The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

Egh, some are. They're just as much a minefield as gaming membrane keyboards though, there are a lot of very expensive, very poor quality products in that market - almost all the bad ones are unsurprisingly those that came to the market after the surge in popularity of mechanical keyboards for gamers, e.g. Razer, Qpad, CMStorm and so on.

I bought a Qpad MK-50 and MK-85 - the former is fine apart from the texturing having worn off many of the keys (which happens to most membrane keyboards too), but the MK-85 which was more than double the price was a disaster - the backlight controllers are flawed by design and will start flickering after a few months (as in, to the point of being off for short periods), the wrist rest (same design as the MK-50) snapped off at both ends after detaching it only three times due to the material quality used, and the switch mechanism for the enter key broke after about 9 months, which was finally what saw me give up and replace it. Most mechanical keyboards also share the same input controller design (the Qpads and Corsairs at least use it), which has a bug where maybe two or three times a month, an input register will get stuck registering one key as depressed continuously, and you have to tap the relevant key to clear it. Both my Qpads had this, but I've not yet seen it on the Ducky Shine II I bought to replace the MK-85.

So far so good with that, but paying the equivalent of $200 for a keyboard with no wrist rest, or any of the USB/Audio passthrough stuff is pretty steep. It's also worth noting that on Ducky keyboards the keys are cushioned - once on the main body, and moreso on the wider keys (backspace, enter etc.) as part of a supposedly better anchoring bar design (the bit that allows you to press things like space from any position and them not flip to one side). The net result of this is that MX Red keyboards like mine feel more like MX Black - the weight required is increased. Keep that mind if you're tempted to buy one with a high-weight switch.

 

I got a daskeyboard (blue switches) about 4 years ago and am perfectly happy. It's a no frills keyboard but the best I have ever used. My only complaints are that the glossy body shows dust and scratches easily and that they are too loud to use in an office environment

 

My White Microsoft ergonomic sticks out like a sore thumb, among my other BLACK equipment. But I love it. I haven't had any wrist problems since I bought it

 

That's one of the things I don't like about the Rosewill I bought, compatibility though is the biggest issue.

Like you Kevin I've always had good luck with Microsoft keyboard and horrible luck with Logitech.

 

Microsoft knows how to make quality peripherals in my experience. Have considered a somewhat higher-end MS keyboard on several occasions. Nice compatibility and ergonomics. Lots of different styles and control-sets depending on what you want to do. Particularly, a volume knob on some models. I use my keyboard as my main volume control among other things so really quite a useful and important feature for me. Currently have the paint worn right off the volume keys on my Saitek Eclipse.

Sadly backlighting is a major requirement for me so it limits my options to either cheap crap or very expensive. The Saitek Eclipse is the only cheap backlit I've had that lasted for any significant length of time.

 

Never bought a backlit. You guys are intriguing me LOL!

The logitech equipment I've had in the past, has been pretty agreeable. But the price was right on the MS keyboard. I don't regret it.

 

Backlit is great for seeing what you are doing in the dark. After using it for so long I find it to be almost a necessity. I have mild night blindness(my eyes take a very long time to adjust to the dark) and I am not what you would call a confident typer, lol. Looks great sitting on your desk in the dark too

I would still consider a non-lit keyboard in the future if the right deal came along. Mechanical are where I'm looking, but they are usually devoid of extra features. It would have to meet a certain set of requirements. I highly prefer the feel of a membrane though. Good tactile feedback while requiring very little pressure to depress the keys. I've been looking for an approximate equivalent in Cherry MX switches. My main concern would be noise more than anything. I already have a big fat 1983 IBM classic clicky clacker that makes plenty of noise for the rest of my peripherals, haha.

 

I'm in the same boat as I normally have my lighting low and a backlit board is the way to go in low lighting or a dark room.

 

Same here, and you'll generally find looking for backlit keyboards makes your quest for something well made that much harder

 

Took the words right out of my mouth!

You know, it's funny - in Day of Defeat, multiplayer, I sometimes wind up on the German side, especially when they are getting clobbered - I like to help out the underdog sometimes.

BUT ... The other day, once I saw that Company of Heroes 2 beta is out, I had the chance to ... uhhh ... sample (yes there's that lovely word) the two follow-on games to Company of Heroes, Opposing Force and Tales of Valor, and after going through the tutorial again - the same one I had remembered from several years ago - I was disgusted to realize that the main part of each sequel was me playing as a German. I had a visceral gut reaction to the idea. No way! I deleted both sequels.

It seems I have rather strong feelings regarding World War II. For you Nazis out there, no offense meant (!@%#&%&$$%^)

I thought it was going to be the same way playing as a Russian in the complete version of World in Conflict, but it turned out okay.

First of all, Russians are not Nazis, second of all, the Russians in the game weren't entirely villainous, third of all, we nuked 'em! Hahaha.

hahahahaha

Jeff means, until we have to nuke you.

What are Canadians? I thought it was Cannucks?

Kicked who out, invaded 3 times, you mean us friendly yanks?

:/

That's the one that I bought - because you had recommended it. As I recall I paid $60 for it - I think it's great! Thanks for that recommendation.

Kevin the back-lighting allows you to play in total darkness and still somewhat see the keys if you have to reach for something - although I have roughed up my 4 key with multiple tiny bits of scotch tape, so that always gives me a good reference.

Even on Assassins Creed 3 the 4 key is poison darts, the 1 goes back to arrows, and 2 is muskets.

The 4 key started becoming important with COD4 as the flash-bang key, but half the time I was hitting reload - I think roughing it up with the tape was one of the most brilliant things I have ever done in this lifetime, second only to invading Canada.

Rich

 

Oh believe me, I see the benefits of a backlit keyboard. I've never been able to justify the money for one though. As most of you know, I'm no extremist gamer by ANY means. I just buy semi powerful GPU's, because when I want to play, I want agreeable framerates. I've never spent more than 300USD on a GPU. 230USD for the GTX 260, and just over 300USD for the GTX 570. I recently sold the 260 for 40USD Oh well. Now my backup is a 8600GT :S

Sold two of my 2Tb drives too. Not so much regretting that one though. Because an etailer is sending me a 2Tb NAS to test and review Excellent timing!

 

2TB drives are pretty much a commodity in my room, they're everywhere

Worth having as it's the largest size you can get before you have to deal with the perils of 64-bit LBA, GPT and all this nonsense, that sees most of your external enclosures, and a lot of internal disk controllers, completely useless. 3TB compliance outside of motherboard disk controllers (which almost always handle them perfectly, even ICH9), is actually quite rare. Do some tests before committing 3TB disks to a live system, always.

 

Yes indeed. 2Tb drives are a very happy medium at present. Such a shame my docks eSATA port/cable is failing. I get dropouts when I use it. USB though, works every time, never a dropout. I only have 2 3TB drives. Which is the max for the controller I use. I probably won't buy any 4Tb drives until I have a new motherboard, with UEFI. Which as most of us know, allows for 8 ZiB. Not something that will be breached anytime soon

A new motherboard may have to wait til February, unless I come into some money

 

Thanks for the correction: canucks. Ok, now tell me where that nickname came from. The first part is like the can in canadian, but why canuck?

Second, what time frame were these 3 invasions. Third, are you sure that I participated? Because I vaguely remember kicking some canuck ass, but I can't say it wasn't just a dream. LOL

Uh oh, Kevin is going mainstream, and since he's desperate to raise financing for his perpetual motion machine, his ethics will obviously be for sale.

Notice he didn't say "a commodity in my city" .... or ... "a commodity in my neighborhood." Sam too is working on a perpetual motion machine called "gathering together all in one swank London flat the entire working knowledge of the universe."

Rich

 

Yes, my ethics are for sale. But probably not in the way you may think. I won't be so quick to sell the devices I'm reviewing. I don't wanna sell them prematurely, because I may update my review for said devices Certainly the Wifi 5ghz AC Router could use a more detailed review.

 

My ethics are NOT for sale. This conflict caused me to outright quit a well-paying commission job. Every little thing needed some sort of fabricated story to drive the cost of repair up. RAM needs to be re-seated? Charge the guy for a new motherboard. PC needs a simple reformat and cleanup? Tell him it's junk and try to sell him some used up piece of crap from the late 90s and sell the new components for a mint.

Needless to say, I didn't keep that job very long. Told my boss off and left after about 2 months. He accused me of trying to ruin his business. I threatened to call the police and tell them about his little racket, then inform the Better Business Bureau. Being a former employee, the BBB would have taken the warning very sternly. He never said another word about it. Wrote me a check for about half of what he owed me and told me goodbye. I'd pursue him for the rest but working under the table does have its disadvantages. Good riddance.

 

and I would have done the exact same. There's doing business, and then there's just plain violating people's trust. I'd overlook some pretty dodgy things for a well paid job, but that's not one of them.

 

I certainly have done a few shady things myself. Mostly to increase my profit margin or get a job done more quickly by using my own parts. None of it includes stealing or lying though. Everything I do fulfills the contract to a tee. I wouldn't let a machine with wrong or questionable parts leave my hands. I offer free follow-up service and parts replacement out of my pocket if something goes wrong. My reputation just isn't worth a few extra bucks. I have a very loyal customer base.

I felt pretty bad having to warn people away from bringing computers to my place of work. My boss was an absolute ass.

I'd have to say my proudest moment working there is when he wrote off a 65" Mitsubishi DLP TV as junk. Anyone who's used a DLP knows what kind of advantage they have in image quality, so the replacement parts were easily worth it. New mirror and focusing lens and away I went with a brand new very expensive television. Paid for my car with it

 

I like to hope that the same sort of thing happens to the equipment thrown in the technology recycling container at the tip. Loads of what was once very expensive equipment in there, which probably doesn't require a huge expenditure. My understanding is in a lot of these cases it's shipped over to eastern europe and Africa, repaired for peanuts and then used for many years afterwards.