Ways To Stream Pc Games To My Mac

Gamers have a reason to rejoice now that Apple is getting on board with the VR and AR bandwagon via their eGPU development kit. No longer are desktop GPUs the realm of PC enthusiasts and old cheese grater style Mac Pros. With full fledged GPU power on Mac, you can now also develop and game on those same Macs too.

With Apple's new push towards VR and AR development, the GPU hardware is better up to the task of not only gaming on Macs, but streaming those games to other Macs and PCs in your own home. For example, let's say you have a brand new 5K iMac with a Thunderbolt 3 connection to an eGPU with an AMD RX 580 sitting in your home office. That iMac might be a pretty decent machine to game on but perhaps it doesn't have the best seating or perhaps the view from your home office leaves something to be desired. Wouldn't it be great if you could use the power of that iMac to play games but have the mobility of a laptop so that you can sit and play anywhere in your home? You can do just that using Valve's In-Home Streaming on Steam. Here's how you get started!

Using Steam Link, you can connect to any computer that’s running Steam. For best performance, use 5G WiFi or a wired ethernet connection. Apr 06, 2016 How To Play Your PS4/ps4 Pro On Your Computer (mac Or Windows) -Step By Step Directions - Duration: 6:39. EverythingReview 669,041 views.

Install Steam

Ways To Stream Pc Games To My Mac Pc

The beauty of Steam is that it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Although not all games will run natively on all platforms, you CAN stream a game to ANY platform regardless of the OS (so long and the computer streaming the game can run it natively). We need to first install Steam on all of the computers you want to stream from and to play on.

1. Go to https://store.steampowered.com/.
2. Click on Install Steam.

3. Click on Install Steam Now. This will start to download the installer file that will be placed in downloads on your Mac.

4. Navigate to your downloads and double-click steam.dmg.
5. Agree to the terms of service.

6. Drag Steam to the Applications folder.

7. Start Steam and allow it to update.
8. Log in to your account or create a new Steam account. (If you are new to Steam, check out the store and get some awesome games. Many are even free!)
9. Repeat the installation on all other participating computers you want to use.

Set up your streaming server

Ideally, you'll want to have your most powerful computer running as the streaming server. In my case I'm using a 2014 5K iMac with an AMD RADEON m295x 4Gb GPU. Not bad for my needs and much more powerful than my MacBook Air from 2011! Secondly, you'll want to have the fastest network accessibility that you have available so you should also make certain that your streaming server is connected via ethernet cable to your router. Once that's set up, you can configure the In-Home Streaming service.

1. Start Steam.
2. Select In-Home Streaming from the sidebar.
3. Make certain that Enable Streaming is checked.
4. Click ADVANCED HOST OPTIONS.
5. If you have an NVIDIA GPU, check Use NVFBC on NVIDIA GPU.
6. Check Prioritize network traffic if you have a modern router that supports traffic shaping.

We're not quite done but we need to initiate a game via streaming from a client computer.

1. On the client computer, select a downloaded and installed game from the sidebar.
2. Click STREAM next to the game you plan to play.

3. You'll be prompted that you're about to stream a game. Click OK.

4. You'll be prompted that you need to complete some additional driver installation on your server. Click OK.

There's still more to do on the streaming server again.

1. Now go back to your streaming server. You'll be prompted install a Gamepad Driver Update. Click Install.
2. Click Continue.

3. Click Install.

4. Enter your password.
5. You'll then be prompted to install Ambrosia Audio Support. Click Continue.
6. Click Install.
7. Enter your password.
8. Click Restart.

If your installation fails, it will be likely due to macOS Security and Privacy settings. If this happens do the following.

1. Go into System Preferences.
2. Select Security & Privacy.
3. Select the General tab.
4. Towards the bottom, you'll see System software from developer 'Valve Corporation' was blocked from loading. Click **Allow.

Get ready to play on your client!

Finally, all of our setup is ready to be enjoyed!

1. Make certain your streaming server computer is on and Steam is running on it.
2. On the computer you want to play on, start Steam as well.
3. Select the game you want to play from the sidebar.
4. Click Stream.
5. Start playing!

I've found that if my stream server computer is connected to my router with an ethernet cable, then I can get a high fidelity gameplay even with a laptop that is only WiFi connected. If you run into slow streams, you can change some parameters on the client side or simple connect your client streaming computer to your router also with an ethernet cable.

Final thoughts.

Depending on the type of games you play, streaming may be a deal breaker for you. Although the response time (latency) and visual quality is very good, some fast twitch first person shooter games may affect your gameplay. Other than that, I love that I need only one beefy machine to play my games from and still be able to enjoy my lounger while I do so. What about you? Is streaming something that interests you? Let us know in the comments!

Another day, another iPhone 12 Pro concept. How much would you pay?

If reports are accurate we might be waiting a little while longer than normal for iPhone 12 Pro. But would you care if it looked like this?

My gaming rig is a lot of fun to take a deep dive into a long game, but I don't always want to sit at my desk for some of the lighter titles in my Steam library. My iPhone and iPad are perfectly capable gaming machines in their own right, and with the right apps I can stream right to these while my PC does all of the work in another room. Depending on how your home network and gaming PC are set up, there are a couple of options available to you for streaming PC games to your iPhone or iPad. And once you get set up the way you like, all you will need to do is choose the right game to spend a lazy Saturday morning playing.

Before you get started

Your iPhone or iPad will need to be on the same network as your gaming PC for this to work. If you aren't at home, or if you are not connected to the same WiFi as your PC, this is either not going to work well or not going to work at all. Making sure you are on a solid, stable network together is always going to be Step One for this process.

Steam

It's also important that your PC be slightly more capable than it needs to be when streaming games. If your PC only meets the minimum system requirements for the game you are trying to play, streaming is going to be a miserable experience and you're not going to do it twice. As long as your PC has some extra power to play with, this process should go fairly smoothly.

Moonlight, for NVIDIA gamers

If you have a mid to high end graphics card from NVIDIA in your PC, your software came with an experience called GameStream. This service allows you to stream games from your PC to a supported device, and generally speaking it works very well. Because the service already exists as a part of your graphics card, there are no additional apps to install on your PC. The only hangup here is your iPhone and iPad, which are not technically GameStream supported by NVIDIA. The workaround for this is a third-party app called Moonlight. Install this on your phone, log in to GameStream, and you're ready to go!

If you're not sure your PC supports GameStream, the best thing you can do is look for the app on your computer. GameStream is supported on anything better than a GTX 650 GPU, so if your card was made within the last two years there's a good chance you have what you need to get going.

Remotr, for everything else

Not every game supports GameStream, and not every GPU is made by NVIDIA, so for everything else the app you want to use on for streaming games to your iPhone and iPad is Remotr. This app will allow you to stream basically anything from your PC, and gives you a nice set of virtual joysticks on the screen to emulate a gamepad while you play. Best of all, you have control over where those joysticks and all of the other buttons live. This makes creating more customized setup a lot easier, and makes playing on your iPhone or iPad a little less tedious.

While Remotr works better than any of the other 'host' server apps we've tested for game streaming, there's still a little delay. This probably isn't the best configuration for twitch shooters or timed puzzles, but it maintains a solid connection throughout the house for just about everything else.

Play Pc Games On Mac

To make this work, you need to first install Remotr on your PC and set it up for gaming remotely. This app created a 'host' server for the Remotr app on your phone to connect to. Unlike some remote streaming apps, Remotr gives you a nice visual interface for launching games instead of making you use the icons on your PC Desktop through what is undoubtedly a much smaller display. After you have it set up the way you want, you can launch a game and start playing right from your iPhone or iPad.

What's your favorite game to stream from your PC? Shout out in the comments below!

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Another day, another iPhone 12 Pro concept. How much would you pay?

Pc Mac Games Download

If reports are accurate we might be waiting a little while longer than normal for iPhone 12 Pro. But would you care if it looked like this?