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Anyone use a console at a computer desk?

jon bones

jon bones

Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,996
NYC
I just purchased a home and am in the middle of renovating it.

I'm carving out most of the space for my children, trying to make sure I have just what I need for myself.

Part of that is forgoing a mancave, and just having a little office area. I work from home a few days a week, so I'll need an office desk + chair.

I think I may double down on this space and play my inevitable Series X here, but I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on:

-comfortable office chairs (do people put ottoman's under their desk to kick their feet up sometimes?)
-console friendly, future proofed monitors (HDMI 2.1, 4K, high refresh rates, vrr, hdr, etc)
-pc-style speakers for said monitors/consoles

What has your experience been console-gaming on a computer desk?
 
Macca

Macca

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,197
Yep that's what I currently do. Got my PS4 and Switch hooked up to my second monitor. And then I got a cable from the monitor into the line in output on the back of my computer. So I get the console audio into my headset.
 
LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
That's how I've always done it. Computer desk with everything hooked up to a monitor.

I just have a regular "executive" office chair, and for audio I use my soundbar sub as it has digital optical passthrough with the others directly going into my monitor (1440p) for video.
 
Vimes

Vimes

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,276
It's a habit I've been in ever since college. It's at a point where I no longer feel comfortable playing games on a couch anymore.

I bought a steam link for my living room and only use it when friends are over, lol.
 
Dest

Dest

Has seen more 10s than EA ever will
Coward
Jun 4, 2018
14,038
Work
That's what I do. Everything is hooked up to my main PC monitor, then i just feed a pair of klipsch desk speakers passing through the monitor.
works just fine
 
meaulnes

meaulnes

Member
Oct 27, 2017
208
I have the Switch dock and PS4 slim connected to a 23'' 1080p monitor. It is my work desk also as I work from home most of the time.
 
Efejota

Efejota

Member
Mar 13, 2018
3,750
I had my wiiu like this for years and it was great since I could just lay on the bed and play for hours. It was great for the backlog.
Nowadays I have it on the TV in the living room to limit my playtime to weekends or some off-hours after lunch.

ultramooz said:
I guess we now know whose fault it is that text in console games is unreadable 10pt fonts.

Thanks guys.
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I hate that as much as you, though. Of course playing a GBA-like game fullscreen in front of a monitor would look weird, but having small texts only gets me out of the experience and makes me think I'm running a program or something.

This kind of feeling.
ile44xv14u521.png
 
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molnizzle

molnizzle

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,695
Not currently, but this is my future plan as my daughter continues to age.

Most gaming monitors currently don't support HDMI 2.1 since gaming PC's only use DisplayPort, but hopefully that. changes soon.
 
Jaded Alyx

Jaded Alyx

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,350
Yes, largely because my desk is right next to the TV so it's easy to switch, and I also play a lot of fighting games so a monitor helps.
jon bones said:
(do people put ottoman's under their desk to kick their feet up sometimes?)
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I currently have the box my Samsung Odyssey+ came in under my desk for that purpose 😆
 
FlanjeUK

FlanjeUK

Member
Apr 20, 2019
286
For a chair I use an armchair with footrest, HDMI 2.1 monitors don't exist yet and for sound a pair of headphones is the best solution.
 
headfallsoff

headfallsoff

Member
Mar 16, 2018
681
Not anymore but I did for a long time and yeah I'd recommend a nice sturdy chair that can let you lean in, because you're gonna be sitting back in a way you won't for regular PC work. Also you'll probably be inputting video from HDMI to the monitor but audio through audio out directly to the speakers so make sure the consoles you have can do that. I had trouble making it work correctly on my PS4, though it always worked perfectly on PS3/360 back in the day.

Those are probably my two main pointers of things to look for.
 

Pat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
612
Yep, got the Switch connected on my second monitor. My TV has not been powered on since at least 6-7 months.
 
ghibli99

ghibli99

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,704
We have a 4 bedroom house, and I have my PC and consoles all set up in our office. 27" 1440p144 G-Sync monitor for my PC and 43" 4K HDR TV for PC/consoles. We have a 65" 4K HDR TV in the living room with a 1S and Switch dock, but I don't like sitting far away from displays (I blame growing up with an Atari 2600 and sitting 2 feet from our giant woodgrain console CRT :)), so I never got, uhh, comfy with so-called comfy couch gaming and we rarely ever use it for much beyond some basic TV watching and movies.
 
Chettlar

Chettlar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,604
Yes, that's what I do. The main difficulty is having a place for them all. Get yourself some sort of shelf you can store them on.

Also remember that a lot of consoles only output digital audio.


I use this one, but I got the one before it that doesn't have digital audio in. But yeah on the right speaker I have my 360 plugged in with an RCA to 3.5mm jack. The RCA on the back of the woofer goes to my optical audio adapter I use for Xbox One/PS4/PS3 (I could use the analog output with my PS3 if I wanted to tho). And the 3.5mm on the back of the woofer goes to my PC, although for PC I primarily use my headphones (Plantronics RIG 500).

It might not be a bad idea to just get a receiver, as you can get ones that just universilly take anything you have and let you output the audio however you have without any extra cables. I just can't really afford one right now.

Would def recommend those speakers though.

Also highly highly recommend multimonitor setups if you can. Get your nice monitor in the middle and some cheaper ones on the side.
 
Kitokys

Kitokys

Member
Nov 29, 2017
539
I've used my PS4, PS3, Switch and original Xbox consoles at my desk. I don't find it much different.
 
Chettlar

Chettlar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,604
McMoneyman said:
Yep that's what I currently do. Got my PS4 and Switch hooked up to my second monitor. And then I got a cable from the monitor into the line in output on the back of my computer. So I get the console audio into my headset.
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How does that work exactly? Do you just plug it in and it just automatically gets through? What if I want to mute it?
 
BobsReset

BobsReset

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 26, 2017
912
Yep, it works great! I have a dual screen setup and it means while im waiting for stuff to load I can actually use my PC and its second monitor to check stuff.

I do find it more comfortable to sit up and play at a desk than from a sofa though which I suspect goes against the grain!
 
Naga

Naga

Alt account
Banned
Aug 29, 2019
7,850
Yeah, I do that. No issues at all as long as your screen isn't massive obviously (mine is 27").
 
Mechaplum

Mechaplum

Enlightened
Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,796
JP
My home office has a couch 5 feet away from my monitors so I use that. Got my Switch, PS4 Pro hooked up to my larger 4k monitor.

I don't have a TV in the house though.
 

EllipsisBreak

One Winged Slayer
Member
Aug 6, 2019
2,152
Sometimes. One of my secondary monitors is made for console esports. It's only 1080p/60hz, so it's not the screen I play PC games on, but it's great for most of my consoles. Even the really old ones, with 1:1 scaling and an OSSC.

In a vacuum, I still prefer my CRT setup for pre-HD consoles, and I wouldn't use this for anything that supports 4K, but if I want to multitask for any reason, this is perfect.

And yes, it's a way to deal with the tiny text problem.

Chettlar said:
How does that work exactly? Do you just plug it in and it just automatically gets through? What if I want to mute it?
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On the back of your computer, you probably have six headphone jacks of varying colors. You probably already know which ones are for the speakers and microphone. What you might not know is that the light blue port is a line in. (Some audio software lets you choose what you want each port to be; in that case, the color is just a guideline.)

The actual controls for it are kind of buried and hard to find. What you want to do is run a male-to-male 3.5mm audio cable from your monitor's headphone jack into your line in port. Then (on Windows 10) right click the volume indicator on your taskbar, open sound settings, and go to the Sound Control Panel near the top right. In the Sound window that pops up, go to the Recording tab, find your line in, and go to properties. From there, you should be able to check a box to listen to that audio, and also control the volume.

Make sure the monitor itself has its volume up too. Nothing you do on the PC side of things will work if the monitor is muted.
 
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Dead Guy

Dead Guy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,597
Saskatchewan, Canada
My ps4 pro is hooked up to my monitor. It works fine. Only kind of annoying thing is that you have to hook it up to an external set of speakers because obviously my monitor doesnt have one. You can just use headphones too though
 

Fishook

Member
Dec 20, 2017
810
Bought a PS4 last year, I really struggle playing games via a couch and TV set up. Doesn't help that I suffer from sun glare during the day on my TV during the day/mornings when so do a lot of gaming. I find I am more focused when playing games on the desk with no dogs climbing on top I f me.
 
Symphony

Symphony

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,361
Yeah, at my new house I have it set up like that since I like the ability to also use Discord and it also helps for recording gameplay, streaming etc. I have my main gaming monitor set to switch to consoles and a second monitor mounted above it for secondary PC stuff.

The only thing I'll say that is more annoying is that monitors have way less HDMI inputs so you have to find some solution for that, and you may as have a problem getting audio out without having it delayed. Much easier if you use headphones though as you can just plug those directly in to the monitor.
 
Anth0ny

Anth0ny

Member
Oct 25, 2017
46,815
How else am i supposed to play this shit

If i sit on my couch im fucking out cold in 10 minutes
 
Rotobit

Rotobit

Editor at Nintendo Wire
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
10,196
it's how I've done it for the last decade or so, though I eventually upgraded to a dual monitor set-up of sorts. It's the primary reason I play FFXIV on PS4, so I can multitask (actual PC dual screen frustrates me every time I try it so I gave up)

I also haven't had my consoles hooked up to speakers in that same amount of time, headphones all the way
 
iceblade

iceblade

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,213
I've got my PS3 on my desk hooked up to my PC's monitor and it works really well since I can play PS3 games easily but also get to watch Blurays and DVDs without having to move to the lounge and take up the main TV. I've not had any issues with it - I just change the input when I want to use the console, and change it back when I want to use the PC again. It's the same thing with the headphones - I've got an external volume control for the PS3 that I plug the headphones into and when I'm done I plug them back into the PC via a 3.5mm extension cable.
 
Golden

Golden

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Dec 9, 2018
928
In a house with family around I would have thought you want to think about wireless headphones, not speakers.
 
Bwooduhs

Bwooduhs

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,311
It's what I've been doing for the last 3-4 years with my dual monitor set up, I am switching back to the old TV couch set up shortly though when I move in to a new place.

The one big thing I struggled with is paying attention to the game with the distraction of the other monitor right next to me, on the bright side I'm a much better multitasker.
 
Siresly

Siresly

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,568
Hm, this might actually work better for me, I will consider this idea.
Don't know why I haven't before really. Guess you just get used to doing things a certain way and keep doing them without really considering anything else.

One thing I did somehow manage to consider and am now further glad I did, was these bookshelf speakers for my computer, instead of looking at just "computer" speakers. They're all just speakers, only "bookshelf" speakers are better (unless you need a headphone jack). I got Edifier R1280DB's, which for input have two RCA's, a coaxial, an optical and bluetooth. Meaning I can use them for multiple devices. Perhaps I will.

Consoledesking would also work better for if I ever do get a racing wheel. Which will hopefully be forwards-compatible...
 
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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
molnizzle said:
Most gaming monitors currently don't support HDMI 2.1 since gaming PC's only use DisplayPort, but hopefully that. changes soon.
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If next gen consoles cap out at 120Hz, and you're realistically buying yourself a 1440p 144hz monitor, then HDMI 2.0 is perfect for 1440p 120hz gaming.

I use 1440p at 32" for PC and it's quite sharp. Many people opt for 1440p at 27" which is even sharper.

PowerThroughLov said:
You will find monitors are way worse than TVs for gaming features. Say goodbye to HDR.
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Many monitors, like the Pixio PX7 Prime, support HDR. Part of the FreeSync 2 certification is to support HDR400 at the bare minimum with other monitors exceeding that.
 
molnizzle

molnizzle

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,695
LightKiosk said:
If next gen consoles cap out at 120Hz, and you're realistically buying yourself a 1440p 144hz monitor, then HDMI 2.0 is perfect for 1440p 120hz gaming.
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VRR is the key though. Both of the new consoles will support that, and most of the gaming monitors with 2.0 don't support HDMI VRR. I know mine doesn't.
 
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