[Rant] Tech Minor Rant Thread

figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
PatrThom said:
...and going by the pictures has to be either Gigabyte's B760M D3HP or B760M G AX motherboard (because white southbridge) but has to be the D3HP because it has 2x PCIe x1 slots listed in the specs (G AX only has one).
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It's a B760M C and I have updated the BIOS to the latest version.

I'll check on the rest of your advice after I shower and lie down for a while. Even after over a week of being sick, I took a turn for the worse today.

EDIT: the SSD is Western Digital, from memory, but I'll get you specifics later.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

-The i7 CPU on that deal is far better than the i5 in your current rig.
-GPUs are almost the same, but the second one is better.
-RAM is the same (possibly better, if your current rig has 4x modules instead of just 2).
-SSD is half the size, so you'll probably want to upgrade that to a PCIe 4.0 2TB at a later time, but PCIe 3.0 1TB should be enough for a while, so long as you're ok shuffling things back and forth to the HDD whenever you want to switch.
-WiFi is identical. Ethernet is faster, but don't know if you'll notice, depending on your router.
-PSU is 50W better on the MSI.

The MSI seems like a better deal all around (except for the SSD), though of course if you go for it I would make sure to check for that BIOS update right away if one is available. As far as MSI's reputation goes, they are middle-of-the-road for reliability.

--Patrick
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
The dud PC has gotten so bad that it can't even fully load the desktop, except in safe mode. A normal boot starts to freeze before the system tray icons load in, and bluescreens into a reboot shortly after. I can't even get it to restore Windows, it just says that something went wrong.

It runs in safe mode, though, seemingly indefinitely. At least that allowed me to check that none of my files remain on the drive (at least not obviously). Maybe I just wasn't spending enough time in safe mode for the instability to hit.

Maybe CyberpowerPC can figure out what component is causing all this havoc, when they try to refurbish it / salvage the parts, but I sure as heck have no idea what caused all this. Temperatures were fine whenever I checked. Chkdsk never showed anything but minor errors, and mostly nothing. Windows Defender never found any infected files. None of my data was lost, except when I wiped it to restore Windows to as pristine a state as possible. I had a couple of long stretches of stability to play Saints Row 2022 and Nobody Saves the World, and Saints Row only crashed on me once or twice (which is actually pretty damn impressive for a game known to be buggy and unpolished).

Probably should have run memtest on this one while it was stable. I did run that on the first dud, but didn't get any errors in the hour that I ran it.

Oh well. Guess I get my internet via my phone and Raspberry Pi for an estimated 5 - 7 days. ($24 for overnight shipping didn't seem like good value.)
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

At this point, I want to tear into it just for closure's sake, like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? The computer specs show it is built primarily with off-the-shelf parts, none of which appear to be proprietary, so there is no good reason why it and its brethren should fail so frequently just because of whose name plate is attached to the exterior of the box. There has to be some common thread, and I'm willing to bet it's going to be a spectacularly dumb one, at that.

--Patrick
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
PatrThom said:
At this point, I want to tear into it just for closure's sake, like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? The computer specs show it is built primarily with off-the-shelf parts, none of which appear to be proprietary, so there is no good reason why it and its brethren should fail so frequently just because of whose name plate is attached to the exterior of the box. There has to be some common thread, and I'm willing to bet it's going to be a spectacularly dumb one, at that.
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My pet theory, and it's based on very little, is that something went wrong with assembly/manufacture (newbie bending pins? A batch of bad capacitors? who knows.) A $150 instant rebate making an already good price into a too-good-to-be-true deal? Maybe CyberPowerPC knows there are issues, and they're trying to cycle units out as quickly as possible so they can get enough units back to refurbish in a large batch.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

I would propose that you are conspiracy theorizing...BUT I've already seen too many PCs where someone plugs every accessory into the same power rail, or tries to plug the MLB +4+4 power cables into the GPU's 8-pin connector (there's a reason it doesn't fit there, buddy!), or tries to connect the front panel audio to a USB header (doesn't fit there, either!) or plugs a PCIe card into a slot that specifically says "resources shared with USB ports 4&5, pick one" -- junk like that.

--Patrick
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
It doesn't even have to be every single unit. If, hypothetically, 10% of the units are faulty, that's still way above what I've read is the average (about 1 - 5% within the warranty period). Getting two duds in a row would still be a 1 in 100 chance, but far from implausible.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
figmentPez said:
Went ahead and ordered this one.
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While I wait for my new PC to arrive, I've got a janky temporary setup. I'm surfing the web on a Raspberry Pi 4, but since that can't play video and surf the web at the same time I'm borrowing a Roku from my parents, and it's plugged into an old monitor sitting on a stool next to my desk. Since the speakers on that monitor suck I'm using a bluetooth speaker with a line-in connected to the headphone jack on the monitor.

I think I'm past being sick, but now allergy season is hitting me like a sack of hammers. So I'm still suffering, but I'm also getting less sleep, and my anxiety is ramped up. Technically I've got more energy, but I'm not really capable of doing much with it.

Things are really not going well for me. I hope that changes soon.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
figmentPez said:
Went ahead and ordered this one.
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Still waiting on it to arrive. Didn't get a tracking number until the 27th, which then showed that it had already been moving around in Amazon's warehouses since the 25, making it's way from Hoboken, NJ to Katy, TX. There has not been any update since. Supposedly Woot/Amazon is handing the package off to USPS, but nothing has been logged.

Hopefully I won't be waiting as long as @GasBandit did for his PineTime smartwatch.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
PatrThom said:
At this point, I want to tear into it just for closure's sake, like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???
Click to expand...
Reddit recommended a thread to me, which had comments about updating the firmware on the WD SDD.

October 16: https://community.wd.com/t/critical...that-can-cause-bsod-on-windows-11-24h2/298372

SanDisk SSDs, Memory Cards, and Flash Drives for Your Digital Life | SanDisk

Find detailed answers to your support questions for your SanDisk or WD_BLACK products.
support-en.sandisk.com support-en.sandisk.com

The SSD in the model I had is on that list.

Wish I'd found this info before returning the PC.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
figmentPez said:
Still waiting on it to arrive. Didn't get a tracking number until the 27th, which then showed that it had already been moving around in Amazon's warehouses since the 25, making it's way from Hoboken, NJ to Katy, TX. There has not been any update since. Supposedly Woot/Amazon is handing the package off to USPS, but nothing has been logged.
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The same model I had ordered went up for sale again on Woot, this time $50 cheaper. That got me to bug support again, and I could not get any sort of meaningful response from email, so I was forced to make a fucking phone call. They finally admitted that it was lost in shipment. So I had my order refunded, and re-ordered at the lower price (they could not just price match and send me a replacement). This time I paid the extra $24 for 1-day shipping, in hopes that the extra charge will mean they'll work harder to actually get my package to me.

I just want to play video games on a larger screen again!
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
figmentPez said:
I just want to play video games on a larger screen again!
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Okay, not just that. There are a lot of things I miss about having a full fledged desktop PC. A Raspberry Pi is surprisingly capable as a makeshift computer, but there are definitely shortcomings. Which I won't rant about now, because I need to get back to making dinner.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
I was very frustrated that my computer did not ship/arrive on Monday because the estimated delivery date was Nov 11, but eventually I realized that Monday was Veteran's Day, a federal holiday. Apparently Woot's automated system does not account for holidays (and possibly not even weekends).
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
figmentPez said:
I was very frustrated that my computer did not ship/arrive on Monday because the estimated delivery date was Nov 11, but eventually I realized that Monday was Veteran's Day, a federal holiday. Apparently Woot's automated system does not account for holidays (and possibly not even weekends).
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Are you fucking kidding me? My computer still hasn't shipped.

I am so tired of this bullshit.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

The CTRL key on my laptop keyboard is sticking. When I press it, sometimes it'll register as "pressed" for an extra few seconds. This occasionally happens to other keys nearby, such as SHIFT and ALT, but it's most prominently happening to my CTRL key. This is detrimental to both my gaming and my typing.

I've tried removing the key and cleaning out underneath it, but it hasn't helped much. I suspect it's an issue with the membrane.

I could maybe send the laptop in for checks and repairs, but then I wouldn't have a laptop for a while, and that sucks.

This laptop is about 3 years old, so it's not completely outrageous to look into getting a new one... but to be honest it was a pretty expensive laptop when I bought it, and I initially chose this one because I wanted future-proofing. I didn't want to have to get a new one just a few years down the line.

I am annoyed.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
bhamv3 said:
The CTRL key on my laptop keyboard is sticking. When I press it, sometimes it'll register as "pressed" for an extra few seconds. This occasionally happens to other keys nearby, such as SHIFT and ALT, but it's most prominently happening to my CTRL key. This is detrimental to both my gaming and my typing.

I've tried removing the key and cleaning out underneath it, but it hasn't helped much. I suspect it's an issue with the membrane.

I could maybe send the laptop in for checks and repairs, but then I wouldn't have a laptop for a while, and that sucks.

This laptop is about 3 years old, so it's not completely outrageous to look into getting a new one... but to be honest it was a pretty expensive laptop when I bought it, and I initially chose this one because I wanted future-proofing. I didn't want to have to get a new one just a few years down the line.

I am annoyed.
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You could still plug in an external keyboard. Heck, when I'm at home I never use the built-in keyboard because I have it on a dock.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Also I would be willing to bet that the keyboard on that laptop is modular and replaceable. It's probably just held in by screws and attached to the motherboard with a ribbon cable. Replacing it would probably be easy to do yourself.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
figmentPez said:
Are you fucking kidding me? My computer still hasn't shipped.

I am so tired of this bullshit.
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I finally have a tracking number, and a new estimated delivery date of Monday the 18th.

Woot also refunded the $24 that I paid for one-day shipping. Which is something, I guess.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
figmentPez said:
"1:15 pm A carrier delay has occurred."

Are you god damn fucking kidding me????
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Nearly three full days later and my package is still stuck in limbo. There have been no updates to the tracking since that message. All that happened is that the status changed from "delivery by 11pm Nov 18" to "Delayed".

I emailed customer service on the evening of the 19th. I still haven't heard back. I called customer service this morning, and they tried to act like it's normal for a package shipped via 1-day shipping to go completely silent for three days.

This is not acceptable, but I get the impression that it's becoming increasingly common for Amazon's shipping services.

Tomorrow it will have been one month since I first placed my order for a computer from Woot.
 
Bones

Bones

figmentPez said:
Nearly three full days later and my package is still stuck in limbo. There have been no updates to the tracking since that message. All that happened is that the status changed from "delivery by 11pm Nov 18" to "Delayed".

I emailed customer service on the evening of the 19th. I still haven't heard back. I called customer service this morning, and they tried to act like it's normal for a package shipped via 1-day shipping to go completely silent for three days.

This is not acceptable, but I get the impression that it's becoming increasingly common for Amazon's shipping services.

Tomorrow it will have been one month since I first placed my order for a computer from Woot.
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dude I had something shipped two Mondays ago 2-day priority, it arrived on Tuesday of this week, you are in good company.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
I'm still waiting on that smartwatch. I'm out way less money and inconvenience than Pez, to be sure, but shipping sure has gone to shit lately, yeah.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

There's a lot of crap to be said about FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL and co (a LOT), but Amazon's own delivery service is without a doubt the crappiest one with among the worst service and highest delays. Something about paying peanuts and getting monkeys. r/fedexers and similar are all full of people trying to get from Amazon to FedEx (or other transportation companies).
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
I'm dreading calling back customer service, because I'm afraid that cancelling the order is the only viable option at this point. I just don't want to have to go through the stress of searching through more computers and once again having to make a decision to spend money. I have literally been in tears multiple times dreading having to go through that stress again. I'm so tired of trying to find the right PC to buy.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Anyway, to try to help me figure out what deal I should settle for:

1. Disregarding my budget, what would you buy if you were trying to get the most bang for your buck from a computer that you intend to keep for a while?

2. What would you do to expand the storage on a system that only comes with a 1TB SSD?

3. Is getting 32GB of RAM important compared to 16GB?

I'm so tired of sorting through all this shit. I'm still kicking myself for not being able to figure out that the SDD on the CyberPowerPC needed to have it's firmware updated. FUCK.

Should I be looking at laptops at all? I'm still hesitant to go with a Steam Deck, since I intend to do most of my gaming on a monitor, and I haven't looked into what you do for cloud storage (Dropbox and Google Drive) on Linux, among many other things that may not be coming to my stress addled mind.

Any help in picking a PC, or better understanding how much money I can justify spending, would be really helpful. I need a new PC, I'm going nuts without one.
 
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