BF2S Forums What tech did you buy today?

don't build a new computer. it's such a senseless waste of money. what would really be the point? you're dragging a bunch of storage media with you from one place to another and necessarily buying new top-end mobos each time. didn't you spend weeks bragging about how your computer was 'future proof' and 'had vast upgradability'? now you're saying you don't have a good enough PSU and your GPU goes into BSOD conniptions every time you try to play something? lol who made the 'smart' consumer decisions again? what was the fucking point in buying a fancy motherboard and an advanced CPU when you cheaped out on the fucking PSU?

your CPU and mobo are assuredly very fine and will not throttle that new GPU. just buy a nice modular platinum-rated PSU that will cover you for the next 5-10 years. it's a worthy investment, just as worthy as buying your dream case or that fancy motherboard with three gens of life expectancy.

it's not unusual to have to buy a new PSU to deal with a graphics card, especially the monsters out nowadays with very demanding single-rail voltages. it's an extra $200 expense, which isn't the biggest deal. especially in comparison to buying an entirely new PC.

using your current PC with a 12-core ryzen and an overclocking-level motherboard or whatever as a media HTPC is just such a stupid idea. you can put together a media streaming machine for $300.

Last edited by uziq (4 years, 4 months ago)

i'm still, as before, a little dumbfounded why there's this gold rush on the GPU. yes, it's good and a significant upgrade ... but for what?

the same mentality obtains with the new M1 apple silicon macbooks. everyone is going crazy about what a significant upgrade they are to previous intel/amd tech. this is undoubtedly true and the geekbench benchmarks bear it out in striking detail; but who actually needs it in use-case scenarios right now? lots of apple fans are rushing to sell their 2019 macbooks in order to have the latest striking technological breakthrough ... to sit on reddit all day loading webpages. meh.

in 2-3 years time when your system genuinely has matured, there will be even better GPUs utilizing the same tech. probably more power and thermal efficient, too.

same situation in benchmarks with the apple silicon macbooks. it is a complete paradigm shift and their performance smokes intel/amd builds in almost every way. it is actually astonishing. but, still, they've piloted the tech on their smaller 13 inch laptops, and which is still pretty much useless to me. there's benchmarks/tech innovations and then there's actual user use-cases.

just as in 2021/2022 there will be a second generation of 16 inch macbooks, imacs, mac pros, etc. with the new silicon chips, and much better integration with software, so there will be many beautiful children of the new nvidia generation.

there's a thing called a pandemic going on and you ordered them, what, 2 days ago?

haha sorry, that was curt of me.

i ordered some records 2 weeks ago and they haven’t been despatched yet. even when the store is online only for its very survival at the moment. it’s probably safe to bake in a certain level of wait for just about anything that isn’t amazon level.

I like Microcenter. It makes me happy letting them put little stickers on expensive stuff.

The Fry's in Renton used to be the PLACE to go in high school. More to hand in that huge parking lot rather than to actually shop, but 6 of 1...

My earbuds have arrived. That puts it ahead of some of the numbers I've seen in reviews of post-massdrop drop, so I'm happy.

They've gotta be way better than the AKGs that came with the s10. Those sound like they came straight from a Gameboy.

The AKGs felt snug, but the sound was a little anemic. I can't really complain though since I specifically got a phone and those just came with it. Call me silly but I want a good first impression, so before I try the new ones out, I'm throwing together a playlist to work through sometime this week.

You want widescreen? 4k? Price range?

Some fairly vanilla options from various tech chats and AV articles.

0.$ - AUSDOM 1080P HD Webcam ($45 @ amazon)
$ - Logitech C920S ($70 @ logitech)
$.5 - Logitech C930E ($120 @ walmart; wider field of view?)
$$ - GoPro Hero 8 ($350 @ amazon)
$$$ - Insta360 One R ($430+ by feature; easy setup firmware-as-webcam feature)

I know GoPro made a bit of a splash as a zoom cam last year.

Anyway, I'd look for color correction, reliable frames, and a decent sounding mic if you don't already have one (make sure you have that set up correctly and the way you like before going into a meeting). Also look for where you want to mount it and make sure it's able.

Speaking of, a way to record and compress these meetings might be worth considering as a way to cover yourself. In case anyone tries to pull any revisionist BS, you can just pull up the file.

I should probably hasten to add that depending on the "political" situation over there with school administration, they might want to know the meetings are being recorded. Might make it seem less like some sort of covert op to them lol. Just say for review or something.