6 ms·

I agree with your point that the current VR solution are a huge burden in space and setup, too many cables, too much room needed, too many tinkering ... Howeve

by nolok 8y ago

I agree with your point that the current VR solution are a huge burden in space and setup, too many cables, too much room needed, too many tinkering ... However I disagree with this: > However maintaining a gaming rig is another issue entirely. I frequently have to spend 20-30 minutes getting the sound to work correctly after windows updates, iTunes updates, vive updates, steam updates, etc etc. It's almost comical and I wonder if this is an indication of the PC gaming tool-chain issues, or something as simple as Steams VR software is shit. And honestly I don't care, I just want it to work. I have no idea how that could happen to you, if you have super exotic hardware or if steam vr doesn't work. I maintain 3 "gaming" computers, and they basically never have issues. The "everything need to auto update once a week" is getting boring pretty fast sure, but nothing gets broken; sound, video, gsync, keyboard/mouse, network ... It's actually quite impressive how reliable all of it is. Hell, ever since moving to networked laser printers even the scanning/printing chain doesn't fail randomly anymore. Compared to even ten years ago in the late XP days, windows and the modern drivers available for it have become incredibly reliable.

evo_9 8y ago
My gaming rig is an Alienware box, I don't have the model handy. I'm not running anything other than Steam/SteamVR on it. My buddy bought the same setup and has the exact same issues I have and often txts me to find out how I fixed it on my setup.
- nolok 8y ago
  Well then alienware must have had major loss of quality in their component choice in the last few years, because gaming series laptop (asus rog, msi g series, alienware, ...) are usually very well supported and all pretty much include the same components. Anyway, I maintain that this part of your experience is anecdotal and not representative of the general experience.
- bradenb 8y ago
  I use an Alienware 15 R3 as my main Windows gaming machine (since I game a lot at various locations) and I don't have any of the issues you describe. Sounds like you got a lemon. Their warranty support is excellent, so you should probably ask them about it.
  - evo_9 8y ago
    Just wondering, are you running steamVR and/or Vive? My hunch is it's a SteamVR thing as my other PC gaming friends have all said the same thing (aka never have any of these issues).
  - pmikesell 8y ago
    >> Their warranty support is excellent This was not my experience at all with Alienware. I'll never buy anything from them again (yes I know they're part of Dell now)
sagarm 8y ago
The frequent updates are a minor annoyance if you use the gaming computer regularly, but if used infrequently they all happen at once. It makes booting into Windows to play games feel like a chore. This has been exacerbated for me because initially I only allocated ~20GB for the Windows boot partition, which is plenty for Ubuntu but apparently nowhere near enough for Windows. Even at ~30GB, I have to do things to reduce the amount of space Windows uses (like disable hibernation, manually compact WinSxS, etc) so that those big named updates can complete. In short: Windows is too high maintenance for infrequent use.
- kingbirdy 8y ago
  To be honest, I think that's just on you for allocating too little space. 20 GB is listed as the bare minimum for a windows 10 64 bit install [0], and only 10 GB extra for apps & updates isn't much. [0]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-specifications https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-specifica...
  - gbrown 8y ago
    For those of us in an area without good broadband, it doesn't matter if you have plenty of hard drive space. If I sit down to play videogames one night a month and I have to sit through hours of updates, it's infuriating.
    - fredsted 8y ago
      Just don't update then. Do it overnight after you're done playing.
      - girvo 8y ago
        Good luck doing that with data-caps.
  - sagarm 8y ago
    My programs/games were all on a separate partition, though. 30GB was _just_ for Windows and drivers. I didn't check the minimum requirements, but if I had I would have been even more annoyed when 20GB wasn't enough to complete updates.
fapjacks 8y ago
No. This is wrong. I have built a handful of "gaming" rigs for Windows 10 over the last couple of years, and every single one of them had egregious, stupid problems with the hardware. I hate this bullshit "Nothing is wrong with Windows" thing when there are clearly an increasingly substantial number of people hitting catastrophic issues with brand new versions of Windows and regular, everyday hardware. I have been building computers for a quarter of a century, and I know what I'm talking about. Windows 10 has problems with mundane hardware. Onboard ethernet NIC, sound, wireless adapter, and of course the GPUs. Windows 10 has had problems with all of it. Even when Windows is "working correctly" it's hosing people's setups. Or are you going to deny that MS pushed forcible updates that bricked customer machines, too?

by nolok 8y ago

evo_9 8y ago

My gaming rig is an Alienware box, I don't have the model handy. I'm not running anything other than Steam/SteamVR on it. My buddy bought the same setup and has the exact same issues I have and often txts me to find out how I fixed it on my setup.

nolok 8y ago
Well then alienware must have had major loss of quality in their component choice in the last few years, because gaming series laptop (asus rog, msi g series, alienware, ...) are usually very well supported and all pretty much include the same components. Anyway, I maintain that this part of your experience is anecdotal and not representative of the general experience.
bradenb 8y ago
I use an Alienware 15 R3 as my main Windows gaming machine (since I game a lot at various locations) and I don't have any of the issues you describe. Sounds like you got a lemon. Their warranty support is excellent, so you should probably ask them about it.
- evo_9 8y ago
  Just wondering, are you running steamVR and/or Vive? My hunch is it's a SteamVR thing as my other PC gaming friends have all said the same thing (aka never have any of these issues).
- pmikesell 8y ago
  >> Their warranty support is excellent This was not my experience at all with Alienware. I'll never buy anything from them again (yes I know they're part of Dell now)

sagarm 8y ago

The frequent updates are a minor annoyance if you use the gaming computer regularly, but if used infrequently they all happen at once. It makes booting into Windows to play games feel like a chore. This has been exacerbated for me because initially I only allocated ~20GB for the Windows boot partition, which is plenty for Ubuntu but apparently nowhere near enough for Windows. Even at ~30GB, I have to do things to reduce the amount of space Windows uses (like disable hibernation, manually compact WinSxS, etc) so that those big named updates can complete. In short: Windows is too high maintenance for infrequent use.

kingbirdy 8y ago
To be honest, I think that's just on you for allocating too little space. 20 GB is listed as the bare minimum for a windows 10 64 bit install [0], and only 10 GB extra for apps & updates isn't much. [0]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-specifications https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-specifica...
- gbrown 8y ago
  For those of us in an area without good broadband, it doesn't matter if you have plenty of hard drive space. If I sit down to play videogames one night a month and I have to sit through hours of updates, it's infuriating.
  - fredsted 8y ago
    Just don't update then. Do it overnight after you're done playing.
    - girvo 8y ago
      Good luck doing that with data-caps.
- sagarm 8y ago
  My programs/games were all on a separate partition, though. 30GB was _just_ for Windows and drivers. I didn't check the minimum requirements, but if I had I would have been even more annoyed when 20GB wasn't enough to complete updates.

fapjacks 8y ago

No. This is wrong. I have built a handful of "gaming" rigs for Windows 10 over the last couple of years, and every single one of them had egregious, stupid problems with the hardware. I hate this bullshit "Nothing is wrong with Windows" thing when there are clearly an increasingly substantial number of people hitting catastrophic issues with brand new versions of Windows and regular, everyday hardware. I have been building computers for a quarter of a century, and I know what I'm talking about. Windows 10 has problems with mundane hardware. Onboard ethernet NIC, sound, wireless adapter, and of course the GPUs. Windows 10 has had problems with all of it. Even when Windows is "working correctly" it's hosing people's setups. Or are you going to deny that MS pushed forcible updates that bricked customer machines, too?