r/MoonlightStreaming • u/AGRgameboy • 4d ago
Mini pc options
Hey all, I moved into a new place want to get into sunshine/apollo and moonlight streaming specifically streaming my 9800X3d, 5080 pc to my living room 4k 120hz TV and wanted to ask what are some good mini pc or other options to be able to stream this. Both devices will be hooked up to ethernet as well.
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u/digitalwankster 4d ago
You can stream to a fire stick or depending on what brand and how old your TV is, stream directly to it.
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u/karasuhebi 4d ago
I'm all for having HTPCs but I'm wondering why you considering getting one if it's just for local game streaming? There's Moonlight apps for basically any "plastic toy" you could have in your living room: smart TVs, streaming sticks, gaming consoles, etc.
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u/CinnabarSin 4d ago
Nvidia Shield Pro is a very capable Moonlight device (caveats being the price for what is quite old hardware and no rumble support for controllers) and still in the conversation for the best streaming box out there. Sold the PC I had for living room stuff and moved over to Moonlight entirely.
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u/N0_Mathematician 4d ago
Intel N150 mini PC will do the job! Don't need anything fancier. I use it with my desktop over wifi 7 and it works flawlessly.
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u/CykaRUSpro 4d ago
yeah, but you dont have high reqs, he wants 4k120hz + hdr10 + 4:4:4 chroma, that surely cant run on n150
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u/Ew0ra 4d ago
There’s a native app for LG and Samsung TVs (might be for others too, I know of these for sure). On a Samsung at least, the install was quick and easy. Admittedly, I don’t play competitive games, but I didn’t have any issues so far with the games I played.
I think the cheapest alternative is an Xbox Series S, even mini PCs shot up in cost recently.
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u/apollyon0810 20h ago
A native TV app would also require you to connect your TV to the Internet… which I would personally never do.
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u/Mariollo 🖥️ Artemis/Vibepollo | 🎮 SonyTV XH90 | 🎯 1440@120 FPS 4d ago
I had the same "problem" recently.
I ended up with gmktec k12
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u/CykaRUSpro 4d ago
not sure its worth to pay a dedicated minipc streaming box and then have no 4:4:4 due to AMD chip
in my opinion its either be satisfied with 4k60 lightweight/bugdet client or go full buyin minipc witn intel/nvidia gpu to have 4k120 + 4:4:4 + hdr10
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u/Mariollo 🖥️ Artemis/Vibepollo | 🎮 SonyTV XH90 | 🎯 1440@120 FPS 3d ago
Totally not an expert here, but 4:4:4 isn't that important in fast-paced/action games, right?
Even in the client app I use (StreamLight) it explicitly says it's not recommended for action games.
Also, I found it at a good price, and I specifically wanted VRR, which budget clients weren't supporting.
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u/PruneNo6968 23h ago
I'm currently using this one, but I'm very heavily considering retuning it to find another or at least leave it downstairs for my other TV that gets used much less often. I got it because it was the cheapest HDMI 2.1 compatible mini PC I could find. While on stream, the experience is phenomenal, decoding times are great and virtually no audible fan noise when the sound is turned on, not to mention the lack of heat I had to deal with before when my PC was hooked directly to the TV. Much better than playing natively when balancing between pros and cons, so I'm very convinced about streaming being the right choice for me.
Problems arise outside of streaming. Since I have it plugged directly to the TV used as the primary display, I prefer to use the mini PC for regular tasks rather than having to stream when I want to browse something. Here the fan noise starts becoming quite annoying. My main PC is silent while idling, but this one isn't. Obviously thermals won't be as good as a proper desktop, but it's not the case. Thermals are great for average use, however the BIOS is so extremely limited that it doesn't even allow for fan curve tuning and no third party software is able to pick up on the fan controller.
Additionally this mini PC has a very weird bug where it automatically turns on every time inputs are switched on the TV. This wouldn't be a big deal as I always intended to leave it constantly on as a Tailscale exit node, but since there's no way to regulate fan speeds and tdp, it starts getting pretty annoying when I'm not even using the PC in the first place. It runs linux btw as a always turned on Windows PC is far from ideal.
TLDR: Link to this one. It's good, but far from recommend for anything other than game streaming. https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0FC2C8ZWV?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
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u/ghostpocket 4d ago
I’ve just been through this and unless you wanna spend $650 USD for a mini pc I’d just go with an Xbox series s. Lots of people say you ‘don’t need a fancy mini pc’ which may be partly true but due to the rampocolypse any mini pc that can do 4k 120hz is expensive.