greenlotad

Thank you all for your input. As great of a deal as that is, I think I'm leaning toward not buying it. Won't make a worthwhile difference at this time.

Oh right that's important haha. Mostly gaming. I have a 1440p 144hz monitor though I obviously can't take full advantage of it in many games with my specs. Can't really give a useful list of games since I tend to play through singleplayer games once and never touch them again, but it's a mix of indies, older games, and new AAA games.

My current system is powered by an R5 1600 (AE) and a GTX 1060 6GB (I'll add the full PCPartPicker list when I get back to my desk) and it's definitely feeling it's age. Especially since I made the questionable decision to upgrade my monitor. I saw microcenter has 3700X's available for $200 so I reserved one, but I want to be really sure of my purchase before committing. Do you think this is a smart long term purchase? If I'm gonna find that it's not cutting it in only 18 months or so it might make more sense to save a bit more and do a bigger upgrade. Is it even going to make a noticeable difference with the rest of my current rig? Of course I'd like to upgrade my GPU too but that's not the most practical goal these days. edit: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JHTBnL

Oh wow, that's a huge difference in temps. Neat.

Wow your case is really throwing me off here. Motherboard mounts sideways? Anyway, I'd watch a video about that, it could be interesting or helpful. I only heard about these things a couple days ago. I, too, have a 1060 that's being stretched to it's limit, so I'm curious: have you tried overclocking with this? I'm not sure that I see the point if you don't get extra performance.

Whoops, I unchecked the box for private now. But I think you answered my question. I don't have the bravery for BIOS flashing so I guess I'll stick with things how they are. Thanks!

I'm trying to adjust my GPU fan curves with MSI Afterburner to be quieter while idle since it's the loudest component in my build currently. I can turn the fan speed up without problem, but they won't go below 49% (pictured). I updated to the newest version of Afterburner and I have the latest graphics drivers. I read that it could be a conflict with other MSI programs or other software that controls fans, but I don't think I have any of those installed. Not sure if I'm missing some important setting or if this is impossible for some reason. https://pcpartpicker.com/user/greenlotad/saved/zxT9rH

Probably under something like picture settings or gaming settings in your monitor OSD? The layout of monitor OSDs varies a lot so it's hard to say. Also, some companies call overdrive by different names so you may have to consult the manual.

Well, that's a VA monitor, and the issue sounds to me like a form of smearing, so I suggest playing with overdrive settings. Probably won't eliminate the issue entirely, but it might make it less noticeable.

I suggest reconsidering the virtual office idea, or at least lowering your expectations. I was looking into that recently, and it just doesn't seem like the technology is quite there yet. You need high resolution for text clarity as well as decent refresh rate, fov, and ergonomics. Probably the closest headset to fulfilling all those requirements is the HP Reverb G2, but that has it's own issues like the lenses and tracking. Importantly though, no headset has solved the issue of eye strain caused by staring at a close screen for hours, nor the issue of strapping several pounds of weight to your face. It's guaranteed to be fatiguing over time. Also, you say you value ease of use. I don't want to scare you off from getting into VR, but in my experience, it can be finicky. (Admittedly, I have an unusual setup.) Just a warning so you don't find yourself disappointed. Overall, I second the Index if you can afford it. Haven't used one myself, and it doesn't have the highest resolution, but I've heard pretty much endless praise. To answer your questions as best I can: -HTC pretty much abandoned the consumer market to focus on businesses and VR arcades. I don't know the differences in their headsets, but I wouldn't bother with them. -Frame rate vs. resolution is definitely a personal preference, but generally resolution is important for non-gaming tasks and simulators while frame rate is for more action-oriented games. -FOV is another thing where personal taste dictates whether or not low FOV bothers you, but I don't think I've heard a single complaint on the Index's FOV. -base stations are outside of my knowledge -can't help on cable management either, sorry -Index controllers are widely regarded as the best VR controllers. Start out with those, and only upgrade if you find that you want more. Some options are flight sticks, racing wheels, the decamove, a 3d rudder, and I'm sure there are plenty of things I haven't heard of. Also, while the Index does have a 3.5mm audio jack, it's built-in speakers are supposed to be fantastic. -space requirements are another thing I know nothing about Hope that helps.

Alright, thanks so much for your help!

Do you think powering the hub with an ac adaptor would provide enough power for the hard drive? If possible, I'd like to do that. This is only a minor problem, but the usb cable on the ext. hard drive is very short, so placement is a bit inconvenient if it's plugged into the motherboard.

USB powered

I was running out of USB ports, so I bought this USB hub the other day. I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, an external hard drive, and a webcam connected to it. A short while ago, I tried to install some games from Steam onto the ext. hard drive (while the webcam was powered off), but Steam froze up and my audio interface cut out for a few seconds. I went into File Explorer and the hard drive had disappeared completely. It showed up again after several minutes, so I tried again, but the same thing happened. I moved the hard drive to a usb port on my motherboard where I used to have it and things have been fine since, so clearly this has to do with the USB hub. The store page shows an optional AC power brick, so does anyone know if that would solve the issue I'm having? Alternatively, could someone recommend a higher quality hub? Thanks.

I am sorry to say this, I feel like I'm just ruining your day here, but I wouldn't recommend that either unless you also have a PS3. I don't think there are any PS4 games that use PS Move controllers outside of VR. If you are still intent on getting a PSVR, and you don't want to buy the headset and the controllers at the same time, then get the headset first. Some of the best PSVR exclusives, like Astro Bot and Resident Evil 7, only require a dualshock 4 rather than hand tracking.