Random Hardware Thoughts

[el01]

@Choidebu

I personally kinda care for my overclockable systems, but for most SFFers, realistically, VRMs are limited by the following:

• Board space (ITX is frickin' tiny!)
• Cooling for overclocking: you really don't want to overclock an ITX system on a L9i and a i7-8700K
• Potentially cost: the cost of an SFF case is already a large chunk of a system builder's budget, so you may have to "skimp" on some things.

Given that the majority of computers I own are laptops, I couldn't care less (power limits are rather strict anyways), but I can see where someone would care (EXOC users).

@Solo -
My taste in technology in a nutshell. I really don't get the point of RGB. White LEDs do the job just fine.

 

[el01]

Today's random thought #1: Thoughts on Lenovo IdeaPads

I rather like the IdeaPads actually. I'm typing this thought on my 100S, which, despite degraded battery life, still does pretty well for school and light usage. IMO, the IdeaPad formula is to take a ThinkPad, make it slimmer and more curvy, downgrade the keyboard by a ton in terms of key travel and keycap shape but not in typing experience, and then slap on a cheaper price tag.

My main problem with IdeaPads is that they're still made to be less durable than ThinkPads. Of course, given lowered prices, this comes as no surprise, but my 100S has a bunch of superglue around the power button to hold the plastic in place, the trackpad is worn on the surface, my caps lock key popped out when I pressed on it a bit hard while typing super fast, and some screws have fallen out. I trust business laptops in general more than I trust consumer laptops, given durability, service, and upgradeability.

Hopefully this isn't silly, and I'll move on to my next thought.

 

[el01]

Today's other random thought: My favorite materials on technology.

Side of a phone ("bezel" I guess?): I prefer steel/aluminium with a coarse texture CNCed in. Very good for grip.
Buttons (power, phone, etc.): Grooved texture on the area touching the skin, most likely with a diagonal line design rather than a coarser texture.
Back of a laptop, phone, etc. (facing towards other people): Aluminium or steel, most likely with an anti-microscratch finish. I really dislike glass. Cracks too easily.
Screens: Matte plastic. Fewer fingerprints, less glare.
Touchpads: I would actually say glass in this case. Fingerprints don't wear down the pad as much...
Keyboards: A rough textured plastic or aluminium. Easier to grip keys this way
Bottom casing: Plastic-coated aluminium/steel. More resistant to scratches and nicks this way.


I like the thick hinge across the middle design of the E480/E-series ThinkPads. Just sayin'.

 

[Soul_Est]

I'm still wrapping my head around why on earth pc builders nowadays care at all about VRMs? Back in the days it's just whether the board is stable to oc or not. Like, who cares if the mobo employs pixel pixies to regulate voltage, or a phase change transistor?

What next? Trace length? Board layers count?

This is pseudo science on top of pseudo science.

Lmao yeah my build priorities are as follows:

1. Looks good
2. Doesn't have RGB lighting anywhere
3. Works

The real point of that post was to draw attention to VRMs for those that wish to run 24/7 overclocks on their systems.

 

[el01]

The real point of that post was to draw attention to VRMs for those that wish to run 24/7 overclocks on their systems.

Thank you! I didn't really think about that, but there you go

 

[Soul_Est]

Thank you! I didn't really think about that, but there you go

This also applies to high-performance builds like Full Circle. Eight cores and 16 threads running full tilt will stress lower quality VRM setups even if they can handle the load.