NinJake

If you just purchased them, RMA. Not worth tinkering with a new item if it's defective unless you want to risk voiding the warranty.

How many OHMs were the first pair and how many OHMs is the new pair?

I'll definitely try and get that 27" pro art. Would work perfect as I currently have Two 1080p 27" screens and a single 22" 1080p screen. I could ditch the 22" and have 3 matching size monitors with the pro art in the middle. If I can't squeeze that out this year I'm sure we could purchase that separately with next year's budget. Thanks for the recommendation! @SorryBella

The case choice is purely for cosmetic reasons. I think it looks very clean, which would hopefully look better in an office environment. @TheLANguy

Hopefully a new windows install does the trick. If not, the first thing I would try is keeping the "screen orientations" at the default locations before changing them over. (I'm talking about this screen)

Does the flickering happen to all monitors? I'd double check or try to replace cables first as you may have some laying around or them being the cheapest to get a spares of. Without buying anything, grab a flash drive that does not have any important data on it, and create a live linux USB to boot from. (something like ubuntu) Follow these steps here https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#1-overview (note: this will not overwrite your current OS unless you explicitly tell it to install, for now you'll literally just be using the flash drive to boot the OS) Does the flickering still happen while in this operating system? If not, I would definitely try DDU your graphics drivers on your current OS and reinstalling them. If not, trying a clean install of windows wouldn't hurt as long as you have a way to back up any of your important data beforehand. Report back after trying these troubleshooting steps.

Budget (including currency): ~$2,000 USD Country: US Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Adobe Creative Cloud Suite (premiere pro, after effects are probably the heaviest hitters here). No games. The rest is fairly lightweight just being a lot of browser tabs, in-house software (lots of software running concurrently). Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I had created a build log for my current (to be replaced) work PC, you can view here: I am not utilizing any crazy resolutions, just 3 1080p monitors at the moment. (60hz refresh rate) At some point, getting a color accurate, 4k display would be nice for working with my larger resolution videos/pictures, but isn't a necessity. This is what I've currently got set up in a PCPP list. However I've been "out of the loop" in terms of all the latest/greatest hardware for a few years now, so this was essentially thrown together based off previous experiences with certain brands (like Asus motherboards always treating me well for example) https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9JBRvj PCPartPicker Part List CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor ($364.99 @ Newegg) CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($73.90 @ Newegg Sellers) Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($204.99 @ Amazon) Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory ($209.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon) Video Card: Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card ($599.99 @ Amazon) Case: Fractal Design North ATX Mid Tower Case ($139.99 @ B&H) Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($159.99 @ B&H) Total: $1883.83 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-10-11 15:20 EDT-0400 Let me know if you have any thoughts/recommendations on potential changes! Thanks

Few things to note: 1) personally I wouldn't go for surround sound 2) I'd look into a small mixer that will allow you to have multiple sources feeding into the speakers (like this from Amazon --Mixer Link--) otherwise there are more feature packed mixers but more expensive mixers that start getting closer to 100-200 USD. (are you considering getting an XLR microphone for voice chat or anything like that in the future) 3) lets say you go with the mackie speakers that @Dedayog recommended. (have bluetooth, and are powered speakers ((important))) -it's important to make sure you're getting powered speakers instead of passive speakers. This way you don't need to buy an amplifier to power the speakers. -if you get a mixer + those speakers, the speakers have 2 different input methods. TRS and RCA. The mixer already supports TRS cables and I'm assuming you already have a few "aux" cables around. You could buy 2 adapters to convert 1 end into TRS. --TRS Adapter Link 2 pack-- -personally I enjoy having the physical knobs to turn to adjust volume as opposed to the software volume controls built into the operating systems. 4) I have not seen or tested anything like this, but technically it should work. There are these bluetooth audio receivers that you should be able to pair any of your bluetooth devices to, and this would hook up into the mixer as well and then any wireless devices you use like a cell phone or tablet could also be fed into the mixer without any cables. --bluetooth receiver link-- The mixer essentially prevents you from ever having to unplug and replug cables back in depending on what PC you're using, with independent volume controls for each. (your work PC could be at 25% volume for notifications while playing game audio from your personal computer at 75% and streaming spotify from your phone at like... idk 50% or whatever sounds best to you) I think you'd be quite surprised at the sound quality and "imaging" you can get from a nice 2 speaker setup. Imaging being the ability to hear and pinpoint sounds in space. How far left, is it "forward" or "behind" your point of reference. Once again, this throws a lot of your requirements out of the window (no surround sound, has wires), but after seeing where your PCs are setup, this is what I would strive to get if I were in your position. (cables would be very easy to manage in this situation) If you'd like to look at other speaker alternatives, just make sure you do a search for "powered" speakers. Or "active" speakers.

Are you ever using both PCs at the same time? If so, are you hoping to hear audio from both of the PCs through your potential new sound system at the same time as well? And luckily both of those machines are extremely close to each other, you can probably get away without utilizing any airplay/wireless audio solutions unless that is a strict requirement.

So you have 2 PCs. Do you want your speakers to connect to both PCs? How large is your room? What is the distance between both PCs? Are you sure you want surround sound?

Just out of curiosity, did this end up getting patched/fixed for you?

Get a cloudlifter right away when you order the SM7B. Enjoy your new microphone audio quality.

I'm not disagreeing with you. It ultimately comes down to the userbase. If I do disagree with something you say on reddit, that does not mean that I'm going to downvote you. It's the other users who actively downvote people just because they disagree or are simply trolling. It's like if you're looking up a technical problem relating to microsoft, you can do a web search for "how to fix office 2010" or something like that and go to a microsoft community page. You'll find multiple answers and the "top answer" will have something along the lines of "45 people found this helpful". I may be inclined to try that solution over a solution that has "2 people found this helpful". Does that mean the latter is an invalid solution? No. No type of system will ever be "perfect" from any type of bias. Whether it's users upvoting or downvoting, or moderators of a discord server (or forum) picking and choosing what can or cannot be said, all methods will have abuse in some shape or form sadly. I was simply saying it's silly for you to use a blanket statement. It would be no different if I had "one time where someone disagreed with me" and "consider that toxic" and now claim that LTT forums is a toxic place. It's simply not true lol. I believe, and agree with everything you have said except for for the blanket statement. Either way, this has strayed quite a bit off course of the OP and I understand if this gets removed. I will also reiterate my take on the OP. Removing the ability to opt of tracking preferences sucks, but it seems that's the way big companies have been headed for a long time. Privacy badger is an excellent add on/ extension as recommended earlier. And using something like a raspberry pi and setting up your own pi-hole dns can help if you don't agree with big tech taking all of your data and making money off you w/o your consent. (That's just business on the internet these days)

The biggest benefit of up/downvoting is in "smaller" communities that are actually appropriately moderated, the people have the power to either promote or demote information. In general, if there's actual useful information being shared, it gets upvoted. If there's a troll doing troll things, they get downvoted to a point where the post by default is hidden from view. The other benefit to something like reddit, is a LOT of people use it. So even with "smaller communities", you'll end up with more opinions and information than something like a dedicated forum where a lot of the "average joes" won't take the time to register and partake in. Once again, I'm not saying it's perfect or anywhere near perfect by any means. I agree with most of what you're saying except for the "it's all toxic". Hopefully this is the case, time will tell.

I think you'd be surprised at how "elitist" some dedicated forums can be when you might be an average joe in comparison to them. It's also pretty hilarious you describe reddit as a whole as a toxic place, when I literally just said there's plenty of subreddit's that I'm a part of that I would not consider toxic. Will you have a few trolls here and there? Sure, but I bet you'll have trolls everywhere on the internet. It's not a good look when using blanket statements. Regarding the OP and removing the ability to opt out of tracking is still a shitty move and will cause a handful of people to leave, while most people won't care enough or even be informed of the change and will continue to browse their website. (look at facebook...)

Those aren't necessarily dedicated for a PC setup. You can get them to work, but if you wanted some that just plugs into your PC "out of the box", you'd probably want something like a logitech 2.1 system or similar. The SVS Subwoofer is highly regarded... however those speakers won't work "just plugging in" to your PC. You'll need an amplifier for them, or you can buy the SVS subwoofer and look for a set of "powered speakers" which have the amplification built in. It depends if you are dead set on this particular purchase. Are you willing to consider other options?

Depending how this is handled, I may just hop off reddit as well. Sadly, it's the only social media platform I'm actually engaged with. While I agree with you in some aspects, there's plenty of smaller communities that are still excellent places for information or sharing experiences with people who are interested in the same thing as you. The subreddit functionality of reddit is what makes it so appealing to myself and others who (like those on LTT forums), enjoy the communication that can be had in forums. Reddit's subreddits are very close to a traditional "forum" in that regard. Out of curiosity, can you name some alternatives to reddit that aren't as "toxic"?

Exactly. For people already invested in the Apple ecosystem, none of these prices should come as a surprise to them. If you're just an average joe who is looking for a potential portable computer, you may be just fine with a barebones m1 air. Or as you stated, you just pick literally any other branded laptop besides an Apple and will more than likely have better luck with "upgrading" storage yourself or just buying a laptop with cheaper (high capacity) storage to begin with. You also have to take in account that a $300 upgrade to storage might be a ton of money to someone who's working for minimum wage while going to college, but might be "pocket change" or reasonably affordable to someone who is making 3, 4, 5... 10x more than minimum wage per hour. (or works multiple jobs/ has side gigs/ etc...)

As others have said, it's because people will still buy the upgraded storage. If nobody did, they would drop the price.

Ok, then it's most likely the m.2 drive you have isn't formatted properly. You can utilize the installation flash drive, boot from it. While youre at the "install windows" screen, press Shift+f10 and a command prompt window should pop up. From there, type in the command "DISKPART" and it should launch the diskpart tool. From there you can type in "list disk" and it should list your total disks installed in the system. (if you just have 1 m.2 drive, you should just see 1 disk labelled "disk 0". Report back if you make it that far. edit: if you don't like command prompt stuff, you can use another flash drive to install something like linux mint or ubuntu, boot from the flash drive into a "live linux environment" (no need to install linux on your m.2) and use the disk partition tool built into linux and format the drive as GPT using a graphical user interface.

No, it would be the disk itself. However, before looking further into that... what i7 do you have? Does it happen to be a 6th gen?

Make sure the disk is formatted as GPT instead of MBR. Unless you've already checked that?

You should look into different ear tips. Like the memory foam or "spin-fit" tips I mentioned. They are leagues better than any "stock" ear tips I've tried. Once again, personally, the spin-fit tips are the most comfortable to me but the memory foam may be better for your use case.

You tagged me but didn't respond to my question at all? I'll copy and paste it again. Have you tried different ear tips yet? Make sure you get different sizes so you can figure out what suits your ears best. (I only say this because spending a few dollars on different ear tips that may suit you well is certainly a lot more affordable than going out and buying headphones)

Before you jump ship and get some headphones (still nice to have anyways...), try different ear tips. There are foam variants (like memory foam) and there's also the "spin fit" tips, which I find to be the most comfortable personally and don't "pain" the ear as much. Have you tried different ear tips yet? Make sure you get different sizes so you can figure out what suits your ears best.