Hi there,
I desperately want to hit the road and start the van life but the problem is I work as a 3D artist in the video game industry and therefore need a lot of computing power in my home / office. The computer I am using in my home at the moment has a 780W power supply unit. I see almost no vans with desktops in on the internet which leads me to believe that this just is not possible?
I know very little about how to hook up the vans electricity and am just looking for some general advice before I invest money into a van. I am looking at getting a sprinter van or something around that size and putting solar panels on the roof.
Any advice or tips? Thanks in advance.
I have thought about ditching the desktop and getting a high powered laptop. I had a look at a Dell XPS, it has a GTX 1060 and also USB type C charging you could buy a few of those portable power supplies. I've seen 20,000 MAh, so a few of those would keep you going all day.
How about asking/paying a friend/employer to keep your desktop somewhere, and remote onto it from a low power laptop?
You're talking a ton of money for a questionable system here...
I'm thinking that shore power or a generator would be your best bet, if you can't get more energy efficient equipment.
Hi bud,
I do the same job (or close enough!)
At the moment my desktop is setup at the back of my mates tattoo studio, pay a small bit towards elecy and the brew gear and just go there when im doing work. Bar that for the van I will be eventually getting a laptop and some spare batteries.
I foolishly got rid of my Lenovo Y50 before getting the van for next to nothing, and that used to run a bunch of Steam games, Maya (2013) and UE4, I had to keep drop some visuals to increase performance, but could pick up the work on my desktop for rendering etc,
Im running 530ah in battery juice and around 400w+ worth of solar. So a genny/hook up would be the only option really for a desktop,
If you find any more info let us know how you get on!
Just wondering if there were any more updates on the desktop/van solution?
Don't have my van anymore =/
However in my new job we have just bought a ASUS GL703GS for showing demo's and work abroad, if I were to go back in a van, i'd be looking at one of these or better, along with a second screen to work from!
It's handled VRay rendering, intense 3DS Max scenes, VR demos in UE4 and Apex Legends and didn't miss a beat,
Quote from: LeeCooper on April 17, 2019, 11:16:01 AM
Just wondering if there were any more updates on the desktop/van solution?
I don't think there's a way around the basic problem.
High powered desktops need a lot of power so you need a generator or shore power.
I've got a high powered laptop but even that would be difficult to use in a camper. I'm part-time camper so I leave it at home but it has a 120W power supply and at full pelt drains the battery in an hour.
Hey Nomadnovan,
this is what I'm worrying about, really.
I have a 130W, 20V laptop, and am told that a decent power bank and an inverter would sort me out, but I worry that people don't realise how much power they pull, and that it's not actually possible unless you're hooked up to shore power.
Quote from: LeeCooper on April 17, 2019, 10:29:34 PM
Hey Nomadnovan,
this is what I'm worrying about, really.
I have a 130W, 20V laptop, and am told that a decent power bank and an inverter would sort me out, but I worry that people don't realise how much power they pull, and that it's not actually possible unless you're hooked up to shore power.
Greetings!
NO!!!!! Forget those power banks, and do your best to avoid inverters.
Cheers!
Quote from: LeeCooper on April 17, 2019, 10:29:34 PM
Hey Nomadnovan,
this is what I'm worrying about, really.
I have a 130W, 20V laptop, and am told that a decent power bank and an inverter would sort me out, but I worry that people don't realise how much power they pull, and that it's not actually possible unless you're hooked up to shore power.
The thing is even if you could generate enough power, you'd have to have your engine running all the time. So there's the fuel cost, what that's doing to your engine, and the noise of a diesel van engine running while you're working.