Itsy-bitsy gaming PC

[DuckThor Evil]

Pics and sharing your experiences with it is welcome, once you get it up and running.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Pics and sharing your experiences with it is welcome, once you get it up and running.

Sure thing. Shouldn't be long than two weeks since I've sourced the components from a number of sites.

The biggest decision will be 1440p at 60fps or 4K at 30fps.

 

[Grall]

Former. Without a doubt, especially for action games.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Thanks all. I've ordered my bits and managed to get a launch GTX 1080 for the system, which is nice.

Now I just need to find a decent wireless keyboard/mouse/trackball combo.

If you want a really good wireless mouse look into the Logitech Chaos. It has wireless latency that is lower than many gaming mice's wired latency. It also has quite significantly better tracking and tracking consistency than any other wireless mouse. It is rather expensive, however. But the gulf between that and the next best wireless mouse is relatively huge.

You can get cheaper alternatives from Logitech, Razer, etc. Razer is good but components can wear out relatively quickly depending on how much it is used. Logitech used to have some issues with the switches they used for mouse clicks, but I haven't had any problems with the last 2-3 generations of mice from them.

I haven't used any wireless keyboards in about 6 or 7 years now, so don't have much to offer there.

Regards,
SB

 

[Deleted member 11852]

If you want a really good wireless mouse look into the Logitech Chaos. It has wireless latency that is lower than many gaming mice's wired latency. It also has quite significantly better tracking and tracking consistency than any other wireless mouse. It is rather expensive, however. But the gulf between that and the next best wireless mouse is relatively huge.

Thanks, I should have been more specific. I really only need a keyboard/mouse/trackpad for Windows administration. I play to run the whole thing off a controller connected to my TV - except for the odd occasion when I'll be using Steam streaming.

I'm going for the Logitech K400 Plus:

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Yeah, that's a nice package. I myself use a solar powered wireless Logitech keyboard for my HTPC (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Solar-Keyboard-K750/dp/B004MF11MU ). It would have been awesome if it also had a trackpad on it, but oh well, I've got extra wireless mice that I can keep in the living room. Currently using one of the Logitech mice using their "Darkfield" sensor which amazingly lives up to the hype and actually works on pretty much any surface imaginable.

I hated having to either replace or recharge batteries in previous wireless keyboards I used. It is absolutely 100% not suitable for gaming, but it's good enough for basic Windows tasks.

Regards,
SB

 

[Malo]

Thanks, I should have been more specific. I really only need a keyboard/mouse/trackpad for Windows administration. I play to run the whole thing off a controller connected to my TV - except for the odd occasion when I'll be using Steam streaming.

I'm going for the Logitech K400 Plus:

I use those K400 on my htpc's, they're fantastic. Excellent range, very reliable and batteries last forever. Can't do without the trackpads.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[WhiningKhan]

I use those K400 on my htpc's, they're fantastic. Excellent range, very reliable and batteries last forever. Can't do without the trackpads.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Really? The range sucks on mine. Barely works with roughly 3m distance from sofa to tv. If I lean too much back or to either side, it starts to break up.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

What's the point of using a keyboard with your htpc? I guess the gf/wife acceptance factor isn't very high.

Mce remote for controlling Kodi and Netflix and a xbox controller for steam in home streaming is my prefered setup.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

What's the point of using a keyboard with your htpc? I guess the gf/wife acceptance factor isn't very high.

I administer my Kodi HTPC using VNC over wifi from a Macbook (VNC is a native protocol in OSX) but my experience of using VNC to administer a Windows gaming PC isn't anywhere near as good. I'll be running the thing in a 4K resolution, Windows already has poor HiDPI scaling and I really don't want to have to use another computer to administer the computer I'm using.

The K400 will live in the footstool (which doubles as a storage container) thanks the miracles of modern furniture. I'm hoping I don't need it much but I'm expecting to need it more than I want too.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I'm doing the same and never found it to be an issue. That said my tv is only 1080p so if 4k scaling isn't very good your solution is probably the better one.

 

[Malo]

What's the point of using a keyboard with your htpc? I guess the gf/wife acceptance factor isn't very high.

Mce remote for controlling Kodi and Netflix and a xbox controller for steam in home streaming is my prefered setup.

I have a Logitech Harmony for 90% of my HTPC use. The keyboard is very handy for doing things that require mouse/keyboard like browsing, typing in a search etc. when required.

 

[mrcorbo]

Thanks, I should have been more specific. I really only need a keyboard/mouse/trackpad for Windows administration. I play to run the whole thing off a controller connected to my TV - except for the odd occasion when I'll be using Steam streaming.

I'm going for the Logitech K400 Plus:

I use a wireless mouse as my primary control method for my HTPC and, while I have a Harmony remote, I actually have most media playback functions mapped to the mouse buttons and pretty much only use the remote for volume and system control. I've found that having the mousewheel set as a jog/shuttle control for media is kind of hard to give up once you get used to it.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

My media is running off Kodi on a MacMini using an Apple Remote, which is flawless. The new box is just for gaming and the keyboard is just for Windows/Steam administration. I have the Logitech keyboard now and it's nice. The USB wireless transceiver for the PC is absurdly tiny.

Hopefully I won't have to use it often!

 

[mrcorbo]

My media is running off Kodi on a MacMini using an Apple Remote, which is flawless. The new box is just for gaming and the keyboard is just for Windows/Steam administration. I have the Logitech keyboard now and it's nice. The USB wireless transceiver for the PC is absurdly tiny.

Hopefully I won't have to use it often!

So an ultra-high-end gaming console, effectively? Controller as primary device makes sense then.

I would be curious, though, to see what kind of upscaling and FRC results could be achieved with MadVR with that much compute power on tap and how they compare to the TVs built-in functions.

Also, what was it that made you take the plunge into high-end PC gaming? You have seemed quite cold to the idea in the past.

Anyway, I hope everything comes together well and am eager to hear your impressions.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

So an ultra-high-end gaming console, effectively? Controller as primary device makes sense then.

Yup. Hopefully I'll have it mostly setup by next weekend then begins the long period of tweaking it so Windows 10 doesn't do dumb-arse things and Big Picture Mode is as resilient as possible. Valve have a quite a history of breaking BPM with updates and BPM isn't great at recovering fro some game errors.

I'm expecting to have to write scripts or code to keep it hanging together and, as much as Windows allows, schedule maintenance for early mornings with the occasional reboot to keep it snappy. I've done most of the work already in a VM but VMs are generally more predictable than live hardware.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Is windows 10 really that bad on that front? My htpc is running w10 and I never had a reboot while I was using it. It's a pretty much stock config.

BPM has been pretty stable for me since I started using it about a year ago. Never had any real problems.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Is windows 10 really that bad on that front? My htpc is running w10 and I never had a reboot while I was using it. It's a pretty much stock config.

I've only been using Windows 10 for a few weeks myself but it's got something of a reputation of forcing updates and reboots so I'm prepared for this. Prior to that I was gaming in Windows 7 which was a known quantity. As for BPM, yeah Steam itself is ok, but even in Windows 7 I had BPM full screen behave weird, like 3/4 windowed mode, when some games exit badly.

How long do you BPM uninterrupted? Hours or days/weeks?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I've only been using Windows 10 for a few weeks myself but it's got something of a reputation of forcing updates and reboots so I'm prepared for this. Prior to that I was gaming in Windows 7 which was a known quantity. As for BPM, yeah Steam itself is ok, but even in Windows 7 I had BPM full screen behave weird, like 3/4 windowed mode, when some games exit badly.

How long do you BPM uninterrupted? Hours or days/weeks?

Windows 10 allows you to schedule when updates will occur. So you should be able to pick a time when you aren't going to be using the machine. Or just manually do it. My Surface 3 (non Pro Win 10) won't forcibly apply an update for a few days which is tolerable on my Surface 3, but would be annoying on my desktop which has uptime requirements in weeks and sometimes months. But either way it means it won't restart Windows while I'm using it.

Regards,
SB

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Ok, good to know! I only bit the bullet on W10 recently because the upgrade grace period is coming to an end for Windows 7.