Topic: PC Gaming

I ordered a FragChuck PC controller which is like a joycon or PS Move Navigation controller, but with WASD mapped to the analog, which will work for any game that doesnt allow analog and mouse at the same time. Wanna see how well it works combined with mouse.

Gonna try syncing a left joycon and use that when games do allow analog and mouse input simultaneously.

Also looked into the Azeron, which is amazing, but I'm holding off buying one until they revise it. Reviews say the buttons have such little resistance just resting your fingers can trigger them. update: no longer a concern with adjustable positions of each finger and joint

I love that the analog doubles as both a full analog joystick for games that allow it with mouse, and also a WASD mapped analog for games that don't.

@Ralizah
Switch version of Daemon X Machina was great. And it had gyro aiming which was excellent, it's what made the game so fun. Really good game both docked and handheld.

Always nice to get games free if you don't mind using Epic launcher and don't care about the hybrid play and Gyro. But playing DxM on Switch is the best way to play imo. Unless you grab a Steam Deck and assign mouse gyro. That would work too.

A lot of ppl just didn't like the game that much, but I did.

@Link-Hero
Ah, ok. I'll find out soon enough. The mouse that came with the Razer Turret (looks similar to Razer Mamba) is larger and heavier. But the Glorious D- is about 35% lighter and 8mm shorter. Guess I'll see which is better to use whenever that one arrives.

As for my mouse, it's a normal size basic one.... It does seem to have a couple of extra little buttons but I don't even know what they do as I don't really use it for gaming
But I know there's all sorts around, with lots of extra buttons & stuff that are designed for more serious use

Ok, I took the plunge and ordered the Azeron Cyborg which is their newest version, which adds extra button keys and other improvements. It's too good. I got the flat and curved palm to swap out, and grip tape they're installing on it before shipping. Orders are backed up til April but I'm OK with that. No tax on US orders and I Googled a coupon code for an extra €10 off.

This is my custom colors chosen:

Gotta watch this video and check this thing out. It's legit.

That looks weird.... Is it a mouse & keyboard, with just the keys used for the main stuff in games? Let us know how good it is when you have it, anyway

@BruceCM
It's just a keyboard (or keypad, rather). But you use it alongside a mouse. It has like 38 keys on the Cyborg model. Big advantage is the analog stick which can be full analog or WASD, depending on if the game allows ananlog and mouse together. That and having all the keys accessible without moving your fingers around a keyboard

It'd take a bit of getting used to, mind, @JaxonH .... Do let us know how you get on with it when you have it, though! I like the blue version

@BruceCM
For sure. It's like those new typing keyboard designs where ppl are getting 450 wpm once they learn it properly. It may look funny but performance is everything.

I'm having a blast exploring all these new gaming options on PC. Fragchuck for quick and easy play with a mouse, Azeron for long sit downs, and keyboard for a traditional approach. Gonna learn all 3 and get good with all 3.

I still think controller with mouse gyro is the most elegant solution overall. But with a real mouse, all 3 of these options seem viable- keyboard, fragchuck and azeron (which even has official ReWASD support for mapping double presses, key holds, shift modifiers, etc).

Yeah, I'm sure it'd be incredible once you did get used to it .... Wouldn't be a market for them if they weren't better for some things that a much cheaper standard keyboard, etc

@BruceCM
Turns out, Azeron has an incredibly loyal following of ppl who swear by it and can't go without it now. My order # was 5,300 and change, which is quite a few of these they've sold, especially being 3D printed.

Their Discord is awesome, from both the devs and community all working to provide suggestions for future model improvements, troubleshooting, feedback, etc.

I'm very excited to get mine. In April. Could have ordered a Compact or Classic and gotten it now (even sold on Amazon, but without the customizations like Medium/Large or Palm Rest Curved/Flat, Color Choice, etc, better to buy from their website) but the Cyborg has too many great improvements and enough keys to make one profile that never changes and use it for every game.

This is beating a dead horse a bit and not at all a surprise given the current state of things. I was just looking at some of the performance reviews of the RTX 3050. My typical upgrade cycle I usually go ~4 years between GPUs and I usually go for somewhere in the ballpark of the 50-to-70 tier cards. So as someone who got a 1660Ti in 2019... 3050 is... maybe a tad early but theoretically interesting. In usual times this would effectively be one tier and one generation behind what I'd probably upgrade to

But when I look at the performance graphs? It's basically equivalent to a 1660Ti but maybe a tad over in some workloads and a tad under in others. But you get tensor cores so DLSS which is nice, 8GB vs the 6GB VRAM that I have in my card and marginally lower power consumption. All ok but nothing really worth upgrading for. Then you look at the pricing. The cheapest SKUs are $200AU more than I paid for my 1660Ti................

Two and a half years into my typical ~4 year upgrade cycle and new cards are still worse value than my GPU was when I brought it..... depressing.....

The only argument for upgrading to the 3050 is that that it's offering ray tracing and DLSS. In that sense it's at least offering a couple of things that the 16 series won't do even if there's not much of a performance bump overall.

That's more than can be said for AMD's equivalent offering, the RX 6500 XT which makes even less sense as a sidegrade.

Ah well, at least both cards are available - albeit somewhat above their manufacturer's prices - which is more than can be said for anything else vaguely modern at the entry tier of gaming, so they'll probably see a lot of service in new builds even if those looking for an upgrade aren't too interested.

@skywake stick to the 1660ti. buying new gpus right now is just awful. everything is overpriced.

@6ch6ris6
Oh I definitely am. I'm just grumbling about the state of things

@skywake me too. im stuck with a 1060 6gb that i got with my new pc in 2018. 2022 was suppose to be the year where i get a new pc, but i guess i have to wait :/

@6ch6ris6 @skywake Still hanging on with a GTX 970 from 2015, lol. Which is actually still performing marvelously, limited VRAM aside, but I'd intended to upgrade years ago. At least my other components are up-to-date: the Ryzen 5 3600 is a marvelous CPU, I have 16GB of speedy RAM, and the SSD makes everything on my PC so much snappier.

I think what really disturbs me is that I don't think we'll be going back to pre-pandemic norms in terms of GPU pricing. NVIDIA and AMD have been gleefully exploiting the desperation for new components and now know that people are willing to pay way higher prices for even decent mid-range cards.

And, tbh, I feel like I've been hearing mixed messages about the chip shortage for so long that I have no idea when, if ever, we're going to go back to something approaching normal. I guess the bigger issues, miners aside, is that it takes years for production capacity to increase to meet the uptick in demand, but it just feels endless.

There’s a lot of factors playing into the difficulty in obtaining GPUs. Mining is definitely a contributing factor, but only one small piece of the puzzle. The labor shortage, the global chip shortage, the pandemic has disrupted supply pipelines and throughput, opportunists are scalping to make a buck, yields are low and as Ralizah mentioned, expanding supply takes years.

I too was lucky to get a 2080 ti and i9 9900k with my PC, which was still marked up but not nearly as much as they are now.

Im definitely getting a prebuilt again when I upgrade. The 4xxx series cards are rumored to hit 90 teraflops with the 4090 ti, vs 40 on the 3090 ti and just 13 on the 2080 ti. That’s insane. I’ll just wait until the 2080 ti can’t do 1440p 60fps and then buy a new prebuilt and sell the old. Cause by that point GPU’s will need massive power supplies, motherboards will have way more NVMe slots, CPUs will be much better, etc etc.

@JaxonH fullsize. I like weighted mice in general but since I started using a trackball and I have long fingers, a full sized mouse is easier to just rest my hand on. My mom uses small mice and I dread working on her computer.

@Ryu_Niiyama
I'm still feeling out my preferences.

The Glorious D- is so light and comfy, not too small, not to large. Feels great, especially with grip tape making it easier to lift without slipping.

But the Logitech G502 is so comfy, I actually think I prefer it. It's heavier and larger but it's so good. Even comes with weights to customize it heavier if you want, though I think it's heavy enough as is

Wow.

A gamer broke their neck from VR use

https://nypost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/nypost.com/2022/01/...

@JaxonH People crash into their TV, broke their hands when hitting their table, beat up other people, knocked themselves out on the wall or slipped and died.
I am more surprised if that is the first time something like this happened
edit. grammar