GAME OVER FOR GAMING PCs?

If you're looking for the ultimate gaming experience, does it still make sense to invest heavily in hardware? We look at the alternatives

HOLD ON! Before you splash out on a gaming PC, it’s important to think about what you really need. Gamers have never had more options, be that traditional games consoles, Nintendo’s Switch (and rivals), or cloud-gaming services.

This article isn’t here to dissuade you from buying a $4,000 gaming PC, if that’s what you want. But we would encourage you to think carefully and read about all your options before you jump in. 

That’s why we have analyzed what each sector has to offer. Whether it’s Chromebooks, laptops, mini PCs, or towering desktop monsters, by the end you should know where to invest your money. –STUART ANDREWS, BARRY COLLINS, TIM DANTON

You can largely brush aside concerns about how gutsy your hardware is if you opt for cloud gaming. Largely, but not entirely.

The current pinnacle of cloud gaming performance comes from Nvidia GeForce Now’s Ultimate tier. On that plan, you can stream games in 4K at 120fps on either PC or Mac, with the graphics settings maxed out on over 1,000 games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, Destiny 2, Rocket League, and many more.

However, don’t think you can run GeForce Now Ultimate on any computer. Although most of the heavy lifting is done by the RTX 4080 SuperPods in Nvidia’s data centers, some local processing is required. On a Windows PC, you’ll need a GPU that supports DirectX 11, a dual-core 64-bit processor running at 2GHz or faster, and 4GB of RAM. On Mac, Nvidia recommends a MacBook Pro from 2016 onwards, an iMac from 2017 onwards, or a MacBook Air or Mac mini from 2018 onwards. We’ve tried a 10-year-old iMac, and it didn’t end well.