What is strangest things you heard when shopping for computer components?

[Brennan Price]

17 hours ago, manikyath said:

a guy told me that sending speaker audio over a phone line cable would make the audio come out garbled and really low quality.

 

the dude is an electronics engineer college student, deeply believes in the superiority of "perfect surface silver" audio cables being far superior than cables that can scientificly be tested to show they have lower resistance and less interference.

 

also, iOS has superior audio quality over android. let that sink in folks, an OS has superior audio quality.

I agree it is total bullshit that 'iOS has superior audio quality over android' but I suppose depends on what audio player you are using. in some cases like Zorin OS for desktop, it does actually have a shit audio player, but when you use a different OS on the same PC then you get far better audio just because the audio player is more optimized etc...

[manikyath]

3 minutes ago, Brennan_Price said:

I agree it is total bullshit that 'iOS has superior audio quality over android' but I suppose depends on what audio player you are using. in some cases like Zorin OS for desktop, it does actually have a shit audio player, but when you use a different OS on the same PC then you get far better audio just because the audio player is more optimized etc...

the 3 device sided things that matter are:

- your hardware (duh...)

- the driver for that hardware cant be absolute dogshit (nvidia, if you dont want linux to fix your shit, fix your shit for linux)

- the music player of choice needs to do a good job.

 

OS is the only thing in between your MP3 and your audio jack that makes no difference what so ever.

[Brennan Price]

Just now, manikyath said:

the 3 device sided things that matter are:

- your hardware (duh...)

- the driver for that hardware cant be absolute dogshit (nvidia, if you dont want linux to fix your shit, fix your shit for linux)

- the music player of choice needs to do a good job.

 

OS is the only thing in between your MP3 and your audio jack that makes no difference what so ever.

Yeah I know, but whatever audio player comes integrated with the OS can make a difference. Obviously you can get a different one but I'm just saying it can kinda make a difference...

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Brennan_Price said:

Yeah I know, but whatever audio player comes integrated with the OS can make a difference. Obviously you can get a different one but I'm just saying it can kinda make a difference...

well, the thing is.. android doesnt come with "an audio player"

 

on android you can choose. i'm not sure if apple has figured out this is a good thing since my ipod touch 4th gen or not, but i know all my android devices offer me the choice what app i want to play music with.

[Brennan Price]

Just now, manikyath said:

well, the thing is.. android doesnt come with "an audio player"

 

on android you can choose. i'm not sure if apple has figured out this is a good thing since my ipod touch 4th gen or not, but i know all my android devices offer me the choice what app i want to play music with.

Yeah it does come to think about it. Tbh, most music I listen to is all on sound cloud these days.

[VinsinityKT]

This 5400 rpm Hard drive will offer great performance and loading times. 

[ziogref]

9 hours ago, VinsinityKT said:

This 5400 rpm Hard drive will offer great performance and loading times. 

Well Of course, 5400rpm is super fast, I mean the disks are spinning super fast!

[ziogref]

10 hours ago, ddrkreature said:

Was talking to a guy about parts when I was picking out parts for a new rig. Said I was going to be gaming and editing video on it and picked out an i7. Then this happens:

 

"Why are you going for an i7?"

"Because it's better at video rendering"

"Just get an i5. They're better, faster, and cheaper. The i7 is a ripoff"

".....are you being serious right now?"

"Yes. I've owned both. The i5 beat the i7 in everything. Also, that whole hyperthreading bs is a gimic. It doesn't actually do anything"

To be honest when "Gaming" the i5 is a good chip (I regret getting my i7, should have got an i5 and spent the extra on a better graphics card) But for video editing, i7 would be better.

[Godlygamer23]

On 3/28/2016 at 2:21 PM, LiamApex said:

because it expands and cools when it turns on and off... yeah ok...

This part is correct though.

[WkdPaul]

There are too many to list ... But here are some.

 

Celerons are cheaper and faster (back in P4 times)

 

"Gaming" PCs with 32GB of RAM and a GT730 (that was last year).

 

SSDs are only for gaming, no need for one if you're not playing lots of games.

 

There's also tons of overselling BS when soccer moms want to update their "Facebook machine" worst ones are the "you need 16GB of RAM to run Windows 8 and up" (heard it a few times).

[kenjigreat]

17 hours ago, wkdpaul said:

There are too many to list ... But here are some.

 

Celerons are cheaper and faster (back in P4 times)

 

"Gaming" PCs with 32GB of RAM and a GT730 (that was last year).

 

SSDs are only for gaming, no need for one if you're not playing lots of games.

 

There's also tons of overselling BS when soccer moms want to update their "Facebook machine" worst ones are the "you need 16GB of RAM to run Windows 8 and up" (heard it a few times).

Maybe those soccer moms also love opening 30 chrome tabs in facebook.

[Fluffinator]

2 minutes ago, kenjigreat said:

Maybe those soccer moms also love opening 30 chrome tabs in facebook.

I actually think 16gb's is necessary now, and recommend it to all my friends since it's so cheap. I'm always at 15.5gb's of ram out of 16gb's.... Even cheapo prebuilt laptops have atleast 12gb and up of ram now a days.

[handymanshandle]

I do think that investing in a platform now might allow the PC to last longer. Though it doesn't necessarily mean price=longevity.

Z170 and X99 will be viable and have some sort of upgrade path whereas Z97 and X79 are essentially dead-end platforms if you're towards the top of the line as far as CPUs on that platform. 

[themctipers]

4K is superior for gaming with this high end 8ms screen delay. You will be able to kill people in FPS's like CS:GO.

 

[kenjigreat]

2 minutes ago, themctipers said:

4K is superior for gaming with this high end 8ms screen delay. You will be able to kill people in FPS's like CS:GO.

 

Do 4K 144Hz monitors exist? The only advantage is not ever having to use AA For CS:GO.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmRKryhS8A

[themctipers]

Just now, kenjigreat said:

Do 4K 144Hz monitors exist? The only advantage is not ever having to use AA For CS:GO.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmRKryhS8A

It was a 60hz one with HUGE input delay.

._.

[WkdPaul]

41 minutes ago, Fluffinator said:

I actually think 16gb's is necessary now, and recommend it to all my friends since it's so cheap. I'm always at 15.5gb's of ram out of 16gb's.... Even cheapo prebuilt laptops have atleast 12gb and up of ram now a days.

Like I said, when they are selling more RAM, they are mentioning Windows 8 and Windows 10. If someone needs lots of RAM because of their usage, it has nothing to do with the OS.

 

Also if you're maxing up you 16GB, you should think of getting more (not even kidding). And NO 16GB isn't necessary. My wife laptop has 4GB and for her usage, there's no need to get more (same for my 8GB).

[drc00k3]

On 29/03/2016 at 3:55 AM, Davehaslanded said:

I overheard a guy in PCworld asking for an i7 laptop for video editing. He got told by staff that this laptop with an AMD A-series processor was equivalent and much better for the job. I waited for the staff to go get some information, then crept over and told him he was being lied to and to leave as he was trying to shift old stock. Guy thanked me and walked out. 

 

I hate PCworld. I've asked for components before when upgrading a friends laptop in limited time. I was told "we don't really sell PC components, try Amazon". Lol

I tried to buy a motherboard off them once over the phone, I was on hold for ~20 minutes, they asked if lga1150 was the brand and then they try and sell me their most expensive x99 motherboard(out of their amazing selection of 3) and when I tell them it won't be compatible, they start trying to tell me I'm wrong.

[ziogref]

5 hours ago, wkdpaul said:

Like I said, when they are selling more RAM, they are mentioning Windows 8 and Windows 10. If someone needs lots of RAM because of their usage, it has nothing to do with the OS.

 

Also if you're maxing up you 16GB, you should think of getting more (not even kidding). And NO 16GB isn't necessary. My wife laptop has 4GB and for her usage, there's no need to get more (same for my 8GB).

My laptop has 8gb ram, and I use that for watching videos, browsing the web, nothing intensive, the most I have seen myself use is 5.2gb ram. On my gaming rig I have 16gb, again, I use no more than about 9 or 10gb. My sisters laptop and my dads desktop both have 4gb, and they use around 2.5gb-3gb. All work fine, just get the amount you need. However my workplace, they have 2gb ram but use 4-5gb........ page files suck.

 

[BurgerBum]

1 hour ago, ziogref said:

My laptop has 8gb ram, and I use that for watching videos, browsing the web, nothing intensive, the most I have seen myself use is 5.2gb ram. On my gaming rig I have 16gb, again, I use no more than about 9 or 10gb. My sisters laptop and my dads desktop both have 4gb, and they use around 2.5gb-3gb. All work fine, just get the amount you need. However my workplace, they have 2gb ram but use 4-5gb........ page files suck.

 

my laptop has only 6 gigs of system memory, ive has a good 40 something tabs open in firefox and youtube playing in the backround while gaming.

usage? 3 gigs.

 

the person, usage scenario, and what OS make a massive difference.

i only want 24 gigs of ram in my next PC because 24 is my favorite number and

''because i can''

 

 

On 3/28/2016 at 11:30 AM, manikyath said:

and specificly on the side of processors: you can talk abour single core performance over more cores and vice versa, but with all the crystal balls in the world, we cannot predict what the future will hold for our processors. for all we know next year someone brings out an add-in card that can easily offload all multithreaded workloads off the cpu and do them mindblowingly faster - bringing us back to cpu's being single core bound.

but maybe someone will instead bring out a card that can BURN single thread, but only has one "core", bringing us to cpu's being multicore bound, where single core performance doesnt really matter, as long as theres enough cores to compensate.

that latter scenario just gave me a lady boner.

[manikyath]

Just now, BurgerBum said:

that latter scenario just gave me a lady boner.

that latter scenario is gonna make modded minecraft go trough the roof

[Fgtfv567]

On 3/28/2016 at 11:09 AM, Nacho Marco Segui said:

A local seller couldn't tell the difference between a 4690k and a 4690, he said that the k was marketing

A woman at Fry's told me that the K was if it had the stock fan..

I heard a woman also at the same Fry's tell me (in an underlying message, she said we got this) to pretty much scram after I saw a teen blow his budget on an AX850i and only got a gtx 960 along with some cheap AMD CPU.

 

Good lord if that was the same woman both times, she needs to be moved away from the CPU/mobo/RAM section and moved to be a cashier or something

[Godlygamer23]

49 minutes ago, Fgtfv567 said:

A woman at Fry's told me that the K was if it had the stock fan..

If it's a Skylake CPU, there is SOME truth to it. Locked Skylake CPUs come with a stock cooler, while unlocked versions do not come with a stock cooler. I know that's not what the K means, but that is one of the consequences of buying one or another.

[C1intFunWood]

Mac PCs are good

[Godlygamer23]

5 minutes ago, C1intFunWood said:

Mac PCs are good

That's subjective. Very subjective.