wjrii

joined 1 year ago
[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

Yeah, for the first several years of this motherboard and CPU, I ran it with the integrated graphics. Vega APUs were the new budget gaming hotness for a little while. :-) God, I'm old.

I'll keep an eye out for good deals, and see what I can put together. Sounds like this is at least a non-crazy budget for what I'm after. Thanks!

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Off the top of your head (because otherwise I'm happy to do my own research) would the Ryzen 5 5500 be worth the small premium over a 4500?

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I'm leaning towards keeping the GPU, at least for now, but looks like I could get the SSD for ~$50, some well-matched RAM for around $25 (I guess this will help with a VM quite a bit?), and maybe a Ryzen 5 4500 for around $65. Given the limited and "squishy" info I've provided, does that sound halfway reasonable to start, and then see if the 580 still feels like a bottleneck?

 

So, I am currently running an absolutely ancient Ship of Theseus desktop. I have fairly modest needs, looking to play games, lets say on the order of Starfield, at 1080P, medium-ish settings, and not dropping below 30FPS when things get busy on-screen. Something like Minecraft I'd like to run a touch more aggressively, but I know it has its own technical bottlenecks that make it more intensive than you might think (don't murder me... I still play Bedrock because I like vanilla survival and it runs well). I also do some light 3D CAD using paid-for software that I like, so some sort of legal-ish Windows partition or VM with some form of GPU acceleration would also be nice, but I'm okay with running Linux for most things.

Current specs:

  • Gigabyte B450M mobo
  • Ryzen 5 2400G as CPU only
  • Radeon RX 580
  • 16GB PC3200 DDR4
  • Unholy accumulation of SATA III drives: a Lexar 250gb for Windows 10, a 120GB Samsung for a couple of games, and a 640GB 7200RPM drive for Linux and storage.

I have actually been able to get the aforementioned Starfield running at 50fps (inside and light load) and 20-25ish FPS (outside action) at a customized set of low settings that isn't too horrifyingly ugly, but (1) that's clearly about as good as it's going to get, and (2) it's probably contributing to my not playing it all that much. So, what would help, and is anything salvageable? Would prefer to keep the upgrades as cheap as possible while getting a noticeable improvement to tide me over for a couple more years of low-end gaming and CAD. I'm not targeting any specific number, just "better." If it helps, let's set a USD $300 cap on upgrades, but cheaper is better. I'm hoping that staying at the lower resolution will be helpful.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

FJM = Father John Misty?

If so, OMG you could gaze at ALL THE NAVELS!

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Jason Isbell released a new album, and it's definitely a divorce album. Maybe not as many all-time greats as usual, since it's so personal and occasionally pretty raw, but some beautiful turns of phrases and guitar work.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

Stove, microwave, and two battery-operated dial clocks here. I didn't go anywhere today, so I'll find out in the morning if the car needs it. I honestly don't remember. The Rice cooker just cycled back to correct. :-)

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Aerocart from Worx looks a little gimmicky, but might be closer to your needs.

If budget is no object, then maybe a Polymule at USD1000+.

Inbetween, there's something like a "Foldit Cart".

Try searches for folding wheelbarrow, folding garden cart, or folding "vermont" cart. Your options get better if you can live without it being collapsible.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

They literally said that they don't want to tell, because it will lead to users gaming the system. 😒

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

...Revolt is the FOSS alternate for discord right?

Yes, or for a more limited feature set, Matrix.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So, what? Are they just crushing your muscle fibers with meat tenderizers and hoping it heals back better? That looks... unsettling.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oddly, though, you can't just cut it out from shows that have it, especially if they actually film in front of a live audience, though even those with canned laughter are playing in the same sandbox. The pacing and the vibe gets completely thrown off because the writers and actors have to account for the laughs, and it becomes eerie without them. It's a different style of making TV that's seeking a different type of reaction from the TV audience, and has different limitations. Understanding that can let you enjoy the best examples of the form (admittedly almost all 20 years old or more). Stock characters slinging zingers and potentially doing pratfalls can be amusing (though the form has a direct lineage to radio shows so it tends to be light but verbal -- the physicality is a huge part of what made I Love Lucy groundbreaking), but it doesn't shine when trying to do cringe, nuance, dramedy, or densely packed humor.

This is not to say that you should watch The Big Bang Theory. You should not. It's awful. The easy tropes and low cost of production (other than stars' salaries if a show takes off) means that so much garbage has been done in this format, I daresay higher than single-camera "movie style" shows. It's just that it's not quite so simple as "write more funnier."

IMO, it's almost like telling a musical theater writing team that their play would be better if the characters weren't constantly breaking into song. For the record, my instincts and tastes leave me sympathetic to that last point, so I just don't watch many musicals, live or recorded. It's not that they're bad; the appeal is just lost on me. Same with multi-cam sitcoms with laugh-tracks.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Technically, I guess this was twice, but the mari-hwanas.

Smoked a little in a perfectly lovely part of Amsterdam with my wife, who importantly is NOT a chronic overthinker who was raised by uptight Southern-fried Mormons, but I just immediately got paranoid and was obsessed with the likelihood that two random Dutch guys were staring at me and planning something bad. The fact that ten years later I still think it was possible they were eyeing us, while she is completely dismissive, tells me I do not need to be smoking pot.

Also tried some edibles in the hotel room, but that just made me sleepy with nothing particularly fun happening, though admittedly nothing bad happened either. Very "Meh."

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