The best advice I keep hearing re:getting a GPU now is finding a used 290 or 290X since people seem to like dumping those in the 200-300 range while giving you roughly 970 or 980 performance, with the only catch being AMD drivers.
Can we turn this into a general computer buying thread? I am using my old laptop to look at newer laptops and, uh, I’d like some advice. CES is happening anyways and yeah. USBC and tablets and generally the same computers we’ve had for three years or soooo…
If this is cool here’s my thing: Lenovo X230 with 16GB DDR3 RAM and 256GB Samsung840 SSD with whatever the base processor this thing was. I’m getting junky power supply garbagey things happening with this, and I wouldn’t mind having 1080p monitoring and/or these new faux pen sketch monitors on my box. I could also just buy an iPad and one of Apple’s new Pencil things, but hey, that’s hopefully what this thread will help me figure out.
Tldr; I really like this Lenovo because of its trackpoint. 3lbs is not heavy to me. My lady also says this makes me look like an old man, so like, I guess I really like this aesthetic too.
A laptop that has 16gb ram and an SSD sounds like its already an enthusiast grade machine. Is it old or do you mainly just want to upgrade your resolution to 1080p? My friend just bought some Asus ROG laptop for $1300 that has g-sync and glows red. It’s nuts.
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Is this now the computer nerditry thread
Today in my life: cable management
I like my new case (NZXT S340) except for the part where my motherboard has no USB 3.0 headers so I have no front USB ports and now I can finally spend more money on obnoxiously long GPUs so I can spend even more money on a Rift
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Hey, I have the same old case, new case, and USB3 problem. Protip: add tiny o-rings around the screws to your HDD mount point on the bottom for vibration reduction.
Funnily enough, my HDDs stay pretty quiet aside from the usual access noise (I’ve got a WD Black and Green in there and the Black is the noisy one but it’s the game drive so I won’t hear it anyway) and the main noise problem was a fan (the second one on the CPU heatsink). I ended up pulling it and seeing if mounting it in the front for intake would shut it up and, no, doing that made it louder and angrier, so I unplugged it because there’s already a bunch of cooling by the CPU anyway (looking at my idle temps show no difference, so yay).
Let me also throw in there that I love how the finish matches the black Wii U, of which mine is currently living with my monitor and was sitting on the older case (an Antec Three Hundred IIRC) and all I have to do is block the the power button and the USB ports I can’t use and some of the top fan intake. The old case got old computer guts (Q8300 with a GTX 470) that’ll be for dumb alt OS nonsense, but mostly for SteamOS stupidity until I get bored and get the urge to build another computer because why not, it’s almost tax season and I’ve got an inch to scratch even though there’s literally no endgame for anything I’m doing.
Mine’s white with the hideous blue LED fans from the Antec Three Hundred ~Illusion~ in front so it matches my white Wii U as well. lol
My dad wants a PC for Oculus so I get to scratch the new build itch without spending the dosh myself (building is the reward, I scarcely play graphics-intensive games). It grates a bit that my 780 is just below min spec for VR but also makes it easier to hold off until it’s reasonable.
Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one to receive zen-like enjoyment from building and working on computers
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It would if I were to reroute the rear USB 3.0 ports back into the case then have them hooked into the case’s cable. But I don’t want to do that now that I care about aesthetics.
It’s funny because there’s a spot on the PCB labeled and pinned-out for a USB 3.0 header, but no actual connector, so 
, serves me right for buying the cheap MB
So it’s come to this: I bought a used 290 off of ebay because the allure of more FPS in games I already run really well was too much. It feels good to be back on the red team up until the driver starts crashing or my PSU isn’t beefy enough to keep up. At least now I have a space heater for the rest of the Winter.
Meanwhile, my GTX 470 in the old computer has been overclocked and getting decent performance, ignoring the fact that it repeatedly crashed in running 3DMark (but plays games fine). Since that old PSU doesn’t have plugs for my 760 (it technically doesn’t for the 470 either, since I’m powering one of the PCIE 6 pins through a dual molex converter - from the same cable run), it’s just going to be left out in the cold until I pony up for another.
Computers are fun.
My GTS 450 has held up remarkably well considering I bought it for $125 five years ago. i have only encountered a couple games that this thing can’t comfortably run at max settings and 1440p (off the top of my head: the dark souls 2 port). hopefully xcom 2 is not one of those?
i built this machine when i started high school for like $750 and expected it to be on its last legs by the time i graduated. now i’m halfway through my freshman year of college and the only thing i’ve had any reason to upgrade is the ram, to 16GB from 8 (i remember when i built it multiple people told me 8 was too much; ha ha, nope). i didn’t even make very good long-term choices, like getting a K cpu, and the only place i’ve seen that bottleneck is with ps2/gamecube emulation.
this feels like it shouldn’t work. isn’t something supposed to explode by now?
Nah, I did the same thing. I just realized that my 6870 is more than 5 years old at this point and it’s only just now beginning to show its age. Maybe I don’t play new enough games, but I just haven’t needed to worry about it. I’m planning to upgrade this year, if certain things happen at work and if the next generation of graphics cards are actually faster this time, and even then it’s mostly to get better IO performance which is still the main bottleneck.
I think I’d be too busy mopping cold sweat off my brow in fear that I was going to fuck something up
First, you start out with anti-static bracelets, then you slowly move up to using magnetic screwdrivers. Soon enough, before you realize it, you’re eating noodles over an open computer case and hardly bat an eye after spilling a bit on the motherboard.
Not that I’ve ever done any of these things.
Anyway, at this point building a computer is pretty much like putting together a Lego set, except you get to customize things a bit and it’s absurdly more expensive. Then you turn things on and it works and you feel good. Or it doesn’t turn on and you hit stuff until it works.
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yeah I literally cut away bits of my case as I went along in order to make the titan x fit, and I’m running the old forums on an exposed 18 year old mobo taped to my nightstand that I sometimes touch with the back of my hand while it’s on to make sure it’s not too hot
http://selectbutton.net/t/forum-feedback/507/76?u=felix
eventually you stop worrying
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You’re tempting fate leaving that dog toy right next to those wires 
the cat is a bigger concern actually.
is there such a thing yet as a 27inch 2k 120-144hz 16:10 monitor