Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Mon Dec 02, 2024 3:07 pm**

So I've had the same iBuyPower rig for close to a decade now, and it's been great. Never had a serious problem with it at all, and I've even kept it kinda current with upgrades over the years. Nothing cutting edge, but never ran into a game I couldn't run. I replaced the GPU to a 3060ti, the power supply from 500 to 750, added an additional 8GB of ram, and added a 1TB SSD. I have been socking away a little bit here and there to buy an complete upgrade, and for the last month I've been looking into various companies (so much so that my algorithm on every single social media platform is SWARMED with "deals"). I found what I thought was a decent deal on an Alienware R16, a complete upgrade to everything I currently have for a decent price, so I went ahead and made the purchase.

Remember how I said the algorithm was overloading me with ads? Well, two days before delivery of the R16 I saw one for iBuyPower that literally made me sit up straight. It was an improvement in every possible way (processor, MB, GPU, storage, RAM, auxiliaries, everything) for the same price, but with a black friday code that brought it down to $100 less. So after pitching the situation to the boss, she ok'd the purchase provided I return the R16 immediately. So Saturday, when FedEx rolled up to my front door I went out, signed for the package, put it in my truck, and drove it over to the local FedEx shipping place with the pre-printed return label. I walked in and handed the box over with the label and walked out in less than 1 minute. I owned an Alienware R16 for less than 20 minutes, and the refund is on the way in the next 15 days.

Here is my new iBuyPower rig being shipped on Wednesday:
i7-14700KF CPU
MSI PRO Z790-P WiFi
GeForce RTX 4070 Super (12GB)
32 DDR5-6000MHz Ram
2TB SSD

I know it's not the latest and greatest, but it's the most up-to-date one I've ever had by far, and for under $1400 it'll be what I need for now. But what I really like is I know it's upgradeable, which is more than I can say for Alienware's proprietary stuff.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:11 pm**

Update! (Not that anyone else cares...)

It came in last night, and...wow. I lined up the Steam downloads for Cyberpunk, BG3, Last Epoch, and Starfield knowing it was going to take a while while I setup the lights on the CPU and keyboard/mouse. After about 30 minutes of that and helping my wife put the kids to bed, I came back and checked on their progress. Imagine my surprise when not one, not two, not three, but ALL FOUR GAMES were downloaded and ready to play.

So I brought up Cyberpunk because I wanted to see how far I could push the graphics card. I put it on ray tracing/ultra/max for every category, and then started it up. Normally there is a radio broadcast snippet based on how far you are in the game, and in the past I could hear the entire broadcast before the load screen finished. This time they didn't even finish the second line of the broadcast before it was ready to go.

Finally, when the world came into focus, it was...brilliant. Smooth as silk, no stuttering or anything. I am stoked to see what some of the other games look like, but all in all I'm EXTREMELY happy with my new rig.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:29 pm**

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:49 pm**

I don't have a gaming rig, but I've yet to test the rig I bought in the last year or so just to see what something much much much newer than my last one can do. I really should just to see something pretty on it.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2024 3:25 pm**

Update! (Not that anyone else cares...)

I care!

Ive been following stuff like this to see what its like and the costs and stuff. I want the exact system you got and from that some company. I just dont have the money now. I hope to get one next year maybe. Glad you like yours and are having fun with it. Shiny new things are always fun to play with,

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2024 4:05 pm**

Daehawk wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2024 3:25 pm
Update! (Not that anyone else cares...)
I care! Ive been following stuff like this to see what its like and the costs and stuff. I want the exact system you got and from that some company. I just dont have the money now. I hope to get one next year maybe. Glad you like yours and are having fun with it. Shiny new things are always fun to play with,

And shiny is exactly the word for this thing. There are about a dozen pre-set options for controlling the LED lights all over the damn thing, even on the RAM sticks. I'll try to attach a pic of what it looks like, but it'll be a poor substitute for how nice it looks in person.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2024 7:51 pm**

Thats not an image file.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:55 pm**

Gone
Error 410

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2024 9:29 am**

Yeah, couldn't figure it out at work. I'll try again tonight...

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:20 pm**

Ok, I found a video of my exact case, but I don't have that central fan jutting out into the middle of the cavity. But you can get a good idea of the LED effects on the various fans and RAM sticks and the like.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/497nt_DQ ... ture=share

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:56 pm**

That central fan is the CPU cooler - hopefully yours has something there. If not, adding one will make your system run even better!

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:42 pm**

stessier wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:56 pm That central fan is the CPU cooler - hopefully yours has something there. If not, adding one will make your system run even better!

It actually has two top-mounted fans directly above the processor drawing heat upwards, which I like much better for aesthetics.

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:49 pm**

Hyena wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:42 pm
stessier wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:56 pm That central fan is the CPU cooler - hopefully yours has something there. If not, adding one will make your system run even better!
It actually has two top-mounted fans directly above the processor drawing heat upwards, which I like much better for aesthetics.

But it should still have a finned cooling block on the CPU, no? I'll tell you fans on the fins will work much better than just mounting them at the top of the unit. Unless you force air through the fins, the air will go around the cooling block as the path of least resistance and significantly lower your cooling capability.

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:19 pm**

stessier wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:49 pm
Hyena wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:42 pm
stessier wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:56 pm That central fan is the CPU cooler - hopefully yours has something there. If not, adding one will make your system run even better!
It actually has two top-mounted fans directly above the processor drawing heat upwards, which I like much better for aesthetics.
But it should still have a finned cooling block on the CPU, no? I'll tell you fans on the fins will work much better than just mounting them at the top of the unit. Unless you force air through the fins, the air will go around the cooling block as the path of least resistance and significantly lower your cooling capability.

I'll look into that, for sure.

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:19 pm**

Hyena wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:20 pm Ok, I found a video of my exact case, but I don't have that central fan jutting out into the middle of the cavity. But you can get a good idea of the LED effects on the various fans and RAM sticks and the like.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/497nt_DQ ... ture=share

That's actually pretty nice looking. I was expecting gaudy.

I'm likely to replace my eCollegePC if Microsoft really pulls the rug from under Win 10 next fall. It still meets my needs just fine, but it *is* going to be seven years old by then. I'm inclined to go with eCollege again but I'm not married to them.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2024 6:17 pm**

Kraken wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 10:19 pm
Hyena wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:20 pm Ok, I found a video of my exact case, but I don't have that central fan jutting out into the middle of the cavity. But you can get a good idea of the LED effects on the various fans and RAM sticks and the like.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/497nt_DQ ... ture=share
That's actually pretty nice looking. I was expecting gaudy.

I'm likely to replace my eCollegePC if Microsoft really pulls the rug from under Win 10 next fall. It still meets my needs just fine, but it *is* going to be seven years old by then. I'm inclined to go with eCollege again but I'm not married to them.

I actually have mine set to a solid red (or purple, depending money my mood) in a very slow pulse that the program calls "Breathe". The riot of rainbow colors is a bit much for me to have in the corner of my eye when I'm gaming...

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2024 6:44 pm**

stessier wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:49 pm
Hyena wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 2:42 pm
stessier wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:56 pm That central fan is the CPU cooler - hopefully yours has something there. If not, adding one will make your system run even better!
It actually has two top-mounted fans directly above the processor drawing heat upwards, which I like much better for aesthetics.
But it should still have a finned cooling block on the CPU, no? I'll tell you fans on the fins will work much better than just mounting them at the top of the unit. Unless you force air through the fins, the air will go around the cooling block as the path of least resistance and significantly lower your cooling capability.

I looked and forgot to mention....it's liquid-cooled.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2024 6:51 pm**

That would work! Nice and congrats!!

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm**

I never thought this day would come, but I am now of the conviction that a top end laptop is the way to go. Today is that day. A couple events led me to this conclusion:

1. My precious water cooled rig is showing it's age and has started randomly shutting down (while not even under stress).

2. My rig building buddy has moved away.

Laptops have evolved immensely. Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig. And I can hook it up to my large monitor or to my TV.

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2024 6:27 pm**

Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm I never thought this day would come, but I am now of the conviction that a top end laptop is the way to go. Today is that day. A couple events led me to this conclusion:

1. My precious water cooled rig is showing it's age and has started randomly shutting down (while not even under stress).

2. My rig building buddy has moved away.

Laptops have evolved immensely. Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig. And I can hook it up to my large monitor or to my TV.

Keep in mind, a Frame.work laptop stands out as one of the rare few specifically designed to be easily upgraded and repaired by the user, giving you the best of both worlds. They even offer a DIY version, allowing you to build the system yourself at a substantial discount as compared to the cost of a pre-built system.

frame.work wrote:
Upgradeable, modular graphics
A high-performance laptop with upgradeable, modular, latest-generation graphics. Swap and upgrade peripherals independently of the rest of the laptop, including generation over generation discrete GPUs. The AMD Radeon™ RX 7700S Graphics Module with 8GB of GDDR6 enables intense gaming and creativity applications. If you want a thinner and lighter system, you can switch to an Expansion Bay Shell and use the impressive integrated graphics capabilities of Ryzen 7040 Series.

Fully customizable input
Numpad or no numpad? The choice is yours. With hot-swappable Input Modules, you can center or offset your selected keyboard, as well as choose between a Numpad, RGB Macropad, Spacers in a range of colors, or LED Matrix Modules. The Input Modules perform well too, with NKRO, open source QMK firmware, 1.5mm key travel and both white backlit and per-key RGB keyboard options. We've opened the Input Module system up to developers, enabling an entire world of custom input options beyond what we've created.

Choose your ports
External adapters are a thing of the past. The Framework Expansion Card system lets you choose exactly the ports you want and where you want them. With six slots, you can select from USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, DisplayPort, MicroSD, Ethernet, Audio, ultra fast storage, and more. You can charge through either side of the machine too, with support for up to 240W USB-C power adapters.

The AMD Advantage
AMD Advantage laptops combine Ryzen™ processors, Radeon™ graphics, and smart technologies like AMD FreeSync Premium display for a seamless high-performance gaming and creativity experience with fantastic power efficiency.

Upgradeable, high-performance Mainboard
Equipped with AMD Ryzen™ 7040HS processors with up to 8 CPU cores and capable integrated Radeon™ 780M graphics, the Framework Laptop 16 Mainboard offers incredible performance and power efficiency, along with the flexibility to upgrade to new CPU generations if you ever need a boost in the future.

Efficient, high-throughput cooling
The Framework Laptop 16 leverages a thermal system developed in collaboration with Cooler Master, with a Honeywell TPM7958 phase change thermal interface, three heatpipes, and two fans that keep CPU performance stable and quiet. The unique fan system is contained within the Expansion Bay Modules. With the Graphics Module you have two 75x75x11.5mm fans, while the Expansion Bay Shell contains thinner 75x75x8.2mm fans. Building the fan system into the Expansion Bay modules allow for design flexibility to handle generation over generation changes in thermal requirements for GPUs.

Thoughtfully designed
Thin, light, and durable. We crafted the Framework Laptop 16 chassis from high performance materials like thixomolded magnesium alloy and machined aluminum. The laptop comes in under 18mm thick and 2.1kg, extending to 2.4kg and under 21mm at the rear section with the Graphics Module attached. Framework Laptops are designed to be opened. We put just as much care into creating an intuitive and welcoming internal design with captive fasteners, clear labels, and QR codes, making customization and repair effortless.

A display for work and play
The Framework Laptop 16 has a display excellent for gaming, creation, and general productivity, simultaneously delivering 2560x1600 resolution, a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, variable refresh rate up to 165Hz, 9ms rise+fall time, 1500:1 contrast, and an unusually high 500 nit brightness.

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2024 6:30 pm**

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 6:27 pm
Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm I never thought this day would come, but I am now of the conviction that a top end laptop is the way to go. Today is that day. A couple events led me to this conclusion:

1. My precious water cooled rig is showing it's age and has started randomly shutting down (while not even under stress).

2. My rig building buddy has moved away.

Laptops have evolved immensely. Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig. And I can hook it up to my large monitor or to my TV.
Keep in mind, a Frame.work laptop stands out as one of the rare few specifically designed to be easily upgraded and repaired by the user, giving you the best of both worlds. They even offer a DIY version, allowing you to build the system yourself at a substantial discount as compared to the cost of a pre-built system.

frame.work wrote:
Upgradeable, modular graphics
A high-performance laptop with upgradeable, modular, latest-generation graphics. Swap and upgrade peripherals independently of the rest of the laptop, including generation over generation discrete GPUs. The AMD Radeon™ RX 7700S Graphics Module with 8GB of GDDR6 enables intense gaming and creativity applications. If you want a thinner and lighter system, you can switch to an Expansion Bay Shell and use the impressive integrated graphics capabilities of Ryzen 7040 Series.

Fully customizable input
Numpad or no numpad? The choice is yours. With hot-swappable Input Modules, you can center or offset your selected keyboard, as well as choose between a Numpad, RGB Macropad, Spacers in a range of colors, or LED Matrix Modules. The Input Modules perform well too, with NKRO, open source QMK firmware, 1.5mm key travel and both white backlit and per-key RGB keyboard options. We've opened the Input Module system up to developers, enabling an entire world of custom input options beyond what we've created.

Choose your ports
External adapters are a thing of the past. The Framework Expansion Card system lets you choose exactly the ports you want and where you want them. With six slots, you can select from USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, DisplayPort, MicroSD, Ethernet, Audio, ultra fast storage, and more. You can charge through either side of the machine too, with support for up to 240W USB-C power adapters.

The AMD Advantage
AMD Advantage laptops combine Ryzen™ processors, Radeon™ graphics, and smart technologies like AMD FreeSync Premium display for a seamless high-performance gaming and creativity experience with fantastic power efficiency.

Upgradeable, high-performance Mainboard
Equipped with AMD Ryzen™ 7040HS processors with up to 8 CPU cores and capable integrated Radeon™ 780M graphics, the Framework Laptop 16 Mainboard offers incredible performance and power efficiency, along with the flexibility to upgrade to new CPU generations if you ever need a boost in the future.

Efficient, high-throughput cooling
The Framework Laptop 16 leverages a thermal system developed in collaboration with Cooler Master, with a Honeywell TPM7958 phase change thermal interface, three heatpipes, and two fans that keep CPU performance stable and quiet. The unique fan system is contained within the Expansion Bay Modules. With the Graphics Module you have two 75x75x11.5mm fans, while the Expansion Bay Shell contains thinner 75x75x8.2mm fans. Building the fan system into the Expansion Bay modules allow for design flexibility to handle generation over generation changes in thermal requirements for GPUs.

Thoughtfully designed
Thin, light, and durable. We crafted the Framework Laptop 16 chassis from high performance materials like thixomolded magnesium alloy and machined aluminum. The laptop comes in under 18mm thick and 2.1kg, extending to 2.4kg and under 21mm at the rear section with the Graphics Module attached. Framework Laptops are designed to be opened. We put just as much care into creating an intuitive and welcoming internal design with captive fasteners, clear labels, and QR codes, making customization and repair effortless.

A display for work and play
The Framework Laptop 16 has a display excellent for gaming, creation, and general productivity, simultaneously delivering 2560x1600 resolution, a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, variable refresh rate up to 165Hz, 9ms rise+fall time, 1500:1 contrast, and an unusually high 500 nit brightness.

Excellent! Defiantly in my future.

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2024 6:48 pm**

I remember in the early to mid 90s being at the local high school basketball game with my wife and father in law when I was around 26 that I wished I had a laptop with me so I could play DOOM II while they watched the game. I didn't care for sports and I was into gaming then hehe. I bet those old laptops were thick as an encyclopaedia and weighed more than 10 lbs hahahah. Silly me.

But I also wondered why laptops weren't as home buildable as a PC was. You could order all your parts back then even to build you own pc but laptops were a weird monster all unto themselves.

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:16 pm**

Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig.

Uhm...on what planet?

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:43 pm**

gilraen wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:16 pm
Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig.
Uhm...on what planet?

It's been a while but I remember spending ~$10k on a gaming rig and about ~$5k on a laptop. Maybe that was on Mars.

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2024 10:43 pm**

Decent desktops are now in the $1-2k range.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2024 11:04 pm**

Decent? Who said anything about decent. I'm talking about stuffing an oversized box full of indecent, over the top, cutting edge components. I remember installing two gigantic graphics boards with an SLI connector. And I was trying to get my hands on a solid state hard drive before they were commercially available. Now mechanical hard drives have gone the way of vinyl record players.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2024 11:13 pm**

You could still trick it out for less than $5k.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2024 11:23 pm**

Jaymann wrote:
gilraen wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:16 pm
Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig.
Uhm...on what planet?
It's been a while but I remember spending ~$10k on a gaming rig and about ~$5k on a laptop. Maybe that was on Mars.

I built a near top-of-the-line system back in March for about $4k, including a 34” ultrawidescreen OLED monitor, water cooling, and case full of synchronized, animated LED lighting. The only place I really skimped was getting an RTX 4080 Super instead of the 4090...would have added another $1k at the time without much real benefit. You can build a seriously powerful rig for well under $5k now.

Posted: **Wed Dec 11, 2024 12:18 am**

Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:43 pm
gilraen wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:16 pm
Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig.
Uhm...on what planet?
It's been a while but I remember spending ~$10k on a gaming rig and about ~$5k on a laptop. Maybe that was on Mars.

Based on your other comment, it was an apples to pogo sticks comparison...

Sure, you can always spec out a desktop for a lot more. Because it has room for more. A laptop is going to be a lot more fixed.

For example, this isn't even going all in...

But, if you compare a desktop to a similarly outfitted laptop, the desktop is going to be significantly cheaper. The main reason that I still haven't switched to a laptop. My computer doesn't move around, and I do all of my gaming at my computer desk. I'd rather get more bang for my buck.

Posted: **Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:17 am**

I've been considering a new gaming rig and have been playing around with various configs on some of the builder sites as well as bouncing some config ideas off a coworker. Between the two of us we've but together possible builds on about a half dozen or so rigs.

I commented to him that they all pretty much come in at about $3000.

Later that day I got an email from Chase telling me that they are raising the limit on my credit card by $3000.
Creepy.

Posted: **Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:23 am**

Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:43 pm
gilraen wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:16 pm
Jaymann wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:45 pm Also a killer laptop is about half the price of a killer gaming rig.
Uhm...on what planet?
It's been a while but I remember spending ~$10k on a gaming rig and about ~$5k on a laptop. Maybe that was on Mars.

I remember being envious of $3000 gaming rigs. The most I ever spent was around $2,500 in late 90s money and that was crazy over the top for me and my only ever real gaming rig.

I've spent well over $5000 on laptops for my old work but that was for portable full engineering machines. They over heat like a mother fucker and we had to buy external cooling pads to underneath them. They'd still be lesser for gaming than reasonable desktop. Though I'd imagine the same money spent on gaming optimized laptop would make it pretty obscene.

Octopus Overlords

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