a reply to:
Gothmog
Fair enough, my last home build was probably about ten years ago now.
I stopped due to time constraints and can just not get back into it so have started to buy off the shelf ready build's and just add the parts I want
to them if I find something missing.
Sounds like you were building while the old 386sx and even older back when co processors were still a thing were in.
My first computer was an old Amstrad based on a Z80A then a commodore plus 4 (one of the forgotten machines, a decent enough home computer but not as
good as the earlier 64), then after a while I decided to go and buy a PC, spent more than it was worth and the salesman saw me coming (a Mitac Pursuit
based around a Cyrix 686 or that is what they called it with the integer performance of a Pentium 133 - supposed to be a 166 but it felt more about
133 speed - but only the floating point performance of a Pentium 75 if that) which is why I then ended up getting into home build's, as for all that
tweaking ram times, running test apps to find the perfect optimization I could get back into it but that it's just a bloody head ache at the end of
the day unless you actually LOVE doing that which some people do.
I had never heard that bit about the new RTX cards and that does make you wonder but I would still put my money on monopolization and keeping prices
high as they stock pile in case relations with China sour as well as keeping the price artificially high, remember how LG, Samsung and other's did
that with the flat screen displays before they were called out for it, after that the cost of those flat screen displays in some instances fell by
more than half there former retail price, in there case these electronics manufacturers had formed a coalition of sorts to control prices and to milk
the consumer for all they were worth.
No I don't think I will ever get back into self build's but you are correct you can tailor your PC exactly to your need's and also control the
quality yourself, better than the off the shelf Asus I bought, the mother board leaves a lot to be desired though the AMD CPU is more than reasonable,
problem with current off the shelf is that most of them do not have optical drives so you have to add your and in my case I had to then go the
external USB route which is of course slower and also takes up more space outside the case on my desk which is a damned nuisance.
I say I won't get back into self builds but who knows, I just need the impetus to care again and catch up on all the little tweaks that can be made
in current bios settings and which brand and type of Ram is best for my budget, which CPU will suit my needs and what beyond a home media and internet
browsing computer I really want to do with it, despite having played a few (hundred or more) games over the years I am not really much of a gamer and
only really like single player experiences.
I used to love flight sim's and the last controller I had was a Microsoft sidewinder 2 force feedback, it was a great stick for it's time, I can not
get into game pads probably because I am getting old now and still use a track ball though those bloody things are hard to come by and over priced
these days, still they are actually far-far-oh-so-far superior to a mouse once you get used to using them, roll with the fingers though not the thumb
that will cause RSI so some trackballs I have seen have some serious design issues.
(my current trackball is a victim of over use and is held together these days with duck tape and super glue, I really need to get another but it's
comfy even the ball is a bit sticky these days).
edit on 3-5-2021 by LABTECH767 because: (no reason given)