Strawberryland Forum

Earlier this month, I became a grandmother. My adopted oldest, who is 21 and married now, gave birth to a little girl.

Stella Grapes Wrote:Earlier this month, I became a grandmother. My adopted oldest, who is 21 and married now, gave birth to a little girl.

I know this may sound a bit awkward, but congrats!

So I completed the main campaign of Star Fox Zero. Here are some of my thoughts on the game overall...

The forced motion control scheme actually works well for me, and it's helpful that you simply press the left stick to recalibrate the aiming reticle when needed. To that end, I was able to complete the game without too much difficulty... save for the Gyrowing. The gyrowing is some sort of helicopter that utilizes both sticks for movement, and I haven't fully got used to the scheme.

The graphics aren't as good as, say, Star Wars Battlefront, but for the Wii U, they are very well done. The music and sounds are wonderful too.

One factor of the games broken base is that SF Zero is another reboot of the franchise, rather than a continuation of SF64 which was also a reboot. Honestly, I still felt the game, story wise, was very good despite being somewhat a retread of what was present in SF64. On top of that, they reintroduce some concepts from the first SNES game, and also included one feature from the cancelled SNES sequel... the transforming Arwing that turns into a "chicken walker". Not everything is taken note-for-note from SF64 and there are several stages and elements that feel unique to this game while others have various call backs to the previous games.

Though the campaign is done, there is still arcade mode, as well as unlocking all the alternate paths and hidden levels. And don't even get me started on the medals.... it's tough to get them all, and usually involves taking out every possible target in the stages. The medal collection was also present in SF64 too.

Had a fist fight with Dave on GTA Online, and boy was it lulzy...

huckleberrypie Wrote:Had a fist fight with Dave on GTA Online, and boy was it lulzy...

I have always been a bit leery in playing online games, whatever the game might be. Nintendo systems are free from the sometimes salty voice and text chats AFAIK, but yet I'm still a bit on the fence about finding an online game to play.


Anyway, today, I came across a fine Acer ATC-705-UR5P tower at a local computer store. It's configured with an Intel Core i5-4460, 8gb RAM and 2TB 5200rpm HDD. Seems like a mighty fine system for HD video editing and gaming, and it's only around $550 USD. I read the NewEgg reviews for the tower, and one of them mentioned that PCI-e GPUs that are longer than the slot won't fit inside the tower due to placement of the front USB port cables. :/

I'm a bit tempted to buy a new PC despite not even having my current setup for a year, largely because HD video editing on Ruby takes so long to render into a file or disc. Patsy overall seems perfectly fine with her current load of basic web browsing and mid-range 3D games like those pinball sims. She could use an upgrade to 8gb RAM though since 4GB is starting to become a bit limited.

I don't edit videos that often, normally after family events and holidays. My YTP videos are in SD and performance doesn't really matter for those. In the future, I might be in the position to regularly create HD movies either on discs or as media files, and when that time comes, a performance boost will be needed. I'm also tempted at acquiring an all-in-one PC, though most of them feature entry-level tech. High end all-in-one's cost a pretty penny, sometimes nearly as much as an Apple iMac. Apple iMacs of course use older Intel CPUs and are becoming impossible to upgrade yourself.

The questions are, do I really need to upgrade now, or should I consider other options first?

Here are the other options that are available to me...
- Proceed with Ruby's GPU and PSU upgrades and see if HD video encoding improves.
- I could just consolidate my media programs with Patsy as her C2D E7400 has a bit more performance than an Athlon X2 5000+, and she already has the 750ti GPU.
-Just wait for a while and see if I don't really edit HD videos as much as I thought I was.

As it stands, I can just let Ruby render the video while I do other errands at the present. What if that changes though?

What would the best option be, taken from the list above?

cpd2009 Wrote:

huckleberrypie Wrote:Had a fist fight with Dave on GTA Online, and boy was it lulzy...

I have always been a bit leery in playing online games, whatever the game might be. Nintendo systems are free from the sometimes salty voice and text chats AFAIK, but yet I'm still a bit on the fence about finding an online game to play.


Anyway, today, I came across a fine Acer ATC-705-UR5P tower at a local computer store. It's configured with an Intel Core i5-4460, 8gb RAM and 2TB 5200rpm HDD. Seems like a mighty fine system for HD video editing and gaming, and it's only around $550 USD. I read the NewEgg reviews for the tower, and one of them mentioned that PCI-e GPUs that are longer than the slot won't fit inside the tower due to placement of the front USB port cables. :/

I'm a bit tempted to buy a new PC despite not even having my current setup for a year, largely because HD video editing on Ruby takes so long to render into a file or disc. Patsy overall seems perfectly fine with her current load of basic web browsing and mid-range 3D games like those pinball sims. She could use an upgrade to 8gb RAM though since 4GB is starting to become a bit limited.

I don't edit videos that often, normally after family events and holidays. My YTP videos are in SD and performance doesn't really matter for those. In the future, I might be in the position to regularly create HD movies either on discs or as media files, and when that time comes, a performance boost will be needed. I'm also tempted at acquiring an all-in-one PC, though most of them feature entry-level tech. High end all-in-one's cost a pretty penny, sometimes nearly as much as an Apple iMac. Apple iMacs of course use older Intel CPUs and are becoming impossible to upgrade yourself.

The questions are, do I really need to upgrade now, or should I consider other options first?

Here are the other options that are available to me...
- Proceed with Ruby's GPU and PSU upgrades and see if HD video encoding improves.
- I could just consolidate my media programs with Patsy as her C2D E7400 has a bit more performance than an Athlon X2 5000+, and she already has the 750ti GPU.
-Just wait for a while and see if I don't really edit HD videos as much as I thought I was.

As it stands, I can just let Ruby render the video while I do other errands at the present. What if that changes though?

What would the best option be, taken from the list above?

Apart from the slowish hard drive I think the Acer should be fine, and your 750Ti might fit in given the form factor of the card. Anything along the lines of a GTX 1080 or a card of similar length would be a different story, but regardless, yes it is a foul move on Acer's part to place things to the right of any add-on card slot as it would get in the way of things.

I have decided to put off the upgrade. I promised myself that I would keep my current setup as it was last year, and it would probably be wiser to just get the software and PSU/GPU for Ruby and upgrade as needed. I have other things I need to use my credit card wisely so I don't get so far into debt.

I think Sony Vegas is an affordable alternative that is CUDA-friendly.

cpd2009 Wrote:I have decided to put off the upgrade. I promised myself that I would keep my current setup as it was last year, and it would probably be wiser to just get the software and PSU/GPU for Ruby and upgrade as needed. I have other things I need to use my credit card wisely so I don't get so far into debt.

I think Sony Vegas is an affordable alternative that is CUDA-friendly.

There is that too. A capable CUDA/NVENC-aware encoder would be more than golden enough for your needs.

Alright. I ordered another MSI GeForce GTX 750Ti and Corsair CX430 from NewEgg. Both are identical models to Patsy's.

I also decided to get a PCI Wifi card for Patsy off eBay so I can do away with the rather flimsy USB Wifi dongle.

cpd2009 Wrote:Alright. I ordered another MSI GeForce GTX 750Ti and Corsair CX430 from NewEgg. Both are identical models to Patsy's.

I also decided to get a PCI Wifi card for Patsy off eBay so I can do away with the rather flimsy USB Wifi dongle.

I assume you're going to install those on the AMD rig, yes?