kinda like with the PS4 and PS4 Pro.

3. You don't like Windows 10? Then use 7 or 8.1. Problem solved. At least you have the option to chose your OS, instead of on consoles where you're forced to use the crappy Xbox Windows OS.

PC also raped my dog!

The problem is most assuredly you if you feel it's necessary to be constantly updating drivers, hardware and dealing with "quirks" in Win10. When you say dumb shit like this people are automatically going to assume you haven't gamed on a PC in at least a decade.

That's what you get for buying disk drives in 2017.

I haven't bought a new card since 2014, driver updates are simple. I have no idea WTF this is about.

I'm still rocking a GTX 780 which came out early 2013, BEFORE both PS4 and Xbox One, yet I'm the one playing games at 1440p at 60+ FPS in most games at a higher graphical fidelity than either of the consoles (including the PS4 Pro). This flies in the face of the commonly held belief among console gamer's that PC gamers are constantly upgrading.

I will admit though that the GTX1080TI is tempting me quit a bit. Thinking about buying it...

@jcafcwbb:

I find it extremely ironic and hypocritical that pc gamers boast about having quality experiences with their almighty rigs yet they act like ps Now is the answer to not being able to play ps games, knowing that streaming games is pretty bad right now. Why would anyone pay for a monthly service just to play console games when they can just buy the damn things instead? At least you get to actually keep what you pay for!

I have the same card, I believe. I don't pretend to be all savvy, a friend from the Army built my PC. He chose all the components and I just plunked down my CC. But I got it in like April or May 2014 and I think he said its a GTX 780 inside. I also have enjoyed games pretty well.

Not at all in any near future, is my guess.

"At the moment, to me, gaming on PC involves constant updates to drivers, updating and improving your hardware and dealing with the quirks of Windows 10. This is why I have preferred to play on the PS4 as it is easier and involves less maintenance."

Making the OPTION to update drivers and the OPTION to update hardware seem like its a negative and a necessity rather than a choice is a typical peasant statement if ever there was one, or at least from somebody who has not touched a PC since the 90's

This is you:

"i'm going to create extra work for myself and convince myself i need to do all this extra stuff or spend all this extra money i don't actually have to, then i'm going to blame the platform for it rather than myself and my inability to not mess with stuff and claim that another platform is less hassle despite all the hassle i just complained about being entirely of my own making"

The stupidity and/or ignorance of some gamers these days is both incredibly entertaining and a point of utter despair.

the servers that run the games which will be streamed will still need powerful hardware

Driver updates take less than five minutes. I upgrade my hardware less often than new consoles come out now. Windows 10 hasn't been a problem for me.

Why just PC gaming?

If streaming does take off, then every single system will be worthless.

I'm still using my 970 bought at launch(2014) it runs games better than X1/ps4 and will do for the rest of the generation.

Latency is an issue. It's not as apparent on games which use controllers, especially wireless controllers since they have their own latency associated with them. However I think people who regularly use K&M (or a good wired controller with good drivers) will notice immediately.

The thing about latency is - ISPs don't give a damn about latency, at least not for regular consumers. You can get gigabit speeds all day but that don't mean a thing about latency.

I think it will take a complete overhaul of the network infrastructures before streaming games can be a good alternative - which basically means it ain't gonna happen.

However.... I do see the possibility for some kind of hybrid streaming - some part taken care of by the servers and some part by your device at home. I don't know how it works yet, but I'm sure some smart person can figure it out.

I'd rather take care of the pixel-pushing on my own. I say what resolutions and detail levels. I have a g-sync monitor to sync up the refresh rate to the frame rate. Streaming is a step down for me.

There are too many variables to just say one can exist without the other.

@gameofthering:

How would it make consoles worthless? Unless the service providers let you buy and keep the games then consoles will never be worthless.

@tormentos I can't wait to play multiplat UC4 and Horizon on PC!

To add some context to the second paragraph which has caused so much consternation I bought a laptop two years ago. I was thinking about scaling down to save space so used one of those can I run it tools on the web to see if I could play the latest games. I think I looked at the Witcher 3 which I was enjoying on PS4. The tool didn't like my processor or graphics card. Now I didn't buy the laptop for gaming but I would have thought it wouldn't be unable to play the game. I use it okay to play the Football Manager games.

My system looks like this:

Processor: Intel Core TM i7-4510U CPU@ 2.00 GHZ

Installed Ram: 16GB (I could order 16GB for the price of 8GB so thought it was a good bargain)

Graphics Card: Nvidia GT 750M

Broadband speed: Currently 20MB (down) 1MB (up) but I am getting a free upgrade to 70MB (down) and 5 MB (up) in May.

Now to play games I would have to update two of my core components. Plus the graphics card wants to update itself again today, second time in a month.

That against, once installed, games updating in the background and the occasional system update on the PS4.

Your CPU should be fine for most games but that 750M is a major weak spot. Having said that, cutting settings back should allow you to play most games. What res is the Laptop screen?

Nvidia release new drivers for most major new games, doesn't mean you have to download them if you're not having any issues doing what you're doing. This week's driver update is for Mass Effect: Andromeda and Rockband VR, the last one was for Ghost Recon: Wildlands. Nothing wrong with getting an optimised driver for a new game.

You do know that Steam, Uplay, Battlenet and Origin will download game patches in the background. Uplay even allows you to play the actual game while it's being updated. It's a technique Sony have taken from PC , not the other way round.

Now if only there was some way to get the actual benefits of playing them on PC..... Maybe with all that cloud computing power we can actually get 60fps.

I prefer to own my games thank you. Streaming is a bad deal and not simply because of connectivity, its the fact that you will not be able to control the settings of your games, mods for example would disappear.

@Dark_sageX: but its your own pc game. Its not a modified only for streaming purposes PlayStation far away. Its own your pc bro we have to face it. Ask charzard and the lems theyll tell you before even this site officially labels it so

Lol dont about shit when it comes to streaming. Trust

These games are purely for Playstation anyway, so no mods would be there to begin with. No loss about the mod thing. The only gripe about this would be connectivity.

That CPU is garbage. 2 GHz? You can have 4 cores, but 2 GHz per core is going to be crap for any newer games with higher fidelity 3D graphics.

That laptop is just a pile. Buying a laptop to game is going to be bloody expensive, anyway. They are almost always non-upgradable and filled with parts that either have improper cooling or just go out of date fairly quickly.

You can build a 600 dollar gaming desktop fairly easily, but if you want a good laptop that will last for gaming for 2 years, you're probably going to want to at least spend 2 grand.

@DragonfireXZ95: But isn't that the point? For £350 I can get a PS Pro. I would probably have to spend twice that to get a semi-decent gaming PC and even more for a laptop that can play them.

So I use my PS4 for gaming and my laptop for media. Works well. No having to delve around the internet trying to determine if my processor or graphics card is up to scratch.

What about gamers that don't actually game? Those that DON'T play on the system they champion, does it apply to them as well?

Unless you can stream at 4k and 60fps without any lag PC will always stay relevant. Besides it's not PC who's currently losing Systems Wars ; )

My console updates more frequent than my video card drivers. The irony.