Hardware Discussion Thread

**NaturalViolence** · 09-16-2014, 03:17 AM **#541**

Garteal Wrote:So what's the next step?

Better headphones. The best bang for your buck tend to be the $100-250 range.

Or if you're going the speaker route good speakers, a good amp, and a good subwoofer.

**Garteal** · (This post was last modified: 09-16-2014, 04:35 AM by Garteal.)

(09-16-2014, 02:54 AM)teh_speleegn_polease Wrote: Man, I had forgotten how bad that sounds. But then again, he had a 60Hz monitor, and didn't even have Vsync enabled (!!), so I'm not sure what was distracting me more.

I confess. I usually play without vsync and see tearing all over the place. It doesn't really bother me since I get less input lag and usually it's not noticeable. Don't ask me how.
There are some games where it is noticeable and annoying.

(09-16-2014, 03:17 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Better headphones. The best bang for your buck tend to be the $100-250 range.

Or if you're going the speaker route good speakers, a good amp, and a good subwoofer.

Once these die I'll step up, though honestly these aren't too bad. I want to try some of the expensive ones to see how much of a difference it really is.
I also have a 4.1 speaker set, which is really really old and I just 'inherited' it. It's a Cambridge Soundworks FPS-1600 and it's served me well.

So while we're on the subject, what do you guys have for setup?
I'll repeat mine, I'm using a Razer Kraken Pro headset and Cambridge Soundworks FPS-1600 speakers.

**NaturalViolence** · 09-16-2014, 05:15 AM **#543**

Bedroom:
Soundblaster Z (good) -> 3.5mm TRS -> JVC HA-RX900 headphones (decent, wish I had sprung for the audio technica A700 back when they were $90)
Soundblaster Z (good) -> 3.5mm TRS -> zalman clip on mic (cheap shit but very convenient, I also have a blue snowball mic that I never use anymore)
Soundblaster Z (good) -> optical spdif -> onkyo tx-sr308 a/v receiver (cheap shit) -> HTD level 1 speakers (cheap generic shit).
I mostly stick to using my headphones.

Living Room:
Onboard audio (don't care enough to look up which chipset) -> HDMI -> onkyo tx-sr607 a/v receiver -> HTD level 2 speakers for C/FR/FL
Onboard audio (don't care enough to look up which chipset) -> HDMI -> onkyo tx-sr607 a/v receiver -> polk audio owm3 for SL/SR
Onboard audio (don't care enough to look up which chipset) -> HDMI -> onkyo tx-sr607 a/v receiver -> polk audio psw10 subwoofer

Sorry I had to write out the wiring this way. Apparently this forum doesn't support tab or long series of spaces for some reason so I can't align things from one line to the next.

**AnyOldName3** · 09-16-2014, 06:14 AM **#544**

I've got the Realtek Audio Boost on my motherboard hooked up to an aiwa XR-M500 hifi that we had in the house along with the speakers that came with it. This combination sounds better than my previous motherboard's basic Realtek chip with crappy speakers my dad had got for free somehow somewhere. It probably sounds worse than something someone would use on purpose, but my dad was adamant it would work better than any set of speakers under £250.

**Garteal** · 09-16-2014, 06:21 AM **#545**

(09-16-2014, 05:15 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Sorry I had to write out the wiring this way. Apparently this forum doesn't support tab or long series of spaces for some reason so I can't align things from one line to the next.

Well jeez that's quite an expensive setup you have there in your living room. How often are you enjoying it? Ever played games there?

Not sure if I'll ever get a good speaker setup since I don't like to disturb people and you won't make the best of it if you set it so low that you can barely hear it properly... so headphones it is.
Definitely going for headphones next time instead of a headset.

(09-16-2014, 06:14 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: I've got the Realtek Audio Boost on my motherboard hooked up to an aiwa XR-M500 hifi that we had in the house along with the speakers that came with it. This combination sounds better than my previous motherboard's basic Realtek chip with crappy speakers my dad had got for free somehow somewhere. It probably sounds worse than something someone would use on purpose, but my dad was adamant it would work better than any set of speakers under £250.

Oh wow. I've never heard of that and Google seems to be on one line with me. You not planning to get... you know... something decent?

**AnyOldName3** · 09-16-2014, 06:30 AM **#546**

Maybe eventually. Although even google knows nothing about it, it was pretty high end when it was new, and is better than nothing. I'm not convinced it's much better than my brother's £30 speakers, which my dad, who at least thinks he's an audiophile says are awful.

**NaturalViolence** · (This post was last modified: 09-17-2014, 05:36 AM by NaturalViolence.)

Garteal Wrote:Well jeez that's quite an expensive setup you have there in your living room.

Pretty expensive but not as bad as you might think. I got everything on ebay for about half the cost of new. Around $650 total. And of course I didn't buy it all at once. You're looking at 2 years worth of incremental upgrades. This is chump change in the land of home theater so I think I did pretty well.

Garteal Wrote:How often are you enjoying it?

Around 3-4 times a week I would say. It's mainly for watching *cough* legally acquired *cough* movies (even though I also have a netflix and amazon prime account that I use).

Garteal Wrote:Ever played games there?

Once or twice. I prefer to game in my bedroom with headphones on where nobody can hear me.

AnyOldName3 Wrote:I'm not convinced it's much better than my brother's £30 speakers, which my dad, who at least thinks he's an audiophile says are awful.

Here's an easy way to test. If you can lift the amp easily it's crap.

DatKid20 · (This post was last modified: 09-17-2014, 07:25 AM by DatKid20.)

GTX 970 MSRP is $299. GG AMD.

**KHg8m3r** · 09-17-2014, 12:12 PM **#549**

So I bought a YLOD PS3 the other week for $30. My thermal paste and pads came in today, so after stripping the entire system down to the motherboard and re-flowing the solder in the chips, I now have a working PS3 Smile

teh_speleegn_polease · 09-19-2014, 02:50 AM **#550**

Guys, any recommendations for a cheap, small, half-decent laptop?

I only plan to use it when traveling and away from home, which does not happen very often. So I really want it to be as cheap as possible, and also small rather than large: I'd rather have an 11'' screen that I can take in any plane than a full-HD 19'' laptop that is too heavy and unwieldy to realistically take on a trip.

In terms of performance, I'm obviously not going to be playing dolphin on that thing. If it can play minecraft on low graphics at more than 3 chunks render distance (which is what my mum's 2009 laptop is currently capable of, and then only at 10 FPS), I'd be happy; desmume at playable speeds would be a bonus, but only if it does not increase the price. In fact, intel HD4000 would probably be enough for my needs.

TL;DR: need a laptop, as small as possible, as cheap as possible, about powerful enough to play minecraft on low settings or youtube videos on at least 720p.

(Yes, our household owns a netbook that lags when playing youtube videos at more than 480p. And currently, that is my only option on plane trips, as the aforementioned mum's laptop is too heavy. Pretty much the best thing the netbook can do is run VBA, yay for that I suppose.)