The PC thread

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Saw a video with Wendel and he questioned the whole thing and found the water cooling solution to be a waste and a gimmick. He thought maybe some people on laptops might find it usable.
If they instead made it maybe fan aircooled the price might have been more reasonable.

[cramx3]

Spent my afternoon remounting my PC monitors and then cleaned up the cabling



This is in the sitting position, I can adjust by raising the desk for standing which I really enjoy for Warzone

[faizoff]

That looks great! I will have to hunt down a good solid monitor stand one day.

Also hoping stock situation improves soon. I would rather get the 5900x purchase out of the way now but still can't seem to snag one without paying the scalpers.

[ReaperKK]

awesome set up!

[cramx3]

I finally got my tax return so I definitely want the GPU stock to be available so I can upgrade.  Pop a 3080 into the main rig then swap the 1080 from the main rig with the 770 in the stream PC. I'd have so much power.

Also forgot to mention that last pic includes my new c922 webcam, meant for streaming. I definitely notice a quality improvement with that. I was toying with a two cam set up, one facing down on the keyboards. Actually works but may just be a bit too much

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I finally got my tax return so I definitely want the GPU stock to be available so I can upgrade.  Pop a 3080 into the main rig then swap the 1080 from the main rig with the 770 in the stream PC. I'd have so much power.

Also forgot to mention that last pic includes my new c922 webcam, meant for streaming. I definitely notice a quality improvement with that. I was toying with a two cam set up, one facing down on the keyboards. Actually works but may just be a bit too much

Everybody knows a good streamer has at least 4 cameras! One for your face, one for your hands, one for you cat, and one for looking at some random part of the room.....

[cramx3]

 

I did set up a cat bed near my desk, Buddy has slowly been taking to it so a cat cam could work if he starts laying in it consistently...

[T-ski]

What’s the best virus protection I could put on my kids new laptop?

[faizoff]

Good question, I personally haven't used anything other than the default Windows security suite that is bundled with the OS. The last time I installed antivirus was probably 15 years ago. I've been content with whatever default option is there.

[T-ski]

Kid downloaded something now there is malware all over the thing. I think I got it all but not sure.

[El Barto]

In my experience no virus protection is perfect, but they're all pretty good. Including Windows Defender. When various groups test them all they usually find some will stop one thing and ignore another, and a different antivirus will do the exact opposite. Since you only get one year out of an antivirus before it nags you to death, I've pretty much just stuck with Windows. I'm usually more concerned about a good firewall program with access control.

If you've already got something on there that you need to get rid of, my success rate is something New York Jets like. Sometimes I beat it, but just as often I skip to a reinstall.

[faizoff]

Kid downloaded something now there is malware all over the thing. I think I got it all but not sure.

In that scenario, I've used MalwareBytes to scan and delete whatever it finds. I've done it a couple of times when family members click a dubious email attachment. and 9/10 it has avoided a reinstall. But like Barto said YMMV.

[Cool Chris]

Hey, so these guys just launched a new product? Do you think they have a future? Does it look like a company worth investing in?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkuJXGldrM

[faizoff]

Hey, so these guys just launched a new product? Do you think they have a future? Does it look like a company worth investing in?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkuJXGldrM

I think they're onto something.


This is still my favorite crazy moment of Balmer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs&ab_channel=MrWueb007

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Hey, so these guys just launched a new product? Do you think they have a future? Does it look like a company worth investing in?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkuJXGldrM

I think they're onto something.


This is still my favorite crazy moment of Balmer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs&ab_channel=MrWueb007

I thought for sure that video was going to be this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtuDS0ntaJY 

[faizoff]

Wow I have no words, never saw that before. Coked out Balmer is the best..

[cramx3]

So I had a $40 off of $250 online order from costco coupon that was set to expire at the end of January.  I figured let me take a look if there's anything worth buying and welll, they had this monitor for sale for $40 off already so I added another 40 off and got it:

https://www.costco.com/.product.1372218.html?emid=transactional_ordershipped_product

Acer 27" Class Curved WQHD FreeSync Gaming Monitor

Features:
2560 x 1440 Resolution
144 Hz Refresh Rate
4ms Response Time
AMD FreeSync
Display Port Cable Included

It just arrived earlier and I finally got it set up.  This isn't exactly a monitor to brag about, but it's a big upgrade from my 8 year old Acer monitor and got it at a great price.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

WTH happened to your keyboard? 

[cramx3]

WTH happened to your keyboard? 

  one of the keys broke when I moved the desk to my basement, and since then I've just started hitting the keys hard and it's now becoming a thing I do on twitch.  I'm slowly going to break the whole thing during my live streams.  Whatever, it was free and it's been fun while it lasted but I will be happy to get the desk space back.

https://www.twitch.tv/cramx3/clip/TriumphantGracefulLobsterAMPTropPunch <- stream clip from Sunday where I broke it further while watching my Galneryus youtube video

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

WTH happened to your keyboard? 

  one of the keys broke when I moved the desk to my basement, and since then I've just started hitting the keys hard and it's now becoming a thing I do on twitch.  I'm slowly going to break the whole thing during my live streams.  Whatever, it was free and it's been fun while it lasted but I will be happy to get the desk space back.

https://www.twitch.tv/cramx3/clip/TriumphantGracefulLobsterAMPTropPunch <- stream clip from Sunday where I broke it further while watching my Galneryus youtube video

That's funny. 

[faizoff]

Damn nice monitor setup! shame about the keyboard.

[cramx3]

Damn nice monitor setup! shame about the keyboard.

I dont care about the keyboard, it's been fun, but I'm no musician.  I've got some ideas though...

So really weird issue I had with the new monitor, I think it's partly due to the complexity of my dual PC set up, but also just how sometimes troubleshooting IT problems comes down to something so basic.

My GTX1080 graphics card, I have it set to output my new monitor via display port, my second monitor via mini display port, and then to the elgato capture card on my second PC via HDMI.  I then set the HDMI to mirror the display port output.  When doing this, it was capping me at 60FPS.  I felt it had to do with the elgato because that's limited to capturing at 60FPS.  Using COD as my example, the settings all said it was at 144Hz and unlimited FPS... I messed with the settings for like an hour in the nvidia control panel and googled this and couldn't find out the fix.  Turned out I just needed to unplug and reconnect the HDMI to my graphics card.    I wish I tried that first especially since I had a feeling it had to do with mirroring to the elgato.   

Anyway, now on max settings of COD, I'm getting like 80-100FPS at 2k resolution with freesync on and it looks and feels AMAZING. So much clearer at 2k and so much smoother with freesync and 144hz.  It's a nice upgrade for me. 

[faizoff]

I really want to see in person how a high refresh rate monitor looks and feels like. Not so much for games but everything else in general. I'm loving my 32" 4K monitor as the primary display currently and was debating on either high refresh rate or high pixel count. Pixel count won in the end and I don't regret it but still have that itch to see how a 144Hz screen feels like.

[kirksnosehair]

The higher refresh rate will result in less eye fatigue over time.  That's the biggest difference.  At least to me. 

[cramx3]

The higher refresh rate will result in less eye fatigue over time.  That's the biggest difference.  At least to me.

It's smoother too, should be better for FPS online gaming which is what I enjoy.  That's why I chose high refresh over pixels for my gaming preference. 

[ReaperKK]

The higher refresh rate will result in less eye fatigue over time.  That's the biggest difference.  At least to me.

It's smoother too, should be better for FPS online gaming which is what I enjoy.  That's why I chose high refresh over pixels for my gaming preference. 

It's fantastic, when I first got a 144hz monitor the change was more drastic than going from 1080p to 4k IMO. Everything seemed so much more smooth.

[cramx3]

I may have gone a bit overboard with Razer products lately.  I upgraded my mouse last week.  Went with a Razer Basilisk Ultimate which is wireless but is advertised be super quick so there isn't a latency issue with wireless.  It also has an extra bumper button, a thumb rest, and a very nice weight and feel to it plus a physical adjustment knob to the scroll wheel. I've noticed an immediate impact on my COD gameplay with it as well.  So I'm super happy about the product.  The thumb rest is really nice too, I didn't realize how much I could use that especially because my palms get sweaty and that sweat would leak onto the mouse pad, but the thumb rest helps with that. 

Also, the Razer chroma features for setting up all the LEDs on their devices is really cool.  It made me want to spend the extra for a headset and mouse dock because they also have configurable LEDs but also the mouse dock is pretty clutch as the USB cable is a PITA to have to connect/reconnect so much.... here's a short video of my lighting now https://twitter.com/Cramx3/status/1374489747549081610

[T-ski]

I’m pretty sure our home pc is dying and since the wife is now working from home it needs to be replaced. Found this on Amazon renewed for under $350, but I need to connect two monitors. Am I missing something or does this only have one monitor input?

[faizoff]

I guess it's showing 1 VGA port and 1 HDMI port. So technically two monitor connections. Depends on the type of monitor connections you have right now on your monitors and what they support.

[faizoff]

I may have gone a bit overboard with Razer products lately.  I upgraded my mouse last week.  Went with a Razer Basilisk Ultimate which is wireless but is advertised be super quick so there isn't a latency issue with wireless.  It also has an extra bumper button, a thumb rest, and a very nice weight and feel to it plus a physical adjustment knob to the scroll wheel. I've noticed an immediate impact on my COD gameplay with it as well.  So I'm super happy about the product.  The thumb rest is really nice too, I didn't realize how much I could use that especially because my palms get sweaty and that sweat would leak onto the mouse pad, but the thumb rest helps with that. 

Also, the Razer chroma features for setting up all the LEDs on their devices is really cool.  It made me want to spend the extra for a headset and mouse dock because they also have configurable LEDs but also the mouse dock is pretty clutch as the USB cable is a PITA to have to connect/reconnect so much.... here's a short video of my lighting now https://twitter.com/Cramx3/status/1374489747549081610

Very cool. I'm not a fan of all that lighting personally. I am looking to switch my wireless keyboard (Logitech K750) to a mechanical keyboard. Not for gaming but for work, hopefully with a quiet set of keys.

[T-ski]

I guess it's showing 1 VGA port and 1 HDMI port. So technically two monitor connections. Depends on the type of monitor connections you have right now on your monitors and what they support.

So I just need a vga to hdmi adapter if all we have is two vga monitors, correct.

[cramx3]

I may have gone a bit overboard with Razer products lately.  I upgraded my mouse last week.  Went with a Razer Basilisk Ultimate which is wireless but is advertised be super quick so there isn't a latency issue with wireless.  It also has an extra bumper button, a thumb rest, and a very nice weight and feel to it plus a physical adjustment knob to the scroll wheel. I've noticed an immediate impact on my COD gameplay with it as well.  So I'm super happy about the product.  The thumb rest is really nice too, I didn't realize how much I could use that especially because my palms get sweaty and that sweat would leak onto the mouse pad, but the thumb rest helps with that. 

Also, the Razer chroma features for setting up all the LEDs on their devices is really cool.  It made me want to spend the extra for a headset and mouse dock because they also have configurable LEDs but also the mouse dock is pretty clutch as the USB cable is a PITA to have to connect/reconnect so much.... here's a short video of my lighting now https://twitter.com/Cramx3/status/1374489747549081610

Very cool. I'm not a fan of all that lighting personally. I am looking to switch my wireless keyboard (Logitech K750) to a mechanical keyboard. Not for gaming but for work, hopefully with a quiet set of keys.

I never cared for the lighting, but I kind of got caught up in it because of how nice and easy it is to use the Razer Chroma studio.  It's certainly not necessary. 

I guess it's showing 1 VGA port and 1 HDMI port. So technically two monitor connections. Depends on the type of monitor connections you have right now on your monitors and what they support.

So I just need a vga to hdmi adapter if all we have is two vga monitors, correct.

Just because it has both outputs doesn't necessarily mean you can use both.  You might need to look at the details to confirm the graphics card / motherboard capabilities.

[T-ski]

I guess my best option is to go with a vga splitter then.

[faizoff]

Yeah the video outputs esp with VGA are tricky with so many combinations now available, you don't know what is supported right out the box unless you know specific details on the type of board, graphics card and monitor and sometimes even the cable itself.

In theory if both your monitors have VGA ports, that desktop should be able to connect using the one VGA port and the other HDMI port with a HDMI-to-VGA converter and then to your VGA port on the monitor. But as it is with these things, you never know 100% until you plug it in.

[cramx3]

My good friend recently got a new computer.  The computer I built for him a long time ago with my spare parts finally died (he's super strict with covid so wouldn't let me come over and try and fix so I don't really know what broke there) but he bought a new PC and then realized the new PC didn't have VGA.  So he ended up having to also get new monitors because at the end of the day VGA is really old technology.  The guy at the store told him he could sell converter cables but it's really just a cost not worth spending and you aren't maximizing the current tech of HD video.

I know it comes at a cost, but maybe using one ultra wide monitor on HDMI is better than two smaller monitors on VGA.