I have a plan to go in a different direction when it comes to my living room games in 2025, and you may be in a similar situation to me with your setup.
If so, I think my alternative sofa set scheme might be of interest, and it goes something like this…
PS5 Pro pitfalls
First, I’ll describe the ship I’m currently aboard for my couch gaming (and I’ll leave out the sailing analogy while I’m at it). That would be the good PlayStation 4 Pro (it’s the last one, I promise) that I use in my living room. And in the study, down the hall, is my gaming PC, which I point out for reasons that will soon become clear.
As you’ve no doubt noticed, this year in November the PlayStation 5 Pro was released, prompting considerable thought about whether to sell my PS4 Pro and buy Sony’s newest console. It was a tempting prospect at first, but the high price of the PS5 Pro (and concerns about the power of the graphical upgrade it offered, as our PS5 Pro review noted) made me rethink it.
After all, it was a lot of money to spend on a console. Indeed, in the end, I felt it could be put to better use in my plan B, which can basically be described as using my gaming PC in the living room. but not exciting Of course, bringing my gaming PC into that room, that would never work.
No, my PC will stay exactly where it is, where I need it to work in the studio, and the plan is to run some long cables from it, across the hallway, to the 55-inch 4K TV in the living room. while upgrading my computer with a new very fast graphics card (4K compatible).
A low-tech solution? Yes, that’s true, but I think it’s still a good plan and I already have some of the pieces together. The last piece of the puzzle will be that new desktop GPU, which I’m waiting for right now. Because? Well, I’ll get back to that.
Cables first, the GPU will arrive when 2025 starts
Before we move on to the graphics card upgrade, let’s consider those cables. I’ve already bought what I need in this department: firstly, it’s a very long HDMI cable (10m) and two long, snaking USB booster extension cables (12m).
The latter are IOGear’s USB 2.0 booster extension cables (GUE2118) with amplifiers to amplify the signal along the long cable. As for the HDMI cable, I bought a simple low-cost effort, nothing special.
If you’re thinking about going this route, you may not need cables as long, depending on where your PC is in relation to the TV, or you may need more. Those USB booster extension cables can be daisy chained, with up to three of them, by the way, although carrying the cables down stairs can be impractical or even dangerous.
I want two cables so I can connect my two PS4 controllers so my wife and I can play co-op from the couch. Or I can plug my PC’s mouse and keyboard for single-player shooter games (or similar) on my 55-inch screen, with the peripherals on a tray on my lap perhaps (not ideal ergonomics, certainly, so I’ll have to see how it goes and experiment).
An alternative is that you could use wireless connections instead of USB booster cables for controllers or peripherals. Admittedly, running three long cables from one room to another is complicated, and that’s the least ideal part of this plan of mine, although it’s something I can live with.
Therefore, wireless controllers (and/or a wireless mouse and keyboard) might be a better option for you. It depends on the distance between your living room and the room where your PC is located, of course, and whether the signal strength is good (and how much interference there may be from other wireless signals in the area). In my case, it’s a considerable distance, probably too much, and I’d rather not worry about a faulty connection or the controllers cutting out, which is definitely not a concern with a direct wired connection.
Ok, about the mentioned GPU upgrade. My gaming PC is now showing its age and has a faulty Nvidia RTX 2060 Super inside. When I bought the machine a few years ago, it was fine for 1080p gaming, but I always intended to upgrade to it eventually. That’s more urgent now, since I subsequently purchased a new 1440p (165Hz) monitor.
In short, my graphics card needs an upgrade anyway, so I thought, why not spend that PS5 Pro money on getting a really good GPU that can support 4K gaming to look really spectacular on the big 4K TV in my living room to be?
Then we get to the reason why I want to wait until the New Year before putting this plan into action. Both AMD and Nvidia have new GPUs launching in early 2025 (in fact, they will (almost certainly) be revealed imminently at CES 2025) and will likely include some good, relatively more affordable 4K options.
I’m thinking the Nvidia RTX 5070, or better yet, the rumored RTX 5070 Ti, or the AMD RX 8800 XT, or maybe even the RTX 5080, depending on what happens with these next-gen GPU releases and how prices change. . (Okay, the RTX 5080 is clearly overly optimistic, given that pricing rumors suggest it will be very expensive, but I can dream, don’t take that away from me.)
The odds are very much in favor of some excellent new options for the best mid- to high-range graphics cards appearing on shelves in January 2025 (or during the first quarter at some point). And I’d be crazy not to wait and see what kind of value I’ll get from these GPUs relative to what’s currently on the market.
Of course, there may be further price drops with the current-gen GPUs as the next-gen models arrive, so either way they should be good options for a great value proposition. We keep our fingers crossed firmly, as always.
The Pros and Cons of My Big Couch Game Plan
For me, the advantages of going this route are that not only do I get a living room setup for a great 4K gaming experience on my TV with couch gaming (that will beat the PS5 Pro in graphics quality), but I also get the benefit. of truly supercharged 1440p frame rates when gaming on PC in my studio. Basically, a double victory.
Plus, I can have my PS4 Pro in the living room (I wouldn’t have gotten that much for it anyway, considering current second-hand prices, in my PS5 Pro trade-in upgrade scenario) and still enjoy my library. from PlayStation (and maybe more games coming out next year).
The bad thing is that I will miss out on those PS5 exclusives, it’s true. But still, nowadays, PlayStation ports come to PC with greater speed and frequency (and they tend to be good versions of said games too).
My plan won’t be for everyone, I know: lugging around a trio of cables isn’t exactly an ideal solution. It’s pretty clunky and low-tech, as I mentioned, but I think it’s something I can easily live with. I’ll probably only pull out the cables for longer weekend gaming sessions, when we camp out in front of the TV to play a game.
I’m really looking forward to giving this idea a try and I’m really hoping it works out well. Naturally, I’ve already tested the setup with my current RTX 2060 Super GPU, which is obviously not enough for 4K gaming. However, it ran well with some less demanding games at that resolution, and the controllers worked like a dream, as if they were plugged directly into the PC (which, of course, they are) in addition to the picture on the 4K TV (a OLED) is perfection.
Some argue that you may need a better HDMI (fiber optic) cable, ideally, for smooth 4K gaming on this type of setup, but I tried a less demanding shooter and found it ran smoothly, even on my creaky old graphics card. . An upgraded HDMI cable is a potential investment you might consider in the future (long cables can be expensive). For now, though, I’m happy; well, I will be when I get that new GPU as 2025 begins.
Of course, there are alternatives to cables, and not just running the controllers wirelessly as I already mentioned. What might also work in your own scenario is ditching the HDMI cable and opting for a completely different solution to connecting a PC in another room to your living room TV. That is, streaming using something like Nvidia Shield TV (with the Sunshine and Moonlight apps, since Team Green killed off GameStream last year). With that scheme of things and wireless controllers, you wouldn’t have any tracking clues.
There are several possibilities to turn on a gaming PC and play on the big screen TV in the living room while relaxing on the couch. And I think those options are worth exploring rather than shelling out a lot of cash for a top-of-the-line PlayStation (or Xbox), especially considering how expensive the PS5 Pro turned out to be if you’re in the market. Sony Camp.
