FEATURED What did you get today?

[mackerel]

A few more bits today. A cheap mATX case for... TBD. The new Alder Lake bits and my old Broadwell are both mATX. Longer term I was thinking the newer board goes in my Unraid replacing Broadwell, which becomes a test system.

Keyboard because my Corsair Lux something died the other day. I'm too used to a TKL that a full size keyb as a temporary filler wasn't great for me. Why this model? I'm already using a Deathadder with optical switches, and was curious if it works well for a keyboard too. So my main system is all optical switches now.

USB wifi because the spare dongle I have at the moment doesn't got above about 50mbps or so, which is just too slow.

 

[freakdiablo]

Not *quite* PC related but...



(Blanked out prices because I probably paid too much.)

As some of you may remember I overclocked my car a while back. Got an APR tune. And... It's nice .

The downside is, even stock it was a little iffy in traffic, like it didn't know what gear it wanted to be in.

After the flash, it got worse. It started feeling surge-y at times and the jank got worse.

Been thinking about the TCU update for about a month now, after driving back from my parents today and dealing with it for 5+ hours decided to grab it. Hopefully the local dealer can upload it this week.

 

[notarat]

I got some more storage. Four 100mmx100mm compartments

 

[unsafesteagle]

Intel Socket 1700 replacement CPU Waterblock
Barrow LTFHB-04I unboxing was cool , nice quality better than the advertisements.
Size also , This Block is physically alot larger than expected.
Wasnt expecting RGB







Ebay $63.25
Online Reviews placed this as a quality item within a couple/few percent of the most expensive brands.

Reasoning for this purchase was to replace a generic $15 Intel CPU Waterblock
of which the mounting system appears advanced and finicky.
Temps also seem higher than expected.

Update: 04/03/2024 10:56 EST
Block Works Great A+
Due to my backplate the included mounting screws would not work had to gerry rig outta leftover yester-years.
Temps now are below the Original Replacement AIO 3 x 120mm Watercooler.

And one last thing is the Generic $15 Waterblock as most recent replacement , surprisingly , still had the original plastic film on the copper cpu surface.
Difficult to believe the plastic had no or little effect on higher temps than the AIO



30 minutes idling around



Nothing to write home about yet smoother overall look.
In position to mess around with hard plastic/acrylic tubing n fittings

 

[Celeron_Phreak]

Picked up a new to me gaming laptop to use as my portable workstation while traveling. Found a Dell G7 7700 with an i7 10750H and a 1660 Ti for $400 on marketplace. Swapped out the 256GB drive for a 500GB and 2TB nvme drives. Definitely easier to haul around compared to the 2014 Alienware 17 I've been using for the last five years.

It has some thermal throttle issues, but I'm working those bugs out and I find it to be a fun challenge, improving factory cooling on high performance laptops.




The weight and bulk savings in comparison to the 2014 alienware is astounding.

 

[mackerel]

Another monitor!

This was a charity shop find. £6.50 (US$8.20) with power cable. I did a quick search on the model in shop and saw it was 1440x900. A bit low resolution but sufficient for non-graphical testing systems. They only tested it for electrical safety but didn't know if it worked or not beyond that. I can return it if it didn't.

Once home I found a DP cable and here we go! Colours initially looked off. It was on "neutral" and I moved it over to sRGB and it looked better. There's not a lot to say about it. I was only expecting a 60 Hz display but it supported 75 Hz. Inputs are VGA, DVI, DP. No HDMI this time. 19"

 

[unsafesteagle]

Has an lower cost NVR look going there aye

 

[freakdiablo]

This was a charity shop find. £6.50 (US$8.20) with power cable. I did a quick search on the model in shop and saw it was 1440x900. A bit low resolution but sufficient for non-graphical testing systems. They only tested it for electrical safety but didn't know if it worked or not beyond that. I can return it if it didn't.

Once home I found a DP cable and here we go! Colours initially looked off. It was on "neutral" and I moved it over to sRGB and it looked better. There's not a lot to say about it. I was only expecting a 60 Hz display but it supported 75 Hz. Inputs are VGA, DVI, DP. No HDMI this time. 19"

Not bad. I've dragged the basic LG monitor I had in college through several moves for the same reason. It's good having a smallish screen just for testing.

 

[freakdiablo]

'Nother car thing but I got new tires as well. Pricey but worth it, my current set came with the car and have ~45k miles on them. About a month ago I felt like they were trying to hydroplane at highway speeds during heavy rain, which is a sign.

Michelin Pilot Sport 4 All Seasons, ordered through Costco as apparently they include road hazard insurance with membership, appointment for install is on National "Random" Drug Test Day.

Talked to one of my techs today about it and apparently the local Costco tire center is iffy... So fingers crossed.

 

[unsafesteagle]

you guys hiring over there?

 

[freakdiablo]

you guys hiring over there?

Actually yes, put in an application

 

[unsafesteagle]

Actually yes, put in an application

Will Do ...

 

[DaveB]

Michelin Pilot Sport 4 All Seasons, ordered through Costco as apparently they include road hazard insurance with membership, appointment for install is on National "Random" Drug Test Day.

I put Michelin Pilot Sport 4 All Seasons on the 2002 Jaguar XK8 - P245/45ZR18 front and P255/45ZR18 rear. Nice tires. Bought them from Tire Rack and a local Mr. Tire did the installation.

 

[Woomack]

DELL Latitude 5340 13" 2 in 1
i5-1345u, 32GB DDR5, 256GB SSD, but I will replace it with 2TB once I clone some other SSDs.

The regular store price is around $1800 (at least in my local Polish stores with 23% VAT). I got it for ~$750 because it was repacked and imported from the US. It was new, but because it was registered in the US, then it has only a local store warranty. It's still 2 years, but I can't extend it.

 

[freakdiablo]

I wouldn't worry too much about the two year warranty, only personal experience but whenever I had a prebuilt system fail it seemed to be in the first year and a half. So I'll usually extend it if it's only one year but two hopefully is ok.

 

[Woomack]

I wouldn't worry too much about the two year warranty, only personal experience but whenever I had a prebuilt system fail it seemed to be in the first year and a half. So I'll usually extend it if it's only one year but two hopefully is ok.

Two years is fine. I just wish it was a Dell warranty, not the store. I asked Dell, but they don't want to move the warranty to Poland and register to me unless I give them full info about the US distributor who bought it first. I can't get this info, and the local distributor took it from the importer. They won't share that, for sure.
I had a laptop that failed two weeks before the end of a 2-year warranty, and usually when something dies at home, then 1-2 months after the warranty. At work, I see problems with all other brands, and even though we have mostly Dell laptops, we made RMA for 2, as I remember, in the last 5 years (about 30 Dell laptops in total). In comparison, all Lenovo laptops that we had in the last 10 years went to RMA at least once (some 2-4 times).

 

[freeagent]

Got one of these

 

[67Elco]

Screwed by Corsair...

 

[freeagent]

Screwed by Corsair...

That is why I do not buy from them. They screwed me a couple of times. Nothing good to say about them. Sorry it had to happen to you too.

 

[Woomack]

That is why I do not buy from them. They screwed me a couple of times. Nothing good to say about them. Sorry it had to happen to you too.

In Poland, stores cover Corsair's warranty, so maybe that's why I have never had problems with their products or warranty. I just got money back for a 7-year-old PSU that I sent to RMA. I would get a replacement, but it was on sale, and I paid half the store price, even though it was brand new. It was expected that the store would give me back ~$150 instead of a new PSU worth ~$300.