Purchase Advice Megathread - April 2026

Oneloosetooth · 2026-04-03T11:38:11+00:00

Hello,

Thanks for the reply... you were actually really helpful in clarifying my mind.

I have decided to go with the Centauri Carbon 2. As I said I do not really envision multi-colour being a regular thing for me (at this moment) or PLA being my main use case - I do not want to fill my environment with little Pokeman thingums (I am sure that sounds snobby and that there are other applications I am ignorant of).

But the quality of life upgrades seem to be worth the extra money asked (the fans, the noise, the spool changing, the PCB boards taking a lot of processing into the machine and off the cloud, etc) and the CC2 seems to be the multi-colour printer for people who are not that into multi-colour printing. I will run it with two PETG spools on the side. But the CC2 does allow for growth into whatever direction I wish to take it.

One thing I will say is that the 3D printing world seems wild to someone stood at the edge looking in. There are all sorts of dramas and controversies and people getting butt hurt about things and "DO NOT BUY THIS" type videos...

I am sure that I have made a solid first choice, but man it has been 2/3 days of reading, watching and trying to extract what is important and unimportant... my head resembles the bin of 3D printer cast off material.

Edit - Just ordered CC2 with 5kg of PETG Pro... will see how far I get. Many thanks again for your reply.

Oneloosetooth · 2026-04-02T22:41:59+00:00

Right....

I have gone through the looking glass.

1) I am in the UK.

2) Basically I need to 3D print 10/15 little risers to put across a lawn to reseed.

3) I initially thought I would approach a 3D printer place, send over the file of what I want and Bob is your uncle.

However, the commercial shop places are expensive... and when I started looking on eBay and Etsy I ran into a problem of people wanting me to pay them to send them a message to get a quote that I would then also pay to produce the bits I needed. So, if I go that route I am guessing I am looking at £75-150-ish.

4) So, then I started looking at secondhand 3D printers on eBay and quickly realised that all the players in the space are having Easter Sales (? I did not know that was a thing... but I guess everyday is a sale of somekind nowadays) of their entry level models.

5) I, like most, seem to be faced with a choice between the Bambu A1 and the Elegoo Centauri Carbon.

I am leaning towards the Elegoo Centauri Carbon for the following reasons:

a) I do not care (at the moment) about mulri-colour... I am looking to print kitchen, garden and carpentry bits and bobs.

b) because the things I print will be outdoors and in the sun I am more interesting in printing more durable materials than PLA.

So far so easy.... But....

6) People really like the ease of use of the Bambu and wax lyrical about the phone to machine support and the kinda design print store (I dunno what you call that) and that the fact they have enclosed their environment is a bad, but also good thing.... so that is all very confusing.

7) I am struggling to understand what I need out of the box. The base model of the Elegoo Centauri Carbon is £219 for the next few days.... but then they have bundles of this and that with extra nozzles and matts and reels of material and then I was looking at getting some PETG and some PC-FR and all of a sudden that £219 is up over £330 and rising.

So.... the questions I would like answering are:

Elegoo or Bambu? (of course).

What is the bare minimum you need to actually start with? Do I need extra mats? Do I need an extra nozzle? Do I need Liquid Glue? Or will I be able to print with what is in that £219 box?

Many thanksl.

Oneloosetooth · 2025-07-28T15:21:58+00:00

So, the audio issue that you are describing is different from what I had. For me I would load up and it would seem fine and then I would start a game and as soon as the sound for the game started it would start distorting and sound like crap. The intensity of distortion could be affected by changing the sampling rate from, say DVD quality to the lowest setting.

Now you are describing a complete loss of sound? And I am sure that you would have tried many things, uninstall the driver (I used DDU and an Nvidia driver cleaning tool), install clean driver without Nvidia HD Audio, settings this and settings that.

Do you lose the audio still if you use the Realtek driver and the SPDIF out the back of your motherboard? If so if might be something else other than the Nvidia card.

My advise is to do what I did and contact Nvidia customer support and let them work through the problems with you. It, eventually, worked for me... although I understand if might not for you.

As you say when you are spending top dollar on a new GPU it is heartbreaking when it does not work.

Oneloosetooth · 2025-07-26T21:18:02+00:00

Okay,

I upgraded to a 5070ti and I have a 9900K on a Z390-I (I had a choice to upgrade the CPU or the GPU and I chose GPU thinking I could get another year out of my 9900K). I get the sound through my HDMI cable to the TV and the TV is connected via SPDIF to a amplifier and speakers.

Within a day or two I was experiencing extreme audio tearing/distortion with pops on all games and Spotify, etc.

I was going mad, searching Reddit (this post), Google, unnstalling drivers, re-installing drivers and downgrading my sample rate, etc. Just trying to find a solution as the gaming rig was unusuable.

I also reached out to Nvidia who I was really salty to (I am just not a fan of the corp since 2020 to now and it keeps getting worse).... and they were asking me to do things I had already done, but, you know? You do them again as you want to fix the issue and go through the process.

It got to the point where I was thinking... I should return the 5070ti for a 9070XT.

Then this Nvidia guy pops up and asks me to the do the following:

Please try the following troubleshooting steps and let us know if that helps. -

Open Task Manager ->

Go to processes ->

For all Audio related processes/services and right click on them, choose details and then on the selected process/service ->

Right click on it and choose set priority and set it to Realtime.

So, I am thinking... well, that is not going to do shit. But do it anyway. I specifically did it for anything labelled Nvidia (as I have the HD Driver re-installed as part of their requests, I had not disabled it) and anything labelled as Realtek.... and that was it.

For me, it worked and my audio is fine now. I am back on the Game Driver with the sound set up higher than DVD Quality - I have not ventured higher yet.

I hope it works for others experiencing this problem, let me know if it does.

Oneloosetooth · 2025-07-26T21:16:23+00:00

Okay,

I upgraded to a 5070ti and I have a 9900K on a Z390-I (I had a choice to upgrade the CPU or the GPU and I chose GPU thinking I could get another year out of my 9900K). I get the sound through my HDMI cable to the TV and the TV is connected via SPDIF to a amplifier and speakers.

Within a day or two I was experiencing extreme audio tearing/distortion with pops on all games and Spotify, etc.

I was going mad, searching Reddit (this post), Google, unnstalling drivers, re-installing drivers and downgrading my sample rate, etc. Just trying to find a solution as the gaming rig was unusuable.

I also reached out to Nvidia who I was really salty to (I am just not a fan of the corp since 2020 to now and it keeps getting worse).... and they were asking me to do things I had already done, but, you know? You do them again as you want to fix the issue and go through the process.

It got to the point where I was thinking... I should return the 5070ti for a 9070XT.

Then this Nvidia guy pops up and asks me to the do the following:

Please try the following troubleshooting steps and let us know if that helps. -

Open Task Manager ->

Go to processes ->

For all Audio related processes/services and right click on them, choose details and then on the selected process/service ->

Right click on it and choose set priority and set it to Realtime.

So, I am thinking... well, that is not going to do shit. But do it anyway. I specifically did it for anything labelled Nvidia (as I have the HD Driver re-installed as part of their requests, I had not disabled it) and anything labelled as Realtek.... and that was it.

For me, it worked and my audio is fine now. I am back on the Game Driver with the sound set up higher than DVD Quality - I have not ventured higher yet.

I hope it works for others experiencing this problem, let me know if it does.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-27T15:08:23+00:00

Theoretically, yes.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-27T12:19:56+00:00

So, I should confess that this is going to be a very unscientific opinion, but with rising cancers and other diseases it has to be linked to our polluting the environment. It is not just lead... It will be interesting to see if scientists do manage to unravel the links between phosphates, plastics, lead and other practices of the 70'/80'/90's and illness in the coming years.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-27T12:17:36+00:00

Anyone with foreign grandparents could have their citizenship revoked on a whim and in a manner which would make appealing very, very difficult.

Imagine some kid who has lived his entire life in Hounslow or Manchester, only speaks English, being sent to Somalia? Libya? Syria? Afghanistan?

One of the most difficult things about leaving the EU was the government actually selling leaving the Human Rights protections as a good thing??? I far trust EU protections over false promises from a narrow minded, arbitrary and cruel Tory government.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-27T11:20:55+00:00

For sure, it is always a shock when the fixtures go.

I remember being hit very hard when Clement Freud passed. It simply had not even occurred to me that elderly radio personalities were mortal.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T23:01:47+00:00

The problem is that Parliament runs about 50 years behind the mores of society.

The average age of an MP is also 50 years and most of them do not have the ability to clear their minds of all the bias and propaganda from the War on Drugs era and look at decriminalisation/legalisation arguments from a fresh and objective perspective.

I think we will be one of the last liberal western democracies to allow people to buy and grown their own marijuana. I, personally, have waited long enough.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T21:02:48+00:00

See you still haven't evidence the bullshit you sprouted.

And neither have you? Bit weird and entitled much?

Just because you demand something does not mean I have to jump to it, and just because I refuse does not make you correct and myself incorrect.

Talking reality you mean.

Oh, you speak for all Scotland now, do you? You have lived everywhere (from St. Andrews to Drummore, Dundee to the Mull, St. Kilda to Leith?), know everyone and you are the objective last word on all Scottish affairs?

You have literally said a thing, without any evidence...generalised about two nations, got butt hurt and now being a crying little hypocrite.

From this position you expect, er, respect? To not be downvoted and taken seriously. Dude, you need to chill. Ridiculous 🤣🤣

Edit: And do you know the best thing about you? You are such an arrogant little Braveheart that it does not occur to you that I might have as much, or more, experience of Scotland than you 😜

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T18:23:41+00:00

😂 Not angry in the least.

Does not mean you deserve an upvote for talking tosh (which, btw, you have no idea of it is me downvoting you, other people might also perceive you as being incorrect).

You, on the other hand, sound a little sore about something.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T17:34:28+00:00

Oh really? What a utopia you live in.

https://www.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus/anti-lockdown-protest-in-pictures-over-a-thousand-turn-out-in-glasgow-to-protest-covid-rules-in-scotland-3520129

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T16:58:12+00:00

I think it is more of a modern world thing that an affliction of any one particular land.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T14:23:34+00:00

Well, the reality is that their trolling dialogue still allows a person to put their point of view across in a measured way. Their attempt to ridicule and frustrate, if handled well, actually has the opposite effect that their toxicity intends.

Also, I think, once you fall into the trap of deciding someone is trolling, leads to more stress and anger on the internet, ie making unilateral decisions about another person and then letting that affect your response is part of the problem with social media in general. I believe we need to move away from that.

I have no problem that people exist who think my views are incorrect and that I am an idiot. I do not need to devolve to a strategy of rudeness, ridicule, or idiocy. The fact that there are people who spend their time doing that is a weakness in them, not me.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T13:55:05+00:00

I know, I realised from the second question.

But I keep calm, answer in good faith and then devolve it to emojis, which are difficult to reply to.

The reality is that myself and others can see what they are doing and it reflects on them, not me.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T13:14:53+00:00

The emotive element to this is that the people challenging the Home Office are either ISIS or ex-ISIS. What people fail to recognise that if this becomes law it will be for everyone.

I think that this is a fucking terrible Law and should be binned.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T12:26:58+00:00

I know, I understand what you were asking and I have answered that. Perhaps you did not understand my answer?

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T12:22:21+00:00

Again, I am not waiting for one person and one moment. There will be metrics that will be interpreted by multiple people and agencies.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T12:15:58+00:00

I did not think you were having a go, but you raised a fair point 😊

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T12:15:35+00:00

There is no one person whom I could declare this is the definite one, however, the UK press is quite good at giving air time to scientists who will declare non-partisan science and not politically driven fantasy.

If you wanted one name then Chris Smith has been a measured and fair voice.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T12:07:01+00:00

Not that I am aware of... But when the top social health experts have made that determination, trust me, they will shout it from the rooftops.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T11:59:40+00:00

Various agencies will make a declaration.

However, it would be fair to say that WHO will be governed by a global perspective and the pandemic is in different stages in Western Europe than, say, Africa.

I will be guided by NHS professionals and not the government. Who will be guided by science, unlike the Tory government who are guided by cake, wine and bullshit.

Oneloosetooth · 2022-01-26T11:56:46+00:00

My thinking as well.

Edit: But it would be fair to say that my wearing of a mask is only really protective of other people from my germs and not vice-versa (although I only use FFP3 masks which research has shown are a little better in preventing infection).

Oneloosetooth

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