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Shadow Cloud Gaming Question
- Thread starter Mystic_ZA
- Start date
Mystic_ZA
Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2018
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 12
Hey Everyone,
Shadow finally became available to login to today!
Unfortunately I am out today for new years, so I will not be able to start tests today.
I have signed into to check it works, noticed some settings need immediate adjustment such as mouse and bitrate.
Will have a video and forum reply with more details likely from 1st or 2nd Jan 2019.
Have a good new year, hope to get back to you all soon!
Shadow finally became available to login to today!
Unfortunately I am out today for new years, so I will not be able to start tests today.
I have signed into to check it works, noticed some settings need immediate adjustment such as mouse and bitrate.
Will have a video and forum reply with more details likely from 1st or 2nd Jan 2019.
Have a good new year, hope to get back to you all soon!
dagelf
Active Member
I live in a tiny flat and am quite desperate to have a really clean living space.
Having lived in tiny little flats in several building complexes, I've been researching and testing thin clients and KVM solutions and MDC's and off for almost a decade.
Even a computer screen and keyboard feels like a desecration of my living space... adding a noise-polluting, power sucking computer box makes the place unlivable. That, coupled with the hours it takes setting up most games, really ruins the experience for me... My best month of the last three years was when I took all the computers to the garage and only had a tiny little laptop that I can hide out of sight when work is over...
I can't begin to explain to you how wonderful it feels to have a clean, minimalist home, that's neat as a pin... and if you work with computers, just the sight of a computer reminds you of work and makes it harder for you to relax or switch off.
Of course this is SA, and I am a unique individual and hardly representative of the market, so my suspicion is that until the technology to do this is commoditized, this will be a niche market, and a company like Shadow will not deploy any infrastructure here, so it will fall to someone like you, or me, who wants to build this for ourselves - and maybe some friends.
My thinking has been - if I could just run an ethernet cable to my computer, and get all the performance, I'm sold. For great quality VR, shrinking the end-user device enough to make this possible might take another few years, and the ability to have bigger devices hidden in a data room or data center somewhere, we should always be able to offer more performance than an "edge" device.
Well, I'm finally there, I've got 10GbE sub 10ms latency to most fiber ISPs, and have a proof of concept that works on Nvidia - haven't managed to get Radeon down to the low latency needed for remote display.
If you're willing or able to help setting up something like this, any part of it - creating a website or marketing it to test the demand, help with Linux configuration, embedded systems, software development or you can help finance the operation, or negotiate a great deal with Shadow so we don't have to do our own R&D (or if you've tried) - (not holding my breath, they will almost certainly give us unmeetable targets)... so whichever way, I'd love to put the tech on the table to enable any ISP to offer this - if you're keen to help solve the problem, get in touch!
Having lived in tiny little flats in several building complexes, I've been researching and testing thin clients and KVM solutions and MDC's and off for almost a decade.
Even a computer screen and keyboard feels like a desecration of my living space... adding a noise-polluting, power sucking computer box makes the place unlivable. That, coupled with the hours it takes setting up most games, really ruins the experience for me... My best month of the last three years was when I took all the computers to the garage and only had a tiny little laptop that I can hide out of sight when work is over...
I can't begin to explain to you how wonderful it feels to have a clean, minimalist home, that's neat as a pin... and if you work with computers, just the sight of a computer reminds you of work and makes it harder for you to relax or switch off.
Of course this is SA, and I am a unique individual and hardly representative of the market, so my suspicion is that until the technology to do this is commoditized, this will be a niche market, and a company like Shadow will not deploy any infrastructure here, so it will fall to someone like you, or me, who wants to build this for ourselves - and maybe some friends.
My thinking has been - if I could just run an ethernet cable to my computer, and get all the performance, I'm sold. For great quality VR, shrinking the end-user device enough to make this possible might take another few years, and the ability to have bigger devices hidden in a data room or data center somewhere, we should always be able to offer more performance than an "edge" device.
Well, I'm finally there, I've got 10GbE sub 10ms latency to most fiber ISPs, and have a proof of concept that works on Nvidia - haven't managed to get Radeon down to the low latency needed for remote display.
If you're willing or able to help setting up something like this, any part of it - creating a website or marketing it to test the demand, help with Linux configuration, embedded systems, software development or you can help finance the operation, or negotiate a great deal with Shadow so we don't have to do our own R&D (or if you've tried) - (not holding my breath, they will almost certainly give us unmeetable targets)... so whichever way, I'd love to put the tech on the table to enable any ISP to offer this - if you're keen to help solve the problem, get in touch!
ok, I just got access to my shadow....and I'm impressed.
I'm in a hotel right now with 60Mbps/30Mbps connection according to Speedtest app, and I decided to try to login on my MacBook...with little expectation of it working ..or well.
but it loaded up fine, I'm able to stream the win10 machine just fine. it has about 1-2 second delay when moving the mouse quickly but so far for browsing etc.. it works great.
when I get back home I'll try it on my home network and see if the performance is any better.
See the machine specs below.
I'll have to see how it is for a game and if its better than windows installed on my MacBook in bootcamp.
but as far as being able to access anywhere without it being a resource hog on my machine... I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.
I'm in a hotel right now with 60Mbps/30Mbps connection according to Speedtest app, and I decided to try to login on my MacBook...with little expectation of it working ..or well.
but it loaded up fine, I'm able to stream the win10 machine just fine. it has about 1-2 second delay when moving the mouse quickly but so far for browsing etc.. it works great.
when I get back home I'll try it on my home network and see if the performance is any better.
See the machine specs below.
I'll have to see how it is for a game and if its better than windows installed on my MacBook in bootcamp.
but as far as being able to access anywhere without it being a resource hog on my machine... I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.
Last edited:
hey bro reallyinterested..pls could u update howit went with shadow
hey man super interested and was wondering how it works with gaming
Ha I totally forgot to check on that. hmm know any games I should try? last thing Iv'e ever really played is Starcraft!!!
drop me a few links and I'll see if I can spin a few up and try them out.
Flamer283
Well-Known Member
Racing games, fps, games that really depend on low latency
msybr fortnite i am interested to see wat ping u get in the gsme snd is the speed really 1gig persecond
Barbarian Conan
Executive Member
Come on, put in some effort. Try using real words, it's not that hard.
sorry im dislexic
Mystic_ZA
Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2018
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 12
Hi Everyone!
I am so sorry for the delay! It's been 24 days and I am so sorry!
Firstly big thanks to @uelsimon for getting it and giving your review, very similar results on my end, so thanks for updating the thread while was absent.
Also too @dagelf, thank you for such a long reply, I'd love to hear more about your last two paragraphs, I saw someone else is interested too, so if you don't mind elaborating, that would be great!
I'll get straight into it in order of how I experienced it:
Primary Flaw:
Order Date - Login Date: 19 December 2018 - 1 January 2019 (They did however apologise and provide reason that they had influx of orders)
First Impression:
Not bad, initially.
The login experience is fluent and easy, the setup of the Windows desktop app is simple and to navigate and adjust settings for my 20Mbps Fibre was no problem, it even did some automatically.
Specs:
@uelsimon uploaded specs in some images above, I had the same:
Intel Xeon @ 2.5GHz
12GB RAM
1Gbps Connection (On Speed test varied between 800Mbps and 1GBps download, 500Mbps and 1Gbps upload.)
Gaming:
This is, at least in my opinion, not a great experience.
I tested CSGO, PUBG, GTAV and Rocket League.
On the whole for most of the games, the latency was hardly the issue, for most....
The bit rate (most likely due to my 20Mbps Fibre) was not sufficient for quick movement in any game.
Average Latency:
SA Servers: 100-170ms
French Servers: 50-100ms
Spoiler below contains more game related results for those who care:
Processing Performance:
12GB RAM and Xeon Processor.
I didn't run CAD software unfortunately, sorry!
But video editing took no time at all to render the final products and I didn't even feel the need to go do anything while I watched the progress bar fly through.
General use was a breeze, browsing files, the web and working in a video editor felt like I was using my local machine. Despite the occasional bit-rate drop noticeable when scrubbing footage quickly.
Downloads:
Although it is likely that they run a Download Proxy for Steam games and more, I was amazed at the speed regardless. Chrome felt like it downloaded and installed instantly, Steam too.
In Steam, speeds varied between 250-800Mbps for downloading games such as PUBG, I let that download for around 7-12 minutes, don't remember exactly but it was insanely fast for the size.
Streaming: [Watching, not uploading]
I was able to stream 720p, 1080p and 4K video on YouTube to me locally at a downscaled size no problem.
This info can be used to just see that their connection can download 4K60FPS and downscale it efficiently to be viewed here with little issue.
Ultimate Decision:
If you are planning on renting Shadow in South Africa for Gaming specifically: Don't.
If you need high performance processing, rendering: It's an option, but maybe not worth the price.
I have since cancelled my subscription, I have no use for the system anymore.
Google is working on their own 'Shadow-like' systems. Click this text to read more.
If you would like ANY other information about the experience, from ordering to cancelling, let me know.
Sorry for how long it took to get this out to you all AND big thanks to you all for reading and getting involved!
This review is entirely my opinion.
Please do not just use my results to make a decission, Shadow allows for 14-Day refund policy if it does not suit your needs or expectations.
I am in no way posting this in request of any brand, this is entirely independent research and review.
I am so sorry for the delay! It's been 24 days and I am so sorry!
Firstly big thanks to @uelsimon for getting it and giving your review, very similar results on my end, so thanks for updating the thread while was absent.
Also too @dagelf, thank you for such a long reply, I'd love to hear more about your last two paragraphs, I saw someone else is interested too, so if you don't mind elaborating, that would be great!
I'll get straight into it in order of how I experienced it:
Primary Flaw:
Order Date - Login Date: 19 December 2018 - 1 January 2019 (They did however apologise and provide reason that they had influx of orders)
First Impression:
Not bad, initially.
The login experience is fluent and easy, the setup of the Windows desktop app is simple and to navigate and adjust settings for my 20Mbps Fibre was no problem, it even did some automatically.
Specs:
@uelsimon uploaded specs in some images above, I had the same:
Intel Xeon @ 2.5GHz
12GB RAM
1Gbps Connection (On Speed test varied between 800Mbps and 1GBps download, 500Mbps and 1Gbps upload.)
Gaming:
This is, at least in my opinion, not a great experience.
I tested CSGO, PUBG, GTAV and Rocket League.
On the whole for most of the games, the latency was hardly the issue, for most....
The bit rate (most likely due to my 20Mbps Fibre) was not sufficient for quick movement in any game.
Average Latency:
SA Servers: 100-170ms
French Servers: 50-100ms
Spoiler below contains more game related results for those who care:
In all the games bitrate pixelation and blur caused the most significant annoyance.
CSGO:
100-170ms to South Africa
50-100ms to France
PUBG:
50-120ms to Europe
GTAV:
No specific ping but was playable if not in heavy movement or combat, so, not the best.
ROCKET LEAGUE:
Playable in Europe, SA however? Terrible idea.
CSGO:
100-170ms to South Africa
50-100ms to France
PUBG:
50-120ms to Europe
GTAV:
No specific ping but was playable if not in heavy movement or combat, so, not the best.
ROCKET LEAGUE:
Playable in Europe, SA however? Terrible idea.
Processing Performance:
12GB RAM and Xeon Processor.
I didn't run CAD software unfortunately, sorry!
But video editing took no time at all to render the final products and I didn't even feel the need to go do anything while I watched the progress bar fly through.
General use was a breeze, browsing files, the web and working in a video editor felt like I was using my local machine. Despite the occasional bit-rate drop noticeable when scrubbing footage quickly.
Downloads:
Although it is likely that they run a Download Proxy for Steam games and more, I was amazed at the speed regardless. Chrome felt like it downloaded and installed instantly, Steam too.
In Steam, speeds varied between 250-800Mbps for downloading games such as PUBG, I let that download for around 7-12 minutes, don't remember exactly but it was insanely fast for the size.
Streaming: [Watching, not uploading]
I was able to stream 720p, 1080p and 4K video on YouTube to me locally at a downscaled size no problem.
This info can be used to just see that their connection can download 4K60FPS and downscale it efficiently to be viewed here with little issue.
Ultimate Decision:
If you are planning on renting Shadow in South Africa for Gaming specifically: Don't.
If you need high performance processing, rendering: It's an option, but maybe not worth the price.
I have since cancelled my subscription, I have no use for the system anymore.
Google is working on their own 'Shadow-like' systems. Click this text to read more.
If you would like ANY other information about the experience, from ordering to cancelling, let me know.
Sorry for how long it took to get this out to you all AND big thanks to you all for reading and getting involved!
This review is entirely my opinion.
Please do not just use my results to make a decission, Shadow allows for 14-Day refund policy if it does not suit your needs or expectations.
I am in no way posting this in request of any brand, this is entirely independent research and review.