diff --git a/hosts/FredOS-Gaming.nix b/hosts/FredOS-Gaming.nix
index 58bc41e..e9d1223 100644
--- a/hosts/FredOS-Gaming.nix
+++ b/hosts/FredOS-Gaming.nix
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@
       woeusb
     ];
 
+    # Force all builds off the gaming PC onto the media server so nix updates
+    # never compete with games for CPU/RAM. Pairs with the distributed build
+    # config in common.nix. builders-use-substitutes lets the server pull from
+    # binary caches directly rather than re-uploading through this machine.
+    nix.settings.max-jobs = 0;
+    nix.settings.builders-use-substitutes = true;
+
     programs.nix-ld.enable = true;
     programs.nix-ld.libraries = with pkgs; [
       stdenv.cc.cc.lib  # libstdc++.so.6 — needed by VSCodium extension native addons (e.g. sqlite3 in Continue)