The seasonic S12 series is a great bargain.

Just ordered this thing.

Laptop Computer PC USB 2.0 6 Channel 5.1 External Audio Sound Card Win7/XP/98 - Newegg.com

As it stands, the sound from my primary computer output goes to the secondary computers LINE IN and then the secondary computer adds it's own sound and sends it to the speakers. All great and dandy however I'm getting buzzing.
The plan is to run spdif from my main computer to my secondary computer (secondary doesnt have spdif IN so that's why i got this sound card). I'm hoping it will finally get rid of the annoying buzzing from the crappy realtek sound card.

I had a sound blaster Extigy back in the day
http://www.techspot.com/old-articles...e/extigy/3.gif
It did a great job at getting my laptop audio out to a 5.1 speaker system while also providing a way to input and combine PS2 audio in my college dorm room.

Re: your computer issue, is it a laptop? If not, then why not just put in a real sound card?

I think I might still have an extigy in my shed next to my 3.5" floppy disks.

Its a desktop. The reason why not is because PCI sound cards that have spdif in go for 80-100 bucks or so. This toy is 12.99.

I wanna get a new mic. Debating if i should get the blue snowball for 50 or if i should just spend the money and get an at2020 with a USB mixer. ~130

Definitely snowball if you're on a budget... IMO if I were to do the at2020 I'd get a adjustable arm to mount it from the back of the desk, shock mount, and screen.

If I recall the snowball has 3 different modes of which it picks up audible noise from.

Is this for twitch streaming?

I bought one of these recently and dig it. Not a big condenser microphone fan for my desk. Takes up too much space and you really need to be close for them to work well.

https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPr...keywords=vmoda

It will be for some twitch yes. The thing is i can get the snowball however i know that if i get the at2020 it will be the last mic i'll ever probably buy.

Yup, that's why I'd go all out. It's a nice setup :likecat:

The snowball ain't bad. There are purists who reject it, but we use 'em at the TV station for a lot of simple work, and I have one at home that I use when I get voiceover work.

Any cheap mixers that can feed the at2020? The q502 looks alright but it's only 15 volt mic output so not sure how well that will work.

Also standing desk?

Why the heck do you need a USB mixer? Does such a thing even exist? I mean, you plug the thing into the PC, and use the mixer that's part of whatever sound card / device you have, no?



Unrelated bragging:

Having 24 GB of RAM on your i7-6700 is nice. The on-board graphics are failboat, but I don't do any 3d work on this machine, nor do I use Aero. Despite having a good deal less CPU power than my former dual-Xeon machine, it's just as snappy, and never gets swap-bound.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7890d0be67.png

The at2020 is an XLR mic and you either need a phantom power supply or you can get a mixer that will power the XLR mic (most have phantom power) That mixer is can have usb output to the computer or you can have it via the 3.5mm jack however unless you have a good sound card on your computer you will get buzzing because realtek onboard audio is shit..

Ok, so you just need a preamp. I thought you were trying to externally mix in the USB domain.

Here. $30, with 48v phantom:

Behringer U-Phoria UMC22 | Sweetwater.com

Yes RAM means a lot. 32GB but ONLY a i5-4670 EDIT: Should also add AMD Radeon R9 380 video card.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eacec70f8f.png

Just ended up offering 35 bucks for a behringer q502usb and the seller took it.

Not sure how you'd run the GUI for WinSAT on win 10 but ok!

Get Windows Experience Index (WEI) Score In Windows 10

or

ExperienceIndexOK 1.14 Windows Experience Index reading, recalculate

The USB connection will connect to my win 7 pc since thats my recording device, the second output will go into my main win 10 pc as a mic. That way I can use the same mic for both PCs.

Also just ordered a stand and a at2020 mic.

dunno why my SDD is rating this low, but not for a system i built years ago.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ec76c04e2b.png

Not sure if any of the tips in the link will help; https://www.back2gaming.com/focus-st...ows-8-and-8-1/

Drivers up to date?
Older SSD?
Brand/model?

Still pretty solid numbers.

It's a SanDisk unit IIRC. I'll pull out details. But last time I tested it for speed during benchmarks it was rating fairly high and had damn good transfer rates.

Disabling the page file is a great way to break a lot of programs with hardly documented error codes, sometimes nothing at all. On machines with plenty of ram, you could give them a meg and the program would run just fine.

Also, 7.6 is about what I get with a single Samsung 840 pro on windows 7. Seems about right, to be honest. Wouldn't let it bother you much, those numbers don't mean much.

A few months ago, I did a minor refresh of my home machine just before updating to Win10. Maxed out the RAM at 16 GB and installed a new 240 GB SSD as the boot drive.

As I'm limited to 16 GB of memory as a function of the motherboard, and I tend to have a lot of stuff open, the page file gets a workout- no way around that. But since I had my old 120 GB SSD, formerly the boot drive, now just sort of lying around surplus, I decided to do an experiment. I put that drive back into the system, declared it to be drive P, and moved the page file (set to 32 GB) to it, with nothing else.

This was done mostly because I wanted to avoid putting a lot of write cycles on the new drive (I'm still a tad superstitious about that), although it also has the theoretical benefit of allowing writes to occur simultaneously on the OS drive and the page file.

I can't think of any way to conduct an A/B test to gauge whatever performance gain or loss is realized by doing this (the new SSD has somewhat faster ratings than the old one), so it's not the most conclusive test in the world, but I'm pleased with the performance, and no longer fret about the workload I'm putting on the shiny new drive.

Thats because the windows index is garbage and mostly wrong. Thats why they got rid of it in win 10.

Use 3DMark11 if you want good tests.

So yesterday i saw one of guitar centers ebay seller accounts listing the at2020 mic for 39 bucks. I thought it was a fake mic but i'm like eh wtf might as well get it and then i'll return it if it comes to it.. Bought one. Today i check again - mic is back up to 99 bucks :D

yes I know you can get the tests via command line


but i also know that it's silly to download questionably sourced benchmarking apps no matter how legit toms hardware says they might be.

3dmark11 is the one everybody and their grand mother uses.

you can d/l it through steam.

Yes, all 3+GB of it... + load STEAM.

Not to get into a big MT debate about the relevance of any of it but isn't 3D Mark more about graphics? That is unless you want to go "all in" (as in spend $$$ to upgrade)?

3d Mark tests everything, cpu, ram, physics, graphics etc.

On a side note i received teh q502 today.. the seller fucked up the listing. He claimed it's the USB model. Nope its the standard non usb model so i'll try it but there's a good chance i'll return it.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...91be44b29a.jpg



https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...26d1e50fa2.jpg



https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2af383cf7d.jpg

Gaming/work


Its an about 3 years old i think now

I7 3930 3.20ghz 6 core
32GB RAM
Nvidia 670 i think it was

Philips 34" widescreen
Logitech MX Master
3D connexxion mouse
Wacom Intuos Pro Large
And the cheapest keyboard available
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e1ea5e4eae.jpg

MX Master is the most amazeballs (no balls) mouse ever.

Though the MX Revolution might have had a better thumb wheel.

Had a MX Master before this one and i always liked that one. This one is also nice accept the button for the page forward, its a little to small and on a little difficult to push

fwiw, been using this mouse at work.. no ragrets for the price. Very comfy in hand

http://www.comx-computers.co.za/i/Gi...-m6880x_2.jpg?

gigabyte m6880x

I used to use teh mx518, loved that mouse. Then i got this thing just as comfortable and does macros.

https://www.amazon.com/SHARKK%C2%AE-.../dp/B00L4CHUCO

As I put many hours a day on my mouse, I'm not willing to compromise on price. Plus I make work pay for it (this time.. the first one I got).

it's like a bed. invest the most in the things you use most.

Replaced the EVGA GTX 970 SSC in the HTPC / VR rig for an EVGA GTX 1080 SC. Super sampling is a god send in VR, so the new card's been amazing in Assetto Corsa and Dirt Rally VR. Also pre-ordered the Oculus Touch controllers, can't wait to play Budget Cuts.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...11ccb86df0.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d084d13faf.jpg

Very sexy man. I've been wanting a 1080 but my 980 still runs almost everything on max so its pointless for me to spend another 600 bucks.

Wait, wait, wait... how did this go unnoticed? Where can I find the silky smooth tones of Joe Perez to enjoy while fapping and enjoying opiates with moderately priced whiskey?

Currently running a G3258 overclocked and stable at 4.5Ghz, on a Z97 board.

I have a cheap 4770k available, with the 2 additional cores and bigger cache offset the fact that it's not a great chip for overclocking? 4.5Ghz seems to be the limit without water cooling. I basically use the PC to play Fallout 4, will I notice a huge difference?

@calteg:

Intel® Core? i7-4770K Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) Specifications
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...85b7dbc2a0.jpg

Intel® Pentium® Processor G3258 (3M Cache, 3.20 GHz) Specifications
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...775d3a6733.jpg

I can't speak to the overclocking because I've not tried to OC anything since the early 2000's, but +2 physical cores, +6 threads, a little bump in memory bandwidth that gives you support for DDR3-1600 XMP profiles out of the box, "Turbo" frequency pushes you up to 3.9GHz so that's 86% of your overclock out of the box, provided you have the cooling. If you are working with a properly multi-threaded application that will see benefits from more cores and more threads, then its a no-brainer.


Also, I just found this and reading the whole article should help a lot: Fallout 4: Graphics & CPU Performance > Benchmarks: CPU Performance - TechSpot

http://www.techspot.com/articles-inf...ch/CPU_01.png?

http://www.techspot.com/articles-inf...ch/CPU_04.png?

Check that out! It even covers your overclocked G3258, how badass is that? The numbers look good, how cheap is cheap? :party:

One of two machines that keeps this TV station's router network functioning:


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4d5f3418ab.png

This is the newer of the two. Other other one doesn't really have an "OS" in any modern sense of the word.

You still have not answered my above question, Mr Perez. :squint:

I sort of have the same thoughts as G. You get there with no big cons on the upgrade. Not sure how much the actual cpu speed would affect how the system runs. What amount of wattage are you using to get up to the 4.5Ghz?

IMO, a few pages back I upgraded my amd cpu to a 6-core with L3 cache. Felt very noticeable and 'snappy' all around.

Also, this is me :bigtu:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus H97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Kingston Predator 240GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Storage: Mushkin ECO2 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan ( x2, front intake)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm Fan (x2, top and rear exhaust)

Its quiet and fast for what I use it for, and that's mostly dicking around on the interwebs and Steam games. OS lives on the M.2 while my hoard of Steam games lives on the SSD. I don't play anything new, Fallout 3/NV and Company Of Heroes 2 are probably the newest titles I play with any frequency. I will say Fallout 4 and Civ 6 are both calling my name, but I kinda want to invest in a GTX 1060 first. We'll see.

Well, shit, can't hate on that response at all. Ended up getting the i7. Most people seem to report getting it into the 4.4-4.5Ghz range, but with a cooler master on it, it hits triple digit temps while running prime95 at 4Ghz. Not sure I want to push it much farther than that. Fallout definitely seems faster though.

This is awesome. And totally justified.

Ryzen rig built and working.

So, new architecture / completely new build problems.
This garbage gskill RAM i bought doesn't seem to work. I believe i had one stick come DOA. So i'm only running one 8gb stick currently. BF1 has crashed on me a couple times, i am relating this issue to the RAM. (or a ryzen / RAM i bought compatibility problem)
My "silent" fans i bought are not silent.
The LED light bar has some burnt out LEDs.
I'm having some weird BIOS issues. Some of which have been fixed after a BIOS flash. I'm also having some weird Q-codes that aren't in the book, which is super annoying.
I'm actually boosting to 4.1ghz and hottest i've recorded(i'm guessing for a short amount of time) has been 66C. It idles at 39C.
I also wish i would have bought a new SSD, this M.2 drive is going to be full very soon.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3926db4137.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...116a9a27dd.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c32d3d69bf.jpg

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800x
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero
Memory: G.SKILL Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) (JUNK only one working currently)
Storage: SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB
Video Card: EVGA GTX980sc
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase 5t
Power Supply: CORSAIR RMx Series RM850X
Case Fan: DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm GS 120mm
Case Fan: Cooler Master 140mm


Don't worry... I'll be adding a bit more to this thing. Plus a full on custom water loop. Just waiting on money, parts, and time.

I lied... I'm upgrading already.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800x
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero
Memory: 16GB Crucial Ballistix 2400mhz DDR4
Storage: SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB
Storage: OCZ TR150 SSD 960GB
Video Card: EVGA GTX980sc
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase 5t
Power Supply: CORSAIR RMx Series RM850X
Case Fan: DEEPCOOL Gamer Storm GS 120mm
Case Fan: Cooler Master 140mm

Also added an RGB setup. Just slapped together for now.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2f663e9f4a.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR6P...ature=youtu.be

This new ram gave me 20 more FPS in game. I'm returning the Gkill ram, it sucks.

Figured this was a reasonable place to ask...

I have an old lenovo laptop that I've now had for 5-6 years. I basically use it like a desktop because I have a surface pro for school etc. I bought it at the time because it came with a GTX660M, which was pretty solid for a laptop at the time. Processor is an i7-3610QM, again pretty decent for the time. I put in a second stick of ram so it now has 16 gigs of ram in it. Again, not insane, but I think that's the max for this motherboard (though it could maybe be 32?)

I know the GPU is a mobile card, but is there any way to upgrade this on a laptop without having to swap the motherboard etc or is it one unit in these? I don't play games all that much, but I wouldn't mind spending a bit of money now or in the near future to get this thing updated a bit. I'm likely going to be using it for the next few years if it keeps behaving.

Not really an option, and swapping mobo on a laptop is rare. Don't expect to get much more unless there is a similar model/year with different specs same case. You'd just be swapping the guts over aka just buying a similar laptop anyways.

With laptops, you're kinda stuck with what you have unless you buy a newer one.

That's what I figured. I don't think there are any reasonable external gpu solutions either at this point.

Oh well, I can live with this. The 660M was pretty solid for a notebook gpu when I bought it!

The only thing you can really do is throw in an SSD and get a more+faster ram assuming you need ram.

The rest is all soldered onto the mobo.

On my laptop, I could technically put in an upgraded processor.

It runs excellent, and it's got an Nvidia Geforce 9800M GTS in it, which was also pretty solid for the time.

Would buy gateway laptop again.

Yeah, it does what I need it to so I won't be messing with it. I'm sure it'd be more cost effective to get another computer down the line. I'll likely end up getting a desktop next since I rarely unplug this computer due to owning a surface.

My current specs but I need to upgrade to a full sized board since I'm out of SATA ports. Also, I have a mighty need for a GTX1060.

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Core 3000 USB 3.0 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor
Monitor: Samsung S22D300HY 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor
Monitor: Samsung S22D300HY 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse
Headphones: Logitech G35 7.1 Channel Headset