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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 29, 2022 14:18:41 GMT -5
I've upgraded to a dual-band Wifi 6 enabled router (another Black Friday sale). The new Wifi connection is much snappier than the garbage Wifi solution provided by the cable (ISP) company. I am on 1 gig symmetrical Verizon FiOS and the connection kept dropping on their crappy white cylinder router they gave me multiple times a week, super annoying when I was 100% work from home. Bought my own ASUS Gaming Router and running much better, sadly tho every couple weeks I have to power cycle it to get 1 gig down/up. It will drop down to 10 m/s, I think they do this on purpose to save bandwidth because you average person prolly won't notice the difference and if they do have them power cycle and bam back to 1 gig. |
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Post by sj on Nov 29, 2022 14:26:59 GMT -5
I've upgraded to a dual-band Wifi 6 enabled router (another Black Friday sale). The new Wifi connection is much snappier than the garbage Wifi solution provided by the cable (ISP) company. I am on 1 gig symmetrical Verizon FiOS and the connection kept dropping on their crappy white cylinder router they gave me multiple times a week, super annoying when I was 100% work from home. Bought my own ASUS Gaming Router and running much better, sadly tho every couple weeks I have to power cycle it to get 1 gig down/up. It will drop down to 10 m/s, I think they do this on purpose to save bandwidth because you average person prolly won't notice the difference and if they do have them power cycle and bam back to 1 gig. I have Spectrum, like Jeff (below), and they don't deliver near the speeds they advertise. |
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Post by sj on Nov 29, 2022 15:06:42 GMT -5
When I was shopping for routers, I noticed some (expensive) hardware capable of 2.5Gbps and/or 10Gbps. I don't know where you get those speeds from an ISP in the US, so what good is that here, except for LAN? Maybe making local backups (with blazing fast NMVe drives over RAID or something), but I'm not sure any drives can write that fast in any configuration. Perhaps it's for data centers then.
Places in the EU, where consumer protections & rights are stronger, probably have those speeds though.
Edit: Almost right after posting this, I see an ad from AT&T offering Fiber with up to 5Gbps. That's new (sometime in the past couple of years), because I had AT&T at my previous address and they weren't offering that speed at the time. Regardless, it seems many places in the US lack really fast internet and it's typically not even as good as they advertise.
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Post by Emig5m on Nov 29, 2022 20:45:43 GMT -5
Don't remind me of the time when I bought a $100 US Robotics "hardware" modem to try to improve my 56k dialup...didn't do shit over the "software" modems... I will say that the internet was much simpler times back then. No Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, political madness.... Just online gaming, old school forums, and...my all time favorite...pr0n.
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Post by sj on Nov 30, 2022 9:25:03 GMT -5
Don't remind me of the time when I bought a $100 US Robotics "hardware" modem to try to improve my 56k dialup...didn't do shit over the "software" modems... I will say that the internet was much simpler times back then. No Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, political madness.... Just online gaming, old school forums, and...my all time favorite...pr0n. A new WiFi router can be a solid upgrade mainly because the new tech boosts the WiFi connection strength, stability, and range. At least, that was the case upgrading to a new Wifi 6 router over the crappy one provided by the ISP. I ran some basic tests, so I'm certain of it. But yeah, the 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps hardware would be useless for most people though (currently), since the consumer ISP's are (in >95% cases) way behind those speeds.. Maybe business grade ISP's and data centers have purposes for it though. |
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Post by Emig5m on Nov 30, 2022 9:35:21 GMT -5
Don't remind me of the time when I bought a $100 US Robotics "hardware" modem to try to improve my 56k dialup...didn't do shit over the "software" modems... I will say that the internet was much simpler times back then. No Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, political madness.... Just online gaming, old school forums, and...my all time favorite...pr0n. A new WiFi router can be a solid upgrade mainly because the new tech boosts the WiFi connection strength, stability, and range. At least, that was the case upgrading to a new Wifi 6 router over the crappy one provided by the ISP. I ran some basic tests, so I'm certain of it. But yeah, the 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps hardware would be useless for most people though (currently), since the consumer ISP's are (in >95% cases) way behind those speeds.. Maybe business grade ISP's and data centers have purposes for it though. Won't work for me since my Galaxy S22 Ultra is my wireless connection/router lol... |
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Post by sj on Nov 30, 2022 9:48:57 GMT -5
A new WiFi router can be a solid upgrade mainly because the new tech boosts the WiFi connection strength, stability, and range. At least, that was the case upgrading to a new Wifi 6 router over the crappy one provided by the ISP. I ran some basic tests, so I'm certain of it. But yeah, the 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps hardware would be useless for most people though (currently), since the consumer ISP's are (in >95% cases) way behind those speeds.. Maybe business grade ISP's and data centers have purposes for it though. Won't work for me since my Galaxy S22 Ultra is my wireless connection/router lol... You're probably not missing much anyway, unless you had Verizon FiOS like ForReal does. Everybody wants FiOS for its great upload speeds, but its availability is limited in most places due to the anti-consumer, anti-compete market regulations we live under. |
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Post by Emig5m on Nov 30, 2022 10:23:08 GMT -5
Won't work for me since my Galaxy S22 Ultra is my wireless connection/router lol... You're probably not missing much anyway, unless you had Verizon FiOS like ForReal does. Everybody wants FiOS for its great upload speeds, but its availability is limited in most places due to the anti-consumer, anti-compete market regulations we live under. Yea... like last winter some cable company was out working every day in the freezing cold running brand new cable to my area that never had cable before just to get cock blocked after running the line by the telco suing them over telephone pole usage rights but the telco has only provided me 5Mbps for the past 18 years with no upgrades or plans to upgrade...and what's even worse about the 5Mbps is that the upload is only 0.75Mbps making uploading in the modern day a super pain in the ass. So I'm like whatever, I'll continue to just tether my unlimited and un-throttled 5g connection and get real download and upload speeds... And in fact, according to the revised FCC definitions my local DSL is no longer even considered broadband so DSL is like the modern equivalent of dialup. |
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Post by sj on Nov 30, 2022 11:34:52 GMT -5
www.starlink.com/mapI like how all the major enemies of the US are blacked out on the map, like it's a game of Risk or something. 
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Post by ForRealTho on Jan 4, 2023 21:27:45 GMT -5
The 18" looks sick but was most interesting to me about this video is the 500 hz monitor
Blurbusters.com is my go too for high refresh rate info and according to them once we get to 1,000 hz screens in the next 5-10 years V-Sync, G-Sync, and FreeSync all become irrelevant as the screen is refreshing so fast they look the same.
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 5, 2023 11:58:06 GMT -5
^That's interesting but looks like it's limited to 1080p. For refresh rates like that, I don't think I'd mind at all though.  I kinda regret buying an RTX 3080, should've waited a bit and then put in a bit more for the RTX 4080. From what I've heard the 4080 is very good on power usage, runs cool, and outperforms the flagship GPU of last gen. gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-4080-vs-Nvidia-RTX-3090-Ti/4138vsm1818101I could still buy an RTX 4080 if I really wanted to but I'm done spending money for now. Also probably gonna have some bike expenses sooner or later, rather save for that. |
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Post by sj on Jan 5, 2023 12:06:30 GMT -5
The 18" looks sick but was most interesting to me about this video is the 500 hz monitor Blurbusters.com is my go too for high refresh rate info and according to them once we get to 1,000 hz screens in the next 5-10 years V-Sync, G-Sync, and FreeSync all become irrelevant as the screen is refreshing so fast they look the same. Before they do that, they'll probably reset to some other screen technology (which will need other improvements), so that the consumer upgrade cycle will continue uninterrupted. lol |
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Post by ForRealTho on Jan 5, 2023 21:21:24 GMT -5
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 7, 2023 20:38:42 GMT -5
I've thought about getting the 5800X3D but I have a 3800X and the difference in performance isn't all that much from what I've seen. I don't think it's worth spending $400, which ironically that's how much more an RTX 4080 would've cost over the 3080 I bought. |
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Post by ForRealTho on Jan 7, 2023 21:54:49 GMT -5
I picked up a MacBook Air M1 used for $500 and holy fuck is it fast. Hypothetically if you could pair it with a 4090 you would have one beast gaming machine. Its the 2020 M1 chip and its 3x as fast as my 2020 i7 in my laptop in some benchmarks.
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Post by Cop on Jan 8, 2023 6:57:32 GMT -5
You know what? I've been doing some upgrading as well. I'm still using my PC that's well over 10 years old by now, so don't get your hopes up, but I have replaced a part of it because I just couldn't cope with it anymore...
Earlier this week I bought a piss cheap 'gaming' keyboard for one reason and one reason alone: It has lights underneath the keys!!!
I just couldn't see the keys anymore whenever it gets slightly dark and it annoyed me to no end always mistyping and not finding the key I needed because apparently the light of the screen and the desk light behind my screen aren't enough illumination anymore for my aging eyes to be able to distinguish the characters on the keyboard. I roughly know the position of most keys but I can't type blind so I do need to see them or I'll type too many wrong letters and once it's wrong I'd have to look for the key, which I can't when it's dark, or by guessing and it just takes up too much time. I've been hitting keys I knew for sure to be the right one because I "saw" it and still not be correct... Old age, am I right?
Now there's a red (or blue or purple, depending on how I set it) glow behind every letter and it's bliss. The keyboard isn't very good otherwise and I wouldn't use it for gaming I think, but as a test, it's serving its purpose very well...
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Post by sj on Jan 8, 2023 13:21:13 GMT -5
You know you're old if you remember the days of monochrome CRT monitors.
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Post by sj on Jan 11, 2023 17:14:26 GMT -5
I picked up a MacBook Air M1 used for $500 and holy fuck is it fast. Hypothetically if you could pair it with a 4090 you would have one beast gaming machine. Its the 2020 M1 chip and its 3x as fast as my 2020 i7 in my laptop in some benchmarks. Apple's smaller, more restrictive ecosystem (as far as hardware configurations, software & apps) is actually a big advantage in a lot of ways. It's possible for them to have a computing platform that's much more stable and secure. |
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 13, 2023 12:05:44 GMT -5
Windows update has been asking me to install Windows 11 but I'm on the fence about it. I chose to hide it for now.
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Post by ForRealTho on Jan 14, 2023 2:01:29 GMT -5
Windows update has been asking me to install Windows 11 but I'm on the fence about it. I chose to hide it for now. I have Windows 11 on my personal/gaming laptop. Still Win 10 on my work from home laptop. They moved around some settings on Windows 11 but its all muscle memory now I am used too it. No point in not using the latest tech. I also stopped using OpenShell completely. It was fun for a while but eventually just let the past go. I remember some dude was still using some Firefox addon that gave it the 2002 menu structure and was pissed that the addon was no longer supported. Like eventually just move on. |
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 20, 2023 13:18:08 GMT -5
Windows update has been asking me to install Windows 11 but I'm on the fence about it. I chose to hide it for now. I have Windows 11 on my personal/gaming laptop. Still Win 10 on my work from home laptop. They moved around some settings on Windows 11 but its all muscle memory now I am used too it. No point in not using the latest tech. I also stopped using OpenShell completely. It was fun for a while but eventually just let the past go. I remember some dude was still using some Firefox addon that gave it the 2002 menu structure and was pissed that the addon was no longer supported. Like eventually just move on. The main reason I haven't gone for Win11 yet is because I bought a 2TB 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD but installing it would require me to remove one of my M.2 1TB SSD's currently installed, and I want to format them both before doing that. Just been too lazy and haven't done this yet. |
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 21, 2023 13:42:05 GMT -5
I went ahead and let Win11 install, since I'm gonna end up re-doing everything eventually. I had to go into the taskbar settings to put the start button back on the left side but other than that it seems fine. Seems like my CPU/GPU temperatures at idle are lower too, maybe Win11 is lighter where it matters. *edit* and it screwed up my sound just like I was expecting it to. Gonna try reinstalling audio drivers and software, hopefully that fixes it. 5.1 sound but everything comes out of the same 2 channels no matter what. I don't know what it is about Windows and sound, but they always mess it up. *edit* Think I fixed it, had to turn the SBX audio enhancements off/on in the Command program and now it seems to work as intended. Hopefully it won't mess up again. Now that I got it sorted out, I think Windows 11 is okay so far. I might install this but I want to make sure it's legit first: www.startallback.com |
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Post by ForRealTho on Jan 21, 2023 16:43:58 GMT -5
You might want to try EarTrumpet. It is made by a former Microsoft dev and it makes it easier to change devices in Windows: eartrumpet.app/I've never tried it but I've heard great things. |
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Post by Babel-17 on Jan 21, 2023 21:31:02 GMT -5
I use StartAllBack, it's the Windows 11 successor to StartIsBack. Cost me two bucks, within StartIsBack, to get the update.
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 22, 2023 11:11:22 GMT -5
So far I like Windows 11, seems more responsive and efficient.
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Post by ForRealTho on Jan 22, 2023 13:21:51 GMT -5
So far I like Windows 11, seems more responsive and efficient. I was annoyed they moved things for a bit but now its fine. I'm forcing myself to get used to the new Start menu structure because at some point my job is going to go to Windows 11 so gonna have to get used too it at some point. |
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 22, 2023 13:46:13 GMT -5
^I actually haven't used the start menu hardly at all since upgrading, but I did pin stuff that I use often like This PC and some other stuff.
That Eartrumpet app actually looks pretty cool. I've always wanted to control volume of each app or whatever individually and looks like Eartrumpet does just that.
*edit* Installed it from the MS app store, was easy/fast install and it works well.
One of my favorite new things in Windows 11 (maybe 10 had this and I just never knew), you can set it to where anything open on the secondary display is all that appears on its taskbar, instead of just all the icons down there which is pretty cool. I think my performance in Cyberpunk 2077 is better in Win11, also noticed there's more gaming-specific settings in it (Win11).
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Post by ForRealTho on Jan 31, 2023 14:17:00 GMT -5
I'm so glad AMD came out with the Ryzen and caused Intel to fix their shit. I just started my new job and was given a laptop with a i5-1235U. This is a 2022 CPU, 10 cores 12 threads. My gaming laptop I got summer 2020 has an i7-10875h. It looks like nobody has run userbenchmark on the i5-1235U CPU but they have run it on the i3 released at the same time: cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-12300-vs-Intel-Core-i7-10875H/m1796462vsm111139Absolutely ridiculous that the single core i3 is 50% faster then the i7 in my 2020 laptop. Really making me want to upgrade because that single core speed is so important for so many games these days, almost all games besides Doom Eternal aren't properly optimized for modern multicore DX12/Vulcan software. The Callisto Protocol is a big offender when it comes to this and it looks like a whole engine rewrite would be necessary to fix its issues. |
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Post by Coolverine on Jan 31, 2023 21:05:18 GMT -5
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Post by ForRealTho on Feb 26, 2023 11:46:28 GMT -5
I've been filming a ton with my GoPro and its got me considering getting a 4 tb SSD. I thought I would never do that, but I have like 150 gigs of video to sort through taking up space. Having a 4 tb SSD would really help.
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