Desktop Computers

Aaron said:

Never been a console guy, so I've never gotten the "hang" of controllers. But some games just don't play right with a keyboard and mouse. For example the GTA games.

So I've been thinking of getting me a controller to stick into my PC for such rare occasions, but I have no idea what to go for. Any recommendations?

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Xbox controller is great. Never used a controller before but bought one for driving games about 5 years ago. Now use it exclusively for most games that aren't FPS/MMO. Give it a month and you'll not be able to live without it. Plus you can sit a distance away from your monitor etc if it's large enough (cabled one has a real long cable).

Just build my new gaming computer, and the samsung SSD M.2 970 is a gift from the gods. The POST takes longer than loading Windows. It's the first time I don't let my computer on 24/24 just because it's very fast to boot. Also, for some reason, everything is super silent it's a real pleasure.
Case : Corsair Graphite 780T -> very easy to install, only cons are the grids on the side and on the front, they tend to snap out of place when I slight bump them.
GPU : GTX 1080 ti strix -> very silent
MoBo : Asus ROG maximus x apex -> I certainly only use 1% of all the frills that came with it but it works great, easy to configure
CPU : Intel core i7-8086K -> yes I fell for their marketing bs. dont judge me.
Cooler : Corsair H150i Pro. Pretty painless to install, it's really super silent. Also, you can configure the RGB to follow the temperature of the CPU, and that's quite nice.
SSD : Samsung 970 EVO. awesome

Overall, this is my first 100% gaming setup (no adobe stuff, no Office, no nothing. Steam and Origin and adios), and it's pretty damn fast.

mcdj22 said:

Power cycling a computer everyday will shorten its life, it’s better to leave it on.

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Lol, what kind of chinese crap would that have to be to mater? I power on an off daily, never had a failed compoent newer than 5 years. More likely components not cooled enough, older samsung 960's for instance, are better off being shut down than powered on. Newer 970 throtttles I think.

mcdj22 said:

Heat/cool cycling wears parts down over time, parts that aren't quite in spec will be the first to go, and besides mechanical hard drives, this is usually the power supply...the main thing that has to deal with power that isn't always in spec. Best thing you can do for any electronics is put it on conditioned power.

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Unfortunately, I can't play everyday (being old sucks ass), but mostly on weekend, I usually start and stop it maybe 3-4 times. Maybe if it's bad, I'll leave it on longer now. Thank for the tips. The power is quite stable in Switzerland, never had an issue here.

mcdj22 said:

Heat/cool cycling wears parts down over time, parts that aren't quite in spec will be the first to go, and besides mechanical hard drives, this is usually the power supply...the main thing that has to deal with power that isn't always in spec. Best thing you can do for any electronics is put it on conditioned power.

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So basically you want to keep the psu on because the psu might fail? It costs more in electricity and service fee to do that here than to buy a psu a year, Europe. I'll power down, or rather suspend/power save mode, thank you very much,

Eh, except for when I used to have a 30MBit line and a FTV premium account serial, about 10 years ago, I never leave my computer running over night or while I'm at work.

My PSU is going to be 10 years old in december, OCZ StealthXStream 500W ATX bought for € 60 back in the day. And yeah I turn on the computer roughly five days a week, and I turn it off again. I keep buying new mainboards and cpu and ram and shit but my PSU and case (and dvd drive but who needs those nowadays) have lasted me 10 years now.

mcdj22 said:

No, you keep the computer on to limit thermal heating/cooling stress to all components. You do realize when Intel makes a CPU, they make a bunch all at the same time, and there are extras that can't be used because they don't perform to spec. Except some chips make it through even though they are not top quality, and this is the same for the rest of the components in your computer.

I'm not just making shit up, I've worked in IT for over two decades, at times managing hundreds of the exact same computer. The ones that were turned off daily, died quicker.. The ones that were left on all the time, lasted the longest with less problems. Servers? Always sucked having to power down a server that's been on for years, turn it back on and get to call in repairs due to parts that didn't survive being powered on again.

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I had a few Nvidia GPUs die due heating/cooling stress back in the 2008-2010 timeframe. There was a class action lawsuit, but my GPU/laptop wasn't included in the class. I think the Xbox 360 RROD was a similar situation, but it could've been prevented by better cooling/mounting hardware.