I was looking up PC controller prices and found this... $136 off?! $136 WOULD BE TOO EXPENSIVE IF THAT WERE THE ENTIRE PRICE, LET ALONE $735.
I don't care if it's made of fucking unicorn farts, why the fuck should it be that expensive?
Also aparently xbox controllers are now like $250. Who the fuck is paying more than $50 for a controller lmao wtf has gaming become.
Fuck that noise, I don't care if it performs like shit, I'm buying a shitty ali express controller for $10 instead lmao.
Gamers delenda est. :gamer-gulag:
It's ridiculous how extremely expensive electronics can get at the high end for massively diminishing returns on performance.
The other day I put together a part list for what will end up being my first ever desktop pc. With each and every part I researched I was so surprised to learn how god damn expensive it all is. For the most part, I didn't choose the absolute highest end, enthusiast grade parts. But it is going to be a high-ish end PC because I've literally never played a video game at more than a stable 40 fps before. And also I wanted to go all out knowing I'm probably not going to upgrade a single thing for like the next 8 years.
All in all, I'm going to be putting away 20% of my paycheck toward this for the next six to eight months. I guess the good news is some of these parts might end up being much cheaper by the time I order anything.
I was vainly hoping that GPU prices would come down with the crypto bubble burst, but when I think about it it's not like the manufacturers would willingly give up those juicy profit margins they've been seeing for the last couple years.
Definitely, choosing a GPU was the worst of it. It really looks to me like Nvidia took notice of how easily scalpers were selling RTX 3000 series GPUs for astronomical prices and then decided "well shit, if anyone is going to scalp our customers, it might as well be us now that we know people will still buy these things no matter how expensive they are"
I wanted to get something around the 4070ti price range, but felt really hesitant about the 4070ti's 12gb VRAM and cut down memory bus width. So then I started looking at AMD GPUs and decided the 7900xt would be amazing with its 20gb of VRAM. But after doing some research I found AMD GPUs are pretty much just toys for gamers and get absolutely blown out of the water by Nvidia GPUs for productive workloads, especially in AI.
Since I wanted to do some tinkering with AI, blender, video editing, all that good stuff, it looks like I'll have to go Nvidia. But that just leads me back to my original dilemma since those tasks eat up VRAM even more than games do. So it's starting to look like my only option is an RTX 4080 or a used 3090/3090ti. I really don't wanna pay 1200 fucking dollars for a GPU, but there are so few options.
yeah it's a shame AMD isn't keeping up with nvidia apart from price/performance in games.
I record games with OBS and only a 4080 could let me go back to max framerates which are possible when I don't have OBS on.
I have the same problem, I'm forced to buy Nvidia for Adobe stuff.
Idk why AMD doesn't go after the professional or server graphics card market. They're just picking up gamer table scraps. They need to revamp graphics completely, like they did with their ryzen processors that actually get bought by data centres.
Maybe Intel will eventually get to the point of being good for productivity. I wouldn't get their GPUs because I like my old games, and they didn't figure that out because they prioritized optimizing new games.
lol do software programs really need more than 8 GB of VRAM? I can play pretty modern games on my 5 year old computer with 8 (and 8 GB of normal RAM, although that's getting stretched even more), although it's definitely getting up there towards being full when playing a game. I don't use video editors or machine learning stuff though.
I think people tend to really exaggerate what they "need" in terms of computers. Computers are extremely fast. And software is designed to work with limited resources. I find that the biggest memory hogs are web applications because they're so poorly written and don't care about performance at all (and have to be single-threaded). Any desktop program other than a web app in the browser or Electron desktop application, will probably work fine. I have 8 GB of 2133 MHz main RAM (you can get upwards of 64 GB of 8000 MHz RAM now) and applications still work perfectly fine.
Yeah outside of really pushing things in blender, it's mostly a problem for AI. 12gb of VRAM will be mostly fine in 1440p gaming for the next few years. But AI eats VRAM like candy, it's actually more important than the speed of the GPU.
Since I'm probably not going to be upgrading for a very long time, I want to make sure I get enough VRAM so that I won't experience any problems at all for at least the next five to eight years. Hence why I'm considering a used 3090 with 24gb of VRAM over the faster 4080 with 16gb.
I don't think resolution has anything to do with bandwidth of the PCIe connection. And a framebuffer for a 4k monitor will probably only take like 33 MB. Multiply that a couple times for all the different ones neeed, and that's not that much. And I can play games with Ultra textures and stuff still using only 8 GB VRAM.
The used ones did go down I'm pretty sure, and I also heard like last week that they are finally making some nice mid range cards - the 4060ti is selling for $400, and there are some new pretty good budget cards well under that price as well.
The 4060ti is between 150% and 180% as good as the 2080, which cost $1000 five years ago (and stayed there, it was probably 1000 dollars or even higher like 2 years ago)
Yes absolutely, I can never remember what the recent AMD cards are called to look them up, but they also have very similar cards at very similar prices
PCPartPicker is really good. You can organize your parts list, use someone else's list, or ask the forums for help. I showed them my list of parts and they helped me troubleshoot comparability issues and get cheaper parts with similar specs
gaming peripheral are so funny like consumer electronics is already 90% bullshit but gamers will pay hundreds of dollars for bargain bin quality.
gamers will pay hundreds of dollars for bargain bin quality
and then insist that they have the best gear ever. I got some entry-level studio headphones for about the same price as the cheapest G*mer headset and the sound quality is twice as good.
Steelseries cheap stuff is very good, I'm not sure why you'd bother with the more expensive stuff
Yes Steelseries is great. I also like the mid range Logitech stuff. They don't fuck around. Quality control is great.
Corsair has some nice mid range mice, but they are defective a LOT.
Razer is mid range to expensive, and they have nice mice, but I will never buy another one again. The software crashes literally 2-5 times every single day for no reason, same story on 4 different computers. So 2-5 times a day your mouse sensitivity will suddenly reset to something completely fucking different in the middle of a game. And you can't just quit! You can't end the task, there are 10 or 15 tasks running for Razer and about half of them bring each other back online when they go off. Very hard to reset this garbage.
It also creates a new settings profile every time it crashes. Dog shit. Buy a keyboard or headphones from them, if you don't need to custom configure them, but never a mouse, never.
If anyone here has Razer and problems with Synapse, I created this amazing macro shortcut in windows that I put in the Task Bar right next to the shortcut for Synapse. You create a shortcut and go to Properties > Shortcut and look for the text field called "Target:"
Paste this in:
C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /f /im "Razer Central.exe" /im RazerCentralService.exe /im "Razer Synapse 3.exe" /im "Razer Synapse Service.exe" /im "Razer Synapse Service.exe" /im "Razer Central Service.exe"All that does is End Task on every Razer thing simultaneously so they can't claw themselves back. That turns it into a 5 times a day click+click instead of basically having to shut down your game and restart the whole computer or see if you can outrun Task Manager
synapse is the worst. I got a wireless headset that would constantly want to install it and run at startup. I returned that crap and got an equivalent steelseries.
Ohhhh yeah that reminds me, like maybe a year ago, there was a thing where if you plugged a Razer mouse into any Windows machine it would automatically upload Synapse and install it as Admin which let you use the fucking file explorer within the installer to open PowerShell as Admin and take over the computer. Amazin'. Just a fucking digital bump key
actually that's hilarious bc that shit also installed itself on my work laptop totally bypassing any install restrictions
YEP I got a warning from my work not to use a Razer mouse with my computer
Yeah the keyboards are fine. They sometimes have the custom colors revert, but that doesn't matter for gameplay- meanwhile the mice get royally fucked up by that piece of shit Synapse software.
I always buy the cheapest Sennheiser (or now Epos after the rebrand) headset and it always serves me well. Weighs nothing so it's practically impossible to be uncomfortable. Always a great mic. And adequate sound. Real AUX, none of that USB stuff in my headset, thank you very much.
For controllers I always go genuine Xbox... currently using a second(?) gen Xbox One controller, but I bought that for 70 bucks, years ago, I would definitely not pay 250. Also recently bought one of those Nintendo guys, it's missing analog triggers but it has motion, it's a pretty good controller if you don't need analog triggers.
I've spent half my childhood playing on crappy controllers, and I'm not going back.
Yeah as soon as I could afford good gaming peripherals I switched to like, the near top of the line gear - not like weird overpriced boutique stuff just the newer top end shit mostly. Stuff that I can make last.
I grew up using a fucking Mac for gaming and had a shit keyboard, cursor acceleration, and a puck mouse. Literally swinging the reticle repeatedly over the target and timing each shot instead of just aiming and shooting. It's like a musical instrument, if it can't do certain shit or isn't reliable, you can't really practice past a certain point.
Anyway headphones.
I got some really weird Sennheisers for my PC, that I love. OK I really fucking hate Bluetooth, it often sounds like shit, Windows likes to just break it for some reason, it doesn't have enough bandwidth to make a mic headset sound good, and worst of all, it often fucking doesn't work while charging??? For some reason??
So I got Sennheiser's RS series TV hearing RF headphones. I just deactivate the bass/treble boost feature designed for hearing impairments. Ok so:
- Real good sound quality
- Comfortable
- Long range - range is limited by the FCC but these things go far through my place
- No annoying goddamn BEEP when going in and out of max range - this means you get tiny interruptions in the sound, when you're at the edge of the range, instead of every little momentary hiccup having a long BEEP. BEEP. on either end of it.
- No fucking bluetooth pairing
- Recharges by placing on the stand
- If you forget to charge them, you aren't fucked! They open up and it's just two AAA rechargeable batteries. So occasionally I'll just swap em. Amazin'
- Replaceable earmuffs for when you destroy them with sweat. 10 bucks every few years.
- Optical cable to the transmitter. Alllll digital baby.
- There is also a toggle switch that lets you use an analog cable.
I recently started using the 3.5mm jack option with two splitters so that my wife and I can use real time, zero-delay audio monitoring of each others' microphones in order to actually hear each other while playing games with others in discord, while we are next to each other. No maddening self-echo for us, and none for the people online. I just switch from optical to 3.5mm and now I'm hearing her mic. If my voice gets to her mic I can't tell because there is no sound delay. Beautiful.
You pretty much had me sold but I need a mic. :deeper-sadness: The only things I really want is a wireless headset with metal bands connecting the speakers after snapping several sets of gamer trash.
Headsets can be a good easy/cheap option but like, wireless headsets inherently sound like shit due to Bluetooth compression.
It's often more expensive to get separate items but they can be nice- people will hear your voice very clearly.
I have used two setups- one I really liked was using a micless headset and an Antlion Modmic. You stick on or superglue on a little neodymium magnet mount to your headset that holds a little wireless mic, which can be charged during use if it does run out of battery. I broke that mic though :(
So I bought a friend's old Blue Yeti and attached it to an arm. You kinda gotta get an arm and turn the gain low, or everyone will hear your keyboard and mouse and room and AC and breathing etc. That shit is also really nice.
A big part of why I got these is because I make YouTube and TikTok videos, and it makes the voice recordings not sound like dog shit.
Gamers get a sense of pride and accomplishment from spending money on treats.
If you already have a separate mic, the Sennheiser RS-175 is exactly your budget. Basically the same as what I have. They are RF instead of Bluetooth, 3.5mm or optical to the transmitter (optical all day baby), sound amazing, volume control on the side, recharge on the rack or swap AAA's easily if you forget to charge them.
Oh also be sure to turn off the hearing assist mode, probably just by holding the button for 3 seconds. That makes them go much louder and makes the headphones ignore accidental pushes of that button, until you hold it for 3 seconds again. Hearing assist just changes the treble and bass for hearing impairments.
If you need a mic'd headset, I would either go with one of the many Sennheiser gaming headsets or a Logitech G Pro X gaming headset. Those two companies are very consistent. I have never disliked a Logitech peripheral in my entire life or felt it didn't match its price.
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16150
I've used these before and I quite liked them. $23 and free shipping in the US.
Gaming headsets have always been an absolute meme of overpriced tacky crap. Also the pro controllers that are coming out are beyond worthless. I got the elite 2 without googling first cos am stoopid thinking i could bind the paddles to something useful like keyboard buttons on my PC. NOPE it only binds other Xbox buttons. What was the premium even for? Slightly more convenient controls?
Gaming headsets have always been an absolute meme of overpriced tacky crap.
Completely agree. If you want to actually get something good then go to someone known in audio like Sennheiser or Philips directly, not a "gaming" peripheral manufacturer. I've been using a set of Fidelio X2HR for years and years and they sound better than any capital G Gamer headset I've ever tried on while being practically invincible to what I put them through.
100% I'm glad I grew up during the forum era because the various audiophile nerd forums of people obsessed with various graphs I do not understand taught me to do proper research because a lot of the equipment sold is overpriced rubbish marketed for people that don't know better. These days those niche nerd spaces for extremely obsessed people are much less visible online and that is a bad thing for the average person who doesn't end up learning.
That how I eventually discovered adding +reddit in google searches as forums were waning in the past decade.
This is eventually going to be replaced but I'm not sure what by. A downside of fediverse is that the distributed nature of it makes it quite hard to search for information - not helped by search engines being entirely geared towards presenting the most mainstream corporate internet out there.
are you looking at the xbox elite controllers? the standard is 90 AUD, which aint good but the 250 price tag is for a controller with a bunch of unnecessary extra shit
Yeah, it was the Elite one that caught my eye because of the price tag.
Like holy shit how can a controller cost as much as a new 3DS on launch day, that's insane. What's in the controller? Elves?
little elves that help you aim by going 'yeah mate little to the left, little up- ah perfect fang a couple shots in'
On game controllers being super expensive now: I spent $200 on a custom controller with additional remappable paddle buttons on the rear side to be actuated with the middle fingers. I absolutely love it and have the paddle buttons mapped to different functions depending on what I'm playing (ex roll in rocket league, dodge l/r in souls like games)
I'd personally never pay that much for a stock controller, especially an xbox controller, but I'm a huge fan of my custom Dualshock 4.
i was thinking of getting hall effect controller from aliexpress. heard its pretty poggers (no stick drift)
i got my xbox wireless controller for roughly 60 dollars.
Uhhh those hadphones are 350 not 735, still bad though
for like 100 bucks, 200 bucks originally, you can get the coolest headset I have ever owned, the Razer Nari Ultimate. It's a "haptic" headset. It's amazing for about 90% of games & music that have strong bass.
Like ok, when you shoot your gun and it plays that bass, the sharp change from no bass to bass is automatically translated to physical movement of the heaphones. They literally shake and jolt. It is a LOT like wearing earmuffs at a firing range. It's fucking wild. It feels like backblast is hitting you. The best game for it I have played is Insurgency. It is actually sort of scary to shoot guns with that thing on.
Some audio is bad for it though, certain low constant variable rumbling sounds will just make it shake moderately all the time for no real reason- it's not intelligent, it just reacts to the sound. You can adjust the haptic amount pretty easily and on the fly though, and still get a light tap when strong sounds happen, without triggering haptics from whatever rumbling sound is playing.
No, look again. The original price is $735. It's on sale for $599, which is $136 dollar 'cheaper'
Ah no what I mean is that this site is jackin' em up, I googled them and they are much cheaper everywhere else. Seems like a scam/dropship site or something
This is Australian dollars, you might be looking at American dollars
OHHHHHH
Okay correction, Australia is a scam site,
In the US those headphones go for the equivalent 519 AUD with no sale. :sadness:
Tax is included in Australia right?
Including tax, that means that the American price is between 519-591 AUD depending on the state.
So really it's back to being a gamer scam, rather than an oz scam
That gets it closer but those things were never the equivalent of 735 AUD here in the US
Gotta say if your gonna buy audio equipment its really easy to get scamed your a lot of the time.
If people looking for affordable audio head gear that is comfertable (because they ripped off a brand that dosent exist anymore) mh75 from coolermaster it has a build dac in the cord and can be hooked up to a better amp or what ever its called but its very passable.
For mice I suggest a asus gladiolus one or two it allows you to open it up and replace the switch which is usually what fails in mice due to (https://youtu.be/v5BhECVlKJA) 1hour plus video but explains why modern mices are failing a lot.
if your handy with a sodering iron you can replace keyboard switches its fun and a good skill to learn and share with comrades. If that seems hard find a keyboard with pluggable switches its allows repair and customization.
If your a controller person I'd suggest a gulikit controller it is immune to stick drift (kinda) it uses hall effects sticks that use magnets instead of a resistor and higher quality internals it works with all major consoles and even has a mii thing for the switch (who buys mii anymore idk some of you probley) can literally just steal the codes from the store with a fliper zero or find the codes online.
Anytime highly recommend it also... get closer it has a recordable button macro that runs internally to the controller that you can record controller actions to skip annoying monotonous stuff in games :dprk-soldier:
