Find a suitable option for virtual 2 gamers with a single CPU.
Find a suitable option for virtual 2 gamers with a single CPU.
Hey everyone, Overwatch has been really popular around my dorm, but not everyone can join in. Often I have to step away and let friends play on my PC because their Macs can't handle it. We usually can't all play together. Recently I discovered a tool called Parsec that uses low latency streaming—similar to NVIDIA or Valve’s methods—to let lower-end devices run more powerful hardware remotely. It helps a bit, but it still feels like we’re missing something. I also saw 2 Gamers 1 CPU and thought UnRaid might be a solution, though I’m not sure if my setup fits. Here are the details:
PC parts list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/k4d7NN
Price breakdown: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/k4d7NN/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 @ 3.2GHz (3.2GHz Quad-Core) – $181.95 (Amazon)
Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM – $39.95 (Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 16GB DDR3-1600 ($130.99)
Storage: ADATA Premier Pro SP600 128GB SSD ($59.99)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB (3.5") ($49.99)
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB – $299 (est.)
Case: Sugo SG13B Mini ITX ($39.99)
Power supply: Cooler Master VSM 550W (80+ Gold)
Fan: Corsair SP120 57.2 CFM ($13.99)
Keyboard: Corsair K70
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Chroma Wired ($49.99)
Total cost: $566.84 (includes shipping, taxes, discounts)
I’m wondering if running Parsec alone is enough, or if we could share the GPU so a client laptop gets some performance. It’s a bit ambitious, but I thought it might be worth trying. Thanks for your help!
For two players at 60Hz, consider a Xeon 1231 v3 16 GB DDR3 1333 or 1600MHz ECC non-registered system. Use any motherboard supporting 2 x8 or x16 PCIe slots. Pair it with a 16GB SanDisk Cruzer for UnRAID, two 750 Ti or better CPUs for the VMs, and an affordable CPU for the Xeon. Assign four cores per VM (depending on your 64-bit OS), enabling GPU pass-through and allocating 6GB of RAM or scaling it dynamically.