|OT| The PC Hardware Thread -- Buy/Upgrade/Ask/Answer
- Thread starter Durante
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Not sure what it's connected to. (But that's what is usually done in most minimally safe electronics / PSUs)
Once the new Nvidia cards come to laptops in the future, I'm buying one with a 3080 and that should hopefully last me for like 15 years.
I would never buy a gaming laptop, honestly. It just seems like such a waste of money. In my experience you pay twice what you would for the parts in a gaming PC, you get less performance, if anything breaks, you can basically throw the entire thing away, since you have no true modularity like in a gaming PC.
What material is the box? What is the box connected to?
DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING UNLESS YOU'RE VERY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS SAFELY!
Does your fuse blow if you connect live to it?
DO NOT DO THE PREVIOUS UNLESS YOU'RE VERY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS SAFELY!
OR RATHER, JUST DON'T.
also they are heavy and loud as hell
but some value portability over everything. depending on the lifestyle a gaming laptop could make sense.
They are really expensive, yeah. Also, quite heavy for mobile devices too and like you said, they're not completely modular like desktops, which are really cost-effective.
I don't have much of a choice, though, sadly. Don't have any space at home so I stick to mobile devices. Sometimes I may take it to a friend if I want to show him a game. If anything breaks, I send it to the supplier and they fix it but obviously not for free. Luckily, I hardly replace a laptop no matter how much the tech improves so the next one should last me for a long time.
If I had a choice, desktops are the best option here of course, so you're right.
Yeah, it makes sense if it's your only option due to space or mobility requirements. It's also crazy how Nvidia and AMD have been able to cram in basically the same chip into laptops, so at least it should run most of everything at decent enough settings.
I went ahead and ordered it yesterday, and it will apparently be delivered tomorrow. I think having a display like this will make it much more fun to buy a 3080 ti/3090 next month. Good times!
Yeah, that really is crazy, ever since their 1000 series. I'll still stick to 1080p and at least 60fps so with the right settings, things should be fine. The main thing is the cost but it is what it is.
As a married man, I disagree.
Yes, for $1400 you can get better than the 1060 I got in mine two years ago, but the difference between being able to game on the sofa with the fam around or in the bed while your wife is asleep instead of always in the basement with the desktop has been a relationship game-changer. Also useful for trips, parties, and events.
I think of it as a supplement, not a replacement.
I do think a 3080 in a laptop is a waste. I'd wait for the 3060.
Yeah I wont do that
I had to pull the switch down just to take the pics as I was scared of getting shocked lol
OP
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For in-home use couldn't you just stream to an (ultraportable) laptop?
I guess if you are primarily playing genres where ~20 ms extra latency makes a difference that doesn't work, but for everything else it should.
Would the 3060 be more cost-effective? Or would the difference between 3060 and 3080 be negligible in a laptop?
i'd imagine a 3080 would have to be clocked down to avoid overheating issues in a laptop so it'd have lower performance off the bat.
I experimented with the in-home streaming, but ran into mic problems that often require me to go downstairs to the PC to fix.
TBQH, the best use of the Steam Link is to stream dubiously-acquired media (such as sports outside of your area) onto your living room TV.
Yes. You will not get the full power of a 3080 in a smaller form factor, and the price would be exorbitant.
Well, as a supplement it's pretty big luxury, though.
But I also don't really mix my gaming activity with "normal" social activities, but I could see it being really useful for parties and other events.
It depends on the game. In my experience, most games you just enable it in game such as battlefront 2, mass effect Andromeda, far cry 5, assassin's creed, Shadow warrior 2. Shadow of Mordor is one I remember I had to enable desktop HDR, and windows store gears of war 5 and Forza horizon 4.
I don't care much about RGB, but I admit the tetris lights on the RAM modules looks pretty cool.
Woohoo, don't you just love spending the last day and a half of your week off fixing your own PC? sigh I never learn.
Finally running the almost latest BIOS, reinstalled mobo drivers and the like, fixed issues with my Corsair and Realtek drivers and also solved some random display driver restarts i was getting ( Thanks iCue! ). It's good to see eventviewer without yellow and red splattered through it.
It was annoying when all i wanted to do was lounge around and play Cthulhu but i'm glad i sorted stuff out.
Now to consider a full disassembly and cleaning with possible repasting and thermal pad replacing on my launch PS4 which sounds like a hovercraft most of the time. It's made worse by being about a foot away from me but it's still not a happy console.
Finally running the almost latest BIOS, reinstalled mobo drivers and the like, fixed issues with my Corsair and Realtek drivers and also solved some random display driver restarts i was getting ( Thanks iCue! ). It's good to see eventviewer without yellow and red splattered through it.
It was annoying when all i wanted to do was lounge around and play Cthulhu but i'm glad i sorted stuff out.
Now to consider a full disassembly and cleaning with possible repasting and thermal pad replacing on my launch PS4 which sounds like a hovercraft most of the time. It's made worse by being about a foot away from me but it's still not a happy console.
Finally bought and installed the 2TB Sabrent NVMe and 32gb 3200mhz RAM I mentioned a few weeks back. Everything seems to be running super smoothly. This old PC has never felt snappier.
I'll be testing it out properly in a few weeks once I get around to Horizon: Zero Dawn, which by all accounts seems to be a RAM hungry game. But for now I am very happy with it all.
I'll be testing it out properly in a few weeks once I get around to Horizon: Zero Dawn, which by all accounts seems to be a RAM hungry game. But for now I am very happy with it all.
A few months ago my Logitech G502 Core started to act up (e.g., one of my side-buttons would register a single click twice roughly 90% of the time). So I just bought myself a G502 Hero (it's my favorite mouse and nothing I've tried even comes close... I just can't live without a free-spinning scroll wheel).
Even though the specs are better (I basically went from g502 gen1 to gen...3?) it cost me half of what I paid 5+ years ago. Crazy.
Also, Logitech is supposed to be a Swiss company... Their HQ is at... what... a mere 15-minute drive from where I live? How come their stuff is usually cheaper in the US than in Switzerland?
Even though the specs are better (I basically went from g502 gen1 to gen...3?) it cost me half of what I paid 5+ years ago. Crazy.
Also, Logitech is supposed to be a Swiss company... Their HQ is at... what... a mere 15-minute drive from where I live? How come their stuff is usually cheaper in the US than in Switzerland?
Probably not being manufactured in switzerland. Global distribution centers are also probably not in switzerland.
The thing about electronics is that transportation, warehouse space and even container space on a ship is as much of a factor for pricing as manufacturing costs.
Yeah, on a rational level I knew the reason... it's just... we're a tiny-ass country... just sell it at a loss and bestow some primo hardware unto your people.
GIGABYTE G27QC 27" 165Hz 1440P Curved Gaming Monitor - Newegg.com
Buy GIGABYTE G27QC 27" 165 Hz 1440P Curved Gaming Monitor, 2560 x 1440 VA 1500R Display, 1ms (MPRT) Response Time, 92% DCI-P3, HDR Ready, FreeSync Premium, 1 x DisplayPort 1.2, 2 x HDMI 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!
heck of a deal at $280 for this monitor if anyone is in the market. i don't have personal hands on experience with it but a friend has had one for a bit and says it's really great.
Not sure what "HDR Ready" is meant to mean. There are actual classifications for how bright a screen can get, like HDR 400, or HDR 600, you can see it here, on the official Vesa site.GIGABYTE G27QC 27" 165Hz 1440P Curved Gaming Monitor - Newegg.com
Buy GIGABYTE G27QC 27" 165 Hz 1440P Curved Gaming Monitor, 2560 x 1440 VA 1500R Display, 1ms (MPRT) Response Time, 92% DCI-P3, HDR Ready, FreeSync Premium, 1 x DisplayPort 1.2, 2 x HDMI 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!www.newegg.com
heck of a deal at $280 for this monitor if anyone is in the market. i don't have personal hands on experience with it but a friend has had one for a bit and says it's really great.
Saying it's "ready" for it sounds like a PR cop-out to actually define anything.
Otherwise, yeah, this sounds like a great monitor for the price, but I would also check out some reviews
Looking up the Vesa site, it's amazing what miniLED monitors can achieve. Now I only hope for prices to come down in the next few years. I hope it can reach close to 1.000€ at some point, no way I'm paying more for a monitor
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Eh, that takes me back to the HD Ready TV era. TVs that as it turns out weren't ready, and now are worth shit. Looking at the one that serves as a doorstop in another room.
Yeah guys, i know that its been a lot of time since i bought the monitor but I haven't forgot about you!
First of all, pics:
Jumping from 16:9 to an ultra wide screen its really a gamechanger. First thing I said when I started using it was "This thing is BIG". So big that I've to move my head to look a the edge on both side, astonishing. That was what I wanted it to be first and foremost so the first approach was already positive! Having Chrome, Steam and a spreadsheet all on the same screen its [UWSL]something I didn't know I needed before.[/UWSL]
Then I had some trouble understanding the HDR behaviour, I mean its not that difficult but its also not so user friendly. I didn't know what I was looking at initially so that wasn't helping either. Anyway for anyone interested iI endend up by having:
Speaking about the HDR I must say that its amazing, it really enriches the image with deeper, and I mean DEEPER, color. I tried it with Death Stranding and Battlefield and it really change the image for the better. Especially Battlefield feels a lot more natural and less cartoony.
So, I've to say another time THANK YOU for your suggestion, I'm really happy with what I've bought. If you are on the fence for a new UltraWide monitor just do it. Buy an Ultrawide, its really one of the best upgrade that you could do to your PC, I wasn't sure about it but yeah...as others have already pointed out I can safely say that I'll never go back to a standard aspect ratio.
Monitor itself has a really high build quality, there is a lot of metal on the shell and its really heavy. That means that it doesn't bounce whenever you touch the desk, for example. OSD is serviceable, nothing groundbreaking. There are a lot of options and they are pretty much self explaining, you can also disable all the led on the back expect one led placed on the power button, placed on the bottom center. Its a really dim red light so not a big deal for me. A nice treat is the keypad included with the monitor, you can clearly see it on the first pic. With that you can go through the OSD comfortably without having to deal with whatever small button is available on the monitor itself.
First of all, pics:
Jumping from 16:9 to an ultra wide screen its really a gamechanger. First thing I said when I started using it was "This thing is BIG". So big that I've to move my head to look a the edge on both side, astonishing. That was what I wanted it to be first and foremost so the first approach was already positive! Having Chrome, Steam and a spreadsheet all on the same screen its [UWSL]something I didn't know I needed before.[/UWSL]
Then I had some trouble understanding the HDR behaviour, I mean its not that difficult but its also not so user friendly. I didn't know what I was looking at initially so that wasn't helping either. Anyway for anyone interested iI endend up by having:
- HDR activated on Windows, all time
- YUV422 10 Bit through the Nvidia Control Panel
Speaking about the HDR I must say that its amazing, it really enriches the image with deeper, and I mean DEEPER, color. I tried it with Death Stranding and Battlefield and it really change the image for the better. Especially Battlefield feels a lot more natural and less cartoony.
So, I've to say another time THANK YOU for your suggestion, I'm really happy with what I've bought. If you are on the fence for a new UltraWide monitor just do it. Buy an Ultrawide, its really one of the best upgrade that you could do to your PC, I wasn't sure about it but yeah...as others have already pointed out I can safely say that I'll never go back to a standard aspect ratio.
Monitor itself has a really high build quality, there is a lot of metal on the shell and its really heavy. That means that it doesn't bounce whenever you touch the desk, for example. OSD is serviceable, nothing groundbreaking. There are a lot of options and they are pretty much self explaining, you can also disable all the led on the back expect one led placed on the power button, placed on the bottom center. Its a really dim red light so not a big deal for me. A nice treat is the keypad included with the monitor, you can clearly see it on the first pic. With that you can go through the OSD comfortably without having to deal with whatever small button is available on the monitor itself.
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TheTrain Yeah, yeah monitor blah blah lovely, whatever.
The [UWSL]REAL[/UWSL] info I need to know is what those [UWSL]two[/UWSL] [UWSL]lights[/UWSL] are and do they react to the screen?
I have yet to reconnect my Ambilight setup since i changed monitors and those little lamps look cool, doubly so if they react to screen colour. I miss my reactive lighting.
The [UWSL]REAL[/UWSL] info I need to know is what those [UWSL]two[/UWSL] [UWSL]lights[/UWSL] are and do they react to the screen?
I have yet to reconnect my Ambilight setup since i changed monitors and those little lamps look cool, doubly so if they react to screen colour. I miss my reactive lighting.
These are the logitech G560 and yes, they react to the screen! Honestly I bought them just for that, as a speaker they are serviceable enough but I'm pretty sure that at that price point there is something better. Thing is that I found those led amazing so here i am!TheTrain Yeah, yeah monitor blah blah lovely, whatever.
The [UWSL][UWSL]REAL[/UWSL][/UWSL] info I need to know is what those [UWSL][UWSL]two[/UWSL][/UWSL] [UWSL][UWSL]lights[/UWSL][/UWSL] are and do they react to the screen?
I have yet to reconnect my Ambilight setup since i changed monitors and those little lamps look cool, doubly so if they react to screen colour. I miss my reactive lighting.
Oh, they are the Logitech Speaker & LED combo. Cool.
I bought my Ambilight as something to mess with but it quickly became essential to me especially late at night as it really helped reduce eye strain. I'm still looking for similar kit that is easy to setup. Nice to know that Logitech setup is good, i'll keep it in mind for when my current 15 yr old Inspire 5.1 5300 set die. They show no sign of that tho.
I bought my Ambilight as something to mess with but it quickly became essential to me especially late at night as it really helped reduce eye strain. I'm still looking for similar kit that is easy to setup. Nice to know that Logitech setup is good, i'll keep it in mind for when my current 15 yr old Inspire 5.1 5300 set die. They show no sign of that tho.
Holy moly, really?? Thats a set that has almost 20 years!
Amazing, I'm speechless
I've just realised that, 20 years not 15. Wow. I only paid about £20 for them too. A friend worked on big installations of hundreds of PCs and ended up with a couple of boxes sat around so i bought one. They've been great and still sound good. I got really lucky with that offer!
TheTrain Looks awesome, happy you are enjoying it that much.
I still have them too.
Unfortunately, not on my system. I gave them to the kids.
I still have them too.
Unfortunately, not on my system. I gave them to the kids.
Just bought a Logitech G502 Hero (after suggestion by RPS reporting a ~50% off on Amazon UK for the next 12 hours, in case others are interested) to replace my old and battered Mionix Naos 7000 (now called 3200? 
).
Loved the Naos, especially the little place to rest the ring finger, but it had a couple of dealbreaking issues for me.
The wheel click has been broken for years now, to the point I had to map one of the extra buttons as middle click.
It's supposedly more for palm users, and I'm more a claw.
The shape, weight, and balance makes it a bit slippery to pick up.
I'm not really into the G502 flashy looks, but eh, price seemed about right and a mouse change was really overdue.
Worse case scenario, I've returned more expensive stuff to Amazon (like a 2080S
).
).Loved the Naos, especially the little place to rest the ring finger, but it had a couple of dealbreaking issues for me.
The wheel click has been broken for years now, to the point I had to map one of the extra buttons as middle click.
It's supposedly more for palm users, and I'm more a claw.
The shape, weight, and balance makes it a bit slippery to pick up.
I'm not really into the G502 flashy looks, but eh, price seemed about right and a mouse change was really overdue.
Worse case scenario, I've returned more expensive stuff to Amazon (like a 2080S
).
I'm always looking for a new mouse as i can't seem to find one that suits me. I might give the G502 a go as it's on offer. I like my Corsair IronKlaw or whatever it's called but it does have a couple of little issues that i'd like ironed out. I'm also looking for a decent MMO mouse with lots of easily accessible buttons. Those mice with 16 buttons on the side always look like i'd be able to use a couple of them with the others just getting in the way.
On a hardware note, does anyone have any idea why OpenGL apps crash for me while Vulkan and DirectX are fine? It's really odd.
I'm wondering if my 2070 XC is dying. If there's a decent 2070 equivalent Ampere card i might upgrade and snag a new PSU too. I'll go SeaSonic Snow Silent probably as i'm not too sure if the AeroCool P7 i currently have isn't a bit pokey.
On a hardware note, does anyone have any idea why OpenGL apps crash for me while Vulkan and DirectX are fine? It's really odd.
I'm wondering if my 2070 XC is dying. If there's a decent 2070 equivalent Ampere card i might upgrade and snag a new PSU too. I'll go SeaSonic Snow Silent probably as i'm not too sure if the AeroCool P7 i currently have isn't a bit pokey.
warp_ Thanks, i'll take a look at the G604 again.
Hmmm, looks like my RAM maybe on it's way out. I'm running MemTest86 and there are errors so i'm looking at finding 32GB PC3200 Low-Profile sticks. I'll need to fuss-arse about testing each stick individually and hope it's not my mobo actually. What a pain.
Hmmm, looks like my RAM maybe on it's way out. I'm running MemTest86 and there are errors so i'm looking at finding 32GB PC3200 Low-Profile sticks. I'll need to fuss-arse about testing each stick individually and hope it's not my mobo actually. What a pain.
I'm using the g502 Lightspeed and other than the default weight being really, really light (coming from a G700s), it's totally fine once I added in a couple of the included weights. Best mouse I've used, though it felt a little small for my hand at first (again, the g700s is large).
Another recommendation for the g604. It's more tall in the back compared to 502 though, which might make it not as comfortable for some people.
With the ghub software, you can customize all the buttons either in persistent mode or per app/game basis which is cool. you can even stored many profiles on the onboard mouse itself if you don't want to use the software.
One of the cons for me is with the battery the mouse is pretty back heavy. I remedied this by using an aaa to aa adapter. It makes the mouse weight more balanced overall.
At first I was going to buy the g502 lightspeed but the g604 is almost at half price than that, has more buttons, bluetooth and lightspeed. and still uses aa battery (which is a plus in my book).
Logtech wireless sensor is pretty great, never once have a dropped input or lag in all my times using it on g304 and g604.
Eh, for once I have a 'simple' question
I use a DS4 and even with the usual solutions, I kinda regret not using a Xbox pad for Game Pass. So, now that I have a bluetooth dongle, can I buy the wireless XBX pad (the one without the overpriced dongle), will I be able to use the pad with my dongle ?
Or am I cursed to pay through the nose for the full pad ?
I use a DS4 and even with the usual solutions, I kinda regret not using a Xbox pad for Game Pass. So, now that I have a bluetooth dongle, can I buy the wireless XBX pad (the one without the overpriced dongle), will I be able to use the pad with my dongle ?
Or am I cursed to pay through the nose for the full pad ?
The non overpriced Xbox controllers work with Bluetooth now.Eh, for once I have a 'simple' question
I use a DS4 and even with the usual solutions, I kinda regret not using a Xbox pad for Game Pass. So, now that I have a bluetooth dongle, can I buy the wireless XBX pad (the one without the overpriced dongle), will I be able to use the pad with my dongle ?
Or am I cursed to pay through the nose for the full pad ?
The only reason the old ones need the dongles is because they are the old ones that nobody buys anymore.
I bought a normal, white xbox one controller and it works both over bluetooth on windows 10 and android.