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6G Celicas Forums _ Off Topic _ The 6GC Nerds Thread

Posted by: rentaspace Dec 24, 2013 - 6:46 PM

Soooo, I am not sure if we have one here or not, I did a search and nothing came up, so I decided to make this thread....
Not sure how well it will go, but I thought maybe we can get everyone that considers themselves a 'nerd' to post why they believe that? Maybe some How-to's and such wink.gif
There should be no bias here, you may post anything from you love playing Saxophone, Love technology to model building.
I will start, basically I am a Tech-Nerd, I love technology... I work in an Online PC store, I build and test computers whenever I can... I also love Aviation and aircraft, I have a model plane collection of around 120+ models, I also have model cars and yeah wink.gif

So here we go, the first How-To video, How to install an SSD into a PS3:
Anyway, lately I have been
My PS3 Story:
Well, over the past three days my PS3 has been unusable.
I will begin my story, with the sudden and dramatic speed decrease in my Playstaion. Basically, to load the console, took ten minutes for the XMB to show on screen, and then it would take a minute or more for EVERY movement.
Then, GTAV wouldn't load, took ten minutes to get the starting siren sequence, and rockstar logo and then it went into an infinite 'Loading Story Mode'. All the while the HDD LED was 100% on.
And finally, the PSN would no longer connect, it connected to Internet fine but PSN failed. I jumped onto PlayStation Aus and sure enough a new update was available which fixed "stability issues" so downloaded that instantly....
My troubles really began now, the download got to 99% then took 40minutes to complete the last 1%. Then installation got to 99% before the console crashed and shut off... Upon restarting, the infinite 99% brick started.... (You CANNOT access the safe mode)
Fixed the issue with a workaround of installing my GFs spare laptop HDD and then swapping it out for the original HDD...
To my surprise, the PS3 was still as slow as ever and GTAV still didn't load.... So, I booted into safe mode and did all the non-destructive restores I could... All to no avail.
I decided to backup my and my GFs saves onto a spare External HDD I had. After waiting 5 hours for it to copy 6 measly GB, I formatted the HDD and started again.... Tried to load the backup and it took 40minutes per 1%.... I was sick of its s**t and pulled the plug.
Then it hit me, I had a spare 120GB SSD laying around upstairs so here is a quick guide to installing and configuring an SSD in your PS3:

BEFORE YOU START THIS:
If you have CRITICAL save games, then backup your HDD save files by going to the "Backup Utility" in the XMB menu. You will have to use a PC to format an external/portable HDD with the FAT32 Filesystem, the PS3 ONLY reads the FAT32 system. NOT NTFS.

First Off, What will you will need?:
- Your PS3 Console, mine is a 320GB 'Slim'


- A USB stick configured with the latest PS3 firmware.
If you do not know how to do this, it is very simple, on windows, go to the Australian PS website, and download the latest firmware to the desktop.
Plug in your USB, and make a new folder called "PS3" then create a folder called "UPDATE"
These folders MUST be in upper case.
Then copy the downloaded .pup into the UPDATE folder.
Your USB is now ready.


- The Solid State Drive (Mine is a 120GB Samsung 840)
You do NOT need a state-of-the-art SSD, the PS3 doesn't have Sata3 speeds and also has no TRIM function, so even a 2 year old SSD would be fine


- You will also need a small screwdriver set, I used a Clock/Jewelers Set. You literally only need 1 screwdriver...

Now we get to business.
Step 1: Flip the PS3 console over and remove the plastic covering the first screw:


Slide the Plastic front panel down the PS3 to reveal the HDD cage:


Now, remove the HDD cage by unscrewing the four screws and then install it on the SSD in the correct way:

Step 1 complete....



Step 2: Configuring the new SSD:
Plug your pre-configured USB stick into the PS3 and make sure your controller is connected via a cable.


Turn the PS3 on, and be greeted by this ominous message:

Press the start and select button simultaneously.

The USB will be checked and you will be greeted with another ominous message;

Press and Hold the START and SELECT button for at least 5 seconds.


The SSD will be formatted, a hell of a lot quicker than the old HDD:



Then after the console restarts, the new Firmware will be installed, This took me ages as my USB is USB1.0 standard [frown.gif]


Your PS3 is now SSD powered wink.gif

If you are like me and like the best and fastest in everything, then this is a great update...
My PS3 is now going great, the console loads to the XMB menu in 5 seconds, The XMB menu loads everything instantly, moves with 0 lag, Loads GTAV from disk insert to playing in 2 minutes and now no longer has to buffer and render the games while you are driving/flying around the city fast.


So, there is the first "nerd" how-to wink.gif What have you guys got to share and broaden everyone knowledge smile.gif

Posted by: cardshark525 Dec 28, 2013 - 2:24 PM

Nice.

Don't have anything of my own but last year I did something I've wanted to since I was probably 10 and that's build my own PC.

We've relied on my laptop for a while now but it's about 3 years old and just a base i3 with nothing special going for it.
My wife (it was her school computer for the last 2 years) would get annoyed at how slow it runs and how it takes forever to boot etc. Now that I have the PC it almost enrages her how slow the laptop is.

Rig:
24" Asus monitor
Rosewil Thor II Case
Rosewil 800W PSU
Asus P9X79LE Motherboard
i7 3930k hex-core processor
H100i 240mm Liquid cooling
MSI Nvidia GTX670 (2gb) graphics card
16gb Corsair Vengence 1600 ram (will probably up to 32 or 64 next year)
120gb Corsair SSD
2TB Hitachi HDD

Primarily used for gaming, play a lot of Starcraft 2, Arma 3 and Race Room Racing Experience.

I'll probably get a second 670 GPU next year as well since they'll probably be around $150 by then.


Not exactly a how-to like your excellent write up (which I will share with my friend since he has a PS), but I just wanted to share my first PC build. Build your own and buy on black friday / cyber monday and you can't go wrong.

Posted by: PegGTS Dec 28, 2013 - 4:39 PM

QUOTE (cardshark525 @ Dec 28, 2013 - 1:24 PM) *
Nice.

Don't have anything of my own but last year I did something I've wanted to since I was probably 10 and that's build my own PC.

We've relied on my laptop for a while now but it's about 3 years old and just a base i3 with nothing special going for it.
My wife (it was her school computer for the last 2 years) would get annoyed at how slow it runs and how it takes forever to boot etc. Now that I have the PC it almost enrages her how slow the laptop is.

Rig:
24" Asus monitor
Rosewil Thor II Case
Rosewil 800W PSU
Asus P9X79LE Motherboard
i7 3930k hex-core processor
H100i 240mm Liquid cooling
MSI Nvidia GTX670 (2gb) graphics card
16gb Corsair Vengence 1600 ram (will probably up to 32 or 64 next year)
120gb Corsair SSD
2TB Hitachi HDD

Primarily used for gaming, play a lot of Starcraft 2, Arma 3 and Race Room Racing Experience.

I'll probably get a second 670 GPU next year as well since they'll probably be around $150 by then.


Not exactly a how-to like your excellent write up (which I will share with my friend since he has a PS), but I just wanted to share my first PC build. Build your own and buy on black friday / cyber monday and you can't go wrong.

Nice! Yeah I built my own around 3 or 4 years ago and I think it's about time to start upgrading some things.
64 gigs of ram?? Holy I still only have 4...lol

Posted by: RabidTRD Dec 29, 2013 - 11:33 PM

I'm a console gamer... Grew up on the PC with Quake, Unreal and Tribes, but the controller is my friend and I got sick of having to update my PC all the time because it wasn't fast enough to run anything at high graphics. I stopped playing PC games all together when my old PC got a virus and I became too lazy to reformat and re-do everything since I didn't have a ghost file saved. New PC is strictly for PC stuff and some media.

PC Specs:

3.2 Ghz intel E6300
8gb ram
1 terabyte hdd
Nvidia Graphics card (can't remember the power)
And some ****ty power supply.

Reason I prefer a console: it has one purpose, to play games or to play media specifically made for it. I don't have to update hardware and I don't have to worry about any viruses or spyware. It also always does what I want it to.

That being said, I've owned every console to date except for the PS3, PS4 and Wii U. Sony lost me as a gamer when they released the PS3 and I realized how much more comfortable the Xbox 360 controller was and how much nicer their stable network was. I have the Xbox One now and have no regrets.


Posted by: rentaspace Dec 30, 2013 - 5:05 AM

hehe, My pc specs are as follows:
Desktop:
- i7 2600k @ 5.1GHz (Quad Core, 8 Threads, Hyper-threaded) with Corsair H100i Liquid Cooler and x2 Corsair SP120 fans
- AsRock MiniITX form factor Motherboard
- 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro RAM (8GB X2)
- 3GB Gigabyte Radeon HD7970
- 128GB Samsung 840 Pro
- 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDD
- Bitfenix Prodigy MiniITX case
- Win 8.1 Pro
- Razer Black Widow 2014 Stealth Edition Mechanical Keyboard
- Razer Deathadder 2013 Edition
- Razer Vespula Mousepad + Razer Goliathus Mousepad >.<
- 27" Full HD BenQ Gaming Monitor + 24 Full HD Acer Screen

This was taken at a LAN Party/Tafe work party that I had earlier this year, Mine is the PC on the chair wink.gif


My GPU:


Laptop:
- i7 2670QM @2.2GHz (Quad Core)
- 8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
- 1GB dedicated GT 550M GPU + Intel Graphics 3000
- 120GB Kingston Hyper X SSD
- 700GB Western Digital HDD
- Win 8.1 Pro
- 15.6" HD Screen




And console wise, I own:

+ Nintendo NES, Nintendo 64, original xbox, another Xbox 360, Playstation 1, Playstation 2 and Wii.

Posted by: cardshark525 Dec 30, 2013 - 11:25 AM

QUOTE (rentaspace @ Dec 30, 2013 - 5:05 AM) *
hehe, My pc specs are as follows:
Desktop:
- i7 2600k @ 5.1GHz (Quad Core, 8 Threads, Hyper-threaded) with Corsair H100i Liquid Cooler and x2 Corsair SP120 fans
- AsRock MiniITX form factor Motherboard
- 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro RAM (8GB X2)
- 3GB Gigabyte Radeon HD7970
- 128GB Samsung 840 Pro
- 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDD
- Bitfenix Prodigy MiniITX case
- Win 8.1 Pro
- Razer Black Widow 2014 Stealth Edition Mechanical Keyboard
- Razer Deathadder 2013 Edition
- Razer Vespula Mousepad + Razer Goliathus Mousepad >.<
- 27" Full HD BenQ Gaming Monitor + 24 Full HD Acer Screen

This was taken at a LAN Party/Tafe work party that I had earlier this year, Mine is the PC on the chair wink.gif


My GPU:


Laptop:
- i7 2670QM @2.2GHz (Quad Core)
- 8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
- 1GB dedicated GT 550M GPU + Intel Graphics 3000
- 120GB Kingston Hyper X SSD
- 700GB Western Digital HDD
- Win 8.1 Pro
- 15.6" HD Screen




And console wise, I own:

+ Nintendo NES, Nintendo 64, original xbox, another Xbox 360, Playstation 1, Playstation 2 and Wii.



Seems with a few exceptions we have a similar setup so I'm sure you're just as happy as I am with it.

I haven't overclocked my CPU yet (don't see a need so far), but that 3930k is the one thing I wasn't compromising on when building my system. Ive seen as high as 18% CPU usage and 42C with 24C ambient (I like to be in my house in shorts lol).

Posted by: rentaspace Dec 30, 2013 - 11:58 PM

Very happy with it smile.gif


And now another one of my hobbies:
Found the 7th gen at a local hobby shop and the other was my Christmas present smile.gif

Posted by: cardshark525 Dec 31, 2013 - 1:03 PM

Ah yes... the ever popular 7th gen to 6th gen conversion... lol

Posted by: rentaspace Jan 2, 2014 - 6:50 PM

QUOTE (cardshark525 @ Dec 31, 2013 - 1:03 PM) *
Ah yes... the ever popular 7th gen to 6th gen conversion... lol

wink.gif



Posted by: Bitter Jan 4, 2014 - 12:39 PM

Nerds? Pfft.

I'm getting a busted Mark Levinson sub out of a GS430 and replacing the surround then I'm going to match it to a box and plate amp and making a home subwoofer out of it. They run them IB in the rear deck as OEM so they like BIG volume and have excellent low frequency reproduction at relatively low power levels, so I need a box/tube/etc that will let it work it's magic correctly. I may end up with it in a large tube several feet long and a big port with a pretty small amp.

Posted by: rentaspace Jan 5, 2014 - 12:43 AM

Got given a bunch of model planes from a long time friend I recently caught up with in Northern NSW, gonna have a bit of fun in the new year completing these biggrin.gif

Posted by: rentaspace Feb 2, 2014 - 12:31 AM

Traded in one of my Xbox 360 consoles, some games, my wii and all its games, plus a PS3 game and some DS and 3DS games and outright swapped them for an Xbox One.
The got a second controller, Forza 5 and COD: Ghosts.

Only got Ghosts cause I already have BF4 on PC.

Pretty happy with it so far smile.gif

Posted by: RoadRage Feb 3, 2014 - 10:28 AM

I'm not huge on tech, but I do have an Xbox one smile.gif


Posted by: sandusky1977 Feb 3, 2014 - 11:27 AM

Here you go, nice nerd setup for you...



Quad Video running dual NVidia Qaudro FX 380 Cards,.
I7 Processor
8GB Ram

Debian Linux OS,. with Virtual Box running Windows 7, 8, XP, Droid etc...

Posted by: mkernz22 Feb 3, 2014 - 2:16 PM

QUOTE (sandusky1977 @ Feb 3, 2014 - 11:27 AM) *
Here you go, nice nerd setup for you...



Quad Video running dual NVidia Qaudro FX 380 Cards,.
I7 Processor
8GB Ram

Debian Linux OS,. with Virtual Box running Windows 7, 8, XP, Droid etc...



are you f!cking kidding me....

Posted by: rentaspace Feb 4, 2014 - 1:05 AM

QUOTE (sandusky1977 @ Feb 3, 2014 - 11:27 AM) *
Here you go, nice nerd setup for you...



Quad Video running dual NVidia Qaudro FX 380 Cards,.
I7 Processor
8GB Ram

Debian Linux OS,. with Virtual Box running Windows 7, 8, XP, Droid etc...

That is an awesome setup!


Well, this is my setup:




Recently just got the second 27" Screen and am in the process of getting a third and an active display adapter to use it smile.gif

Posted by: VavAlephVav Feb 5, 2014 - 9:13 PM

I say the trick to building a custom system when you are ordering it piece by piece is to Read the recommended parts list from the manufacturer of the Motherboard you choose.
for example I bought a ASUS mother board from TigerDirect.com, and If you go to the ASUS website and look up the Motherboard you want They will have a list of
tested/approved components that they are Certain will work with the Board you have chosen. Then you can be sure that there will be No issues with the
Ram/Video card/sound card/ ect. This is the way to be sure you get something stable that works properly and doesn't give you any trouble.


QUOTE (rentaspace @ Feb 4, 2014 - 1:05 AM) *
QUOTE (sandusky1977 @ Feb 3, 2014 - 11:27 AM) *
Here you go, nice nerd setup for you...



Quad Video running dual NVidia Qaudro FX 380 Cards,.
I7 Processor
8GB Ram

Debian Linux OS,. with Virtual Box running Windows 7, 8, XP, Droid etc...

That is an awesome setup!


Well, this is my setup:




Recently just got the second 27" Screen and am in the process of getting a third and an active display adapter to use it smile.gif



but I can only FAP to one vid at a time, don't even like 3some stuff...

Posted by: rentaspace Feb 9, 2014 - 2:45 AM

QUOTE (VavAlephVav @ Feb 5, 2014 - 9:13 PM) *
I say the trick to building a custom system when you are ordering it piece by piece is to Read the recommended parts list from the manufacturer of the Motherboard you choose.
for example I bought a ASUS mother board from TigerDirect.com, and If you go to the ASUS website and look up the Motherboard you want They will have a list of
tested/approved components that they are Certain will work with the Board you have chosen. Then you can be sure that there will be No issues with the
Ram/Video card/sound card/ ect. This is the way to be sure you get something stable that works properly and doesn't give you any trouble.


QUOTE (rentaspace @ Feb 4, 2014 - 1:05 AM) *
QUOTE (sandusky1977 @ Feb 3, 2014 - 11:27 AM) *
Here you go, nice nerd setup for you...



Quad Video running dual NVidia Qaudro FX 380 Cards,.
I7 Processor
8GB Ram

Debian Linux OS,. with Virtual Box running Windows 7, 8, XP, Droid etc...

That is an awesome setup!


Well, this is my setup:




Recently just got the second 27" Screen and am in the process of getting a third and an active display adapter to use it smile.gif



but I can only FAP to one vid at a time, don't even like 3some stuff...

FAP on one screen, but game on 3!

Posted by: Poonicus Feb 16, 2014 - 4:42 PM

Love the calendars in the back ground, I missed the deadline on paying for mine so I'm just going to wait till next year.

Posted by: PegGTS Feb 26, 2014 - 2:58 PM

I bought this the other day smile.gif

http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/IMAG0985_zpsf2d46106.jpg.html

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 21, 2014 - 8:49 PM

mmmm N64, Mine is sadly neglected atm... frown.gif Along with my NES...



Anyway, In nerd news;
I recently sold my second BenQ 27" screen and my HD7970 GPU and got $570 for both ($400 for GPU and $170 for screen), both are more than I actually paid for them lols... Anyway, I then used that money and purchased a reference Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 290X GPU from work and now my pc is:
Size comparison with my ITX Motherboard wink.gif


In the case:




I am now making a Custom water loop for the PC which will have a 240mm Radiator in the top, 200mm radiator in the front, 100Ml res and pump (In one unit) and XSPC CPU and GPU block smile.gif Going to be mad.
Working out the fittings and piping at the moment smile.gif

Posted by: Bitter Mar 21, 2014 - 9:17 PM

I built this today.


Posted by: rentaspace Mar 21, 2014 - 9:19 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Mar 21, 2014 - 9:17 PM) *
I built this today.


Down Light or?


Posted by: Bitter Mar 21, 2014 - 10:17 PM

Just playing around with a COB. It's a 10W warm white running at 6W, that tube is the heat sink. I've got some plans for rebuilding the 7G 3rd brake light with a red COB strip instead of the individual LED's, assuming I can heat sink it well enough. It should make for a nice bright red bar instead of points of light. Oh and be blindingly bright. This white one was $7 so I nabbed it and am doing some learning, just ordered a variable voltage variable current buck/boost as a driver. It's capable of handling 2 amps so driving a 10W LED is no problem, the COB in the 3rd brake light will obviously be red but it will also be smaller, probably a 7W unit. For comparison sake, the 10W running at 6W is like a 40w frosted incandescent bulb. Heat sinking inside the brake light housing could be a challenge, but I have some room behind the housing inside the head liner area and I can tie the heat sink to the body of the car to add cooling capacity or even a tiny fan to increase efficiency. I'm going for BRIGHT AS **** here, if I can. If a COB won't work I'll rebuild with an array of high intensity single emitters on a copper or aluminum heat spreader and heat sinking. Either way I want to double the light from it.

Ok, I need a hit from my inhaler and where did my retainer get to? LOL

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 21, 2014 - 11:51 PM

Nice, might even be able to make a few and sell some for profit!


Anyway, this will be all the parts going into my build:

Posted by: Bitter Mar 22, 2014 - 7:58 AM

Meh, nah, not unless you want a BITCHING case light. The stuff I make is usually one off stuff for myself, especially for my cars. I don't want a bunch of people around with the same cool stuff.

Posted by: Bitter Mar 26, 2014 - 7:28 PM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261223679770?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Waiting...waiting...waiting... Shipping from China is slow.

So in the mean time to keep myself amused...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161230192367?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 Eh, $20 down the hole but I'll be able to really point at **** good!

Posted by: Box Mar 26, 2014 - 7:50 PM

All I saw was Pokemon Stadium, so yeah.

Posted by: Bitter Mar 26, 2014 - 7:59 PM

Wut?

Posted by: Box Mar 26, 2014 - 10:50 PM

QUOTE (PegGTS @ Feb 26, 2014 - 2:58 PM) *
I bought this the other day smile.gif

http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/IMAG0985_zpsf2d46106.jpg.html

That. tongue.gif

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 27, 2014 - 1:03 AM

I sold Pokemon Blue for $35 the other day, not bad for an old Colour game tongue.gif
Anyway, I bought my water loop and its being shipped to me right now biggrin.gif
Here is how my computer is sitting right now:





I also found this the other day, pretty amazing how far we have come:

Posted by: Bitter Mar 27, 2014 - 2:20 AM

Damn, 28 amps! That's some serious 12V rail! Hell, the CPU probably ran at 12V in that thing, wafer so thick you could eat it for breakfast and have leftovers for lunch.

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 27, 2014 - 2:49 AM

Ten megabyte hard drive man; that's one whole image I can store!

Posted by: Box Mar 27, 2014 - 4:01 AM

It is, even in the last ten or so years. I remember a time when the internet and computers was usually something you only had access to while at school or the library. Now a days just about everyone has a computer. What's really astounding is how fast phones have become what they are. Video games have made leaps and bounds as well. It's just all amazing when you sit back and look at it all. At one point computers took up an entire laboratory, now they fit into your pocket. Just makes you wonder what the next ten years will bring.

Anyhow, I have my nerdy side. ESPECIALLY with synthesizers, if it weren't for them I might build a computer. Though one of these days it'd be nice to have one to integrate into a DAW/recording suite.

Posted by: PegGTS Mar 27, 2014 - 11:42 AM

I love me some pokemon stadium. It's always a good time having some friends over and playing mini games tongue.gif

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 28, 2014 - 1:15 AM

Awwwwwwwwww yeahhhhhhh:

Posted by: Box Mar 28, 2014 - 1:21 AM

Just run liquid nitrogen, that'll keep things running cool. tongue.gif

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 28, 2014 - 1:29 AM

QUOTE (Box @ Mar 28, 2014 - 1:21 AM) *
Just run liquid nitrogen, that'll keep things running cool. tongue.gif

all that effort and money to keep it running tongue.gif

Posted by: Box Mar 28, 2014 - 4:17 AM

DAT COOLING though.

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 29, 2014 - 3:20 AM

Getting there:

Posted by: rentaspace Mar 31, 2014 - 7:09 PM

Waiting for more fittings:

Posted by: Bitter Mar 31, 2014 - 8:47 PM

Nice.

Posted by: rentaspace Apr 2, 2014 - 1:29 AM

Fittings arrived and now leak testing/cleaning the loop:

Posted by: Box Apr 2, 2014 - 12:39 PM

Cool! tongue.gif

Posted by: Bitter Apr 2, 2014 - 7:22 PM

Makes me want to get my Koolance case up and going again...but I lack anything worthy of such cooling.

Posted by: rentaspace Apr 3, 2014 - 1:55 AM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Apr 2, 2014 - 7:22 PM) *
Makes me want to get my Koolance case up and going again...but I lack anything worthy of such cooling.

Do it smile.gif
Mines only a second generation i7 2600k, nothing too fancy

Posted by: Bitter Apr 3, 2014 - 7:48 AM

My main PC is an E8400, my spare is an i3. I lack anything that needs water cooling or would benefit from it. Both those run so cool on air that I can kill the heatsink fan on their tower coolers and they run fine. The i3 can run full load on it's tower cooler with just the case fans moving air.

Posted by: PegGTS Apr 3, 2014 - 1:22 PM

I need to upgrade my PC. I built it quite a while ago.

Gigabyte P55A-UD3 motherboard
i5 750
4 GB of G.SKILL Ripjaw ram
Used to have a Radeon HD 5850 but my brother just gave me his old GTX 570
Antec 900 case

Posted by: cardshark525 Apr 3, 2014 - 3:42 PM

I love liquid cooling. I'm sitting here at 26c on my CPU and 22c on my motherboard right now. Basically idling besides the site being up and typing right now.

i7 hex core running very chilly.


What did the whole loop run you? I was thinking about making a custom loop but I couldn't pass up a Corsair H100i (240mm closed loop) for $89 after all rebates when I purchased my build.


The GPU gets up to 70c+ when gaming I'd like to chill that puppy out a bit.

Posted by: rentaspace Apr 3, 2014 - 5:38 PM

Well, I had a H100i but the LEDs died and Corsair Link never worked... So I took it back to work for a refund. Getting a 2TB HDD and a Corsair RM650.


The main components in the loop cost $640 including almost $50 in shipping. I then had to buy a pump top and two more fittings which cost a further $60. And I will have to also get a 180mm Phobya Fan and I was considering a proper fan controller as well...
So, my build isn't finished yet haha >.<




And, I am not sure if it is because the thermal compound needs to settle (The manufacturer says 200 hours), but my idle temps are:
34-5C on the CPU
38-39C on the GPU

Given, I am running a Radeon R9 290x GPU, which on the air cooler ran IDLE at 70-80C... (Peaked at 99-101C when gamine >.< )

Posted by: PegGTS Apr 21, 2014 - 1:16 AM

Anybody play Titanfall on PC?

Posted by: RoadRage Apr 21, 2014 - 8:14 AM

No, Xbone frown.gif

Posted by: PegGTS Apr 21, 2014 - 12:42 PM

QUOTE (RoadRage @ Apr 21, 2014 - 8:14 AM) *
No, Xbone frown.gif

Damn you and your fancy new technology tongue.gif

Posted by: rentaspace May 9, 2014 - 7:34 PM

Got this today:

Posted by: Bitter May 18, 2014 - 1:07 PM

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4164#ov $37.35 shipped
Case with 120W PSU, slim DVD, power cable, and 2 SATA cable for $44 shipped
4GB DDR3 for $36 shipped new from Newegg
Just need a hard drive for it and it'll be ready to setup dual boot or just Xubuntu for web use and sell to someone, I have a customer in mind already that I'd sell to at parts cost.
Not bad for about $120 to my door.

Posted by: rentaspace May 27, 2014 - 4:51 AM

Sounds pretty good,
One of my mates recently upgraded to 4th gen CPU/Mobo. He offered me his old board and CPU for $75.
The board is an Intel Board, and unfortunately he bent 3 pins removing the CPU. I'm not risking the CPU in it so I purchased a basic Gigabyte board second hand for $50.
The CPU on the other hand, is a PERFECT condition I7 3770. So it alone is worth more than $75AU.
I already had a spare 1TB HDD laying around when I updated to 2TB along with my old Widetech 750watt PSU and a Radeon HD5670.
I threw all these into my old NZXT Lexa S Mid tower, and bam an operational PC.

I've lent it to my GF atm since she plays sims3 a lot and it maxes that. Not sure if I am gonna sell it sometime or not.

Posted by: Special_Edy May 31, 2014 - 9:56 PM

Anyone ever considered dunking the entire system into a fish tank full of mineral oil or vegetable oil? Ive seen some videos of people doing this, since both are nonconductive they wont short out the electronics and it will have 1000-2000 times the thermal capacity of air. You could use normal heat sinks with fans, the fans would aid in circulation but the only issue I can see is whether or not there is enough heat to warm the entire tank of oil. Then you would have to figure out a way to cool the oil in the tank, but it would probably be easy to build some sort of radiator system for the oil in the tank. Heck, you could even use a coolant system to cool the oil below room temperature, so long as the oil doesnt solidify.
Next time I upgrade my system, Im going to test this on my old computer. I want to see if the parts actually last long term immersed in oil or if it may break down some of the petroleum based products in the electronics.

Oh and 28 amps is only ~340watts at 12volts, or 140watts at 5volts which half of the computer operates at. That old computer probably only had like two or three hundred watts of juice total.

Posted by: Bitter May 31, 2014 - 10:23 PM

The mini itx is up and running just fine, the 60mm case fan and 40mm cpu fan are a little noisy so I ordered a quieter cpu heatsink and fan to see if I can fit them, if not then I'll just fit the fan. I'm going to work on the case fan to make something quieter, I may hack up an old C2D heatsink fan (cut the legs off) and glue it to the case to suck air in to aid in cooling across the board and the HDD at the other end. I'm using an OLDE OLDE slow SATA drive that's got Xubuntu 14.04 and 12.04 on it that I use to test all my systems. Memtest86+ for 48 hours and then a solid 24 hours of mprime at full load, if nothing catches fire then it's good to go!

The 120W PSU may be a little small, it's spitting out some heat running full load, I can get a 160W unit but screw it. I'd rather get a better case,board, etc. and do a little i3 setup or something. I've got a snipe on an old Dell board with a i3 and some ram, it should go cheap cheap. I'll throw it in my old mATX dell case and make a little htpc or guest computer or something. Nothing like a Dimension 2400 case with a 3.2Ghz i3 inside!

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 1, 2014 - 1:19 AM

QUOTE (Special_Edy @ May 31, 2014 - 9:56 PM) *
Anyone ever considered dunking the entire system into a fish tank full of mineral oil or vegetable oil? Ive seen some videos of people doing this, since both are nonconductive they wont short out the electronics and it will have 1000-2000 times the thermal capacity of air. You could use normal heat sinks with fans, the fans would aid in circulation but the only issue I can see is whether or not there is enough heat to warm the entire tank of oil. Then you would have to figure out a way to cool the oil in the tank, but it would probably be easy to build some sort of radiator system for the oil in the tank. Heck, you could even use a coolant system to cool the oil below room temperature, so long as the oil doesnt solidify.
Next time I upgrade my system, Im going to test this on my old computer. I want to see if the parts actually last long term immersed in oil or if it may break down some of the petroleum based products in the electronics.

I have seen quite a few, only very few that actually are using modern parts though. Mostly old P4s.
Hard Drives cannot be submersed because of extra resistance and also fans will burn out quicker due to the extra push the motor has to provide, you also have to have movement of the oil through the tank.
Some people have gone over the top and added a pump flowing through external radiators, but personally this is over the top since they may as well just made an Open loop liquid cooler...

I've always wanted to do it, but much effort for not much gain...
Without that heat dissipating out of the oil, it will just heat up the whole tank and eventually turn off... Also, the oil picks up minute particles off anything metal (circuit boards, radiators etc...) and this slowly makes the oil able to short out. It needs to be replaced every 6-12months.

Personally, they are really cool but pretty impractical haha, but hey, I'd do it if I had the space and time just because smile.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jun 1, 2014 - 8:11 AM

I'd rather do a water loop with a massive passive radiator, that's much cooler.

If you add some ethylene glycol antifreeze to the cooling water it becomes more efficient by a noticable amount. I noted a 5-8c drop in all temps with the addition of a slight amount, about 4:1 water:eg. It was about 8 months after I installed the water block with arctic silver under it so it wasn't coincidental temp drop from the AS setting up or anything, cpu temp and coolant temp's both dropped, the eg added a little viscosity and made the water a little 'stickier' so it dropped heat better in the radiator I think. I used plain green, but you toyota freaks may want to use Toyota Red.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 1, 2014 - 8:43 PM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Inspiron-570-MicroATX-DDR3-Motherboard-DH57M02-w-3-2GHz-Core-i3-550-/201096685918?ViewItem=&ssPageName=ADME%3AL%3AOC%3AUS%3A3160&item=201096685918&nma=true&si=qFO8kYI0SlIHx8gAUQCdw%252FEPNc0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Sniper strikes again!

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 1, 2014 - 9:25 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jun 1, 2014 - 9:11 AM) *
I'd rather do a water loop with a massive passive radiator, that's much cooler.

If you add some ethylene glycol antifreeze to the cooling water it becomes more efficient by a noticable amount. I noted a 5-8c drop in all temps with the addition of a slight amount, about 4:1 water:eg. It was about 8 months after I installed the water block with arctic silver under it so it wasn't coincidental temp drop from the AS setting up or anything, cpu temp and coolant temp's both dropped, the eg added a little viscosity and made the water a little 'stickier' so it dropped heat better in the radiator I think. I used plain green, but you toyota freaks may want to use Toyota Red.

I use a pre mixed formula from XSPC, it has all the chemicals for it already mixed. I also used some flush formula to begin to make sure that the loop had no debris in it. The coolant in my res is still nice coloured, so I think the washout helped, and some debris did come out with the wash.

My temps were around 45-50C at first, but after the AS5 settled (It officially takes 200 hours, but mine settled in around 110), and after settling it now sits at 30C on both GPU and CPU at idle.
My loop runs as follows:
Res/pump -> CPU -> GPU -> Front 200MM Radiator with no fan -> Top 240mm Radiator with x2 SP120mm fans -> Res/pump
Under full load, 40C.

CPU: i7 2600K
GPU: AMD Radeon R9-290X

Posted by: Bitter Jun 7, 2014 - 7:45 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208972 Going to give that a whirl, not blazing fast but cheap. It's just going into that Atom system so anything faster (or even that fast) is a waste since it's going to be limited by the SATA controllers (lack of) speed.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 7, 2014 - 8:55 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jun 7, 2014 - 7:45 AM) *
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208972 Going to give that a whirl, not blazing fast but cheap. It's just going into that Atom system so anything faster (or even that fast) is a waste since it's going to be limited by the SATA controllers (lack of) speed.

We have sold a bunch of these at work, no RMAs that I am aware of either. I would have to say: good purchase.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 9, 2014 - 12:16 AM

I'm happy to hear that! I'm excited to see how the jmicron controller performs,I wasn't too impressed with the sandforce in my first SSD a few years ago. Raw numbers only tell you so much, but I saw a review that showed it handles uncompressable data and compressable the same but they complained the write speeds were low for it being synch memory and that it behaved more like asynch. Well nuts to that, any system here it's going into is only SATAII so it'll peg out the port before it pegs out the drive, the high iops mean more to me when it comes to real word 'click a bunch of **** and it all opens fast' performance. Booting Xubuntu 14.04 is going to be blazing fast even on the wimpy Atom D525. I may grab a second one for my i3 in sheeps clothing Dell setup that's going to be my cheapy cheap HTPC, instant on or near to it. Sadly, also SATAII on that board. I may see if I can find a good nix friendly PCI-e SATAIII card somewhere for cheap.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 9, 2014 - 1:05 AM

So today I spent painting up a Nintendo 64 controller for the GF,
Before:




During:



Got some runs and the spray can paint was really thick for some reason...
Once fully cured I will sand back the runs, give one final pink coat, then going to paint the 'nintendo' satin black and then a final clear coat over the top...

Posted by: Bitter Jun 9, 2014 - 12:38 PM

Cute! I'm sure it'll turn out nice, maybe mask off and put some textured paint on the grip areas?

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 11, 2014 - 7:54 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jun 9, 2014 - 12:38 PM) *
Cute! I'm sure it'll turn out nice, maybe mask off and put some textured paint on the grip areas?

Might do that on a future controller smile.gif


Got the controller back together, but the Left Bumper isn't activating properly so I don;t think I put the contact board in properly lol...

Posted by: Bitter Jun 12, 2014 - 6:46 PM

Anyone here play with FreeNAS? I'm thinking about using it here to manage backups of my stuff and serve media to my PC's so I don't need huge drives with redundant copies of all my stuff on each PC or could even access it when I'm away from home to download or stream movies from myself to myself.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 12, 2014 - 7:13 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jun 12, 2014 - 6:46 PM) *
Anyone here play with FreeNAS? I'm thinking about using it here to manage backups of my stuff and serve media to my PC's so I don't need huge drives with redundant copies of all my stuff on each PC or could even access it when I'm away from home to download or stream movies from myself to myself.

I had a play with it at Tafe, but never really used it too seriously... Heard good things about it though

Posted by: Bitter Jun 12, 2014 - 10:48 PM

I did some reading and it seems that...
If I don't use ECC RAM, I'll loose all my data.
If I have less than 8GB of RAM and use ZFS the best file system ever, I'll loose all my data.
If I use UFS, I'll loose all my data.
If I use ZFS, I'll loose all my data.
If I use FreeNAS, I'll loose all my data.
If I don't use expensive sever class hardware and disk drives, I'll loose all my data.
If I use ZFS and the pool crashes, I'll loose all my data an ZFS recovery software doesn't exist.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 12, 2014 - 11:45 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jun 12, 2014 - 11:48 PM) *
I did some reading and it seems that...
If I don't use ECC RAM, I'll loose all my data.
If I have less than 8GB of RAM and use ZFS the best file system ever, I'll loose all my data.
If I use UFS, I'll loose all my data.
If I use ZFS, I'll loose all my data.
If I use FreeNAS, I'll loose all my data.
If I don't use expensive sever class hardware and disk drives, I'll loose all my data.
If I use ZFS and the pool crashes, I'll loose all my data an ZFS recovery software doesn't exist.

Just keep an external 3TB HDD laying around and put everything on it, They were or sale here in Australia for $120delivered the other day lol.

Posted by: mkernz22 Jun 13, 2014 - 2:11 PM

Forgot about this thread, but a few weeks ago I purchased an Asus ROG G750J.
Absolutely amazing laptop.

17.3" Screen with 1920x1080 res.
i7-4700HQ
12GB of DDR3L memory (expandable to 32GB)
1TB HD
Nvidia GTX 860M graphics - 2GB GDDR5 memory
HDMI and Thunderbolt outputs
4 USB 3.0 ports
And a bunch of other crap, but that's the most important part hahaha

Now to just get a second monitor for it.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 23, 2014 - 5:38 AM

Any reason why external monitors on a laptop?

Posted by: Bitter Jun 23, 2014 - 7:40 AM

QUOTE (rentaspace @ Jun 12, 2014 - 11:45 PM) *
QUOTE (Bitter @ Jun 12, 2014 - 11:48 PM) *
I did some reading and it seems that...
If I don't use ECC RAM, I'll loose all my data.
If I have less than 8GB of RAM and use ZFS the best file system ever, I'll loose all my data.
If I use UFS, I'll loose all my data.
If I use ZFS, I'll loose all my data.
If I use FreeNAS, I'll loose all my data.
If I don't use expensive sever class hardware and disk drives, I'll loose all my data.
If I use ZFS and the pool crashes, I'll loose all my data an ZFS recovery software doesn't exist.

Just keep an external 3TB HDD laying around and put everything on it, They were or sale here in Australia for $120delivered the other day lol.

Bitrot, I've been bitten by it once before.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 25, 2014 - 9:16 PM



Got a free laptop, was failing randomly, it would black screen, not post, loop cycling on/off before post, etc.
I let a guy take a stab at it for $40 he told me it needed a new motherboard. I declined his repair as the price was way too high, I took it home and opened it up to just double check everything and I found that. So I ordered a new stick of memory and took a good look at the memory socket and found 3 pins on the bottom row on one end and 2 on the top row on the other end that were corroded and pushed flush with the plastic socket. I made a special tool out of a safety pin, scraped them clean, and pulled them back up, socketed the memory, and I'm running Memtest86+ for 24 hours and then going to run Prime95 blend for another 24 hours.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 25, 2014 - 11:26 PM

Sounds like a score if it pulls off...

I carbon wrapped my 3DSxL top case today, looks alright, could of done better but hey, first attempt smile.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jun 26, 2014 - 12:09 AM

Yea, I was pretty excited when it posted with both memory installed. It's nothing special but it's decent. P6200, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, integrated graphics which are teh suck. I can drop in an i5 480M for like $60 and a 256GB SSD for about $100 and then it'll be somewhat decent except for the weak graphics. All I really care about is 1080P playback since I watch a lot of anime and stuff on my laptop.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 26, 2014 - 3:11 AM

Not the best, but first time I've ever wrapped anything:




Now gotta get another small sheet and do the bottom smile.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jun 26, 2014 - 12:27 PM

Looks good to me.

Posted by: mkernz22 Jun 27, 2014 - 11:17 AM

QUOTE (rentaspace @ Jun 23, 2014 - 6:38 AM) *
Any reason why external monitors on a laptop?



Mainly for photo and video editing. I just got a job doing product photography and I need the bigger screen for editing purposes.
The 17" is big enough for now, but it'd be nice to have something bigger since you have to zoom in for all the detailed editing.
I opted for a laptop since it's portable and I can take it with me to a shoot and whatnot. Then I can at least review my photos while I'm at the shoot.

Posted by: VavAlephVav Jun 27, 2014 - 11:05 PM

When I built my desktop it was so I could Play wow
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/bonechewer/Vavalephvav/simple

IDK if that's nerdy enough for ya or not :E
I haven't actually been on a raid team since Dragon Soul, and that was 2 years ago. I don't even pay for a subscription anymore I just wait for them to send me an inv for free 7 days. then Ill log in and dick around for a while, I don't even want to play the game I just like hanging out in the city and messing with people in trade chat.


Posted by: Bitter Jun 27, 2014 - 11:35 PM

virtualbox Windows7 install up and running. woot. pretty smooth for the lame hardware.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 4, 2014 - 3:49 AM

Another hobby of mine; Aquarium.
Spent the past week re-setting up an old tank that had some CoryDoras and a Pleco Catfish.
Cleaned it out, rearranged it and cleaned the filter.

Let it run for a day and reintroduced the fish and today introduced two Queensland Kreffts turtles.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 5, 2014 - 7:36 PM

Some photos of the hatchlings:







Posted by: VavAlephVav Jul 5, 2014 - 9:30 PM

wow those are super cool looking and different from the ones we have, here's some shots from when mine were hatchlings



and not long after...


I also had a sporty soft-shell
he was a bit too aggressive to handle and liked to burrow under the gravel and chill with just his nose poking out







Posted by: rentaspace Jul 6, 2014 - 9:37 PM

They look cute!

Mine always chill around the reed end side of my tank (I set it up especially for them) and my fish just chill at the rocky end haha, occasionally one of the turtles will go and chill with the fish but he always tries to sit on top of the fish and then the fish moves and then the turtle swims off, almost as if he is just trying to piss the fish off haha

Posted by: Bitter Jul 6, 2014 - 10:56 PM

I had a female painted for about 10 years, it ate the fish we put in with it, couple of blue gill...it also ate the crayfish but we didn't mind that one bit...that crayfish was kind of an asshole. It took a long time before it was big enough to get the blue gills, which we got to eat the feeder guppies the turtle didn't eat but who were eating all the turtle pellets.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 6, 2014 - 11:23 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jul 6, 2014 - 11:56 PM) *
I had a female painted for about 10 years, it ate the fish we put in with it, couple of blue gill...it also ate the crayfish but we didn't mind that one bit...that crayfish was kind of an asshole. It took a long time before it was big enough to get the blue gills, which we got to eat the feeder guppies the turtle didn't eat but who were eating all the turtle pellets.

Yeah, guppies are way to small and slow to keep with a turtle. I've got:
Two Leopard Cory Dora at 3cm long:


One Bronze Cory Dora at 4cm long:


One Albino Cory Dora at 5cm long:


And a single 22cm Pleco:

Posted by: Bitter Jul 7, 2014 - 12:09 AM

Yea, nothing that fancy for us when we had it. Thinking back, they weren't even bluegill but pumpkinseed! We thought the feeder guppies would make a good snack for the turtle but it didn't even bother with them, the guppies multiplied into a big school of fish that would eat all the turtles pellets before it could even get them, so I caught a pumpkinseed from the local pond and dropped it in the pond with the turtle and guppies. After about 3 days there were no guppies and a very fat pumpkinseed. A few years later I caught another pumpkinseed and introduced it as well, and about 4 years later the turtle had grown large enough to overturn the rocks the fish hid under and was able to eat one, then the other a couple weeks later. It would drive them into the shallow and get them, leaving just a floating head in the morning. All it left of the large crayfish was a pair of claws and the head, it dispatched of it within a week, which was good because the crayfish kept trying to pick fights with the turtle which was pretty suicidal...and it ate the big apple snail we bought so we were glad when the turtle made a snack of it.

Posted by: Box Jul 7, 2014 - 1:02 AM

My mom and grandmother owned a tropical pet store back when I was a kid, and for the longest time we had an aquarium if not two or three in the house. Actually my earliest memory I have was back when I was one or two and looking out of my crib at the small aquarium on the other side of the nursery. I remember the fish were vertically striped white and black. Later on I asked to have some ropefish, which they did. I love fish and the ocean. I like sharks, though definitely have a healthy amount of respect for them.

Posted by: VavAlephVav Jul 7, 2014 - 7:45 PM

lol the turtle likes to play it cool, she's not chasing those little fish around just acts like theyre no big deal, in fact makes friends with them till one day once they think it's all cool SNAP!
little fiddler crabs and snails once I put a chiclid that was a little to big for her in and she just ate his fins off and left him wobbling around the tank.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 8, 2014 - 1:11 AM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 7, 2014 - 1:02 AM) *
My mom and grandmother owned a tropical pet store back when I was a kid, and for the longest time we had an aquarium if not two or three in the house. Actually my earliest memory I have was back when I was one or two and looking out of my crib at the small aquarium on the other side of the nursery. I remember the fish were vertically striped white and black. Later on I asked to have some ropefish, which they did. I love fish and the ocean. I like sharks, though definitely have a healthy amount of respect for them.

White and black striped sounds like a Convict, I had them, one started breeding and killed ALL of my other fish, and a Yabbie (Crayfish). I had African Cichlid's, American Cichlid's, a 65CM Bala shark and 20cm Silver Dollars. Only the Bala and Silver dollars survived...

Posted by: Box Jul 8, 2014 - 1:23 AM

Did some searching and I think they were whitetail damsel fish.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 9, 2014 - 12:13 AM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 8, 2014 - 1:23 AM) *
Did some searching and I think they were whitetail damsel fish.

Never owned nor heard of them lol

Posted by: Box Jul 9, 2014 - 1:06 AM


Posted by: rentaspace Jul 9, 2014 - 8:18 PM

They look pretty cool. What was there temperament? Aggressive or Complacent?

Posted by: Box Jul 9, 2014 - 9:20 PM

From what I can remember they were in a tank themselves, but this is something from when I was one or two so I only remember them and not much else. I guess since they visually stick out so much.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 10, 2014 - 10:40 PM

Fair enough, convicts are a pain in the ass.

Posted by: Box Jul 11, 2014 - 12:46 PM

QUOTE (rentaspace @ Jul 10, 2014 - 10:40 PM) *
Fair enough, convicts are a pain in the ass.

Wardens agree. tongue.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jul 11, 2014 - 6:59 PM

Nice double entendre

Posted by: Box Jul 11, 2014 - 8:53 PM

I do my best.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 22, 2014 - 12:31 AM

Big thanks to Josh (Again lol) since he got me another rare part,
I own a GT4 now wooh:






These wheels mean waaaay to much camber lol:

Posted by: cardshark525 Jul 22, 2014 - 10:46 PM

That tire wear tho...

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 25, 2014 - 4:03 AM

I put my rubber tyres on and drove around a bit outside, def's gonna need a lot of tyres lol...

Posted by: Bitter Jul 25, 2014 - 10:50 PM

I got a pair of $25 (on sale) bookshelf speakers, replaced the cheap blocking caps with some audio grade poly stuff and totally smoothed out the slightly harsh tweeters. They sound great, they were good before but listening to them you'd NEVER think they cost $25. They almost sound as good as my M-Audio monitors but lack the....smoothness, but for 1/4 the cost they're a damn steal!

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-b652-6-1-2-2-way-bookshelf-speaker-pair--300-652

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dmpc-68-68uf-250v-polypropylene-capacitor--027-424

$30 for a pair that perform like $80 speakers. Literally takes 5 minutes and a soldering iron, any idiot can do it. They're off sale now, but still a good deal. I'm pushing with 65WRMS from a Pioneer receiver, they're taking it with not a problem for hours on end.




As for the geeky side of things, I'm streaming free Pandora without any ads on Pithos from the old laptop. It's pretty sweet, use the ppa current version not the one in the main repo's since it's outdated and doesn't work.

Posted by: Special_Edy Jul 27, 2014 - 5:45 PM

Got something cooler than fish or turtles



Solenopsis invicta, also known as the Red Imported Fire Ant
Caught two queens, going to raise some colonies. Supposedly I will have up to a couple hundred thousand ants within 6 months to a year.

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 29, 2014 - 5:26 AM

QUOTE (Special_Edy @ Jul 27, 2014 - 5:45 PM) *
Got something cooler than fish or turtles



Solenopsis invicta, also known as the Red Imported Fire Ant
Caught two queens, going to raise some colonies. Supposedly I will have up to a couple hundred thousand ants within 6 months to a year.

We got fire ants here, are they as bad as ours?


Ours swarm onto people and bite you millions of times and if untreated can kill you

Posted by: Box Jul 29, 2014 - 8:17 PM

Everything in Australia is out to kill you. redface.gif

Posted by: Special_Edy Jul 29, 2014 - 9:57 PM

Some people die from fire ant bites, they swarm like crazy. I think the Jackjumper ants in Australia are supposed to be the deadliest in the world. They jump, are super aggressive(like chase you), have one of the most powerful stings, and many are allergic.

But RIFA's are a huge problem here. They are from the Amazon, and are quickly taking over North America

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 30, 2014 - 6:59 AM

Yeah, we have an extermination prgram for fire ants here.... If we find them we DESTROY THEM! hahaha



We have the deadliest snake, deadliest spider, deadliest crocodile, deadliest sea snakes and deadliest jellyfish tongue.gif

Not even mentioning the sharks lol

Posted by: Bitter Jul 30, 2014 - 8:05 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ2jMZ-gaI

Posted by: Box Jul 30, 2014 - 1:18 PM

AND KOALA!!!

Posted by: mkernz22 Jul 30, 2014 - 5:57 PM

QUOTE (rentaspace @ Jul 30, 2014 - 7:59 AM) *
Yeah, we have an extermination prgram for fire ants here.... If we find them we DESTROY THEM! hahaha



We have the deadliest snake, deadliest spider, deadliest crocodile, deadliest sea snakes and deadliest jellyfish tongue.gif

Not even mentioning the sharks lol


And please just leave them there.....that's all I ask laugh.gif

Posted by: rentaspace Jul 31, 2014 - 10:49 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 30, 2014 - 2:18 PM) *
AND DROPBEARS!!!




Fixed tongue.gif Can't believe people thought they were real though lol...

Posted by: VavAlephVav Aug 1, 2014 - 9:14 AM

ants escape pretty easy man you're nuts. hope you don't have any kids. biggrin.gif

Posted by: Bitter Aug 1, 2014 - 10:57 PM

"google now, what's the best way to treat fire ant burns?"

"Siri, search google for best ways to get fire ants out of house?"

Posted by: rentaspace Aug 2, 2014 - 9:33 PM

Do you guys have Bull Ants?

They're like 4-6cm long and have massive mandibles...
This was one I found at school one day:



Posted by: VavAlephVav Aug 2, 2014 - 11:21 PM

Scary I remember those things !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SnL2auGFwo


Posted by: rentaspace Aug 2, 2014 - 11:59 PM

QUOTE (VavAlephVav @ Aug 2, 2014 - 11:21 PM) *
Scary I remember those things !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SnL2auGFwo

hahahahaa this is hilarious, reminds me when I dug up a Bull Ant Nest in my back yard once, a good 10x10m area of ground was just covered in the ants... We gave up digging and retreated inside lol

Posted by: rentaspace Oct 19, 2014 - 6:09 PM

Been a while, but I am currently restoring the case of an Original Xbox. Going for a different colour scheme though. Hopefully turns out nice!

Posted by: Bitter Oct 19, 2014 - 7:28 PM

Cool!

I nabbed an i5-750 with and EVGA FTW 200 motherboard for $144 shipped that comes in tomorrow, I think I'll end up liquid cooling it and clocking the crap out of it. I miss liquid cooling.

Posted by: rentaspace Oct 27, 2014 - 8:25 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Oct 19, 2014 - 8:28 PM) *
Cool!

I nabbed an i5-750 with and EVGA FTW 200 motherboard for $144 shipped that comes in tomorrow, I think I'll end up liquid cooling it and clocking the crap out of it. I miss liquid cooling.

Thats pretty good!


I managed to pickup an I7 3770 with an Intel mobo for $110.
The mobo had a questionable pin so I sold it for $20 untested and bought a $50 mobo.


Total cost $130 and I already had RAM, SSD, HDD, PSU and case laying around. I sold it to my gf for $400. I could of sold it for double that to a stranger but she needed a PC and wanted to buy it haha.

Posted by: PegGTS Oct 27, 2014 - 11:56 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Oct 19, 2014 - 7:28 PM) *
Cool!

I nabbed an i5-750 with and EVGA FTW 200 motherboard for $144 shipped that comes in tomorrow, I think I'll end up liquid cooling it and clocking the crap out of it. I miss liquid cooling.

I love my i5-750, I have it overclocked to 4 GHz

Posted by: CelicaDICE Nov 14, 2014 - 5:20 PM

Greetings, everyone. The names DICE, my Celica has been with me and the family for nearly six years now and over the years, it has evolved. But I'll make a thread explaining the rest of the story of my car in the near future. Anyway, now that that's out of the way. I see some of you fellas like electronics. Well, luckily for you guys, I'm a big video game enthusiast, I collect and play games most of the time whenever I am not driving my Celica. Today, I've been playing my FAT Playstation with a custom disc spindle that I gave it just a week ago. It has better quality compared to the original one as those are easy to crack over time.

Posted by: rentaspace Nov 18, 2014 - 3:32 AM

QUOTE (CelicaDICE @ Nov 14, 2014 - 6:20 PM) *
Greetings, everyone. The names DICE, my Celica has been with me and the family for nearly six years now and over the years, it has evolved. But I'll make a thread explaining the rest of the story of my car in the near future. Anyway, now that that's out of the way. I see some of you fellas like electronics. Well, luckily for you guys, I'm a big video game enthusiast, I collect and play games most of the time whenever I am not driving my Celica. Today, I've been playing my FAT Playstation with a custom disc spindle that I gave it just a week ago. It has better quality compared to the original one as those are easy to crack over time.

I have a custom fat PS2, has a HDD and games installed on it. (Yes I have the oober rare network adapter). I also have a Slim PS1, Slim PS3, N64, NES, 3DSXL Custom Carbon Wrapped, A Custom Painted (Work in progress) Original Xbox, Xbox 360E and XBONE. lol

Posted by: Bitter Nov 18, 2014 - 8:19 AM

QUOTE (PegGTS @ Oct 27, 2014 - 10:56 PM) *
QUOTE (Bitter @ Oct 19, 2014 - 7:28 PM) *
Cool!

I nabbed an i5-750 with and EVGA FTW 200 motherboard for $144 shipped that comes in tomorrow, I think I'll end up liquid cooling it and clocking the crap out of it. I miss liquid cooling.

I love my i5-750, I have it overclocked to 4 GHz

Long long story short, I never got it but I got a refund.

Posted by: CelicaDICE Nov 18, 2014 - 1:58 PM

QUOTE (rentaspace @ Nov 18, 2014 - 4:32 AM) *
QUOTE (CelicaDICE @ Nov 14, 2014 - 6:20 PM) *
Greetings, everyone. The names DICE, my Celica has been with me and the family for nearly six years now and over the years, it has evolved. But I'll make a thread explaining the rest of the story of my car in the near future. Anyway, now that that's out of the way. I see some of you fellas like electronics. Well, luckily for you guys, I'm a big video game enthusiast, I collect and play games most of the time whenever I am not driving my Celica. Today, I've been playing my FAT Playstation with a custom disc spindle that I gave it just a week ago. It has better quality compared to the original one as those are easy to crack over time.

I have a custom fat PS2, has a HDD and games installed on it. (Yes I have the oober rare network adapter). I also have a Slim PS1, Slim PS3, N64, NES, 3DSXL Custom Carbon Wrapped, A Custom Painted (Work in progress) Original Xbox, Xbox 360E and XBONE. lol


Sweet! Hope the custom paint comes out well on your Original Xbox. biggrin.gif I have a White PS4, SEGA Genesis MK I, Two PS2 Slims(one NTSC and one PAL), an NES 101 or Top Loader as some like to call it, the Original FAT Playstation, SNES, SEGA Dreamcast, Jungle Green N64(in progress of restoring the top shell), Wii U(going to sell it real soon), a PS3 Slim, and the Virtual Boy CIB.

Sorry about the links, Im still figuring out how to post pics here without the links showing up. I'll just leave them so you guys can see my collection. laugh.gif

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9lf2hdd83ot7cio/Photo%20Nov%2018%2C%201%2038%2046%20PM.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/5lx1vhsv8qsfrbd/Photo%20Nov%2018%2C%201%2038%2051%20PM.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k50qthetkqcpdzd/Photo%20Nov%2018%2C%201%2038%2055%20PM.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g0z4ge50hrcogvo/Photo%20Nov%2018%2C%201%2040%2041%20PM.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0yi2g6rsnbos1ne/Photo%20Nov%2018%2C%201%2044%2034%20PM.jpg?dl=0

Posted by: Bitter Nov 19, 2014 - 7:55 AM





Current project, figure out why these XM-L2 LED's seem so under driven and see if I can crank them up a little bit. It's probably because they're under driven, I'd like to see 1500 Lumen out of the light instead of the 800-1000 it feels like it has now.

Posted by: PegGTS Apr 21, 2015 - 8:25 PM

Anybody else into speedcubing / rubik's cubes in general lol? I just picked up a V-Cube 3 the other day and so far I'm liking it.

Posted by: Box Apr 22, 2015 - 12:08 AM

I have a Rubik's cube, made of mundane plastic and stickers though. tongue.gif

Posted by: PegGTS Apr 22, 2015 - 12:34 AM

I'm slowly collecting more and more lol...

http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG2016_zps07hullsc.jpg.html

Posted by: Box Apr 22, 2015 - 2:53 PM

2x2 cube? laugh.gif

Posted by: PegGTS Apr 22, 2015 - 4:20 PM

Yup, it's not as easy as you might think tongue.gif

Posted by: Box Apr 22, 2015 - 5:20 PM

Statistically it must be easier. tongue.gif

Posted by: VavAlephVav Jan 1, 2016 - 8:45 PM

I've spent some time learning how to set up a PS2 emulator on my desktop. As long as you've got a decent video card you can crank up the settings and run games in real time and graphics that are good enough to run games like Gran Turismo. (which is all i really want to play) tongue.gif

The one I'm running is called PCSX2, it's just a small program that's easy to find. Then you need to acquire a BIOS file by searching forums and webpages until someone will nonchalantly point you toward one. It is also even easier to find a copy of the game disk, Gran Turismo 4 in my case, and then find a copy of somebodys save data. I found a save for Gran Turismo that has all of the licenses and a Trillion Credits. (not exaggerating)

This way I can just buy whatever I want and go play the game for a little while and not have to sacrifice every hour of the next several months to build up the game. smile.gif
It all took me about a half a day or so of searching internet forum posts to figure out the whole thing.
Then you get an Xbox controller with the USB adapter and it will just plug-n-play for Windows then you're rolling.

Check out all the cool Cars I has smile.gif

Of Course I have a GT4












How about a RWD 7th gen with 590hp?





2nd Gen MR2




Audi TT




and a Bad Ass Lotus







Posted by: Bitter Jan 1, 2016 - 8:54 PM

2ZZ-GE Elise has no torque listed, I'm dieing over here!

Posted by: rentaspace Jan 4, 2016 - 8:29 PM

Speaking of emulators, I have set a Raspberry Pi 2 Up with RetroPi to emulate some NES, N64 and older DOS games.
This will eventually be connected to the HDMI port on my headunit and I'll try get a USB NES controller to work with it so I have retro Gaming in my dash biggrin.gif

Posted by: PegGTS May 3, 2016 - 10:41 PM

Just finished custom painting one of my N64 controllers, it's Lexus Molten Pearl. Pretty pumped with how it came out, the pictures don't do it justice.

http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/20160503_213133_zpsp10pctqj.jpg.html
http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/20160503_213201_zpsfvthxdvd.jpg.html
http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/20160503_213239_zpsul5guwem.jpg.html
http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/20160503_213113_zpsppg5itaw.jpg.html

Posted by: Box May 3, 2016 - 10:57 PM

I'm not usually big on the the red, yellow, and orange colour spectrum but I like that. I feel like playing Pokemon Snap or Stadium now for some reason.

Posted by: ClevelandGaint May 4, 2016 - 7:31 AM

QUOTE (Box @ May 3, 2016 - 10:57 PM) *
I'm not usually big on the the red, yellow, and orange colour spectrum but I like that. I feel like playing Pokemon Snap or Stadium now for some reason.



those were the games back in the day, i may boot up the n64 and start playing again. May get adventurous and cruise the world or the USA!

Posted by: PegGTS May 4, 2016 - 11:08 AM

QUOTE (Box @ May 3, 2016 - 9:57 PM) *
I'm not usually big on the the red, yellow, and orange colour spectrum but I like that. I feel like playing Pokemon Snap or Stadium now for some reason.

Yeah it's a really nice colour, one of my favourite pearls. Only issue is the primer is showing through a little on the top of the controller where I couldn't really reach.

Here's a shot of the colour on the RC-F:


Posted by: Box May 4, 2016 - 1:32 PM

I still say the only car I'd want in orange is a McLaren or Koenigsegg. tongue.gif

Posted by: Box May 4, 2016 - 3:53 PM


Posted by: njccmd2002 May 4, 2016 - 5:52 PM

^^ star wars troll

Posted by: 1994Celica May 5, 2016 - 2:55 AM

Anybody playing over watch?

Posted by: PegGTS May 30, 2016 - 11:31 PM

Just ordered an Xbone today, any good games I should pick up along with it? Thinking about The Division, Battlefront, Overwatch, and Forza 6

Posted by: cheela May 31, 2016 - 11:39 AM

QUOTE (PegGTS @ May 30, 2016 - 11:31 PM) *
Just ordered an Xbone today, any good games I should pick up along with it? Thinking about The Division, Battlefront, Overwatch, and Forza 6


Fallout 4.

Posted by: 1994Celica Jun 4, 2016 - 6:04 PM

QUOTE (cheela @ May 31, 2016 - 11:39 AM) *
QUOTE (PegGTS @ May 30, 2016 - 11:31 PM) *
Just ordered an Xbone today, any good games I should pick up along with it? Thinking about The Division, Battlefront, Overwatch, and Forza 6


Fallout 4.

Eh fallout 4 was a massive disappointment to me. It was lacking something that the previous games have

Posted by: Box Jun 4, 2016 - 6:33 PM

I'm waiting for a GOTY edition before I buy it, Fallout is just too depressing for me to play more often than not.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 7, 2016 - 11:29 PM

Here are some shots of my custom painted N64 controller for my fiance, was done a year or so ago and has a few scratched and crap now but still good smile.gif
https://flic.kr/p/HU78X7https://flic.kr/p/HU78X7 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/61978939@N04/, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/HQK982https://flic.kr/p/HQK982 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/61978939@N04/, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/H2npKHhttps://flic.kr/p/H2npKH by https://www.flickr.com/photos/61978939@N04/, on Flickr



Posted by: Bitter Jun 11, 2016 - 1:33 PM

Just swapped a lid assembly on a Dell 15R N5010. Debating on dropping in an older mobile i5 while it's apart, they're only like $20-30 for used now, it's got a i3 370m which is a tad faster than the P6200 I'm using now in my other laptop, but nothing jaw dropping. An i5 580m adds the AES instructions, turbo boost to 3.33ghz, 100mhz higher graphics frequency, and a 2.66ghz base clock, as well as a bunch of virtualization features I'm unlikely to use in a laptop.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i5-580M-SLC28-2-66GHz-3MB-Socket-G1-Arrandale-Processor-CPU-/311629751445?hash=item488e94a495:g:bs0AAOSwnNBXVxSi

On the one hand yay faster, on the other hand greater chance of me fouling something up. laugh.gif And also longer wait before I use it since I have to take it apart to swap the stuff, I'm not putting it all back together.

Posted by: Box Jun 11, 2016 - 2:18 PM

Something about no risk no reward comes to mind. tongue.gif

Posted by: PegGTS Jun 14, 2016 - 9:58 PM

I may have sold one dragon (the Celica), but I picked up another today!

http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/PegGTS/media/20160614_211135_HDR_zpsazlkxa1o.jpg.html

Posted by: 1994Celica Jun 14, 2016 - 10:31 PM

Anyone watching e3? Sony's conference was so good I might have to buy a ps4

Posted by: Box Jun 14, 2016 - 10:54 PM

Back when G4, and Tech TV prior, was around I did but as far as I know no one airs it on tv anymore. I have a PS4 and so far have been pleased with it, for what it costs new you do get a lot.

Posted by: 1994Celica Jun 15, 2016 - 8:01 AM

QUOTE (Box @ Jun 14, 2016 - 11:54 PM) *
Back when G4, and Tech TV prior, was around I did but as far as I know no one airs it on tv anymore. I have a PS4 and so far have been pleased with it, for what it costs new you do get a lot.

You can watch streams of it on the internets. I've just watched it when I've had time. There seems to be some good looking stuff.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 17, 2016 - 10:36 PM

When installing a new processor be sure to reconnect the cooling fan. I wondered why the laptop was so quiet, caught it before windows had booted, now running prime95 for a while to test and get the thermal compound all set. i5 580m, woots, old ****.

Posted by: rentaspace Jun 18, 2016 - 8:42 AM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jun 17, 2016 - 10:36 PM) *
When installing a new processor be sure to reconnect the cooling fan. I wondered why the laptop was so quiet, caught it before windows had booted, now running prime95 for a while to test and get the thermal compound all set. i5 580m, woots, old ****.

Forgot that a few times lel. The pc at least will shutdown and protect itself from damage

Posted by: Bitter Jun 18, 2016 - 9:05 AM

I have yet to thermally shutdown or throttle a CPU, I caught this one pretty quickly and luckily had not screwed anything together except what was essential to power on and test. I'm going to keep running prime95 off and on to set the thermal compound and check the CPU and RAM for flaws. It crashed ONCE with a windows error last night, but I think that was a windows problem since it's an old Win7 install I cleaned up. I think I may boot off a thumb drive and run prime95 in linux, but the hardware monitoring is more basic there though all I need are core temps.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 18, 2016 - 9:44 AM

Now that I have a spare CPU (i3 370m) I'm wondering if I should give my pfsense box an upgrade under the hood. I found this...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portwell-WADE-8320-SBC-Mini-ITX-with-Mobile-Socket-G1-QM57-/252204696079?hash=item3ab892420f:g:01MAAOSw8-tWZvka

I could pretty much triple the processing power. http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-370M-vs-Intel-Atom-D525 it's way faster at single core stuff so I could probably run havp without any lag.

Posted by: 1994Celica Jun 18, 2016 - 10:47 AM

This reminds me I need to build a new PC, or I could buy car parts

Posted by: Bitter Jun 18, 2016 - 10:51 AM

Same.....same.

Posted by: Box Jun 18, 2016 - 4:28 PM

QUOTE (1994Celica @ Jun 18, 2016 - 10:47 AM) *
This reminds me I need to build a new PC, or I could buy car parts

Ditto. Honestly I'm surprised at ten years old the laptop still does everything I need it to, then again my demands aren't that high.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 18, 2016 - 4:45 PM

I found that just running a lighter Linux based OS, adding some more RAM if under 4GB, and installing a SSD makes even 5 year old hardware feel incredibly new. If you have a socketed CPU then you're even luckier as mobile processors about 5 years old are cheap cheap cheap. The Intel i series stuff holds up pretty well as time marches on it seems, I don't even bother with anything that's older than DDR3 memory now since DDR2 has risen in price so sharply.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 18, 2016 - 4:56 PM

****ing hell, Kuromukuro episode 11 isn't out with english subs yet! Aired on the 16th in Japan, usually it's a 24hr turn around time to get subs, but nothing except spanish subs yet. Argh.

Posted by: Box Jun 18, 2016 - 8:12 PM

Psssh, don't need subs watch it raw. tongue.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jun 18, 2016 - 8:37 PM

Believe me, I tried. I don't understand Japanese fluently enough to get all the dialog but I can understand giant robots fighting and girls screaming so...most of it comes through just fine.

Posted by: Box Jun 19, 2016 - 1:31 PM

I know enough to survive if I woke up in Tokyo one day, but that's about it. Giant robots and screaming girls, a staple of the anime industry. tongue.gif I need to get back into working through my extensive backlog but I have the bad habit of starting and then not being able to stop, DAMN YOU CLIFFHANGERS.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 19, 2016 - 2:21 PM

In the mean time I'm re-watching Macross Frontier. Still no eng subs for ep 11 of Kuromukuro tho. May need to give up and wait a few weeks then binge on 3-4 episodes once they get caught up.

Posted by: Box Jun 19, 2016 - 2:26 PM

I have to wait for an arc to finish so I can watch it all at once, I need instant gratification.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 19, 2016 - 4:37 PM

I set MPlayer to advance to the next file automatically.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 26, 2016 - 9:31 PM

So there's a song from Macross Frontier that I wanted to listen to but damned if I can find it, so I'm downloading the whole OST.

Posted by: VavAlephVav Jun 30, 2016 - 4:18 PM

Some time ago I bought World Rally Championship 4 on Steam for my PC. With PC you can just plug an Xbox controller into the USB and it's G2G.
But for some reason I could never get it to work right until just recently AMD updated their Catalyst software and now since the update Steam works and I can play my game.
And WRC 4 turns out to be a decent game, yet it has no Celica and is therefore inexcusably Fxxcking Lame. So I am going to get Dirt Rally instead, which is also available on Steam.
I've always been a big fan of Gran Turismo and I love realistic racing simulators that are too hard for most people, but lately I have been bitten by the Rally bug and so I want an off-road game - one with a Celica.

Here's a clip of the replay and different camera angles from Dirt Rally with the Casterol ST205


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3xSrrtvNw

Posted by: Box Jun 30, 2016 - 4:30 PM

Gran Turismo has rally courses and the WRC ST205. tongue.gif I'm trying to remember but I think 4 tried to make rally a notable aspect of the game, but I guess a lot of people complained as it's just kind of there in 5 and 6. I'm looking forward to Gran Turismo Sport, seems like they're finally addressing a lot of the wants and desires of the fan base. Between it and the Skyrim remaster for the PS4 I have things to look forward to.

Posted by: Bitter Oct 2, 2016 - 9:52 PM



Gonna be halving the sense resistor on this board to double the current to the LED's to boost the light output from this:

(it's the square spot)

To hopefully about double the light output.

Posted by: Bitter Oct 30, 2016 - 10:21 PM

Finally boosted that LED spot pod, 23W is the current power consumption, up from the initial 8W consumption. I'm nearly as the advertised power output now and it's cranking out some pretty dazzling bright light but the color temp is a little less desirable and the heat output has increased quite a bit. All in all, success though, now to find a purpose. I might replace my halogen fog lights with these and tie them into the high beam circuit to get more high beam power on the Mazda, I'm not entirely sure just yet. I need to do some longer term torture testing where I leave it on for an hour or more to see if it melts itself down or not. If it'll handle an hour constantly on when stationary I'd feel safer putting it on a vehicle. It's about a 10x10 spot at 250ft which is pretty tight for a LED pod.

Posted by: Box Oct 31, 2016 - 12:23 AM

I'd do some testing myself as well, I'd also spritz them with a water bottle to try and emulate rain. Much rather them explode during testing that on the car when it starts raining.

So currently playing Skyrim Special Edition on the PS4, uncanny the difference compared to the original on PS3. Then again it's more or less the game that was available to those with super gaming computers ever since it came out. If I had a 4K television I'd be more concerned with upgrading to the PS4 Pro, but if they could get the VR to work with this that'd be the coolest thing ever and probably a leading cause in unemployment and failed relationships.

Posted by: VavAlephVav Oct 31, 2016 - 2:58 PM

I just found this site http://www.iracing.com/
It's like an online racing MMORPG and I think I'm going to go out and get a feedback steering wheel so that I can play it smile.gif

Posted by: rentaspace Nov 13, 2016 - 12:42 AM

Just recently sold my old Sandy Bridge custom water-cooled gaming PC, Have moved to:
- i7 6700k
- Corsair H100i GTX V2 CPU cooler
- MSI Z170 Tomahawk Mobo
- Asus STRIX GTX1070 OC GPU
- 32GB Corsair LPX Red DDR4 RAM
- 256GB NVMe M.2 SSD (Will be upgrading to either an Intel or Samsung 1TB M.2 SSD soon).
- Asus AC1200 PCIe Wireless
- Corsair RM650 PSU
- Corsair SPEC-ALPHA Black-Red Case


Will probably be selling the 6700k CPU and moving to a 7th gen when it hits the Australian market. 7th gen laptops have only just hit the market here and the desktop CPUs are expected next year. But This may not eventuate due to circumstances in my life changing in the past 2 weeks.

Posted by: Bitter Feb 2, 2019 - 2:37 PM

Raise from the dead!

I decided that since I can't overclock anything I have in my house I'll see how far I can undervolt things. Google searching told me that undervolting Haswell was a waste of time, they're already super efficient, you won't gain anything. Google results were dead wrong! I managed to shave my i3 4130 from 65W output under prime95 to 40W and drop 20C in temp and drop to a lower fan speed, under benchmark runs it averages around 25W! This is with a -0.190 volt core voltage offset, down from the original 1.135V Then I decided to see if I could undervolt the low power i5 4460S and yes I can, -0.100 volt offset took off 10W but no difference in temps because it's in the test bench with a big ass heat sink.

I'm waiting on an i7 4980HQ from China that's been soldered to a socket 1150 adapter.

Posted by: Bitter Apr 24, 2019 - 8:18 PM

RISE FROM THE DEAD AGAIN!

I just finished mounting a 20 year old 200W Koolance water block to a dead 1156 motherboard so I can transfer the mounting to a living 1156 motherboard and cool a Xeon X3470 with the rest of the 20 year old water cooling system.

When I get the build log all done I'll link it here.

Posted by: Box Apr 27, 2019 - 1:44 AM

Hmm, I would say I should buy a computer after selling the Firebird but I have other things to spend the money on of greater importance.

So I had bought Monster Hunter World for the PS4 after it dropped to $20 new, had been thinking about it for some time prior but after that there wasn't much to lose in case I didn't like it or it was too hard. That was about a month ago now, have over 100 hours already and still haven't finished the main story. Taking my time gathering materials for gear and learning the game so it's not as hard as some say, that and after burning through Kingdom Hearts III I wanted this one to last especially since I don't have PS+ so the whole post end game playing online with others isn't an option currently. I really like it, and the variety each of the 14 weapon types bring to the playing experience is nice. I also like how the character creator is done and doesn't restrain certain features like makeup or hairstyles to one gender or the other, along the same vein I like how they didn't hyper-sexualize the female model. The male and female models are of similar stature, with the only big difference being a small bust and a slightly smaller waist in relation to the hips. So instead of being some overly busty toothpick like other games she looks like she's just as capable as kicking a monster's ass as the males, so that's nice and I applaud Capcom for such. The only thing is some of the female armour sets are "sexy", as male and female armour appearance is different, but some like the Kirin set are "sexy" on both:

So I guess that makes it ok. It's just always boggled me in these games, or shows/movies, where the female characters get stuck with what are more or less metal bikinis. Like seriously, that's supposed to protect her how?

Posted by: Bitter Apr 27, 2019 - 2:18 PM

It's always good when you can find a game that sucks you in and is enjoyable to play. I need to go back to Endless Sky but I've been waiting for an update though I don't think that's coming. I essentially beat the game, so I tried a different play through and got stuck with a mission not triggering somewhere and gave up, but now that I have a desktop that'll run it I may revisit. Just feels like lately I have a hard time getting myself to stay with a game.
https://endless-sky.github.io/ also available on steam.

Posted by: Box Apr 27, 2019 - 3:46 PM

Hmm, they might. I know Besthesda is still doing updates and bug fixes on Skyrim, of all things... Seriously would think after 8 years that'd be sorted out fully, but nope. I know what you mean though, I was so burned out on playing games for the longest time. The only thing I'd been playing until it was Final Fantasy Opera Omnia on the phone, since it's as close as you'll get to the classic turn by turn Final Fantasy in a modern game. Even then didn't even start that until middle of last year, in fairness it released globally last year in January, and honestly couldn't tell you the last time I had played a game since Skyrim came out and by the time all the DLC came out I was burned out on it. I had Kingdom Hearts II.5 sitting for ages and just played it earlier this year before III came out.

Posted by: Bitter Apr 27, 2019 - 9:50 PM

I think you're thinking of no man's sky lol. Totally different game.

Posted by: Box Apr 27, 2019 - 11:47 PM

Hmmm.... Both have sky in title, both have you travel through space. Close enough. Well if it's on PC there might be an user made fix out there.

Posted by: Bitter Apr 28, 2019 - 1:17 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Apr 27, 2019 - 10:47 PM) *
Hmmm.... Both have sky in title, both have you travel through space. Close enough. Well if it's on PC there might be an user made fix out there.

Prelude and Celica are both 2 doors and made in Japan, close enough.

Posted by: Box Apr 28, 2019 - 2:23 PM

Exactly, and also FWD. Even more close enough.

Posted by: Bitter Apr 28, 2019 - 9:06 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Apr 28, 2019 - 2:23 PM) *
Exactly, and also FWD. Even more close enough.


Posted by: Box Apr 28, 2019 - 9:50 PM

laugh.gif Gah, should know when I'm being facetious by now.

Posted by: CDUB Apr 29, 2019 - 6:25 PM

I love me some electronics so I guess I should post here since I got a few nerdy hobbies.

PC office


Tricopters.


Race Quads and Long Range


A "few" of my custom built flashlights.



Posted by: Box Apr 29, 2019 - 6:47 PM

Oooh, I really like the purple and aqua flashlights.

Posted by: Bitter Apr 29, 2019 - 8:12 PM

That is some cool ass **** man.

Posted by: Bitter May 14, 2019 - 10:53 PM

Water cooler is up and running on the old Xeon processor, results are underwhelming, I may need to tinker with the mounting some as it could be making uneven contact with the IHS. At stock speeds it's about as good as the Hyper 212, at 4Ghz it's doing better than the Hyper 212 by about 20C but it's still pretty warm. I need to dial in some settings to get it completely stable at 4Ghz, I being the dumbass I am, did not document the stable 4Ghz settings I had before.

Posted by: narly_charley May 15, 2019 - 7:28 AM

QUOTE (Bitter @ May 14, 2019 - 11:53 PM) *
Water cooler is up and running on the old Xeon processor, results are underwhelming, I may need to tinker with the mounting some as it could be making uneven contact with the IHS. At stock speeds it's about as good as the Hyper 212, at 4Ghz it's doing better than the Hyper 212 by about 20C but it's still pretty warm. I need to dial in some settings to get it completely stable at 4Ghz, I being the dumbass I am, did not document the stable 4Ghz settings I had before.


Dumbass...

Posted by: Box May 24, 2019 - 3:01 AM

So brother ended up getting The Crew 2. Pretty fun, it's a giant open world type of game across a condensed and somewhat generalized United States. Though most notable landmarks are featured that aren't a licensed property, so all the state parks and monuments and stuff like the Golden Gate bridge etc... Have a variety of vehicles; 16 different types in all though it's all boats, planes, motorcycles, and cars/trucks in some form. Oh and hover crafts. Kind of reminds me of old NFS games when they were good, like Underground and Most Wanted as it's a NFS arcade physics style and the way events and upgrading vehicles is done. You have a rival in each of the four racing styles; street racing, pro racing, off road racing, and freestyle. Then the cars are upgraded in generic part categories(tires, ECU, suspension, brakes, etc..) with numbered parts you get from winning races or finding "loot crates" in free roam. It was on sale, still might be, and he wanted it more for the motorcycles in free roam. It's nice that there's a game out there doing NFS better than EA these days.

Posted by: navseal345 May 24, 2019 - 7:49 AM

Since this is a nerdy thread...

What would you recommend to power a car stereo deck & 2 speakers? I know you'd want an AC to DC inverter but what amperage would be best? Maybe 10amps (or more if a small subwoofer was added)?

Posted by: Bitter May 24, 2019 - 8:18 AM

QUOTE (navseal345 @ May 24, 2019 - 7:49 AM) *
Since this is a nerdy thread...

What would you recommend to power a car stereo deck & 2 speakers? I know you'd want an AC to DC inverter but what amperage would be best? Maybe 10amps (or more if a small subwoofer was added)?

Just get a cheap computer PSU and use the 12V rail off it with the highest amperage if it's not a single rail unit. Otherwise if you get a power brick just match it to the fuse on the back of the head unit, it won't draw more than that fuse. Subwoofer tho? Head unit won't power a sub woofer, not nearly enough power to do that.

Posted by: navseal345 May 24, 2019 - 1:33 PM

Good idea, thanks.

Posted by: Bitter May 24, 2019 - 7:07 PM

QUOTE (navseal345 @ May 24, 2019 - 1:33 PM) *
Good idea, thanks.

https://www.parts-express.com/lepai-lp40pa-40w-mini-plate-amplifier-bluetooth-aux-35mm-input-and-control-panel--310-4000

That might be a better idea, just runs on 120-240AC and puts out roughly the same power that a head unit would. The nice part is no dicking around with weird PSU stuff. They have some other Lepai amps that do blue tooth and have FM and other things built in, 2, 2.1 channel, etc. I guess it depends what you're making, but I assume some kind of garage stereo boom box like device?

Posted by: navseal345 May 24, 2019 - 8:26 PM

Yeah, basically a garage boom box. I already have a head unit & speakers in a "case" I built years ago, just the power supply I used isn't made for that. I'll try & get a few pics up soon.

Posted by: navseal345 May 24, 2019 - 8:43 PM

So I could maybe use one of these power supplies...
https://www.parts-express.com/cat/power-supplies/1474

Posted by: Box May 24, 2019 - 8:55 PM

Or just use computer monitors off your phone, probably the easiest thing to do if you're wanting an 110-120V speaker system in the garage with a sub-woofer.

That or go baller and use studio monitors meant for recording studios.

Posted by: Bitter May 24, 2019 - 9:37 PM

I think he wants a grab n go kind of box he can also run off the truck power too.

Yes correctly sized one of those could work, get a flush mount power cord socket input like a computer uses. And some other flush mount 12v for cables or a 12v power plug. I'll find parts when I get home.

Posted by: Box May 24, 2019 - 11:22 PM

Hmm I see. I think I recall seeing something like that at some time, was a step stool and boombox in one. I think it even had what looked like a single DIN car stereo in it. That or I'm just imagining such a contraption, but I'm fairly sure I'm not.

Posted by: Bitter May 25, 2019 - 4:32 PM

QUOTE (navseal345 @ May 24, 2019 - 8:43 PM) *
So I could maybe use one of these power supplies...
https://www.parts-express.com/cat/power-supplies/1474

https://www.parts-express.com/iec-ac-power-jack-chassis-mount-with-switch-and-fuse-holder--090-978 that would let you connect a 3 pin computer power supply cable to the box holding your stuff and let you ground it internally to the high voltage side of the amp just in case it got wet while connected to power, it ought to short to the ground path from the cord and not whatever it's sitting on or whomever is touching it.

Need to do some thinking on the DC connector though, most of those panel mount DC jacks are pretty low amperage.

Posted by: Box May 25, 2019 - 6:06 PM

Hmm, the highest amperage 12V wall wart I can think of would be for synthesizers that used them but most had internal power supplies. Most head units are what 17W RMS per channel at best? So 68W RMS at 110-120V would be only .6 amps so something like a synthesizer wall wart would suffice. The ones for Dave Smith synths are 770mA at 13V.

Posted by: Bitter May 25, 2019 - 8:20 PM

I've got a few 13.5V wall warts that are several amps, they do exist, and when you get to laptop power supplies those are commonly up to 90W and some are even larger. I've got a big brick for my externally powered Atom D525/Nvidia Ion mini itx system.

Anyway, I wasn't thinking about the head unit as so much as I was thinking about that bluetooth system and it's power needs, assuming he'd want to mount an inverter internally so it could connect to 12V without having to lug around an inverter too or install the power brick internally so the head unit could just be plugged into a wall, either way to keep it all inside the box. Less cords to screw with the better.

Posted by: Box May 25, 2019 - 8:40 PM

Hmm, all the laptop ones I've had are 19V though. Would just have to look through the specs of the head unit for it's total wattage draw, but should still be able to find something that'd work. Do they not make boom boxes anymore? Why are we making things difficult? laugh.gif

Posted by: Bitter May 25, 2019 - 10:41 PM

current boom boxes suck ass.

fairly easy to buck 19v down to 12v tho, and cheap too!

Posted by: Box May 25, 2019 - 10:52 PM

Well they do make portable PA systems that'd blow away any boom box anyway, and would give woofers. Then just grab an inverter to run it off the truck. So the solution is just spend money, what else is new. laugh.gif

Posted by: Bitter May 27, 2019 - 11:19 PM

Cat urine strips the galvanization from PC case sheet steel, it also corrodes motherboards and shorts their 12V to ground laugh.gif

Posted by: Box May 28, 2019 - 12:14 AM

Darn you cats.

Posted by: Bitter May 30, 2019 - 7:43 PM

Steam had a game on sale I've been wanting to play, going to try out some turn based strategy with giant stompy death machines soon. Might need some more RAM though, 8GB is the minimum :lol: and the HTPC is the only PC with a fast enough processor and it's only got two slots for RAM so....D'OH! At least I have 8GB in it, we'll just have to see how it runs.

I got the replacement board for the cat urine cooled PC, needs a BIOS update for the CPU I want to use in it, or I hope that's all it is. It's for sure an older BIOS without support for the 4460S. Otherwise I'll have to snipe a 4th gen i5 or i3 for it.

Well that's it, I'm never buying Asus boards again. Done with their ****. I've now had two different 80 series 1150 boards claim support for S series i5 CPU's and neither work with two known working CPU's. H81 and H87 Asus boards both, both working i5 4590S and 4460S CPU, boards work fine, CPU's work fine, they just don't work together even with the correct BIOS installed. Screw Asus! Pee Pee machine is going to get an i3 4130 if this seller accepts my low ball otherwise I'll have to just try to snipe a bunch of CPU auctions to score a low ball deal on a non S i5 or a non T i3.

Posted by: Box May 30, 2019 - 9:26 PM

Turn based strategy and tactical strategy games are some of my favourites.

Aww, guess no one makes anything worth a **** unless you spend a small fortune for a made in Japan Panasonic or Fujitsu. Acer sucks, Dell sucks, HP has sucked, and now apparently Asus sucks. The Fujitsu would still be going if could find a replacement fan for it, but it's so old... Hmmm, maybe if any of the Samsung laptops are made in Korea since their phones have been good short of the whole battery explosion thing they had going there for awhile. Just make a computer out of lemons, potatoes, and an Etch-A-Sketch at this rate.

Posted by: Bitter May 30, 2019 - 10:52 PM

Well BattleTech is on sale 40% off currently so that's what I bought, been eyeballing it for a while. Not sure any of your computers can run it though...

Posted by: Box May 30, 2019 - 11:20 PM

They're all dead or overheat and die in 10-15 minutes of use, just use for forum and that's it.

Posted by: Bitter May 31, 2019 - 9:19 AM

Even the one I sold you? Bummer...

Posted by: Box May 31, 2019 - 3:52 PM

Yup, the last time I disappeared before personal reasons was why remember. Oh well, maybe will find the money after selling the Firebird and buying a Miata to get another.

Posted by: Bitter May 31, 2019 - 9:49 PM

QUOTE (Box @ May 31, 2019 - 3:52 PM) *
Yup, the last time I disappeared before personal reasons was why remember. Oh well, maybe will find the money after selling the Firebird and buying a Miata to get another.

I don't remember, anything. laugh.gif If you know what's wrong I could probably fix it

Posted by: Box May 31, 2019 - 10:20 PM

For some reason it's lost the operating systems.

Posted by: Bitter May 31, 2019 - 10:43 PM

QUOTE (Box @ May 31, 2019 - 10:20 PM) *
For some reason it's lost the operating systems.

Disk show up in BIOS? Could be a failed hard drive, relatively simple fix if that's the case. I've got a spare 500GB platter drive, though they're fairly cheap to procure on eBay if it is a bad hard drive. I think that one has a hard drive caddy, but I'm a little fuzzy on which one it was I sent you. Pretty sure it was a Dell.

Posted by: Box May 31, 2019 - 10:45 PM

It was a Dell. It's been so long I'd have to boot it up and see exactly what's the deal.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 1, 2019 - 8:39 PM

QUOTE (Box @ May 31, 2019 - 10:45 PM) *
It was a Dell. It's been so long I'd have to boot it up and see exactly what's the deal.

I theory I should be able to create a windows install and preload the needed drivers so it would just work or mostly just work, and of course include the drivers in a folder on the disk. It would be Windows 7 tho...

Posted by: Box Jun 1, 2019 - 9:09 PM

Windows 7 is the best Windows though.

Posted by: Bitter Jun 2, 2019 - 10:39 AM

Yes but support is ending which means it'll soon be a huge and popular target for all kinds of nasty internet stuff to happen to it.

Posted by: Box Jun 2, 2019 - 2:39 PM

Don't go places that give you nasty internet stuff?

Posted by: Bitter Jun 3, 2019 - 8:18 AM

QUOTE (Box @ Jun 2, 2019 - 2:39 PM) *
Don't go places that give you nasty internet stuff?

You literally don't even have to go to bad sites anymore, good sites get hacked or advertising banners run malicious scripts or even innocuous websites like unsubbing from a mailing list run a script in the background that exploits a backdoor and opens the way for malware. Just 'not going to those bad sites' isn't good enough anymore, it sucks.

Posted by: Box Jun 3, 2019 - 3:03 PM

Block all the things!

Posted by: Bitter Jun 3, 2019 - 11:26 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jun 3, 2019 - 3:03 PM) *
Block all the things!


Posted by: Box Jun 3, 2019 - 11:40 PM

Well that'll block you from getting to the internet. laugh.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jul 4, 2019 - 8:02 AM

Got a RX580 8GB 'Red Devil' video card for my mini ITX 'gaming' PC build which I have dubbed 'the lil cube that could'. I'm still working on tuning it's power consumption somewhat because it gets a little louder than I like. Partly that's due to it being a power hungry card, at almost 220W running full boost clocks on a raised power limit, but also it's partly due to the fact it BARELY fits into the Core V1 chassis and is nearly pressed against the side panel causing bad turbulent air noise against the hex stamped steel side panel venting. So I'm going to make a fan guard for the side panel of the case out of some cabinet pulls from Home Depot! I bought 3 of these and they'll be in on the 10th, I'll update with some pictures before and after.

I still wish I could have sniped me a GTX 1070 used but a few things prevented that. 1, I couldn't get one for the price point I was willing to spend. 2, the broken ones I was finding all had the same problem with smoked VRM components, telling me a used one might be a poor choice for durability. 3. the 580 8GB was like 1/2 the price for a used like new in pristine shape (as far as I could tell) but hovers within 10% of the performance of a 1070.

Oh and I got the BIOS thing with the Asus H87 board figured out, so it's running the 4590 no problems now. I had to flash the BIOS from the Windows based tool to actually update it, there's a bug in the BIOS updater built into the BIOS where it appears like it's updated and everything reports the new BIOS number but it hasn't actually completed the update at all. What a ****ing ****up on the part of Asus, but it's fixed now and working fine. Got my 16GB of RAM, got my video card with adequate performance, got my decent CPU, got lots of fans, and Battletech DOES work. I just need to install some time to start playing it!

Posted by: Box Jul 4, 2019 - 3:52 PM

One of these days I'll have a sackful of money to build a super computer, but computers always fall behind cars and musical instruments in priority.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 6, 2019 - 4:02 PM

Bought 32GB of DDR4 3600 for $150 to my door in prep for Ryzen 3000 stuff, RAM prices are at historic lows so I wanted to get some before it went back up. If prices drop more then I may get another 32GB assuming I end up with a board to support it. Also fingers crossed that whatever board and CPU I get works with the RAM I bought.

The cabinet pulls for the fan guard came, look nice. I'll get them test fitted later and maybe cut out the grill too. I forgot to get some door edge guard to help smooth the cut metal edges though, might just bend the metal over backward so it looks OK from the outside. I need to cut the 6 M4 screws down about 1/2 length to work with the thin metal instead of a wooden cabinet or drawer, they're really shallow heads so hopefully no interference with the things behind the side panel! I suppose I could always grind them down a little flatter if need be. If I like how it looks I for sure may get more and do the other side to match and maybe something on the top as an actual grab handle lol not that I'll ever take the computer anywhere ha.

Posted by: Box Jul 6, 2019 - 7:00 PM

You mean you're not using DDR5? Gah.

So I started replaying Final Fantasy IX the other night, original PS1 on 4 discs, and got to the point that revolutionized my 8 year old life. The entire time coming up to this point they're talking about "the mysterious man" and even in his dialogue box he's labeled as such until he finally gets addressed by name as Kuja, then shortly after this happens:


My 8 year old self wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it changed my perception of gender norms. Which even Final Fantasy VII did to a much smaller extent with Sephiroth, sure he had the long hair but was still very masculine in proportions. Kuja on the other hand, all I can say is damn just look at that hip to waist ratio. laugh.gif Which it was enough though to hold me over at the time, that maybe I wasn't a freak for wanting to be the way that I am and that I wasn't alone even if they were just a video game character. Which it wasn't until much later I better understood myself or knew of my options, but in a way Kuja taught me it was ok to be myself. Just because I wanted to be feminine didn't mean I couldn't like girls, or be hell bent on destroying the world around me for instance.

Also in replaying it you realize the FMV graphics are impressive for the time and especially to have been on the 32 bit PS1. Funny the leap between VII and IX in that regard as well as real time graphics too, as it was the same console.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 6, 2019 - 9:51 PM

I like that story, that's a good story.

Posted by: Box Jul 6, 2019 - 11:12 PM

I think FF IX is my favourite in the numbered series; between the story, characters, and setting. Even though I look forward to the FF VII Remake I'd prefer a remake of IX to be honest. There's also the story of Vivi in IX which hits you in the feels and is something I think a lot of people can relate to; who am I, where am I from, what is my purpose? That and Kuja isn't the typical villain and isn't evil for the sake of being evil(although it's not revealed until late into the game), and in the end repents for his actions. Probably the first sympathetic antagonist before they were a huge thing like they are now, and was first in the numbered series to have a really good story to it.

Sephiroth had his reasons for turning evil and doing what he did, but I think they're more a warning against genetic engineering and cloning humans than it is something you can relate to or are even supposed to. That and there was the whole "exploiting the planet" aspect by Shinra that's very relevant. VIII was more of a love story between Squall and Rinoa and then they remembered "OH YEAH, this is a Final Fantasy game we need a villain to defeat!" and threw in Ultimecia there at the end that wanted to compress time and space for no apparent reason(though she's working behind the scenes through others until that point). VI kinda had something there with Kefka in that he was experimented on, but really don't get told anything more than that and he's just evil for the sake of being evil otherwise but the story of the player characters makes up for that somewhat. I through V the villains are just evil for the sake of being evil, except for IV where Golbez was being manipulated but then the real villain is being evil just for the sake of being evil. X was good as a whole even though like VIII it's mostly a love story between Tidus and Yuna, but at least the story surrounding that and the villain is congruent to everything else. Though more so than it being a single villain with a purpose, it's more so a warning against blind faith in religion and their leaders. XII or XIII I'm not as familiar with since I didn't beat them, but from my understanding they're both good on the story aspect and having villains with some purpose besides being evil. I'd like to get around to them after replaying IX I think. Then XV I hear is supposed to be good on story and continues the sympathetic antagonist theme that XII and XIII kind of did.

Don't even get me started on Final Fantasy Tactics, I want to replay that one again but stupid father traded it off before I could save it like I did VII, VIII, and IX. That's ok now there's the "War of the Lions" version with updated graphics, translation, and gameplay, as well as added cut scenes. Sadly it's only on PSP, Android, or IOS though and not on PS3 or PS4. It has a great story about social levels and the dangers of religion, as well as friendship and family plus you get to see why the villains are doing what they're doing. That and I LOVE tactical RPGs, it and Tactics Ogre(made by the same guy, very obviously) are my favourite games probably.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 7, 2019 - 7:05 PM

https://linustechtips.com/main/uploads/monthly_2019_07/IMG_20190707_135918.jpg.e6fb44debd26872457a80f51341c0cd1.jpg
Not sure that'll link, but I need one more cabinet pull at the bottom. I decided on doing 4 so they're all spaced the same and there's better protection for the card and it's fans.

Posted by: Box Jul 7, 2019 - 7:27 PM

I miss the old school computer towers that were like huge and stuff, really had some weight to them. This whole computer being smaller than a toaster just isn't right.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 7, 2019 - 8:59 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 7, 2019 - 7:27 PM) *
I miss the old school computer towers that were like huge and stuff, really had some weight to them. This whole computer being smaller than a toaster just isn't right.

Oh then will I have something for you to ogle soon. biggrin.gif laugh.gif It's about 3 feet tall, solid xtraa thicc steel, water cooled, and 'vintage' circa 2000. The guts are getting swapped out to something slightly more recent, a first gen Core based Xeon X3470 on a board with very strong VRM because that CPU can suck some serious power! I'll probably break my OCZ 600W PSU, it's always had coil whine and I think the fan is starting to die, not that I don't have a shortage of fans I can replace the bad one with lol.

Posted by: Box Jul 7, 2019 - 9:49 PM

Haha, could really cram some serious computing power into an old tower with plenty of air space. I liked the first gaming towers that were lit and and liquid cooling, so cool.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 7, 2019 - 11:58 PM

Oh this is liquid cooled and has a window and I've got some lighting I can add as well. If I can get the temps right with a properly installed waterblock on the Xeon then I'll feel comfortable installing a Ryzen system under water with it, I just wish I had a way to pass CPU temp to the fan controller so I've still got some homework to do.

Posted by: Box Jul 8, 2019 - 1:26 AM

Hmmm.... Just have the fan on all the time? tongue.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jul 8, 2019 - 7:13 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 8, 2019 - 1:26 AM) *
Hmmm.... Just have the fan on all the time? tongue.gif

Alright here's what I'm working with, but it's not cleaned up to show mine yet.
https://koolance.com/pc2-601bw-liquid-cooling-system-black
I'm missing all the panels behind the front door for some reason, I'll have to figure something out to replace them with. I'm also missing one of the hard drive caddies but I think I have it around somewhere. And one of the 80mm fan holders. I used to run all 3 80mm fans as intake because the top radiator was 3 80mm exhaust fans. I have a specially bent metal air deflector to blow air down over the motherboard so the VRM gets cooling.

The board I used to have in there was a Asus P4C-800E
https://www.anandtech.com/show/1133
It had everything.

Posted by: Box Jul 8, 2019 - 9:00 PM

You've inspired me to make a laptop just so I can play Final Fantasy XIV, since I'm too cheap to buy PS+ for one game. If only such were higher on my priorities list. Sigh, what I get for having three expensive hobbies. Since being pretty isn't a hobby it's a lifestyle, so it doesn't count as a fourth. laugh.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jul 9, 2019 - 10:47 PM

Scrubbed out and washed the case, blasted it out clean with the garden hose, wiped it dry, it's been sitting in front of a fan drying. Tomorrow I'll either clay cloth the car or I'll start swapping the board over to the giant case made of heavy steel and razor blade sheet metal edges.


My Silverstone PWM fan hub came, turns out my one H87 board's 4 pin chassis fan header isn't PWM or something as the hub defaulted to it's full speed on that header but on the CPU header it was fine so I'm just keying all the case fans off the PWM CPU fan speed signal. It's nice and quiet now, even with the CPU full loaded, AND I still have room for 4 more fans (not that I could fit 4 more fans in that case).

Posted by: Box Jul 9, 2019 - 10:56 PM

Every time I see PWM I think of synthesizers. Just thought you might like to know that about me.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 10, 2019 - 7:02 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 9, 2019 - 10:56 PM) *
Every time I see PWM I think of synthesizers. Just thought you might like to know that about me.

Not sure what it means in that context, for cooling fans it's Pulse Width Modulation which is the same way some LED's and other devices are controlled for brightness or speed.

Posted by: Box Jul 10, 2019 - 7:59 PM

PWM is the same with synthesizers; Pulse Width Modulation. It's when you use a low frequency oscillator to effect a pulse wave's(traditionally) cycle and you can alter the speed of the cycle sweep by changing the frequency of the LFO as well as the intensity by setting how much the LFO effects the signal. You'll also have a manual control for the actual pulse width that will set it to a specific spot in the cycle, which 50% is a square wave.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 10, 2019 - 9:40 PM

That probably made as much sense to me as it does to you if I started talking about vdroop and load line calibrations.

Posted by: Box Jul 10, 2019 - 10:12 PM

At least the premise of PWM is the same in either case.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 14, 2019 - 9:46 AM

Heck yeah, progress!

I got the Xeon stuff up and running in the Koolance case, messing around with CPU voltages now some. I need some case fans for it but I don't feel like laying out for good ones right now and there's no point buying crappy ones when nothing else uses 80mm and I'll just end up buying twice for the good ones later. I'll scrounge up some 80mm fans from my boxes of crap and make something work well enough. I've named this one 'The Monolith'. I can't screw with overclocking until I have some air blowing over the very beefy VRM coolers but with over 100 amps flowing through them and into the socket I NEED air blowing over the board! I should probably cut a hole under the board so I can blow air behind it too to try to cool the back of the socket and the pins in it. What's the max power for an 1156 socket? LOL

Found a red COB "DRL" LED strip in the basement that can run off 5V dimly, stuck that on the top panel inside 'The Cube' and it looks pretty awesome glowing some dim red light from the case.

Posted by: Box Jul 14, 2019 - 2:09 PM

Just grab an electric leaf blower, there ya go plenty of air independent from the CPU. tongue.gif

Posted by: Bitter Jul 14, 2019 - 6:13 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 14, 2019 - 2:09 PM) *
Just grab an electric leaf blower, there ya go plenty of air independent from the CPU. tongue.gif

You know, I know you're kidding but....I do have a couple very strong blowers in the basement, one is a bouncy house inflator I got off a curb that MOVES some air. I found a pair of 80mm mismatched fans and my old air deflector for it, it's annoying in tone now but the VRM are plenty cooled. I got it at 3.84ghz and started backing the voltage down some but then I got bored and I think I'll just pick it back up some other time. Scores a whopping 600 points in Cinebench R15 where as my i7 4950HQ does 800 points AND only uses 50W of power doing so. Whatevers laugh.gif I kind of want to put in a thicker radiator and modern water block but nothing uses 1/4 inch ID so I'd need a block, rad, pump/res, and new tubing and still need to figure out how to get the Koolance control board to read block temps properly. I may just get the block first and some G1/4 to 6mm nipple fittings and then figure out how to mount the thermistor needed for the Koolance board. I guess I could just Dremel out a divot in the base plate off to the side to glue it into, that's essentially what the Koolance block does. Yay more money, I'm taking a break from spending on computers for a while.

And it would be pointless because I'd be buying an Intel block when I want to house an AMD system in that case anyway. Not that it looks like they can overclock, they're not even hitting their claimed boost clocks. What a ****ty product launch...

Posted by: Box Jul 14, 2019 - 7:39 PM

Hmmm... down the rabbit hole like anything else that involves customization. Also bothered with looking up the rec specs for FFXIV:
Final Fantasy XIV Recommended Requirements

CPU: Intel Core i7 (2.66 GHz) or faster
RAM: 4 GB
OS: Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 with 768 MB VRAM or equivalent
TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 768 MB
HARDWARE T&L: Yes
PIXEL SHADER: 4.0
VERTEX SHADER: 4.0
SOUND CARD: Yes
FREE DISK SPACE: 15 GB

Hmmm....

Posted by: Bitter Jul 15, 2019 - 7:52 AM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 14, 2019 - 7:39 PM) *
Hmmm... down the rabbit hole like anything else that involves customization. Also bothered with looking up the rec specs for FFXIV:
Final Fantasy XIV Recommended Requirements

CPU: Intel Core i7 (2.66 GHz) or faster
RAM: 4 GB
OS: Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 with 768 MB VRAM or equivalent
TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 768 MB
HARDWARE T&L: Yes
PIXEL SHADER: 4.0
VERTEX SHADER: 4.0
SOUND CARD: Yes
FREE DISK SPACE: 15 GB

Hmmm....

Since they don't spec what gen of i7 they're likely referring to 1st gen parts which also jives with the age of that video card. That's like 10+ year old hardware and it should be fairly cheap to put it together from used parts. When you're ready to start buying parts I can help you find deals on eBay or wherever if you'd like.

Posted by: Box Jul 15, 2019 - 1:51 PM

I thought it sounded like fairly minimal stuff these days, then again the game came out in 2010? So I guess that'd be about right. laugh.gif

Posted by: Box Jul 27, 2019 - 10:50 PM

So finally decided to give Fallout another try with Fallout 4 GOTY Edition, but everyone selling on Amazon is overpriced and I can't exactly go to Wal-Mart or Gamestop currently. Meh... It's on super sale on Steam currently but I don't have a computer to play it. Sigh...

Posted by: Bitter Jul 29, 2019 - 9:26 PM

Stop being so picky and just get a desktop PC built for cheap for gaming. rolleyes.gif

Posted by: Box Jul 29, 2019 - 10:19 PM

Desktop no bueno with fibro because of bleh computer chairs. That's ok, Dragon Age Inquisition with all the expansions was on super sale for like $12 in the Playstation Store so just got that since it was one I had been looking into as well. Fallout 4 will happen when it happens I suppose.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 29, 2019 - 11:00 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 29, 2019 - 10:19 PM) *
Desktop no bueno with fibro because of bleh computer chairs. That's ok, Dragon Age Inquisition with all the expansions was on super sale for like $12 in the Playstation Store so just got that since it was one I had been looking into as well. Fallout 4 will happen when it happens I suppose.

So how do you use a laptop? Do you just hover in the fetal position in mid air?

Posted by: Box Jul 30, 2019 - 2:34 PM

Recliner, that way I'm not putting any pressure on myself anywhere like a computer chair that's killing me in 5-10 minutes. I've thought about turning a car seat into a computer chair, but would need a welder and stuff to make it.

Posted by: Box Jul 30, 2019 - 3:04 PM

Oh yeah and in typical games with character creation fashion it took me a good 2 hours to make my character in Dragon Age. laugh.gif I've gotten pretty good at putting myself into games since she looks just like my character in Monster Hunter which looks like one of my characters in Skyrim which looks like me. I swear I'm not being vain, if anything I think it helps me better accept myself in a way by seeing a woman that looks just like me and is treated as such at all times within the game(s). That and it's reassuring in a way that I can get the female characters a lot closer to me than I can the male ones, so that also helps in a way and makes me feel better. Silly I guess.

Speaking of such, apparently in Fallout 4 you're forced into a heterosexual relationship. BOOOOOOOOOO.... Oh well, I guess I'll make the male character as pretty as possible and name him Ashley or something only for him to die 10-15 minutes later. Which I'm not averted to being with a male so long as they're feminine, but those are so few and far between in the real world. In Japanese media they're everywhere though, damn you Japan and your obsession with pretty males! laugh.gif


Kuja really looks gorgeous, I mean glorious, in the new Dissidia.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 30, 2019 - 5:22 PM

They make things that mount the monitor non an arm and hold a keyboard and mouse so you can game reclined.

Posted by: Box Jul 30, 2019 - 8:10 PM

Hmmm, may have to look into that then. Especially if that and a complete tower could be gotten for less than a comparable laptop. Already have a LCD monitor, though it's only 19" and a wireless mouse and keyboard so would just need the tower. Though as of now all of the games I want for the most part are on some iteration of console or mobile.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 30, 2019 - 8:34 PM

QUOTE (Box @ Jul 30, 2019 - 8:10 PM) *
Hmmm, may have to look into that then. Especially if that and a complete tower could be gotten for less than a comparable laptop. Already have a LCD monitor, though it's only 19" and a wireless mouse and keyboard so would just need the tower. Though as of now all of the games I want for the most part are on some iteration of console or mobile.

Just presenting options, the nice thing about a desktop PC is that you can toss in new parts here and there to keep it's performance inline with your needs. Used parts can be scored cheaply from time to time if you're patient.

A VESA mount arm for the monitor would let you position it where you want, like hovering over you.
https://www.amazon.com/Monitor-Mount-Stand-Adjustable-Articulating/dp/B078455485 as an example, that could be mounted to the side of the recliner on a base of some kind as simple or elaborate as you wanted.

An articulating keyboard and mouse platform https://www.amazon.com/AVLT-Power-Premium-Aluminum-Keyboard-Adapter/dp/B07PYDRQDV could allow you to swing them over your lap while in the chair.

They actually do make workstations with all this built in already, but they're quite expensive. You could probably get close for much cheaper, I'm sure once you start poking around you'll find something to make it work if you want. A laptop with a midrange GPU like a GTX 960M starts at $500 on the used market and you're locked into what you get with it, you can upgrade and add some more RAM or a larger SSD but for the most part all laptops now feature soldered CPU's and while some may use a GPU on a riser card often the BIOS simply won't accept a different GPU card being installed, and if it's even possible to swap in a better MXM GPU card they're prohibitively expensive. a GTX 1060 MXM card is $350-$400, a desktop GTX 1060 is in the $200-250 range and can be scored lower sometimes.

Posted by: Box Jul 31, 2019 - 3:19 PM

I would say maybe after selling the Firebird and getting a Miata, but then all resources and time will be going to that. Maybe after that and HRT finalizing I can get my life half ass sorted for once, and then I can buy some super duper gaming pc to under utilize.

Posted by: Bitter Jul 31, 2019 - 7:30 PM

Doesn't have to be super duper, a budget build would play the games you want to play plenty fine. $400-500 would build a pretty good mid range PC for gaming at 1080P Ultra or 1440P High settings at 60fps in most games from the past few years. It's about picking parts with the most value.

i5 4590 $65
16GB ddr3 $70
Z87 board $90
RX 580 8GB $120
$550W PSU $75
Case $50
Fans $40 (good fans are great)
That's an under $500 build, roughly using current eBay pricing, that would play a lot of games. I'm sure there's more recent hardware that would be even better, I'm just kind of mimicking one of my slapdash builds that I slowly parted together over a year.

And you can put purple lights inside it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oQsggzUO1Q
Light changes brightness in response to CPU temp, but this LED has a pretty piss poor voltage range. I need a better one that'll light at lower voltages to actually do the effect properly.

Posted by: Box Jul 31, 2019 - 10:08 PM

I do like purple. That's how you market things to me, make them purple. laugh.gif

Posted by: Box Aug 13, 2019 - 7:08 PM

Oh yeah, ended up buying Fallout 4 GOTY anyway on the last day of the sale since apparently Bethesda doesn't like to drop pricing on their games ever...

Anyway... So you can't name the spouse you aren't playing as, so that's disappointing, but I made him as pretty as possible before he was killed by the kidnappers. Vengeance will be mine with my future lesbian partner. That's ok, trying to get used to the whole game play itself as well as the stats and perks system. Already kinda messed things up despite looking into things prior since I wasn't entirely sure on the play style I'd like. Meh, suppose with enough levels it'll all work out anyway. I do know I like VATS, since I'm mediocre at best with FPS games and it allows a somewhat tactical approach to an otherwise FPS RPG game thing. Sure there's melee weapons, but I don't see how that'd really work effectively when everyone else has guns or is a giant monster of sorts. Maybe I'll actually warm up to Fallout this time around, it helps that the environment isn't overwhelmingly depressing(except for the Glowing Sea) in terms of colour and lighting. I must have SADD, because I couldn't play Fallout 3 with everything being dark and muted greenish grey.

Posted by: Box Sep 13, 2019 - 11:11 PM

So far so good on FO4, have actually been able to get into it for the most part. I think it also helps that you can have a companion around, even though it's just an AI companion but it's nice to "not be alone" and have someone to have your back(more like take aggro, but hey...) as well as their being no shortage of supplies with all the friendly settlements around and loot aplenty when questing/adventuring.

ANYWAY, the real reason I'm here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnfYYlvCVA
Which I was sorta excited with the announcement trailer, but this one really cements it showing off more of the characters and story. I think what impresses me most is how they're able to portray emotions in character's faces, especially on Cloud who in the original game seems indifferent between the text and then often misplaced shrugging. When he sees Aerith at the Golden Saucer and then at the end of the trailer after the Sector 7 plate has fallen really shows what I'm talking about, moments in the original game were awkwardly texted and shrugged...

Posted by: Bitter Sep 14, 2019 - 12:35 PM

Well...that just looked like a bunch of random things in CGI but I know nothing about Final Fantasy.

Posted by: Box Sep 14, 2019 - 3:20 PM

It's a little random, and things are quite different than the original game so even for me it took a second with all the things that're new. So many story changes(more so expansions on preexisting elements) though, so it's exciting that they're making such an effort to fill in the blanks of the original game. Most importantly is the squatting mini game making a return. laugh.gif People were worried about them cutting all the mini games since that's such a 90's JRPG thing, but they've even added some like darts and pull-ups just off that trailer. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, and in other news apparently Poison was added into Street Fighter V in August so that's exciting since she's the only trans video game character I know of: https://streetfighter.com/characters/poison/ Though it's annoying seeing all the transphobes saying how "she's retconned to a cis girl" but her story dialogue heavily alludes to gender dysphoria and then the game itself doesn't disclose her sex like it does for all the other characters. Of course these days Capcom likes to keep it slightly ambiguous, but in the past she was clearly labeled as being trans in her first debut as well as consequent releases which the transphobes love to ignore of course. It actually pisses me off since they're like "what's the big deal if she's trans anyway" when it's a very big deal to trans people, just because they don't want to admit they think a trans girl is attractive so they need her to be cis to protect their delicate manhood. It's like, gah there're plenty of cis girls already out there for you to have the hots for so if you don't like her being trans or the fact you think a trans girl is hot then just off yourself... This is why I hate most cis men by the way, not so much that specifically but that general way of thinking...

Posted by: Bitter Sep 14, 2019 - 5:29 PM

Not to stir the pot but FTM is really lacking representation in media. MTF is all over the place because I guess straight douches just can't handle it the other way around that maybe just maybe not everything centers around them and their dicks.

Posted by: Box Sep 14, 2019 - 6:48 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Sep 14, 2019 - 5:29 PM) *
Not to stir the pot but FTM is really lacking representation in media. MTF is all over the place because I guess straight douches just can't handle it the other way around that maybe just maybe not everything centers around them and their dicks.

Oh I totally agree, and I think part of that is because in a way it's more socially acceptable to be FtM as opposed to MtF. Since MtF undermines the whole "male superiority" ruse that those delusional fools live by, but then FtM "proves" it so they're more tolerant. I have started seeing more FtM outside of the mainstream though, so it's a start. I'd love to see more LGBTQ in general portrayed in a positive light in mainstream media, and maybe some day soon we'll get there. I don't expect everyone to understand or agree, but they can at least respect it enough to be a decent human being. It's sad that this song is more relevant than ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzGnX-MbYE4

Posted by: Box Oct 11, 2019 - 9:14 PM

Oh it happened while the forum was down, but on the lines of FtM in media... I was finishing up Dragon Age Inquisition and one of the minor NPCs is a trans man, which I thought was pretty cool and especially since he's portrayed in a good way. Which you have responses ranging from nice to rude, and I was nice of course, but I wish there had been some kind of "Me too" or "I know how you feel" option. It's nice that they did that and are trying to expose people in a positive way(and after watching videos on YouTube afterwards, aren't afraid to tell you you're wrong if you pick the ruder dialogue), but it's like they didn't think that maybe somebody trans would be playing. When he talked about being a kid looking in the mirror hating himself and hating how he was dressed it really hit me in the feels.

Posted by: Bitter Oct 11, 2019 - 9:30 PM

That's pretty awesome and that's why I think that including a wide variety of character types can be very important.

Posted by: Box Oct 11, 2019 - 11:04 PM

Yush!!! Which allegedly Cyberpunk 2077 will have a non-binary character creator and your character is just referred to by name, if true that'd be nice. Spose will see as it gets closer to release.

Posted by: navseal345 Dec 3, 2019 - 8:23 AM

Here is a question/ problem for you...
So recently got a new phone a Google Pixel 3a but it seems that it has a known issue with 4G connection. It will drop 4G data connection even though there is at least half bars. The only way to get data/ internet connection back is to turn airplane mode on & off again. That will fix it for a bit then happens again. Old phone did not have this problem. Thinking it's a phone and/ or a software, hardware (whatever you want to call it) issue.
Here are some links to the issue...
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/3720003?hl=en
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/3530889?hl=en
Those are just some of the most relevant links. According to others, new phones didn't fix the issue. I've tried every option that I know of & researched.

I'm going to switch out the phone maybe this weekend if I can't get this issue resolved. BTW on Sprint network.

Posted by: Bitter Dec 3, 2019 - 8:54 AM

I'd swap for a different phone. Sprint and their CMDA network is going to be going bye bye in while anyways.

Posted by: navseal345 Dec 3, 2019 - 1:37 PM

Yeah might just do that. I guess Samsung kinda has the market for phones. And I'm not going Apple.

Why can't they make **** that works worth a damn anymore.

Posted by: Bitter Dec 3, 2019 - 1:58 PM

And why won't those damn kids stay off my lawn!

I like my Chinese phone except when I don't.

Posted by: navseal345 Dec 3, 2019 - 2:18 PM

But here is another thought... At work the issue never happens, at parents house it seems fine, but once I get home the problem is persistent. Maybe the issue is with how the phone handles weak 4G signal.

Posted by: narly_charley Dec 4, 2019 - 12:10 PM

Thread hijack... Halo Master Chief Collection just launched Halo Reach and the library to PC. Never thought I'd see the day. Been playing Halo on XBL since 2005.

Posted by: Bitter Dec 4, 2019 - 2:42 PM

QUOTE (navseal345 @ Dec 3, 2019 - 1:18 PM) *
But here is another thought... At work the issue never happens, at parents house it seems fine, but once I get home the problem is persistent. Maybe the issue is with how the phone handles weak 4G signal.

That may be possible, are there any options for it to drop to 3G more readily? Is it in your house only or all around your house?

Posted by: navseal345 Dec 4, 2019 - 11:28 PM

I did try 3G only and it was fine, no drop of connection. But that was like a week ago so truly don't remember.

Posted by: TimeslideZ Jan 3, 2020 - 2:43 PM

It was now or probably never... So I gave up a car part to build my PC. Got it completed right before Christmas. Runs beautifully, and I love it.
Spent way more than I had intended; but I'd figured everything is good and the only thing that would need upgrading in the future is probably the GPU.

Posted by: slavie Jan 3, 2020 - 5:45 PM

Hate to break it to ya, but your wallpaper is wrong.
And yea, def budget a GPU upgrade - RGB action on your current one is weak.

Posted by: Bitter Jan 3, 2020 - 7:41 PM

I upgraded my Core2Duo E8400 to a 2700X with 32GB DDR4 3400 and carried over my RX580 from another PC, gathering the rest here and there. Scored a RM1000X for $100 shipped so plenty of power lol.

Posted by: TimeslideZ Jan 5, 2020 - 2:06 PM

QUOTE (slavie @ Jan 3, 2020 - 5:45 PM) *
Hate to break it to ya, but your wallpaper is wrong.
And yea, def budget a GPU upgrade - RGB action on your current one is weak.


Lol but I wouldn't mind a 964 tbh, although if I ever did get one it'd probably be a 977.2 instead. Yeah the 2070 super here should do me good for now; and I didn't want heavy rgb as it can get annoying. Even w/ these all the lighting sits at 50% brightness only.

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jan 3, 2020 - 7:41 PM) *
I upgraded my Core2Duo E8400 to a 2700X with 32GB DDR4 3400 and carried over my RX580 from another PC, gathering the rest here and there. Scored a RM1000X for $100 shipped so plenty of power lol.


Nice! I never done AMD but w/ this build I went w/ the 3700x. I only have 16gb DDR4 3466. Dang $100 only?!?! That's a steal!

Posted by: Bitter Jan 5, 2020 - 4:22 PM

Yeah, and my 2700X was $135 too, my X470 Asus ROG Strix Gaming F was $70+$8 part to repair it. I'm super budget eBaying this thing together lol. Only thing I overpaid on was the RAM I bought like 7 months ago. 32GB CJR die 3600 DDR4 CL18 I think. Not the best but good enough, can't get it to run at 3600 though but running 3400 is good enough. I'm going to repaste and remount the cooler on my RX580 soon and hope for better thermals there and I need to source a NVME drive for it but that'll have to be new. All told I'm like...
$135 CPU
$120 GPU
$150 RAM
$80 MotherBoard
$100 PSU
about $600. I've been hoarding my Amazon points and have $250 saved up so far, I think once I'm around $300-$400 in points I'll go for something new and nice maybe and kick in another $100 of my own money too. I'm hoping that Ampere is as good and efficient as they say it might be or that it tanks the prices on some older stuff perhaps.

Posted by: SwissFerdi Jan 5, 2020 - 7:34 PM

Love the RGB. What are the specs? The only thing wrong with that wallpaper is that it’s not screen size. I would prefer a 993 but I wouldn’t kick a ‘90 964 out of bed.

Crappy pic but you get the idea.


Posted by: slavie Jan 6, 2020 - 12:08 AM

Honestly, don't care about air cooled 911's - hyped up prices, nobody drives them because they're all "collector cars", crap AC, all the usual issues that come with old cars. No thanks, I'll take a 996/7.
Was checking out 944's for some time, though they've gone up in price, a lot, so I'm out. Boxsters are now cheaper and better in every way.

And I'm glad AMD is back in town. Always had AMD back in the day, Duron 700, Athlon 3200, Phenom X4, then X6, but had to switch to Intel for a while (i5-760, then i5-4670k) because AMD had nothing competitive. Ran right back to AMD with R5 1600, now R5 2600X. Never liked Intel's business practices - price gouging, forcing people to upgrade MB with every new gen, among others. Vega 56, 970 Pro NVMe, 16GB G.Skill RAM (also cannot get it to work at advertised speeds... ehh), Asus X470-I complete my miniITX build.

Posted by: Bitter Jan 6, 2020 - 8:50 AM

I had wanted to do ITX for my AMD but none of the ITX boards had good enough VRM for a 2700X and I couldn't find any broken that I knew I could repair.

Posted by: SwissFerdi Jan 6, 2020 - 10:04 AM

I’ve been happy with my i5 but wouldn’t want to switch mobos either. My G-Skills are supposed to run at 1600 but they’re at 1333 for some reason. I can run XMP but not as stable. CL7 though. wink.gif

I like that 911s are worse than Coxsters. Yeah they’re overpriced, but I want to dance between under- and oversteer. Plus, my name. I’m destined to have a 911.

Posted by: slavie Jan 6, 2020 - 2:13 PM

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jan 6, 2020 - 8:50 AM) *
I had wanted to do ITX for my AMD but none of the ITX boards had good enough VRM for a 2700X and I couldn't find any broken that I knew I could repair.

Yea, miniITX boards are expensive. The Asus X470-I I got was pricey AF, I really cringed buying it. Had the ASRock X370 miniITX before, but ASRock sucks on AMD these days (build a ASRock Taichi + R7 1700x for a buddy, and the board could barely handle the CPU at stock speeds...), so I had to upgrade. Asus has been pretty good to me, the on-board audio is almost as good as a decent USB DAC, so I called it good enough. Too many issues with USB dropping out on external DAC's for me, annoying.

I have never been able to build a PC that I was 100% happy with. Current setup is pretty good, but I'm not happy with the noise and stock fan control. Asus now has the best stock fan control I've ever seen (w/ ramp up delay, custom map), but it's still driven by CPU internal temp, which jumps too much. Planning to build a custom hardline loop w/ Corsair Commander Pro and water temp probe where fans would ramp up based on water temp - been planning for a year now, lol. In WC loops I've build in the past, the pump was usually the loudest part.

Posted by: Box Jan 6, 2020 - 3:45 PM

It was on sale, so I bought one:


Can't wait for it to get here, have wanted a synth with voltage controlled oscillators for some time as well as something semi-modular.

Posted by: TimeslideZ Jan 6, 2020 - 9:25 PM

QUOTE (SwissFerdi @ Jan 5, 2020 - 7:34 PM) *
Love the RGB. What are the specs? The only thing wrong with that wallpaper is that it’s not screen size. I would prefer a 993 but I wouldn’t kick a ‘90 964 out of bed.

Crappy pic but you get the idea.


PC itself:
Asus ROG STRIX RTX 2070 Super
MSI x570 Carbon PRO WIFI
AMD 3700X
Corsair H115i AIO cooler (+2 140mm RGB fan)
Corsair Spec-Omega RGB Mid Tower (+2 120mm RGB fan)
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 3466 CAS 16
Western Blue Digitbal 1TB SSD M.2 (probably get a second 1 TB NVME)

Other stuff:
Corsair K95 keyboard
Corsair Glaive mouse
Dell S2716DG monitor (1440p, 144hz, g-sync)

He he I would be okay w/ either tbh. But the price for these old ones are wayyyyyyy over-priced at the moment. Sure they're good, but I wouldn't be able to spend that much.

QUOTE (slavie @ Jan 6, 2020 - 12:08 AM) *
Honestly, don't care about air cooled 911's - hyped up prices, nobody drives them because they're all "collector cars", crap AC, all the usual issues that come with old cars. No thanks, I'll take a 996/7.
Was checking out 944's for some time, though they've gone up in price, a lot, so I'm out. Boxsters are now cheaper and better in every way.

And I'm glad AMD is back in town. Always had AMD back in the day, Duron 700, Athlon 3200, Phenom X4, then X6, but had to switch to Intel for a while (i5-760, then i5-4670k) because AMD had nothing competitive. Ran right back to AMD with R5 1600, now R5 2600X. Never liked Intel's business practices - price gouging, forcing people to upgrade MB with every new gen, among others. Vega 56, 970 Pro NVMe, 16GB G.Skill RAM (also cannot get it to work at advertised speeds... ehh), Asus X470-I complete my miniITX build.


Agreed on the price, I know of a guy who owns like 20 near perfect models of the 964/993/etc. I wouldn't mind a boxster; but I think I'd rather go w/ the hardtop Cayman. If I could I would love a 997.2 4S (the S is good; but living in MN having that extra grip is nice).
Yeah, I was never AMD; but from all the research and my buddies AMD is definitely putting Intel on suicide watch w/ their new thread-ripper. Lisa has really turned the company around.

Posted by: Bitter Jan 6, 2020 - 11:31 PM

My R5 1600 AF (reduced clock 2600 basically) came in today, I repaired the B450 Tomahawk board I got a while back, and now I'm just waiting on RAM so I can make sure this motherboard works but I expect it to work. After that a graphics card, PSU, NVME, and my friends mid range gaming PC will be done. Hunting graphics card deals and there's just crap for good deals with used hardware still. I'll probably do like 1660 Super.

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