qq | Kennedy

Hello, I'm an IT manager for a video game studio, and we're kicking off a hardware refresh. Most of our developers are getting desktops from OriginPC, but I need to find a laptop option for some folks. Historically we've deployed Alienwares, but their failure rate is really high. My experience with ProSupport has been mixed - I'm an evangelist for Dell's business class hardware, but these are clearly an edge case for them and they've had trouble sourcing parts and fixing things in the field in a timely manner. Origin was the obvious other choice since we're working with them on Desktops, but I've had to RMA 6 of the 12 laptops we've bought from them, which is unacceptable. They are also a consumer first brand and working with us at this scale has exposed some process issues for them. I'd like to find a vendor with the infrastructure to support a fleet of machines and the hardware to make my users happy. I've ruled out Razer due to my perception of their reliability, and am looking at vendors like MSI, ASUS, Lenovo, HP, etc. Would like to get feedback from people who have deployed gaming hardware at scale.

Threadripper doesn't have onboard graphics - you cannot plug any monitor into the motherboard. You'll need to purchase a GPU and install it to use the system. I use these at work a lot: https://www.amazon.com/Generic-GC2080-Adapter-Plated-Connector/dp/B000FUVNX8 They're shitty and they fail all the time but you can use something similar for VGA or just buy a better connector. Make sure you understand the distinction between DVI-I and DVI-D and buy the appropriate adapter.

Demand is super high because crypto miners will pay any price for a gpu which power efficiently mines cryptocurrencies. They literally print money.