Computer Forum Chat Thread

[Xuvial]

What's the relative 'power level' of the builds that get posted on MMO-C every month?

Tough question. The builds keep changing with time, it depends on your desired resolution+refresh rate, and also depends on the game. For example the performance hit going from 1080p to 4k is huge. Meanwhile something like WoW/Overwatch won't exactly "scale" like crazy between a midrange and high-end build.

Which is why the best advice is always going to be "buy the best build you can afford."

If you've got plenty of money to spend but are unsure what you're going to get with a certain build, then you'll at least need to mention whether what kinds of games you play and your resolution+refresh rate. That'll get you some advice as to what build you should aim for.

[DeltrusDisc]

Ok. I don't think this question warrants a thread of its own so I'm asking here. What's the relative 'power level' of the builds that get posted on MMO-C every month? The Puppy, Dolphin, Narwhal, Unicorn things. I'm finally in a situation where I can build a PC and there's Black Friday sales going on. I'm just a complete idiot when it comes to looking at parts and specs and knowing how 'good' the end result might be. Hope this isn't too vague haha.

I concur with Xuvial, but I will say, this is definitely deserving of its own thread!

[Remilia]

I bought nothing for black friday again!
Except a pizza.

[Artorius]

Bought nothing as well =p

[BicycleMafioso]

I don't believe in black Friday, but the commercial scene of Sweden disagrees. It's sickening, really.
I went to the grocery store and bought ham, though.

[Rennadrel]

I bought nothing for black friday again!
Except a pizza.

Ditto, I don't have money right now. I bought my upgrade for the year back in September, a GTX 1070.

[Alindra]

I don't believe in black Friday, but the commercial scene of Sweden disagrees. It's sickening, really.

What I find really disgusting are the sales that start in the middle of the day on Thursday. Can they not at least give their employees Thanksgiving off before they start the commercialism whoring? I mean, ffs.

(Granted, I live in America, so starting on Thursday would make more sense in other countries that don't have Thanksgiving, but I still don't like the erosion.)

At any rate, I avoid Black Friday like the plague. I'm not willing to put up with the lines and crowds for a chance at a sale before it sells out. The only thing I bought on Black Friday was The Division through Steam. (No lines!) I still may buy a few more games from Steam before the sale ends - we shall see.

[DeltrusDisc]

What I find really disgusting are the sales that start in the middle of the day on Thursday. Can they not at least give their employees Thanksgiving off before they start the commercialism whoring? I mean, ffs.

(Granted, I live in America, so starting on Thursday would make more sense in other countries that don't have Thanksgiving, but I still don't like the erosion.)

At any rate, I avoid Black Friday like the plague. I'm not willing to put up with the lines and crowds for a chance at a sale before it sells out. The only thing I bought on Black Friday was The Division through Steam. (No lines!) I still may buy a few more games from Steam before the sale ends - we shall see.

Yea, this exactly. Sometimes I do kind of want to go and witness the Black Friday madness... I mean the Purge. Maybe take pictures...

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Yea, this exactly. Sometimes I do kind of want to go and witness the Black Friday madness... I mean the Purge. Maybe take pictures...

Borrow a super-telephoto lens and take the pictures from a safe distance. Maybe 1km?

[DeltrusDisc]

Borrow a super-telephoto lens and take the pictures from a safe distance. Maybe 1km?

I already have the Sigma 150-600mm Sport, so that's pretty good, especially when paired with my 1.6x crop factor Canon 7D Mark II.

Did end up buying a Black Friday thing... splitting the cost of the Sennheiser HD 598 Cs with my friend as his Christmas present.

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This monstrosity.



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Took this picture of the moon with the above late at night, November 13, 2016. Was a pain in the ass, but I managed it.

Lens fully extended at 600mm + Canon APS-C sensor 1.6x crop = 960mm, and then I cropped in a solid amount further in Lightroom.

I'm calling this my $2,000 shot, does it make the $2,000 lens worth it? I can only hope so, and based on everyone's comments/reactions on Facebook, it does.

[Alindra]

Took this picture of the moon with the above late at night, November 13, 2016. Was a pain in the ass, but I managed it.

I'm no photographer, but as a layman, damn, that's a nice looking picture. You got quite a bit of resolution there, looks like you're getting around 46.67 pixels / arc second. (Moon is about 1400 pixels tall and is around 0.5 degree in size.) What kind of zoom is that?

Any idea what the bright spots are? They almost look like cities lit up at night.

[Artorius]

Any idea what the bright spots are? They almost look like cities lit up at night.

Probably more reflective rocks

[Alindra]

Probably more reflective rocks

Hah, I deserved that. :P I suppose I was more musing out loud why there would be areas that would be that bright on the Moon. It just seems like after all that distance, the light of any particular bright spot would have spread out enough for them not to be so localized.

[DeltrusDisc]

What do you mean what kind of zoom? It's my lens fully zoomed out at 600mm, plus the APS-C crop sensor factor of the 7D Mark II, making that then an effective 960mm... THEN in Lightroom I cropped the picture a solid amount, not really sure the math, but this is probably pushing past 1400-1500mm equivalent on a full-frame 35mm camera.

The bright spots? Aliens.

[Remilia]

What do you mean what kind of zoom? It's my lens fully zoomed out at 600mm, plus the APS-C crop sensor factor of the 7D Mark II, making that then an effective 960mm... THEN in Lightroom I cropped the picture a solid amount, not really sure the math, but this is probably pushing past 1400-1500mm equivalent on a full-frame 35mm camera.

The bright spots? Aliens.

All you remind me is this, and I don't even know if this is something feasible in real life.

[DeltrusDisc]

haha that's a cinema setup. :P

[Alindra]

What do you mean what kind of zoom? It's my lens fully zoomed out at 600mm, plus the APS-C crop sensor factor of the 7D Mark II, making that then an effective 960mm... THEN in Lightroom I cropped the picture a solid amount, not really sure the math, but this is probably pushing past 1400-1500mm equivalent on a full-frame 35mm camera.

I was thinking in terms of multiples, 2x, 3x, 4x, etc. I'm sure you camera aficionado have a different term for it, but I'm not part of said group, sorry. :P

What do you mean fully zoomed out? Originally you said the lens was fully extended, that's zoomed in, right?

[DeltrusDisc]

Mixing up words. By fully zoomed out I meant the lens was extended out all the way, so you could say... the farthest zoomed in on the object, but out from the camera, and out far away. :P

600mm is more our multiples. I used to speak in multiples, but frankly? Multiples don't mean anything when you have to factor all the different cameras out there...

Here's an idea. Try taking a picture of the moon with your phone. Zoom in on it and see the detail you can try and get. That should give you a gist of the absolute difference. :P

[Alindra]

600mm is more our multiples. I used to speak in multiples, but frankly? Multiples don't mean anything when you have to factor all the different cameras out there...

Here's an idea. Try taking a picture of the moon with your phone. Zoom in on it and see the detail you can try and get. That should give you a gist of the absolute difference. :P

I think we might be talking past one another. When I used multiples, it wasn't tied to any particular camera (phone vs professional), lens (hobbyist vs professional), or technology (digital vs analog zoom). Instead, all I was interested in is how much bigger you can make something. For example, if zoomed out (base size) the Moon had a diameter of 50 pixels, but zoomed all the way in (max lens extension) it was 2,500, then you could zoom 50x (2500 / 50). Sure, it may not be the proper way of describing it, but it gets me to the right ballpark.


As for a phone photo of the moon, well, duh! All else aside, just comparing a digital to analog zoom would nix that comparison in the bud. It's like scaling up a raster image vs a vector image, of course the vector image will look better no matter how many filters you apply to the raster. I at least know that much!

If you were saying I should compare my phone picture to yours, it wouldn't be valid since 1 pixel zoomed out isn't the same size as 1 pixels on your camera zoomed out.

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So what's with some people having their names bordered with a green box?

[Artorius]

So what's with some people having their names bordered with a green box?

The OP has it I think