Throughout the last decade, we’ve crept into a new age of PC gaming. We’ve thrown off the shackles of the stereotypical desk, mouse & keyboard and tower PC setup and it’s now possible to game on PC in just about any way we want. This includes replicating a console-like setup but with the benefit of top-end performance rather than low frame rates and sludgy resolutions.
In large part, this movement has been all down to Steam. For all their slow progress, Valve has done decent work at integrating gamepad and big screen support into Steam, and this has bled out to many other developers, publishers, and game clients. Now, just about every AAA release is playable with a controller from the comfort of a sofa, with native 4K resolution if we choose to.
It’s fantastic, but the move to a comfy couch isn’t for everyone. For those after the very best in visuals, performance, and efficient control methods, the good old desktop setup still reigns supreme. For some genres, such as FPS and strategy games, it borders on fact that mouse and keyboard is a superior setup.
This is thinking in terms of pure efficiency and performance though, rather than any concerns for comfort, ease of use, or integration into home life. Of course a mouse & keyboard player should come out on top in an FPS battle with a controller user, but by the time 6pm rolls around, there are plenty who’d rather not sit down at another desk, no matter how comfy their gaming chair may be.
I’m wary this discussion is going to be a little one-sided, although I’m going to be doing my bit and staking a claim for TV gaming. Monitors and TVs are expensive, and when I basically have a need for a TV already, a monitor has now become a little surplus to requirements. It’d be nice to have a 144Hz 4K monster, but I can kill two birds with one stone thanks to a 4K TV that does a good enough job. I’m also an absolute sucker for lounging on the sofa rather than sitting up in a chair, preferably as near as humanly possible to the kettle. So for cost and comfort reasons, I’ve fully migrated over to TV gaming for now, although this could all change once I finally get one of my spare rooms sorted out.
Over to you, do you do most of your PC gaming on a gaming monitor or are you happy with a TV? Get voting in the poll and let us know why below!
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PC Specs
I was just thinking about this. I have my rig in the dining room. And I play while my family watches TV for example. But I'm thinking about removing the rig in the middle "and looking like a console" My last console was Ps2 and I'm not used to playing on big screens. In fact recently I updated my old monitor but I kept the inches in 21.5 "There is some advantage in playing on big TV, mine is only 40" ... but for me it is a lot. Is there some kind of game that looks better on the big screen? Thanks in advance and greetings.
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Where is the projector option?
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I feel like they might fall under the tv category, the only reason I say this is because tvs that used internal projectors were something that existed, granted you have a stand alone projector but the concept and functionality are virtually the same the projector is just easier to transport and possibly set up
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Input lag.
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I play on a 165hz 1440p IPS gsync monitor from viewsonic, no way I'll ever play on a normal TV anymore after this.
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What If TVs were like this ?
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As it stands for me, I'm on a 40" Samsung 5 series 1080p smart TV. works ok for me but i'll be looking forward to going back to a monitor setup by the end of the year! :D (I only have this TV as my monitor because there is nowhere else to put it at the moment in my house :P )
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Both. I play Witcher / Assasin's creed and other third person RPG style games on my 65 inch OLED TV with XB 360 controller. I play FPS games on my 27 inch IPS 4k Gsync monitor.
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I have to play mine on a tv so I can also use it to play console games, I mean old ones like ps2 and gamecube that use scart cables and such. If they all used hdmi I could most likely switch to a pc monitor but as it stands I can't use it without losing the option to play my old consoles that have games that haven't been made backwards compatible or remastered for newer consoles/pc.
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playing on either is ok but not playing onj both it just makes you off sync.stay on one thing
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I don't think anyone is talking about playing on both at the same time, which is the only way at I could see you getting off sync. Switching from one to the other for different games, or using one to play on PC and another to play on Console, isn't going to have any effect on you or your games.
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Not true! You can play both at same time using the Steam-Link. Mine got stolen but I used to use it on my 55 inch Samsung and monitor at same time. Now that I remember that my TV got stolen too lol
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I do believe that it can be done, I just don't think that's what anyone was talking about. I watch TV on one and play games on the other, and vice versa. I might be misunderstanding him, but to me it sounds like he's saying you should ever play on a TV or a Monitor, and shouldn't switch back and forth.
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Why the heck would u play pc games on a tv. Thats soooo baddd in sooo many ways!!!
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I've used a 30" LG tv for my gaming pc for the past 6 years and had no problems whatsoever. Please describe these 'many ways' that using a tv is bad?
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The input lag is high and no support for gsync.
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I can assure you I've never had input lag in any FPS game I've played whether it's CS:GO, Fortnite, CoD, Battlefield, etc.
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Tvs Can Have Trash input Lag Mine Has 110ms Lag with Default Settings
but Switching input to PC and Game Mode which gives me the real colors of the game
made it to 16ms plus 60fps 16,67ms between frames which is 32ms
but the Size and The Feel of big screen at distance plus no pixels can be seen even at 1080p easily
but after All its preference
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Well I've never experienced any noticeable input lag at all in the 6 years that I've used this tv for pc gaming. Maybe I have the tv settings programmed correctly for it? Who knows haha! Plus I also use my tv for my PS4 so it's awesome :D
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you probably had bad experience with tv gaming because that tv had slow panel, there are fine options which works really well hooking up with pc.
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If you've ever played Witcher 3 in 4k on max settings on a 65" LG Oled panel, with a controller and a couch, you'll know why.
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On my brand new Samsung 24" curve :)
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I prefer a tv right now I've only got a 1080p 55" but I've got the refresh rate pushed up to 100hz one day i might get a 4k but right now I'm fine with what I've got
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What TV u Got Mine Has 3D so it should be Maybe 120Hz as it says but so Far i cant get that
but looks like Fake Fps
ill be switching to 1440p TV with 144Hz Once They Come out as Nvida Showed some
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Both, kinda. I have a 1080p projector in my room with a 100 inch screen hooked up to my laptop. Use steam home streaming to stream from my rig in my office (spare room). Xbox is setup in my room as well.
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Projector has a pretty good gaming mode there's no noticeable input latency and the in-house streaming has a 5-6 ms delay, so performance doesnt suffer. Only thing I dont play on it is FPS, for obvious reasons. Best of both worlds I guess.
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Monitor, to be more exact LG 24MP68VQ. It is 24' 1080p IPS monitor with 75hz refresh rate. It also has FreeSync. Response time is 5ms, but for me that is fine, I usually don't play twitch shooters, I am more into RPGs. And it has no DP. But it is great budget monitor for around 170EUR.
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As for FreeSync, I used it with RX480, I used to have it before mining craze.I cashed in on replacing it with GTX1070 during craze, snipped deal where I didn't have to add anything, RX480 paid for 1070.And with 1070 I mostly get 75FPS anyway.
Also I always had monitors for PC, never TV. I used TV with consoles only.
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TV at Right Distance looks amazing at 1080p
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Both is the best. Its almost like playing something new every time.
You really start to miss how close you are to the monitor though when gaming on a tv. It makes you want to buy that 70inch tv for the living room.
But gaming on a couch, and in my case a sofa recliner, beats gaming on a chair :)
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If I had to pick a fav though, I would pick tv gaming but only because I dont really play much competitive fps any more.
My plan is my next rig will be a "console" build meant specifically for tv gaming. Will buy a large ass tv to go with it.
PC Specs
same with me i kinda quit online competitive gaming ( 5k hours on csgo so far). I bought my first controller(xbox one wireless) ever, i always been pc/mouse and keyboard guy, to my surprise im loving it. Though i rarely transfer my pc to a tv but once i do its really comfortable. Laying on the couch with controller really makes up for gamepad inaccuracy, it might be not for everyone but im loving it.
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i use Controller and Mouse when playing on TV with some Games
and it Works pretty Well
mouse for Aim and Look and reload and switch guns
Controller for Movement and other simple commands like run prone throw grenade
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Yeah I've always been a proponent of kb&m but I guess that is only because its a must for multiplayer/competitive fps. Gamepad is great. And a wireless keyboard with pad means you dont even need steam big picture mode. And pc as living room media player is much better than anything cheap you can buy
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+saadhero the conversion was pretty rough for me to a controller(though i still play online shooters with mouse/keyboard) but now i have no problem playing fps games, and even if im playing with my monitor i still use controller fully on all single player games. To get used to a controller it took me about at least 100 hours of fps gameplay.
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My PC is connected to to tv simply because I don’t have the room to setup my PC separately. If I ever get the chance I’ll take it, but for now I have to make do.
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Both, because somewhere in 2012 I sold my PS3 and built myself a PC. The thing was, that I chose to have better / more expencive hardware, than a budget one + Monitor, and at that time a good IPS Monitor costed a hell lot of money, so because my TV had a good 32'' IPS FullHD screen I was using it with my PC till 2016
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Only a 1440p 25" 60Hz monitor. Much better quality than a TV at a much lower price.
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27" 1440p IPS G-Sync monitor. When TVs don't cost an arm and a leg and come with decent color accuracy, high refresh rates, little latency and G-Sync - then we'll talk.
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Only a monitor. Have a asus vg248qe 144hz monitor and I love it! So smooth.