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Ruggan posted:Ok, I’m losing my god drat mind. I wrote up a post in the previous megathread about how to do this with a basic USB switch that has been working pretty well for me https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3903626&perpage=40&noseen=1&pagenumber=446#post515001681
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Sep 28, 2021 06:32
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vanilla slimfast posted:I wrote up a post in the previous megathread about how to do this with a basic USB switch that has been working pretty well for me Oh yeah, this might work. I didn’t realize there was a signal switcher for monitors. A little annoying though considering both of my monitors have built-in hubs. Looks like my only other option is to get a really pricy KVM at 250+ from a niche manufacturer. Crazy that those are my options in TYOOL 2021.
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Sep 28, 2021 13:52
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Ruggan posted:Oh yeah, this might work. I didn’t realize there was a signal switcher for monitors. A little annoying though considering both of my monitors have built-in hubs. The way the rust app works is it sends the control commands directly to the monitor to signal an input switch. So it effectively works the same as a KVM without actually having to route the video signals through a single box (which is what makes actual KVMs so spendy)
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Sep 28, 2021 16:11
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Goons, please help! My little brother-in-law started picking up parts to build himself a PC without really knowing what he was doing or consulting anybody, and he's ended up in a weird place, and figuring out the best way to get out of the woods from here is beyond my limited knowledge. He has so far acquired an AMD FX-9590, the juggernaut of last decade, and an ASUS M5A78L-M PLUS/USB3, a similarly old Micro-ATX motherboard that is too small for the gigantic hog of a CPU he purchased and too old for any modern hardware. The motherboard is probably a write-off. It doesn't work for the old CPU he bought, it won't work for modern CPUs, and buying a more modest 8-year old CPU to slot into it would be completely insane. I'd say he should try to sell it, but I struggle to imagine who would be interested in buying an obsolete mobo that was mediocre in its time. The CPU is more of a question. Obviously it wasn't a good purchase, but is it a recoverable error? It's difficult for me to compare it to anything modern directly because it's too old to appear on current benchmarks, but it's got impressive clockspeeds, so could it still hold up to vaguely modern gaming? It looks like there are compatible motherboards that can handle SSDs, so could he potentially furnish himself with a functional, if sub-optimal gaming computer without having to abandon his initial outlay? Failing that, does he have better odds of selling the FX-9590? Thanks for taking the time.
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Sep 28, 2021 19:13
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I'd honestly call it all a writeoff at this point. 32nm is quite a few nodes back and it'll waste quite a bit of electricity trying to push out the performance of a modern 10nm cpu. if you run it for 3 years and pay $5 extra a month for that performance you're already approaching the cost of just buying a new one outright. Plus, everything there is going to become completely obsolete ~6 years faster than an up-to-date processor.
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Sep 28, 2021 19:30
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clockspeed is more or less totally irrelevant here. it will lose, badly as I understand it, even to first gen ryzen because it doesn't compare on instructions per clock (IPC) or cache. he could prolly flip it on Facebook market if he had to.
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Sep 28, 2021 19:32
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Yeah no one should be using an FX anything.
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Sep 28, 2021 19:41
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Ah well, that's about what I expected. Sorry, little bro.
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Sep 28, 2021 19:50
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Voyager I posted:Goons, please help! My little brother-in-law started picking up parts to build himself a PC without really knowing what he was doing or consulting anybody, and he's ended up in a weird place, and figuring out the best way to get out of the woods from here is beyond my limited knowledge. He has so far acquired an AMD FX-9590, the juggernaut of last decade, and an ASUS M5A78L-M PLUS/USB3, a similarly old Micro-ATX motherboard that is too small for the gigantic hog of a CPU he purchased and too old for any modern hardware. Yeah that CPU uses DDR3 memory, it's not worth sticking with. Where did he even get that thing? If at all possible send it back 
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Sep 28, 2021 19:51
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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I'm not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but I got some good help with a PC build I posted last week and there doesn't seem to be a generic PC gaming thread in Games anymore, so here goes: Is there any PC controller or gamepad that is notably quieter and less clicky, for a lack of better word, than others? Failing that, are modern Dualshocks or Xbox controllers quieter than the ones from about a decade ago? I'm mostly concerned with the button tapping and directional stick noise in action oriented games.
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Sep 28, 2021 22:04
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I'm looking to replace a PC for my father-in-law (specifically replacing an i5 PC I built for him in 2012). He's using it for business computing (moderate/heavy office stuff and loads of videoconferencing) - but no gaming, so his graphics needs oughta be covered by integrated graphics. But here's the thing: This computer needs to be loving fast. You know the kind of old dude who'll click a thing, it doesn't respond *immediately*, and so then he goes clicking a dozen other things? I don't want any of that; he tends to get super anxious and then go clicking around and loving poo poo up. Here's the deets: Country: USA What are you using the system for? General office/business computing, videoconferencing, web stuff. Zoom/Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Acrobat. What's your budget? Ideally under $1,000. Other stuff: His current machine's in a Mini-ITX case; if we can avoid a bigger box that would be better. Needed: Just the PC itself (and a Windows license but I figure I'll get that from SAMart) - I don't need to replace monitor/etc. Just to give you an idea on the kind of "speed" I'm talking about, I mean like, if there's a BIOS that means that the machine will wake from sleep like 2 seconds faster, it's worthwhile. Maybe this isn't "speed" as much as responsiveness, but I hope you get the idea. AMD or Intel doesn't matter; whichever is "snappier".
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Sep 28, 2021 22:06
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sarcastx posted:I'm looking to replace a PC for my father-in-law (specifically replacing an i5 PC I built for him in 2012). responsiveness is best addressed by SSDs and to a lesser degree more CPU. i don't think either CPU company are significantly better at that - something with an nvme drive i bet would probably be the most significant change if he's not already on SSD.
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Sep 28, 2021 22:13
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CoolCab posted:responsiveness is best addressed by SSDs and to a lesser degree more CPU. i don't think either CPU company are significantly better at that - something with an nvme drive i bet would probably be the most significant change if he's not already on SSD. Yeah a few years back I switched him from a WD HDD to a Samsung SSD over SATA, it was a solid upgrade for him but like, yeah. I assumed NVME was going to be a part of this build but perhaps I should budget for some chill pills too
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Sep 28, 2021 22:15
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sarcastx posted:I'm looking to replace a PC for my father-in-law (specifically replacing an i5 PC I built for him in 2012). That's eminently doable, here's an ITX build I threw together for a friend with the same needs for a little over $500: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/K7bPRT Only thing you might have to watch out for is getting a PSU that fits your small case (and I bought the CPU and MOBO refurbished on Ebay so YMMV there) Edited to include a public link, oops change my name fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Sep 28, 2021 |
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Sep 28, 2021 22:17
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Your part list is private
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Sep 28, 2021 22:18
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he's got the budget overhead, i'd say go for the 5600G. two more cores and then you know for sure you have top of the line CPU and you're as fast as you can be in that price bracket.
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Sep 28, 2021 22:28
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CoolCab posted:he's got the budget overhead, i'd say go for the 5600G. two more cores and then you know for sure you have top of the line CPU and you're as fast as you can be in that price bracket. Agreed, they'll just need to get a B550 board instead which are a little pricier.
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Sep 28, 2021 22:31
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Voyager I posted:Goons, please help! My little brother-in-law started picking up parts to build himself a PC without really knowing what he was doing or consulting anybody, and he's ended up in a weird place, and figuring out the best way to get out of the woods from here is beyond my limited knowledge. He has so far acquired an AMD FX-9590, the juggernaut of last decade, and an ASUS M5A78L-M PLUS/USB3, a similarly old Micro-ATX motherboard that is too small for the gigantic hog of a CPU he purchased and too old for any modern hardware. I know the bad news has already been broken, but just to reinforce how bad this CPU is, I found a video that has some benchmarks comparing the FX-9590 to the top intel and CPUs from 18 months ago along with its competition at release (it even sucked rear end at the time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNI9nEuBW3w 9:37 for productivity benchmarks and 11:10 for game benchmarks. Your brother needs to sell that thing for hopefully what he paid for it and use actual modern parts. Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Sep 28, 2021 |
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Sep 28, 2021 22:35
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Butterfly Valley posted:Your part list is private private parts
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Sep 28, 2021 23:39
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sarcastx posted:I'm looking to replace a PC for my father-in-law Thanks for the suggestions, folks. Here's what I've come up with so far: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bRDR2V My own thoughts on this list: • I'm partial to ASUS motherboards but their selection in Mini-ITX seems pricey, but it seems like changing to something else might only save $50-70. • That SSD oughta be the a good price/performance balance for an impatient retiree, I think (???) • The Fractal Design case looks nice - though I'd probably go for that NZXT one change my name recommended if it didn't have glass. My own computer is in an NZXT H510  • That PSU... Not really sure what to do about PSUs these days. I figure this machine won't require a ton of wattage - but I'd like to get a modular PSU so I don't have to manage redundant cables. But I also don't see any way on PCPP to verify it's going to fit in the case...
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Sep 29, 2021 00:17
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a podcast for cats posted:I'm not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but I got some good help with a PC build I posted last week and there doesn't seem to be a generic PC gaming thread in Games anymore, so here goes: I don't have a Series controller or dual sense handy to test, but no. The stick noise is the sound of the stick hitting the plastic surround and the button noise is mostly plastic-on-plastic as the button rebounds or rattles in its well. As stick construction and the rubber dome button actuation method haven't changed I don't see the noise being any less. You could try to pad the points of contact but I assume that would ruin the feel of the buttons if there's even enough clearance for it, and might mess with the sticks' response.
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Sep 29, 2021 00:30
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the xbox series x controller is definitely a step up in build quality vs the 360 controller and to a lesser extent the xbone one.Fantastic Foreskin posted:I don't have a Series controller or dual sense handy to test, but no. The stick noise is the sound of the stick hitting the plastic surround and the button noise is mostly plastic-on-plastic as the button rebounds or rattles in its well. As stick construction and the rubber dome button actuation method haven't changed I don't see the noise being any less. You could try to pad the points of contact but I assume that would ruin the feel of the buttons if there's even enough clearance for it, and might mess with the sticks' response. doesnt the steam controller have weird thumb trackpads instead of joysticks? that would get rid of the noise of the joysticks hitting the edge of the joystick slot
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Sep 29, 2021 00:36
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sarcastx posted:Thanks for the suggestions, folks. Can you translate 'partial to' into any concrete reasons to justify buying the most expensive b550 itx board going when your use case is much more limited and the pc isn't even for you? You should definitely get 3600 speed RAM. There isn't any actual real world performance difference between PCIe 3 and 4 NVMes (things like booting, loading games etc) at the moment so we normally don't recommend PCIe4 storage given its relative value, but if you want to tell him he's getting the fastest storage going then maybe the placebo effect will stop him getting so frustrated. PCPP won't show you incompatible PSUs (or other parts generally) unless you go out of your way to show them. That said, 650W is hilarious overkill for the parts in that system. PCPP estimates your actual wattage as 120W. However if you're dead set on fully modular the lowest wattage available are 450W I think. Given that there's no GPU though cable management isn't going to be an issue, even in an ITX case, so I wouldn't discount regular PSUs here. Speaking of, have you considered the nr200? Good looking and easy to build in. Butterfly Valley fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Sep 29, 2021 |
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Sep 29, 2021 00:45
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your dad might be a situation where more ram could be justified, if some of his response to "slow" is because he like my mum loves to have a trillion tabs and whatever else she downloads open at all times.
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Sep 29, 2021 00:56
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This really tiny InWin case comes with a PSU, it might be a good choice but I bet it's a pain to build in: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N091225/?psc=0
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Sep 29, 2021 01:06
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Butterfly Valley posted:Can you translate 'partial to' into any concrete reasons to justify buying the most expensive b550 itx board going when your use case is much more limited and the pc isn't even for you? I absolutely cannot - but it's one of those "go with what you know" things. I like the motherboard in my own PC so I went looking for a tiny version of it. My fall-back brand used to be Gigabyte but that whole lovely PSUs fiasco from a few months back kinda soured me on them - do you have a suggestion/is there a goon consensus on decent Mini-ITX motherboards? Butterfly Valley posted:You should definitely get 3600 speed RAM. Fixed, thank you Butterfly Valley posted:There isn't any actual real world performance difference between PCIe 3 and 4 NVMes (things like booting, loading games etc) at the moment... Again I'm "partial" to Samsung SSDs and it doesn't look like going back to a 970 is going to save much cash, but again, I'm super open to suggestions if there's a brand/model you'd recommend instead. Butterfly Valley posted:Cable Management / PSUs / nr200 Thanks; yeah somehow I forgot that I'd picked a case without an open side so it doesn't matter so much if there are loose unused cords bunched up. Will have a traipse through the PSU options and pick something else out later. As for the NR200 I had not considered it as it's not showing with the Compatibility Filter on. Any idea why? That case is lovely and I think it's probably a better option, if it's an option.
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Sep 29, 2021 01:11
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Shear Modulus posted:the xbox series x controller is definitely a step up in build quality vs the 360 controller and to a lesser extent the xbone one. The Steam controller will have to be bought as new old stock from not Valve. They stopped selling it. The It has one thumbstick on the left side and while it is very customizable, the trackpads take some getting used to and some people swear by them. Also no Dpad so platformers would have to be played with the stick so YMMV.
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Sep 29, 2021 02:12
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Dear goons : I need a 750w power supply. Just a power supply, for now. I've not been keeping track of PSUs for the last couple years, what is most recommended right now?
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Sep 29, 2021 02:25
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sarcastx posted:I absolutely cannot - but it's one of those "go with what you know" things. I like the motherboard in my own PC so I went looking for a tiny version of it. Most people in the SFF thread with the NR200 have the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AX ITX board as it does everything required of it and has mostly sensible design. It might be worth asking in that thread for some more specialist SFF recommendations if you wanted to go really small. sarcastx posted:Again I'm "partial" to Samsung SSDs and it doesn't look like going back to a 970 is going to save much cash, but again, I'm super open to suggestions if there's a brand/model you'd recommend instead. Crucial P5 I guess? The SN550 used to be the standard recommendation until WD did some shenanigans recently and swapped out a component for a poorer quality one without changing the model number. It would still be fine for your dad-in-law's use case though. sarcastx posted:As for the NR200 I had not considered it as it's not showing with the Compatibility Filter on. Any idea why? It needs an SFX PSU. If you were to go that route, Corsair do a 450W fully modular one which would be your best bet.
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Sep 29, 2021 02:30
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Butterfly Valley posted:Most people in the SFF thread with the NR200 have the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AX ITX board as it does everything required of it and has mostly sensible design. It might be worth asking in that thread for some more specialist SFF recommendations if you wanted to go really small. I have this MOBO too and can confirm it's a good one. I picked it up for $160 used and apart from the lovely LEDs I turned off, the features are great (perhaps even overkill)
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Sep 29, 2021 02:37
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quite often in here we have chats about SSDs/HDDs and why we suggest sn550s, i found this from a recent hardware unboxed video and i thought it was quite illuminating, and consistent with my experience for typical game loads and until technologies like direct storage and such take off this is pretty much my observation. nvmes are a littttle bit quicker but the nicest and least nice is barely a difference and there's still barely one with SATA SSDs even. but honestly even a dedicated HDD only adds 15-20 seconds - that's double in absolute terms but fifteen seconds to thirty is a pretty fair price/performance sweet spot. probably not ideal for a competitive game where you might crash and need to load in but totally fine for single player. decompressing stuff is a CPU heavy load, typically. people get it really confused because they remember loading games from HDDs which could easily take a full minute or minutes. that's because back then your OS was also on that drive and routine read/writes it needs to do to function saturate enough of the connection that it really did make a big difference and took forever.
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Sep 29, 2021 02:38
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I just resurrected a tower I built in 2013, sitting in storage since 2018. It has: Gigabyte Z77X UD3H mobo (link) EVGA GTX 660 i5-3570 8 gigs DDR3 @ 1333 Seagate barracuda 7200 A huge dumbass heat sink If I wanted to spend $100 or less making it feel a little more modern for the new D2 and Dark Souls 3, what should I add? I was thinking another stick of RAM and/or an SSD. All my knowledge is gone or dated so I'm not even sure the mobo would work with an SSD Look at this loving thing 
loopsheloop fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Sep 29, 2021 |
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Sep 29, 2021 04:45
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Honestly, I don't know if there's any one thing you can do for less than $100 that'll provide a significant improvement. If there is, then you're right that it might be a RAM upgrade, especially if you're currently only running a single stick. Something like this could be a decent improvement: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00453R90W?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1 Replace your existing RAM with it instead of adding to it. Also that's a baby heatsink by today's standards.  An SSD would also help. A lot of sluggishness of old machines was due to how slow HDDs were. The good thing about buying a new SSD is that, unlike DDR3, you can carry it over to future builds. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078211KBB?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1 edit: changed out the SSD link for one that has dram cache Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Sep 29, 2021 |
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Sep 29, 2021 06:02
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Thanks for the advice. SSDs got a lot cheaper than they were when I was building this thing. The installed memory should be running at 1600, not 1366, so maybe I'll try figuring out how to bump that up and throwing in that Crucial and see how it goes. As for that heatsink... Hope someone starts asking "why?" instead of "why not?"
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Sep 29, 2021 07:59
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loopsheloop posted:Thanks for the advice. SSDs got a lot cheaper than they were when I was building this thing. The installed memory should be running at 1600, not 1366, so maybe I'll try figuring out how to bump that up and throwing in that Crucial and see how it goes. heatsinks are dissipating heat, so a larger surface area directly correlates to better performance is why. it's one of the few things in product design that I can think of where bigger is demonstrably, scientifically, always better.
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Sep 29, 2021 08:08
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loopsheloop posted:Thanks for the advice. SSDs got a lot cheaper than they were when I was building this thing. The installed memory should be running at 1600, not 1366, so maybe I'll try figuring out how to bump that up and throwing in that Crucial and see how it goes. Look for the "XMP" setting in your BIOS, possibly somewhere around the memory overclocking stuff. That will load up the speed and timing profile that the manufacturer set for the RAM instead of using the system default. Also I wasn't even joking with that cooler. It's the NH-D15, and it's legit legendary. The cooler your PC is currently using though, the Cooler Master Hyper 212, remains very popular budget cooler to this day.
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Sep 29, 2021 08:41
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OK; so - after playing around with PCPP I've come up with two suggestions for FIL based on recommendations from Butterfly Valley et al: 1). Replace your current Mini-ITX box with something similarly small for $800 https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V78VMv 2). Do you really need it to be Mini-ITX? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zzfWNP Roast my builds!
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Sep 29, 2021 13:20
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K8.0 posted:Dear goons : I need a 750w power supply. Just a power supply, for now. I've not been keeping track of PSUs for the last couple years, what is most recommended right now? Corsair RM750x probably, see https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html for more options. Tom's Hardware is not normally a place I'd go for hardware reviews but their PSU testing is really solid. vanilla slimfast posted:I wrote up a post in the previous megathread about how to do this with a basic USB switch that has been working pretty well for me this owns, we need a new monitor thread OP and this should go in there
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Sep 29, 2021 13:34
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sarcastx posted:OK; so - after playing around with PCPP I've come up with two suggestions for FIL based on recommendations from Butterfly Valley et al: Sorry I should have specified, you want CL16 3600 speed RAM. Given what you're putting in there I'd say ITX absolutely makes sense and actually you could go even smaller (should you wish), hence me directing you to the other thread where maybe other people can weigh in with options. But switch the RAM to CL16 and I like your first build. Butterfly Valley fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Sep 29, 2021 |
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Sep 29, 2021 13:37
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Last dumb questions (semi-related): -What's the deal with Windows licensing these days? I thought there was a point where it was bound to some detected "unique fingerprint" of hardware combination where upgrades would cause you to have to call Microsoft to get re-activated. Now it's just bound to the motherboard, right? -I have another machine at home that I want to upgrade the RAM in (Ryzen 5 3600 w/8GB @3200, which I think is the fastest it supports). Can I get 16GB @ 3600 and the memory will just run slower for the chip or will the machine not boot?
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Sep 29, 2021 14:49
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