PC Hardware Talk Megathread

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I run Start11 on Win11, for me it's great as I can make the start menu and task bar behave exactly like I had it setup in Windows 10. After looking at the options though there is no vertical taskbar support, you can only have it on the bottom or top of the screen

Good call. Don’t use it personally just heard about it. StartAllBack will do it. Again, I don’t run it just heard about it.

https://www.startallback.com/

[Inferno]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1739290523645423873

[edslunch]

My son wants to build a PC for game development. What are the go to sources for parts and are there any sales anyone knows about. I have no idea what his specs are.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by edslunch

My son wants to build a PC for game development. What are the go to sources for parts and are there any sales anyone knows about. I have no idea what his specs are.

I bought most of my parts this time last year for my 3D Modeling/Gaming PC at NewEgg. I guess for Albertans it wouldn't matter but they don't charge PST for some reason so I saved even more money.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by edslunch

My son wants to build a PC for game development. What are the go to sources for parts and are there any sales anyone knows about. I have no idea what his specs are.

In Canada: Memory Express, but sometimes Amazon can have better prices
In the US: Microcenter

Newegg can be worth a look but rarely beats any of those options

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Newegg can be worth a look but rarely beats any of those options

It depends what you're looking for I guess. I considered everywhere but it seemed like NewEgg always turned out to be the cheapest place.

I was going to get my case at Memory Express and just wire my cousin money to pick it up for me and give it to my dad who was going down to Winnipeg after Christmas but NewEgg ended up beating it out for Boxing Day. I got my motherboard and power supply at BestBuy but that's because I had gift cards and the motherboard never ended up getting as low as it did a couple weeks before on NewEgg.

And then of course my 4090 FE was only available at BestBuy so I had to get it there.

One I thing I would do is go on PCPartPicker to see where is the cheapest price to buy from.

[btimbit]

Newegg does seem to carry more stock than anywhere else too, which is especially nice if you need something slightly older that nobody else bothers keeping on hand anymore

[bossy22]

My son has been saving for a couple of years and we just built up a gaming PC. Holy hell are PC's different from the last time I built one...which was 20 years ago.
Anyways, Where do I get a product key for Windows 11 so I can download it?

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by bossy22

Anyways, Where do I get a product key for Windows 11 so I can download it?

You can download, install and run Windows 11 even without the product key while you look around for the best price from sources you're comfortable with.

[photon]

I see cheap Office/Windows 11 keys advertised often on websites (i.e. https://shop.lifehacker.com/sales/th...-11-pro-bundle or https://www.pcmag.com/deals/get-wind...ce-2021-for-50), which I assume are legit but they only seem slightly less sketchy than the key websites.

[kcin]

Just got a new PC and looking at upgrading the monitor situation to one of the ultrawide curved 49" displays but reading a lot of negative reviews. Any suggestions out there?

I'd like to be able to do some casual gaming but I'll mostly be using it as an upgrade to productivity. Looks like you can use third party software like fancyzones to snap and share various windows for Zoom/Teams/etc but wondering if the single display causes more headaches than solutions.

Thanks in advance.

[photon]

The biggest thing for me with the ultrawides is the best gaming ones are are OLED, and the text rendering on those is poor in my opinion (due to the way the individual colour pixels are laid out, the OS expects a LCD layout but OLED is laid out different). Not everyone is picky about it though so it would probably be worth going somewhere where one is setup and test driving it for a while. But I personally don't think I'd be able to get used to it. Plus I'd still worry about burn in on a OLED if I'm doing 90% productivity.

That said there are ultrawide LCD monitors out there too which would probably work fine for casual gaming. Maybe something like this? https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...white/16458508

My problem is I want the best of both worlds in a single monitor.. but so far to get that my only choice is $2500+ for a 32" monitor... It'd be cheaper to just have a productivity monitor and a gaming screen (monitor or maybe TV).

I can't comment on how well an ultrawide works for productivity though.

[bossy22]

Got the new gaming PC built. A little bit of trial and error and some learning, it's all set up. Got Windows 11 installed. Son started playing and is loving it. What do people use for an antivirus on a gaming PC? Or do you?

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by bossy22

What do people use for an antivirus on a gaming PC? Or do you?

Windows Defender is fine for me. I used to use Avast but the amount of popups got annoying.

[btimbit]

Yeah I haven't bothered with more than Windows Defender in many years, it's all the average person is going to need

[photon]

Yeah I think I'm going to just stick with that on my rebuilt computer. I do like BitDefender but the products are becoming so bloated and invasive.

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Yeah I haven't bothered with more than Windows Defender in many years, it's all the average person is going to need

Are you saying that building my own router and monitoring all traffic and files in and out with an intrusion detection system and real time scans might be overkill?

[photon]

Everyone needs a hobby. For some it is home networks secure against nation state level intrusions.

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by kcin

Just got a new PC and looking at upgrading the monitor situation to one of the ultrawide curved 49" displays but reading a lot of negative reviews. Any suggestions out there?

I'd like to be able to do some casual gaming but I'll mostly be using it as an upgrade to productivity. Looks like you can use third party software like fancyzones to snap and share various windows for Zoom/Teams/etc but wondering if the single display causes more headaches than solutions.

Thanks in advance.

I use to have the Dell 49" a few years ago. loved it. Still pine for it. I mean, if you use two 27" monitors now an ultrawide is an easy upgrade in my mind. I do not game so it is work only though. Spreadsheets, multiple windows opened for monitoring processes, it was great. At least you can sit in the middle and not stare a the edges of the monitor. Dell had its own software but I mostly used Mac and used a program called BetterSnapTool which I highly recommend for any Mac users.

Now I use a 34" plus two 27" but would give that up for 49" in a heart beat. Boss won't let me splurge though.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I've been using a CRG9 (Samsung's first 1440p 49") basically since it came out, solely for office work - I have played games on it a handful of times just to see what it's like but not for a long time. I don't think I could go back. When I'm traveling and using the dual 1080p 27" setup in visitor offices it's pretty brutal.

I have used other large monitor setups like a 43" 4K, but the widescreens are better, IMO. My home setup is a 38" with a 34" next to it and the 38" is generally all I use, along with my laptop screen as a second monitor that basically just houses outlook and teams.