PC Pc Gaming/building thread

Oct 1, 2007
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My time with the NZXT H1 is over. With the fire situation Scorptec sent an email back in January saying they were happy to give refunds out. After getting the 3090, thermals and power meant the H1 wasn't going to work so I decided to take Scorptec up on their offer last week. I had the Corsair 280X (white) before and now I'm back with the 280X (black this time) again, so that was a giant waste of everyone's time, thanks NZXT. :rolleyes:
 
My time with the NZXT H1 is over. With the fire situation Scorptec sent an email back in January saying they were happy to give refunds out. After getting the 3090, thermals and power meant the H1 wasn't going to work so I decided to take Scorptec up on their offer last week. I had the Corsair 280X (white) before and now I'm back with the 280X (black this time) again, so that was a giant waste of everyone's time, thanks NZXT. :rolleyes:

I have been pleasantly surprised by the O11D

The list of decent case manufacturers is surprisingly small.
 
Mar 28, 2006
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Thanks!

Over the last few years I've transferred my old mod making interests to indie game development. I've never considered myself anything of an artist so have stuck to code. However I've hit a brick wall just doing that as I was bored of playing around in sample projects and stuff. So I decided a little while ago to see if I could learn environmental and level design. So far it's clicking with me and got the professional Substance software that all the pros use (only $300 USD a year, nothing compared to some of the other industry tools!). It's actually a lot of fun making AAA looking assets. I'm still finding my way in Blender and Substance Painter so a model like that cardboard box and the barrel on the previous page might take me 2-3 hours to make and UV map. Substance Painter is full of smart materials to do 90% of the things you might want (they also have a massive online library that you can download materials others have made), but to fiddle around making something detailed and unique from scratch like that box might take another 2-3 hours of mostly trial and error.

Once I get the hang of it I don't see why things like that would take more than an hour each. Also starting to wonder why can't I make a AAA looking game? Who says indie has to be 2D or low poly? I have been following a few pro level designers and artists from big places like Ubisoft and picking up on their tricks and workflow. As long as you keep the scope realistic I don't see why it's not possible. Not to mention Epic are including their new MetaHumans into UE4 soon too (though I might still look using Character Creator 3 even if it will set me back another few hundred).
For Substance, did you just use the tutorial in the docs - or some other tutorial/guide? I have some students interested in making 3D assets. I've used Blender before but not any of the Substance software.
 
For Substance, did you just use the tutorial in the docs - or some other tutorial/guide? I have some students interested in making 3D assets. I've used Blender before but not any of the Substance software.


You know... If we pool our collective intelligence together, we might be able to make a really terrible AFL game.

Hell imagine a 3d qooty for the SFA.
 
Jun 25, 2011
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For Substance, did you just use the tutorial in the docs - or some other tutorial/guide? I have some students interested in making 3D assets. I've used Blender before but not any of the Substance software.

How proficient are your students already with modelling? Substance Painter doesn't need a lot of tutorials to get started, it's a really clever program as long as you've done the prep work making the UVs, seams and high and low poly models and stuff. From there it can be as simple as dragging and dropping a smart material from inside Painter until you get the hang of making your own PBR materials.

To get deeper into it though I've used a combo of the demo videos on Substance's website, YouTube, and paid a few bucks for a few tuts on Udemy. The Udemy ones haven't been that fantastic though as I've found the same, if not better info on YouTube. Substance Painter is really easy, it's not unlike using stuff like Photoshop or Gimp. I've found it more worth while learning to model and use Blender better to improve my Substance Painter experience if that makes any sense.
 
Mar 28, 2006
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How proficient are your students already with modelling? Substance Painter doesn't need a lot of tutorials to get started, it's a really clever program as long as you've done the prep work making the UVs, seams and high and low poly models and stuff. From there it can be as simple as dragging and dropping a smart material from inside Painter until you get the hang of making your own PBR materials.

To get deeper into it though I've used a combo of the demo videos on Substance's website, YouTube, and paid a few bucks for a few tuts on Udemy. The Udemy ones haven't been that fantastic though as I've found the same, if not better info on YouTube. Substance Painter is really easy, it's not unlike using stuff like Photoshop or Gimp. I've found it more worth while learning to model and use Blender better to improve my Substance Painter experience if that makes any sense.
Thanks. They are usually beginner level - some intermediate skill. I will check out some YouTube tutorials. I see they have free student licences - but setting up any licences for any Adobe software on a school network is a special kind of torment (which is why I mostly use Blender and Gimp).
 
Jun 25, 2011
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Thanks. They are usually beginner level - some intermediate skill. I will check out some YouTube tutorials. I see they have free student licences - but setting up any licences for any Adobe software on a school network is a special kind of torment (which is why I mostly use Blender and Gimp).

Especially for personal use I wish Adobe had perpetual licenses, I'm really not a fan of this subscription model at all. There is a free alternative called Armor Paint though I've never used it (I went with Substance Painter being industry standard and despite being in my 30s I've never let go of wanting a job in vidya games). I'll put CG Boost's comparison at the bottom. Ignore the Quixel part in it as that's something that is designed to work inside Unreal Engine and not stand alone like the others.

Depending on what your students want to use Blender and Substance for (assuming games because who doesn't want to do games lol) I'm more than happy to help you out with any other questions you might have.


 
Jun 25, 2011
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I can get 3080Strix for $500 above MSRP with a wait time of 18 weeks.

What the actual fu** .

Most of the queues the retailers here are listing are for the Strix and FTW3. Any retailers in SG carry Colourful or Inno3D? Those brands here cleared their backlogs the first which is what helped me formulate my sniping strategy. I figured 99% of the Strix cards for example entering Aus would be already assigned to orders, where as those other brands would be going up in stores to be snapped up if you're fast enough.
 
Most of the queues the retailers here are listing are for the Strix and FTW3. Any retailers in SG carry Colourful or Inno3D? Those brands here cleared their backlogs the first which is what helped me formulate my sniping strategy. I figured 99% of the Strix cards for example entering Aus would be already assigned to orders, where as those other brands would be going up in stores to be snapped up if you're fast enough.

Is there much difference between the Strix and the FTW3?

I've had EVGA cards for as long as I can remember, but i may decide to switch if a strix is all I can get.
 
Jun 25, 2011
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Is there much difference between the Strix and the FTW3?

I've had EVGA cards for as long as I can remember, but i may decide to switch if a strix is all I can get.

Stuff all discernable difference between any of them besides cosmetics. Coolers are all roughly in the same ballpark. I think they're both 3*8pin as well. Without looking it up it seems to be mostly Gigabyte with the 2*8pin configurations.
 
Stuff all discernable difference between any of them besides cosmetics. I think they're both 3*8pin as well. Without looking it up it seems to be mostly Gigabyte with the 2*8pin configurations.

* it if I can get it from an aussie retailer for near MSRP I will. Will just get it delivered to my mum and have her ship it to me.

Victory.
 
Feb 28, 2009
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Is there much difference between the Strix and the FTW3?

I've had EVGA cards for as long as I can remember, but i may decide to switch if a strix is all I can get.
1/2 slot in size iirc, but if you're not building in an ITX case that doesn't really matter

Ignore that, its the XC3 that is 1/2 slot smaller, not the FTW3
 
Jun 25, 2011
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I wanted a laptop with a decent processor, 16gb RAM and a 15" screen as my 2 year old HP gets bogged down too easily and I've just permanently left it setup where the missus was working from home. That way she's got a computer she can always jump on if needed instead of pestering me for mine. All the businessy ones are kind of poo value for what I was after and it just so happened JB are currently clearning out older models. Through some vouchers together that I had lying around and picked up the Asus TUF A15 with a 1660ti, 4800h, 144mhz screen, 512gb SSD and 16gb RAM. Was tempted to get a HP Omen 15 or Dell G5 SE instead for a little bit more after the issues I read about the TUF A15 apparently has with thermals. I figured as it's not going to be a 24/7 machine, it's just for doing the odd bit of hobby work and something with a little grunt when I just want to kick back on the couch and so far so good, thermals so far are fairly expected from what you'd get in a laptop. It has a spare M.2 slot too that I might even order something for.
 
Jun 25, 2011
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Are you going to dremel some holes in the bottom of it to fix the lack of ventilation?

Don't need to so far. I don't know what it would be like under bench test situations but I've loaded it up a few times with real world loads and the both GPU and CPU don't seem to be exceeding the 80s. I've mainly used it on my kitchen bench and coffee table though which are hard, flat surfaces so not sure if that's allowing enough air to be sucked in underneath and if reviewers may have been using soft mod/keyboard mats. Lots of others are probably also using it as their primary system. I was leaning towards the HP Omen 15 which was also on sale but about $300 more. I also thought the keyboard was a bit mushy compared to the TUF. The guy at JB did say I'd have no issues taking it back in a few days if I had any issues but so far I think it will do for very casual usage.
 
Might as well pick up the white ASUS Strix 3080 for $1949SGD.

Wife will not be pleased, but I can't justify a waiting time of 3 months, we'll be onto the 4080's by then/
 
Jun 25, 2011
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Might as well pick up the white ASUS Strix 3080 for $1949SGD.

Wife will not be pleased, but I can't justify a waiting time of 3 months, we'll be onto the 4080's by then/

If it makes you feel any better, the 3080 Strix OC launched in Aus at around $1799AUD and non OC $1699AUD. As s**t as it is to have to pay over MSRP anything under $2000AUD imo is still fair and hardly scalper prices.
 
Please don't hurt me but some time ago I did purchase a 2012 Mac Mini, ended up using primarily as a media centre but it's pretty much had it, and it's the last of my Mac devices since getting out of that ecosystem.

Now, know this isn't the place to ask, but does anyone use a small PC for media purposes and hooking up to your TV?

Been looking into Intel NUCs but not sure if they're the way to go.
 
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