Upgrade set up advice/ideas?

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2 Jun 2021
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11
Location
Shropshire
Hi everyone, I just joined today :)
I am a bit of an oldie and have been playing PC games steadily since the early 1990's when the first really excellent adventure games came out, LucasArts, Sierra etc and I progressed onto RPGs, and had to upgrade and buy newer machines to play them on over the years. I went from PC to gaming laptops some years ago as my favourite situation is to rest my aching joints on my nice comfy bed, with laptop on cooling tray over my legs, headphones on, large mousemat to the side of me. I just can't sit for hours on end on a desk chair, however well padded, any more and I don't have the room for a gaming chair or the desire really and they are also expensive. So that being said, I am wanting to upgrade my current set up which is an Alienware 15", a good machine, but not capable of playing Cyberpunk which is what I'm interested in playing next. I've been playing Fallout 4, Witcher 3 and others with not really any issues. However, I would really love a bigger screen, and after seeing the prices of 17" gaming laptops capable of playing Cyberpunk I've been thinking about attempting a different set up altogether, to see if it would be any cheaper but also a better gaming experience. Would the tech gurus on here be able to give me their views on whether I could set up a high spec gaming PC, with the case sat on the floor, a large monitor with long cable on a flexible stand by the bed so I could position it where I want, and a keyboard/mouse on a long cable so I could have that on my knee, in other words, feet up on the bed, large screen in front of me, able to control with keyboard and mouse on my knee/mat/bed? It may be no cheaper in the end but I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas for such a set up? I hope this is not an impossible dream haha!
 
Welcome.

It would be very simple. Cyberpunk is demanding game, that is the real issue. Laptops are gimped as we all know, so this added makes the latest harder to drive games not ideal.

You could also just get a TV at the end of the bed, or in front of sofa(?), some TVs do variable refresh rate, allbeit at £900+ and 55"+ in size.

But monitor swing arms are common enough, and not mega expensive depending on what you get.

Long cables may be an issue, depends what resolution you're playing at, and the length.
 
As above, can be easily done, length of cables around a bed shouldn't really be an issue though so I wouldn't worry too much

If it was me I would look at putting something at the end of the bed

Could easily get a small unit at the end of the bed that could raise the PC off the floor for airflow and have the monitor up above that maybe with some height and swivel adjustment.

I would then run a single USB up to your bedside unit where you could place a USB hub and mouse and keyboard could plug in there
 
Thanks arbiter and liamstears, there isn't much room at the bottom of the bed to have the PC and monitor there, plus there is a TV at the other end of the room opposite the bed so I wouldn't want the computer stuff to be in the way of that, and I only wanted a 24" screen really so that distance would be too far away to see it haha! I like the monitor to be fairly close for good immersion. I have found a Philips 24" monitor with less than 2ms refresh rate which gets good reviews and has a vesa mount. My preferred option is to have a screen mounted on a folding arm to the side of the bed so that I can move it across to me when I want and then fold it back out of the way, and the PC would be on my large bedside cabinet close to the electrical sockets so that everything can connect up and plug in easily. The monitor would need about a 5ft cable to connect it to the PC when it's on the extended position, and I hope that shouldn't be a problem with superfast HDMI cable. I am now considering the benefits of a wireless keyboard and mouse if there is a suitable gaming combo which both work with one dongle, so I'm looking for good reviews on those that don't cost a fortune. I am quite enjoying the research process, there is a lot to consider to get a decent set up :) I have found an HP Omen with the following spec that I am interested in:
  • Windows 10 Home 64
  • Intel® Core™ i7-9700F (3.0 GHz base frequency, up to 4.7 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 12 MB L3 cache, 8 cores)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 Super™ (8 GB GDDR6 dedicated)
  • 16 GB HyperX® memory; 512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD + 2 TB HDD storage
  • Air cooling solution; Glass side panel; RGB lighting; Tool-less access
The spec is good I think, somewhat future proof but at least PCs can be upgraded unlike many laptops. I would have preferred liquid cooled but maybe that's an upgrade that I could get done at some point but I am still looking round at gaming PCs in any case.
 
That's a decent spec, but it's worth mentioning that even though it performs very well, the CPU is 2 generations behind so there's little upgrade potential. Though, even if you had a current Intel system, there's still not much you could choose from.
 
Tetras Sadly I have to work within budgetary constraints so I can't afford to get the latest CPU and top graphics cards but if this will play Cyberpunk and others of similar demands, then that is fine for me. I am still playing RPGs on my Alienware, Witcher 3 although probably not on highest settings, but good enough for me when using a 15" screen!
 
The 9th gen 9700F is still very competitive so it's really not a problem performance wise, it should take at least one GPU upgrade in the life of the system. I just thought it was worth mentioning.
 
Thanks Tetras, yes I would probably upgrade the GPU at some point as the 2060 is the bottom of the RTX range but I will keep looking :)
 
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