Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Steam Link VS Cloud GPU

Compare Steam Link VS Cloud GPU and see what are their differences

Steam Link logo Steam Link

Play your Steam games on any TV in the house

Cloud GPU logo Cloud GPU

Cloud GPU is a solution that provides high-performance GPUs on Google Cloud for machine learning and 3D visualization.
  • Steam Link Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-17
  • Cloud GPU Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17

Steam Link features and specs

  • Convenience
    Steam Link allows you to stream games from your PC to other devices, enabling gaming anywhere in your house as long as you have a good network connection.
  • Compatibility
    Works with many different devices, including TVs, tablets, and smartphones, expanding your options for where and how you play.
  • Cost-Effective
    Since it's a free app, you can gain an additional way to play your games without needing to purchase more hardware.
  • Quality Gaming Experience
    Supports high-quality streaming, including high frame rates and low latency, provided you have an adequate network setup.
  • Ease of Use
    The setup is straightforward, mostly involving the app and some basic networking setup, making it accessible to most users.

Possible disadvantages of Steam Link

  • Network Dependency
    The quality of the experience depends heavily on your home network’s speed and stability, potentially requiring upgrades to achieve optimal performance.
  • Limited to Home Network
    Works best over your local home network, meaning you're not truly mobile and are limited to your home unless you configure remote play over the internet.
  • Hardware Requirements
    You still need a host PC that can run the games, so while the app itself is free, it's not a substitute for owning capable gaming hardware.
  • Input Lag
    Although minimized, some users might still experience noticeable input lag depending on their network configuration and hardware.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Some games or setups may have compatibility issues with Steam Link's streaming capabilities, requiring adjustments or troubleshooting.

Cloud GPU features and specs

  • Scalability
    Cloud GPUs offer scalable resources, allowing users to easily adjust the amount of GPU power they need depending on their workloads without investing in physical hardware.
  • Cost-Effectiveness
    Pay-as-you-go pricing models and the absence of upfront costs for hardware make cloud GPUs a cost-effective solution for organizations that require flexibility in processing power.
  • Accessibility
    Cloud GPUs provide remote access to powerful computational resources, enabling users to perform graphic-intensive tasks from any location with an internet connection.
  • Integration and Ecosystem
    Cloud GPUs integrate seamlessly with other cloud services within the Google Cloud ecosystem, enhancing productivity and operational efficiency.
  • Maintenance-Free
    By using cloud GPUs, users are relieved of the responsibility of maintaining and upgrading hardware, which is handled by the cloud provider.

Possible disadvantages of Cloud GPU

  • Latency
    Cloud-based solutions can sometimes suffer from latency issues, especially if the user is geographically distant from the data center.
  • Data Security and Privacy
    Using cloud-based GPUs involves transferring data to and from the cloud, which may raise concerns about data security and privacy depending on the sensitivity of the information.
  • Dependency on Internet Connection
    The performance and reliability of cloud GPUs are heavily dependent on a stable and fast internet connection.
  • Potential Costs for High Usage
    While flexible pricing is a benefit, costs can escalate quickly with extensive GPU usage, potentially becoming more expensive than maintaining on-premises hardware for prolonged workloads.
  • Learning Curve
    Adopting cloud GPUs requires technical knowledge and training, which may involve a learning curve for teams unfamiliar with cloud technologies.

Steam Link videos

Steam Link Review - A surprisingly interesting device?

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Cloud GPU videos

No Cloud GPU videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Steam Link and Cloud GPU)
Games
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
50 50%
50% 50
Gaming
100 100%
0% 0
AI
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Steam Link and Cloud GPU

Steam Link Reviews

Top Remote Desktop Software for Gaming
Steam Link, a Valve 2019 production, is another RDP gaming solution designed explicitly for streaming games from a Windows computer to any device. All you need to do is install the app on both your host and client devices.
Source: cloudzy.com
Moonlight game streaming alternatives
Steam Link is a free game streaming service that could have been the perfect alternative for Moonlight. But a few limiting factors prevent it from doing so. Even with the limiting factors, it is still a pretty good streaming service that can be sued by the players who fulfill the requirements. First and foremost, players can only play the games that are a part of their Steam...
Source: androidgram.com
5 Best Google Stadia Alternatives 2020 | Cloud Gaming Services
Steam Link, released in 2018, is the best alternative to Google Stadia. This game streaming service is all about bringing your Steam library to any of your devices, including TVs, streaming you’re your hosting desktop.
Stream games with these Google Stadia alternatives
Valve has been slowing creeping into the streaming market with its Steam Link Anywhere program, now simply called Steam Link. It’s largely flown under the radar since launch, probably due to the fact there are only a couple of Steam support pages regarding it, which are light on the details, and little to no discernible effort to spread the good word of what it does. But...
15 game streaming services you can try before Google Stadia arrives
Right now, Valve is being somewhat cryptic about the exact requirements for Steam Link Anywhere. According to the beta page, you need to have “a good upload speed and [that] your Steam Link device has a good network connection.” Once you get past that, all you need is a Windows PC to host the games, plus the Steam beta client running on an Android device or the ill-fated...

Cloud GPU Reviews

We have no reviews of Cloud GPU yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Cloud GPU should be more popular than Steam Link. It has been mentiond 7 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Steam Link mentions (1)

  • Why I Don't Need a Steam Machine
    There's a Steam app on my Samsung smart TV that I think can do this, with a USB-controller connected to a USB-port on the TV. Haven't tried it though. But I think the best way to do it is to have a cheap PC (or maybe an Android TV device or something?) connected to your TV. You can stream games to it from your gaming PC in the other room: https://store.steampowered.com/remoteplay. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago

Cloud GPU mentions (7)

  • Does Google Cloud GPU use physical GPUS or are they emulated
    Per https://cloud.google.com/gpu, they use NVIDIA L4, P100, P4, T4, V100, and A100 GPUs. These are physical units loaded into servers and then shared to the OS by the hypervisor. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Fine-tuning?
    You probably can't do it through onedrive, though I'm not sure if MS has something like that that carries over into other services. The thing you need is GPU power, not storage. Most people use something like google cloud https://cloud.google.com/gpu but there are a lot of other options. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Home Server - Student
    Uh, you ask these questions before you buy the hardware. There are various tools you could have used for free, or for cheap instead of spending $2500 on equipment, and not even seemingly the right equipment. You would know more than me, but you mentioned AI/Machine learning, but I do not see any graphics cards mentioned in your build, and a lot of that work is enhanced with graphic cards. (3 of these or just this... Source: over 3 years ago
  • The machine learning models I am running requires GPU. Is there a way to SSH into another computer and use another computer's GPU?
    Why are you not running in google colab? Https://cloud.google.com/gpu. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Reasons to be cheerful: 'GPU mining is dead less than 24 hours after the merge'
    Unless you are spinning up GPUs in the cloud with stolen credentials/credit cards. https://cloud.google.com/gpu. Source: almost 4 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Steam Link and Cloud GPU, you can also consider the following products

Parsec - Streams games locally or over the internet

Vast.ai - GPU Sharing Economy: One simple interface to find the best cloud GPU rentals.

Moonlight-Stream.org - Moonlight allows you to stream your collection of games from your GameStream-compatible PC to any...

Bitcanopy - Bitcanopy is an automated AWS security platform that allows users to identify and stop s3 public read and write control along with objects encryption.

Geforce Now - Underpowered PC can now pack the punch of high-performance GeForce GTX GPUs with GeForce NOW.

LEAP Legal Software - Legal Practice Management Software for Canada. LEAP combines automated legal forms, document management and legal trust accounting tools in one serverless solution.