$300 is enough for a 970, which is VR ready (lowest recommended card though). I think that's also the point after which Nvidia cards get crazy expensive for minor performance boosts. All my info predates the 300 series and Ti cards though, so I'm not sure if that changes anything.
Reddit's consensus is that the ATI cards are generally better deals at the first two tiers of VR-ready cards -- in particular the GeForce 980s apparently have a chipset bug where they can only actually use up to 3GB of memory.
Zotac just announced an NVidia 1060 card that is only 6.85 inches long. That's a tiny card with a lot of power at a great price. Anyone making an HTPC or just a small desktop, that is a very tempting choice if you don't need the full horsepower of the 1080.
Well not really the left click of the 9 year old Razer death adder had some dead space, probably clogged somehow with dust and junk. Had to buy a new mouse and since I didn't have any reason to upgrade my own mouse, went looking for a new one. So basically all mice are now wireless and only gaming mice and low quality or laptop mice are wired.
Any how got this funky looking ergonomic mouse and it feels so good to use, super smooth and feels like a Razer Death Adder tilted 20 degrees to the right (good only for right handed users), with a thumb rest.
It's designed so that it forces your entire wrist onto the desk.
There's a back button for the thumb and a windows button which launches start (page or button whatever you have it set to).
I would be really interested in a gaming mouse version of this (without Windows button and thumb button which is far more sensitive, rubber or texture top.
Anyway if you need a non gaming mouse this thing is pretty great, the main down point is batteries which need to be switched once every 6 - 8 months (base on use and turning off the mouse I guess).
While I have a preference for Razer and Microsoft mice, for their ergonomic designs; I do wish more designs had your hand at it's neutral position, and not the typical pronated position.
I use one of those side grip mice from time to time but even that starts to be a pain after a while so I switch back and forth, depending on the circumstances and such. Good to have one in your arsenal though.
I just realized my new HTPC is lacking an optical drive. Thankfully I don't need it for anything since I can just rip any DVDs on my desktop. If I find that I need it, I'll order a USB 3.0 optical drive next-day shipping. I don't think I will since I can't remember the last time I put a disc in my current HTPC.
A copy of Windows on DVD, together with an optical drive is currently less expensive than a license key + download or a copy on USB storage on Amazon.
Even if I get a USB 3.0 optical drive? I imagine they are more expensive than internal SATA ones.
Also, has anyone transferred a Windows license from my old HTPC to a new one? It was originally a Windows 7 Home Premium, and now it's a Windows 10 Home. I tried to research on the Interwebs, but the articles actually have directly contradictory information! They also show really complex processes of deregistering, registering, calling Microsoft on the phone, etc.
It's against the TOS to migrate it to the new PC, so you'll have to call them on the phone and might be denied. If your current license counts as OEM, they'll definitely say no.
Interestingly I went OEM to Upgrade to Win 7, burned a DVD of Win 10 and have used that on two different computers with no problem. It was all piece-meal upgrades though, one or two components at a time.
Interestingly I went OEM to Upgrade to Win 7, burned a DVD of Win 10 and have used that on two different computers with no problem. It was all piece-meal upgrades though, one or two components at a time.
I just realized my new HTPC is lacking an optical drive. Thankfully I don't need it for anything since I can just rip any DVDs on my desktop. If I find that I need it, I'll order a USB 3.0 optical drive next-day shipping. I don't think I will since I can't remember the last time I put a disc in my current HTPC.
Dude, you are better off not even having that headache. I rarely pop in a disc, but with the kid, shit happens. People buy her movies as gifts and such. Sometimes they even buy.... Blu Ray disks.
Copy protection on Blu Ray is so beyond fucked it's not even imagineable. There are some free codec packs for VLC that attempt to play Blu Ray, but they are unreliable at best. And let me tell you, the Disney shit is always the worst actor when it comes to compatibility.
I ran into more issues once I started with the 4k TV. It has an automatic HDMI switching port (HDMI-ARC) that spits out sound from whatever the current input is and feeds it to external home theater system over another HDMI cable. PC did not like this one bit. Stuff like Netflix worked fine, but even trying to stream movies on the Google Play store resulted in sporadic screen flashing/green screen. A typical HDCP error. I wound up going straight optical to my sound system and now have to manually switch the input between it and Wii U/antenna TV now. All the streaming sites work fine now.
I completely gave up on ever playing Blu Rays in this computer though. No player will accept that it is an HDCP-compliant environment. I'd read that based on your optical drive, it might never be fixable (I bought the cheapest I could find, an LG with most eggs).
What do you fine folk use for ripping disks? Handbrake fails at all of the Blu Rays I've attempted. I did do a trial install of AnyDVD, which strips copy protection off your discs when they are mounted for play. Worked like a charm. I threw a few discs at it and they played perfectly, but an actual license costs $80 and... fuck that.
The only saving grace here is that the majority of discs that have entered my home have also come with download codes. I can't believe people still buy this stuff. It can't be cheap when they are giving you the blu ray, the DVD, and a download code all in one box.
I have had a paid version of AnyDVD for a long time, and it has been worth the price. I never plan to do any Blu-Ray ever. I have an optical switch because my sound system only has one optical input.
The only annoyance is that if I want to play a DVD that is not yet ripped, I have to rip it.
My interest in ripping discs is in the basement these days. I did Netflix by mail ~5 years ago and was doing instant rip and return for a few months. Built up quite a bit of movies, and I probably wound up watching 2% of them. Still, good to hear that AnyDVD is legit. It definitely seemed so from my experience, but I hadn't gotten any outside opinions.
Sadly the company pulled a dick move on the devs and now they are solo. My long standing lifetime key needs another buying to ensure my AnyDVD is up to date.
Also, has anyone transferred a Windows license from my old HTPC to a new one? It was originally a Windows 7 Home Premium, and now it's a Windows 10 Home. I tried to research on the Interwebs, but the articles actually have directly contradictory information! They also show really complex processes of deregistering, registering, calling Microsoft on the phone, etc.
Also, has anyone transferred a Windows license from my old HTPC to a new one? It was originally a Windows 7 Home Premium, and now it's a Windows 10 Home. I tried to research on the Interwebs, but the articles actually have directly contradictory information! They also show really complex processes of deregistering, registering, calling Microsoft on the phone, etc.
It's been 6-8 years since I actually installed a motherboard and all of the associated cable routing. Holy hell was the heatsink/fan assembly a pain in the ass to install. I do appreciate that this case lets you route all of the cables out of sight, though.
So my 1080 arrived today, I was worried that my PSU was underpowered. I checked before I purchased, and it's 30 watts under. Considering my current PSU is 550watts and over 5 years old, it holds up pretty well. It's just not quite enough.
Games still run at high frames, but with all my hard drives attached, the OS freezes running certain programs.
I was expecting as much, but I thought I'd try my luck without replacing the PSU. New PSU arrives tomorrow.
Will decide between the Vive and Oculus next year. Wetting myself with excitement.
Comments
Well not really the left click of the 9 year old Razer death adder had some dead space, probably clogged somehow with dust and junk.
Had to buy a new mouse and since I didn't have any reason to upgrade my own mouse, went looking for a new one. So basically all mice are now wireless and only gaming mice and low quality or laptop mice are wired.
Any how got this funky looking ergonomic mouse and it feels so good to use, super smooth and feels like a Razer Death Adder tilted 20 degrees to the right (good only for right handed users), with a thumb rest.
It's designed so that it forces your entire wrist onto the desk.
There's a back button for the thumb and a windows button which launches start (page or button whatever you have it set to).
I would be really interested in a gaming mouse version of this (without Windows button and thumb button which is far more sensitive, rubber or texture top.
Anyway if you need a non gaming mouse this thing is pretty great, the main down point is batteries which need to be switched once every 6 - 8 months (base on use and turning off the mouse I guess).
Here's a list of affected keyboards (so far).
Intel Core i7 6800k
MSI Pro Solution Intel Z170A SLI Plus
2x8GB DDR4-2133 RAM
650W PSU
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 mid-tower
500GB SSD
2x4TB spinning disks
a copy of Windows
... and an optical drive because it's going to sit in my living room.
All this only costs $1600 right now. It's going to be a good Monday.
Also, has anyone transferred a Windows license from my old HTPC to a new one? It was originally a Windows 7 Home Premium, and now it's a Windows 10 Home. I tried to research on the Interwebs, but the articles actually have directly contradictory information! They also show really complex processes of deregistering, registering, calling Microsoft on the phone, etc.
My original Home Premium License was this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
Guess I'm buying a new one. Looks like the Windows 10 Home 64-bit download from Amazon is my best option with no optical drive.
Also, the type of thermal paste you use, and your method of applying it, do not matter. All that matters is that you have some.
Copy protection on Blu Ray is so beyond fucked it's not even imagineable. There are some free codec packs for VLC that attempt to play Blu Ray, but they are unreliable at best. And let me tell you, the Disney shit is always the worst actor when it comes to compatibility.
I ran into more issues once I started with the 4k TV. It has an automatic HDMI switching port (HDMI-ARC) that spits out sound from whatever the current input is and feeds it to external home theater system over another HDMI cable. PC did not like this one bit. Stuff like Netflix worked fine, but even trying to stream movies on the Google Play store resulted in sporadic screen flashing/green screen. A typical HDCP error. I wound up going straight optical to my sound system and now have to manually switch the input between it and Wii U/antenna TV now. All the streaming sites work fine now.
I completely gave up on ever playing Blu Rays in this computer though. No player will accept that it is an HDCP-compliant environment. I'd read that based on your optical drive, it might never be fixable (I bought the cheapest I could find, an LG with most eggs).
What do you fine folk use for ripping disks? Handbrake fails at all of the Blu Rays I've attempted. I did do a trial install of AnyDVD, which strips copy protection off your discs when they are mounted for play. Worked like a charm. I threw a few discs at it and they played perfectly, but an actual license costs $80 and... fuck that.
The only saving grace here is that the majority of discs that have entered my home have also come with download codes. I can't believe people still buy this stuff. It can't be cheap when they are giving you the blu ray, the DVD, and a download code all in one box.
The only annoyance is that if I want to play a DVD that is not yet ripped, I have to rip it.
Games still run at high frames, but with all my hard drives attached, the OS freezes running certain programs.
I was expecting as much, but I thought I'd try my luck without replacing the PSU. New PSU arrives tomorrow.
Will decide between the Vive and Oculus next year. Wetting myself with excitement.