Is it safe to use a non-gaming computer for light gaming?
18d 5h ago by lemmy.world/u/PlanchettePhantom in nostupidquestionsI'm thinking of buying a cheaper laptop that has Ryzen 7 in it. I'm the type of guy who only plays simple games that don't require the latest and greatest machinery to operate. I just like dungeon crawlers, RPG maker games, and other simple concept games.
Every computer is a gaming computer. Some are just more capable than others.
A Ryzen 7 should be able to do light gaming without any trouble. My main system used for gaming is an older Ryzen 5 connected to a TV and it’s great.
No you could die, depending on the difficulty of the game.
it will straight up explode after 30m of playing a difficult game.
Exactly. 😋
No, Nvidia will send a goon squad to your home.
Is this how Jensen sources the leather for his jackets?
It's human leather? OMG IT'S HUMAN LEATHER
Relax! He’s totally against non-artificial anything.
goon squad
Believe it or not, straight to jail
It is safe. You just might be limited in the games you can run.
Safe? Yes.
It's not like the thing will break if you demand a lot from it. At the very worst, if even throttling doesn't help the computer to regulate temperature, what you will experience is an emergency shutdown.
I tried playing games so much more demanding than my hardware that I had 3 SPF... Not 3 FPS (frames per second) but 3 SPF (3 seconds per frame... Took 3 for one frame to render) the game was unplayable but PC was okay.
Reminds me of when I first tried to play Quake (I think? some old arena FPS) over dialup. I tried for a few minutes hoping my ping would even out. At one point I had ~4,500 ping. That's 4.5 seconds between my input affection what I saw on the screen. Needless to say, I was often gibbed before I got to see my inputs manifest.
It's not a safety issue. At least not a physical one. Depending on the game it could cause emotional problems. Rage, depression, addiction are all possible. You should consult a qualified mental health professional if you are, or become, concerned.
Oh. You meant safe for the computer....
The types of games you like to play shouldn't be an issue even with truly ancient hardware (over 20 years old) so long as it was written for your OS/hardware combination. Compatibility layers (VMs, emulators and the like) can enable you to run software that is not compatible with your hardware or primary OS. As far as the hardware goes, depending on the game it may just not run, but worst case, the game may have bad frame rates rendering it effectively unplayable. Possibly leading to the above mental health issues.
In short, you're unlikely to damage the computer.
In short, you're unlikely to damage the computer.
You ever worked in IT? Laptops can be damaged when thrown.
Or stepped on. Or had red wine spilled on them.
Safe, absolutely. Pleasant, depends on the game
Oh you adorable thing you're fine
Just of note, "Ryzen 7", "Intel Core i7", etc. aren't good indicators of performance. The generation of chip is more important, as newer chip designs are more efficient and have better performance.
Also note, both Intel and AMD have re-released older chips as seemingly "newer gen", so beware of that! For AMD, which is what the laptop you are looking at is specced with, see if the chips is Zen 3, 4, 5, etc. Zen 5 is the latest gen, 4 is still pretty good, and 3 is bit older and is now found in a lot of really cheap machines.
If you have a modern processor, the iGPU is fine for basic gameplay. I have a laptop with an Intel 13th gen chip (P series), and the iGPU is good enough to reasonably run most games I want to play. The games you have added will probably play fine on modern iGPUs.
TLDR: Look at the architecture of the CPU (Zen n?), modern chips have good iGPU performance that will run most games just fine (just don't expect AAA games at highest quality settings)
Another thing, since it looks like you won't be playing any evil multiplayer games with invasive anticheat, I would recommend for you to run Linux if you aren't already! It generally improves the user experience and sometimes has better performance too. Distros like Fedora, Mint, etc. are all great options, just go with one that you like. You can always distro hop!
I fuckin' love Linux, dude. Also, thanks tor the info!
Yes, typically safe. If it overheats it will likely thermal throttle and lag on intense graphics tasks.
When I was in college, I had a extremely weak netbook that I would carry with me and even that Celleron processor, without a graphics card, could run the original Torchlight game with minimal lag. I play Minecraft on a Dell XPS 9370 with an i7 and no discrete graphics card all the time, I just can use shaders or excess mods. It doesn't feel snappy like my desktop, but it is 100% playable, even at full resolution.
Some games won't run well on weak hardware, but if you look for the recommended specs you'll see which developers went put of their way to support weaker hardware.
It's perfectly safe. Games are like any other apps - your CPU doesn't care if it's processing game code or office spreadsheet
you'll be fine, computers dont catch fire if you overload them unless something is very VERY wrong, which would be its own issue
you'll likely just run into some game performance issues if you play something too demanding. simple games run fine on anything modern :)
absolutely.. but you may need to turn down graphics settings in-game. also make sure you don't block the ventilation--most have intakes on the bottom and output the side or the back of the base.
I game on an old Thinkpad T480 (retired business laptop with on-board graphics).
Nothing unsafe about it, but it's definitely limiting.
Still, I'm able to play My Summer Car, Kingdom Come Deliverance, and Crusader Kings 3, which is all I care about.
My framework 13 has a Ryzen 5 7640U with only the integrated graphics and I've yet to find a game it can't run decently. It gives me maybe a little over half the performance of my desktop with a Ryzen 7 5700X and Radeon 6650XT, so I can usually run anything on my laptop at 30fps if I can run it on my desktop at 60.
My lappy has an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS with integrated AMD Radeon 780M graphics card.
In terms of dungeon crawlers, I frequently play dcss@lemmy.ml. I'd leave that game running 24/7, if it didn't also happen to be near-instantaneous to close and re-open. It uses practically zero CPU.
I'll also play simple 3D games at times, like luanti@lemmy.ml and openmw@lemmy.ml. You'll hear the fans when those are running, but there's still quite a bit of head space performance-wise.
happy cake day
Thanks. 🙃
If you don't trust it, put a condom around it. It'll be safest.
Yep,you can also check the game's system requirements if you want to be extra safe, and I want to add if the game is older then your pc its probably gonna run.
Sure, I game on my Linux laptop with a Ryzen 5 all the time. Worst case scenario, you'll get bad frame rates or crash. Many games, especially 2D ones, should run no problem.
I have a Thinkpad E595 that has a Ryzen 7 and an inegrated Radeon Vega 10 GPU. I game on it. works just dandy.
I'm left handed so the fact it has a numpad makes it instantly better for me than a gaming computer. add to the fact since it's a thinkpad it's reliable. like 6 years old and still running perfectly fine.
compare that to the POS Asus ROG Strix G15 I recently had. crapped on me in less than 4 years because the mobo just went to shit. constantly overheated to the point it cooked itself even with repasting every few months and cleaning the fans. crap computer, never buy Asus.
Yeah I play Doom on my Chromebook
It might start a small controlled fire.
Check the system requirements for the game you want to play. If a PC meets or surpasses them, you're fine, regardless what kind of PC it is.
If the specs suit, anything suits.
No, you can be reduced to a fine dust, a fibrous powder
Yes, it's safe and most, if not all, of the games might play fine. I won't vouch for RPG Maker because a bad developer can make a game with such awful optimization that even an overclocked Threadripper will stutter.