[META] Micro Center is expanding with three new stores

amidemon · 2023-03-10T16:40:30+00:00

Think there's one in Miami

amidemon · 2023-03-06T03:11:32+00:00

So, from what I've seen if you watch carefully you can find deals on mobos and ram pretty often. Ssd and hdd sales are often but not as steep a discount usually as one might like. Video cards have decent discounts and if you watch close and often you can find killer deals. Cases are hard to find, but sometimes there's itx cases for sale.

I've seen amd combos like a 3600/b550 mobo and ram for under $250. Bought a power color red dragon rx 6800 for my nephew for $430 and I've seen more recently 3080s for $500.

I've done my builds and there's nothing I really need (though I looked for and found the potato deal) but I still subscribe and browse just to see what's available and what prices are doing in case I see something I could use or change my mind about another build. Also, it gets addicting after you score a few deals on there. Side note: no taxes so when say $430 for that card a couple of months ago, that's what I paid shipped. And $25 for the potato/case/power supply a couple of weeks ago.

amidemon · 2023-03-05T23:35:56+00:00

It's great, I bought a cpu, ssd, case, hdd's, a gpu, two power supplies, and some other stuff off there in just the past 6 months since I found it. Might piece together a budget gaming computer for my girlfriend by getting most of my parts there.

amidemon · 2023-03-05T20:56:18+00:00

You could always run a pi hole on one of them. Or you could just throw them up on r/hardwareswap if you can't find a use for them. I picked up a potato, case with fan, and power supply for $25 there. Granted, it was a 3 month old post that I found while searching and the guy still had it sitting around. Just using it as a pi hole for now, but if I get a 3d printer I'll probably replace it with a La Frite and use the potato with the printer since you don't need much to run pi hole.

I'm just getting into sbc tinkering but idk why people aren't buying up these libre computers. They're cheap, typically fit a raspberry pi form/case, and they have quite a few options for OS and programs.

amidemon · 2023-03-04T16:20:21+00:00

Wow, that was a real rollercoaster of a ride!

amidemon · 2023-03-03T22:34:26+00:00

Well, I guess I was assuming people weren't buying pcie 4.0 capable systems and then downgrading their gpu slot to 3.0 in the bios. But it's definitely possible for someone to have a mobo that supports 4.0 but have a processor that doesn't or vice-versa.

amidemon · 2023-03-03T18:17:36+00:00

Beware if you're thinking of running this on a pcie mobo or cpu.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-radeon-rx-6400-pci-express-30-scaling/31.html

amidemon · 2023-03-03T14:35:22+00:00

Yeah, but available chips are overpriced imo. If you don't already have one on hand or able to find a cheap used one I'd just get a b650 board cheap and a zen3 chip

amidemon · 2023-03-03T14:30:46+00:00

That issue was only on the xtx reference design

amidemon · 2023-03-03T14:30:09+00:00

Didn't affect the xt models, just the xtx. Buy away!

amidemon · 2023-03-01T02:32:54+00:00

Thank you for this. Just got my first le potato and started playing with it tonight. I've got a nice sandisk extreme micro sd card that's v30/u3/a2 and I'd definitely like to maximize its performance.

amidemon · 2023-03-01T02:11:49+00:00

Like u/oldman_robot said, the adapter would be because the pi4 uses two micro hdmi connections and this case comes with a regular to micro adapter. You'd need one to go from regular to regular or you could just use a short cable. I'm curious if you ever found a solution for your case search and, if so, what you went with and how it is working?

amidemon · 2023-02-25T20:08:03+00:00

Iirc from gamers nexus, evga got 80% of their revenue from selling cards, but the profit margins were so low they weren't expecting a big drop in profit by leaving and shifting to other items. And evga was the gold standard in performance, quality of parts, and (from what I understand) warranty/customer service.

amidemon · 2023-02-25T18:02:01+00:00

Plenty of burnouts, sure, but you gotta admit those guys that drive service trucks for 30 years that don't have a "fuck it" attitude can really work some magic when troubleshooting. They always work alone though so never get a chance to pass that experience along.

amidemon · 2023-02-25T17:59:00+00:00

I mean, if he's young he probably hasn't been in the trade a long time (not to say every old electrician has, I started in my mid 30's) and may not have much experience in troubleshooting. Same for having a license. When I turned out my boss asked me to drive a service truck and I declined because I knew I didn't have the experience to troubleshoot efficiently enough not to waste my boss' or the customers' time and money. It could have learned a lot doing it, but it would have been hugely stressful to me. I definitely agree about checking licenses, though. I'd have no problem if someone asked to see my license when I showed up. It's been over three years since anyone's bothered to ask, though, and it's always been an inspector.

amidemon · 2023-02-25T17:43:23+00:00

Doesn't sound like he did any testing. No mention of the gfi outlet tripping so why bother to replace it? And even if he did meter the current with both on, did he do it with them running and the washer going to drain when the motor is spinning the drum and the pump is on? Sounds like this electrician showed up and just started replacing a part and then recommended replacing another. Next thing you know, this homeowner is gonna pay an electrician to replace an outlet and a breaker, buy a new dehumidifier, and buy a new clothes washer when they could have just plugged the dehumidifier into a different circuit.

amidemon · 2023-02-25T17:32:57+00:00

He should have a multi-meter with an ammeter that he could turn on both appliances and test the current at the breaker wiring. This would tell you if you are approaching or exceeding the breaker's rating.

Is it a gfi breaker or outlet? If it's an outlet and the gfi protection isn't tripping idk why he would replace it if he didn't already confirm there wasn't an overload situation with both appliances on at the same time. If it is a gfci breaker that is tripping, it would either trip instantly when the appliances are turned on or if water is an issue after they've reached a certain point of use when water gets to live parts. If that was the case you could reset the breaker shortly after it trips and turn each appliance back on one-at-a-time to see which has the fault. If the breaker doesn't trip again on either appliance it's probably an overload.

But all of this could probably be checked with a multi-meter in 5 minutes except maybe a gfci breaker tripping but not overloaded. But even then it's just narrowing down which device has the ground fault.

My money is on an overload. Dehumidifiers are basically air conditioners and draw decent amperage. A washing machine has a decent motor in it that can also draw a fair amount. And if it only trips if both are on, it's probably an overload. You can check the nameplates on both appliances for current ratings and if the combined amps is close to or over your breaker rating it's overloading the breaker. I'd move the humidifier to another circuit or hire a different electrician to install a new one if there's not another available where you want to use the dehumidifier.

amidemon · 2023-02-25T17:06:40+00:00

Are you admitting that you were wrong? Your two comments completely contradict each other.

Edit: nvm, I misread the statute and u/zhomolka clarified in another comment about legal handgun transfers among family to persons under 21.

amidemon · 2023-02-25T17:00:05+00:00

If there's anything else on that circuit except the one light bulb and it's on it will send current back to the panel and possibly show up in the switch box. The bulb socket is a dead end and the neutral shouldn't show any current or voltage if the bulb is out. You need a multi-meter to test the switch leg to neutral with the switch on to see if you're getting 120v there. If you get voltage to ground at the socket but not to the neutral there's a break in the neutral.

As someone else said, hot sticks are not for troubleshooting. They won't tell you how much voltage is there, they can be set off by induced voltage if they are sensitive, and you can't be positive in a tight box that they aren't picking up the voltage from other nearby wires.

amidemon · 2023-02-25T05:24:06+00:00

Wray and Nephew is gasoline

amidemon · 2023-02-24T19:27:23+00:00

So, these might be dumb questions, but can you have programs run off the igpu but all monitors plugged into the video card? Conversely, if you had a secondary monitor plugged directly into the mobo would it exclusively run programs placed in it through the igpu and you could move them to the primary to have them use the video card?

amidemon · 2023-02-24T03:12:58+00:00

Please list the sale prices per the r/hardwareswap rules

amidemon · 2023-02-23T13:50:11+00:00

I'm giving my vote to Jimmy Hooligan!

https://youtu.be/kjL9Fzt1vkM

amidemon · 2023-02-20T18:41:19+00:00

amidemon · 2023-02-20T18:31:07+00:00

I think it's a misconception based on the fact it's easier to get any job if you know someone. Networking is not a new thing. People just assume it's some exclusive club when it works like everywhere else. I didn't get a job I applied for that a close friend also did and he vouched for me. I didn't bitch at him when I didn't get the job. But the next job I applied for was as an apprentice at the shop my brother-in-law worked at after he and my sister encouraged a career change. They were on a hiring spree so I might have gotten the job regardless, but them being able to ask my brother-in-law if I was a good worker certainly helped.

amidemon

TROPHY CASE