MSI Wants to Sell Gaming PCs Without GPU

The Taiwanese company has introduced a new MAG Trident S 5M model to its range of gaming PCs. There would be nothing unusual about it if not for the fact that it is a kit without a dedicated GPU.

As the manufacturer explains, the MAG Trident S 5M is intended for gamers who enjoy the benefits of cloud gaming. It will be the perfect rig for GeForce NOW or Cloud Gaming from Microsoft.

What does the cloud gaming computer offer?

MSI MAG Trident S 5M is equipped with the following components:

• 8-core AMD Ryzen 5700G processor,
• two M.2 slots for SSD media,
• a slot for a 2.5-inch hard drive,
• two RAM slots supporting up to 64 GB of DDR4 3200 MHz SO-DIMM memory.

After purchasing the MSI MAG Trident S 5M, gamers get 30-day access to an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, as well as a built-in Android emulator. This enables them to enjoy cloud-based entertainment from the very first boot up.

But is a built-in mobile OS emulator necessary when you can use a solution built for Windows 11?

Does a cloud gaming PC even make sense?

Marketing materials prepared by the manufacturer suggest that the MSI MAG Trident S 5M should be treated as a replacement for a console, rather than a full-fledged PC.

But does it make any sense to buy such a PC these days? Everything depends on the situation on the GPU market, and that changes every day. After all, buying a powerful GPU is often burdened with the need to invest quite a large sum of money, which can be spent on, for example, XGP or GeForce NOW subscription.

The growing popularity of cloud gaming may cause more manufacturers to want to launch hardware advertised as a solution designed for this particular form of entertainment.

Keep in mind, however, that cloud gaming requires a fast internet connection. It is also not an ideal solution, because many times you have to deal with delays that render playing online games pointless.