Unpopular Tech Opinions

[kaiju_wars]

1 minute ago, Stylized_Violence said:

I think you misunderstood. To say it another way, buying a CPU that can be overclocked but instead you leave it at stock, or however it comes out of the box.

Yeah, I misread your initial statement.  That's my bad. 

 

Sorry about that.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Vitamanic said:

That's not true. For instance, low light performance has improved at a staggering pace over the last two years. If you take a look at what the iPhone 11 and Pixel 3/4 can do in comparison to what came before, it's insane. This is iPhone 11 vs iPhone X:

 

Looks great. Not $1000+ great, but still pretty damn good. I'm not denying improvements happen, I'm saying that the amount of money and time that is thrown at making a picture light up a bit better is ridiculous because average folks don't need these expensive units in a cellphone. Companies have convinced people they do, however. IDK man, I hope I'm not coming off as argumentative, this thread is about unpopular opinions after all, I just don't see the benefit scale equally with the cost.  

[Roswell]

1 hour ago, Stylized_Violence said:

Looks great. Not $1000+ great, but still pretty damn good. I'm not denying improvements happen, I'm saying that the amount of money and time that is thrown at making a picture light up a bit better is ridiculous because average folks don't need these expensive units in a cellphone. Companies have convinced people they do, however. IDK man, I hope I'm not coming off as argumentative, this thread is about unpopular opinions after all, I just don't see the benefit scale equally with the cost.  

Yeah I totally agree that most people don't really utilize the full potential of the rear cameras. I also think that no matter how great they become, they'll never replace an SLR due to physically being unable to produce true depth of field.

 

Then on top of that I think most people are just taking pictures of food or selfies and don't really care how good their pictures look. BUT, I think in that example above it shows an actual use. Like, it's cool that some phones now can take pictures of friends or whatever it is in even the worst of lighting conditions.

[messy]

14 hours ago, Stylized_Violence said:

I disagree. LTE bands, reliability and stability of wireless protocols like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, battery longevity and quality...I mean there are plenty of areas to improve upon. To your point about moving forward with camera quality, I'd wager most people would be hard pressed to find legit differences in picture quality from a camera two years ago to now. The difference would be slight at best; a little less noise here, a little better in the dark over there, but honestly is it worth the price tag? I guess people will make that call for themselves, I just feel the camera is pretty much as good as it's going to get and the hardon tech Youtubers get over the slightest improvement isn't justified. But to each their own

 

I get what you mean but stuff like "wireless protocol stability" isn't something they can use for marketing. Yet it makes a difference and tech minded people would be interested but they need stuff they can wave in the face of the great unwashed like a metaphorical bunch of shinny key's. 

Also regarding camera quality - you'd be surprised. If you hold up pics from different phones there is a noticeable difference. A big part are they are always improving is how well they do in low light conditions which is important to a lot of people as they take a lot of photos on nights out, festivals, parties etc. 

Also - video recording ability which matters to a lot of people who have super important blogs to record

[Inversion]

20 hours ago, Genwyn said:

It’s an issue with tech support forums in particular because these places are dominated by “the enthusiast”, and the average tech literate person here does not understand the everyday user.

If we did, we’d be telling everyone to buy first gen Ryzen and mid range pascal still because they’re the best value and adequate for 1080p.

I mean realistically 99% of people who come here have a build goal that could be accomplished with an R3 1200 and 3gb 1060 and that would be the best option for them. 
 

Most people run toaster hardware and older stuff. For all the popularity cards like the 5700xt and 2070 super have here, nobody irl is buying the things in comparison to the endless mountains of 1060’s, RX 570’s and GTX 970’s. A surprisingly large amount of people are using 750ti’s still because they’re still adequate.

Haswell I think is still the most popular cpu generation, with skylake coming after it being popular as well. Lots of i5 6400’s out there. The haswell refresh Pentium G series is still stupidly popular, 2c/2t still good enough for a lot of people.

 

Sorry I have to laugh a little here, cause I'm running first gen Ryzen (1600) and I guess roughly mid range Pascal (GTX 1070). I do get what you mean though. There are a lot of us on here who do tend to recommend stuff that's maybe a little more than what most people need, but I would also argue that a lot of us normally also have a line to the effect of "this would do you right now, but if you get this slightly more expensive thing, it'll last you longer." Hence why I normally recommend something like a 3600 to people when they ask because it's not an insanely expensive chip and it will last a fair bit longer than an R3 1200

[Anomnomnomaly]

I'm not reading through this entire thread to see if any of this has already been mentioned.

 

Technology as a fashion accessory... fuck that.

 

As for using your phone whilst driving... it should be considered premeditated murder if you kill some one. You make a concious choice to do something stupid and dangerous and should be treated like the POS you are. A car is a 2ton weapon in the hands of the irresponsible.

[Bombastinator]

18 hours ago, kaiju_wars said:

 

Considering every single one of AMD's CPUs on the consumer market minus the Athlons are overclockable, I think this is a silly statement.

Is and isn’t.  The AMDs overclockable alright, but they effectively come with automatic over clocking, making the whole thing kind of pointless.  You can do a manual overclock but you won’t get much from them.  More can sometimes be had from Intel cpus, but nothing like there used to be.  The days of 50% overclocks ftm seem to be gone.  

[Retro_R]

M.2 SSDs have basically the same real world performance of sata SSDs and the only reason to get M.2 SSDs is for space, or for cleaner/less cables. M.2 SSDs are only a couple seconds ahead of sata SSDs for things like loading windows, and games and stuff, yet have a price premium.

[Bombastinator]

Many m.2 SSDs anyway.  M.2 doesn’t define the interface, it defines the form factor.  There are still SATA m.2 drives.  You may feel the same way about Nvme though in which case I am curious.

[Bombastinator]

12 hours ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

I'm not reading through this entire thread to see if any of this has already been mentioned.

 

Technology as a fashion accessory... fuck that.

 

As for using your phone whilst driving... it should be considered premeditated murder if you kill some one. You make a concious choice to do something stupid and dangerous and should be treated like the POS you are. A car is a 2ton weapon in the hands of the irresponsible.

I might point out that it IS illegal in several states for just that reason

[Retro_R]

35 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Many m.2 SSDs anyway.  M.2 doesn’t define the interface, it defines the form factor.  There are still SATA m.2 drives.  You may feel the same way about Nvme though in which case I am curious.

Yes, I know this, I'm talking about both SATA and NVMe M.2 drives. There are tests (video 1 video 2) where it shows that even NVMe drives only save you about a couple of seconds compared to SATA drives (at least half decent ones)

[Anomnomnomaly]

36 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I might point out that it IS illegal in several states for just that reason

It is here in the UK too... my point is that the punishment for it far too soft... same goes for drunk drivers.  I lost a friend to a drunk driver 30yrs ago and it still hurts to this day... he was unharmed whilst she was burned to death. He got a light sentence and a driving ban... Similar things have happened when a person using their phone has killed some one. It's one of those things I have a zero tolerance for... I've threatened to call the cops on friends if they tried to drive drunk and I've really had a go at a couple who have tried to reach for their phone whilst driving.

[cafe]

7 minutes ago, Retro_R said:

Yes, I know this, I'm talking about both SATA and NVMe M.2 drives. There are tests (video 1 video 2) where it shows that even NVMe drives only save you about a couple of seconds compared to SATA drives (at least half decent ones)

i would pay the extra dough even if it had 7200 rpm hdd speeds

for the form factor.

[Ravendarat]

I made sure the board I bought had room for 3 m.2 drives specifically so I could move from any drives that needed separate power and SATA cables. Im willing to pay the premium to have a 1tb drive for my OS and most frequent programs and then 2 2tb drives for extra storage and then have a local NAS for overflow and not have a single cable in sight for my storage

[BigRom]

2 hours ago, Retro_R said:

Yes, I know this, I'm talking about both SATA and NVMe M.2 drives. There are tests (video 1 video 2) where it shows that even NVMe drives only save you about a couple of seconds compared to SATA drives (at least half decent ones)

NVMe is more useful people who do large amounts of read/write, thats where the increased speed comes in useful

Normal usage like gaming, or just booting into Windows will not present any improvement worth mentioning

 

Besides the prices of even NVMe SSD are so low now I got my SX8200 for almost the same price as a normal SATA MX500 from Crucial. So why the hell not I thought.

[veikko315]

Intel is still way better than AMD for gaming, in every price range except lower end.

Edited October 24, 2019 by veikko315
I was wrong

[Drak3]

9 minutes ago, veikko315 said:

Intel is still way better than AMD for gaming, in basically every price range.

That’s objectively false...

[Princess Luna]

Intel 660p is Intel's best value product.

[dalekphalm]

52 minutes ago, veikko315 said:

Intel is still way better than AMD for gaming, in basically every price range.

*raises eyebrow*

 

Now that's an unpopular opinion.

 

What do you base your opinion on?

[Retro_R]

13 hours ago, BigRom said:

NVMe is more useful people who do large amounts of read/write, thats where the increased speed comes in useful

Normal usage like gaming, or just booting into Windows will not present any improvement worth mentioning

 

Besides the prices of even NVMe SSD are so low now I got my SX8200 for almost the same price as a normal SATA MX500 from Crucial. So why the hell not I thought.

Which workload has large read/writes? I guess installing stuff, but you don't really install stuff all the time. Maybe video editing, i don't really know about storage workloads. But, if most of the time, you won't really use the m.2 to it's full potential, then why pay the extra price. I see that if it has about the same performance as the more expensive stuff for what i'm gonna use it for most often, why pay the extra cost? Any price cuts > just a bit more if it has about the same performance for stuff i'm gonna use.

[EldritchMoose]

On 10/22/2019 at 2:36 AM, kaiju_wars said:

I disagree with this.. depending... I think multiplatform videogames have been really going down in quality.  

As for exclusive titles, I think they're better than they have been even five or six years ago.

Look at Nintendo for example:

• I loved Super Mario 3D World, but Odyssey is a much better 3D Mario game, tons of content.
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse was unique, sure (and I loved it myself), but people had wanted a traditional Kirby game in HD.  Kirby Star Allies was that.
• Yoshi's Crafted World, imo, an amazing follow up to Yoshi's Woolly World.
• Super Smash Bros Ultimate.  I liked SSB for Wii U, but I honestly just prefer Ultimate a lot more, I love that literally everyone (plus some new characters) are there.
• Astral Chain.  Nintendo Published, made by Platinum Games.  Amazing game.  I played through it and loved every minute, very fun action adventure RPG.
• Splatoon 2.  Nintendo supported it for two years.  They released DLC that was actually worth it's $20 asking price, and even after July when support was supposed to be done, they released another patch to fix some things.
• Super Mario Maker 2.  It's great, not much to explain there.  It's better than the first one, and it added slopes.  
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.  I would argue it beats Ocarina of Time for me, tbh.  That's subjective, but still.

 

Same with Sony and some of their exclusives.

The Last of Us, the Gravity Rush series aren't the best things since sliced bread, but it's a fun and unique twist on the 3D platformer aspect.  Uncharted 4 is really fun, and God of War is great too.  Same with Horizon Zero Dawn.

 

Sure, these are exclusives, but they're all big AAA releases.

 

Now when it comes to multiplatform releases, I don't have as much high hopes.  Adding Division style combat/enemies to Wolfenstien Young Blood was a bad decision in my mind.  I loved the Wolfenstein reboot series, but the third game is just... meh  Ghost Recon Wildlands wasn't a good follow up to Future Soldier, imo.  Far Cry 5, yeah, worst one of the series IMO.  Battlefield and CoD every year.  EA with what they did to Star Wars.  Do I even need to discuss Fallout 76

 

You may have misread my post. I wasn't trying to imply that there were no more great games being released these days, or even that individual examples of the latest entries in series couldn't be better than the others. Hell, delivering a better iteration on a similar story has been the Legend of Zelda's modus operandi since the SNES days, and I have loved those games for it.

 

In fact, I can't disagree with your list since even though I haven't played most of them (I haven't had the time or funds available to buy a Switch yet), they are by all accounts great games and well worth the cost of buying them. My problem, though, lies in the fact that you managed to list just over a dozen games  that were released in the last two years, and even if we were to complete a list of great games released in the past two years, there is a much larger list of horrible games released during the same time.

 

My problem lies with the whole of the industry, in that a new videogame is announced or released, and I immediately start worrying that this one, like so many others, is just a pale shadow of a preceding generation's iteration on the formula. Or worse, that they've promised me a new Diablo game, but instead of giving me the great modular playstyle and randomly generated dungeons of Diablo 2, they give me a game with less customisation (D2 effectively launched with 15 classes, D3 with 5) and an algorithm in place that made it more likely for me to receive loot for other classes, just so I would start using the Auction House. Diablo 3 was designed to be a deliberately worse experience than Diablo 2 was, just to cash in on players' nostalgia.

 

Just to compare, here's a list of critically acclaimed games from 2009:

- Uncharted 2

- Fallout 3

- LittleBigPlanet

- Street Fighter IV

- COD: Modern Warfare 2

- Braid

- Minecraft

- Batman: Arkham Asylum

- Assassin's Creed 2

- Dragon Age: Origins

- Killzone 2

- Bayonetta

- Left 4 Dead 2

- Plants vs Zombies

- New Super Mario Bros. Wii

 

All of these games either iterated on a previous design by adding gameplay elements and addressing some of the issues the previous entry had, or still stand as a pioneering example that set a trend for the future. Compare and contrast the latest Fallout, Street Fighter and COD games and all of the latter ones stand as examples of what not to do when designing a game.

 

I don't like being cynical about new games, but the industry seems determined to give me less content (and no, stuffing your games with collectibles and side missions is not content, Ubisoft) for the same amount of money.

[kaiju_wars]

23 minutes ago, EldritchMoose said:

-snip-

I think I might have.  I was under the notion that you meant in general.  Not that there were no more good AAA games.  I was saying I agree but disagree, that I think it's more down to publisher/developer instead of just a blanket statement.

Not necessarily individual examples of good games.

Just that, it seems that first party devs seem to be doing okay, while third party devs seem to be, well, the Ubisofts and EAs and Activisions.

 

Like it sucks.  I've always like Sony and Nintendo IPs, but I wish I could get excited about third party games like I used to.  Like the list from 2009, those are a lot of good third party games. 

 

(I think I might be still misunderstanding, so sorry ahead of time if I am)

[Bombastinator]

20 hours ago, Retro_R said:

Yes, I know this, I'm talking about both SATA and NVMe M.2 drives. There are tests (video 1 video 2) where it shows that even NVMe drives only save you about a couple of seconds compared to SATA drives (at least half decent ones)

So situational.  There’s no use for them except in specific situations which may or may not become more common.

[Bombastinator]

20 hours ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

It is here in the UK too... my point is that the punishment for it far too soft... same goes for drunk drivers.  I lost a friend to a drunk driver 30yrs ago and it still hurts to this day... he was unharmed whilst she was burned to death. He got a light sentence and a driving ban... Similar things have happened when a person using their phone has killed some one. It's one of those things I have a zero tolerance for... I've threatened to call the cops on friends if they tried to drive drunk and I've really had a go at a couple who have tried to reach for their phone whilst driving.

30 years ago is not today.  These days a vehicular homicide conviction can more or less ruin your life.  At least in the US.  The full DWi alcohol level standard is overly high IMHO, but DUI is much lower and still results in some hefty things.  Aside entirely from the basic legal issues In my state one requirement is “whisky plates” which are license plates that always start with a “W” and have different coloration.  They’re stupendously expensive.

[Anomnomnomaly]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

30 years ago is not today.  These days a vehicular homicide conviction can more or less ruin your life.  At least in the US.  The full DWi alcohol level standard is overly high IMHO, but DUI is much lower and still results in some hefty things.  Aside entirely from the basic legal issues In my state one requirement is “whisky plates” which are license plates that always start with a “W” and have different coloration.  They’re stupendously expensive.

So if you got DUI you have to get special plates to make it easier to spot a drunk driver?  I like that idea.

 

Sadly in the UK the registration plate is for the vehicle not the owner... You can get private plates and transfer the reg but it's still registered to the car not the driver.

 

For learners they have to display a L plate on the car... basically a big 8x8" white square with a red L on it... but I've started seeing P plates lately for people who have only just passed their test... although this isn't a legal requirement at the moment... more of a visual to let other road users know you're still learning. I think they should be legally required for at least 2yrs after you pass as they are in other countries.

 

A similar thing for convicted motorists would be nice too... or one with a big A on for all BMW/Audi owners which simply means 'Asshat'