Off-Topic Thread

Headshot

Lads do any of ye get pc gaming mags

Use to get pc gamer back in the day but I saw it recently and couldnt believe how thin it is

Like a mag that gaming reviews, demos and hardware reviews

Eamonn Brophy

Headshot wrote: »

Lads do any of ye get pc gaming mags

Use to get pc gamer back in the day but I saw it recently and couldnt believe how thin it is

Like a mag that gaming reviews, demos and hardware reviews

Waste of money with the net these days. You get outdated information slower and it costs more money.

The only exception is if I'm stuck travelling on a long journey, I might pick one up then in an airport or trainstation, otherwise no.

Solitaire

Yeah. Web killed them for me, I sometimes get them for laughs and demo discs but certainly not for hardware reviews anyway! :P

ShadowHearth

All true about mags.

My phone replaced mags in toilet too.

P.s. I am laying a Brick while typing this! I love technology

Monotype

TMI!

Re: Amazon. They're one of the best sellers around as long as you buy from amazon themselves. They're fast at taking care of customers when there's problems. Always look for the Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. You can filter this by selecting Free super saver delivery on the left hand side. This usually filters out amazon themselves or priority sellers which you can avail of free delivery with. It's a bit buggy though, so it could be improved. I've bought the ocassional item from the third party sellers, but you have to be very selective and it's usually only worth it with rare items as the postage can add up. It's pretty much like buying things on ebay. Postage varies so if you're looking for the best price, there's a lot of moving between cart and checkout. That said, they should have the real prices displayed for shipping here.

Sasquatch76

About to buy a monitor from a German site - I assume that apart from needing a plug adapter, I'll be alright? Can I change the language of the OSD?

Monotype

You can use the same plugs you find on most PCs and monitors. It might depend on the monitor, but just about every monitor in recent times that I've looked at the settings allows for language change.

Sasquatch76

Derp, I could have just looked up the manual online. So yeah, I can change the language no probs

Samsung S23A700D by the way. Can't wait The model has an external power adaptor box, so I'm not sure if that means the plug/lead will be moulded/attached to the box or not. Either way, I'll pick up an adaptor plug somewhere.

deejer

Headshot wrote: »

Lads do any of ye get pc gaming mags

Use to get pc gamer back in the day but I saw it recently and couldnt believe how thin it is

Like a mag that gaming reviews, demos and hardware reviews

Custom PC and PC Format are worth a read. Have been getting them both for the last couple of years. Custom PC is better id say if I had to pick one.

I get the train to work so like having them for a read then. I admit they are a bit of a waste of money. They cost between 6-8 euro and I might get 1 or 2 evenings out of them. But there can be some interesting stuff in them.

Headshot

Iv been trying to find out when these headset are out but cant get a date all. Anyone know when the Razer Tiamat 7.1 are out?

Brian

Surround sound headsets are bogus. Just buy a decent stereo pair. http://www.vanillatf2.org/2011/07/guide-toss-your-old-headphones/

Headshot

Nope the razors will the first true 7.1 system

nesf

Baza210 wrote: »

Surround sound headsets are bogus. Just buy a decent stereo pair. http://www.vanillatf2.org/2011/07/guide-toss-your-old-headphones/

Eh, some of the gaming headsets give decent sound (for the money) and surround sound is useful in some games for some people (i.e. ones whose ears suit surround sound via headphone). My HD 25s are better for sound quality than my Steelseries 7Hs but they were twice the price so they'd want to be. Really and truly good quality headphones are not needed with gaming. It's not like you'll be doing any critical listening while fragging someone now will you?

If I was spending more than £100 I'd go with headphones from an audio company though. You'll be glad of it (with a nice DAC and/or amp) for music later.


Edit: On the Tiamats, I've heard good things about the sound positioning and bad things about the sound quality for the price. Depends on what you're after really.


Edit 2: Because I can't sleep, the kids are awake and one of them is running a fever of 40...

If you care a lot about listening to music and don't have a good speaker set up it's hard to recommend a gaming headset. If you have the money then something like the Sennheiser HD25-IIs or similar will give you much better returns if you start looking at amps and DACs down the line. Good open headphones like the better Grados and Sennheisers HD5xx or HD6xx series will be better again assuming you don't need isolation. It doesn't matter how good your soundcard or DAC is if your headphones can't show the quality of them. That said, if all you're looking for is positional sound for FPS play then it's hard to recommend stereo headsets without Dolby Virtual 7.1. Surround sound headsets will never approach a decent surround sound speaker set up but you can't take your speakers to a LAN without you and that's where a gaming headset really shines. Be warned though, once you start down the road of good headphones, it starts getting expensive quickly. You'll want a DAC rather than relying on onboard sound, you'll want an amp too (personally I think Fiio has some good products here at a nice price point though I just had an E7 die on me so I'm a little annoyed with them at the moment).

If it's purely about gaming and convenience and sound quality is a secondary issue for you, something sub £100 like the Steelseries 7H headphones (they have a design flaw that has affected some people, though I haven't experienced it), or the Siberia V2s or whatever are not a bad option. If you want to listen to music too at that price point you'd want to at least consider Koss Porta Pros or better along with a decent desktop mic if positional sound isn't an issue for you. If you have more money and care about music and need good isolation then the Sennheiser HD25-IIs with a decent but cheap DAC/amp combo like the Fiio E7 or E10, are superb in my opinion without going into crazy money territory (oh how I want a pair of HD650s and a proper DAC and amp!). Another option is something like the HD25-IIs with the Steelseries Siberia USB Soundcard (it has enough gain to drive them well) which will give you 7.1 though not as good as the Tiamats.

Bonesy.

This probably isn't the right place to post this but I wasn't going to make a whole thread dedicated to this :P DCan anyone tell me how they make the card/grid style list for products of Dabs etc on this, I've tryed copy and pasting but it dosn't look right..

Monotype

Fluffy's script.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72858800

Paste the following into the address bar when you're on the basket in dabs.

[php]javascript:var before = 'Item|Price'; var after = '';var format='{itm_quantity}{itm_name}|{itm_price}';var debug = false;function loadScript( url ){if ( document.getElementById( "basket_parser" ) == null ){var script = document.createElement( "script" );script.setAttribute( "id", "basket_parser" );script.setAttribute( "type", "text/javascript" );script.setAttribute( "src", url + "?" + Math.pow( new Date().getMonth(), 2 ) + Math.pow( new Date().getDate(), 3 ) );document.getElementsByTagName( "head" )[0].appendChild( script );setTimeout( "loadScript('" + url + "')", 200 );log( "Started loading script: " + url );}else if ( typeof( init_script ) != 'undefined' ){log( "Loaded." );init_script();}else{setTimeout( "loadScript('" + url + "')", 200 );log( "loading ..." );}}function log( string ){if ( debug ){document.body.appendChild( document.createTextNode( string ) );document.body.appendChild( document.createElement( "br" ) );}}loadScript( "http://fluffy88.com/scripts/basket_parser.js" );void( 0 ); [/php]

Fluffy88

What are the sales like for hardware after Christmas?

I am looking at buying a Crucial M4 128GB for €174 and was wondering should I go ahead and get it now or wait until January and hope that the price drops?

This is my first year that I have actually have any knowledge of computer hardware so I have no idea of the on and off seasons or when the best sales happen so any help is greatly appreciated

Monotype

Seasonal hardware sales are usually non-existent. It depends on the type of item though. Things that might be in stock because they lose value very slowly can be flogged off cheap to clear out old ones, for example cases. A lot of things which closely follow market prices and are kept in low stock, e.g., CPUs, are rarely reduced.

I'd say SSDs fall into latter category. The stores can really only offer combination deals to cut prices a bit - any big reduction has to come from the manufacturer. I'd say demand is quite high for SSDs at the moment given that hard drives are so high. On the other hand, OCZ released some new SSDs which may influence market prices and those M4s have been climbing up the past few months so they a price drop could easily happen.

Last thing to consider is the extra 2% VAT in January. That's nearly an extra €3. This will apply to all the Irish places and anywhere which applies Irish VAT (dabs.ie, amazon.co.uk, overclockers.co.uk).


TL;DR: I don't know, but I wouldn't expect any huge price changes.

Fluffy88

Cool, so I am probably best getting it now so.
Plus I would love to have it over the Christmas so I can show it off to my friends :P

Thanks Mono, your a legend

Solitaire

deejer wrote: »

Great sale on in Steam over the xmas/New year

Couldnt get on it last night after they went live in the US.

Some of the catalog deals look really tempting

GAH!! So hating my sister for pissing off back to Japan now She's the only member of the family with a credit card! So no Steam for me ;_;

Trevor451

Solitaire wrote: »

GAH!! So hating my sister for pissing off back to Japan now She's the only member of the family with a credit card! So no Steam for me ;_;

maybe you could pay with bank transfer or visa debit?

ShadowHearth

Solitaire wrote: »

GAH!! So hating my sister for pissing off back to Japan now She's the only member of the family with a credit card! So no Steam for me ;_;

get the O2 yoke m8.

alot of lads getting those, its like visa card, but its debit.

nesf

Solitaire wrote: »

GAH!! So hating my sister for pissing off back to Japan now She's the only member of the family with a credit card! So no Steam for me ;_;

Change bank to Ulster Bank, they use Visa Debit rather than Laser and that's accepted everywhere Visa is. Not going to help you this week mind but in the long term if you want to avoid having an actual credit card it's a good option.

Serephucus

nesf wrote: »

Change bank to Ulster Bank, they use Visa Debit rather than Laser and that's accepted everywhere Visa is. Not going to help you this week mind but in the long term if you want to avoid having an actual credit card it's a good option.

Seconded. Ulsterbank is great with their Visa Debit. I think AIB also have Mastercard Debit, but I could be wrong there.

Markd250

Bank of Ireland are also apparently changing to visa debit.

Serephucus

Markd250 wrote: »

Bank of Ireland are also apparently changing to visa debit.

Really? Excellent!

Hal Emmerich

Serephucus wrote: »

Really? Excellent!

Should be winging it's way through a letterbox near you any day.

Serephucus

Oooh... contactless payment systems. At last!

Monotype

AIB are going with visa debit next year too.

Anyway, Solitaire you should just have memorised her card number!
If there's a bargain you really want, you can always ask, but I'm not loaning you €50!

nesf

Markd250 wrote: »

Bank of Ireland are also apparently changing to visa debit.

About bloody time. Laser held people back so much.

nesf

Question: What would people think of a thread dealing with soundcard/headphone/speaker choices at various price levels for gaming and/or music? Might be of interest to people who want more than just on-board sound.



So on a bit of whim I spent £23 on a Asus Xonar DG to see if it's reputation for being a good deal better than on-board audio was worth it (and I wanted a better soundcard for my speakers anyway and didn't have the cash to buy the more expensive Asus Essence cards). Linkie: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-011-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat= (Slightly more expensive but free delivery here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Xonar-PCI-Audio-Card/dp/B003ZXDOL6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324631204&sr=8-1)

I can say that I was very pleasantly surprised. Even on my (in speaker terms*) cheap and cheerful (and on my list of gear to replace at some point) Logitech Gigaworks speakers there was a very noticeable (to me) difference in sound quality versus the motherboard audio. I expected to notice the difference on my good headphones but was unsure if my speakers were good enough to show the improvement in sound source. Especially in games I was very happy with greater clarity and separation in the soundscape and much more definition in sound.


I can thoroughly recommend this card (or one of its slightly more expensive near-brethren like the DS) for anyone in search of a better sound source but on a tight budget. If you have anyway decent speakers (I'm using these for reference: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-115-CL

If you have shelled out for a good pair of headphones and are using the on-board audio you really owe it to yourself to get one of these cards. On-board just does not do decent sound gear justice at all.


* <£50 is cheap in speaker terms. £200 would be around basic decent speaker price level, though you can get good quality stuff cheaper if you research it and shop around. If at all possible buy from a proper audio company not someone like Logitech if you're serious about sound (I'm more of a headphones man when it comes to serious listening so getting good speakers is not high on my list of priorities at the moment). For instance the ones I want at the moment but cannot afford are these: http://www.whathifi.com/review/epoz-aktimate-mini combined with an outboard USB DAC like this one: http://www.whathifi.com/review/hrt-music-streamer-ii

See what I mean by £50 speakers and a £23 soundcard is budget!