Tech Gaming Hardware discussion (& Hardware Sales) thread

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

If you want a keyboard/mouse for basic things like clicking YouTube videos, the Logitech K400 is the way to go. It’s usually under $25, and the battery life is insane. It requires 2 AAA batteries, but I don’t remember the last time I changed the batteries. I want to say it’s been close to a year. I never turn it off and it gets used daily.
It’s not a gaming keyboard though.

I was more in the neighborhood for a “gaming” mouse/keyboard for if I was to hook my laptop up to my TV. I do most of my gaming on my PS5 but picked up a gaming laptop in order to play PC exclusive titles.

And by gaming mouse/keyboard I don’t care about RGB or having crazy additional mouse buttons etc. just good latency is the only thing that matters to me because the majority of titles I’ll be playing would be FPS games, mostly Indie “boomer shooters” but maybe the odd game of Counter Strike here or there.

 

[Madmick]

So first Returnal raised eyebrows with it's required specifications sheet. Now Forspoken has done the same. I'll add this to its post.

32gb? That’s insane.

The other thing about that spec sheet that intrigued me was the gaping difference between the requirements for NVIDIA vs. AMD at Ultra: RTX 4080 vs. RX 6800 XT. They're both second-best-in-class cards, but the 6800 XT is from a full generation back. For perspective, the 4080 is a whopping 43% stronger than the 6800 XT in 3DMark, and scores ~30%-35% higher fps average across games.

The PS5 runs on a custom AMD card, yes, but I don't think that's why, because at the lower settings/resolutions we see generally equal counterparts. The best explanation I can surmise is that the VRAM is the limiting factor there. The 3080 only has 10GB (there is also a 12GB version), and the 3080 Ti has just 12GB. Apparently that isn't enough. The 4080 and 6800 XT both have 16GB. So assuming the recommended spec sheet isn't misleading, which they often are, and the NVIDIA quote isn't exaggerated, NVIDIA gamers will require a 3090, 3090 Ti, 4080, or 4090 to meet enthusiast demand. All are $1,200+ on the market right now. Conversely, you can buy the RX 6950 XT for just $700 right now.

If that becomes a common gap at the enthusiast end, it will be just one more reason AMD trounces NVIDIA on value.

Looks like I was right. Minimum 13GB VRAM required to run the game at 4K@Ultra settings. In fact, even 1080p requires at least 11GB VRAM for Ultra.
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/forspoken-benchmark-test-performance-analysis/5.html

 

[KaNesDeath]

And by gaming mouse/keyboard I don’t care about RGB or having crazy additional mouse buttons etc. just good latency is the only thing that matters to me because the majority of titles I’ll be playing would be FPS games, mostly Indie “boomer shooters” but maybe the odd game of Counter Strike here or there.

You'll be playing from you coach with the laptop hooked up to the TV?

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

You'll be playing from you coach with the laptop hooked up to the TV?

Yes, occasionally. Maybe not for something like Counter Strike necessarily but maybe something like Quake.

 

[idrankyourbeer]

Looks like I was right. Minimum 13GB VRAM required to run the game at 4K@Ultra settings. In fact, even 1080p requires at least 11GB VRAM for Ultra.
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/forspoken-benchmark-test-performance-analysis/5.html

yeah that game seems to be brutal on hardware and is getting a lot of flak. even 4080 users are saying they need to turn down texture streaming, turn off ray tracing and run the game on high settings just to get a respectable framerate.

sometimes games will allocate near the max amount of vram space the gpu has available, even if the game doesnt need it. it doesnt appear to be the case with this game. its just overly demanding. ridiculously demanding would be the better word for it. definately wasnt optimized for shit.

its getting shit on all across the board for the price tag and performance, not just for pc but for consoles as well. maybe theyll get their shit together, maybe they wont. i dont think i'll be grabbing it any time soon.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Yes, occasionally. Maybe not for something like Counter Strike necessarily but maybe something like Quake.

Whatever you choose just keep in mind they may need USB extenders. Range of these dongles are typically limited.

 

[Madmick]

AMD's gaming CPUs are still struggling to sell. Good news for gamers. A second price cut. It appears they're trying to clear some inventory before the X3D processors land.
AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs See Additional Price Cuts By Retailers, 7900X Costs Lower Than 7900 (@Original MSRP)
STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor & 32GB DDR5 RAM Kit Bundle Included Too

Processor = New Price (vs. Original MSRP, Percentage Discount)

• R9-7950X = $588 ($699, -16.0%)
• R9-7900X = $418 ($549, -23.9%)
• R7-7700X = $343 ($399, -14.2%)
• R5-7600X = $244 ($299, -18.7%)

Yeezus Christ Microcenter is the master race shit for those lucky enough to live near one.

The best part about these deals over at Microcenter is that you will get a free 32 GB DDR5-6000 kit (which has been the case since the launch of these CPUs at the Micro Center) and you also get a free copy of Star Wars Jedi Survivor. Both of these combined is about $250 US worth of value...the retailer will further slash $20 US when buying a compatible AM5 motherboard.

That's a total $270 value in associated saved money, and that is pretty close to a legit figure, not vapor savings, because Microcenter's costs on RAM and motherboards already rival the best you could find elsewhere on the same parts. The bundled RAM with the R7 & R9 processors is this G. Skill kit. Note that it's just a 1x16GB DDR5-5600 RAM stick with the R5-7600X, understandably, so buyers of that CPU would want to purchase a second stick to pair for another $75.

Perhaps the standout deal, then, is the R7-7700X combined with the ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi.
-- R7-7700X
-- 32GB (2x16GB) G. Skill Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL36 RAM
-- ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi ATX motherboard
-- Star Wars: Jedi Survivor code (releases Mar-17-2023)
Total = $563

 

[My Spot]

Additionally, the closer MC to me has a 7700X open box at $292.

 

[KaNesDeath]

https://www.microcenter.com/product...45-full-hd-(1920-x-1080)-390hz-gaming-monitor

 

[jefferz]

If you want a replacement Intel Inside sticker for some reason, you can get one free from Intel with proof of purchase.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000059729/processors.html

 

[KaNesDeath]

Just went 14-2 in a 9-2 stomp in CSGO's Wingman with zero warmup @ 390hz : )

 

[My Spot]

https://geekenspiel.com/products/y2k-year-2000-best-buy-remember-sticker

 

[Madmick]

https://www.microcenter.com/product...45-full-hd-(1920-x-1080)-390hz-gaming-monitor

So you're not going to wait for this one?

ASUS's ROG Swift is the 'world's first' 500Hz G-Sync gaming monitor

It's actually going to be 540Hz, which makes more sense, and Hot Hardware alleges it should be available sometime in Q1 this year (not that I believe them). Alienware has the first one that will actually hit the market. They're going with IPS instead of the TN-e panel or whatever the hell ASUS is calling their thing:

• ASUS ROG Swift Pro PG248GB (ASUS blog announcement)
• Dell Alienware AW2524H (Techspot coverage)

 

[KaNesDeath]

So you're not going to wait for this one?

Not interested in paying that much for a new to market monitor.

 

[Bornstarch]

I dont get it. After 120hz, I can't tell the difference anymore

 

[Madmick]

I dont get it. After 120hz, I can't tell the difference anymore

Do you play competitive modes in first person shooters? I have a friend who does that bought a particular 240Hz monitor several months ago on my advice. He went from 144Hz to 240Hz. At the time, he said, "Yeah, I think I notice it." Well, the monitor's backlighting began to fail. He took it in. They didn't have another 240Hz in-store at the time. So he took out a 165Hz monitor.

He told me, "Bruh, I can't do this shit, anymore. I can't go back. It's awful." He used it for the time being, but he had them order another of my recommended unit immediately, and he returned the 165Hz loaner as soon as it came in.

 

[Bornstarch]

Do you play competitive modes in first person shooters? I have a friend who does that bought a particular 240Hz monitor several months ago on my advice. He went from 144Hz to 240Hz. At the time, he said, "Yeah, I think I notice it." Well, the monitor's backlighting began to fail. He took it in. They didn't have another 240Hz in-store at the time. So he took out a 165Hz monitor.

He told me, "Bruh, I can't do this shit, anymore. I can't go back. It's awful." He used it for the time being, but he had them order another of my recommended unit immediately, and he returned the 165Hz loaner as soon as it came in.

I think that's a placebo effect. There was a couple of Youtube vids I've seen that tried to test some gamers if what they're looking at is 144 hz or 120 hz or 250 hz, etc.. and the result was that they can't. They've labeled 250hz as 120 hz, 144 hz as 250 hz, etc...

I'm gonna see if I can find the videos

 

[Madmick]

I think that's a placebo effect. There was a couple of Youtube vids I've seen that tried to test some gamers if what they're looking at is 144 hz or 120 hz or 250 hz, etc.. and the result was that they can't. They've labeled 250hz as 120 hz, 144 hz as 250 hz, etc...

I'm gonna see if I can find the videos

It's not. It's a demonstration that the eye adapts, and can be trained to see it. They've already done tests with esports pros, and they've exhibited a slight (but marked) improvement with 240Hz above 144Hz. Specifically, pro gamers have demonstrated an ability to leverage reaction time and accuracy improvements with those extra frames far above casual gamers. Going from 240Hz to 360Hz is where the data becomes less clear, but then, none of the testing I've seen has collected a massive amount of data on that.

I remember when HD first came out a lot of people swore they couldn't tell the difference. Try that now. Try to put people accustomed to 1080p (and 4K lately) back on a 480p display. Even with a great source image, like a DVD, good luck with that.

Sometimes it takes the brain some time to learn. In a way, we're not different than A.I., in that respect, with their data training aggregators.

 

[method115]

Do you play competitive modes in first person shooters? I have a friend who does that bought a particular 240Hz monitor several months ago on my advice. He went from 144Hz to 240Hz. At the time, he said, "Yeah, I think I notice it." Well, the monitor's backlighting began to fail. He took it in. They didn't have another 240Hz in-store at the time. So he took out a 165Hz monitor.

He told me, "Bruh, I can't do this shit, anymore. I can't go back. It's awful." He used it for the time being, but he had them order another of my recommended unit immediately, and he returned the 165Hz loaner as soon as it came in.

Yea I think this might be true. I remember 30FPS on console was fine for me forever and I never noticed 60 FPS. Then I used my gaming PC for a long time and just left my console alone. When I tried to go back and the game was running at 30 FPS it was hurting my eyes.

 

[KidBaize]

I never thought it possible but I can tell the difference with Eternal. On PC I get minimum 250fps but only 120fps on PS5 and I can definitely tell the difference in response time.
edit - it really screwed up the timing on quickswaps.