Unpopular Tech Opinions

[mr mans]

You don't need a brand new 8/10/12+ core CPU for gaming. A used Intel Haswell will perform just as well

[Commodus]

7 hours ago, Gastarbeiter said:

DELL PCs are overpriced pieces of junk. They are the MACs of the PC world.

Dell's higher-end systems (and many of Apple's computers, I'd add) are fine.  The big problem is at the low end.  Much like HP and similar vendors, Dell's entry-level gear epitomizes that "race to the bottom" that defines the Windows PC market.

 

Also, it's Mac as in Macintosh, not MAC as in Media Access Control.

[Bombastinator]

Just now, vukos said:

You don't need a brand new 8/10/12+ core CPU for gaming. A used Intel Haswell will perform just as well

*has a used haswell*  Only the fastest overclocked k ones even approach this.  The 4770k is sort of 8 core (4/8). Plus they have other problems.  I sort of suspect CPUs May wind up going the phone route.  A couple of big cores and a bunch of little ones.

[Computernaut]

17 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Do gamers and folks who use complicated spreadsheets count as normal people?

Games still rarely use more than four cores effectively. I'm not sure how complicated a person's spreadsheet would realistically get if it's not part of their job or something.

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

Goes to battery.  USB is a 5v dc power port.

Completely irrelevant, nearly every phone already generates 5V for USB OTG.

  

9 hours ago, Gastarbeiter said:

DELL PCs are overpriced pieces of junk. They are the MACs of the PC world.

High end ones are better than macs and half the price...

[Sylvie]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

That's true, it's just that you do have to think about maintaining a baseline where you know that a game for console X or Y should always run around 30FPS or better depending on the developer's objectives.  

my issue is that i find 30 fps to just be too low in this day and age.

plenty of console games run at higher framerates now though, thanks to variable resolutions on-the-fly so it's not generally as big of a problem anymore.

 

not everyone has my preferences though

[dalekphalm]

31 minutes ago, Sylvie said:

my issue is that i find 30 fps to just be too low in this day and age.

plenty of console games run at higher framerates now though, thanks to variable resolutions on-the-fly so it's not generally as big of a problem anymore.

 

not everyone has my preferences though

Yep - and that's the kickass nature of Gaming - we have choice! If someone lists "Must be able to do 60+ FPS" as a requirement, they can choose to get a gaming PC capable of doing that, or they can choose to only buy console titles w/ 60 FPS.

 

Other gamers can make the choice to play on consoles because of other preferences that they value more.

[Curious Pineapple]

44 minutes ago, Computernaut said:

Games still rarely use more than four cores effectively. I'm not sure how complicated a person's spreadsheet would realistically get if it's not part of their job or something.

I may be wrong but I recall Sea Of Thieves spawning 40 odd threads.

[Mira Yurizaki]

15 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

I may be wrong but I recall Sea Of Thieves spawning 40 odd threads.

How many threads a application spawns isn't indicative of how many get run in a given moment. Even Notepad spawns something like 7 threads.

[Curious Pineapple]

Just now, Mira Yurizaki said:

How many threads a application spawns isn't indicative of how many get run in a given moment. Even Notepad spawns something like 7 threads.

I was monitoring CPU usage, I don't know if I have a screenshot of it but I recall a lot of them were running. I was bug finding so may have the info still in the bug report.

[Arika]

1 hour ago, Sylvie said:

my issue is that i find 30 fps to just be too low in this day and age.

i find that 30fps on console is better than 30fps on PC, no idea why

 

but also a consistant 30fps will forever be better than a frame rate that jumps around and is unable to maintain the frame rate of the monitor's refresh rate

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Arika S said:

i find that 30fps on console is better than 30fps on PC, no idea why

 

but also a consistant 30fps will forever be better than a frame rate that jumps around and is unable to maintain the frame rate of the monitor's refresh rate

You found the answer to your conundrum.

 

Console game developers, at least those worth their salt, make damn sure they meet a target frame rate.

[Bombastinator]

4 minutes ago, Arika S said:

i find that 30fps on console is better than 30fps on PC, no idea why

 

but also a consistant 30fps will forever be better than a frame rate that jumps around and is unable to maintain the frame rate of the monitor's refresh rate

Got a possible theory: is the console crt or even a Telivision rather than a monitor?  Digiltal TVs have smoothing stuff in them to make them act more like CRTs.

[Arika]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

Got a possible theory: is the console crt or even a Telivision rather than a monitor?  Digiltal TVs have smoothing stuff in them to make them act more like CRTs.

nope, i can have my PS4 plugged into my PC monitor and run around in any game at 30fps looks great, fire up another game on pc and lock to 30fps (with ingame settings, not GPU software, but even with GPU software it doens't change it) and it looks sooooo bad. super massive jittery cluster of badness

[Bombastinator]

Just now, Arika S said:

nope, i can have my PS4 plugged into my PC monitor and run around in any game at 30fps looks great, fire up another game on pc and lock to 30fps (with ingame settings, not GPU software, but even with GPU software it doens't change it) and it looks sooooo bad. super massive jittery cluster of badness

Interesting.  Well that kills that probably. Maybe there is smoothing hardware in the console.

[minibois]

11 minutes ago, Arika S said:

i find that 30fps on console is better than 30fps on PC, no idea why

My theory on that one has always been that controller don't allow for the 'fast' (or rather 'sudden') movement that a mouse can allow you. That 30fps on PC can feel sluggy (because frametimes are worse too), while on console you can blame the controller for the sluggishness. 

[Arika]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

Interesting.  Well that kills that probably. Maybe there is smoothing hardware in the console.

thats my thought, it actually has correct frame timing or outputs "60fps" using a 2:1 method

[Bombastinator]

3 minutes ago, Arika S said:

thats my thought, it actually has correct frame timing or outputs "60fps" using a 2:1 method

The motion blur comment by @minibois may have merit, and it’s testable.  Computer games often have variable motion blur.  You could mess with the setting in a given game and see if it improves things for you 

[minibois]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

The motion blur comment by @minibois may have merit, and it’s testable.  Computer games often have variable motion blur.  You could mess with the setting in a given game and see if it improves things for you 

What I talked about really isn't conventional 'motion blur', it's more that mice have a factor of 'fast response', or rather sudden movement from one side to another, while controllers just have natural 'smoothing' to their movement. 

[Arika]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

The motion blur comment by @minibois may have merit, and it’s testable.  Computer games often have variable motion blur.  You could mess with the setting in a given game and see if it improves things for you 

that's a good point.

 

might give that a go, see what happens

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, minibois said:

What I talked about really isn't conventional 'motion blur', it's more that mice have a factor of 'fast response', or rather sudden movement from one side to another, while controllers just have natural 'smoothing' to their movement. 

That’s testable too.  Controllers can be put on PCs.  There are reasons why it’s very rarely done. mouse/keboard generally owns so bad on controllers that controller players need to be segregated from keyboard users to hide how awful they are.

[Guest]

On 1/2/2020 at 7:37 PM, Gastarbeiter said:

1.Consoles are holding gaming development back

2.Not every game has to have multiplayer

3.Battle royale games are sh!t

Totally agree with number two. Dead Space is in my top five games ever played and there isn't any multiplayer whatsoever.

 

20 hours ago, Computernaut said:

-Phones do not need insanely thin bezels, just put the selfie camera in the top bezel where it belongs.

-No normal person needs more than 4 cores in their computer.

-RIP Windows 7.

-Consumer TVs do not need to be 60+ inches and <1 inch thick.

Agree with all especially number one. I have no issue with some thickness on the forehead and chin and don't see the appeal of an all screen display except for sex appeal, and phones should be practical not a fashion statement.

 

10 hours ago, BecauseICanTBH said:

It's true. I drive a 2020 RAV4 with lane tracing and auto braking, pedestrian detection, DRCC down to 0 mph, etc. I barely pay attention anymore and am practically incapable of driving a car without those features without looking like I'm completely wasted. At least tech is advancing and not backtracking eh?

I think it really boils to what generation you grew up with; my first car had an airbag and a seatbelt, and that was just about it for safety. You had to use your head, eyes and ears in order to drive safely (and your mirrors!). I understand wanting to have safer vehicles, but at what cost? The driving experience is meant to be engaging, and I'm just afraid we'll become too dependent on the vehicle to recognize a hazard that we won't bother looking ourselves.

 

9 hours ago, Silentprototipe said:

I like HP in my case for unpopular opinions. HP is weirdly reliable in my case, Then again I do a lot of preventive maintenance on my machines so perhaps thats why they last. But my PC is marching onto the 9th year of its existence and still hasn't blown up and my Envy X360 has had water dumped on it and is still strong despite this being months ago. Maybe im just getting lucky but personally I like HP. The Envy X360 is hands down my favorite laptop series ever

I like HP for their design and hardware but not their software. Every HP I've ever had is just bursting at the seams with useless junk added onto the OS, some proprietary to them. Just give me a barebones OS, is that so hard to do? Granted it's been about five years since I've bought one so perhaps they've changed. I did just pick up an Acer that was pretty minimal, had like three programs on it but pretty empty overall.

[ShadesOfGrey]

On 9/18/2019 at 9:52 PM, handymanshandle said:

1. Windows Vista... isn't terrible. As a matter of fact, it feels like it's 7/8ths of the way to being Windows 7. I prefer Vista's look over 7, anyways.

I know I'm late to the party, here.  And this has probably been said several times over in this thread by now.  But Vista was awesome.  it's bad reputation and critical failure had far more to do with lagging OEMs and hardware developers not keeping up with the needed hardware/driver support for Vista.  Linus was dead on in that video that he made.

 

Vista was a damn good OS, and a sexy beast at that. 

[ShadesOfGrey]

On 9/19/2019 at 11:05 AM, EL02 said:

Windows phones were way better at taking photos than any other competitor at the time.

I'll tell you that my Zune sounded better than my Ipod does.  But damned if Microsoft couldn't unfuk their clunky Zune software.

[Silentprototipe]

5 hours ago, Stylized_Violence said:

15 hours ago, Silentprototipe said:

 

I like HP for their design and hardware but not their software. Every HP I've ever had is just bursting at the seams with useless junk added onto the OS, some proprietary to them. Just give me a barebones OS, is that so hard to do? Granted it's been about five years since I've bought one so perhaps they've changed. I did just pick up an Acer that was pretty minimal, had like three programs on it but pretty empty overall.

Yeah thats the downfall. HP's bloatware is a nightmare. Once you install a clean OS its like a dream