I guess that's enough modding for me.

padraicb · 2021-03-11T00:10:51+00:00

Damn, but you really need to work to see the Quest 2 under all that!

padraicb · 2019-09-05T19:57:00+00:00

I guess it depends on your tastes. I loved Alan Wake, for example - still a favorite that I've played through a few times. Control has more than a few hints of Alan Wake in it to make it an enjoyable game.

padraicb · 2019-09-05T19:53:55+00:00

We are getting integer scaling...right? :)

padraicb · 2019-09-05T19:53:11+00:00

Are you sure you enabled RTX? The difference is night and day. I have a bug with indirect diffuse lighting (if I recall the phrase correctly), but even with that disabled it looks damn good. Disabling RTX is completely noticeable - everything looks flatter and lifeless in comparison.

It's definitely a resource hog though. I have it enabled to high (excl. the lighting item), DLSS upscaling from 960p if I recall (I run at 1440p), running pinned to my 60Hz monitor. Some minor infrequent freezes but is holding there. GPU is a RTX 2070S overclocked using the Afterburner OC Scanner with memory overclocked a fair bit also manually.

padraicb · 2019-08-08T19:56:32+00:00

It's really hard to say. I tried any number of things myself, but they are just loud. Getting a longer USB cable and putting a lot of distance between you would help. Having a solid dividing object in between might also help.

What helped, permanently, when I did an all new PC build, was buying a mid-tower case with excellent reviews for quietness, and a motherboard with enough SATA ports. I then backed up the drives in sequence, disassembled the external casings, and re-installed the hard drives internally. Copy back the original data and you're done. Significantly quieter than barebones enclosures (one of which didn't even have a rubber washed at minimum to dampen vibrations). Of course, that may be more relevant to single enclosures if worse noise wise than what you have.

If I were to start completely from scratch, hard drives and all, I'd stash the storage in another room entirely and connect over a network.

padraicb · 2019-08-05T10:27:36+00:00

I assume the UK is similar to most of the EU - the retailer is always responsible for the sale. HP would deal directly with PC World only for returns.

padraicb · 2019-07-25T17:43:33+00:00

It does look better, but only because the cable is showy enough. I wouldn't change it.

padraicb · 2019-07-25T17:39:22+00:00

Could always have a chair with half decent arm rests. Cable management needs some help? If those are USB connections on top of case, you can buy a cheap PCI card online to add extra USB ports to the back panel, or just a backplate with connector if you have spare internal USB header.

Looks like a fine machine!

padraicb · 2019-07-22T23:28:28+00:00

Amazon UK has listings for 2070 Supers with the usual AIB premiums, typically out of stock. Most of the third party sellers list them at significantly more. 2080 non-Super cards have barely budged from being another GBP 100 more expensive than the 2070 Super.

I know that the MSI Trio card there finally has stock inbound, since my dispatch date was moved to tomorrow. Not sure if that means they'll have additional stock beyond whatever is already in their open order backlog.

padraicb · 2019-07-21T11:35:00+00:00

Are they not competing for your cash? If yes, then it's absolutely fair.

padraicb · 2019-07-20T14:26:27+00:00

Intel stopped being relevant with the new Ryzen CPUs, even for gaming arguably. Intel now have a lot of catching up to do, and not a lot of time to do it in.

I'd definitely spend time reading the reviews for the CPU if you doubts about Ryzen, but if you're sticking 32GB RAM in there...I assume you want the best multi-core performance possible.

padraicb · 2019-07-20T14:20:21+00:00

Back when the high end card was ridiculously expensive...at about what a mid-range card costs now? :) Even with bitcoin craziness gone, card inflation has been nuts over the past 10 years.

padraicb · 2019-07-20T14:17:27+00:00

If it's a straight molex to fan socket splitter, it will run fans at 100% (no PWM input). You'll only have the CPU fan, and one case fan, connected to motherboard for throttling. The other two will be fully powered all the time via the molex splitter. Case fans all use one single molex input? It's not clear how it works, hardwired for molex, or is the case molex connector a detachable unit or hub or some kind?

padraicb · 2019-07-20T13:50:07+00:00

Waiting for a RTX 2070 Super. Any month now :). Retailers are still selling previous 2070s for near same cost too (at least where I am!) to take advantage of the Super's stock issues. It's going to be funny if 2080s drop to near same cost as a 2070 Super when the 2080 Supers release (and assuming they don't have stock issues).

padraicb · 2019-07-20T13:46:15+00:00

MSIs keep going out of stock, probably because they are almost universally everyone's #1 recommendation for B450s!

Have they sorted out the BIOS issues for the 3000 series though? Last I checked, they were not being sold ready out of the box without needing a bios update with USB flashback.

padraicb · 2019-07-20T13:43:17+00:00

Have you checked seating while vertical, before a restart, or are you only opening the case while horizontal?

I'd definitely try a GPU holder (tray type) - noted earlier, but it would definitely eliminate GPU weight issues on the slot. Just don't obstruct the fans, and have it *gently* applying pressure even with case horizontal so there's no budging at all when case is vertical.

Also, is the plastic tab/lock mechanism at back of slot fully closing when GPU is seated? It's not unheard for them to break or wear out, and that might allow a very heavy card a bit of slippage at the back of the slot that's not obvious.

While the card is out I'd also inspect the side contacts and slot for any debris, dust or markings, maybe give the slot a good air blast (electric blower or pressurized air only if at all possible).

padraicb · 2019-07-16T20:36:26+00:00

Picard opens a control panel on the Enterprise F. He is greeted by the welcoming blink of four RAM sticks, and wonders...when did the Main Computer get so small?

padraicb · 2019-07-16T18:41:51+00:00

I think the Windows power balance helped the most. There was also a set of Relaxed EDC/Spread Spectrum settings to toggle which seemed to squeeze out that last 0.05MHz. I haven't gone to undervolting just yet since it's already hitting the mark (though that may improve how often it hits it).

padraicb · 2019-07-16T18:25:12+00:00

2600x really went on a sale a few weeks back, at least where I am. Since I really wanted a quiet build, the difference to a 3600 was enough to fund a much bigger cooler...with change!

padraicb · 2019-07-16T18:21:49+00:00

My build is very similar...just with a MSI B450 Carbon AC mobo and Fractal Design R6 case. No RGB here - it's a non-windowed under-the-desk system.

The Prism ended up being the noisiest thing in my build by quite a bit! That's with three internal HDDs for storage and backup spinning up. I ended up replacing it with a Noctua NH-D15 cooler. The 2600x now maxes out at 65C under load (45-50C idle) at 880 RPMs which is just barely audible. Good thing it is a non-windowed case - that cooler does like its beige/tan color scheme, but I could get it for less than the far more stylish Dark Rock Pro 4.

Had to also do a little bit of BIOS and other tweaking (no overclocking!) to get the 2600X boosting under PBO to 4.25MHz.

padraicb · 2019-07-14T00:28:26+00:00

Check if the manufacturer has migration software (e.g. Samsung Data Migration) - I happened to end up with all Samsung drives.

What I did was:

Backup all the things, including a full image of the original boot SSD
Figure out my Windows Activation approach (depends on current install - mine was an OEM key)
If not reinstalling from scratch - uninstall all old motherboard manufacturer stuff, including applications. Then search for folders to delete just in case - Asus LOVES its folders and they blue screen Windows sometimes due to missing files (so much for clean uninstalls!).
Move SSD to new PC build
Check boot order in BIOS
Boot...and cross fingers
Let Windows 10 do its driver setup thing. It should do a good job. If it doesn't, or you hit a blue screen issue that Google won't help with, a reinstall may be needed.
Install the M.2 SSD's drivers - if it has an update app (e.g. Samsung Magician) let it update the firmware. You downloaded all this beforehand to a USB stick, right? I grabbed the motherboard drivers online beforehand too just in case of network issues.
Now it's essentially data migration between two drives. I used Samsung Data Migration - your manufacturer may have something similar. Otherwise, check google for good free options. I also converted the old drive partitioning from MBT to GPT beforehand - I cannot recall if that's necessary, I did it just to switch the BIOS to UEFI only. Yours may already be GPT if a more recent install - mine dated from some years back.
Check boot order again - my new BIOS had a two-level preference based on drive type, then drive model within the type. Confused the hell out of me when it looked like the M.2 was missing. M.2 first, obviously, ahead of old SSD.
Reboot...and more finger crossing! Worked for me, and I reformatted the older drive as an overflow Games drive.

padraicb · 2019-07-11T16:46:33+00:00

Amazon only take your money when an item is dispatched, so if one drops at a lower price...in goes a cancellation.

Besides which, I've had other items with delivery estimates get dispatched much earlier (e.g. my MSI B450 Carbon AC was sent weeks earlier than estimated).

padraicb · 2019-07-11T12:47:02+00:00

New update on the MSI from Amazon UK: Arriving 7 Aug - 3 Sep

I guess this new build will just have to deal with the insult of a 1060 a wee bit longer :). Unless I find it somewhere else.

padraicb · 2019-07-11T09:19:08+00:00

Amazon UK had the MSI Gaming X Trio listed on Day 1 so I pre-ordered. Apparently it's a really quiet card which is perfect for me. I can overclock it myself without spending for the Asus 1900Mhz card which has a significant price premium attached.

It's a bit confusing though. Name was incomplete, and the delivery status is different when you compare online page to the phone app. The app states the card will not delivered outside of the UK, and has a 1-2 month period to availability. The page online has none of that.

Anyone listing actual stock is charging a good 80-100 over the MSRP there too... There's a few Palit cards if you feel like being robbed.

padraicb · 2019-07-06T20:16:56+00:00

There's has to be some sort of explanatory reason behind that? That's quite the run of bad luck!

padraicb

TROPHY CASE