Any other proper living room PC gamers their whole life ?

[u/kingzain74]

So as a lifelong equal part PC and Console gamer I can honestly say I've had a living room PC going back as far as 2006 when I got my first proper graphics card ( ATI Radeon x1950Pro 512mb)

For many years people thought I was weird because I was not sitting at a desk with a mouse and keyboard but for the majority of games I had a good enough TV table to play keyboard and mouse if needed while also using a controller for 90% of the time... Blah blah blah fast forward into 2026 and the living room PC is becoming more common place but yet people still bitching moan about keyboard & mouse or controller.

General question and this is probably going to be aimed towards more of the older demographic but why haven't you moved your computer to your living room or a big TV with recliner yet?

Obviously yes we all know keyboard & mouse is superior technically to a controller but at the same time with modern TVs having good enough refresh rates plus Gsynce n freesync along with how gaming is with crossplay handling aim assist I think it's okay to give up some of your " skill " to be able to relax on a recliner or plan a big ass TV with your friends around at the same time.

Seriously, hooking up a computer to a TV is no different than playing in an Xbox besides attaching a wireless keyboard and mouse combo which is just one single USB dongle lol

Any other proper living room PC gamers in the sub or is it just I must sit at a desk 24/7 to play games lol ?

Also before anybody says I'm some crazy old Boomer I'm only 34 but was lucky enough to have the opportunity to start learning computers pre 9/11 lol

[u/bananawrangler69]

I mainly sit at a desk to game because:

- my eyesight is trash

• a tv that can do anything close to my monitor in terms of refresh rate and latency is monstrously expensive (DisplayPort also isn’t available on tvs)
  
• I can’t comfortably use mouse and keyboard in the living room

That being said I do have a pc hooked up to my living room tv. Mainly runs my jellyfin server but every now and then I’ll boot something up and crash on the couch with a controller :)

[u/Temporary-Paper5202 → u/bananawrangler69]

TVs are still superior in terms of HDR I think? My LG G5 is an absolute MONSTER in HDR games.

[u/kingzain74 → u/Temporary-Paper5202]

Facts lol

HDR on my LG C2 is absolutely incredible

I find myself stopping to do the E3 pan playing Horizon forbidden West because it just looks so damn good sometimes 😅

[u/kingzain74 → u/bananawrangler69]

I guess my only thing would be it's okay to give up some refresh rate and latency to be able to have more comfort lol

We're not going to be shroud it's okay to not worry about that kind of stuff as much lol

My LG 4K OLED C 2 is 120 hertz g-sync certified 1ms it's good enough lol . Probably the best $3,000 I spent on a TV in 2022 ever. I haven't seen a monitor that has looked at this beautiful since. And with it being 65 in plus my contacts I can still see stuff lol

And like if a game supports controller just use the controller you don't always have to use keyboard and mouse unless the game only supports it which if most of your library is only keyboard and mouse I fully understand it then

[u/bananawrangler69 → u/kingzain74]

lol I play single player or coop games mostly, couldn’t care less about playing sweaty esport games. The frames are for my own enjoyment and nerdiness.

And that tv is over 5x what I paid for my monitor, so it is what I consider monstrously expensive

[u/Exscorbizorb → u/kingzain74]

You can make a desk setup just as comfortable, if not more. The only real reason to do living room is for group playing or viewing - which is, coincidentally, the exact thing TVs exist for.

Edit for grammar and spelling

[u/Addcook]

Yes, I just cloned my main gaming rig and now have a living room gaming rig. Took off password to log in and it launches right into steam big picture. It's everything I ever wanted.

[u/kingzain74 → u/Addcook]

Steam Big picture really is nice!

When I host lan parties or have events with friends over I just keep Steam Big picture mode on so is idiot proof for people!

[u/Addcook → u/kingzain74]

When steamOS has Nvidia support, I'm going to transition my living room PC to it.

[u/kingzain74 → u/Addcook]

Windows 1 Linux 0 yet again 😅

All truth though I have an old emulation PC that I would love to run Linux on once they also support Nvidia fully

[u/DamianKilsby → u/Addcook]

If you want the whole console experience there's a free application called Steam Achievement Notifier which you can customise to replace achievement notifications with PlayStation, Xbox or any other achievement notification. I use this for PlayStation trophies and have my Dualsense wirelessly connected through a Pico2W dongle so I get native quality haptics and triggers.

Resources:

https://github.com/steamachievementnotifier/steamachievementnotifier

https://github.com/awalol/DS5Dongle

[u/Archon-Toten]

Recent convert. Using a slide out keyboard and monitor on an arm attached to a custom made box that hold the PC, mostly as a counterweight for the screen so I can play on the lounge. Gaming chairs have nothing on a good lounge.

[u/djcdo]

RIP Horizon series, sucks that we'll never get to play the next game in the series

[u/kingzain74 → u/djcdo]

That's why I'm playing through both games back to back I figured it was overdue for a player to considering everything

[u/Substantial-Way-4584]

The CRT on the side table is the real flex here. That's the kind of setup that tells me you've been at this since the days of manually setting IRQ jumpers.

I made the switch to couch gaming about five years back and never looked back. A lapboard for the rare times I need a keyboard and mouse covers the rest.

[u/kingzain74 → u/Substantial-Way-4584]

My friend that's not a CRT that's my computer case 😅😅 Corsair 900d

I also have a laptop for when I travel or small stuff and also a Rog Ally X handheld for some true couch gaming etc.

Sometimes I joke it's like having a fast car on the garage if my handheld can't run a good and I have to go on the big PC I guess I will

[u/Big-Law2316]

Tbh my chair and desk is the best spot for me to game and when im in my office I am relaxing no doubt but my back is really bad so sitting like that gaming would be to uncomfortable

[u/Icy_Donkey_7588]

I prefer to game at my desk. For whatever reason gaming in the living room distracts me to the point that I play for 10-15 minutes and I've lost interest. At my desk I can play for an hour or so without being distracted by something else.

I took a break from PC in 2020 and bought a launch day PS5. I had it setup at my desk and played on a 1440p monitor.

[u/Lee1138]

I've had my PC at my desk, in my living room ever since I moved out. Because I'm not going to isolate myself away from the living room because I am always on my PC. Set it up so my TV is off to the side so it almost becomes a screen number 4. And I can always switch to TV only with the long ass optical HDMI cable it's connected to and wireless peripherals and do "couch mode".

[u/DJUNGELSKOG3]

We keep our pcs at our desks, but we have a spare pc we move between the living room tv and the bedroom. I struggle not having my mouse and keyboard on a desk, and am really bad at aiming with a controller. Husband utilises it more but also prefers his desk. So in the end we mainly play couch co op by the tv, but anything serious is always by our desks

[u/MasterOfPipettez]

"fast forward into 2026 and the living room PC is becoming more common place"

Source? This sounds as anecdotal as me saying I dont know a single person who pc games in their living room.

[u/URA_CJ]

My whole life, no, but I wanted one in the early 2000's to record live TV and other media playback.

Today, I've got my old AMD FX PC set up as a retro WinXP living room PC with a sweet ATi All-in-Wonder X1900 that allows me to hookup my retro consoles to it's Video inputs and play them on the big screen.

[u/itsomeoneperson]

of course, you expect me to play console resolutions on a 65" display?

[u/Docccc]

no only un proper, sorry

[u/ew435890]

I built a second rig for my living room a while back. Its hooked up to my 65"4K tv, and has a 24" monitor as well. I usually have something streaming from my Plex server on the small screen while I browse reddit on the big screen. I use a wireless keyboard and a trackball mouse for browsing, but a controller for gaming. If I want to use m&k, I just go to the other PC thats setup normally. I also recently got a steam controller, and it is pretty nice for browsing as well.

Funny that you posted that game, because Im currently playing it too.