Random Gaming Talk

[D3RANG3D]

[bork]

I'm now on my second ASUS Ally (first one got messed up when trying to clone the SSD- no idea what happened, but back to Best Buy it went) and found that the sticks are better on this one (not as loose) and wifi speeds are much, much faster.

There was talk about a performance downgrade with the latest BIOS, but after I did a clean Windows install with the new SSD, I can't say I noticed anything.  ASUS has also released a hotfix for AMD drivers today that people are saying fixes the issues.

Performance is better and I'm pretty blown away by how things are running now, even on battery.  100+ FPS in Call Of Duty.  60-70 FPS in Control.  And this is at 1080P!

[Nintex]

[Nintex]

[Potato]

As someone who has played 50% of one Tomb Raider game ever, can someone tell me when Lara became a lesbian?

[Potato]

I always suspected most people running this idiotic industry were just fanboy clowns. This whole fiasco has confirmed it.

[benji]

Tomb Raider games have plots?

I beat this with a friend and I have no clue what the plot was or why there was a Mayan guy:

[HardcoreRetro]

I only play the games for those two massive, succulent plot points.

[bork]

ASUS Z13 Acronym (number two) impressions after several weeks of usage:

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

"WTF, again?!"  Well, we know I'm crazy.  Two reasons why the Z13 is going back:

-I've found myself just going for the Asus Ally over this, despite its better performance and hardware.  The Ally is more portable and is running everything I want to play so incredibly well that I just don't see the point in having what are kind of two of the same device. 

-The Z13 got another forced BIOS update a few days ago.  This caused performance in general to get worse by around 10-15 FPS in most games and this was the final straw.

I still had another week to return it, so decided to just send it back for the last time.  Ally aside, I think I'm done with Asus in 2023.  Nearly every 2023 product I have tried from them has had something wrong to the point of needing to be exchanged or refunded.

I did consider just waiting another six months to a year to see what else comes along, but Dell is having a sale right now so I'm gonna give them a try,  I got the Alienware X14 R2 with 32GB of ram and a 4TB SSD for $400 cheaper than the Z13 Acrnonym costs.  It has a 4060 versus the Z13's 4070, but the X14's GPU and CPU run at a higher wattage so it should even out or perform better.  If it's on par with what the MSI Stealth 14 ran like, I'll be pretty satisfied.  If not...uh...Razer next? 

[D3RANG3D]

[Polident]

Is this all bad luck or does ASUS have a history? Because I saw some drama around their motherboards recently too.

[Nintex]

PC brands decided that quality control doesn't matter

[D3RANG3D]

[benji]

Is this all bad luck or does ASUS have a history? Because I saw some drama around their motherboards recently too.

Over a decade ago I got an ASUS motherboard that was DOA. Returned it for a replacement twice that were both also DOA. Switched to a Gigabyte one that worked from the start.

[bork]

Is this all bad luck or does ASUS have a history? Because I saw some drama around their motherboards recently too.

I think something is just up with ASUS' QC on their 2023 products- I've tried two of their 2022 machines during my endless buying/returning spree and neither had any defects- one was just shit for performance due to weak hardware (Z13) and the other was absolutely amazing for its price (G14 with 6700S).  With the 2023 stuff, it seems like if you get something that works, it seems to stay working, fortunately, but if you get one with anything wrong, no matter how minor, might as well just return or exchange it from my experience.

What I don't understand is what ASUS are doing with their BIOS updates.  There's too many of them and then every time they release a new one, performance gets downgraded.  It's good to see that they at least addressed things fairly fast with the Ally.  I am still very much digging that and I think they've done a fantastic job on it.  Had I not purchased the Ally, I would definitely have stuck with the Z13 Acronym.  The way I see it, they released a similar device, at a third of the price, that works so well that it makes the more expensive options irrelevant (for gaming, at least).

In fairness, if you check subreddits for any of these hardware makers, you'll find crazy amounts of issues being reported for virtually every laptop, desktop, or component out there (ASUS did legit fuck up bad with the motherboard thing though).  Checking the Alienware subreddit makes it look like everything they put out is total shit and is not something I wanted to see after placing that order, lol.

If I were to try everything -and I'm getting close to it,lol- at this point after AW all that's left are the new Razer Blade 14 and the Acer Predator Triton 14.  The latter, much like this new Alienware, has no reviews out there for whatever reason.  I assume they didn't send out review units, which is weird because it looks like both models from last year reviewed well.

TBH, I was pretty close to pulling the trigger on another ASUS model- the 4090 G14.  But common sense prevailed in the end.  Not just because it could be another cursed ASUS 2023 product, but because when you're looking for the smallest form factor, it's just kind of stupid to bother with anything over the 4070.  The power is just not there to make the higher-tier cards worth it.

[Polident]

It is interesting to read and watch laptop reviews and seeing this trend of newer models cutting corners here and there. Wave across the entire industry. Like, Lenovo’s higher end model for this year is closer to their mid range model from last.

[Nintex]

The Xbox/Activision hearing is bonkers and under oath none of them can lie.

Also Nintendo is so powerful that whenever Doug Bowser speaks or Nintendo comes up the audio is cut off.

[chronovore]

[D3RANG3D]

[bork]

Ended up canceling the Alienware order- they hadn't started building it yet, so no issues there.  Decided to try the new Razer Blade 14 instead.  Not just because the specs are better (and it's reviewing really well, too), but because somehow they offered it with any payment plan I wanted to go on with zero interest.  Works for me.



This model not only runs more efficiently, but finally has upgradeable ram.  It is to my understanding the the Predator Triton 14 doesn't do this and they only have 16GB options on their site, so that's a pass at least for now.  One negative I already see is that the Blades have huge power bricks, but people still seem to like lugging them around.

If the Razer doesn't work out, that just leaves Alienware...again.  Definitely possible that this is it -because I've tried everything- and that's OK too.  If my crazy laptop odyssey just results in swapping out the Steam Deck for the Ally this year, I'm good with it.

[D3RANG3D]

[Nintex]

https://www.ign.com/articles/xboxs-perfect-dark-reboot-is-still-years-away

lmao what a fucking mess. 

game is still in pre-production not releasing for another 3 or 4 years.

[D3RANG3D]

[Nintex]

So Phil wanted to buy SEGA after all and Bungie too and Niantic.

Basically any studio that could pull off what he can't, make a fucking video game.

[benji]

Think this is far more interesting than that they were sniffing around other companies before they bought two of them:


In. Order.

[Svejk]

There goes another beloved franchise straight down the gaping woke asshole of a shitter, if true.  jfc

[Nintex]

Is there anything they didn't attempt to buy?

[bork]

Endless Laptop Odyssey #10?  #11?  I don't even know anymore. 

---

Got the Razer Blade 14 2023.  Never had one of their PCs before.

-The build quality is insane.  It's all-metal.  Even the screen bezels.
-The laptop is noticeably heavier than others because of this.
-The power brick isn't too bad size-wise.  Kind long, but thinner than others.
-The keyboard lighting is fry-your-eyeballs bright.  Shits all over all the others I've tried.
-The trackpad is HUGE!  Biggest one I've ever seen on a laptop.
-The screen is nice, with no noticeable light bleed.  Can't say I feel a difference between 240hz and other 165hz panels.
-The screen is also insanely bright.  Had to turn it down a bit!
-It runs pretty quiet and cool so far.  More than the others I've tried.
-The image came bloat-free apart from what Windows itself has.  This was easily the fastest laptop setup out of all the ones I've tried.  Bonus points for no BIOS updates needed.
-I put it on turbo/boost settings and loaded up CoD.  The fans don't sound too loud when they kick in, but are definitely quite audible.  Typical for a gaming laptop, but also more on the quieter side for one.
-CoD benchmark, at recommended settings/1600P/DLSS on performance gave an average of 153 FPS.  The highest it got was 177 FPS.  Beats out everything else I've tried at this size, but the MSI Stealth 14 came pretty close.
-It's Razer, so I did something I never do and got an extended warranty on it. 

The 2023 model also finally has user-upgradeable RAM.  Cloning the drive to a 2TB now and then will pop in 32GB DDR5 5600 sticks.

[MMaRsu]

[benji]

I've got some beta invites to a game that the NDA says I can't name if anyone wants one. It's funny that the division of this company would put that in the heartland of their NDA. (Also if playing in a room with windows you must keep the curtains closed.)