Gaming Discussions

[colesdav]

Gamers Nexus Disappointment PC Build for 2020 video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGnBI0rDgA4&feature=emb_logo

What was your best / worst PC part for your builds in 2020? 

Mine is Gigabyte RX590 REV2.0 8GB. 
It was advertised with REV 1.0 specs. It is a bait and switch scam. 
The Gigabyte RX590 REV1.0 8GB is  ~o.k. as it has a Backplate, RGB lighting and additional DVI-D port.

The RX590s were purchased for OpenCL Compute and Blender. 
They are not properly supported and do not work on Blender properly.

[black_zion]

And that's why I don't buy Gigabyte products, their stupid "revision" nonsense...

I would have to say the best PC part I got in 2020 was the RTX 2070 Super, as I got it back in March before the insanity started, and I'd be insane right now if I still had my Fury Nano having to pray it wouldn't die for at least another year when prices somewhat normalize again, hopefully not to the "new normal"...

My worst purchase...I'd have to say is a USB drawing tablet, because it's pretty useless to draw on when you have to look up at a monitor instead of down at what you're drawing.

[colesdav]

RE: And that's why I don't buy Gigabyte products, their stupid "revision" nonsense...

Yes - they know what they are doing in this case as I contacted them about it and told them what was going on. 
It seems they launch AMD GPU with high spec initially, REV 1.0, then introduce the lower spec REV 2.0 but sellers keep advertising REV 1.0 spec.  

Because of what they did in this case I will not be buying any Gigabyte Motherboards etc.
I do not trust them. 

My best performing GPU are still Palit RTX 2080 OC. 
I think they are ~ same performance as RTX 2070 Super. 
I have no intentions of upgrading to AMD 6000 series or Nvidia 3000 series.

[black_zion]

My only planned upgrade is to a X570 motherboard when they drop down below $200, so I can have PCIe4 and multiple M.2 slots. The 3700X I have now is plenty fast for games and tasks I use and will continue to be as the GPU is the bottleneck, and since I don't care what my ePeen score is, not draining my bank account anymore.

[ajlueke]

Best purchase was the LG OLED GX 65" I purchased for my home theater.  Moving up from a 2009 LED backlit LCD TV, the display was a huge improvement.  The ability to play native 4K and use HDR were nice, but not the real stars of this upgrade.  The real star was the OLED panel itself.  With better color reproduction and black levels, all the content I have looks better.  From DVD mkv rips to 4K, they all look superior  to what the Samsung was capable of.

I actually don't see much of a difference on OLED between 4K and standard Blu-ray, they both look great.  HDR is more noticeable in films that have it vs just resolution.  But going from 11 year old LCD to OLED, man, what a difference.

Worst was probably the RTX 3090.  Not because the card is bad, just just because of the circumstances.  I had sold my Radeon VII due to the resale price being high with the mining boom so I was a bit desperate for a similar prosumer card.  I jumped on the RTX 3090 because it was available for MSRP when NVidia did their stock dump to Best Buy.  I still feel like $1,500 is ridiculous for what is marketed as a "gaming" GPU, and I don't want to support that sort of thing.  But in the current market, what choice do we have?  But that's just it, with being moved to 50% work from home I needed a GPU with decent compute chops and had to take what I could get, and that is never a great feeling.  

[ScotchFury]

I've got the LG C9 OLED model...

Awesome clarity, colour reproduction, and blacks that are actually black. Even in Netflix's somewhat compressed 4K, the Dolby Vision content is fantastic. 

I'm in a similar boat.. wanting some 4K 120Hz HDMI 2.1 Goodness, but I refuse to pay $1200AUD or more, especially when certain brands / models have had manufacturing & driver issues. I'll hold out for a bit longer... 

The old RX 570 tries it's hardest.. but I really want to see some MS Flight Sim @ 4K 120..

** The LG GX OLED got the FreeSync firmware / ability didn't it..? Why they don't update the C9 is purely LG being pricks. At least it has G-Sync & HDMI 2.1

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@ajlueke wrote:

Best purchase was the LG OLED GX 65" I purchased for my home theater.  Moving up from a 2009 LED backlit LCD TV, the display was a huge improvement.  The ability to play native 4K and use HDR were nice, but not the real stars of this upgrade.  The real star was the OLED panel itself.  With better color reproduction and black levels, all the content I have looks better.  From DVD mkv rips to 4K, they all look superior  to what the Samsung was capable of.

I actually don't see much of a difference on OLED between 4K and standard Blu-ray, they both look great.  HDR is more noticeable in films that have it vs just resolution.  But going from 11 year old LCD to OLED, man, what a difference.

Worst was probably the RTX 3090.  Not because the card is bad, just just because of the circumstances.  I had sold my Radeon VII due to the resale price being high with the mining boom so I was a bit desperate for a similar prosumer card.  I jumped on the RTX 3090 because it was available for MSRP when NVidia did their stock dump to Best Buy.  I still feel like $1,500 is ridiculous for what is marketed as a "gaming" GPU, and I don't want to support that sort of thing.  But in the current market, what choice do we have?  But that's just it, with being moved to 50% work from home I needed a GPU with decent compute chops and had to take what I could get, and that is never a great feeling.  

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[ajlueke]

Yes, the GX did get the freesync update.  I think there are RTX 3060, 3050 ti, and 3050 models being announced soon, so hopefully HDMI 2.1 will be available at a more affordable price point.  Now if only the HDMI 2.1 bug with current receivers gets fixed...

[ScotchFury]

Wouldn’t be too many receivers with HDMI 2.1 would there..? A few higher end ones I guess...? I’m still rocking my old Pioneer VSX-D812. Just can’t see the point to really change it unless changing speakers too.. with neighbours 4MTRS either side I tend just use headphones mostly. 

Friend just got his Xbox..... X (Absolutely TERRIBLE model names, 4 preschoolers on their lunch break would do better.) So he’ll bring that around this weekend to try out the 4K which has HDMI 2.1 which will be interesting.  Dunno why he went & got a release model? He still only has a 1080 Screen¿ & now no spare $$$s for a new Tv..

Also you’re probably already aware.. Under Settings, All Settings, Programmes, Highlight Programme Tuning & press 1 five times it brings up WIFI HDMI sync speed, colour, resolution & refresh rates etc. which I don’t remember any mention reading the manual when I first got it..

LG OLED diag. Menu...

[ajlueke]

" Just can’t see the point to really change it unless changing speakers too"

Well, if you have speakers you like, there is really never any reason to change those.  Video processing is about the only real reason to update receivers.  It would be nice if separates were cheaper since the amps don't really need to get replaced either. 

HDMI 2.1 on the receiver side is the only way to get full 10-bit HDR on a display at 4K.  Sure, you could send the video directly to the display and send the audio to the the receiver with eARC, but the LG 2020 TV series doesn't have DTS support.  Meaning it cannot pass any DTS codecs.  I have quite a few films with lossless DTS tracks, so updating the receiver is about all I can do.

Currently for HDMI 2.1 it is the 2020 Marantz and Denon lines.  I think Yamaha may have a few models out there now, with Anthem and others coming later.  

My speakers are fine, I'll likely never upgrade those.

[ScotchFury]

Yeah, shame it’s still mostly All-In-Ones and then rather big money for individual components DAC, Pre-amps, etc.. etc. Then room acoustics starts to become more & more important... Never ending cycle

and, again unless lucky to live on acreage or purpose built media room or the like, you can’t really “use” it fully anyway.

** Explains why everything Netflix or though the LG video player seems to come up as Dolby EX and not DTS or DTS-ES now that you mention it.