Review: The Steam Link
As much as I like pc gaming, there has always been something relaxing about being able to hop on the couch with a cold beer, grab a controller, and load up an awesome slice of gaming. Having finally built a rig powerful enough to play the games I want I’ve always wanted to be able to do this time honored relaxing tradition. Extremely long HDMI cables trailing from my bedroom to the living room was out of the question and lugging my computer to hook it up directly to my TV seemed to defeat the purpose of a night of relaxing gaming. I needed something else and Valve delivered with the Steam Link! (To a degree.)
At $49.99 this piece of hardware is small but sleek being able to easily blend well with most entertainment centers and comes with all the cables you need including a decent length HDMI cable and (thankfully) an Ethernet cable. Even Valve HIGHLY recommends you use the Steam Link with a wired connection for the most stable gaming experience. I had to meet them half way. Plugging my Steam Link into my modem was not a problem with my set up; however my computer was on the opposite side of my apartment with no Ethernet port in sight. So wireless from my computer would have to do. The Steam Link is ready to accomidate most controller preferences coming with three usb ports and built in wifi which, from what this reviewer has heard, works well with the Steam controller released at the same time. My preference is a wired connection with an xbox One Controller. While other wireless controller dongles are supported including the very popular xbox 360 controller, input lag was a fear of mine so I stuck with a good ol wired connection.
The end result was mixed. Set up was relatively painless, requiring only that the host computer is actively running Steam and connected with no issue every time once I entered the one time code. As for gameplay, I tested two games to run this device through its paces the first being the brand new Fallout 4.
I ran into my first problem immediately on my host computers end with the game not wanting to run the steam properly. After getting around this by launching the game on my computer and then running the Steam Link, I was able to start my test in full. There was no noticeable input lag which would have been an instant deal breaker for me and only the slightest hint of an audio lag.
Overall I was initially impressed until the occasional lag spike kicked in. At random points during the game it would freeze akin to a buffering YouTube video before catching up and in some games this could be especially frustrating. Furthermore, but not unexpectedly so, there was a marked decrease in the quality of graphics. But in between these momentary lag spikes it was smooth sailing and the little device did exactly what I wanted it to do.
With my second test game, Injustice: Gods Among Us, I had far fewer technical hiccups. I did not experience the start up issues that I had with Fallout 4, no lag spikes or input delays. There was still that slight noticeable audio lag, but unless you have lightning fast internet there really isn’t a way around some form of lag in one area or another. Seeing as this game has been out for a few years and is nowhere near as technically demanding as the brand new Fallout 4, it is safe to assume either a more powerful rig or a less demanding game would help to smooth over some of the technical issues I have experienced.
Believe it or not however, my overall review of this device is mostly positive. It’s a relatively cheap game streaming device that’s only real main competition are devices that can cost up to four times as much (looking at you Steambox and Nividia Shield.) While admittedly these other devices are by far a better choice, if you are looking for a cheap way to stream games to a TV from your computer the Steam Link won’t break your bank and will get the job done most of the time. Once again this review was done on a wireless connection, we were unable to test the wired connection.
Steam Link
Pros
- Cheap Cost
- Easy Set Up
- When it works it works!(Wireless)
Cons
- Slight audio lag(Wireless)
- Visual issues (Wireless)
- Requires better than average connection
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