Gaming PC Parts discussion thread.

[tp4tissue]

It's fine for day to day

When, you're moving and clicking fast,  the mouse twists inward as you click because of low friction. Gaming where the precision "is the point." glass is very difficult to master, and you need the wrist sleeve to not bunch up when you start to sweat.

[YALE70]

I've largely switched to a trackball for everything, but I still don't like my mice to feel like chintzy garbage. The handful of superlight mice I've handled - including from the big names - just feel plain icky to me. Lightening holes are even worse.

I do get the intent. Reduced inertia = better precision, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's still funny how we went from mice with interchangeable weights to mice that look like they'll float away if you turn on your ceiling fan.

[tp4tissue]

The new vt3 max with 3950 + 54L chipset, 500hr battery life 1000hz, is $74 on aliexpress.

The reduced tier 2, 3398 + 54L chipset is $54.

Tempppting, buhhhh. Gonna wait for another $30 sale.

[fohat.digs]

fine for day to day

I bought it for accuracy when I was doing quite a bit of CAD work.

[tp4tissue]

fine for day to day

I bought it for accuracy when I was doing quite a bit of CAD work.

I don't know that cad requires ultimate precision, but if you're into that, the latest micro-etched glass are tuned specifically for the latest group of mice sensors.

These things have to be matched, they don't work just willy nilly.

[fohat.digs]

I don't know that cad requires ultimate precision

AYFKM?

[tp4tissue]

I don't know that cad requires ultimate precision

AYFKM?

Tp4 has wurked in cad heavy environments most people use cheap office mice, even seen ball mouse use on older pcs running win-xp cads.

If you can't grab an edge, just zoom in until you can, that's been a reflex in all the cad users Tp4 has seen.

The majority of lines are drawn through hotkeys and offset tools though.

What kind of cad are you doing where clicking requires absolute precision?

[fohat.digs]

where clicking requires absolute precision?

Kind of reminds of the guy a couple of years ago who argued that the gear shift lever required greater precision than the steering wheel.

For one example, almost anything that is not a straight line or perfect angle or radius ....

[tp4tissue]

Shifting does require alot of precision because if you fall out of the power band the car will over or understeer, and you will miss the ideal apex.

IDK if it requires more/less precision than the steering wheel, that's too loose a statement without knowing the constraints.


But Tp4 has done plenty o' solidwrk and mastercam on generic mice,  not sure what fohat means you need mice precision for cad.

For angles and radius, that goes to hotkey, at least that's how tp4 were taught.

[tp4tissue]

Tp4 used to play dat sonic on peeays3 controller with really laggy drivers. Couldn't beat this 1 traffic attack lvl after 50 retries.

But now with gud' controller,  only took 4 tries.  Stick latency is everything, forget button latency, STICK LATENCY is king, (for driving games at least).

[tp4tissue]

aoc 32" monitor, va-lcd, 165hz 1440p, wide gamut, pfs-phospor, $160, walmart.

Pretttttty decent considering it's wide gamut, not quantumdot, but better than vanilla. It's 93% dci-p3, vs 97-98% for QD.

Samsung won't get you anywhere near this for $160.

[tp4tissue]

People still building AM4,  this is an outrage,  perf/price ratio horribad.

[Leslieann]

Did you turn off angle snapping in windows mouse setting?  Logitech software does it for its mouse by default, but other mice you have to do it manually.

I've had great connection because my transmitter wire goes right under the wooden table top where the mouse is.

No, I didn't notice that setting and not sure it would help anyhow.
Under certain twitch or very slow movements it just wouldn't always start to move, taking up a 1/4in or more of travel before it started tracking. 1/4in of travel at my DPI (about 6800k) is about 1/3rd of my screen. At lower DPI it seemed okay, but at high DPI it just seemed to have issues. I thought maybe it was a sleep issue but sitting for 30 seconds or less shouldn't send it into low power mode.

I had the sensor just below and in front of the mouse (under the desk).

[tp4tissue]

6800 dpi? or 2267dpi?

What is 6800K ?

Tp4 has 2 units, no issue with latency or stopped movements. Could it be interference, if it gets stuck for 1/3 of the screen.

Ok, tested very high dpi, sees what you're talking about.  This is probably a mouse mat issue. Will have to finally get the optical glass to know for sure.

[tp4tissue]

Did some research.

This is not due to mousepad, This is due to DPI downshifting.

Basically the sensor is "so good" that if it didn't downshift, there would be too much jitter. This is implemented on virtually all 3395 and 3950 mice.

This is a kind-of mouse smoothing. It actually happens at all dpi-setting, not just 6800.

It has a slow ramp then moves into your target dpi.

[tp4tissue]

Pretttty much nothing jumped out this year's computex.  Mehs... all around.

[noisyturtle]

Do I spend $600-700 upgrading my existing system to the best it can be now, staving off getting a new comp for another couple years? Good to maybe to the end of '26
Or wait to spend $2000+ building an entire new system much later?
Is it worth spending $600 to slightly upgrade and max out my system this Summer? It would probably take me a year to save the 2k for a new build.

[tp4tissue]

I would wait until the next card refresh at least.

[noisyturtle]

I would wait until the next card refresh at least.

I wouldn't be getting the newest GPU anyway, I'm not spending the entire cost of the rest of the computer on a single part, that's stupid.
I'd probably get a 4070-TS if I were building a new one now.

[fohat.digs]

I have been upgrading incrementally for 30 years. I get a large simple solid case and upgrade 1 or 2 major components every year or so with a new motherboard about every 3-5. When I was running Windows I moved up a version every 1-2 motherboards. Running Linux, and with hardware generally cheaper than it was historically, I have been updating SSD boot drive and OS about every 2 years.

When I was living with a wife and kids, old gear could cascade downward (me - wife - kid 1 - kid 2) and remain in service for quite a long time. But now none of them have any desire for anything bigger than a laptop ....

And yes, I was always behind the leading edge on the pricey stuff!

[Sniping]

Do I spend $600-700 upgrading my existing system to the best it can be now, staving off getting a new comp for another couple years? Good to maybe to the end of '26
Or wait to spend $2000+ building an entire new system much later?
Is it worth spending $600 to slightly upgrade and max out my system this Summer? It would probably take me a year to save the 2k for a new build.

I think you should consider how much gaming you're doing and how much better your experience would be with new parts, and go from there. If you're gaming a bunch and your setup is holding you back, then yeah you should throw some money at it. It's not that great of a time to upgrade right now if you ask me. everyone wants X3D cpus but they're really expensive. If you want a better GPU, I feel that the 6900xt and 6950xt are exceptionally good value on the used market right now. otherwise, I'm sure you know the 9070xt is a solid value at retail, but you really have to lock in to find one at a good price.

[tp4tissue]

X3D waste of money unless you're RICH like Leslieann.

9070xt is worth buying right now around $700 lowest seen retail. $730-750 possible, $850 average.

But I would wait for the 5090 competitor.

Used 7700 + b650 $325 together, is really all you need for general gaming, but I wouldn't buy right now. The economy might drop a few more points, and everything might get cheaper by holiday.

But who knows, 9999% tariffs. Invade Mexico. Annex Greenland.

[YALE70]

I've been buying used 1-2 generation old hardware for close to the past decade now and generally been pretty happy with the results.

Granted, I'm a huge tinkerer so a lot of my upgrades over the years weren't exactly necessary (ie. I could've gotten a whole lot more mileage out of my old i7-5960X had I just paired it with a half-decent mobo and cooler) but I still don't feel any real incentive to be on the current bleeding edge of things either - especially with how diminishing the returns are as of late. I can get last years top-tier or near-top-tier, save some money (or used to anyway), and be set for probably the next five if I can quell my addiction to buying **** for fun.

That's probably where I'm at now that I've dumped Intel after my 13600KF started acting up. Assuming the hardware market doesn't improve, the only thing I see myself buying in the next five years is a case. This one has gone as far as I can push it.

[noisyturtle]

anyone else fantasize about doing a max'ed out retro build?
like a build using the absolute peak parts available up to 1999, like a Win '98 machine running a PIII, GeForce 256, & a whopping 512mb of RAM
Man that would be so sweet...

[tp4tissue]

P3, 98 Not practical, unless you can find cheap salvage parts for nearly free.

Something like Opteron 185 (socket 939) + x1900xtx is more useful, and not painfully slow and will be compatible with old games through XP. 

Then there's right next to it Wolfdale.

[tp4tissue]

Microcenter 9800x3d + msi pro b650-p + 2tb + 32gb ddr6000 + 9070xt for $1600.

So...... they're making around $150-250 on these boxes,  There's no way you can match it "retail" on your own. Decent motherboard too.

Solid deal. They're gonna sell out fast.

[fohat.digs]

anyone else fantasize about doing a max'ed out retro build?

I have a couple of boxes on the attic with about Windows 7 level gear, and I have contemplated wiping them and setting them up as DOS rigs - I have several DOS discs, up until about 6 they came on a single floppy.

Unfortunately I think that DOS was not even able to recognize more than some X number of megs ....

[Sniping]

anyone else fantasize about doing a max'ed out retro build?
like a build using the absolute peak parts available up to 1999, like a Win '98 machine running a PIII, GeForce 256, & a whopping 512mb of RAM
Man that would be so sweet...

there's some guy on tiktok that has his PC in an old alienware case (I recently discovered the cases alone go for a few hundred nowadays..) and uses a biege HHKB and CRT. probably the closest thing I've seen to a GHer setup on that app. I like the idea too but I would think it'd be tough to find a cool looking retro system that actually still works well and doesn't need elbow grease to get up and running again.

[YALE70]

Like one of the old "Alien head" towers? Those are super cool, although I can only imagine the airflow kinda sucks because of the closed off front (old case, so no surprises there) and the case lighting being a pain to get working with a new mobo. It was bad enough on my Area 51 R2, although I have Dell to thank for that stupidity by that point in time.

I'm still kicking myself for not buying a silver Predator 2 case off one of my friends for a hundred bucks many years back.

[fohat.digs]

cases alone go for a few hundred nowadays

Wow! I have at least 2 massive towers that are beastly heavy and just plain straight up rectangular beige boxes - pure "brutalist" design. One (I think it's a Maxxtech) has probably half a dozen fans (the little old-school ones), and both probably are near complete on the inside. I would be shocked if shipping alone to the West Coast was be under $100.

[tp4tissue]

WTH are you guys buying on TEMU?

Tp4 has only bought 2 heatsinks in the 3 years it's been out.

[tp4tissue]

Best selling PC on Temu

STG-aub brand.

i7 4770
16gb ram
512gb ssd
AMD RX 580
6 RGB fans
Case
RGB alu-block heatsink (doesn't look like heatpipe).


Together this is about $150 worth of parts.  Price is $360+ free shipping.

That GPU if (New) would probably be a mining salvaged card, meaning they desoldered the gpu/ram, reball, new board.

[tp4tissue]

9060xt at $350 is NOT a good deal.

9070xt is still a better deal at $750. Even at $900 it's a better deal.

[Sniping]

Best selling PC on Temu

STG-aub brand.

i7 4770
16gb ram
512gb ssd
AMD RX 580
6 RGB fans
Case
RGB alu-block heatsink (doesn't look like heatpipe).


Together this is about $150 worth of parts.  Price is $360+ free shipping.

That GPU if (New) would probably be a mining salvaged card, meaning they desoldered the gpu/ram, reball, new board.

at low budgets used is definitely the way to go. I helped my friend secure an 8700k and 1080ti computer and it was well assembled for 350, like two years ago. who knows how long these temu parts were running for

[tp4tissue]

Complaints about the switch 2 screen.

So, it's a commodity lcd, 450nits, doesn't seem like it has any dimming zones.

Why would anyone expect HDR quality to be good.

The nits is actually not the problem, Most HDR highlights would not exceed 450. The problem is just that it has no dimming zones, so a screen that small relative to any "creator" making games,  they have to treat it like SDR.

[tp4tissue]

Bought ebay used ram. DOA /crying.

[YALE70]

Hope the seller takes returns.

Not like it matters anyways. It is eBay.

[Leslieann]

6800 dpi? or 2267dpi?

Ok, tested very high dpi, sees what you're talking about.  This is probably a mouse mat issue. Will have to finally get the optical glass to know for sure.

6800 dpi, sorry.
Considering it's a common and very popular Steelseries if it's the mat that's an issue, that's a big issue for them.

[Leslieann]

Do I spend $600-700 upgrading my existing system to the best it can be now, staving off getting a new comp for another couple years? Good to maybe to the end of '26
Or wait to spend $2000+ building an entire new system much later?
Is it worth spending $600 to slightly upgrade and max out my system this Summer? It would probably take me a year to save the 2k for a new build.

You almost never need a whole new system if you upgrade in steps but there are times where waiting just a little too long means it's better to just do it all at once.

At the moment it all depends on where you live and how your favorite games run. I did my entire system, first time in a LOOOOONG time but I did it because prices were reasonable for the first time in a while and parts were available and I knew tariffs were coming. I knew if I didn't do it then it could be several years before I could and at far greater cost. Which if you live in the U.S. you now have that very problem. In which case I would HIGHLY recommend doing as little as you can get away with for the time being and wait till things calm down. Or buy used.


Side note,
I would avoid any 60 series cards (Nvidia or AMD), and nothing with only 8 gigs Vram, all are outdated now (even if brand new!) and that also means you need a system capable of handling a modern current gen 70 series. A 60 series can run pretty much anything at 1440p, but not well, and that leaves little room for future proofing. It's now bottom of the barrel and not a good option, which is just insane.

[Leslieann]

Apparently SteamOS has gotten so good (it neat Windows on a bunch of games in a recent side by side test) MS is scared enough that they feel they need to now fix Win11 gaming performance.

[tp4tissue]

Watching this professor of energy economy / research talk about how he uses a 17yr old computer + windows 7, how it's still crazy fast, and running flawlessly.

Stares at Tp4's closet full of PC parts.


17 years from date of video, would be the beginning of Core2Duo.  Scratchyscratch, IDK, on Win7, even with SSD, early C2D didn't clock that high. I doubt this professor had a decent GPU, even if he did say his PC was top of the line, 17 years ago.

This would be around the 7900gtx x1900xtx years. Let's assume he has a 7900gs or something. Can you daily drive this, probably not.


For all practical uses, Sandybridge is probably the bare minimum.

[noisyturtle]

Watching this professor of energy economy / research talk about how he uses a 17yr old computer + windows 7, how it's still crazy fast, and running flawlessly.

Stares at Tp4's closet full of PC parts.


17 years from date of video, would be the beginning of Core2Duo.  Scratchyscratch, IDK, on Win7, even with SSD, early C2D didn't clock that high. I doubt this professor had a decent GPU, even if he did say his PC was top of the line, 17 years ago.

This would be around the 7900gtx x1900xtx years. Let's assume he has a 7900gs or something. Can you daily drive this, probably not.


For all practical uses, Sandybridge is probably the bare minimum.

I'd say around 2012 is the current cut-off. You can still run top of the line Ivy Bridge tech and barely squeeze by with current games and software, even though MS is killing off Ivy soon by axing it from Win11 upgrades

[fohat.digs]

I feel that Windows peaked with version 7

[tp4tissue]

XP was more than anyone ever needed.

[Leslieann]

Watching this professor of energy economy / research talk about how he uses a 17yr old computer + windows 7, how it's still crazy fast, and running flawlessly.

{cut}
Can you daily drive this, probably not.

No, you cannot daily it.
No modern CPU/GPU drivers, no Steam, No browser...

Sure you can sort of get by using older systems for office tasks and retro gaming but anything web based or gaming is dead on something that old. And as for putting it online, NO. As I've aid before, contrary to what people think, you actually have limited choice on what OS you can run.

I feel that Windows peaked with version 7

Pretty much. though I know some who would say it peaked with 98SE and some who would say Win2k. Both of those were great for their time, but the internet really altered how we use computers making those rather obsolete. You could use the internet with them, but Win7 really brought us into the modern internet age.

[tp4tissue]

XP can do all the old stuff, and has little to no bloat, don't see the need to go as far back as 98, NT.

[tp4tissue]

Why would you get a 9060xt for $350 when we've seen 6900xt for $400ish.

9070xt for $600-850 is a better deal than all of them.

[noisyturtle]

We are at the turning point where new games run smoother with RTX on at 4k than at 1080 with no RTX
I feel like this is the new baseline for the next 4 years or so.

[tp4tissue]

We are at the turning point where new games run smoother with RTX on at 4k than at 1080 with no RTX
I feel like this is the new baseline for the next 4 years or so.

What? Which game is that?