TL;DR: On Friday, MSI introduced the MSI MAG Trident S 5M, the latest member of its Trident line of compact gaming desktops. Not like different PCs on this lineup, it has no choice for a devoted GPU, being powered solely by built-in AMD graphics. MSI emphasizes that it is primarily for “cloud gaming and cell gaming markets.”

With the continued silicon scarcity considerably elevating costs on consumer-oriented graphics playing cards, some avid gamers have turned to cloud providers for his or her gaming repair. MSI has taken this one step additional by introducing a devoted cloud gaming machine to their Trident vary of gaming PCs.

This slim 2.6-liter tower is configurable with as much as an 8-core AMD Ryzen 5700G APU with built-in Radeon graphics, two M.2 SSD slots, and as much as 64GB of DDR4 3200MHz SO-DIMM system reminiscence. Whereas this configuration will permit for some gentle fashionable gaming, MSI emphasizes the system’s cloud and cell capabilities as an alternative.

In its press launch asserting the MAG Trident S 5M, MSI claimed this “reimagines the gaming expertise.” Out of the field, it comes with a 30-day free trial to Xbox Recreation Move Final. This configuration ought to be suitable with most cloud gaming providers, corresponding to GeForce Now and Shadow, so long as you may have the web to run it. The pc additionally comes with an Android emulator with controller assist.

The press supplies additionally recommend that the PC is supposed to be a console alternative as an alternative of a standard desktop, with the machine focusing “extra on serving to avid gamers take pleasure in video games in the lounge.” All cloud providers and Android video games are built-in by MSI’s Recreation Stadium software program, which offers a big-picture expertise just like the PlayStation dwelling display screen.

Whereas cloud gaming has seen elevated adoption in recent times as a result of GPU scarcity, a lot of the gaming neighborhood stays skeptical. To run most titles in full decision at an honest body fee, you would wish speedy, high-bandwidth web over a wired connection — and even then, it is would not assure a clean gaming expertise.

Earlier this yr, we reported that Google refocused its Stadia cloud gaming service in the direction of company licensing offers amid stories of low shopper adoption charges.