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T, how's that Saitek X52 working out? Think that might be my Xmas/bday treat. Bindings looked a world of pain, but how is it once it's set up? Does it feel durable? Is the stick deadzone better than the T-flight?
Gaming your Machine
I really like it. The bindings are actually pretty easy once I remembered to apply the Elite one every time I launched the game - It doesn't remember last one used.
Compared to the old stick, I can map everything to the HOTAS without even needing to use a shift key and I'm just using the standard Elite mappings that Saitek provide, with a couple of buttons swapped. The biggest thing I needed to get used to was the throttle - You have to press a button to go into Reverse mode instead of the T-Flight's all-in-one lever.
What I thought initially was a fault is actually two slight 'bumps' of resistance in the throttle at 10% and 90%. The 10% one is great for optimum cruising speed.
Quality's fine, as is the dead zone. I've not touched the mapping software apart from using it once to install the Elite bindings but one thing I like is that it starts automatically when it detects the X52 being connected.
I saw one in my local Currys a few weeks back for £49.99, so shop around.
Compared to the old stick, I can map everything to the HOTAS without even needing to use a shift key and I'm just using the standard Elite mappings that Saitek provide, with a couple of buttons swapped. The biggest thing I needed to get used to was the throttle - You have to press a button to go into Reverse mode instead of the T-Flight's all-in-one lever.
What I thought initially was a fault is actually two slight 'bumps' of resistance in the throttle at 10% and 90%. The 10% one is great for optimum cruising speed.
Quality's fine, as is the dead zone. I've not touched the mapping software apart from using it once to install the Elite bindings but one thing I like is that it starts automatically when it detects the X52 being connected.
I saw one in my local Currys a few weeks back for £49.99, so shop around.
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Cheers man 
. Have ground the pips-management buttons to dust on the T-flight, and the Saitek defintely looks tempting. Will def shop around, but reckon I'll jump in
. Have ground the pips-management buttons to dust on the T-flight, and the Saitek defintely looks tempting. Will def shop around, but reckon I'll jump in
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If anyone UK-side is after any PC peripherals, Amazon are doing a good deal on Logitech stuff - Buy 2 and get 30% off, with a lot of things already reduced.
Link
For example, I picked up a G502 (RRP £69.99 and being priced on sale on Amazon at £51.99) mouse plus an M185 (£14.99's worth) for £42 delivered. The M185 will be a handy stocking filler for someone next month.
Link
For example, I picked up a G502 (RRP £69.99 and being priced on sale on Amazon at £51.99) mouse plus an M185 (£14.99's worth) for £42 delivered. The M185 will be a handy stocking filler for someone next month.
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In February it'll be two years since I upgraded my graphics card. Thinking about upgrading again soon, with Dishonored 2 about to come out. Especially since I'll probably have to put it on an HDD instead of an SSD. Should be able to run it fine, but I'm getting to the point where new games are going to start getting iffier.
Since Dave always knows: good time to buy? Price drop coming around the corner if I can wait things out post-holidays?
Complicating things a bit is that I might need/want to upgrade the processor around the same time, which I'm a lot more hesitant to do until I absolutely have to...
Since Dave always knows: good time to buy? Price drop coming around the corner if I can wait things out post-holidays?
Complicating things a bit is that I might need/want to upgrade the processor around the same time, which I'm a lot more hesitant to do until I absolutely have to...
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You're still running your i5, right? That should still be fine and the latest iterations, even the top of the line 6700k, won't provide a massive difference. You'll also need a new motherboard and RAM since there's a new socket layout for the CPU and they'll only work with DDR4 RAM.
Apparently the Intel CPUs coming out next year are a larger step forward than the current batch so I wouldn't touch the 6000 series unless you're building something from scratch and need it now.
In terms of GPU, the 1060 is the bang-for-your-buck card right now. It's giving performance similar to the old non-TI 980 and the only stipulation people seem to be having is to get the 6GB version.
AMD's competitor is the 480 and it's probably extremely capable but I don't know anyone who runs one.
Apparently the Intel CPUs coming out next year are a larger step forward than the current batch so I wouldn't touch the 6000 series unless you're building something from scratch and need it now.
In terms of GPU, the 1060 is the bang-for-your-buck card right now. It's giving performance similar to the old non-TI 980 and the only stipulation people seem to be having is to get the 6GB version.
AMD's competitor is the 480 and it's probably extremely capable but I don't know anyone who runs one.
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If anybody wants to buy a Mionix Castor RGB gaming mouse, let me know.
A certain dashingly handsome and not-at-all baldy Irishman has two for sale for less than half the RRP. One has been used for about 10 minutes and has a slightly rattly scroll wheel - I complained to Mionix about the original mouse I bought, which had a VERY rattly wheel, and they sent me this replacement. It's a lot better but not perfect so I complained again.
They sent me out a third one and told me to keep the original replacement.
The second mouse hasn't been out of its box because while I was waiting for it to arrive I bought a Steelseries Rival 100 for £15 and I'm still using it.
They're listed on eBay with worldwide postage, but I'm not gonna spam the link here. PM me if anyone's interested - They're an excellent mouse, very well regarded.
I'm getting rid of a ton of silly impulse buys at the minute. Listed my Xbox One Elite controller this morning for £75 and it sold 10 minutes later. The new, vastly cheaper, non-Elite Xbone pads are much better and I picked up another one of them on Black Friday.
A certain dashingly handsome and not-at-all baldy Irishman has two for sale for less than half the RRP. One has been used for about 10 minutes and has a slightly rattly scroll wheel - I complained to Mionix about the original mouse I bought, which had a VERY rattly wheel, and they sent me this replacement. It's a lot better but not perfect so I complained again.
They sent me out a third one and told me to keep the original replacement.
The second mouse hasn't been out of its box because while I was waiting for it to arrive I bought a Steelseries Rival 100 for £15 and I'm still using it.
They're listed on eBay with worldwide postage, but I'm not gonna spam the link here. PM me if anyone's interested - They're an excellent mouse, very well regarded.
I'm getting rid of a ton of silly impulse buys at the minute. Listed my Xbox One Elite controller this morning for £75 and it sold 10 minutes later. The new, vastly cheaper, non-Elite Xbone pads are much better and I picked up another one of them on Black Friday.
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Guess this fits here. Setting up '360' sensor coverage with 2 Rift sensors...
The basic principles are: Get them as high as possible, opposite each other, pointing at the middle of the playspace.
The 'Experimental 360' Sensor Setup:
All done, and working nicely. Nabbed a pair of GoPro 3M adhesive mounts for £15 (Prime deal), the cable extension they recommend, and some cable tidy odds and ends. Was pretty painless:
Helps that my playspace is like 1.5m x 1.5m. Two sensors can totally handle those distances, the tracking is pretty flawless.
All done, and working nicely
. Nabbed a pair of GoPro 3M adhesive mounts for £15 (Prime deal), the cable extension they recommend, and some cable tidy odds and ends. Was pretty painless:Helps that my playspace is like 1.5m x 1.5m. Two sensors can totally handle those distances, the tracking is pretty flawless.
Last edited by Golgot; 09-03-17 at 09:37 PM.
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Ok so I'm tip-toeing towards a GTX 1080 purchase for my combo Xmas/Bday gift (with me chucking in half the cash )
Looking at noise comparisons I feel like I want to go for the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X PLUS 8G. (As my gf not killing me due to the fan noise sounds like a plus). Seems to review well as a factory overclocked 1080 generally.
Best deal around for new seems to be this:
£492 from 'PC Upgrade'
Not really a huge drop, given the launch price seems to have been around £565. (Although Amazon are selling for £650 so hmm).
Haven't even looked into PU (currently 600W) or CPU bottlenecking etc, all I know is my Mobo has the right slot
. Figure I could live with bottleneck for now if it's plug and play, then get to the CPU later.
) Looking at noise comparisons I feel like I want to go for the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X PLUS 8G. (As my gf not killing me due to the fan noise sounds like a plus
). Seems to review well as a factory overclocked 1080 generally.Best deal around for new seems to be this:
£492 from 'PC Upgrade'
Not really a huge drop, given the launch price seems to have been around £565. (Although Amazon are selling for £650 so hmm).
Haven't even looked into PU (currently 600W) or CPU bottlenecking etc, all I know is my Mobo has the right slot
. Figure I could live with bottleneck for now if it's plug and play, then get to the CPU later.
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Okayyy. So thanks to me giving up booze for a few years, and not having nursery fees any more, and having a union that got me an above inflation pay rise... I present to you, my greatest gaming folly yet
Went for the starter MSI GTX 1080 Gaming variant for a vaguely non-nad-kicking £480 from eBuyer in the end. (And got it delivered to my local supermarket, because you can do that now. And because eBuyer tend to leave high ticket items on doorsteps, or lose them entirely apparently).
(Was tempted for a long while by some newer, more-over-clocked X Pro variants for even less. But I reckon PCUpgrade lie about their stock to get you to chose a ****ter alternate version for more. They didn't even reply to my stock query either. And the lady who'd stumbled onto one on eBay, and had moved from selling Uggboots to PS4s, was just toooo good to be true. Figured I'd go new, warranty, and just slightly less clock in the end)
---
Most straight-forward build yet. Turns out going overboard with a 600W PU last time was wise, and my i5 4690 isn't considered a major bottleneck. (Will need to buy more than 8GB of ram once the prices sober up though). It was just clunk click, find bonus power cable, and cable tidy some stuff. (Including the stray DVD drive wire that kept getting sucked up into my 970's fan...
)
I didn't get that 'must photo this creation of sweat and blood' vibe after that. But hey, there's still no side on my woefully undersized case, so here's another pic of the pimp lighting
Previous 970 Benchmark:
New 1080 Benchmark (on default 'gaming' MSI overclock setting):
Definitely VR ready now
Looking forward to trialling some gaming follies like Elite and F4 with full volumetric trickery and anti-aliased gleam now
Went for the starter MSI GTX 1080 Gaming variant for a vaguely non-nad-kicking £480 from eBuyer in the end. (And got it delivered to my local supermarket, because you can do that now. And because eBuyer tend to leave high ticket items on doorsteps, or lose them entirely apparently
).(Was tempted for a long while by some newer, more-over-clocked X Pro variants for even less. But I reckon PCUpgrade lie about their stock to get you to chose a ****ter alternate version for more. They didn't even reply to my stock query either. And the lady who'd stumbled onto one on eBay, and had moved from selling Uggboots to PS4s, was just toooo good to be true. Figured I'd go new, warranty, and just slightly less clock in the end
)---
Most straight-forward build yet. Turns out going overboard with a 600W PU last time was wise, and my i5 4690 isn't considered a major bottleneck. (Will need to buy more than 8GB of ram once the prices sober up though). It was just clunk click, find bonus power cable, and cable tidy some stuff. (Including the stray DVD drive wire that kept getting sucked up into my 970's fan...
) I didn't get that 'must photo this creation of sweat and blood' vibe after that. But hey, there's still no side on my woefully undersized case, so here's another pic of the pimp lighting
Previous 970 Benchmark:
New 1080 Benchmark (on default 'gaming' MSI overclock setting):
Definitely VR ready now
Looking forward to trialling some gaming follies like Elite and F4 with full volumetric trickery and anti-aliased gleam now
Last edited by Golgot; 11-21-18 at 05:25 PM.
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So I nearly managed to balls up an SSD install. Skills eh?
If you want to know how not to do it:
Or the short answer: Save a mirror of your files before doing stupid ****. (I didn't because my DVD drive is knackered :/. Plus I had all the data backed up on an external drive so was feeling suitably blase.)
I feel it could have gone worse
If you want to know how not to do it:
- Do clone your old HDD over to the SSD with some free software
- Don't get confused by the automatic drive renaming and nearly force delete the new drive (believing it to be the old C: drive)
- Do unplug your old drive to make sure the new one is booting nicely.
- Don't be surprised when that stable boot somehow becomes incredibly unstable days later. Just after you've finally wiped the correct old drive this time. Leaving you with the blue screen of death.
- Do feel grateful that you at least have a Windows USB set up.
- Do take the hard decision to fresh install windows on the unhappy new drive.
- Don't be surprised when it tells you it's so messed up that you can't even reinstall windows.
- Do get incredibly lucky and rebuild the Boot Configuration Data via the command prompt
Or the short answer: Save a mirror of your files before doing stupid ****
. (I didn't because my DVD drive is knackered :/. Plus I had all the data backed up on an external drive so was feeling suitably blase.)I feel it could have gone worse
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Ha! Thanks for the warnings
I didn't know this thread existed so thanks, too, for the bump. I'm considering attempting my first build this summer but there's a lot of variables to play out between now and then. Nice to have a bit of a reference here on SSD. Totally new to me, but I've reading on it so maybe ...
I didn't know this thread existed so thanks, too, for the bump. I'm considering attempting my first build this summer but there's a lot of variables to play out between now and then. Nice to have a bit of a reference here on SSD. Totally new to me, but I've reading on it so maybe ...
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"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel
"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear
"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel
"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel
"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear
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Oh yeah, #1 thing you need to do with an upgrade is move your OS onto an SSD. Speed upgrade is on par with a processor upgrade, sometimes. Ideally one big enough to have your most-used programs on there, too, but the OS at absolute minimum. Single best dollar/effort-to-quality-of-life improvement you can make.
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Looking at turning an old Mac Pro into a gaming rig, but I am also thinking it’s not worth the effort.
I would need to do a lot to get everything installed correctly (firmware hack, bootcamp Windows, swap factory GPU) and buy some speciality parts (SSD/m.2 to PCI-E card and a 6pin-6pin PCI-E power cable). And to add insult to injury I have no place at home to do all the work.
I would need to do a lot to get everything installed correctly (firmware hack, bootcamp Windows, swap factory GPU) and buy some speciality parts (SSD/m.2 to PCI-E card and a 6pin-6pin PCI-E power cable). And to add insult to injury I have no place at home to do all the work.
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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza
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Been seriously thinking about building a dedicated music PC. Tech seems to REALLY be right at the sweetspot for PC thunderbolt and cheap, fast SSD drives. I've got a few items in my Amazon cart tracking price shifts, so I may jump if something major drops considerably.
Btw, if you don't already know, you get notifications when you login and open your cart through Amazon of any price changes on anything either in your cart or "saved for later" list. I watched a drum kit drop $1k over the course of a year. TVs are pretty jumpy too. Just fyi I guess. I'm kind of addicted to just dropping crap in there to watch for a month or two. lol. I'm sure I've mentioned this at least three times now that I'm closing it up.... meh.
Btw, if you don't already know, you get notifications when you login and open your cart through Amazon of any price changes on anything either in your cart or "saved for later" list. I watched a drum kit drop $1k over the course of a year. TVs are pretty jumpy too. Just fyi I guess. I'm kind of addicted to just dropping crap in there to watch for a month or two. lol. I'm sure I've mentioned this at least three times now that I'm closing it up.... meh.
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Ha! Thanks for the warnings
I didn't know this thread existed so thanks, too, for the bump. I'm considering attempting my first build this summer but there's a lot of variables to play out between now and then. Nice to have a bit of a reference here on SSD. Totally new to me, but I've reading on it so maybe ...
I didn't know this thread existed so thanks, too, for the bump. I'm considering attempting my first build this summer but there's a lot of variables to play out between now and then. Nice to have a bit of a reference here on SSD. Totally new to me, but I've reading on it so maybe ...
Oh yeah, #1 thing you need to do with an upgrade is move your OS onto an SSD. Speed upgrade is on par with a processor upgrade, sometimes. Ideally one big enough to have your most-used programs on there, too, but the OS at absolute minimum. Single best dollar/effort-to-quality-of-life improvement you can make.
(I say this as someone who's only just got one
. But I've actually got a performance boost out of it, mainly because my old drive was grinding away at 100% usage permanently in a very unhealthy fashion. Has been a boon for my VR gaming )If you're doing a fresh install on a new machine should be a breeze. I only hit trouble because I tried porting my whole existing system across to it.
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I wouldn't even dare attempt that. I'm good at troubleshooting and tinkering around, but that crap is just one big red flag to me lol. I don't know it. Don't wanna know it. *abandons old pc to the elements of a dark corner*
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Looking at turning an old Mac Pro into a gaming rig, but I am also thinking it’s not worth the effort.
I would need to do a lot to get everything installed correctly (firmware hack, bootcamp Windows, swap factory GPU) and buy some speciality parts (SSD/m.2 to PCI-E card and a 6pin-6pin PCI-E power cable). And to add insult to injury I have no place at home to do all the work.
I would need to do a lot to get everything installed correctly (firmware hack, bootcamp Windows, swap factory GPU) and buy some speciality parts (SSD/m.2 to PCI-E card and a 6pin-6pin PCI-E power cable). And to add insult to injury I have no place at home to do all the work.
. If you're having to swap the GPU out I'd def think twice :/
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Ok so my Xmas/Bday project is to pimp my CPU...
Current model: i5 4690K / 3.5GHz (3.9 OC) / 4 core
I'm thinking keep it simple and get the best GHz I can for my old mobo. Which going by this compliancy list is:
i7-4790K / 4.0GHz (4.4 OC) / 4 core
Which I'm guessing should un-bottleneck the 1080, and is in a price range I can suck up. Plus I've got a cooling system that should keep it playing nice.
But will I get multi-threading envy? Will I count my cores down the line? Should I just bite the bullet and get a mobo that supports the modern gen (and the multi-threading tricks modern games are supposedly leveraging?) That's the only thing giving me pause really...
Anyone got any thoughts on the best place to jump? (Or any buzz on potential price drops?)
Current model: i5 4690K / 3.5GHz (3.9 OC) / 4 core
I'm thinking keep it simple and get the best GHz I can for my old mobo. Which going by this compliancy list is:
i7-4790K / 4.0GHz (4.4 OC) / 4 core
Which I'm guessing should un-bottleneck the 1080, and is in a price range I can suck up. Plus I've got a cooling system that should keep it playing nice.
But will I get multi-threading envy? Will I count my cores down the line? Should I just bite the bullet and get a mobo that supports the modern gen (and the multi-threading tricks modern games are supposedly leveraging?) That's the only thing giving me pause really...
Anyone got any thoughts on the best place to jump? (Or any buzz on potential price drops?
)
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ermahgersh! I really HATE forgetting that I posted damn near exactly the same information months back =\
Anyway. Referring back to the Amazon cart price updates, I saw a 2Tb SSD drive drop 50 bucks for about 20 minutes last week. I was too slow to pull the trigger and the price jumped back up, but there are some great fluctuations to take advantage of if you can stay on top of it. So far I've only seen maybe a +/- $20 US changes in processors and the MOBO I'm watching, but RAM is all over the place. One day a set may be $165 and the next day $289. An hour later it's like $145. So weird. I'm watching for Black Friday drops, so fingers crossed.
Anyway. Referring back to the Amazon cart price updates, I saw a 2Tb SSD drive drop 50 bucks for about 20 minutes last week. I was too slow to pull the trigger and the price jumped back up, but there are some great fluctuations to take advantage of if you can stay on top of it. So far I've only seen maybe a +/- $20 US changes in processors and the MOBO I'm watching, but RAM is all over the place. One day a set may be $165 and the next day $289. An hour later it's like $145. So weird. I'm watching for Black Friday drops, so fingers crossed.
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