what do I need to run a desktop computer high end games

[capt_caveman]

I have a desktop computer with 310 watt power supply the graphics card is a gtx 1050 ti thats a low power consumption card 

Corect me if im rong I thinking 400 watts solar and two agm 100ah battries or do I need more.
 
My lights are all have there own solar no refrigerator im just charging my cell phone and small every day laptop.

If I half to I can buy this gaming laptop that only has a 180 watts power supply that will run all new games that I play like Fallout 4,tomb raider,grand theft auto 5,Pug g, mech warrior online,Doom so on but its close to $1000 thats a big investment .



link to good store I shop from this one comes with 8 gigs of ram but can be upgraded to 32 gigs
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...T4i327iX_N9OldV0MosLn-XQ5BoCyXsQAvD_BwE&smp=y

Heres game play from tech deals he tested 14 games on this laptop and its a beast.  18 min. long


If I do buy this il do my first youtube on solar gaming 
theres no videos on this subject van life gaming lol

 

[johnny b]

Get a meter to see what your actual loads are.

Kill-a-Watt $20-25

http://www.p3international.com/products/P4400.html

Without knowing your actual needs, it's just guessing....$$

 

[capt_caveman]

Get a meter to see what your actual loads are.

Kill-a-Watt  $20-25

http://www.p3international.com/products/P4400.html

Without knowing your actual needs, it's just guessing....$$

I was thinking on picking one up any way just to check other appliances 
 Just was hoping some one is playing PC games out there and what Solar power there using.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Since my profession has been within the PC gaming industry since 2005, and I started van-dwelling in 2010, I have a few years experience on this subject.

First, I don't fall for the hype that I *need* the biggest and baddest PC to enjoy myself. Sure, you can do that, but you will not only pay more for it, you will have to pay more for the solar and batteries. A full-sized PC is possible, but - frankly - dumb. Size matters, even in your bus, and a laptop is the way to go for that reason as well as power consumption.

I have had an ASUS gaming laptop since 2012 - the predecessor to the one you show in the original post. It was $1400, and a major power hog, but it was strong for the day and weighed 12 pounds (way too heavy!). Heck, it would STILL play all those games you list just fine. However, I wanted something with less power use, so I  handed the old big one off to my son last year and I picked up another ASUS laptop.

I bought the ASUS K501UW which has a SSD drive (less power, less weight). ASUS already has another version of this on the market with more power. Not only is the laptop more powerful then my previous, it weight in at only 4 pounds and will last 10 hours on the battery when being used in battery savings mode. I've tested it, and it actually does last. I can work 6+ hours on a single charge - or game for about two hours. It still requires a good amount of power to use in full game mode though (about 6 amps).

As for the solar, Kerri and I both spend 8 hours a day on laptops like this - working. We had 300 watts on top of the Airstream hooked into 200ah of AGM batteries. It easily kept up with our work days as long as the sun was shining... otherwise two days of clouds and we were in trouble. Now we have 300 watts on top of the van, plus another 100 watts that can be doplyed, plus a 200ah Lithium battery. We can stretch it too fur days without sun while we both work 8 hours each. Gaming will lessen that of course.

By yourself, 200 watts and a 100ah battery will do for work mode. Gaming and I would go to a minimum of 300 and 200ah if you use the laptop. If you want to use a full sized PC, then you are looking to double the solar watts and probably even the battery bank. 

Good luck

 

[John61CT]

Put a Kill-a-watt on the PC and play hard for two hours.

Figure how many hours per day, not average, but peak usage.

Come up with AH per day on shore power, *10 will be AH on 12VDC.

Say for argument that is 150AH per day.

So for cloudy weather you need a 400+AH bank and 800+W panels.

And that's for just the gaming, add more for fans, lights a fridge etc

 

[capt_caveman]

Thanks guys for some great advice !
 It looks like the laptop is the way to go with a I7 and gtx1060 gpu 180 watt power break .
for me a $1000 well spent. 
  Its my entertainment its what I most enjoy .

Il shot for 400 watts of solar and two 100ah 12 volt agm's  I have plenty of flat roof space on my schoolie.
 
and for night time I can always use the inverter Generator to play

O yeah cant forget the Netbuddy $60 a month unlimited no throttling hot spot .
 I hope that pans out its getting good reviews from other gamers. 
  If not single player games will work like fallout 4.

 

[tripper]

Wow I didn't realize there were low power newer TI cards, I'm running an EVGA 980 Ti and it sucks down 380 watts of power all by itself, that's what caught my eye was your small power supply. The 980 is a much faster card but not practical off grid.

If you already have the desktop why not just use that and spend the extra on more solar/batteries?

 

[capt_caveman]

Wow I didn't realize there were low power newer TI cards, I'm running an EVGA 980 Ti and it sucks down 380 watts of power all by itself, that's what caught my eye was your small power supply. The 980 is a much faster card but not practical off grid.

If you already have the desktop why not just use that and spend the extra on more solar/batteries?

My son has a  980 Ti there great cards but power hungry my gtx 1050 ti has no six pin power plug it runs off the motherboard power .

Well my desktop Is a old I3 with a new graphics card I need to upgrade any way I just didn't plan on spending that much on a laptop but it will last me many years of gaming and youtube editing     
  I want to go as low power consumption on everything and steal be comfortable I don't need much. 

This is turning out to be my work year then I can take off the year after (2019-2020) to travel and RTR .
  I should be able to do both high end laptop and a good solar setup for my needs.

 

[Someday Igo]

200 ah is going to give you only 100, i dont think your solar will recharge you as fast as you are using it, i would add batteries. i would drop the solar down to 300 and up the battery to 300, assuming that you get lots of sun and game all day and night, that way if you are burning faster than you are charging you will have more time, i game on an older ASUS have tried everything, the struggle is real

 

[John61CT]

Adding battery only gives a bigger buffer for cloudy days.

It is not a **source** of power, just storage.

In the end you still must replace 120% of what you use.

For a 400AH bank, most mostly-solar people should have 6-800W of panels.

 

[capt_caveman]

200 ah is going to give you only 100, i dont think your solar will recharge you as fast as you are using it, i would add batteries. i would drop the solar down to 300 and up the battery to 300, assuming that you get lots of sun and game all day and night, that way if you are burning faster than you are charging you will have more time, i game on an older ASUS have tried everything, the struggle is real

during the day 400 watts of solar coming in and 180 watts going out to the laptop should not drain the batterys at all Il use a generator at night
 
 Il half to limit to mostly day time play ( Dark curtains ) and only an hour or two of night play on the Generator and see what happens .

 

[capt_caveman]

Just saying Im not an all night gamer I just like a hour or two of fun with it here and there .
 
Being in the schoolie Il be out side enjoying pleases and people 
 I spent more time out side in my truck camper then I ever did at home.

This is my second run at this and I cant wait I have a better rig I don't plan on going back this time.

 

[John61CT]

Then get a big bank and battery monitor.

On the solar you can start small, just stop playing when you hit the AH*.8 you expect to gather the next cycle.

As you add more solar you can add more screen time per day.

 

[capt_caveman]

Ok had to post this video lol !

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]Outdoor Gaming – Ultimate Camping Battle Station![/font]


looks like il be stuck with a inverter Generator tell I can build up my solar

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I struggled with this, as well. My solution was to use a laptop and play off battery. I can get close to two hours of high end gaming and if I shut my laptop down and charge it, it takes very little power. I have an older Lenova that I use for web browsing, watching movies, etc. I can get near 6 hours out of it, and still play some older games on it.

 

[capt_caveman]

I struggled with this, as well.  My solution was to use a laptop and play off battery.  I can get close to two hours of high end gaming and if I shut my laptop down and charge it, it takes very little power.  I have an older Lenova that I use for web browsing, watching movies, etc.  I can get near 6 hours out of it, and still play some older games on it.

Thats my plan as well 
 Il use the high end laptop for gaming on solar and generator and then im getting a chrome book laptop there cheap
my daughters chrome last a very long time even playing movies some where about 6 to 7 hours she let me use it when I had surgery.

 

[John61CT]

Overall efficiency is better if you just run off your main House bank with a DC adapter, keeping the batt charged to Full as much as possible.

Use the game and OS controls in conjunction with an ammeter to balance energy use and play settings, fps etc.

Also keeps the battery useful longer.

Also timing your heaviest playing during excess solar periods when free energy is available without draining the House bank is ideal.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Good advice John.

When I do my gaming it is usually during that time of the day that my battery bank is already at 100%. That way I am just using power straight from the sun (so to speak). I do not usually game for more than an hour or two anyway.

Depending on the game (some need more FPS then others) I find it better to play when on the laptop battery only which I can do for a few hours, then recharge when not playing. My laptop runs in "battery saving mode" when unplugged which consumes only a tiny amount of power then when plugged in and playing. I then charge it through the inverter while I do something more productive, and return later to repeat if I want.

I also have a small 50ah lithium battery (similar enough to this - https://amzn.to/2OywdME ) which I can charge my laptop five times on before even needing to lean on the house battery in the van.

 

[John61CT]

Try to figure out how to get to those energy saving settings while still keeping the DC current going into the laptop, even with the battery removed.

Inverter should not be required, ideally ever.

Only use the solar + main House bank when that is available, nothing else. Requires properly sizing that of course.

Only use smaller auxiliary batteries when away in a different location without mains power.

Otherwise just keep them full (or rather in storage mode, ready to go as needed).

Each battery has a limited number of usage cycles, in many cases under 200.

Plus, putting energy into one battery and then moving it to another is very wasteful.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Well, I do my gaming at night when solar is not available. I spend most of my time outdoors during daylight hours and even if I wanted to game, I couldn't see the screen. So, yeah, it may be inefficient, but it works for me. I game a while, turn the laptop off, watch a tv show or two on my more efficient laptop, then go to bed. In the morning I charge them up, so I'm taking virtually nothing from the house batteries. If I have to occasionally replace laptop batteries, I'm okay with that. If I'm doing something wrong, I'd be happy to be corrected.