What's your latest tech purchase?

[windwhirl]

The dual shock 4 was the best controller I have ever used on pc, unfortunately most of the games doesn't recognize direct input by default, but this can be solved by launching the game from steam big picture. Great acquisition!

I'm mostly replacing my Logitech F310 here, since it sometimes isn't responding as expected (calibration issues with the trigger buttons, mostly). For Steam games I just use Steam Input, but anything else might go with DS4Windows

 

[Valantar]

I bought a cpu relid 1151/1150 tool and a classic intel q6700 for my retro build. Its the 2nd fastest cpu my board can support. The fastest is a QX6700 but it cost 5 times more so I try this out and see if its worth the unlocked multiplier or not. Finally can get testing it on the retro mobo. I am one happy camper! Back in 2006 as a young teen boy I was eyeing the people intel core 2 quad q6600 2.4GHz with envy. I was only with my humble E6320 duo core at 1.86GHz. I tell you that 600mhz difference was big then. A 30% clockspeed difference from my duo core. Now after 15 years finally got the high end q6700 with a whopping 2.66GHz! Finally got my dream late but never. Might grab QX6700 for nostalgia.

The q6700 I got it for $13...in 2006 this is $851!?

View attachment 194492
View attachment 194491

Your board doesn't support 9000-series Core2Quads?

 

[freeagent]

I don't have it yet.. probably wont be here for a few weeks.. but ordered it last night.

Thermalright FC140 Dual Tower CPU Cooler radiator With 140mm PWM fan 4PIN RGB For intel 115x 2011 2066 AM4 Computer CPU Cooler|Fans & Cooling| - AliExpress

I'm hoping I can get away with using my existing TR mounting hardware, well see..

 

[SenditMakine]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the PG/ITX. If only you put the 4650G in the ITX board, we could have a head to head, 2.0V B-die Renoir bench-off

you'd win though, my Viper Steels are A0 and shite

2Tb NVMe is my wet dream

 

[Chomiq]

Finally arrived:

HD 6XX on the right, next to my old Fidelio's X2 on the left.

Mixed feelings so far. X2's are just too fun in comparison. They lack the sub bass that X2 have. Best example for comparison would be "Gimme the loot" by Notorious BIG. On 6XX drums are "Oom" while on X2's the roll off is much bigger and it turns into "OOOOooom". Don't get me wrong it's accurate and precise on 6XX while X2's can sound muddy if there's too much bass. Both are different, both have their own strengths and weaknesses.

I'm keeping them.

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

plz Mr. Mirtazapine tell us how ya like the sythe amp?
thx in advance

I do not have a passive speaker to test out the speaker portion of the amp. All I got is my Samson SR950 headphone. I can describe the amp to be rather "vanilla" it does not add on the sound neither does it take out. Rather balanced I guess. Give power to headphone in a rather clean way. Kinda disappointed in a a way but it does really well for my headphone which allow me to hear some detail more clear.

Your board doesn't support 9000-series Core2Quads?

Yes. The motherboard is Asrock 775i65 R3.0. It is a unique put together board that was a transition era board to conroe era. I got this board because it the most powerful board with window 98 support. I wish I buy more when it was cheap and available. The revision 3 of this lga775 socket support a pentium 4, pentium D to the special sauce first generation conroe core 2 duo and core 2 quad. Memory for this board is also DDR1 with only AGP but no pcie. The board also have sata 1 and ide. I could used my E6320 cpu from old defunct asus p5be-plus I just wanted to max it out though.

Finally arrived:

HD 6XX on the right, next to my old Fidelio's X2 on the left.

Mixed feelings so far. X2's are just too fun in comparison. They lack the sub bass that X2 have. Best example for comparison would be "Gimme the loot" by Notorious BIG. On 6XX drums are "Oom" while on X2's the roll off is much bigger and it turns into "OOOOooom". Don't get me wrong it's accurate and precise on 6XX while X2's can sound muddy if there's too much bass. Both are different, both have their own strengths and weaknesses.

I'm keeping them.

A senheiser Hd 6XX!? My mind is just saying "HUR DUH SIX HUNGOS" . I have not been in headphone stuff so long how does it sound to you?

 

[Chomiq]

A senheiser Hd 6XX!? My mind is just saying "HUR DUH SIX HUNGOS" . I have not been in headphone stuff so long how does it sound to you?

It's a rebadged HD650 so pretty much solid and accurate bass, great midrange, great highs, supposedly best open back neutral headphones you can get in this price range.

One hour in and I'm getting used to them. That initial lack of sub base in comparison to X2's now pays back in clarity.

 

[FireFox]

Last purchase arrived

1x EK-Quantum Vector XC3 RTX 3080/3090 D-RGB
1x EK-Quantum Velocity

Lots of Fittings ( 51 pieces )

Alphacool Icicle Temperature Sensor Plug G1/4 Chrome​

After spending 600€+ for Waterblocks and Fittings EKWB was so generous that they gave me a Pen at least it is not plastic.

 

[Valantar]

It's a rebadged HD650 so pretty much solid and accurate bass, great midrange, great highs, supposedly best open back neutral headphones you can get in this price range.

One hour in and I'm getting used to them. That initial lack of sub base in comparison to X2's now pays back in clarity.

I wouldn't trust any judgement of bass response from the first hours of listening - speaker membranes need some use to arrive at their final sound profile after all. My HD599s definitely sounded a bit anemic initially, but after leaving them playing stuff overnight at medium volume I've since found them excellent all around. Definitely more audible bass response after that initial warm-up cycle.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Finally arrived:
View attachment 194528
HD 6XX on the right, next to my old Fidelio's X2 on the left.

Mixed feelings so far. X2's are just too fun in comparison. They lack the sub bass that X2 have. Best example for comparison would be "Gimme the loot" by Notorious BIG. On 6XX drums are "Oom" while on X2's the roll off is much bigger and it turns into "OOOOooom". Don't get me wrong it's accurate and precise on 6XX while X2's can sound muddy if there's too much bass. Both are different, both have their own strengths and weaknesses.
View attachment 194534
I'm keeping them.

Dude, your headphones need a shave...

 

[Chomiq]

Dude, your headphones need a shave...

Tell me about it, velour combined with dusty AF apartment.

 

[Valantar]

2Tb NVMe is my wet dream

It's definitely nice to have - I've set it up with a 400GB system + apps partition with the rest being games only, and since putting it to use I've transferred my entire previous library + installed about 400GB of new games (got to get that backlog sorted!), yet I've still got 450GB left on the games partition. Contrast that to my previous setup with a 500GB NVMe C: drive fluctuating between 50-100GB free and a SATA games drive wiht roughly the same (any more and performance would tank, so ...). Definitely happy with this. And there's a second m.2 slot if I ever need more, but at this point I could stand to uninstall a thing or two instead. 2TB is plenty.

Tell me about it, velour combined with dusty AF apartment.

You should try one of those sticky lint rollers on them

 

[SenditMakine]

It's definitely nice to have - I've set it up with a 400GB system + apps partition with the rest being games only, and since putting it to use I've transferred my entire previous library + installed about 400GB of new games (got to get that backlog sorted!), yet I've still got 450GB left on the games partition. Contrast that to my previous setup with a 500GB NVMe C: drive fluctuating between 50-100GB free and a SATA games drive wiht roughly the same (any more and performance would tank, so ...). Definitely happy with this. And there's a second m.2 slot if I ever need more, but at this point I could stand to uninstall a thing or two instead. 2TB is plenty.

You should try one of those sticky lint rollers on them

yeah, im saving for one of those, sounds like real fun!

 

[Chomiq]

You should try one of those sticky lint rollers on them

Ducktape works wonders

 

[Jetster]

$200

 

[Valantar]

$200

Not bad! Are you shucking it or keeping it intact?

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

$200

Where you got the drive? That is a great price. My 14tb from amazon is higher than that. So far I have great time using this external 14tb.

 

[Jetster]

Where you got the drive? That is a great price. My 14tb from amazon is higher than that. So far I have great time using this external 14tb.

Newegg had a sale, it said sold out but it was in my cart so i bought it. Not gonna shuck it, its just for a cold backup and i like the warranty
I have an 8 Tb right now that I am out growing

 

[toilet pepper]

My custom cables arrived. Since I started the SFF route with the NR200, I realized thatt custom cables are a must. I've been eyeing cablemod as they have international shipping and their configurator is easy to use but it is quite expensive. A set of the bare minimums to make it work costs around $100 + shipping and I'm not in the US. To add they currently are backlogged and can not say when your order would be fulfilled.

I saved up and when it is time to bite the bullet, I started looking around for better options and found this etsy store who can do custom cables. I just sent him a message and he replied immediately. I said I need cables for the nr200 and my power supply is a CM750 SFX gold and he gave suggested dimensions to me. He suggested that I measure myself and give him the length and so I did and placed orders for silicone cables. You can choose braided, unsleeved and silicone.

The silicone cables are soft and feels like a joy to build in. The price is less than $50 shipped. You can search for Dreambigbyray.

 

[GerKNG]

Second 6900XT

 

[TheLostSwede]

$200

Damn, that's about what I paid for an 8TB version of that at the tail end of last year.
The 14TB version goes for $333 here...

Not bad! Are you shucking it or keeping it intact?

I think a lot of them are SMR drives now, so no good shucking.

 

[Chomiq]

Damn, that's about what I paid for an 8GB version of that at the tail end of last year.

$200 for 8GB?! Wow you get screwed

 

[milewski1015]

The strap attachment on my Garmin Forerunner 35 broke again, and this time I don't think it's fixable. Having glued it twice before it was expected, but still disappointing as the watch still works well.

Anyhow, guess that means it's time for something new. I don't want a smartwatch (not beyond getting notifications anyhow, which this already does), and battery life is important (having to charge my watch every 1-2 days is unacceptable) so there was a pretty obvious choice:

The Forerunner 45 Plus. It seems the Plus is just an exclusive gray colorway for Elgiganten/Elkjøp as I can't find any other meaningfully differentiating features comparing it to the regular 45. The circular shape makes it much smaller in practice despite similar measurements to the old 35, and the color display is nice. Also happy it has a much less finicky charging connector. Hopefully it also has more robust strap attachments than the previous one, so I can keep this in service for more than the four or so years I got out of it's predecessor.

Edit: some quick initial impressions: the strap is simultaneously thinner, lighter, better feeling, and more comfortable than on the 35. Definitely a much more noticeable difference than anticipated. The overall fit of the watch is generally far superior to the 35. The UI is much better (partly thanks to there being five rather than four buttons, meaning menus can be navigated both up and down (what an innovation! wow!)), it feels snappier in the menus (though by no means a speed demon), and the display is massively improved. It's still a relatively small transflective LCD, but the addition of color is a huge boon, and the resolution seems significantly higher allowing for more information on-screen without it feeling cramped (though if that's your thing there are some really cramped optional watchfaces). It also has a heap more functions, including some basic ones I've missed like stopwatch and timer functions. I have no idea about the GPS accuracy or heart rate tracking accuracy, but I'm going for a run later today, so I guess I'll have an indication by then.

Have a Forerunner 45 myself. Very happy with it. In the same boat as you - don't want/need smart watch functionality beyond notifications. I agree that battery life is solid, and the featureset is great for the price (especially since I get a nice discount working part-time at a store that sells Garmins). I've found the GPS accuracy to be pretty good. It was originally slow to find the satellites for me, but seems to have improved over time. As far as HR accuracy, wrist-based isn't exactly the gold standard. A light is shined through your skin and uses the amount of light reflected back to a diode on the watch to determine HR. Accuracy is dependent on the algorithm chosen by the manufacturer (which are often proprietary to each company), as well as proper positioning of the watch on your wrist and proper tightness of the band to ensure a lack of movement. Basically what this boils down to is that wrist-based HR isn't as accurate as chest-measured HR (with a HR strap or something), and certainly not as accurate as something like an EKG. For training purposes where you're generally looking to be within a target HR range, it's sufficient, but I wouldn't consider it gospel by any means. That can be extrapolated to the other metrics the watch provides that are HR-dependent, like the VO2 max estimation. Estimating VO2 max using pace and (approximate) HR is never going to be as accurate as a lab test where the oxygen inspired and expired is constantly measured.

 

[TheLostSwede]

$200 for 8GB?! Wow you get screwed

 

[Tomgang]

So finally I got one of the main parts that prevented me from starting my pc build project: 2 systems in 1 case.

I have early this year and the end of 2020 posted image and info about my plans and parts I already have gotten home.

While I still missing Ryzen 9 5950X and new RTX cards, I got my hands on a Ryzen 5 5600X. So I can now begin to build the little mini-itx system (the other system will be a normal sized atx).

Now i just need to order a better cpu cooler than stock, SSD, HDD, fans and a few other parts. And then I am officially moving on from X58 after almost 12 years on X58.

Sorry about first picture, it's taken with a phone and I am not at a pc so I can change it the comming days because of Easter.