GPUs & CPUs & Enthusiast hardware: Questions, Discussion and fanboy slap-fights - Nvidia & AMD & Intel - Separe but Equal. Intel rides in the back of the bus.

[The Ugly One]

Because having to carry a power brick everywhere and being screwed when I don't have it with me is fucking stupid when Apple doesn't require this. I have, in 25 years of owning laptops, opened up the case and replaced the memory twice. I have run out of battery life far more often.

Nothing like leaving your power brick in the hotel room and realizing you can't host a conference call because your ASUS Furnacebrick has 35 minutes of battery life left.

 

[thegunbuilderguy]

Always good to keep a spare or two around just in case.

I wasn't sure what CPU you were using, but if that is the case then 400W is probably fine as long as you don't have any other components that are drawing a ton of power. But yeah, that is the good thing about building your own chassis; you aren't restricted by the form factor of any of your components.

settled on this newish brand, ended up talking with an electronics nerd and that thing is basically better than other PSUs when it comes to reliability and stability while being like 40% cheaper, he hasn't had one die on him compared to many others.

just incase i'm getting the 500W version so it's at 70% power draw at max system usage ($7 more than 400w, taking shipping costs into account)
(also it's 160x35x73 so i'll have wayy more free space for the internal structure, cables and airflow ducts)

 

[Barry McKockner]

You only think that because you’ve never experienced a laptop with a decent battery life. Try a MacBook for a week, you won’t be able to go back. You’ll see Windows users who’ve deluded themselves into thinking that tethering their portable computer to a power outlet within five seconds is acceptable for the lunatics they are.

My XPS 13 back in 2008 had an extended battery, would last like 8 hours on a full charge during power outages when hurricanes came through. After smartphones got decent, I didn't need it nearly as much. I've not needed more than 2 to 3 hours of battery since then. Maybe it's just my usecases are different. I use mine as a mobile gaming rig when I'm on the road because I don't wanna drag my desktop all over the country. You're not getting more than an hour of intense gaming out of any laptop on battery.

Because having to carry a power brick everywhere and being screwed when I don't have it with me is fucking stupid when Apple doesn't require this. I have, in 25 years of owning laptops, opened up the case and replaced the memory twice. I have run out of battery life far more often.

Nothing like leaving your power brick in the hotel room and realizing you can't host a conference call because your ASUS Furnacebrick has 35 minutes of battery life left.

I keep my brick in my work backpack because we have docks at the office.

I do, however, understand the ASUS grouching as mine only lasts about an hour on battery, even on power saver settings. But that just may be because my battery needs to be replaced in mine. It's a 3 year old ROG Zephyrus M15 with a mobile i7 and a 2060 mobile, so it's a power hog. Also doesn't help that It's been sitting either plugged in or unused for the last 2 years I've been home.

 

[The Ugly One]

I keep my brick in my work backpack because we have docks at the office.

I don't always carry my work bag everywhere 100% of the time without fail, and even when I do have it, also don't really like unwinding the bulky cord and brick constantly. "Oh hey, whoops, sorry, PC user here, let me spread all my shit all over the conference table because my laptop wasn't actually meant to be portable, haha." It is pure cope to say this is worth...what? What even am I getting in exchange for shit battery life? I benched my wife's M2 Pro book against my ASUS laptop, and it's faster and cooler and lighter and longer-lasting and better quality. Even when I disable the dGPU on mine, it lasts about 2 hours browsing the web and doing email, tops. I fly a lot for work, so it's a pain in the ass.

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

Nope. Don't care about battery. I bought a big wasteful 18" laptop to be as close to a desktop replacement as I could get when I go to work.

 

[Betonhaus]

I feel like we are talking about two different lifestyles, one where battery life is important and one where battery life isn't.
While a long, long battery life would be nice for me, I'm willing to sacrifice that for a better gaming computer.

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

I feel like we are talking about two different lifestyles, one where battery life is important and one where battery life isn't.
While a long, long battery life would be nice for me, I'm willing to sacrifice that for a better gaming computer.

Yep. There are cases for both designs and only autists don't get that.

 

[Barry McKockner]

I don't always carry my work bag everywhere 100% of the time without fail, and even when I do have it, also don't really like unwinding the bulky cord and brick constantly. "Oh hey, whoops, sorry, PC user here, let me spread all my shit all over the conference table because my laptop wasn't actually meant to be portable, haha." It is pure cope to say this is worth...what? What even am I getting in exchange for shit battery life? I benched my wife's M2 Pro book against my ASUS laptop, and it's faster and cooler and lighter and longer-lasting and better quality. Even when I disable the dGPU on mine, it lasts about 2 hours browsing the web and doing email, tops. I fly a lot for work, so it's a pain in the ass.

I ALWAYS carry my work bag. Besides being super autistic about keeping my work shit separated from my personal shit, it has everything I need in it for work so there's no risk of me not having something I need. It's got the laptop with the spare charger, a second wireless mouse, and everything else I need to work on the go. When I get to my desk at the office, I only have to pull out the laptop to plug it into the dock, because I have the keyboard/mouse/monitors that are always hooked up to the dock. But then again, I'm not taking my laptop out into the field. I'm using my phone to pull up drawings or specs. If I need to bring my laptop away from the office, It's usually either for a meeting for an hour or two, or working the tail end of a Friday from home because we all decided to duck out of the office at lunch and wfh for the rest of the day.

Also, my next one will NOT be an ASUS either. My buddy just got an MSI (I think) and his is SOOO much fucking quieter, cooler, AND has better specs for the money than my ASUS, even when you take into account overall hardware price differences.

I feel like we are talking about two different lifestyles, one where battery life is important and one where battery life isn't.
While a long, long battery life would be nice for me, I'm willing to sacrifice that for a better gaming computer.

That's the thing. I think there are more people who are looking for portable desktops nowadays than there are people who are looking for "can I sit on the couch with this all day and not have to plug it it". I understand that there are still people who need long battery life, and I'm not saying they don't exist (The Ugly One clearly needs more battery). I'm saying the days of that being something most people absolutely NEED to worry about are gone.

 

[BIPOC Browser]

hello kiwis, long time lurker, first time poster.
i'd like a second opinion with a build im working on for a friend.
he's got this build currently:

Spoiler: current

-8086k
-1080ti
-970 Evo 250 GB M.2
-Corsair Vengeance LPX 2 x 16 GB DDR4-3200
-Three 4th HDDs
-Zalman Z1 NEO ATX Mid Tower Case

he's thinking about upgrading, and has already purchased some parts such as a 4tb WD m.2 and a 3080ti, but is asking for some advice regarding the CPU and case. He wants to stay with intel and is thinking about upgrading to a 12900k. I've tried to persuade him towards Ryzen's offerings, but he's dead set with intel, and is only going with 12th gen due to 13/14 gen issues.
normally id tell him to just go through with it already but he is asking me if i know a case that can mount the HDDs. im not sure myself about setting up a NAS with those drives because he keeps his photos/documents on them.
you guys have any recommendations?

 

[Vecr]

normally id tell him to just go through with it already but he is asking me if i know a case that can mount the HDDs. im not sure myself about setting up a NAS with those drives because he keeps his photos/documents on them.

Double sided tape. Make sure it's thick enough (i.e. foam between the two sticky parts) and there's no metal touching otherwise the vibrations could be a problem. Look if there's a preferred mounting angle for the drives, but it's usually fine now.

 

[The Ugly One]

When I get to my desk at the office

Yes, my desk also has a power strip. I assure you, my laptop has never run out of battery on my desk. #1 case of the laptop's battery fucking me over is travel. Airports do not always have abundant free outlets, and neither do airplanes. Neither do conference centers. Restaurants certainly don't. And there are plenty of times when I had my laptop charging in my hotel room and forgot to grab the power brick. The world isn't nearly as saturated with power outlets as it may seem if you never take your computer out of the office. And while it's a minor annoyance to have to unwind the power brick every time I take it to a conference room, it's an annoyance that shouldn't exist. I know it's unnecessary, because I've owned Macs.

 

[DavidS877]

I traveled for work for many years, I think a 2 hour battery life would have been fine for almost all of it. Trying to use a laptop on an airplane back then was miserable, with the shrinking seats I don't even try it today. Only time I'd use it in an airport would be away from the crowds so probably a lounge or something with power. In public I'll just watch videos or something on my phone.

I need 64GB of RAM and 2T of storage more than I need battery life these days.

 

[The Ugly One]

I need 64GB of RAM and 2T of storage more than I need battery life these days.

I remote into a 64-core machine with 512 GB of RAM when I need real compute power. I need the portability of the laptop.

Trying to use a laptop on an airplane back then was miserable, with the shrinking seats I don't even try it today. Only time I'd use it in an airport would be away from the crowds so probably a lounge or something with power.

You pay to use the lounge but not to fly business class?

You should try using a good laptop for a year or two. Going back to x86 shitboxes that die after two emails and reviewing some slides is just painful once you've experienced a computer that doesn't do that.

 

[DavidS877]

I remote into a 64-core machine with 512 GB of RAM when I need real compute power. I need the portability of the laptop.

Each customer I deal with gets a local VM so I can remote in to their environment. It's far better than that time I had to carry 4 laptops on one trip.

You pay to use the lounge but not to fly business class?

My credit card covers the lounges. My employer covers flights, they'd put me in cargo if they could, and I'm not paying for my own upgrades.

You should try using a good laptop for a year or two. Going back to x86 shitboxes that die after two emails and reviewing some slides is just painful once you've experienced a computer that doesn't do that.

I've had a Mac. I actually have one now for one customer that doesn't let me use my own hardware/VM to connect to their network. I don't want a Mac ever again.

 

[Susanna]

If I’m at my desk, whether at work or at home, the laptop is going to be plugged in. But I move around a lot, I might go collaborate in someone else’s office, or attend meetings, or go down to the factory floor, or just go sit in a couch in the open office area, and in that case I absolutely don’t want to have to carry around a charger, especially not one of the ridiculously huge Windows laptop power bricks. I also fly a lot, usually pretty long trips to China, and want to be able to work in the lounge, in the plane, and in the taxi on the way to wherever. Yeah I could still plug it in, but again I really shouldn’t have to unpack a bunch of stuff just to be able to work for more than five minutes.
I do second the remote workstation practice though, my work MBA is a base model because if I actually need horsepower no laptop is going to be nearly enough, so VPN+RDP into a VM is pretty much the only practical solution.

My credit card covers the lounges. My employer covers flights, they'd put me in cargo if they could, and I'm not paying for my own upgrades.

Why are you letting them get away with putting you in economy? If a business trip is worth a flight it’s worth at least business class. This is arguably just as important to push for as salary, company car, extra vacation, or stock options, especially if you travel a lot.

 

[thegunbuilderguy]

hello kiwis, long time lurker, first time poster.
i'd like a second opinion with a build im working on for a friend.
he's got this build currently:

Spoiler: current

-8086k
-1080ti
-970 Evo 250 GB M.2
-Corsair Vengeance LPX 2 x 16 GB DDR4-3200
-Three 4th HDDs
-Zalman Z1 NEO ATX Mid Tower Case

he's thinking about upgrading, and has already purchased some parts such as a 4tb WD m.2 and a 3080ti, but is asking for some advice regarding the CPU and case. He wants to stay with intel and is thinking about upgrading to a 12900k. I've tried to persuade him towards Ryzen's offerings, but he's dead set with intel, and is only going with 12th gen due to 13/14 gen issues.
normally id tell him to just go through with it already but he is asking me if i know a case that can mount the HDDs. im not sure myself about setting up a NAS with those drives because he keeps his photos/documents on them.
you guys have any recommendations?

given how he decided to commit the mistake of buying a TI that's not a 10XX, i'd say his choices are spot on.

More seriously, i'd stay away from anything intel when it comes to performance and.. anything really.
when it comes to cases, frankly, pretty much any case has space for 3 or 4 HDDs if you're not going for small factor ones. just make sure you actually have a PSU that has 4 connectors for them because they tend to go to 3 at most unless you go specifically for one that has that.

settled on this newish brand, ended up talking with an electronics nerd and that thing is basically better than other PSUs when it comes to reliability and stability while being like 40% cheaper, he hasn't had one die on him compared to many others.
View attachment 6392030
just incase i'm getting the 500W version so it's at 70% power draw at max system usage ($7 more than 400w, taking shipping costs into account)
(also it's 160x35x73 so i'll have wayy more free space for the internal structure, cables and airflow ducts)

what the fuck

those niggerlovers made a mini atx yet want you to cough up a fucking 24-pin connector?!
how the fuck am i meant to get that shit from a flex PSU?!
a fuckton of those connectors are straight up duplicates!
Does anyone know if there's a vendor selling a 12 to 24 pin connector? surely i can't be that bad, right?

Edit: if that doesn't exist i'm deploying my rusty soldering skills out of the basement and i'm doing that shit
the only reason why we had 24 pins was because it was used to power the CPU long ago and we've far since outlived its use, if i fuze shit together i'm not gonna have an overload, there's simply no way

 

[Betonhaus]

If I’m at my desk, whether at work or at home, the laptop is going to be plugged in. But I move around a lot, I might go collaborate in someone else’s office, or attend meetings, or go down to the factory floor, or just go sit in a couch in the open office area, and in that case I absolutely don’t want to have to carry around a charger, especially not one of the ridiculously huge Windows laptop power bricks

You do realize that you can buy Windows laptops that use Type-C, and so would use the same charger as your phone (unless it's an old iPhone) or MacBook? Also if you're bitching about battery life then use one of the Qualcomm ARM laptops that have like 30 hour battery life

 

[DavidS877]

what the fuck

The PS you linked said it had a standard 20+4 pin cable already included. So I'm not sure what the issue you're facing is.

 

[thegunbuilderguy]

The PS you linked said it had a standard 20+4 pin cable already included. So I'm not sure what the issue you're facing is.

oh, i didn't realize that, the connector's a 14-pin, that spreads to a 20+4, i don't really get how that works but the manufacturer also asks for a desktop power supply so i'm kinda wondering if those 14 pins actually spread to a 24 pin or if it doesn't and i'll have a bunch of missing connections

 

[Squishie PP]

oh, i didn't realize that, the connector's a 14-pin, that spreads to a 20+4, i don't really get how that works but the manufacturer also asks for a desktop power supply so i'm kinda wondering if those 14 pins actually spread to a 24 pin or if it doesn't and i'll have a bunch of missing connections

also holy shit, the PSU i added to my cart dissapeared and there's now zero results of the PSU anywhere in the search bar
i have to search on google to get the amazon link to the product, that's wild shit

I can't say for certain about this power supply, but I have had/seen plenty that spread wires from a lower pin connector to a 20+4 pin connector. I also doubt that they would market that as a mini ITX PSU if it had a non-standard pinout. If you are really worried about it, you may just want to ask whoever recommended the PSU to you in the first place about the pinouts.

EDIT: Found a review of the PSU in question, looks like there are no missing connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcJFXqTooVc