MRL

1. I like Windows 10

2. I like Windows 8

3. Windows Phone 8.1 is kind of ok, Android is killing me, Apple iOS will definitely murder me

4. I don't mind sharing some of my personal stuff with companies as long as they are beneficial to me and not taking my passwords/credit cards info against my will.

5. I like Razer products

6. I like Microsoft products

 

This level of nonchalance about giving a company that is made up of human individuals of various shades of moral integrity access to both your internet banking history and a keylogger covering the session you used to access it is incomprehensible.

 

"If I have nothing to hide I have nothing to fear" is a complete fallacy. You do have things you should be hiding.

 

 

 

 

I don't have anything to hide. That's why I don't have locks on my doors. Hell I don't have doors. Come in, park yourself in my room while I'm trying to sleep. Watch me shower, I have nothing to hide.

 

Until somebody come and show me Windows 10 actually logs character by character of your keyboard pressings including passwords and sends them to their server, I'd say these are blown out of proportions....

I never say I have nothing to hide so I have nothing to fear. There are things that I want to hide but as far as I am concerned, nothing that I want to hide is revealed. Sure, if there's proof they are logging passwords and credit card numbers I would kill Win10 immediately but if all they are collecting is I'm paying my bills, well I can just go out and pay the bills while my neighbors see me going out paying bills.

Google invaded privacy way worse, yet I see no one speaks about it.

Not to mention this is rumor coming from very unreliable source...

Thing is, even if I don't tell Cortana I'm going to Walmart people still know I'm there because Google not only track my position from my Nexus; it even tells everybody in my contacts...

Microsoft just wants to know how I use my keyboard? Sure, go ahead... Google already collect more data about me than Microsoft will ever do...

Do I not value my privacy? Sure I do... but eventually people will still know I'm going to Walmart even if I throw away all of my electronics... If I really want to live in private that no one will know anything about me I might as well live on an island alone... Even then, people will eventually probably know I'm on that island alone...

So, yeah... this privacy thingy is blown out of proportion now... that's how I view it...

It never goes that high except when I game, for example after playing DayZ for about 20 minutes System will be around 1900MB and dayz will sit at around 800mb. Is this something I should look into or is it running normally?

I faced similar condition on Witcher 3 as well, but I guess it's not really that concerning as long as your memory is not 100%

Unless you're running Killer NIC then you might want to update the driver to the Windows 10 version because Killer NIC driver is causing memory leak in the System.

hmm then how would I disable the human interface devices?

I'd say the easiest way to do it is to unplug your keyboard and mouse 

I am curious... is it possible that the HID driver is throwing a fit keep on saying there are inputs from your keyboard or mouse?

Microsoft Edge for my desktop and Surface Pro 3, Chrome for the web whatsapp

IE on my Windows Phone 8.1, Edge on my Windows 10 Mobile TP

Probably you'll want to add IE and Edge on mobile as well???? or am I the only one who runs Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile here???

I did watch JayzTwoCents' video on push-pull config recently, and from what I can recall from that episode is that more fan simply means you move more air through the rads overcoming the restriction. Those extra air doesn't really mean extra cool devices, however you can now afford to run the fans slower and have a more silent system.

basically, the aim for push-pull is to get similar volume or air going through the restriction at one time with lower fan speed resulting lower noise.

Core i5-2500K

MSI P67-C40

8GB Kingston ValueRam 1333MHz

1TB WD Green

MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II

DVD optical drive

CoolerMaster Elite case, I forget which number.

CoolerMaster ElitePower 500W PSU

This was built in 2011, the SandyBridge was just released. No picture of it sadly...

There is not actualy many settings. They should definitely add more detailed settings. Even the advanced settings are prety lame IMO. I made screenshot of all settings:

EDIT: LOL another bug that didnt wanted me to allow post image here on forum .. this image bellow. I was getting error INVALID ARGUMENT when I posted this in "[img ]http://i58.tinypic.com/1o3aso.png[ /IMG]" (without the spaces).

I think this settings sidebar is the real culprit why Microsoft can't really do much with settings early on

sure, it can be quickly accessed but you can't fit every single thing in there else you're risking it becoming a laundry list of everything. They really need to implement the Advance Settings as web UI like chrome does or do it in seperate windows...

Another thing that really bother me about Edge on Win10 is the size of the address bar... understandably it is to optimize the experience of touch user and I really appreciate that when I'm on my Surface Pro 3, but again on desktop I would love them if they are not taking too much of the screen estate... It felt too backwards and modern at the same time that it confuse me what is wrong with the UI... given they only have very limited time to work on it I can forgive them, I hope they actually do have options to resize the size for touch and mouse optimized similar to what Office 2013 has...

Filled in.

Pirate it and wait till Windows 10. Free upgrade to the legit version.

no it won't. You'll get the free upgrade, but it still doesn't magically transform into a legally licensed version as clarified by Microsoft.

I swear the more news I hear of Win 10, the more I think it's a yearly subscription model.

I thought it's already confirmed they will have subscription model for Win10 apart from full license, just like the way Office 2013 and Office 365 works?

While i dont exactly like Apple, but I don't mind saying they are the one who initiate the whole thing. It does make sense when you take a look at the latest macbook, they are serious about it. I dont like the macbook, especially the one port but one thing Apple excel at is making one thing standard. Keep pushing it like this, it can be the standard. One thing that i really hoped for is that as mobile devices (phones and tablets) is changing to usb type c, the iPhone will use it to and we finally can have more accessories lineup, but probably won't happen that soon since lightning port is still young.

Just in case you still didn't get it,

memory rating on DIMM label = data rate

DDR = Doube Data Rate = double data in one clock tick

DDR3-1600 = 1600 Million Data Transfer per second which means the clock rate/frequency is 800MHz.

3DMark reports out DDR clock speed/frequency, not the data rate. I blame the manufacturer for using MHz on both different measurement when it is supposed to be 1600MT/s, not 1600MHz...

Also, 3DMark reports out DDR3 Clock Speed pulled from the SPD (Serial Presence Detect, a method used by OEMs to identify their DIMM to the BIOS for fail safe settings), not based on what you set up... By default, the DIMMs are running with lowest clock if different clocked DIMM are mixed together unless you OC them yourself.

I think you had a glitch, I've never seen the focused so low....   For me, it ran really well even at ultra 1440p!  I was using a 680, again like watch_dogs it didn't run smoothly at first but it just magically fixed itself one day and have had no problems since.

 

I have used Titan Blacks, and 980s to play the game and both of those cards handle it better than the 680, but even so the 680 gave me a smooth experience which was fine for me. 

Knowing that even TotalBiscuits is having hard time maintaining high enough framerate without making the game looks horrible, I don't want to accept "fine". Not because your "fine" is a bad thing, but rather more on my expectation on "fine" is way higher than this. Sure, if I'm expecting the game run only at 30fps max Ultra settings is way within reach. But when I bought GTX970 I would expect it to be able to run at minimum High while maintaining 60fps at 1080p. And that "High" means proper rendering instead of potato like what Unity has.

I'm not debating 60fps vs 30fps. If you think 30fps is good enough for you, go ahead... world still won't get destroyed. But I always prefer 60fps above anything else.

If it's the texture, no it's not a glitch. When I do comparison, I don't do on that specific Arno scene but at the Jacques De Molay breaching the gate scene and I'm pretty confident it is not a glitch but the level of details of the game is just simply low even with High presets. I didn't notice the low texture as well when I first play, even the one in the screenshot mostly because I do not know what to look for. But when I replay the recordings I made, it immediately become obvious that the texture and polygon counts for some out of focus objects are very bad that it looks like it is rushed out of productions rather than a glitch.

Even if it is a glitch, I can't accept that excuse for $60 full fledged AAA game.

Notice the chain sleeve on Jacques De Molay that looks like fabric? Yes, that's on PC (ignore the hillarious face bug please)

And this is the kind of chain sleeve that I get on a PS4 video recording on Youtube.

Comparing those, the 2nd screenshot in my OP totally makes sense to say it's not a graphical glitch but rather an intended rendering at that quality presets.

TL;DR, I'm with TotalBiscuits on the graphical fidelity department of this game. I can't get high enough framerate to my liking in this game without making the game looks so horrible in one area or another.

That 2nd screenshot is disgusting... ugh.

That 2nd screenshot makes Five Nights at Freddy's look like a superior game. Was this really on High? Yikes, I think I'll stick with playing Batman Arkham City or Arkham Asylum.

Assassins Creed 64?

I just hoped that you guys don't go compare PS4 versions with PC versions because as I find out, PS4 textures was far superior and you will start rage against Ubisoft. But those are at the cost of resolution and framerate of the game. I'm guessing PS4 versions is running at least "very high" presets and of course at lower resolution. I'm planning to run the game with another 2 upper presets @900p and see if we can get anything similar with console setups.

But overall, the rendering engine for this game is indeed a potato

Intro

• I got this from Pick Your Path bundle so I pretty much has nothing to lose when I grab the copy. Not really a fan of FarCry even though I admit FC series is actually very good. Not gonna say anything about The Crew. Knowing that it is a bug fest when it was released, I did think a lot before actually redeeming this code. But I kind of glad I did, even if it's not the best thing ever.

Story

• Not the best story, but acceptable by my standard. Reminds me a lot of young Ezio in AC2. But modern story is pretty much non-existent is pissing me off a lot. Especially when they went "Ok, templars won't find the sage so let's do nothing". Seriously, it feels like the writers went lazy or the devs simply doesn't want to make the modern time story.
• Voice acting is good, but the missing accent really bothers me. The excuse given to us is that because everywhere we go in the game the feel of Paris and French Revolution won't make us forget that the characters are Frenchmen. The problem is, Assassin's Creed 2 pretty much Italian Renaissance wherever I go so why there's accent there? The lack of accent really throws the feel of the character off that I can't enjoy the story as much as I enjoy Ezio's. I tried to change the language to French and the animation is not in sync with the speech, again the feel is lost. Probably just a pet peeves but this kind of details what makes me miss Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood.

Gameplay

• You now have 2 options while free-running; free run up and down. This is supposed to tell Arno to climb up or down while free running with the safest and fastest route. But the problem of random climb is still not solved as the game still allow and guess random climb on low items, and you will also jumps of the cliffs as well. Nothing is solved with the improvement given.
• Combat controls is clunky as well, but at least it is well animated and most of the time doesn't really punish me too much for each mistakes. Combat does feel better and improved compared to previous games but targeting system will probably need some works, or perhaps I'm the one who need to works my combat.
• Stealth mechanics feels great. Makes a little more sense compared to any other Assassin's Creed I've played. Blending in crowd to be stealthy in open; chairs, table, walls, closets are useful indoors. The only thing that bugs me is that wearing yellow attire while blending in dark colored clothed crowd isn't attracting any attention.
• Main story missions felt too much like the original Assassin's Creed. Briefed by council, investigate, and assassinate. Good thing they modify the assassination mission a little bit by adding in opportunities. These are secondary optional objectives that will really helps you with the mission, but completing them isn't a piece of cake either. Good challenge and helps with the assassination.
• Crowd missions introduced taking advantage of the crowd number in the game. The missions is basically giving helps to the citizens against thieves or harassing extremist, but the frequency of the citizens being harassed is too much that I get confused whether I'm in Gotham or Paris. Not to mention they can actually fight, some of them actually carry swords but doesn't fight when harassed until you act. Borderline logical for me, but that's probably because I've never lived in a revolution era.
• Co-op missions are fun, it's just that I keep on asking myself how many Arno is there in this world. I kind of missed the PvP multiplayer. It's not in the game, if you need them you had to go back to previous installation.
• Animations are cool! I like the high-profile assassination, low-profile assassination and the parkour animations.
• Nostradamus Enigma is fun investigation too. Deciphering clues requires good knowledge of the in game area, usually pretty obvious if you know Paris well enough. These enigma will lead you to the artifacts that will unlock unique armor.
• Side missions are good too. 2 kind of side missions, local stories and investigation. Playing detectives in investigation missions are fun, problem is the most of the time the clues sometimes direct you right to the person who did the crime. Without much effort you can solve the crime. As for the local stories, my main gripe with it is that the need to either re-load the game or fast travel to get to the next part of the story after you complete one part of it. If you are the kind of completing one story in one go, you'll find that the way they do it is giving you extra works.
• Because of the co-op, the devs implement some sort of RPG elements in the game. You can modify the stats of your Arno to be stealthy or to be a tank. Problem is, the stats are not well explained. Example; High-Profile Noise and Low-Profile Noise. In game they have positive values, so you'll get confused whether the equipment is adding more noise or actually reducing noise? Some of the stats that improve your stats has negative values. So, you decide to seek your answer on the web. And there you go, the value on the AC:Unity page is upside down from the in-game (positive in-game, negative in the web). It felt like the stats modifier is an afterthought rather than planned from beginning and poorly executed. Though the function remains the same.

• I would say that Ubisoft is right on making the crowd as their selling point. The crowd is pretty lively, has their own agenda  and the number is simply enormous. The problem is with the protesters. It's like they don't have anything else to do other than protesting. They don't need to eat, they don't need to rest, they don't have other business to attend, they just protest. Good thing is that they still know how to react to their surrounds, one guy release a shot every one will start running away saving themselves.

Graphics

• I'm running the game at 1080p with graphic presets High with additional HBAO+. The problem is, it felt very much like being rendered by potato rather than my GTX970. Some objects that is imitating bokeh (out of focus object) is not out of focus but rather rendered with very low res textures and polygon. Faraway buildings are having seriously low res textures that you start to wonder if you actually owns GTX970 or GeForce 2 MX400. This might not bother much if you are simply running around but when I'm stopping investigating enigmas, this really bothers me. As for the framerate, yes it struggles to maintain 60fps. But at least it can maintain above 40fps. No weird framerate issues that I experience.
  • ​Dem low poly and textures​

​

• Dem low textures

• If you really want to maintain 60fps, probably you'll need SLI. Problem is, SLI is broken as of my review was done so it's pretty much not an option right now.

Microtransactions

• Oh yes, you don't want to play the game yet wants to unlock every single equipments in this game? You got the money, Ubisoft got the answer for you. I see it as pay-to-win since basically it just jumps you forward with more powerful equipments, but it won't upset any balancing in the game so you might argue it's not pay-to-win and I'm willing to accept that. A mobile game level of microtransaction in full fledged triple A game that cost you $60 isn't bad enough for you?
• You can throw your money to Ubisoft another extra $2 for premium access in the companion apps. This will give you "full experience" with the companion apps when the companion app is useless without you buying the game.
• Companion app is primarily for you to throw more money at Ubisoft.

 

 
Companion App

• I like the idea of 2nd screen experience and extra things you can do in it. Introduction of Glyph Puzzles to unlock missions and send your assassins to complete the missions for you and unlocking extra chest in the game is an idea that I actually like, just that you'll need to make sure that you collect the rewards in game as soon as possible, else you'll lose access to one of your assassin for 24 hours as they were automatically assigned to collect your rewards for 24 hours.

Conclusion

• Assassin's Creed: Unity isn't a bad game. But the inconsistencies, microtransactions and textures in certain area really bugs me. I like the story, I like the stealth mechanics, I like the animations, I like the co-op multiplayer, but the game itself is released in such conditions that makes everything becomes bad and leave sour taste in my mouth. If you're hoping to run this game on SLI to boost performance, hold your horses. But if you really can look past the bad pc port graphic quality, microtransactions and inconsistencies, I'd say it is passable as an entertainment. The game itself is fun though nothing excellent, but all the bragging points buried by the bad stuff in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdSk6vJmW5M

Most expensive: Asus GTX970 Strix

Most Appreciated: on-board audio + asus dgx. Not the best audio equipment but for its price, combo of this allow me to do best audio playback setup I've ever had with my PC speaker as the center of everything; 

Asus Customer Support is good???? pppfffttttttttttttt....

Last time when NVidia has "Pick Your Path", Asus didn't include the coupon inside the box due to stupid retailers here opening the box and remove the coupon to resell it (that's the sad thing about retailers here, since many retailers are doing that there are chances that you won't get a box with intact seal anywhere you'll go). There are authorised retailers listed by Asus but their location isn't really near to me...

The customer were expected to contact Asus' Customer Support for the coupon number and these retailers were not told how to contact them. So we resort on searching our own method. I opened a ticket with them and it goes unanswered for almost 3 months. I go contact their facebook pages, no answer for weeks before I give up and scrolls through their facebook pages before finding out the proper way. So, in other word the only way to know how to contact them for the coupon is to read that specific post that was only posted once. Nobody from any department will forward your request and tells you proper channel and they just act like "It's not my job". And even when I contacted them through proper channel as their post, I still don't get any answer until I go rage on their facebook page....

So, yeah.... Asus Customer Support is good? ppppffffffffffftttttttttttttttttttttt.....

Fair enough. 

 

But you can't change the fucking seat position? What piece of shit is this? It's not a sports car, the centre of gravity is not really that important and i'm sorry - but a big cushion of air is still a big cushion of air. No matter which angle you hit it, the airbag is always going to "work". Manufacturers have been doing this with five-star cars for years and suddenly it's dangerous? What a load of rubbish. They just wanted an "example".

Sure the airbag still explode but the position of the airbag to guarantee you not hitting the steering wheel was tested and optimized with the bundled seat. You adjust the seat to lower or higher seating height than the original range will remove that guarantee and if in an accident you happen to die because you knock the steering wheel you can't blame Tesla for it not working. As far as I can remember, even 1-star car manufacturer Proton (if you happen to know one, I won't blame you if you don't know) even raise this concern on the effectiveness of the airbag once you modify the seat. So, yeah... adjusting seat parameters does change the airbag effectiveness.

but if you choose not to believe what I said, go ahead... I would say that's the reason why Tesla wants to lock down their car from unauthorized mods. Not because they will guarantee you to be dead, but they don't want to be blamed in case if you dieded...

The reason they have Band and are pushing fitbit so hard is because the deal with Pebble went south.

It's not like they don't anticipate this, yet they are limiting the production of Band...

Oh well, I read through the article before but didn't get into the CEO details apparently. Wow... I guess I can say goodbye to Pebble now...  not because their product is not awesome but I can now basically ditch all kind of hope the proper support coming to Windows Phone now...

what Microsoft should do is to produce more Band....

Actually, on the Razer Blackwidow it's not 100% Kailh switches.

As Razer does claim, they design the keys which is based on Kailh switch (which I guess, it's fair to say they are Kailh switches but I tend to say modified Kailh) but I heard the manufacturing of the switches was done by multiple manufacturers, not Kailh alone which I think a lot more fair to say they are "Razer" switches rather than Kailh. If the switches failed early, I can't blame Kailh if the switches was not manufactured by them.

And for that reason, it is hard for me to recommend latest Blackwidow to anyone especially when they do not have the best quality control right now. I seriously hate Razer for their recent products. To be honest, if people are asking me to choose between "Razer switches" and Kailh, I will definitely go with Kailh.

While subjective. This statement kinda worries me. Its a too good to be true thing. Esp since you pointed out on noise perf. 

Just kinda feel if you;re gonna make such a bold claim, you should have a direct comparison to prove your point. Esp when such a statement/result is as contradictory as this.

I am by no mean a photography expert, but what I meant with that claim is I always prefer pictures from Lumia 830 @ISO800 better compared to my Nikon D3000 @ISO800 that making Lumia830 is a better solution for low-light, high-sensitivity quick shot.

Obviously focal length is superior to digital zoom but comparing dark scene from sample below (I agree with you that I should have more direct comparison, but I think this should do) , Nikon D3000 has a lot more obvious grains.

 

*zoom in the picture means 100% crop, derp me

while, arguably Lumia 830 does achieve this with post processing I still like the finish product. Anything below ISO400 is better with Nikon D3000, but anything above that has the potential to produce useless product if I'm not careful...